I write a list of titles. Each title has a few words of explanation to remind me of an idea, (rather than define it fully). If a title represents a major part of the story, I may have subtitles to break that section down. I rearrange the order of the titles with cut-and-paste until they follow on, one from another. I write some text under each title, and think of some more titles to add. When the work is a few pages long, I create a contents table so I can see all the titles at once. This gives me an overview of my work and forms my plan (which develops as I go along). I then rearrange the order, write some more text, think of more titles to add and review the text I've already written. I make a few general notes too, each character's motivations, each subplot etc (all in the same document so I have all the information together). I use a separate document for text I chose to remove but think I might want to re-include during future edits. This allows me to be ruthless in what I take out. I think planning is important but it doesn't all have to be done at the beginning. Keep everything free, fluid and chaotic enough to encourage creativity.
Another thing to consider might be whether every idea belongs in the same story, or if it belongs anywhere at all. Just cus it's a good idea doesn't mean it has to be in the story. I'd say find what your story is and what you're trying to tell, and then cherry-pick your reservoir of cool ideas and use only the ones that serve the story best save the others for a different story. I think what you're already doing sounds fine. When you say you write them down, I'm not sure if you meant you're starting to write out the scenes as you see them. If not, then I'd try that. Eg. the moment you get the idea, just start writing and see what scene or story comes of it, rather than writing down only the idea as a note. But perhaps you're already doing this
Internally, I get an idea of what I want to write and then I write it out. Most of it won't flow correctly, I will make leaps in thought, and it'll end up being a stream of consciousness mess; however, as I rewrite and flesh out the idea itself, I quickly realize what I've wanted to write the entire time.
I use an old-fashioned spiral notebook. It allows me to outline, scribble some background, alternate ideas, all sorts of "what-if" scenarios. It also makes cross-referencing a lot easier. I can also mark up my notes with different colored pens or highlighters. When actually mapping out an idea, I'll start with a simple statement, maybe a character or two, and then jot some ideas of where it can go. I make a basic chapter outline with the express intention that it will change many, many times before I'm done. When I start on the computer, it's with the understanding that it's exploratory until I have a chapter outline that I know will be fairly stable. Once I have that, then I start really writing.
So this is really, really, strange. I am in the middle of writing my book. Actually, it is finished, but of course not edited or tweaked yet. Just written. I have started typing it. A few weeks ago, I had this dream. It was so real, and I know people hate hearing about dreams, so I won't give details. But my gosh it was real. I met someone in the dream that told me his name, and I was vividly aware of the details of our meeting. The scene was set in detail. I couldn't stop thinking about him, so I Googled the name. A few images came up, random ones, but the most present one was a British kickboxer. It is exactly the person I saw in my dream. Except he wasn't British in my dream... I have no idea how I 'knew' about this person. I have never seen kickboxing or MMA, or really know anything about it. There is no way it could have been planted in my subconscious. I live in NY. It is haunting me in a nice way in that I can't stop thinking about his face. I also have the beginning rumbles of another book using the details from my dream.
My advice: go for it. Many authors I know of work on multiple books at the same time. It might be hard to juggle them at first but as you get ideas, determine which book they are apart of, even if it is a new one. But my advice; don't try to juggle too many at the same time. If I had to say, three books is enough, but if a idea for a fourth book comes along, write a little bit down about it, even if it is in point form and comeback to it at sometime in the future.
I wrote a short story that was totally conceived in a dream! It was (years later) published here. Go for it! But I can relate to other projects popping up while you're in the middle of something. I cannot offer good advice on managing that as I'm struggling myself, haha.
Go for it, I'd say. Maybe keep primary focus on the current project but take down some notes and let yourself mull this new idea over in the background :>
It seems I will have to begin it. I am a bit rattled by the person from the dream being real, you know. Has that ever happened to anyone here?
My dreams are so surreal and hard to follow they'd be no use whatsoever. Too bad, because it sounds like it could be useful!
