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Joined: 5/14/2011
Posts: 4
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General opinion, can a person really be productive working on more than one ms at a time?
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Joined: 4/28/2011
Posts: 60
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I do it all the time. Whether I'm productive as I do it, well that depends on how you define productive. When I work on two simultaneously I tend to favor one manuscript over the other. What I mean is, one is my 'serious' work, the book I'm really trying to push forward. The second is my mental palate cleanser, a sort of fun exercise in creative typing that I don't intend to try and submit to anyone. When I get stuck on the first, I turn to the second and type away to my heart's content, not allowing myself to worry about those little pesky things like coherence and grammar. Then, magically, I suddenly figure out a way around the problem I ran into in my first manuscript and I return to that one.
Ahh, the second manuscript, the unloved step-child of my imagination. That's not precisely true. I do love it. It's just where all my wildest ideas go to roost, whether they fit there or not. If I find they're useful, I might resurrect them in a slightly different form elsewhere. So, I guess it's more like the place where I build my concept cars. Sometimes, one of those cars might be brought into production in a modified form. And I'm letting my metaphors get away from me.
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Joined: 3/11/2011
Posts: 156
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You almost have to be. I have one going through edits with a publisher, one in the works for a romance series and two more in the works for the mystery series. Plus a stand alone novel waiting for some time to free up. You have to stay productive and that usually means something out that you're marketing, something going through publishing edits and another in the works. So you get used to planning out your time to hit deadlines.
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Joined: 5/8/2011
Posts: 13
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I find I'm more productive with two or three active manus. If I'm stuck in my primary WIP, I can move to one of the others. Instead of dwelling on my writer's block, I keep my imagination working, albeit on another world. More often than not, after a few days, the block I have with the primary is done and I'm ready to return to it.
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Joined: 3/14/2011
Posts: 226
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I just finished my first draft of one WIP, but wanted to let it sit for a week or two before getting started on edits, so I started another story idea that's been sitting. I won't finish it before going back to edit the other story, and I have another WIP waiting for edits, too. I guess I can do it so long as I don't have more than one first draft to work on.  It's 'productive' if you think about the fact that I'll have several stories ready when I get an agent.
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Joined: 3/7/2011
Posts: 55
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I'm almost constantly working under the idea that one project is my "primary" project, and then there is the "secondary" one and the tertiaries. Because when I get stuck on one, the others are there to pay attention to.
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 244
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More than one in first draft mode? No. I'm learning that much right now. I plan on finishing my short story this weekend and then returning to the YA fantasy that is in progress. I am going to attempt revising my adult fantasy at the same time, and see how well it works.
What I'm finding is that if I am trying to create new words for a story, whichever first draft I get to second on that day does not get the words. I can try, but it doesn't happen. My creative battery needs to recharge for longer than two first drafts simultaneously would allow. (By longer, I just mean that I need to sleep and eat and such and then the next day I am fresh and ready for more wordage.)
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Joined: 5/4/2011
Posts: 19
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Personally, I can only work on one at a time. My MO is to write a first draft, go onto another project, finish it, then come back to the first and revise. Even with one, I have to keep notes in order to keep all the characters and plot straight. Can't imagine jumping around, although, it's all down to what works best for you.
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 222
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I usually have 1 to 4 projects in the works at any given time. One is always, always the primary project I spend the vast majority of my time on. The others are 'clear my head without stopping writing' pieces. Right now, I'm splitting my time between two stories because of how things are currently working out for me.
It really varies for me though. My goal right now is 1k on BT every day until after the move, and whatever else time is left is for The City of Clocks. This'll stay until August, where I'll be working on BT almost exclusively. 
I don't think there is anything wrong with it so long as you keep with the projects and don't abandon them and ALWAYS keep one moving forward quicker towards the finish line than the others. I know I want to finish things, not abandon them partway through.
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Joined: 5/23/2011
Posts: 1
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I have more than one going, and I do feel productive. They are not all at the same stage, however. I have one in query mode, one in concept mode (actually 3 in that mode) and one in first draft mode. It's like a conveyor belt, as one moves up to revisions, the next will start.
