Side projects, as in, you’re not working on them right now because you’re focusing on the main projects, but you do sometimes revisit or think about them. And maybe you actually want to take a break from your main project, but you also need to focus on finishing it, so you can’t really afford to.
Usually I bounce between multiple projects. Usually I have one story I’m editing, and then another I’m drafting.
The different case with Lunar Heart, Shadow Bound: The Moonstone is that the beginning stage is rewrite, so it’s like I’m writing a new story, but not really.
UPDATE August 2023: I’m currently working on Lunar Heart, Shadow Bound: The Moonstone, and Dead By Sunrise. It helps me to work on a totally different genre project on the side to reignite creativity in my brain.
In terms of other side projects that are literally on the side for me to deal with later:
Restructuring/rebuilding/reorganizing my website is the biggest one.
My side projects are my MAIN projects now! I’ve decided that placing The Ghosts amongst the God Slayers in the closet for now.
My top three and only three projects.
Arcane Proposal
The 25th Night Steals the Sun.
Isolation of the Adam Ark.
The Ghosts amongst the God Slayers is feeling too much like Red Reign and other failed projects wrapped into one. I don’t really like that.
The second one of my three is a Tower of God AU fanfiction. If you don’t know, Tower of God is a popular Korean webcomic/manhwa that is on Naver Line Webtoons and even got an anime series and will have second season.
Anyway, Arcane Proposal is pretty much a story about her a girl marries a royal then they birth the most dangerous and deadly heir who forms a criminal empire.
I am handwriting number 2 and 3, but very slowly and really taking my time.
So, those are or rather were my side projects. Now, my main project is my side project till I can come up with a better plot/story for it.
Good for you for doing all that! I can’t focus on more than one project at a time myself. I just live and breathe that one universe until it’s done, and can’t concentrate on anything else until it is. ¯\_(ﭢ)_/¯
I do want to attempt to write an entire series offline and then rapid release it when all of the books are done, but I haven’t even started that yet. Maybe I’ll try in four days when Camp NaNo begins. ٩(˘◡˘)۶
Reading is really my only side project. At the moment I’m reading Dune, but only a few chapters in.
I feel like all of my projects are main projects, unless it’s a short story or something quick.
But yeah, once I feel that the magic is gone, I switch. I hate the feeling of abandonment it creates but the reality is that I’m extremely slow if I’m forcing myself to work on a project when I don’t want to.
It’s a much better use of my time to switch to a project I feel that spark for and will actually make progress in.
I have my two main series. Then I have a couple of spinoffs I want to do for my main mystery series, Beyond Dark. Main story focuses on female killers. I want an organized crime spinoff, a prequel about the main series, a spy spin off, some stand alones for secondary characters, and a cold case spinoff.
Meanwhile, I have a dark fantasy series I want to revisit from years ago, and a rock star trilogy I want to finish. I also want to publish some of my true crime blogs into books. So much to write, so little time!
Beyond Dark will be at least ten books depending on how my MC’s character arc plays out. The novella series, I haven’t decided yet. But yes, I do have too many projects Clones would make life much easier!
oh my gosh, it's a struggle! too many ideas roll around in our creative minds, it's hard to stick to one story at a time.
i’m pretty sure i have like almost fifteen story ideas that i’ve already equally written about five to ten thousand words for. they’re my side projects that i’ve reserved for when i finish my main projects. i tend to add to them when i get inspired by something, and almost all the time i add a few more ideas into the plot or direction of the story i want so i don’t forget them!
i just gotta know how to organise them though because so far they’re in one document under three different headlines (which are genres) so romance/teen fiction, mystery/thrillers and fanfictions. and each story have their own title & descriptions so i know the gist of the plot i wanted to write a novel to.
what’s funny is that i actually have three main projects that i’m working on and each of them are of different genres. like you mentioned, it’s easier to write more than one book at the same time when they’re not in the same genre. it’s just the time that’s consumed into doing a chapter for each one every week or so that’s a little bit daunting and seems impossible.
my current three are: an unkindness of ravens - one tree hill fanfiction the starting lines of a living blueprint - romance/teen fiction rescue you - mystery/thriller
I only add to mine when inspiration strikes for one or the other, or if I feel like being in a genre. That’s a weird thing to say Idk how to explain it… sometimes I feel like surrounding myself with my fantasy lore, other times I feel like I want to be in a silly MG sci-fi, and other times I want to fill my mind with magic realism and satire.
It’s like I’m a mood writer like how I’m a mood reader
Idk if that makes sense
I like this title
I’m not familiar with one tree hill. What’s the genre of the story?
Hard question:
Do you have a favorite among your three projects?
oh nooooo, i mean like - the three main projects. when inspiration strikes for the side projects, i add it to those ones. and no i totally get it, i’m kinda the same with mine. if i’m in the mood to write some romance, i switch to that genre. if i’ve watched some tv show or something that has to do with crime or something, i get inspired and switch to the mystery/thriller genre, and then sometimes i feel like carrying on my fanfics. it’s kinda like having three different personalities at the same time, that only come out over the smallest of things.
thank you! i can’t take credit for it unfortunately, it’s a title of a book that the main character in the one tree hill had written, i thought - since this is a spin-off of the show, that i could use that title as like a gateway from the past to the future. its genre is teen drama, romance. it’s kinda like the oc or 90210, it revolves around five main characters - teenagers. it’s actually pretty old. i didn’t actually watch it when it came out, i saw an edit of the show on tiktok like a couple months ago and was interested enough to watch all nine seasons of it before i had this incessant need to write a spin-off and continue it… i have a knack for binge-watching shows with loads of seasons.
that is a very hard question i think i prefer my mystery/thriller project, there’s just so much that i can add and make up and my imagination runs rampant for this particular genre. i have a feeling that it has to do with the amount of shows and movies that i watch of the same genre. like i’m a big fan of shows like criminal minds, bones, castle, carmen sandiego (odd one but surprisingly relevant), the rookie, ncis, csi, hawaii five-oh etc. and i love horror and gore too. it’s kinda scary how much i enjoy watching scary movies.
i think i prefer my mystery/thriller project, there’s just so much that i can add and make up and my imagination runs rampant for this particular genre. i have a feeling that it has to do with the amount of shows and movies that i watch of the same genre. like i’m a big fan of shows like criminal minds, bones, castle, carmen sandiego (odd one but surprisingly relevant), the rookie, ncis, csi, hawaii five-oh etc. and i love horror and gore too. it’s kinda scary how much i enjoy watching scary movies.