And whenever we finally put the finishing touches on something, and release it into the wild, we're left with one question. A question that can provoke anxiety, uncertainty, and for some of us an outright fear freeze. That question is, quite simply, what are we going to dedicate ourselves to next?
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| No pressure... no pressure at all... |
Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!
Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!
The Right Tool For The Right Job
Now, all kinds of writers get project paralysis. Doesn't matter if you're doing it for the love of the game, or if you're an international bestseller, all of us will have those moments where we look around at the entire backlog of projects we have, and feel overwhelmed by our options. And the bigger your backlog, the easier it can be to feel overwhelmed. After all, what if you pick the "wrong" idea? What if you can't finish this one, and end up wasting time? What if it's not as creatively fulfilling as you'd hoped? What if you're out of touch, and no one likes this story as much as you do? Or, even worse, what if this is the one that defines you, and it becomes something you have to work on forever?
Pause. Breathe. Exhale. Drink of water.
It can be hard to know which story idea you should pick next out of your entire collection of concepts and characters. However, think about your stories as a cabinet full of guns. They're there in all kinds of different shapes and sizes, each a tool for a different job. So rather than panicking over which one you're going to take with you (or, worse, trying to take all of them at once), ask instead what kind of hunt you're going on, and which piece of your armory will serve you best in that endeavor.
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| Pot boiler mystery. I can churn these sum'bitches out! |
First and foremost, ask what your goal is with this project. For example, if you are looking to get in with a certain publisher or agent, they may only accept books of particular genres. That will help narrow down your choices. Alternatively, you may want to win a particular award, which will also narrow down the projects you have to choose from. If you want something that's going to be profitable, or appeal to the broadest market possible, you can also use that as a tool to evaluate which of your ideas has the most potential. You should also ask if you want to start a big, rolling project that might have many sequels if audience response allows it, or if you just want a one-and-done, standalone book.
Practical filters are often more useful, in my experience, than personal ones because they take a lot of our emotions and our egos out of the equation when it comes time to choose a book. After all, we may feel torn that we've left some of our older ideas to sit and rot, or we might feel guilty trying to choose among our projects because we've very attached to all of them. But if we can step back and say, "Look, I love all of you, but we have bills to pay. Our fantasy novel did really well, and our sci fi series is growing. So, next project needs to fit one of those two molds," then you're going to get a lot closer to actionable solutions than just agonizing back and forth about things.
Lastly, if you have either professional connections who can give you insight into your work, or a very active fan base, consider consulting them before you make your decision. After all, if you have a publisher or an agent that you've worked with already, they might be able to help read the tea leaves with you, and to make recommendations based on project pitches as to what they think will do really well. Or if you have a fan base that follows you on social media and weighs-in with their thoughts and feelings on your work, you can just ask them what they'd like to see most.
While no one data point is likely to help you escape the clutch of decision paralysis, if you get feedback from yourself and others, while comparing it with what you need as a return on investment for all the work you're putting in, that will often help you whittle your list of potential projects down to something far more manageable for you to choose from.
While no one data point is likely to help you escape the clutch of decision paralysis, if you get feedback from yourself and others, while comparing it with what you need as a return on investment for all the work you're putting in, that will often help you whittle your list of potential projects down to something far more manageable for you to choose from.
Speaking of Audience Input...
While we're on the subject of decision paralysis, though, I did want to ask my readers for their thoughts regarding what I pursue in the near future. For those who don't know, in addition to all my other projects, I also make videos for the Azukail Games YouTube channel. I've been working hard for the past year and a half or so to get that channel monetized, and one of the projects I'd like to pursue when that happens is to make some kind of long-form audio drama in a podcast format. Something that would be an extended version of the very short audio dramas that I've already made for the channel, like the one below.
Now, my original plan was to put together a show telling dark, modern fantasy stories in the Chronicles of Darkness setting, which I outlined in "Windy City Shadows," A Chronicles of Darkness Podcast Proposal. I even followed that original pitch up with some ideas for what I'd like to do with a second season, if I get that far, with Dead City Blues: A Potential Second Season For "Windy City Shadows".
However, while I would very much like to work on that idea, there are several other directions I could go with it. For example, I could put together an original sci-fi podcast drawing element such as the Titansworn Knights in their mechs, and the fanatical warriors of the Knights of The Void, both of which were found in my first Sci-Fi Audio Drama Trilogy. Alternatively, I could dial in on the Harrier's Guild, the corruption of corporate officers, and the struggle for worker rights that were the center stage of my Cyberpunk Audio Drama Trilogy. I could also delve into my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting to tell high fantasy tales, not unlike Send In The Dogs (a story of the Manhunters being used as a pawn by the Landers Guild), or Testing Your Wings (which details a sky race with the white dragon Frost Fang in Hoardreach, The City of Wyrms).
In short, I've been experiencing a bit of project paralysis, as my mind keeps coming up with more and more directions I could go, and all the different stories I could tell. My question for you, as the audience, is which one would you like to hear most?
If you want to weigh in, and help give me the feedback I need for this, please do the following:
- Leave a comment either on this blog, or on my social media where you found this article. Give as much feedback as you can about what you liked, and what you want to hear more of!
- Watch, like, and share the videos on the Azukail Games channel that are in the category you want to see a bigger production of. Videos with the most views are likely to get more consideration, and we still need over 1,000 hours of watched time at time of writing to get monetized.
- Subscribe to the channel. It technically only takes 500 subscribers to get monetized, but the more the merrier as far as the algorithm is concerned!
Your assistance and input are much appreciated, because it's difficult to figure out what is likely to get the biggest response from the audience. And at the end of the day, you all are the ones I want to make this for, and to entertain with these upcoming episodes!
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- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)
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Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!
That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!
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