Monday, November 25, 2013

Writing Tip- Two Stories at Once



There always comes that moment when you begin to procrastinate. You have written a little bit (but not even close to your goal for the day) and you get distracted. Pinterest calls to... Facebook begs to be checked.... Look- I can see outside through the window!

It's tough to stick in there, to keep writing. And we all have a little tricks to keep us on track, like Write or Die, the absolute cruelest writing app I have ever seen. My new favorite actually came to me last week.

You see, I have two books that I am currently writing: the sequel to Bonded Souls and a surprise story that I will reveal once I have more of it written. I also tend to have the bad habit of writing one or so pages and then getting distracted (unless it is a really intense scene). One day, I was writing on the yet to be revealed story and kept thinking of Bonded Souls, so I shift over to that one. Two pages later, I thought of the first story and went back. Three hours later, I found that I had written a total of 3,000 words and had not checked the internet once, just by switching between stories.

And now, that is how I write, with both books open, taking turns in each. I write faster, with fewer distractions, and I write more. For those of you writing a first draft, and you have multiple story ideas, it might be worth trying.

Here is a question for all of you. Would you like a contest where the prize is a guest post spot? You could shamelessly plug your book, work-in-progress, or blog, even all three if you wanted to. How it would work is that I would post pictures as hints to a major component of my new story, and the first person to guess what it was, would win. Tell me what you think!

Either way, here is a first hint:

6 comments:

  1. Oh, I'm so glad that's working for you! I've often wondered if that would work for me as well. Maybe I'll try it sometime. As for now, I have to concentrate on finishing my first draft.

    The contest sounds fun! But I don't seem to see the first hint. Is it there?

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    1. Hannah, do you not see the picture there? If not, try this think: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/30117891231933558/

      I just started it with two books that I started at about the same time, so they are in the same process. Hope you finish yours soon!

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  2. I guess you could say I've sort of been doing the same. I'm working on my first novel, and after I started writing I decided to make it a series, I can already see a vision for the second and third book, and sometimes I catch myself writing for it instead of my first. Ugh, I am so not explaining this well, I hope you understand what I'm saying.

    http://loriscreativity.blogspot.com/

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    1. I understand. Often I find myself day dreaming about sequels instead of writing the current story!

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  3. One question: what exactly would we be trying to guess when you say major component? Do you mean story plot, main character, driving message, or major event? Just looking at the first hint, I've got a pretty good idea what skills at least one of your main characters possesses.

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    1. It is more of a theme/ plot and setting. It involved who many of the characters are and their backgrounds, if that makes any sense. I will start the contest officially in two weeks, once school has let out for me and will probably run it over a week as a celebration of being out of classes.

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