How I write four books at once

I'm currently writing two of my own novels, developing one for a book packager, and ghostwriting a fourth. Here's a look at how I manage a work day!

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Writing multiple books at the same time
06:25 Horror novel brainstorming
11:35 What horror story stuck with you above all others?
13:54 Revising my mystery novel
16:30 Another tip for balancing multiple projects

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[MichelleSchustermanAuthor]

Alright, give me your BEST horror recs that I'll probably be too chicken to read/watch! 😅

[thelvey]

I find it scary when characters turn around for just a moment and something about the room has changed, either so big it is obvious or small enough they try to reason it away. And actually that's another thing I find scary ... when characters are dismissing things and not believing their senses even though the reader knows it's happening for real. I think the main character in the shining did a lot of that. Thanks for the vid. I like your title, but maybe consider "House of Four Shadows"? Just a bit tighter. I have a fantasy novel that would be a debut sitting at 180, 000 words and I sooo want it to be smaller but not sure how to do it! I'm in revisions right now and it is ... overwhelming.

[victoriatalkswriting]

I don't watch or read horror at all usually, but I was convinced to watch A Quiet Place a few years ago. I scariest part was the nail sticking up out of the floorboard. I think it was the anticipation that made me more scared than the actual moment someone stepped on it. As soon as it showed the nail sticking out, I knew someone would step on it and would have to avoid screaming. I was thinking about it even when it wasn't on screen.

[miaramck]

What gets me with horror is the anticipation, like the creeping sense of dread. Also, jump scares. I'm a wimp.

[reginaduke]

horror moments! The radio playing the same song by itself and not turning off even when unplugged. I grew up pre-wi-fi and pre-Mac-batteries, so this really scared me. The TV on legs coming to life in an early Twilight Zone (I think). Scariest book scene: victim waiting for the water in an enclosed tank to drown him/her. And boarding up the house in the Night of the Living Dead.

[eszamcmahan]

I’ve got two! The moment in When a Stranger Calls when the cops say, “The calls are coming from inside the house.” Like NOPE absolutely not!
And a scary story I heard as a kid when this girl goes back to her room for something she forgot before going out and doesn’t turn on the light. When she returns home her roommate is murdered and a message is left for her on the bathroom mirror that reads: Aren’t you glad you didn’t turn on the light.

Also I’m reading Other Birds by Sara Addison Allen right now and it made me think of your project because it’s a multi POV with a lot of POV characters. I’m not sure you really need examples or anything, but I thought she did a really great job head hopping and making all the characters interesting.

And I also just wanted to say I love your channel! This is literally my comfort YouTube channel lol and I’m super excited you’ve started posting again and hope you’re feeling better!

[JuliaDibbern]

I had to listen to a cassette tape (yup) about one "Duchess Dracula" when I was ten or so. For YEARS I couldn't be outside in the dark without my collar up to my ears.

[pietruszkapietruszkowa]

Hi Michelle :) I'm so happy to hear that you feel like coming back to Sandstorm (the real title is AMAZING! I LOVE IT SO SO MUCH) and I complitely understand the need to see things on paper. Right now I'm brainstorming my world (urban fantasy with multiverse potential and fairytale weirdness :D), characters, plot etc and I just need to have it on paper (with colors and everything) even if it would be so so so much easier to dump all the info into Scrivener. But it somehow does'nt click for me then, the feeling of words on paper is somehow different and I need it to be able to think about it.

And the most scary thing for me is Sadako from "Ring". I watched it 20? years ago (I was afraid to close my eyes then so sleeping was tricky) and to this day I sometimes go faster from bathroom to bedroom at night when Sadako will pop up in my mind ;)
There is no particular scene, just character as a whole: her movement when she was going out of well/tv, face covered with creepy hair, the inevitability of her (so even when she was just standing in the corner with those hair and everything i was terryfied).
There is also a scene in "Shining" (book), with lady in bathtub that seemed similiar enough to scare me too. Not as much but still.

I'm so happy that we can help you with your new book :)
Good luck with your projects and everything else too :)

[ravenmcknight]

Reading "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" really stands out to me! It doesn't rely on gore or jumpscares or anything, just builds the most intense sense of unease and dread. I ended up reading it all in one sitting and when I finished it I flipped straight back to the first page. I think it's a great example of atmosphere and has one of my favorite reveals ever.

