Two stories at once, or just one?

[ThisAdamGuy]

nerp

 

[CharlesEBrown]

I would suggest writing both out, and deciding based on what you had the most fun with when you went back in to do revisions. If both "threads" still excite you, keep them; if not, drop the one you don't care much for and summarize those events when they come together - and maybe, if you can't just destroy the one you didn't keep/summarized edit it as a bonus feature on a Patreon or on your personal website for curious readers to obtain for themselves.

 

[JayMark]

or switching between them every few chapters even though the their stories are almost completely disconnected?

This is how I would do it.

 

[Anonjohn20]

Here's something I've been wondering about my WIP Siren Called: the story is about a brother and sister being isekaid into another world. They get separated (neither of them even knows the other was brought over with them) and both go about doing their own thing. They're eventually going to meet up and their stories with become connected, but that's not going to be for a while.

So, which sounds better to you guys? Focusing entirely on one of the siblings until they finally meet up and then filling the reader in on what the other was doing all that time, or switching between them every few chapters even though the their stories are almost completely disconnected?

I would experiment with doing one arc with one and then one arc with the other over and over until they meet up. Switching every few chapters might feel jarring if done too often.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

As an aside, in Between Worlds, I have about five stories running parallel. Three of them I tend to follow for a chapter or two and then switch to another one (usually to catch them up), one I keep dropping hints and even full scenes from without actually advancing that plot, just how it might affect the existing ones. If there was much demand for a Liz and Carol story, I would probably "farm it out" to a GL specialist rather than "get it all wrong"