Multi-tasking
Jul. 8th, 2004 04:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
msagaraHaving almost finished the requested revisions for one project (I'm waiting to get something clarified before I can actually say done and heave both a sigh of relief and a manuscript out the door), I'm getting back to writing the novel I put aside to work on revisions. [I've been finishing up the Sunburst Jury award work as well.]
Which is sort of my excuse for being so darn slow to get up to speed on HOUSE WAR again.
When I was younger, I found switching between projects almost a relief. I'm not sure if it was due to the fact that I had no children then, and that there was nothing therefore consuming emotional energy and time in the particular fashion; I do think about this a lot. Why? Because I think I'm becoming, in novel terms, a serial monogamist.
It takes me a while to sink the emotional roots I need to have in place into any novel, and when I move to a different project, I seem -- these days -- to uproot them all. When I come back, I have to give myself a big mental slap, and change speed, tone and direction -- all of which would be easier; I have to find the emotional threads and bindings, which is harder than it used to be.
So I'm sort of wondering how many people here can work on two books at once, and how they manage to do it if they can. I can take short story breaks, but I think this has more to do with the differing processes of the two media.
Which is sort of my excuse for being so darn slow to get up to speed on HOUSE WAR again.
When I was younger, I found switching between projects almost a relief. I'm not sure if it was due to the fact that I had no children then, and that there was nothing therefore consuming emotional energy and time in the particular fashion; I do think about this a lot. Why? Because I think I'm becoming, in novel terms, a serial monogamist.
It takes me a while to sink the emotional roots I need to have in place into any novel, and when I move to a different project, I seem -- these days -- to uproot them all. When I come back, I have to give myself a big mental slap, and change speed, tone and direction -- all of which would be easier; I have to find the emotional threads and bindings, which is harder than it used to be.
So I'm sort of wondering how many people here can work on two books at once, and how they manage to do it if they can. I can take short story breaks, but I think this has more to do with the differing processes of the two media.
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no subject
Date: 2004-07-09 02:32 am (UTC)This is the main reason why I'm also a serial monogamist with novels.
It takes a while for me to sink into the characters' emotional landscape, but once I do I've got a pretty instinctive feel of how they should/will react to the plot-spears I poke them with. If I shift projects I change mindset to gel with the new people, and so lose the old. Only one personality at a time, please.
Doesn't mean I can't do some flirting, though. I usually know what project will come up next, and have and idea of who and why. I can manage a first chapter, but any more derails me.
Shorts are usually okay for me too, but only in the less angsty stages of the novel. When the emotion's flowing at full pelt I have to either stick with it or lose it.