Decided to give Tales of Zestiria another try on PC this time. And dammit, it happened again. Random scene popped into my head. Not even a full scene, just vague ideas for (currently) nameless characters interacting. (again) The idea in my head is screaming 'Maybe YOU should try this type story' But I have a lot of things on my plate as is. (Two stories currently Plus three fanfiction projects) This idea screams to be considered an Original Story but clearly set in the same kind of universe as Tales Of. I am thus torn, I don't know if I should try to write it yet. But I don't want to straight up ignore it because it's taunting me right now. lol What do you lot do when shit like this happens? To be specific, what do you do when a very vague idea taunts you and gets your muse going?
There's a few ways to go about this. I put down a rough sketch, or maybe even an fleshed out scene if the mood takes me, to remember for later. If I come back to it later and it still seems good, I can start building a story around it. But! According to Stephen King, who seems to know what he's doing, a notebook or some such is the best way to immortalize bad ideas. He is of the opinion that good ideas will stay with you until its time to write. A third option might be to just add another story to your roster. Doesn't usually work for me because stories will start bleeding into each other in my head.
I have a special folder for these things. It's called 'Writing exercises', and some of my WIPs came exactly from this place. So my advice would be: Don't ignore it. Make notes or even better write down the scene you have in mind, it doesn't matter if it's only a fragment. This way you don't forget your idea and (even more important) you get it out of your mind, getting on with the things you are currently working on. Also, while writing it down you will realise quickly if it's really a potential future WIP. The decision, if you should start with it right now, is a different matter, and I'm afraid I'm the wrong person to ask when it comes to that. I always juggle with too many WIP's at the same time . But anyway, I sometimes write a scene that comes to my mind, and when I'm done, I realise that I know neither what happens before or afterwards, at least not right now. It happens, but it's not a bad thing. The way I see it, everything you write, no matter what becomes of it, is a good exercise for future projects. Good luck!
I agree with @love to read , first write out that scene you are seeing, it will help you later envision the story even if you set it aside for the time being. I find myself in a similar situation, where I have writing projects going on and suddenly I get an idea for a new story/novel. It is distracting enough to make me wonder if it could be a big thing and turn into a full novel, but it is still in its initial stages that I don't know how far I can go with it. It has been important for me. to be able to move forwards get to the end of my WIPs, to set new things on the side and focus on a main project.
@love to read I have folders for my individual projects, some just sit there empty or have character/world building documents in them. I might go that route along with writing the scene and saving the story for later. That's a good idea, I don't know why I get so torn with these things, but I do like to discuss it with others first to see what they usually do. Sometimes it really does help me settle on what to do.
listen the fact that you are popping up new, neat, great ideas is pretty good evidence that ideas are plentiful enough to ignore until you're done the actual work of writing if you chase every fancy that flashes a little ankle at you then you will never get anything done if the idea is actually good it will still be there when you're done.
I agree completely with @hyacinthe The most stand-out words in your OP were As a creative person, you're going to get lots of great ideas, we all do. But if you want to be productive as a writer you need to learn self-restraint and the discipline to finish things. The frustration of never finishing stuff is the death of a writer. When you finish large pieces of work, even if its only a first draft and you know it has a lot of work left still to do, the elation and euphoria that comes from it is a special feeling for me. It drives me on to then complete the next piece with the same single-minded determination, to chase that euphoria again. If you keep putting off work and never finishing it, all you're left with is the depressive chemicals running through your body of nothing getting done, and it can go into a repeating cycle. I'd rather chase the high than the low. And that means writing your ideas down, putting them to one side under the file name "after this is done."
Self restraint is kind of what I'm doing right now, I'm getting my foot in the door on some of these ideas before going back to finish a current WIP. Two of the fanfics I only plan to write two chapters of like, right this minute. (possibly just one chapter for one of the fanfics) Then I plan to rotate between a single original fiction and a single fanfiction until they're both finished. The way my brain works I get burnt out on a project if I try to focus exclusively on it and only it. So having a three week break to work on a secondary project is good. I can make a similar amount of progress in a similar amount of time. Plus the original fiction I decided to work on is arguably the shortest story I've come up with.
