I think having time to be bored is the greatest sorce of inspiration avavilable. Only boring peole get bored, the rest of us think up something to do. And if you're a writer that something often includes watching someone elses life unfold in your mind.
I think writing requires a visit from the Muse, and the Muse has her own schedule and her own agenda. You will know when she arrives. Evans
I sit and write "what if" questions. Ex. What if I took two friends from this century and placed them on planet where customs were similar to those of ancient far east. The more questions generated the sooner an idea hits and since you are already writing...
Hi, I'm new to this community. I've searched several pages back but no other thread seems to cover this question. To the more experienced writers, I'm looking for insight as to how you deal with multiple story ideas and inspirations. Let's say you become inspired to write a book. You flesh out the idea, construct the story and characters (or whatever you do) and start writing. Weeks or months go by and your story has progressed on paper but is not finished when suddenly you have a new inspiration and idea. What do you do? Do you pen down the idea and push it out of your mind? Do you shelve the other story and start working on the new one? Do you continue working on both? Naturally everyone works differently. I guess I'm just wondering if the general consensus is ride whatever wave comes for as long as its there, or if its to stay disciplined and focused and fight off impulse. Looking forward to your responses!
Welcome. You're right that everyone works differently, and what I do may not work for anyone else. I'd say it's a good idea to jot down the idea to work on later. I don't do any jotting. I focus on the story I'm working on, because I'm still very excited about it, and the other idea stays in the back of my mind for later. I only think about it occasionally, when one of the characters starts speaking to me. I tell the character I'll write her story later. If I jumped around I'd never get anything done. I'd have dozens of half-stories. One benefit I find to this method is that if the new story idea I got while writing the original story was really good, it's still in my mind and fresh and can be written. Or I have had the time to reflect and realize it was a useless idea, if that's what it was. For me, this is less about discipline and more to do with an insatiable need to get the current story out. This story's characters won't leave me alone until I do. They'll yell at me that they were here first.
I have way too many ideas at a time too. I have a notebook that is nothing but random story ideas that really struck me. Specifically ones I'd like to write someday. I do this and tell myself I can work on them later. It gets me excited about my other ideas, but keeps me from being too distracted from my current project. That being said I have dropped stories before to work on a new idea. I've had a new idea excite me sooo much that I couldn't focus on anything else. My brain kept weaving this story even as I worked on my original project. After over a year of still being excited by the distracting new idea I changed projects. I was having difficulties with the original project though anyway. I liked the idea but was backed into a corner and couldn't work out much of the plot. I personally recommend a notebook. It does help me keep focus (for the most part lol) on my main project. Besides even if I remember a year from now the neat idea I had, I might not remember a small detail that went with it. Writing it down makes sure I don't forget for later. I'm very forgetful though.
I'll often be outlining one project while working on the first draft another. I've no problems with alternating between two or more projects these days (usually my current main project, plans for the next one, and then a number of short stories). However, when I first began writing seriously it felt impossible to return to an older project after starting a new one. Most of my ideas are actually scrapped once I've finished the outlining. By that time the novelty of the new idea has worn off and I have to decide whether or not this is a project worth carrying on with. If I choose to begin writing the first draft then it is most likely that I will see it through to the very end before starting the first draft of something else.
I say write when you're inspired. Inspiration can be hard to come by sometimes, so when you've got an idea, for the love of all that is good and holy, go with it! Write with abandon (assuming it fits within your outline), you can always go back and polish it later. If it means ignoring your other story for weeks or months, so be it. But that's just my style and it's not necessarily the best way.
i might work on both, or might wait on the new one till i've finished the current one... or might put the current one aside for a while and start the new one... it all depends on what i feel like writing most at the time... some writers might use the strong desire to start a new one as motivation to finish the current one, not allowing a new start till the first is finished, while others might use the break to let the current one simmer, so they can come back to it with a fresh perspective and impetus... don't do what anyone else does... there's no right/wrong or best/worst way to proceed other than what's right/best for you...
I jump between each one and if i get an idea for another, i do some of that. Writing different stories for me is a challenge, at the minute I'm trying to work on my fantasy since i have a good idea of my two sci-fi ideas. It depends on the writer though.
I work on one with inspiration, when I get another, I start it, I will return to the original eventually. While working on my first story, I started over seven other books. The original if ever will need to be re-written. I am currently rewriting the other two that I finished just after the first. My orginal was not in the same genre. Weird, rewriting is as enjoyable as writing originally. I at least get something down when I feel the story building in my mind.
I never leave an idea if I'm making good progress with it. If something else occurs to me while I'm working on something, I'll make some notes to save for later but I try never to do anything to break my momentum - life does enough of that. OTOH, if I get stuck, I may back away from a project for a time and begin exploring the idea already tucked away. More often, a switch from one project to another will occur when I've hit a natural stopping point - completion of the first draft, completion of editing and rewriting, or even (twice, so far) after sending out query letters.
So, I have this story I'm working on - and as of current - I am working on the background information and research for the story's plot, setting, etc. This is the only story that I have actually taken time on and hadn't jumped inside it yet. I came up with the idea about one and a half week ago and I'm still working on the plot. I spent a decent amount of days on the research itself, and I still feel like it's a little underdeveloped. Well, here is my issue, every time I spark an idea and grab my notebook to write it down, I'm always being distracted by someone or something. For example, I'll be sitting in my room writing and my father will holler for me from in the living room and he will tell me to sit down with him (usually to just spend time with him) or it's usually over something completely pointless (like, to fetch the remote); and as soon as I return to my bedroom, the inspiration for the story is gone. I'll either lose the will to write or lose the idea I had. It really irritates me to no end because the little free time I do find (aside from working 5 days a week and attending school on my days off) I'm always distracted and basically not given the time to write. Have any of you gone through this? And if so, can you please provide me with some helpful tips on how to escape the distractions and have time to write? I already go to one place every once in a while (the local library) but I'm usually distracted while I'm there too, due to my father wanting me to get him something from the store (he has me do this because I'm already in town). Sincerely, aimi_aiko ps. It has, once again, been much too long since my last thread post. Lol.
