I'm really of no use here. I tend to hyper-focus, that is, focus on one thing until it's done. I have a hard time multi-tasking. I don't write multiple stories at once, though I do jot down ideas I get for other stories as I go. I don't read multiple books at the same time and I don't play multiple video games at the same time. I stay on one until I'm done before moving on. That's just the way I go.

But now that schools out, I am finally able to refocus on my sequel. I know I'm close to being done and the further I go, the more I realize I need to edit. In the last two weeks, I've had a character jump out at me and essentially demand more 'screen time'. So that will be part of my first editing job once this is finished. I'm currently on page 164 at 87k and expect to finish around 200 pages. When finished, I've got three people lined up for initial feedback (two here on NWeb). After that, editing, and intense polishing on my end, I plan to send it to three more separate people for fine tuning and grammer. Then in the meantime, I will be researching larger publishers than Lighthouse, while keeping them as an option. I'm going by faith here and we'll see where the Lord leads.

Fencer, have you ever read the blog archives of Miss Snark?

The web address is: http://www.misssnark.blogspot.com

Snark is an agent for books, and a good one too. She's got spectacular advice for sending books in to agents and I'm slowly going through it. It's been very helpful to me.

I was wondering, what do you do when you have two novels that you really really want to write but you just can't choose which one to write down first?

DO NOT WRITE TWO AT ONE TIME! I know this from experiance... it's a stressful mess. But maybe write like the first chapter of both, see which flows the best and stick with that.

I usually write more than one book at the same time, and I've never had any problems. I guess it varies, person to person.

Just work on the one you feel most inspired to work on at the time, and see how it goes. If you don't like how it turns out, you can always re-write.

~Riella

I can't really write two things at the same time either; I usually just end up giving up on both of them. So I try not to let myself start something else, when I'm determined to finish whatever I was doing before. But I agree with Ithie; it varies, I'm sure some people can work on several things at once.

I'd lean toward writing one book at a time. When I was younger and wrote in every free moment of my time, I'd sometimes write two at the same time. Now, being busier, I just write one at a time. I can focus on one story and finish it. I do understand your problem; I have tons of story ideas running around in my head. Which one do I want to write?

~Arya

I do understand your problem; I have tons of story ideas running around in my head. Which one do I want to write?

oh I suffer from that terribly, I always have more ideas in my head and I just can't write them down fast enough, and then I am always stuck with "which one should I write first" I wish there was some way to slow down or control the story making part of my brain...but it's impossible, I will see just one little something, hear a song or think of something and bam the story is in my head *sighs*
It's so nice to know that someone here understands my constant predicament

I generally like to write one thing at a time, my problem is I can't decide, one is historical fiction and since I am a BIG fan of historical fiction and it's set during the French Revolution, one of my favorite times in history (terrible time to live in....but great for stories ) and my other one which is set in modern times, I really want to write both of them, but they are such monumental tasks that I know I should only write one and a time. With the one set in modern times it's a little more tricky cause I am stuck with writer's block, I can't get past the first chapter, but since I started it I really want to finish it....but I desperatly want to write the other one too cause I'm not stuck with writer's block and I've completed the first chapter and it's just flowing from my pen. But I hate to abandon my other story....it makes me feel guilty, I just hate leaving a story undone.....oh I'm confused

If you have writer's block with one, but write freely in the other, that might even be God showing you which one He wants you to write first. In any case, I'd go with the one you're writing freely first. There's no reason to feel guilty. Just save the other one in a file, tuck it away somewhere, and return to it later. It will still get done, most likely. I mean, you have your whole life to write it.

Anyway, it's better to at least use this time writing something, then just be sitting there, stuck on the other one, doing nothing.

~Riella

I try not to work on more than one story at a time. Inevitably, though, I'll end up with a half-dozen unfinished fragments on my computer, with only one being pursued to the finish. I promise myself that I'll come back to all of them...someday.

Usually I write down whatever first inspired me and whatever scenes flowed from that. If nothing else follows (or if I'm already committed to another project) then I set it aside. I'm really looking to get published right now, so I have to be strategizing what I'm working on with that goal in mind.

