Torn Between Two Projects

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by James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell

There was a hit song back in the 70s called “Torn Between Two Lovers” (not to be confused with the Hannibal Lecter hit, “Torn Between Two Livers”).

In the song, a woman is telling her first love that he’s great, and everything she’s told him about her feelings is true. But there’s this other guy she’s met who fills an “empty place” inside her. Now, she says, I don’t love you any less, and I don’t want you to leave me just because I’m torn between the two of you. I’m feelin’ like a fool because that’s breakin’ all the rules, but still I want you around…

I always thought that first guy should have written a song in response, with the simple refrain: Buh Bye.

But I digress.

What I really want to talk about is being torn between two projects. It’s happened to me a few times in my thirty years at this gig.

Before I was published, I wrote a wild novel that was a complete joy. I had fun every day creating a pastiche of comedy and commentary. I fancied it a cross between Tom Robbins and Douglas Adams.

It was original! Surely a publisher would want original. Because that’s what they’d say. “We are looking for an original voice…”

That was only partially true. I quickly found out the second part: “…but not too original.”

In other words, they wanted a fresh voice for an existing market.

Perfectly legit, as the book business is, gasp, a business.

So when my original work of surpassing genius was rejected faster than a Snoopy story (remember the Snoopy-as-writer strips from Peanuts? He once got a letter: “To save time we are enclosing two rejection slips, one for this story and one for the  next story you send us.”)

Thus, it occurred to me that maybe I should spend a little time considering “the market” before deciding what to write.

Around this time, a good friend (and published author) said to me, “You’re a lawyer. Why aren’t you writing legal thrillers?”

Duh!

So I wrote a legal thriller and got a contract.

But then there were a few times when I had two ideas for a next book to fulfill a contract. Which one should I spend six months on?

So I made up a self-test. In a fit of modesty, I named it “Bell’s Pyramid.”

The base of the pyramid, PASSION, is the foundation, the most crucial factor. I came up with a list of questions and assigned a score, from 1-10, for each.

  1. How excited are you about the concept as it stands now?
  2. How invested are you in the main character?
  3. Does the main character have potential to deepen?
  4. Is there a theme involved for you?
  5. As a prediction, how excited do you think you’ll be about the book two months from now?

For POTENTIAL:

  1. How marketable is the plot?
  2. How are the stakes life or death (physical, professional, or psychological)?
  3. How likely is it that you can raise the stakes?

For PRECISION I would write a logline for each project. A logline is Hollywood-speak for a sentence that captures both the essence and market potential of a script. For example:

A great white shark hunts for food in the waters of a New England town at the height of tourist season.

Teenager Marty takes a time-traveling DeLorean into the past, where his young mother gets the hots for him, and where he must get his father to win her again before Marty ceases to exist. 

Then I’d assign a score, 1-10, on which logline best captures essence/market potential.

Add up all the scores, and there’s your WIP.

And the best part is that your project will not be angry that you have another “lover.” You can develop that other project on the side even as you write the first one.

So how do you decide what book you’re going to write next?

31 thoughts on “Torn Between Two Projects”

  1. Even removing the publishing element, indecision on which project to work on is a frequent issue. And I’ve spent far too much time hopping back and forth between projects with the end result naturally being almost none of them are done.

    It wouldn’t be so bad except that every story idea I want to pursue is one that requires a good deal of research, so it isn’t just about the writing time. Plus I don’t tend to think in “stand alone” terms but almost always in a book series (if you’re going to do all that research, you may as well make it work for you, I say). And THAT leads to tying yourself in knots because as you brainstorm a series you come up with a bunch of different directions it could go.

    Passion doesn’t resolve things for me because I wanna write them all!

    What I like about your pyramid idea is that I’ve never held my feet to the fire and required myself to write a logline for the projects when trying to decide. Again, for me, not so much about marketability but about trying to decide which of my passion projects should come first.

    I think I will try the logline approach–I’ve been wrestling between 2 book series and spinning my wheels. I’ve got a general concept for both series but have not done a logline. That would be a good way to see which project has the greatest potential to be successfully completed given that I have way more story ideas then I’ll ever be able to write.

    But first I have to brainstorm an idea for a particular short story contest I want to enter before the end of the year…

    • BK, I did a lot of “hopping back and forth” when I first started trying to break into print. I needed an “objective” way to get direction…thus, the pyramid. Seems even more useful for deciding on a series, so for it!

