What do you do when an idea won't stop bugging you?

So, most often, my stories don't come to me as full ideas with beginning to end plans. Oh no, they only come to me in snippets, like, fragments of scenes that wouldn't even make up a thousand words of content. Every so often I have an idea or two that won't shut the fuck up. The scenes are usually small and (likely) inconsequential to the plot as a whole. I hate that these ideas bug me so much, but I don't want to just throw them away. I'll eventually wind up writing the darn thing in the first place, but right now I have a fanfiction, an original fiction, and two fanfiction ideas that I'm working on!

Now, generally I like to rotate projects every three weeks, and usually I'll finish a chapter (rarely do I NOT finish a chapter in 3 weeks) and then work on a different project for a bit. Mostly to avoid burnout. However if I wrote *every* project idea I had I think I'd go insane keeping everything in order lol

 

I create a Scrivener file for it in which I put down all the thoughts and snippets which come to me fully formed. That gives me some relief from the 'itching' of the idea, as well as providing a great base for when I can actually start writing. Even though I'm a pantser, I find for me it's better to hold off on starting an actual draft of something until the idea has been fermenting like that for at least a month or two. Before then I rarely have a full sense of the depth of the idea, so beginning only results in frustration and thin work.

 

I'm a total pantser. I call these flashes or sparks.
They usually embody something important I want to have in my story, and seem to fit very well on their own, so they have some value in them for sure.
It depends on where in the story this spark is, compared to what's already been written. If it's, say, on the next page but I couldn't possibly get there, I'll write it down and see what the important elements are (character A hurts character B, or there's a lesson or theme involved), and try to make sure the next few scenes contain those messages/feelings. Sometimes there's a certain texture to the spark that you're missing. Some focus on smell, or sensation, or emotion. Maybe even something your character needs but can't have, right now. Treat it like a character's daydream or nightmare which you don't show 'on screen' but may inform their actions anyway.
If the flash comes further in the story, I need to treat it like one of the possible storylines. I could be going towards it, and I usually do. Along the way I get new ideas and the flash becomes less and less relevant. I've given it enough attention though, and the final result is some form of the flash incorporated reasonably naturally into the story. Or I decide in the end it's not the right thing to do, and the itch also goes away.

The point is to treat them respectfully and explore them sincerely, but don't be bullied by them. If you're right, you're right. Once you know why, the itch goes away.

 

I take a break from my current project and write down what I'm envisioning. Then I make it get in line with the rest of them, waiting it's turn to become a full story. For me, doing that makes it easy to let the inspired new story/scene clear from my head and I can stop being distracted.

 

I've had the same thing happen to me a lot. I end up writing out scenes that may, or may not, end up in a story because they're either really cool or just bugging the hell out of me. I once wrote a fanfiction that came up to 130k words, but only about 98k made it into the actual story. I devised an interesting way to deal with this. Since I've started hosting stories on my own personal site, a lot of these bits and pieces have been turned into 'behind the scenes' material. What I meant by this is that they turn into little snippets, scenes, or even small stories that happen between the main adventures.

I've actually posted them between the main stories as little self-contained events that give readers some insight into what goes on in the lives of the characters between the galaxy threatening events (it's sci-fi). Some have some action and adventure in them, others are long conversations about various matters of interest, it could really turn out to be just about anything.