Choosing a new project

[sarillia]

How do you go about deciding what to work on next? Does one just call out to you or do you have a process for choosing one?

Normally I can just pick one and work on it until it's done--though occasionally I end up deciding that I'm not ready to start the one I chose after all and it works better if I get back to it later--but lately I my mind has been all over the place and I can't decide.

Sometimes what I do is I make a list of my top choices and then I go through that list and make a new one out of my top choices from that list and keep doing that until I only have one left. But I can't seem to narrow it down this time.

Part of it, I think, is that issue of audience appeal I talked about before. Instead of basing it entirely on my enthusiasm, I can't help thinking about what might be most salable too.

Comments

[splinteredstar]

Okay, first of all: I deliberately chose a non-creative career (currently in school to be an engineer) because the idea of selling my work makes me freak out. I grew up poor, and the idea of basing my livelihood on something as ephemeral as the stories in my head kind of freaks me out.

Plus, nothing kills inspiration faster than when it feels like work. For me writing should not feel like homework, which is my number one cause of procrastination housecleaning.

So, short version, I don't pick stories on whether or not I might be able to sell them.

Honestly, I generally just go with whatever story I feel like working on. I mean, if I'm writing say, a fanfiction for someone, I'll make an effort on focusing on that one. But usually I write...whatever lives in my head that day.

My flashdrive is a graveyard of dead projects where I got bored and wandered off. But there's always something in the back of my mind thinking "hey, maybe I can do something with that..."

[sarillia]

Oh I'm not planning on trying to make a living off writing. It would just be nice to be able to make a little money from it. For all my agonizing over a possible audience, I'm really not focusing too much on it.

[splinteredstar]

Yeah, that's fair. But for me, any thought of selling it makes me freak out. It's a part of it being safe - if I think about throwing it out into the wild, then I sort of freeze up.

It's totally reasonable to think about making money off of your writing. I didn't mean to imply otherwise. It's just easier for me to deal with writing if I think that it doesn't have to matter to anyone, and I can keep it safe and secret inside of my own head.

[sarillia]

I understand that. I'm kind of like that too but I'm trying to move past it for various reasons, both high-minded thoughts of sharing my work with people who would enjoy it and also a tinge of desperation to be making money somehow even if it's only a little.

But I completely get where you're coming from.

[splinteredstar]

Yep. Everyone writes differently and for different reasons, and everyone shares for different reasons. Part of why talking with other writers is important - comparing notes on what being a writer is like and how it works.

(Sorry if I came across as rude. Totally not my intention. I'm just occasionally super awkward.)

[sarillia]

I don't think you seemed rude at all. No worries. :)