Yep, the title made you nervous didn't it? It should. I'm a professional rambler...I could go on for days about nothing in particular. But I won't. Yet.
I've been working this week on reading through my final draft of Emerald's Keeper. Okay, so not really final, but my nearly-ready-to-query draft. How about that? lol I've also been working on a new story. One that made Susan, the bestest beta ever, shout, "Oh my gosh, I love it!!!!!!" And yes, she really used that many exclamation points.
Now I'm suffering from the dilemma of so many writers: How to divide my time, and transition between the two stories.
The new story is quite original and fresh, and the voice of the main characters keeps me enthralled. She's so much fun! All I want to do is write her story! It's new and shiny and exciting. But then there's Emerald...my lovely, wonderful Mandy and her already finished, just needs to be polished story. It's dark and dangerous, and Mandy goes through so many trials and so much loss.
The stories are nothing alike. Emerald is 3rd person past, and the new story is 1st person present. Their plots are completely different, the characters are nothing alike, the settings are nothing alike. lol So I'm having a hard time jumping between the two.
My question for you is this: How do you handle transitions between stories? Balancing your time between them? Do you make the new story wait until the other is perfect?
Advice, I need advice.
5 comments:
Right now I'm between drafts. I'm waiting on one hopefully final round of feedback to come back. I wanted to start to revise my lastest WIP but I don't think there's been enough time between when I wrote it and revisions. I like to wait at least three months, right around the time I start to miss the characters.
I look at each projects as it's own thing. If I wanted for one story to be perfect I'd never start anything.
No I gave to give my self MONTHS between drafts, and in those months I write a new book or a revise a different book. Or I go on a book binge where I don't stop reading. LIke right now.
I've read four books in a week.
Tricky question -- especially because your two mss are so different.
If you're in love with the new story (as I am), then I know how hard it is to NOT devote all your time to that.
BUT, I think your #1 priority should be Emerald since you want to pitch it soon (SQUEEEE). If you can bounce between the two stories, then do. If not, then I guess work on Mandy for now and come back to the new story later...???
Je ne sais pas. :/
I think they can be a good balance.
It's nice sometimes to go with the new bright shiny WIP, to take your mind off the issues with the more familiar WIP... and in turn, working on something else makes the original project flow better when you get back to it.
Holly I'm sort of in the same space as you right now. I have my first project to query, but I'm wanting to complete the edits on my new WIP and both require a lot of attention. So right now I'm working on the new WIP because I'm workshopping the opening next week. Next week I suppose I'll do some querying.
Good luck on deciding and if you find a great solution, let me know.
Sometimes I need breaks working on one novel, so I start another. For example, I'm about to start my third major revision on my first WiP, but I wrote over half of a new story over the summer to give me some distance. I can look at my first one with fresher eyes now that I've had a long break. :)
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