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

[inkdust]

To be honest I'm of the "it picks me" persuasion. Whatever story is naturally churning out the most ideas and details and makes me feel the most energized when I think about working on it is the one that I follow.

Last year I very reluctantly set my long-time work in progress aside to write my current novel because while trying to plan out the old project was making me feel stuck and lifeless and overwhelmed, the new one continued to feed me new ideas so persistently and made me want to sit down and write it. I felt guilty and scared when I decided to put my "if I can only write one story in my life it needs to be this one" to the back burner, but I decided it was time to listen to the other one, and it was a fantastic decision. Of course, the length I work with means that whatever idea I choose will strap me in for a long haul. So that's an increase in pressure.

Personally (at this point at least) I can't take audience appeal into account when it comes to deciding what to work on. For content within a story, I start to consider that, but if I'm not working on the story that has 100% of my enthusiasm behind it, the story won't happen.

[ayumidah]

I have a file of all of the plot ideas that I think up, so I can go back to them later. I try to work on them in order-- the oldest idea I have tends to get worked on first.

[siofrabunnies]

I have this annoying problem where I want to work on one story, but my writing muse calls me to another. It's pretty hard to write for story A when you have dialogue for story B running through your head. So I guess it's a bit of both, but mostly the story chooses me. Unfortunately, that leaves a lot of stories started, but not many finished in a reasonable amount of time.

I've gotten into the habit of remembering that, no matter what I write, there's someone out there who will enjoy it. Even if I don't end up putting it out anywhere, I usually enjoy what I write on some level.

[inevitableentresol]

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.

This is also one of my methods.

I am incapable of working on just one story, so I need many methods of dealing with this problem. The longest I've ever managed to stay on one project was 6 weeks at a time. I read the same way, several books at once, so it makes sense that I'd write like this as well.

I've tried to stay on one story, so hard, and just end up stopping writing entirely. So I've accepted this is how I am.

I have perhaps 30 projects on the go at any one time. Actually, many more now I think about it. Perhaps nearer 50. Of course, this is insane.

So I do what you do, and make lists. My current list has three stories, that is ones I've actively worked on in the last two weeks. That's manageable. I'll work on one story for a couple of days, switch and go onto the next, and then on to the third, and back, and so on.

I'd rather be the sort of person who can write one story all the way through, but it seems to be this or nothing.

One of the best tips I ever received was to note down the major plot points of each new story as they occur - key dialogue, character details etc. It doesn't me take long. Usually less than a few hours in total. Otherwise the new ideas nag away at me while I'm still steaming ahead on my other project and it's too distracting. If my new story summary is safely contained in a document, that helps me mentally set it aside until I'm ready to deal with it later.

And yes, my 50 story ideas are all very different, in answer to the other commenter above.

If you're the sort of person who also likes to write to-do lists before you go to bed at night, like I do, which help you sleep by getting buzzing ideas out of your head, that trick might also work for you.

I've heard that many writers have notebooks of hundreds of unfinished stories. And they value this, and return to it many times in their career. I've tried to think of my 'problem' as more like a 'treasury of ideas' but I've had limited success. I'm too envious of other writers who can focus.

When I started writing I had no problem deciding what story to write and sticking to it. It only became a problem several years in. Perhaps this is common?

[agilebrit]

I tend to work on the one that's under deadline first. Which means I really need to come up with something to send to the UFO3 antho and stop dinking around with edits on the Hell's Process Server story...

If I don't have a deadline, I work on whatever one I have the most complete outline for. If I have more than one complete outline, then I pick the one that's pinging me the hardest (which usually has a werewolf or an angel in it, these days, but not always).

But I have an odd process that probably wouldn't work for everyone--I usually outline a bunch at once and then bang out several first drafts one after the other, and then work on edits after all the drafts are done--unless I have a deadline, in which case I work on that story.

[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..."