I can have up to two "active" projects at any given time, and one has to be a primary. What works best is having a novel for a primary, and letting the secondary be whatever story is white-hot/moving at the moment. I've tried doing equal-time with two novels, or two stories, and my brain simply gets stuck in one mode and can't make the daily transition. This system has actually been working very well for me right now, what with the lizard. I have WC#2 (--after I turn that one in, plus revisions on WC#1, I get paid!) for the primary, and let the short stories ambush me whenever they like. (Including the space-opera-in-an-envelope-in-a-day. Ye gods, I'm not doing that again anytime soon.) This is also why my fantasy novel-in-progress is on hiatus, because getting the commissioned piece done is a higher priority.
How this would work if I were under contract for a novel, I have no idea. I would hope that the system would translate, but...yeah. Not exactly going to be a concern in the foreseeable future. But I don't mind having tons of openings/partial stories kicking around. They'll bear fruit years later--I'm planting seeds for those future years.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2004-11-12 06:12 pm (UTC)I can have up to two "active" projects at any given time, and one has to be a primary. What works best is having a novel for a primary, and letting the secondary be whatever story is white-hot/moving at the moment. I've tried doing equal-time with two novels, or two stories, and my brain simply gets stuck in one mode and can't make the daily transition. This system has actually been working very well for me right now, what with the lizard. I have WC#2 (--after I turn that one in, plus revisions on WC#1, I get paid!) for the primary, and let the short stories ambush me whenever they like. (Including the space-opera-in-an-envelope-in-a-day. Ye gods, I'm not doing that again anytime soon.) This is also why my fantasy novel-in-progress is on hiatus, because getting the commissioned piece done is a higher priority.
How this would work if I were under contract for a novel, I have no idea. I would hope that the system would translate, but...yeah. Not exactly going to be a concern in the foreseeable future. But I don't mind having tons of openings/partial stories kicking around. They'll bear fruit years later--I'm planting seeds for those future years.