I've been working on a novel since August last year and I'm about half way through. But I came up with an idea for another novel and I've started writing that too! Has anyone else got multiple projects on the go? I don't think it's a bad thing. But I do feel like I'm cheating on my first novel :-)
The novel that has taken birth was meant to be a case study for another book that I was writing. It was a study about the course that love takes in generally every one's life, from attraction to infatuation and so on, and how love degenerates over time. The case study started to take shape into a wonderful story that ended up as a beautiful 70,000 word fiction novel. My original book is still lying in suspension waiting for some case studies! Maybe I ought to start another case study soon, who knows........!
I have seven stories, all at various stages of completion . . . a lot for me!
I am, though, currently working on one more than the others so that's fine and since the others are in a way linked to this first one, I've always got the characters in my head and constantly inspiring me.
Inspiration is a funny thing, isn't it!?
However, as an aside to Jon, I remember feeling like that five years ago when I worked 15 hour days on the first book in my series. It was unsustainable as I had two young children so I had to step back. (There was one night I wrote through until 6 in the morning, got up at 7 with the kids for school, started writing again at 9.30 until 3pm and when my friend saw me at 4pm after school I was so wired on adrenhalin she said 'Would you like orange juice because there's no way I'm giving you cafeine!') But if you don't feel that engrossed at anytime during the writing of a story, how can you have spent enough time with your characters to really understand them? A story, during its creation in your mind, does have to be all encompassing, I think.