Working on more than one story at a time?

I've been writing XNPC almost exclusively for the past year or so, but I have other stories I want to write. I think it'd be nice to have two stories going at once so that when I start feeling burned out on one, I can switch over to the other for a while. But the advice I've seen regarding that seems divided. Some people say that having more stories can only bring you more attention as long as you're able to keep them both going at a steady pace. Other people have said they would drop a story entirely if they found out the author was working on another project because putting anything less than 100% of your attention and effort into a story means the quality is going to plummet.

What do you guys think? Are you uploading more than one story at a time, and if so, how has your audience responded? Do the audiences for both books overlap, or have they attracted separate followings? Have you had any negative reactions to uploading more than one story at a time?

I have overlaps between my original stories, less so between my fanfics, which I write for fun only.

The two camps are pretty much separate and don't really interact or mix with each other. Of course, there are some HC fans who I appreciate because they read everything I put out, so they are the real MVP.

CountVanBadger said:

I've been writing XNPC almost exclusively for the past year or so, but I have other stories I want to write. I think it'd be nice to have two stories going at once so that when I start feeling burned out on one, I can switch over to the other for a while. But the advice I've seen regarding that seems divided. Some people say that having more stories can only bring you more attention as long as you're able to keep them both going at a steady pace. Other people have said they would drop a story entirely if they found out the author was working on another project because putting anything less than 100% of your attention and effort into a story means the quality is going to plummet.

What do you guys think? Are you uploading more than one story at a time, and if so, how has your audience responded? Do the audiences for both books overlap, or have they attracted separate followings? Have you had any negative reactions to uploading more than one story at a time?

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Right now I'm working with Paulina Rex (alternate historical fiction), and OyasumiSe7en (alternate timeline). While the entire story is already planned up to the ending in my notes, my progress is slow, as my real life work as a teacher often gets in the way. My readers? They are few, though silent. Maybe they don't care much if I update my works; maybe they understand that no matter how long it took, I will still update those (as what happened to my first finished novel).

I don't know. I just do it. Wing it, if you will.

CountVanBadger said:

I've been writing XNPC almost exclusively for the past year or so, but I have other stories I want to write. I think it'd be nice to have two stories going at once so that when I start feeling burned out on one, I can switch over to the other for a while. But the advice I've seen regarding that seems divided. Some people say that having more stories can only bring you more attention as long as you're able to keep them both going at a steady pace. Other people have said they would drop a story entirely if they found out the author was working on another project because putting anything less than 100% of your attention and effort into a story means the quality is going to plummet.

What do you guys think? Are you uploading more than one story at a time, and if so, how has your audience responded? Do the audiences for both books overlap, or have they attracted separate followings? Have you had any negative reactions to uploading more than one story at a time?

Click to expand...

Dude. Everybody is built different. Try it, if it works, great. If it burns you out faster, now you know.

CountVanBadger said:

I've been writing XNPC almost exclusively for the past year or so, but I have other stories I want to write. I think it'd be nice to have two stories going at once so that when I start feeling burned out on one, I can switch over to the other for a while. But the advice I've seen regarding that seems divided. Some people say that having more stories can only bring you more attention as long as you're able to keep them both going at a steady pace. Other people have said they would drop a story entirely if they found out the author was working on another project because putting anything less than 100% of your attention and effort into a story means the quality is going to plummet.

What do you guys think? Are you uploading more than one story at a time, and if so, how has your audience responded? Do the audiences for both books overlap, or have they attracted separate followings? Have you had any negative reactions to uploading more than one story at a time?

Click to expand...

Personally, I do not recommend~. Lots of workies~. It can easily overwhelm you~.

I've been trying to write 4 fictions at once... but ended up only finishing a fiction (season-wise). The other 3 are still on hiatus.

I'm working on Secret Sorceress and Sorry, Alteration. I want to do more, but time, and speed are against me. I like having these two going because one is a lighter read with subtle darkness that emerges occasionally and the other is a heavy read with a subtle softness that emerges occasionally. If I become overly affected by one world, I can move to the other.

A lotta people write multiple stories. I can count on one hand the amount of authors who actually finish a story instead of dropping the ones they get bored with and starting new ones.

Not an author just a long time reader so my opinion might not hold the same weight. In my experience people who post more than one story at a time fall into a couple categories. One either they are a very talented writer who successfully writes multiple stories and keeps them updated reliably. Whether or not the stories are different enough from each other is a matter of taste for the author and the readers. Of the authors I read only a couple write stories wildly different from each other a couple of others write stories that are very if not similar than in a similar vein.

Another is one who writes other stories at the same time but publishes the new story after the old one is finished. If you want an example looks up the series of books called Out For Karma by Hrist_Waltz. He writes one or more books at the same time but releases his one story at a time.

