Does anyone else here suffer from "Multi-plot overload?

[Scaletalon]

In simpler terms, I'm referring to when you make many different stories in your head that you find good enough to be written, so much that you don't have time for all of them.
I personally go through this alot and tbh I don't mind it.
I actually like knowing that I've got many stories that I can write in the future and not be able to run out of ideas . Just want to know if anyone else here goes through this and how you cope with it. For me I just write outlines and do them one by one or sometimes even back to back.

 

[LuciferVermillion]

Yes, sometimes, you would get something like a 'Eureka'.
You get a really damn good scene in your head.
So write down whatever you have.
Think and see where it could fit into the story.
However, it can't fit into the story just yet, so you save it up for later use.
That's how I do it though.

 

[AmbreaTaddy]

In simpler terms, I'm referring to when you make many different stories in your head that you find good enough to be written, so much that you don't have time for all of them.
I personally go through this alot and tbh I don't mind it.
I actually like knowing that I've got many stories that I can write in the future and not be able to run out of ideas . Just want to know if anyone else here goes through this and how you cope with it. For me I just write outlines and do them one by one or sometimes even back to back.

Same, I have a document with all the stories I want to write. When it's just a synopsis or a general outline, it's on the same document, but when I start to flesh it out, it gains it's own little file. But I forbid myself from actually writing it, unless I have a lot of chapters in reserve for my current story, and I can afford to spend a few days working on something else.

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

I'm the opposite. I'll come up with a good idea and become so laser fixated on it that the book ends up being less than 100 pages long and nothing happens that isn't 100% related to the main plot. Sometimes I'll leave it like that, other times I'll try to expand it. You can usually tell when that is because the characters will abruptly break away from the main plotline like they've suddenly decided to chase a sidequest.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Heh.
I have two active stories here, and one on Royal Road.
Plus one "finished" on HoneyFeed, one finished here, and...
Six partially written and not shared anywhere
(1. A "romance novel" - 30 chapters in; 2) a Western Isekai around ten chapters; 3) a time travel thingie at chapter four; 4) a story about a mummy in the same universe as the story on Royal Road; 5) a story with a very unreliable narrator who drives a cab - and is a very powerful mage... who drives a cab, at chapter four I think; 6) an urban fantasy/isekai/smut novel; not to mention fragments of Jack Diamond books 3 and 4, and part two of Between Worlds, even though part one is barely halfway in)
Every once in a while, one just DEMANDS I focus on it, so I do. Otherwise I just try to work on one of them one day, another the next, and rotate.

 

[John_Owl]

I used to. My means of handling it? I write them.

At least the basis. I've got probably 130 different starts, ideas, and general concepts. Once it's down somewhere, I can allow my mind to move on, back to the story at hand.

 

[ShrimpShady]

I have this problem a lot. But then when I decide on one story to write, I start suffering from zero plot overload when my nature as a pantser inevitably catches up to me after the first couple of scenes.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

Planning helps. Adding a dash of self-discipline to stick to what you have planned will take you a long way.

 

[Clo]

As a rule, I deal pretty well with having new ideas for new stories. Currently I only have:
- a second series lined up for the same universe
- the story for my strategy rpg
- a super hero story about a mind reader
- a litRPG story with a game dev protagonist (someone on reddit commented how they would read a "what if" hypothetical I wrote)

My biggest issue is creating new threads and more plotlines as my series advance. Before long the "main story" might become so secondary to all the other ongoing things!

 

[NtrAddicted]

I'm going through this, in my current novel the MC and other characters are doing things simultaneously in 4 parts, I need to write everything very carefully so that the action time between them is aligned without holes in the plot. It's a headache. It's not different stories but they are different arcs at the same time within the same novel, as if they were mini stories that must be connected to each other

 

[Azamukul]

YESSSS!!!! ALL THE DAMN TIME! ?

Like bro lemme focus on the 4 I'm already drafting!

 

[Wanderrae]

I just draft the rough idea into a google doc folder, of the few stories I've written since last year. I probably have twice as much I never touched . If you're referring to the same story instead, I have so many subplots I've opened, there's so much material i can implement in my story, that I don't even know what to do with.

 

[ArtBusterBeeze]

That is me. I have all type of ideas for stories. Its okay to have them and keep thinking of them. Though, the worries would be not enough time to write them as you have to keep focus on only what you can do.

In the end, writing one improves the idea you have for the other , at least in my case. I just think to myself which ia more important to think about right now or if im not able to write atm , let the mind wander.

 

[Tempokai]

If you're writing "one plot, one story," then it is a problem. But if you're writing "genre bending action-adventure slice-of-life webnovel" like me, it's actually a feature, not a bug. The way you manage the multi plot problem is to make mini endings for that concept, idea, or setting, and only reuse it if you know how to expand on it. Basically a shonen way of managing such multi plots, where the idea exists only when author needs it to exist.

 

[unlaumy]

I'm always guilty of this. But after some times, I finally able to stop thinking about them all. At most, if there was a really cool idea, i would just pull out a note and make a few paragraphs summary of it.

Other than that I would always try to make sure my active projects are no bigger than 3. There's 1 that's a crack fiction to filter random ideas, too emotional ideas, wish fulfilment, etc, while the other is a 'serious' project.

 

[Stemcells]

I'm glad someone mentioned. It's frustrating how I abandon the first plot and start working on at least three different ones that, idk why, look very, very appealing to me when I'm not into them for long. ?
That just leaves me somewhere in the middle of unyielding chaos, none of them gets completed. ?
I'll be like- I should've slept instead?

 

[DeoxyNacid]

In simpler terms, I'm referring to when you make many different stories in your head that you find good enough to be written, so much that you don't have time for all of them.
I personally go through this alot and tbh I don't mind it.
I actually like knowing that I've got many stories that I can write in the future and not be able to run out of ideas . Just want to know if anyone else here goes through this and how you cope with it. For me I just write outlines and do them one by one or sometimes even back to back.

I suffer from single plot overload...*sighs*. Good luck on your story!

 

[soupsabaw]

Yes yesss. And it's so annoying because gah which one do I focus on first??? It's so hard to made a decision too