The brain is an amazing thing. I once read a study that said, every face you see in a dream is a face you've seen while awake. And I thought, well that's not possible. I'd recognize them, right? Wrong! The study claims that your brain is able to capture and process the most miniscule of moments. So every face you see in a dream, you did in fact see while awake -- you just didn't realize it. For instance, you dream of a beautiful brunette. Full red lips, green eyes with flecks of blue in them, bangs that hang just above her eyes. Where did this face come from? Anywhere! She could've been the barista at Starbucks. She could've been in line in front of you at the ticket counter. She could've even been a stranger who walked past you on the street when you were ten. You may not remember her -- but your brain does. So even though you don't remember seeing this boxer, there's a high probability you HAVE seen him. Saw a photo on the newspaper, a poster on the wall of a bar promoting his next fight, a tiny segment on the news. It would explain how you knew his name and face but not that he was British -- you only saw a photo. This is all just speculation, of course. You could just be psychic.
My dreams are the same way. I wrote one story based on a dream, and it read like I'd written it on acid—not in a good way. As far as working on two books, I say go for it! Having two projects going, instead of obsessing over one, may help keep your mind clearer.
Who says people hate hearing about dreams? I think most people (at least that I run into) are really fascinated by it. I think people, especially writers, roll their eyes when a writer overuses dream sequences in novels, especially for cliché purposes, but that's different."
Story ideas come to me in dreams often. In the dream I'm not thinking of it in a story context, but when I wake I think, "That would make a great story." Then I write it. Dreams have been the inspiration of the stories I've been most dedicated to as they seem to be the best ideas.
I have heard that as well, and by all means could be real. But my novel first concept was based off a few fantasy dreams that I've had over the years that seemed so real and vivid that when I woke up I knew it all and all the minor details. Since then I've just added an enhanced moral, setting characters story etc. But ultimately the dreams are still present.
My dreams are usually too weird to be made into sensible stories, though I write down the intriguing ones anyway. There are often parts in them that I really like, even if the overall "plot" is incoherent. They tend to have breath-taking scenery, action scenes and a kind of surrealism that I wish I could pull off so consistently while awake, with the occasional story-that-actually-kind-of-makes-sense. (Some of my dreams are also video games and I have started making a few of those, but never finished any.) Sometimes, they have precisely what I need for a book, though. The exact nature of an important city in my first Fantasy novel came straight from a dream and it was amazing. It was something I had never consciously thought of and worked a lot better than what I had originally intended for it to be like. The dream even came with a name for the surrounding area. Then there was a later dream where I saw my protagonist have a different kind of adventure than I was writing for her at the time, which is going to be the beginning of my next larger project. I'm really glad when these things happen, though at the same time puzzled why I'm more creative when asleep than awake.
This very thing happens to me quite often. I had reached a point where almost every story premise began from a dream. And I think using material from dreams is great. (I'm biased.) Our subconscious is full of unhindered creativity. Drawing from the subconscious can be great for gathering new material; It's stuff coming from the one person we can (or should?) all relate to best--our self.
Yeah, every story I'm writing is based on a dream. I have strange dreams.... Last night, I dreamt I had a baby who aged faster than normal. He was born with a full head of hair and three teeth. By the time I was able to leave the hospital, he had grown to the size of an eight year old boy and had named himself Andy. How he knew how to talk when he was only three days old is another mystery.
My mum had a dream where I was being chased by the government and that I could go invisible and leave their focus so they don't know where I was even if I vanished in front of their eyes. But every time I would go invisible, I would suffer a lot of pain everywhere. Harsh really, but kinda interesting.
I find dreams tend to give me very specific "images" - say, a girl in rags staring from a high tower of a futuristic city, a pair of robed figures walking the perimeter of an underwater dome (these are made up, before anyone starts to question what I dream about ) and a more abstract "mood", and I fill in the narrative blanks myself....
That's so interesting. I love reading about the brain, and dreams specifically. I've always had vivid dreams and can often remember then, even when I was very young. So, I guess I came across this kickboxer somewhere in real life, then? Hmm...have to think about that. But I have to confess that I am psychic as well...sometimes
I read from somewhere that Stephanie Meyer saw Bella and Edward in her dream and that's where the novels came from... Or at least the sparkly vamp scene on the meadow. I do get ideas for stories from my dreams. Last night I dreamt of a woman who owned some kind of intelligence agency. Before she sent her secret agents on missions, they had to serve her in the bedroom (an initiation of some kind; I'm sure it made perfect sense to her). They were, of course, all Hollywood level hunks. So I'm thinking this is gonna become the next 50 Shades. Or... no?
Incidentally, it was a TV show in my dream! I was watching it with my hubby and went like "this is so shameless it's like a gender reversal of Californication."