Then there are those who write one story and one story only and if they’re writing another they either don’t say or say they won’t release it until their previous story is complete.

They don’t really bear mentioning but the last group are those who try writing multiple books at the same time and end up either exhausting their creative spark or writing trash like a certain author who writes multiple comics fanfics with too many x’s in their handle. Not mentioning any names of course.

My advice? Try writing but not posting for awhile. See if it gets too tiring or not. If it doesn’t then try posting for a little bit. If a certain number of comments on your work talk about what they believe to be a decline in the quality of your work then take a step back ask someone you know and trust on their opinion to read your work and see. If they agree then maybe switch back to a writing but not posting schedule. Also I would but the number of negative comments at your work at a decent number not one. There are always people who are either going to troll or be assholes just because. Be careful and good luck.

When I wasn't working. most weeks one story would get about half of my writing time, and the rest of my writing time would be split between two or three other stories. It worked, until I started working part time ... and then got a second part time job (which just went to full time last week)...

CountVanBadger said:

I've been writing XNPC almost exclusively for the past year or so, but I have other stories I want to write. I think it'd be nice to have two stories going at once so that when I start feeling burned out on one, I can switch over to the other for a while. But the advice I've seen regarding that seems divided. Some people say that having more stories can only bring you more attention as long as you're able to keep them both going at a steady pace. Other people have said they would drop a story entirely if they found out the author was working on another project because putting anything less than 100% of your attention and effort into a story means the quality is going to plummet.

What do you guys think? Are you uploading more than one story at a time, and if so, how has your audience responded? Do the audiences for both books overlap, or have they attracted separate followings? Have you had any negative reactions to uploading more than one story at a time?

Click to expand...

I have been working on my published fanfic and an unpublished sequel. Anyway, I plan recently on publishing in the same book entry the sequel to pressure myself on balancing my time schedule

I've had success both ways. I finished a story once in part because of my devotion to it alone and the desire to get through it so that I could start on the next idea, but I've also burned myself out trying to do the same thing for another story that remains unfinished. At the moment, I'm writing two: one I'm interested in and one I know is junky and can suffer from reduced attention (that I'll write for fun to clear my mind when necessary). I'd recommend giving it a go yourself and seeing how it works for you.

Maybe try writing a short story on the side first, and if you feel like it won’t be too much work you can work on a longer second novel.

I’m working on 4 stories at once. My main work that’s fully outlined is projected to be so long, that it’d take forever to have 1 fully published work. Seeing people get views and attention for much shorter entries, and give value to works simply for being completed, makes it pretty impossible to ignore. Especially when you’re accounting for potential contracts, they’re all so bad that putting your most passionate work under contract seems financially illiterate unless you can get a good deal for it.

I started off thinking I’ll just release one-shots between chapters of my main project, but turns out my short-form skills are more suited for poetry. I’ve written short stories before, but I almost always reach a point where it’s so long, it might as well be multiple parts. So now I just let the short story ideas play out until they’re complete. Essentially I’m working on one saga, and three short stories.

It’s an interesting take that it would decrease quality. I’d say that depends on the author. Writing only my saga would speed up the creative process to a detriment. I’d be locked into one worldview, and any narrative experimentation would have to happen in the middle of a series. I’m fairly certain plenty of authors indulge in side projects. They flex the writing muscle, and prevents burnout on what your main project. When I sit down to write my main project, I might write half a chapter, or a full one, or even ten if I’m on a roll. Instead of forcing inspiration, if anything I’m more excited to return to it between side projects, and my thoughts become even more clear. If I sat down and forced chapter 13-15 (the chapters I’m working on), I wouldn’t have had days to think about the details and then the “objective” quality would have suffered. I’d say that it makes sense for any author’s side projects to be “lesser”, but only because how could a short story truly live up to a labor of love? You see it all the time in media—first idea that took forever to craft results in the best entry, with the following entry that exists just to exist being not necessarily of the same cloth. I think an author working on two major projects at once has more challenges, but it seems like a shot in the dark to say it affects quality significantly. I think there are quite a few examples of books or other media being created at the same time, and if anything, I think it’s usually well-received. Given, in those examples, the works are usually related and in the same universe, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it holds true even for unrelated works. You’ve given me something to research.

I write one story at a time (I’m currently in the middle of book 3 of an epic fantasy novel series.) There are things I think that would make good stories, or good plots, but don’t serve the story I am writing. So I decided to write a book of short stories set in my fantasy world. That way I can keep working on the main series, but have a way for those other stories to find purpose. That being said, it is mostly scraps of stories right now, I’m mostly working on the main book.