Am I crazy? Is this normal?

[jennifer75]

So, kinda sorta working my latest WIP.... Keep in mind my WIP is a book 2 to my VERY VERY FIRST WIP which is still unfinished.

I open my writing folder on my desktop and what do I discover?

You really want to know? Cause it frightens me.....

FIVE New WIP ideas....each about 200 words in!!! WTF am I thinking? What are these? When do I expect to.....how do I expect to.....

Bad thing is that I look at them and I Love the ideas I have.....but really.....that makes 7 WIPS UNFINISHED ON MY PLATE.

Who does this!?!?!?!?







Something tells me - all of us.

Is it that easy for you? An idea pops up.....and bam. What do you do with them?

[Karen Duvall]

Not me, but I have a friend who outlined NINE books in a series. I don't know how she did it, but she plans to write all nine. She's got two finished and has seven more to go.

So yes, other writers do it. Is it normal? I guess it's normal for you, right? ;)

[Clair Dickson]

I perpetually have new ideas. I keep trying to live increasinly hermit like since seeing things/ people often sparks new ideas, but I still have to leave the house for work.

I usually jot the ideas down-- usually on scrap paper and stick it my little box. But sometimes the ideas get started on the computer and stored in the ever-growing "Scraps" folder.

Since I'm a short story writer, too, I can often pull some of these ideas into shorts. (I think many of the ideas I have are better suited to short stories.)

As long as you can finish ideas instead of just start new ones, you'll be fine. And if you ever figure out how to staunch the flow of ideas, lemme know. My little box is getting full....

[Susan Breen]

Ideas pop up but then you have to wrestle them to the ground and tame them. Or maybe that's my children I'm thinking of? :)

[astonwest]

Tie them up, throw them in the basement, and fetch them later?

The ideas, that is...not the kids.

[redpbass]

Mine are banished to the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet, organized in whatever way seems appropriate at the time. Most of them are two or three sheets, though if I remember correctly, I also have:

1) a 4 book series, vaguely outlined that I have started
2) vague outlines for a group of interconnected standalone books leading up to a MASSIVE story that sums everything up and is best described as an epic fantasy that will change EVERYTHING in the world I built :p Probably 7 or 8 books in all, or more if you consider other books concerning the main characters separately.
3) 20-30 single book ideas, about 1/3 with a rough outline, others are just a quick runthrough.
4) another 50 or so (!) ideas that might be bookworthy but are more likely to end up as subplots or short stories. When I realized how many of these I had, I almost had a heart attack.

When I realized how many ideas I had already written down, I decided that enough was enough and I ought to do something about it, so I started writing them in book format.

So, the answer to your questions?
1) Yes.
2) As normal as any writer can be.

[Stunted]

I get new ideas all over the place. At first, it was hard to stay dedicated to the WIP, but I think that my having doing so has been good for me as a writer. When I actually start the other stories, there will be a couple of years of planning behind them, which will be good.

[roncouch]

So far, the ideas that pop up are generally about my current WIP, so I either use or discard them. You probably are not crazy, but who knows?:)

Ron

[Del]

Yes. I just write it down, sort of a quickie outline, and then go back to what I was doing.

[Adam Hammonds]

Have to have a conversation with myself:

Yes. The one you're with is the best at the dance. You can't do any better. Stop looking around--no! Stop looking over there! You're not that kind of man . . .

But, alas, loyalty is such a fragile commodity . . .

[MsK]

Sounds like my writing folder.

[Liosse de Velishaf]

I'm very easily distracted. So while I am concentrating on my current project as best I can, I occasionally enjoy fractured affairs with several others, one of which is an enourmous epic fantasy world with several series and standalones planned. I don't write shorts, and I don't come up with ideas for shorts often, so I guess I'm leveled out there. On the other hand, my current project has four siblings: a duology, and two standalones that are partially parallel with it, so having ideas for those actually helps my main project. But then I have another huge project on the back burner that's only a bit smaller than the epic fantasy. Then two other projects both of which have planned mulitple stories, though they are all standalones. So yeah, seven ain't lookin' so bad now, is it?

