I had a great question the other day from a guy at work. He knows I’m a writer, with my first novel coming out soon, and wanted to know if I’ve got any new writing in the works at the moment. My answer was, Yes, I’m in the middle of drafting three stories.
He gave me a surprised look and confirmed, Three?
That’s right, three separate books concurrently written. A prequel, a sequel, and something completely different to keep things exciting. To that, he wanted to know how I don’t get them all tangled up and confused with one another. Therein is the interesting quality of being me, and writing the things I do.
My explanation was something to the effect of, I spend most of my time thinking about these characters and their situations. They’re like friends. Just as a normal person probably wouldn’t mistake one friend’s life with another, I can keep track of the people in three different books at the same time.
I didn’t mention that I’m actively reading two novels and a bunch of short stories by other people as well.
From the perspective of someone who doesn’t write, this concept seemed especially amazing. I know a whole lot of authors would also agree. Myself, I just don’t struggle to identify each character, and even if I need a refresher, I have a lot of notes. I’m kind of obsessive with note taking these days. Even though I can follow the lives of half a dozen main characters and twice as many minor characters doesn’t mean my memory is any good. I’m in their worlds so often that there isn’t anything terribly confusing about it, not at the drafting stage.
I might disagree when it comes time to edit.
~A
The Fane 
Many of the writers I know are like this too. It’s hard to be tied to one story and not burn out after all the work that goes into each story.
The amazing part to me, having read your stories, are the complex details of the worlds you must keep in order. Your notes must be something!
I always have a really serious story, and an easy practice piece going, no matter what. Some of the writing done as a relaxing diversion will never progress beyond the first draft, but that wasn’t its job; those ones are intended to keep me from bogging myself down on one thing!
Thanks, Nina! Yeah, the notes are pretty absurd, honestly. As in, getting close to a novel’s worth of behind-the-scenes information. XD
~A
Huh, you know I never really thought about that. I guess it would seem complicated to non-writers, but you explained it perfectly. How could we get them confused? The only things I have trouble keeping track of are dates and occasionally locations (which applies to real life, too, hehe).
Exactly! I lose track of things in my books the way I do in the rest of my life. Everything else doesn’t pose much of a problem. 😉
~A