How do people not get distracted by too many story ideas??

[someawkwardflame]

This may just be a severe adhd problem, but I always get distracted by too many ideas. I have been writing my story for a bit over a week, around 30-40k words in (don't ask) and I absolutely love writing it and I am enjoying it so much.

And I have 3 other ideas that seem equally fun to write and I absolutely know I won't be able to keep all of them up but how do you stop yourself? OR, how do you manage to keep multiple stories going simultaneously? They are all very distinct with little overlap in terms of idea's, so I can't really fold them into eachother.

I am asking out of desperation. I want to write all of them. Simultaneously.

 

[Deleted member 54065]

This may just be a severe adhd problem, but I always get distracted by too many ideas. I have been writing my story for a bit over a week, around 30-40k words in (don't ask) and I absolutely love writing it and I am enjoying it so much.

And I have 3 other ideas that seem equally fun to write and I absolutely know I won't be able to keep all of them up but how do you stop yourself? OR, how do you manage to keep multiple stories going simultaneously? They are all very distinct with little overlap in terms of idea's, so I can't really fold them into eachother.

I am asking out of desperation. I want to write all of them. Simultaneously.

I plan my stories, and follow those plans thoroughly. Even a sliver of self-discipline goes a long way.

Also, I avoid reading, watching or playing games...anything that might cause me to get ideas, while I'm writing.

And I limit my edits to three times, and only do edits after it once the mistake is glaring.

As for me, I'm currently working on four different stories, but chose to concentrate my efforts on my main novel, which is only three volumes away from ending.

 

[Azure_Fog]

Well this may or may not work, but here’s what I do. (Although I only have minor ADHD)
1. Ignore them! Normally it fades over time.
2. If you really want to write them, since you seem to have 4 writing ideas you could slow down updates for all of them to once a week and then write 1 chapter of each throughout the week.
3. Start writing a few chapters and see if motivation dies.
4. Alternative to #3: turn the other 3 ideas into oneshots.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Write them down. After writing down those ideas, keep writing main story.

 

[Kalliel]

Everyone does, so just jot down whatever you want to write and leave it for the future.

As time goes by, you will be able to think more about how to develop those ideas, what scenes to add, what kind of plot you want to build, etc. which is basically more planning anyway.

Don't let your brain forget it, because as a wise man once said—

You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow

 

[LilRora]

This depends massively on the type of person you are. Different solutions will work on different people.

I personally just try writing them as side projects, because I don't want to not do something and regret it. Once an idea has been stewing in my head for a while, I find myself some free time and sit down and write what comes to my mind, no overthinking, no planning. Sometimes I write 10k words, sometimes 50k, sometimes I realize it's just not a good idea and stop at the prologue. I might pick them up sometime, or I might not, who knows.

 

[JadieAlissia]

I don't really get that many ideas nowadays tbh. I started my last story because I wanted to write something, so I sat down and figured out an idea to write.

I used to get lots of ideas, so I'd write them down, do a little planning, do some character designs (I mostly did manga back then) but still focus on my main work. For novel ideas, I would write a chapter or two, but focus on my main work. Though I didn't manage to finish a novel until I was an adult because I wrote with friends and my friends eventually stopped so it fizzled out because of that.

 

[someawkwardflame]

Lots of good ideas - i wish it was as easy as self discipline, unfortunately severe adhd makes that very vert hard I'm certain cases. Other cases I'm great at it.

I'm glad I'm not the only with the issue, and lots of ideas to pick from here on how to manage it:)

 

[Bobple]

I write down the ideas and I work on them from time to time. This is what I do most of the time. But there also plenty I don't cause too many. Try to figure what ingore and what to make notes of.

I do also write one-shots or short stories to help get ideas out of my head, even if they are not fully developed.

But what really helps me is that my desire to complete something I've started is higher than me just wanting to create new things. I know this point doesn't really help, but making it so it has to be a fight first if I want to start something new (Cause my brain knows it will take up time form something I want to complete) acts as barrier for me.

The last point probably won't help, but maybe my first two points could? Other people have already given good advice so I hope you can find something to help you.

 

[Jemini]

Several people have said "write it down," which is good advice, but in my experience I think I can do you one better.

Don't write it down. At least, not immediately. You should move on with writing your main story while allowing the ideas for other stories to stay in the back of your mind. If the other ideas stick around without being forgotten, AND you also keep going over it and adding details and strong compelling outlines to the idea to continually elaborate on it as it keeps rolling over and over again in your mind, THEN that means it's an actual worth-while idea.

If you have that going on, start writing down a proper outline of the story idea, using all of the saved up ideas you've had while you've been letting this idea stew. If there are things you've forgotten, don't worry about it, those things you forgot were not important anyway. If they were important, they would have remained consistent through the persistent thoughts rolling around in your head.