[jennifer75]

I perpetually have new ideas. I keep trying to live increasinly hermit like since seeing things/ people often sparks new ideas, but I still have to leave the house for work.

I usually jot the ideas down-- usually on scrap paper and stick it my little box. But sometimes the ideas get started on the computer and stored in the ever-growing "Scraps" folder.

Since I'm a short story writer, too, I can often pull some of these ideas into shorts. (I think many of the ideas I have are better suited to short stories.)

As long as you can finish ideas instead of just start new ones, you'll be fine. And if you ever figure out how to staunch the flow of ideas, lemme know. My little box is getting full....

haha....great advice.

I wonder if I should start thinking more about short stories.

[jennifer75]

I'm very easily distracted. So while I am concentrating on my current project as best I can, I occasionally enjoy fractured affairs with several others, one of which is an enourmous epic fantasy world with several series and standalones planned.

Well the interesting thing is I've been writing for 2 years now. All of these other ideas have cropped up in the last month or so. I've never had this happen. Have I evolved?

[L M Ashton]

that makes 7 WIPS UNFINISHED ON MY PLATE.

Who does this!?!?!?!?







Something tells me - all of us.

Is it that easy for you? An idea pops up.....and bam. What do you do with them?
Only seven? You're quite restrained. :)

My first novel also has snippets of two other novels set in the same world to keep it company, plus I have an additional 9 other novel ideas should I decide to continue writing in that world.

Second novel has another two more ideas set in the same universe, and really, I could come up with a lot more than that, should push come to shove.

I've got, uh, half a dozen novels partially completed, one in editing hell. All of them have supplementary ideas for more novels set in those worlds, probably around 40 or 50 all told.

I have three or four more novel ideas that are pretty solid and partially developed, but need heavy duty plotting and will be written eventually.

I try coming up with short story ideas, but they all - so far - end up as novels. It's quite pathetic, really. :)

[dwellerofthedeep]

I counted. I have about 10 main settings and about 30-40 total stories I could write starting any time my workload lightens. The problem is that those numbers keep growing.

Once I join the million words a year club I figure I'll start catching up.

[ChaosTitan]

New ideas go onto index cards (if it's just a snip of something), or get their very own folder in My Documents, in a subfolder called Idle Ideas (if it's more than just a snip). They dwell in those places, ripening, until it's their turn.

[Liosse de Velishaf]

Well the interesting thing is I've been writing for 2 years now. All of these other ideas have cropped up in the last month or so. I've never had this happen. Have I evolved?


My first real project started about two years ago, as a single (novel-length) story. Most of my current ideas have cropped up in the past six months. On the other hand, I've stopped writing as much poetry as I used to. I guess you could call both our changes evolution. Or a variety of other things, none of which include "bad".

[tehuti88]

Well, I'm fortunate in that most of the ideas I get are for details WITHIN stories, so many ideas might go into just one story.

However, I do have this novel series where I keep coming up with new ideas for individual novels. I've written three. And there are supposed to be like thirty or something of them by now. :D And I'm not even actively working on that series aside from rewriting the three novels I DID write because now they suck, *LOL.*

Oh, and that's not even counting all the OTHER story ideas I have in various states of assembly...

I don't think it's crazy or wrong or anything. That's how some human brains work. The key is in finishing something, sometime.

[JRTurner]

Oh, this is a very good thing :) At least imho.

I have an "Ideas Folder" on my desktop so that when lightening strikes, I don't lose the idea or the moment or the scene, etc. When I'm in the middle of another novel (usually working on deadline) I pop these ideas into that file and wait until I'm free to pursue them. Sometimes I'll take two or three and combine them together. Many of them are inspired by vivid dreams or what I think about in the shower. (For some reason, showering gets my brain working overtime in the plot department.)

