One major flaw I see with many writers deals with their productivity. No, this doesn't so much deal with the idea of how fast they write (although this does come into play with publishers as they try to keep your name out there for the public). The productivity I am talking about deals with when and how they start their next projects.
As an agent, I need to always see some progress toward your goals in publishing. This means that as you are working on one project, you already have a vision for later stories and ideas. You might be drafting. You might be outlining. Heck, you might even have several projects in a Work In Progress stage. What we don't need is for you to come to a complete stand still once the first project is finished.
Too often, I hear authors say they have to stay focused on a single project. They simply can't think of other things. While this is good to be focused, this can become a detriment for the writing process. If you come to a complete stand still after that first project, then we are looking at a huge gap between when we can see the next project. Now, I have to wait maybe a month before we can discuss your project or even a partial. Now we wait for the full project. Needless to say, we could be looking at a 8 to 12 months between projects.
The key is to think about having stories at different levels at all times.
Scott
I try to have a few things on the go at any one time. If for no other reason than to give me something to work on when I'm stuck on my main project.
ReplyDeleteDrafting, outlining? Sure, if you're serious about pursuing a career as a writer and not just looking to get one book out there then definitely that should be the process to follow. I have one book I'm editing, a second I've drafted, and a third and fourth I'm playing with. I'd liked to add that there should be a happy medium. While we want to keep those books going and finish them we also should be producing quality work. Just my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteLaila,
ReplyDeleteIn no way am I stressing to crank out garbage. All I am stressing is to not start thinking about a project only after you have completely finished another one.
Scott
When you write -- I mean, when writing is what you DO -- there's no shortage of ideas out there. I find I have trouble keeping up with them; I have random notes everywhere: cellphone, agenda, notepad, sticky notes on my Mac, Scrivener project index cards, napkins... you name it. Ideas are everywhere, and there is so much to be said. I think, Scott, that the real "moral" of your post is not whether multiple projects should exist, but rather to organize them (and ourselves) in such a way that they follow each other regularly in terms of completion status. Thanks for the pointer!
ReplyDeleteWhat Guilie said about the moral post. At the very least, as you start finishing up one draft, you should already be thinking about what your next project will be so that you're ready to get started right away. You don't necessarily have to juggle multiple manuscripts at once*, but you don't want huge gaps of time where you're working on nothing.
ReplyDelete*At least not in the first draft stage. If you're editing one book, you might be working on writing another, etc.
I call this my "backburner" and it is a great way to make sure you don't have much lag time between projects. I can't say I've got four or five outlined or drafted, but after recently finishing two projects I had been working on for a while, I picked up another one I had left simmering. And I've got another one on the backburner now. Probably need to see about gathering a few ingredients for some new stuff, too.
ReplyDelete