  3. I noticed that the number of bullets per level of the pyramid are pyramidal as well, and that bottom level, passion, holds true for most of our creative endeavors… be it writing, painting, music, dance… especially the first three questions:
    1. How excited are you about whatever you’re pursuing?
    2. How invested are you in pursuing your muse (“she” definitely wants to be pursued, after all… I mean, “she” doesn’t just show up and stand around waiting to be seen and invited in, you know…)
    3. Is there potential to deepen and grow and improve?

    Oh, one last thing… there’s that song about the old English soap company, “Torn Between Two Levers…”
    …but alas, I, too, digress…

  4. “…they wanted a fresh voice for an existing market.” Jim, thanks for defining “publisher speak.” That’s a more articulate explanation than I ever heard from any agent or editor.

    Are you ever torn between a nonfiction book and a fiction project? How do you decide in that situation?

    Thanks always for your wisdom!

    • Debbie, as far as the non-fiction, I follow the Asimov Way. He would work on his fiction, get up, sigh, and walk over to another typewriter with a non-fiction project. I can do F/NF easily. But with fiction, once I’m up and running with a WIP, I only do “development” with other ideas. It’s like shooting a movie while gettng the next project ready.

  5. Great advice (but who would expect less?).
    My motivation for the last project (available for preorder now!) and the next is to be able to write off the cost of my travel. But I need to follow your pyramid for the next steps. I know where at least a good chunk of the book has to be set. I’m pretty sure I know the hero’s name, and that it’ll be a Blackthorne, Inc. book. Beyond that … still busy getting ready for release day and all that goes with it for Double Intrigue. I’m not good at working on two writing projects at once.

  6. Jim, excellent insights. Ideas are plentiful but those that will carry an entire story are less abundant. I have more than once jumped off, and temporarily put aside, the manuscript I was working on and onto another one that kept intruding. When asked which of the stories someone with several ideas should work on first, I always say, “The one that wakes you up at 2 in the morning,” It won’t go away and will keep nagging so do it first. That’s what I do anyway.

  7. Right now, the next book in my current series is the one I’m going to write, but when the time comes to write something different, I’m going to keep your system in mind.

    Come to think of it, at least part of this approach can be used to select the next idea for the next book in an ongoing series if one needed help. I lean heavily on the passion side. With Meg Booker, I have premises and titles for Books 4 and 5 as I write Fine Me Deadly, but nothing after that. I’d love to continue the series, but will of course check in with myself once I’m further along.

    Thanks yet again for giving us some great advice and tips.

  8. “We are looking for an original…but not too original.”

    Yes, that’s the balancing act we have to learn. We have to make it new and personal yet relatable. I’m reminded of a classic from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin is stumped by a test question that wants an answer “in his own words.” He writes “Yakka fug grug,” and says, “I love loopholes.” Clever, maybe, but that answer won’t get a passing grade.

  9. Enjoyed the article, and don’t have anything to add to the conversation, but . . . I just had to say thanks for the ear worm, dude.

  10. This is great, Jim!

    I do have two projects going right now…still in the 3×5 stage. One is a novel, the other is a non-fiction.

    The Passion and Potential questions were a snap to answer for the novel. Now I’ll have to work on the logline(s).

    Happy Sunday!

  11. Great advice, Jim, and very timely for me. I had this very problem in 2023 when I was working on two novels: the first in the Lady Pilot-in-Command series and the first in the Reen & Joanie Detective Agency series. Even though I was struggling with the plot for the LPIC book, I kept getting drawn back to it. I finished both books. LPIC won out, but I wish I had had your advice back then. It would have made the decision easier. (Btw, I was in the same quandary this year, writing the second book in each series! Reen & Joanie won this bout, but I’m glad to know I have your list for the next round!)

    I love that Snoopy cartoon about the two rejections.

  13. Having tried several times before to work on two or more projects at the same time, I’ve realised that that direction isn’t my forte. When I leave all else and focus on a project, therein lies my strength. For now, I’ll stay in the confine of my strength.

  14. I seem to have one series, a book at a time in me. While I’m writing whatever book I’m contracted for, usually a character pops up who will be in the next book. Dunno if that’s a good thing or not…and I REALLY miss Calvin and Hobbes.

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