Multi-tasking

 

This month I find myself in the unusual situation of working on two novels at once. I often overlap writing them – typically having one novel that’s with an editor while I start on a new one, and then when the editor responds I’ll break off from writing the new one to work on the edits.

But now I am in the first draft stage for two novels. One is more or less there – I have reached the end but there are some gaps and I need to add several scenes before I can say the first draft is complete. The other is about one third done.

The deadline for the first is not until October so I should be able to complete it easily enough. The second is not a contracted novel – it is something a little different that I just fancied writing.

Many authors only ever work on one book at a time, and only start researching and thinking about a new novel when the previous one has been sent to the proof-reader. I’m contracted to write two a year and so this isn’t possible for me – I have to make use of the time while waiting for feedback or for the copy editor to complete their work otherwise I’d never get them done. Elapsed time for each novel, from beginning the research through to completing the copy-edits, is at least 9 months, up to a year.

‘But how do you keep two stories in your mind at once?’ I’m sometimes asked. Well I have to do that anyway, as my novels are in the dual timeline genre – a historical mystery is uncovered and resolved in the present day – so there are two stories in each book in any case.

Also, like most people I will always have a novel that I’m reading on the go, and probably two or three TV drama series that we’re watching in the evenings. So typically I might have half a dozen unfinished story lines in my head at any one time – what’s another one or two?!

I think humans have a huge capacity for story. We can and do carry many stories around with us; some where we know the ending and others that are still being played out, whether in real life, on TV or between the covers of a book. Stories we’re writing are just the same as stories we’re consuming (apart from the fact we need to remember more detail about them, of course!)

Anyway, I have decided to give myself a few weeks on the non-contracted novel before I go back to finish the other one, in good time before it’s due to be sent to my editor. It all helps keep writing alive and fun for me. After a period at the beginning of this year when I felt like giving it all up, I’ve worked hard to rediscover the joy of writing. Part of that is allowing myself the freedom to work on what I most want to work on.

What about you? Do you ever work on more than one novel at a time or not?