From the Fiction Desk

Many others ask, “How do you work on so many projects at one time?” At the time of this blog I am working on one novel that is in rough draft, another that needs to be re-plotted and a short story that may turn into a novel. On top of these projects I also am working on poems (several that are ready for submission) and two short stories that need to be submitted and a novella that needs a rewrite. If that was not enough to keep me occupied, I have five blogs I maintain on a weekly basis. None of this includes my normal “bill paying” full time job, spending time with those who are important to me, or dealing with the everyday time bandits that life throws at us on a daily basis. With this in mind, I understand the question. I wish I had an easy answer.

One of the things I do that help to keep things straight and not cross two stories is by focusing each story on a separate genre. If using this pigeon hole technique did not work I might have a pipe smoking detective ninja ridding a mechanical horse (or some kind of hover motorcycle) across the plains of Mars slaying demons while being haunted by spirits that want to posses his soul. While such a story might work, if you break down the elements of that sentence you can see how each of the genres keep a “personal zone” between them—making it hard to crossover.

Another aspect is time and project management. I will not expound into how to do that here, only say that there are several good methods out there that may work for you.

The final trick is realizing it is not that hard. Before anyone argues the point, let me ask you a series of questions:
Do you read?
Do you go to movies or live theater?
Do you talk to others about your favorite show, movie, play, novel, short story and be able to talk about other such stories? As an example: can you describe Star Wars, discuss Agatha Christie’s Black Coffee, what happened on American Idol this week, and what is happening overseas on top of your everyday life stories? Of course you can even if not these specific topics, then others that are of interest to you. This is no different of a mental process than doing that. The only difference is that you are dealing with your own stories.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for information on the blogs, stories, poems, and articles I write.

PS: For the record, I do not watch American Idol. I just could not think of a better example of that kind of topic off the top of my mind.