A Few Kinds of All Over The Place

[Makai_Lightning]

All right then. So I finish one project, and that's just great. Wonderful. Excillerating. I've edited it, which is even more awesome because it makes the writing not suck.

Time to start a new project, and I just the idea. Well, a few of them actually. But it's okay, I wanna work on... This one!

So I do, of course; I jotted down a few points, wrote a few preliminary bits and--Oh! wait! This one, this one!

As I don't want to lose this next idea I jot it down, and by doing so I realise it is just so easy to get something coherent down on paper, I end up with another good base for a piece. Awe man, but I loved that other one to bits... Oh, well thats okay, right? I mean, I wasn't quite sure where the beginning was going on that one either. Oh wait, this one is even less clear at the beginning.

I know, I know! I miss some of my old characters and wanted to play with other aspects of the world and new characters, I'll write a "sequal," and it'll be great.

'Cept for that I have soooo many directions I have no idea what's going on even though I've written about 4 scenes or scene bits already.


My god! What is wrong with this? I have held myself down from starting anything else and sort of half-hoped I could try writing all three at once so if I get stuck on one I still have something else to work on, but it took me long enough to finish just one project. And I think it'd be best to focus exclusively on one, with another on the side. I like them all though--I can't pick!


So. How many other people seem attacked by ideas and excitement? It's driving me nuts. >.<

[Alpha Echo]

Haha, YES! I just jot all my ideas down in a journal and keep chuggin' with my WIP. Sometimes, it IS hard because you get a new idea, and because it's fresh, you get excited about it and the WIP doesn't seem so wonderful anymore. Some people can work on more than one WIP at a time.

Not me.

I just stay focused and jot down my new ideas before I forget them. When I'm ready, I'll go back and choose my favorite. :)

[tehuti88]

I just posted about this in the other thread ("Am I crazy? Is this normal?"). Most of the ideas I get fit into a story already in existence (at least, in my head :o ) so I'm not too overwhelmed. The only issue is that most of these stories remain unwritten (for now) because I can only work on so much at a time!

I don't know, I guess I'm just good at dividing things up and deciding what to work on at any one time. I have lots of ideas, lots of storylines, and lots of stories in various stages. But I've never once felt overwhelmed by it all, or scattered, or terribly indecisive, or anything. I go through story moods. "Today I feel like tackling my occult novel again!" or "I'd like to start a short story featuring So-&-So." I work on whatever story suits my mood.

With reading it's different. I have got all kinds of books all over the place and it drives me nuts trying to decide which one to read next, and even though I'm already working on two at a time, I want to read others!!

[WittyandorIronic]

You know what I like about AW? When I am here I feel one of two ways, a) I am not really crazy, or, b) I am crazy, but I am by no means alone in my insanity. Either one is a good feeling.

So yes. lol. I do experience that. I go through manic creativity sessions and want to do everything at once.

[Liosse de Velishaf]

I also answered a similar question in the thread mentioned by tehuti. I'm often assaulted by many ideas at once. They usually come in bursts, though, not continuously. I somehow manage to keep my mind on my current project, at least in that I continue writing it. But I can't help at least doing notes and background and possibilities on the new idea. It can be frustrating at times, but I like that it gives me something else to work on when I'm stuck on my current project.

[Use Her Name]

I think if you pin down the "theme" you usually find your "all over there" thinking calming down. I think a lot of new writers confuse plot points with plot. Plot is the targets that you need to hit with "specific" actions, but you give your action direction if you have a theam. Sometimes you find you only have a few good choices, not as many as you think.

[Makai_Lightning]

I think if you pin down the "theme" you usually find your "all over there" thinking calming down. I think a lot of new writers confuse plot points with plot. Plot is the targets that you need to hit with "specific" actions, but you give your action direction if you have a theam. Sometimes you find you only have a few good choices, not as many as you think.

I have the theme for all of them... also all different. One is more love (or "love") and the barrier different social class creates, another one is more government based, which follows a man who's trying his hardest to fix the screwed up government in his country and ends up undermined by the government (there's a better way to explain that...), and the last one is a continuation of my last project, which focuses more on the repair of life after things were broken apart and trying to pass down the knowledge.

They are three very distint worlds, characters, and plots. I know in my head all the world's pretty well; if I sat down and focused on any one of them I could pull it all together quickly.

Last project that I did, I just decided, "I'm going to sit down and do THIS," and I did it until I was done. I had just as much or less of an idea what I was doing and where I was going as I do now for each of these three (and honestly, I have a list of ideas I'd like to mix together and cook up eventually too, but those arn't all coherent yet and I have no reason to look into any of them at the moment). It's throwing me off that I'm having more trouble with it now.

Actually, now that I think about it, I did have three ideas I was picking from then, but one of them I was already starting to not-like, the other was a bit messed up, and I was pretty sure which one I already wanted to do.

Ahhh well. It's not the worst dilema.

[Danthia]

I have a dozen ideas in a folder. When something for one of them hits me, I jot it down, sometimes write a scene. Some of these ideas are still fledgeling ideas and it'll be awhile before there's enough to be a book. The ones I move to the top of the priority pile are the ones that are fully fleshed and ready to go.

I've found that when I'm really excited about something, the fleshing out part goes way faster and they end up on top of the pile.

[wrinkles]

I work on only one story at a time. To decide which one, I let them compete among themselves. They can be very competitive with each other. Typically, one will give me a good beginning, but I've learned to wait. Another will call that beginning and raise a middle. At this point I'm tempted, but still I wait until another calls the beginning and middle and goes all in with an ending. That's the one I write.

[dianeP]

I also posted about this on another thread.
I go where the ideas are. Add a bit here, get an idea for the dialogue there.
When I'm not sitting down writing, I'm constantly thinking the storylines through. When it works and I've settled on the way the story or scene should take place, I put my other project aside and write the new ideas.
Isn't writing great ;)

[Dale Emery]

And I think it'd be best to focus exclusively on one, with another on the side. I like them all though--I can't pick!

Consider using that energy to as part of your reward system. Something like this: When I finish the next chapter of book A, I'll reward myself by writing a chapter of book B.

And to make sure this doesn't spread to a zillion abandoned one-chapter projects, add this twist: Each earlier book must always be at least one chapter ahead of each later book. So you can't write chapter one of a new book until your earlier books are complete through at least chapter two. And you can't write chapter two of a book until all of the earlier books are complete through at least chapter three. So each book will always be ahead of the later ones.

Or something like that.

Dale