What's really cool, is if you get the chance, you can take these unfinished ideas and create proposals out of them later on. Many (mostly established) writers sell on proposal alone, so it's great practice to get those ideas down and save them.

Another awesome aspect is if you're truly excited about the idea, it can help motivate you to get bichoking in a major way to finish up your current novel so you can get started on the one that's calling, "Write me...write me now!" Lol :)

That's how I work, anyhoo. I have a friend who writes on one book in the morning and one in the evening with afternoons spent chatting, networking, marketing, doing interviews, etc. It works for her, but I don't know if I could do it.

Best of luck to you! :D

[Charlie Horse]

Rubbish. Ideas are supposed to be like kidney stones. Deliberately slow and painful to develop and purge from your system.

[NeuroFizz]

Sorry, but it's time to trot this out again:

Never mistake activity for achievement. John Wooden

Here's a challenge for you: Finish one of the things you are working on.

[Alpha Echo]

I write down all my ideas when they pop into my head, but I don't start writing them! I couldn't handle so much on my plate at once.

Don't freak. Just...go with whichever one seems to flow first and set the other's aside. :)

[Use Her Name]

Many writers keep folders and a file cabinet (or computer equivalent) filled with all sorts of idea scraps. It is good to have something to use when you have a gap in your schedual.

[Phaeal]

Your little WIPs are called plot bunnies. Here's how to handle them:

1. Catch them by writing them down, in brief, as you've done.

2. Put them away in a nice safe hutch.

3. Pick one to fatten up into a full-fledged story or novel.

4. Work on that bunny until it's ready for the pot, er, submission. Leave the other bunnies alone. They don't need constant attention. I think they have the amazing ability to live on dust mites, which are ubiquitous. Also, while they in the hutch together, they may what bunnies do and cross-fertilize each other.

5. Why work on only one? Because it sounds like you're a starter who needs to learn how to finish. This can be a very difficult discipline to acquire, but the only way to acquire it is by finishing projects consistently. Some people can work on several projects at a time, but for many, it's a dissipation of energy and a way to avoid the terror of middles and endings.

[eLfwriter]

Wow ... I'm glad I'm not the only one with too much on my plate ...

I used to rotate whatever story I was working on for the moment until I realized that I had 25 files rotating on my poor beat up Macbook and I was losing notebooks all over the place. That was when I had an epiphany. For me, choosing two stories to teeter-totter works really well. That way, when I get stuck on one, I can whip open the other and keep writing with barely a pause to get rid of the whip-lash disorientation.

Everything else ... follows the bunny-hutch theory (which I really, really like by the way Phaeal!! It makes total sense)




New to AW and already finding common ground. You guys are awesome.

[TheAntar]

So, kinda sorta working my latest WIP.... Keep in mind my WIP is a book 2 to my VERY VERY FIRST WIP which is still unfinished.

I open my writing folder on my desktop and what do I discover?

You really want to know? Cause it frightens me.....

FIVE New WIP ideas....each about 200 words in!!! WTF am I thinking? What are these? When do I expect to.....how do I expect to.....

Bad thing is that I look at them and I Love the ideas I have.....but really.....that makes 7 WIPS UNFINISHED ON MY PLATE.

Who does this!?!?!?!?

Something tells me - all of us.

Is it that easy for you? An idea pops up.....and bam. What do you do with them?

Pull as many of those ideas into your current WIP as possible. :)

[Smiling Ted]

Yes.
And yes.

Now finish one and record the others.

[scope]

I don't know what's normal for others, only what's normal for me.

When I have a WIP I work on that one idea. If it's a series then I will have some sort of outline for the books to follow, but only enough of a basic outline to satisfy my agent or an editor. Basically, my attention must be on the WIP since unless that's bought nothing else will follow.

When I get ideas for different works I make note of them and file them away in my "future concepts" folder.