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Joined: 4/30/2011
Posts: 3
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I tend to have multiple WIPs, but I began to feel like I wasn't giving any of them the attention they needed. It was too easy to generate rough rough drafts after rough rough drafts.
Now I spend nearly all of my time working on the primary MS (a novel) and I'll allow occasional forays into smaller stories or revising other projects. I wish I could be one of those people that could work really well on multiple works, but I think right now I need the focus.
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Joined: 5/12/2011
Posts: 240
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I tend to get a finished first draft of something, then send it to "beta readers." While I wait for the feedback, I very well might start the next project. Once that's a complete first draft, I'll go back to the other book and its feedback from readers and edit.
Cycling that way works pretty well for me, but right now, I managed to stick myself with two very different projects in very similar drafting stages and I'm having a hard time choosing which to work on!
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Joined: 3/29/2011
Posts: 43
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To tell you the truth, I've been doing this for a few years--working on multiple mss at the same time. People told me to work on one and then the other. But I'm doing all I can, while I'm job hunting for a PT job, or if possible a FT job. Because when I do have a job, my writing/editing schedule will be adjusted. That's how I've started doing my Julnos and Nanos, since Nano 07. I did do it before then, but it didn't work out. I've set myself a schedule to work on it at a certain time. Mostly I'm writing on one and editing the others. I did get two mss done--Venom, my Julno 08, (I hope to upload it here next month), and Chain Reaction, my Nano 07, (I also hope to upload it here next month). I hope to get one ms done this year, Specimen, my Julno 09, with final edits/writing this fall.
Many of my Twitter friends and on Facebook are astonished to see how I keep my storylines straight and get some much time. I'm still querying Venom and Chain Reaction, and I hope to get one accepted by the end of fall.
Perseverance, time management, are keys. It can be done, if you put yourself into it. Of course, it helps to know, I'm unemployed. I did have a job for two years, which was a substitute secretary with FT/PT shifts. I also volunteer and do chores. I only lose out on days, when I have computer/Internet problems. Good luck!
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Joined: 3/14/2011
Posts: 44
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My desired number of works at once is 2.5. One in first draft, one in edits, and a shiny fledgling one waiting in the wings.
Depending on the deadline with the edits, that may be my first priority, but I prefer to live inside my first drafts until they are complete. If I step away for too long, I find it very difficult to return to the same mood and tone.
The shiny new idea acts as a reward. I get to scribble out a scene or sketch a character, but only if I've finished a good-size chunk on one of the others.
However, there is no ideal number. It absolutely depends on what you need to do to complete a story.
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Joined: 7/28/2011
Posts: 1
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If I didnt have more than one MS on the go at once I dont know where I would keep the other shiny little pebbles that roll in from the sea of ideas I have all the time!
As writers I think most of us rarely have one idea planted firmly in soil at any given time, but more likely and I feel more productively (as what a waste it would be to consign any idea to the bin just becasue we are 'busy' with a current WIP) it is that we jump between scripts or at the very least shuffle our toes between the tiny pools of idea whilst working on the 'big one'.
I dont know if its sad but my little black book is for ideas not phone numbers
A better use methinks than the norm..!
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 24
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I have always had more than one project at any given time. I mean, large projects too. If I ever get stuck on one or the other I usually switch it up. But...let's say I get stuck on all my projects (it has totally happened before) I like to start short stories derived from the main worlds I'm working in. I keep the short stories just because they're fun and different usually (sometimes so insanely ridiculous I would rather not show anyone). Those short little spinoffs help my other characters and worlds with a fresh jumpstart and I'm off trying to catch up with each world at once. Always overwhelming, but always fun!
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 102
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I need to have at least 3 projects on the go at any given time. How else does one get through writers block?
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I think it largely depends on how your brain is wired. I can edit one project and actively write on another, but I can't edit two pieces at the same time or write two pieces at the same time.
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