I think this is one of those things that plague most writers. We all have things going on in our life that often fight directly against what we want to achieve. I think most people who consider themselves writers also do something else to pay the bills, as you indicated you work 5 days a week and go to school. That's a whole lot of stuff going on at once. I think you just have to set some time aside to just write and maybe go somewhere else? Have you considered talking to your father about it? (I know that might be daunting, depending on your relationship). Saying that sometimes you need some time to yourself? These are tricky things that most writers deal with, I think.
I know many many people who have taken years to write novels. All I can advise is get a notepad with you at all times, disown your family and murder a rich relative (probably better to do those last two the other way around). Only then will you have total freedom to write. Besides that you could set blocks of time for yourself, insist on not being disturbed. Even 30 minute blocks every day would help you out a lot. Turn your phone off, lock the door and write.
I take my laptop outside. Aside from it being too far for my family to yell at me, it also has the benefit of being too far for my wireless router, and keeps me from going off on Youtube/Facebook/Pinterest/Writing Forum tangents (which I am notorious for). I have 3 kids, a husband, a full-time job, and part-time college courses...I feel ya, but you gotta find something that works for you. Talk to your dad, or put headphones on and at least pretend to have music up so loud you can't hear him, or "accidentally" leave your cell behind when you go to the library. You owe it to yourself to get those good ideas outta that head!
Everyone is different and writes differently, but even before that, they have to figure out something original to write -- short story or novel or even poems. And I am sure that everyone does that differently as well. Do you brain storm? Read to get inspired? Search the webs? Go on walks to see if you can spot something unusual and maybe spark an idea. I know all I do is find a quite place in my basement and just lay there and think of all the possibilties. So my obvious question is: How do you find you ideas? -Kingzilla
Not true. They only have to write the story from their own unique perspective. If you can't begin writing until you have an original story idea, you'll never write anything. As for sources of inspiration, just do a search for threads with the word inspiration in the title.
I find ideas in the real world. I might overhear a snippet of conversation while standing in line waiting to order coffee, or see (but not hear) a scene unfolding across the street, or .... All it takes is to see something unusual and to ask, "What if?" or "Why are they ... ?"
By writing! Keep writing your less original stories and develop your skill. It should come to you in time. The best way to have a good idea is to have a bunch of not so good ones first. Getting good at having ideas is the same as getting good at anything. It requires practice. Always keep in mind that good writing and good ideas aren't the same thing. If you're a good writer you can take a bad idea and still write a good book (and vice versa).
Thump is right. I mostly think about things that have either happened to me -- or could have happened to me if things had been slightly different, or happened to a friend, or neighbor, or friend of a friend that I heard about, or even a news story I read online. Just recently, on this very site, someone new said they found us because they were searching for a parenting site, and that mostly what they write is homoerotica. That made me think (and I even commented to this effect) that that could be a great premise for a story, although carry it a little further. Maybe a novel about a parent who is the primary caretaker, but his/her profession involves writing erotica or producing homoerotic films or something. It could be interesting to explore the dichotomy between this writer getting really into writing a scene and being constantly interrupted by the kids, and having two completely different images to uphold among different groups of people, and either preventing the kids from finding out or dealing with them finding out, how this affects the relationship with the MC's SO. You could introduce other genre elements, like mystery or romance, or whatever. But sometimes just hearing about some situation like that can set up a great jumping off point for a story. I'm always interested in what makes people happy and how they handle relationships, what motivates them, what would be hardest to do without -- those kinds of themes, so they're pretty grounded in the real world and various scenarios are not really all that hard to come by. This might be different for a genre like sci fi or fantasy, although even those often have a focus on how interpersonal relationships change given an extreme situation such as isolation or war or something. Also, questions about plot always remind me of a conversation I had once with my father when I was a teenager. I don't know how many of you remember or are familiar with Pee Wee Herman -- he was basically this man-child who had a show kind of geared to kids, but he made this absurdist film about his character. I was going to see the movie, and the "plot" was that his bicycle was stolen and he needs to get it back. I explained this to my Dad, who was not too impressed. I had to explain that really the movie was about the character and his interactions. This is not the greatest example of this point, but since it is the one that happened to me and I remember, it's what I recall most often. What I'm trying to get across is that the plot/storyline itself isn't what's the most important thing -- it's developing a character or characters and conveying a particular world.
Most of my writing comes from dreams. Mind you, I don't write the actual dream, but rather an interpretation of it or more than anything, use the dream as inspiration.
Usually ideas just come to me. I seriously have so many ideas for stories in my notes that i don't think i'll ever be able to write them all out into books. Usually i'll imagine situations that i'd like to be in, and form a story outwards from there. Example: I wondered what it would be like if i chose one day out of the week to not speak at all, and a certain person only saw me on that day and thought i was mute. : I wondered if i'd one day own a tall building - BLAM! Story begins with a kid looking at a building and saying, "One day that will be mine" there's the premise, there's the motivation, there's some of his character, etc. Anytime you're not doing anything boring, even when you're sick, angry, frustrated, blissfully happy, ANYTHING! Observe yourself and how you act/react to get ideas that you can put in your stories. I recently just had a really bad fever (still recovering from it actually) and i studied my responses and how i felt, coming up with metaphors to describe how i felt internally. There's inspiration all around you every day you just have to learn how to see it.
