Which writing habits work better: one novel at a time, or several at once?Utsudo used to finish one work before starting the next — the fastest way to complete a manuscript, but a big waste of time if it isn’t accepted. Now she prefers writing standalone works and series of up to five volumes at the same time, switching to another when she gets stuck, which is also more flexible.

Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

Two different writing habits

　　I believe every creator has their own preferred habits when writing.

　　Some prefer to focus on finishing one work before writing the next; others open several at once and write another when one gets stuck. I used to be the former and am now the latter… though not entirely by choice. It’sone of my survival strategies.

Pros and cons of writing one work at a time

　　I used to stick with one work, whether a huge epic or a short piece, and only thought about the next after finishing it. The advantage is that you can complete a work as fast as possible, so you don’t have to worry about publishers that don’t accept unfinished manuscripts, or about the pressure of rushing to write after posting online or getting accepted.

　　The downside is that you can’t be sure the manuscript will find a publisher, and writing one work for a long time really takes a lot of time and effort. I once wrote an epic of about 700,000 words — recklessly, as only my second work ever… My skills weren’t there yet, I was still figuring out lots of techniques, and I had school to handle too… so I got stuck again and again, it took forever, my patience was near its limit, and I only barely finished QQ

　　Luckily that series was accepted, or I’d have spent a massive amount of time for nothing… Of course, if you have no intention of publishing, you don’t need to worry much about this XD

　　But no matter how much you love it, spending a long time on just one work is still exhausting, because there’s so much else I want to write aaah!

　　I truly admire people who can write over a million words in a single work (not the kind of series where each volume stands alone — at least those let you catch your breath). The love and patience it takes must be extraordinary, and it eats up so much brain capacity… Though rambling, plotless stuff isn’t included in my admiration XD

The strategy of writing multiple works at once

　　After finishing that epic, I roughly ran a short work alongside a long one. If the long one got stuck, I could get a sense of accomplishment from finishing the short one. I also stopped writing series longer than five volumes, because if it isn’t accepted, it just takes too much time — during which I could only survive on photosynthesis…

　　More importantly, the longer a work is, the more it has to pass the commercial test to be published in full without being cut short… Newcomers are better off not trying, unless you don’t plan to go into print — building popularity online is also nice.

　　Now I prefer writing standalone works and series of up to five volumes, in parallel.The advantage of writing and hopping back and forth like this is that I don’t get as frustrated by being stuck. Standalone works are also less of a burden, better suited for submissions, and more flexible — though longer series still feel more secure (after all, the more volumes, the higher the royalties).

　　For series, I also write the first or second volume before preparing to submit. But if a manuscript is only planned up to volume three, I’ll consider finishing it all and then submitting to publishers that only accept completed manuscripts.

　　The downside is that it takes even more energy… and it all runs alongside works in publication, plus revisions, reviews and events for other publishers. Sometimes I feel completely drained QQ

　　Sometimes I also take translation jobs. When all the deadlines show up merrily together, every time I pass the window I imaginehow long it would take to fly from here down to the ground…ahem ahem ahem! I mean, what lovely weather today, hohoho.

　　Writing really is thankless work, but freedom is priceless. Sometimes I worry whether this is really okay, but I don’t seem to dislike this life. A bit of pressure makes me more motivated.

　　Well, at the end of the day I’m just a masochist (covers face)

Feiyan interview

　　By the way, yesterday Feiyan officially released my interview — everyone’s welcome to check it out!

　　There were way too many solo photos, though. I thought the editorial team would pick some, but they put in almost all of them

　　It’s basicallya shame playahh Q口Q

　　I don’t dare look, so I’m leaving it to you all (hey

FAQ

Further reading (in Chinese)

• Previous: #24 (in Chinese)
• Next: #26 (in Chinese)
• Start from the beginning: #01 — Utsudo’s debut
• Column introduction
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.

📚 More on this topic: Writing Mindset & a Writer’s Life: Ghost Island Column Guide