This sounds harsh, but it's true. Sit on the idea for a while. If you forget about it, it wasn't worth writing to begin with. This is my advice to weed out the ideas that are not worth your time while saving only the ideas that are actually worth while. And, in following this method, it also means you will have developed the idea a lot more thoroughly than you would have had you just written down as soon as it popped into your head.

 

[someawkwardflame]

I write down the ideas and I work on them from time to time. This is what I do most of the time. But there also plenty I don't cause too many. Try to figure what ingore and what to make notes of.

I do also write one-shots or short stories to help get ideas out of my head, even if they are not fully developed.

But what really helps me is that my desire to complete something I've started is higher than me just wanting to create new things. I know this point doesn't really help, but making it so it has to be a fight first if I want to start something new (Cause my brain knows it will take up time form something I want to complete) acts as barrier for me.

The last point probably won't help, but maybe my first two points could? Other people have already given good advice so I hope you can find something to help you.

Your second point here is a really big iddue for me - it'd apparently super common with adhd. The dopamine release hit doesn't come from completing s thing, it comes from doing enough of it thst you convince yourself you could complete it. And tjen brain goes this doesn't give fun juice anymore do something else

 

[StarrGaze]

Several people have said "write it down," which is good advice, but in my experience I think I can do you one better.

Don't write it down. At least, not immediately. You should move on with writing your main story while allowing the ideas for other stories to stay in the back of your mind. If the other ideas stick around without being forgotten, AND you also keep going over it and adding details and strong compelling outlines to the idea to continually elaborate on it as it keeps rolling over and over again in your mind, THEN that means it's an actual worth-while idea.

If you have that going on, start writing down a proper outline of the story idea, using all of the saved up ideas you've had while you've been letting this idea stew. If there are things you've forgotten, don't worry about it, those things you forgot were not important anyway. If they were important, they would have remained consistent through the persistent thoughts rolling around in your head.

This sounds harsh, but it's true. Sit on the idea for a while. If you forget about it, it wasn't worth writing to begin with. This is my advice to weed out the ideas that are not worth your time while saving only the ideas that are actually worth while. And, in following this method, it also means you will have developed the idea a lot more thoroughly than you would have had you just written down as soon as it popped into your head.

As someone with the memory of a goldfish, I prefer writing my ideas down. They don't have to be good. I will look over the list for inspiration and combine ideas sometimes. It's like a Pinterest board for story ideas.

 

[someawkwardflame]

As someone with the memory of a goldfish, I prefer writing my ideas down. They don't have to be good. I will look over the list for inspiration and combine ideas sometimes. It's like a Pinterest board for story ideas.

my goldfish memory is so bad i have an idea and i forget it before i can write it down even when sat on my PC

 

[Jemini]

my goldfish memory is so bad i have an idea and i forget it before i can write it down even when sat on my PC

Odd, considering what I hear a lot about ADHD is that you hyper-focus on one thing to such an extent that it distracts you from what you're actually supposed to be doing. This, combined with the fact that when you set out to do something, you do it "enough to convince yourself you could potentially complete it" instead of getting it all the way done for real. In other words, this solution I proposed works almost perfectly with the way an ADHD person's mind works...

Wait, I just realized as I was in the middle of writing this you didn't actually say you had an ADHD diagnosis. Must have gotten it confused with someone else in a different thread.

Oh well, I will just post this here anyway because it's a point that maybe other people can consider.

(Maybe I have ADHD. I've never been evaluated for it, but the behaviors seem to be there. I almost certainly have Aspergers, and the two tend to go hand in hand to the point it's abnormal to have Aspergers without ADHD. (Note: The reverse is definitely a lot easier if not outright common to come across though.)

 

[someawkwardflame]

I have very severe adhd. You are somewhat right, altho there is no unique across the board tvis is how it works. Hyperfocus is how I've written 40k words in 10 days.

The problem is i have an idea while I am in the middle of another hyperfocus, writing that down before it snaps back is a challenge. Writing down ideas for the main stort i am focusing on us easy. Writing down an idea fot a story i thought about while in a separate hyperfocus is... an incredible challenge.

 

[prognastat]

I write it down in my long list of mostly dumb story ideas and then promptly forget about it until I check it however long later. Probably when I have an idea again. Repeat this a few times and then maybe one on the list keeps sounding good at which point I forget about it again and then maybe some time later I finally give it a try. By this point months or more have passed while I keep writing my current stories.

Then maybe of those I do try to write a little I might write a few chapters. Then lose interest and forget about them with only a few surviving this stage.

It's a really well thought out, complex, intricate and not at all arbitrary process of elimination that totally intentionally avoids getting distracted by too many new ideas.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I just mash them all into the same few stories.

 

[Rezcore]

put the new ideas in my google docs

 

[Deleted member 146224]

If the intrusive thoughts are persistent enough I just succumb to chaos and do everything at once until it passes.

 

[someawkwardflame]

If the intrusive thoughts are persistent enough I just succumb to chaos and do everything at once until it passes.

I'm pretty sure this will be my solution