...Aaaand on that note, I'm going to ask you all about query letters. Now I know that Fencer here is the only one who is published, but has anyone else ever queried or looked for an agent?

thanks for the advice Riella I guess I'll stick to my historical fiction I am enjoying writing it very much, I just felt guilty that I abandoned my other story (still kinda do feel guilty, but since I simply can't write it at the moment there is little I can do )
The title of my novel is 'Where Sin Abounded" and as I mentioned above it's set in France during the French Revolution, it's divided into three books righto before the revolution, during and after and it focuases on the lives of two brothers Andre and Raoul.
It's actually a bit of a revolution for me cause I tend to mainly write about girls but here the main characters are both men. Raoul is the protaganist though and also the antigonist, in the story he is having to constantly deal with himself and the desicions he makes, he is a good man but prone to hate, anger, bitterness, wrath and revenge, which lead to some sad things in his life. But I gave my story a happy ending (at least I think it happy ) it's really a story about redemption, true love and hope

That's great that you're pursuing publication. You may have mentioned this earlier (I've forgotten if you have), what type of thing are you doing?

In all honesty, while I am published, I've really only done two queries and both were to Writer's Edge Service, a Christian screener that lets you know if you are good enough for a publisher to take a look at you. The first time I was rejected (and for good reason.). I wasn't ready at that point. The 2nd time I was accepted with open arms.

You've already seen my advice on what I've learned about the publishing industry and I'll quickly go over it again. First off, research. Know what the publisher/agent want. If they want fiction, don't give them poetry (unless they are asking for that too). If you have non-fiction and they just want poetry, don't send them non-fiction. If you don't send to a publisher/agent that wants your type of work, or more importantly if you send a genre they don't want, you will be easy to get rejected.

In the query letters, keep the primary form to AT MOST 2 pages. This includes bio info about yourself, your marketing plans, your qualifications to being published, etc. That last part was a challenge for me because I'm writing a fiction novel about spiritual warfare and my 'credentials' are college student in an engineering field. I've now graduated but I didn't really have any marketability personally when I sought publication. But in the query form, put down what is pertinant to why you qualify to get published, but don't go into excessive details. Give them the general picture. This query letter is your resume to the publisher/agent. Some advice I've been give for resumes is to give a new one specifically altered for that application. I can say the same thing for the query letter. Make your query letter personal to the publisher/agent. That means looking up who recieves the letters and who processes them. For the scanner, to see an addressed name shows initiative, a willingness to pursue, and greatly helps towards that critical first impression. And it might get you onto the 'priority' stack rather than 'process' stack and a much better chance at not getting onto the 'automatic reject' stamp.

Good luck with that and if you have any more questions or need advice, I'm happy to offer what I have.

Lots of authors go to agents; the blog I mentioned before, http://www.misssnark.blogspot.com gives alot of great advice about how to format queries and who to send them to. I highly recommend reading her posts.

I was wondering, what do you do when you have two novels that you really really want to write but you just can't choose which one to write down first?

Have you tried making a summary of both? That way, you'll get a little "taste" of what writing one will be like, and then you can decide which one you'd rather be writing. You can at least get all those brilliant ideas down so that you can come back to them later!

I'd never write more than one thing at once, but I know of authors that do that all the time. With multiple series. One in particular has three different series going at once, and in the span of one year, he'll have three, four, or even five books published. I don't know how he does it!

I often have more than one project in the works at the same time; that way I have a little flexibility when it comes to which one I feel like writing in (unless my muse happens to strike with a particular one ).

Most of my recent stories are set in the same universe, so it's fun expanding that universe depending on which story I'm working on. An exception right now is the Ditto Town RP "Supernova" - which has new characters I've not written for before - which is drawing quite a bit of my effort right now.

I was wondering, what do you do when you have two novels that you really really want to write but you just can't choose which one to write down first?

Have you tried making a summary of both? That way, you'll get a little "taste" of what writing one will be like, and then you can decide which one you'd rather be writing. You can at least get all those brilliant ideas down so that you can come back to them later!

I'd never write more than one thing at once, but I know of authors that do that all the time. With multiple series. One in particular has three different series going at once, and in the span of one year, he'll have three, four, or even five books published. I don't know how he does it!

I did sort of summerize them, but I am a terribly double minded person and making up my mind is something really difficult for me but since I've decided to write 'Where Sin Abounded' now all I have to do is stick to it and not let some other idea for a story get to my brain

Wow four or five books published in one year... that's really amazing, I wonder how on earth he manages

I'd love to get my works published someday, but I don't think I ever will, I'm not sure how it works here in Russia, and I'd never have the courage anyway Besides I mainly write for my friends and prefer not to show my works to people I don't know very well......I'm extremely shy about my writing