[KriNina]

Hey Michelle 🤗 I love horror hahah, but tend to watch more than read the genre. Scariest scenes... Let me think.
Several moments in the Conjuring 1 and 2, especially the "hide and clap" and "Nun painting" scenes (shivers).
When I was little, I was terrified of The Sixth Sense, and in particular I kept dreaming about the scene where the boy hides in his tent and the dead girl slowly approaches and enters.
The Haunting of Hill House is also very good and so is Bly Manor, definitely recommend both if you're looking for ideas! One thing that always gets me if done well is the use of sleep paralysis, especially when you KNOW something is happening... or coming.
I know it's sort of a given, but highly recommend Stephen King as well: the books I've read have stuck with me not because there was something truly terrifying, rather for the way he builds anguish and a general continuous state of foreboding. A similar feeling is given by Hereditary; it's not scary per se, imho, just a well-managed angst (and one disturbing scene... if you know, you know 🙃).
Another movie that isn't extremely scary but has stayed with me for years---I still think about it sometimes---is the Skeleton Key.
Other tropes that can be pretty darn scary if used well: mirrors, house in the middle of nowhere (especially deep in the woods or surrounded by water), basements (sometimes attics too), darkness with meager light (flashlight, lighter, cellular, etc) flickering, bedroom door open into dark hallway (especially if asleep or trying to fall asleep), doors opening of their own volition, abandoned building, children. Yes, children. They can be absolutely petrifying in horror 🤣
Honorable mentions include: A Quiet Place, Case 39, Rec, Paranormal Activity, The Purge, The Others, American Horror Story, The Orphanage.

[wisdomwielder]

Recently just watched a YouTube short that was only 7 minutes long but literally one of the scariest things I've ever seen, and I'm an avid horror fan! Called Portrait of God 😱

[Avionne_Parris]

I dont do horror because I have an overactive imagination (plus I'm a big chicken). BUT I do LOVE Asian media particularly horror.

They get me to love their characters, then off them in heart-wrenching ways, leaving me absolutely gutted. Sweet Home and Alice in Borderland on Netflix comes to mind.

Sweet Home has humans turning into monsters due to a curse. This lady lost her baby to a hit and run so now she roams the apartments with a stroller that has a baby doll in it. She ends up caring for 2 kids who lost their father to a monster. Found family trope.

When she started turning, she fought it, made them lunches and knitted them scarves before turning into the most harmless thing against them: A fetus. I was bawling by the end of that scene. Everyone thought she was a horrible mother.

That whole series perfectly encapsulates the horrors of humanity and begs the question: "What makes a monster?" Because the "monsters" were fighting their urges to savlage their humanity while the real monsters were humans who didnt turn. Still haunts me today...

Have a great weekend, Michelle! Hi Rosa :-)

[esthermarieandujar]

Two scenes come in mind:
The wall of boxes with hundreds of Chuckys in it on Child’s Play.
Forever creep out by dolls.

When you see half of IT’s face in the sewer after the paper boat keeps going with the water current.
Forever creep out by clowns and the sewer gaps.

Granted… I saw parts of those movies when I was too young to see them.

[katbloo]

Thank you so much for continuing to share. So wonderful to watch your process.

[isammy]

For me it has to be spider granny in the movie Legion. It was a spectacular, eyes wide jaw dropped moment. At the time is was scary. To me it was the best scene of the movie.

[splufford]

I'm not good with horror so I don't watch many. I found The Omen very scary when I was younger - the whole Antichrist thing really stayed with me for ages. I can't even watch a clip of Stephen King's IT or I get nightmares! I also agree with another comment below that the Woman in Black was scary but my father laughed through the whole thing so I guess it's hard to find something that frightens everyone. One book I read which was a great ghost story was Dark Matter by Michelle Paver about an Arctic expedition where stuff starts going wrong. Well written and great build up of tension.

The scariest thing for me was a dream I had about my mother just after she'd died. I was standing in a creepy old country house at the bottom of the stairs looking up at a portrait of my mother on the wall on the upstairs landing. She was dressed in a late 19th Century black gown, her mouth was black and gaping and her eyes bright white glowing slits with this weird roaring noise all around me. There was a rushing, howling wind blowing everything around and my brother as a kid, was standing on the upstairs landing laughing and pointing down at me. My husband woke me up because I was apparently making distressed noises in my sleep. God, that seriously freaked me out! The idea that my sweet mum could be evil was really horrible. I had quite a few bad ones after she died but that was the worst. Just to say my mum was lovely so there's nothing odd in our relationship 🙂but I just kept having weird dreams after her sudden death.

[cybilmallory]

The bloody bathroom sink scene in the original IT movie always stuck with me. The Craft - Nancy Kills Chris scene too.

[TheCoffeeLife]

I'm so not good at dealing with horror. 😂I can watch some horror but reading it feels too in-your-face intimate which feels more horrifying.
Btw, thank you for your outlining videos. They've really helped me break through figuring out the 6 POV/3 timeline story. I admire the heck out of ya for working on 4 different book projects. I'm usually a one-project-at-a-time person but this year I'm also taking on ghostwriting for freelance (got my first client this week) editing one manuscript and drafting another. I'm working on my time management for all that.

[nocturnus]

You might be making space for Tiago Forte’s Second Brain method. Although most of what is online is trying to herd people into notion & other apps, the principles (CODE: Capture, Organize, Distillation & Express) play AMAZINGLY well with Scrivener… or at least how you are resolving your way forward.

[JoeyPaulOnline]

I really couldn't think of something horror that scares me, probably because I don't watch/read much horror as I'm a wimp!