laciemn

Do you guys ever start writing something and get overwhelmed with irrelevant plot ideas? Or just in general, not when writing?

Tidbits of plot you haven't formed yet just pop up in your head, completely distracting you and making you all excited and making you lose focus on what you were just doing.

You have lots of ideas, you just can't execute them properly.

You think every idea could be brilliant and you stress about finding a way to portray it, but then you shove it out of your mind so you can concentrate and lose it forever and then you feel like you've missed so many opportunities.


I'm sure you guys have these problems! What do you do?

JohnN

Take a break, get some air and do something else. Come back to it in an hour. Sometimes, I like to move away from the computer screen, take a paper and pen and go sit in the garden and try and figure something out.

__________________
ScribbleSheet
--------------
Comfortably Contrarian - interesting articles for young adults
www.scribblesheet.co.uk
News, Tips and Advice on Writing and Journalism
www.scribblesheet.co.uk/blog

jesterscourt

Wow, this whole double post thing is getting downright bizarre.
On topic though, yeah I have this whole thing of wanting all my projects, music, poetry, fiction to have some ties to each other, not in a lame overarching way, but just little threads that tie everything together behind the scenes. That bothers me to no end, because sometimes I just throw my hands up in the air and say "screw it" and keep writing. Or stop writing for a few days. I've been doing a lot of start and stop writing. At the present time (past few months) I am more likely to do outlines, sketches and small scenes than getting into the meat of actual re-writing and revision, I'm not sure if it was the move or a new job or what.

The best thing, as others have said, is to take a break. Go outside, go smoke (if that's your thing), read a book, watch tv, go to a movie, go hang out with friends, have sex with your SO, whatever. Get your mind off of it. Sleep is a wonderful thing too, a quick 45 minute nap might get your mind off to greener pastures.

Just don't give up. You can take a break, even a lengthly break, but you MUST come back. Even if it's utter shite, it's still YOUR shite, and that was more than you started with. Everything is progress. Even a step backward, as odd is that looks to me as I type it.

All the best

Jamiemaude15

Its either too many plots swirling around, or none at all.
I quite often try and include all the plots into my story at some point, which leads to an ureadable mess.
I then have to spend hours editing it to remove them.

I think its best to write down each of the ideas, then come up with a short story with each. Even if it's only a few paragraphs. Then store away these short storys so you can come back and either incorporate them in a project, or develop them into a story of their own.

__________________
Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about everything, we ought to know a little about everything.

Truth-Teller

No.

I write them down.

ClancyBoy

Eat less sugar.

__________________
"Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons wait for you down there. Little pets they are, little little little pets. Cute little things, they say. Don't you believe it. No man ever saw them and walked away alive. You won't either. That's the final dash, flash. That's the utter clobber, cobber." --Cordwainer Smith, Norstrillia.

ClancyBoy

Double-post less.

__________________
"Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons wait for you down there. Little pets they are, little little little pets. Cute little things, they say. Don't you believe it. No man ever saw them and walked away alive. You won't either. That's the final dash, flash. That's the utter clobber, cobber." --Cordwainer Smith, Norstrillia.

Malone

Read what Truth Teller said, it's pretty much that easy.

I don't know anyone who has a fully fleshed out ready to execute idea all the sudden. Things pop into my head all the time, and I write down just enough to remind me of everything I had thought of for when I am ready to work on it. I can go back later and look it up, or stumble upon it while browsing my notebook (having totally forgotten about it) and say "Oh, yeah, I think I'll work on that." The key is not to write down tons of stupid little things that you won't be able to remember later, stuff like "hidden island" or shit like that, that when you go back to it, you'll have no idea what you were thinking at the time.

__________________
There Is A Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed

Malone

Read what Truth Teller said, it's pretty much that easy.

I don't know anyone who has a fully fleshed out ready to execute idea all the sudden. Things pop into my head all the time, and I write down just enough to remind me of everything I had thought of for when I am ready to work on it. I can go back later and look it up, or stumble upon it while browsing my notebook (having totally forgotten about it) and say "Oh, yeah, I think I'll work on that." The key is not to write down tons of stupid little things that you won't be able to remember later, stuff like "hidden island" or shit like that, that when you go back to it, you'll have no idea what you were thinking at the time.

__________________
There Is A Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed

Industrial

hahaha.

But seriously I do get overwhelmed with my plots, but not exactly in the sense that your talking about. I can sit and have the most wonderful picture or plot idea in my head, but when I translate it to words I often find a lot of what I intended gets lost in the translation.

When I go back and read my work, I sometimes find only a fraction of what I intended. I get so frustrated sometimes I sit for hours trying to get one particular line to imitate what I wanted to say originally.

When I get overwhelmed by my plots, I go smoke a blunt the end.

__________________
alsfa'sdgsasdasdasdasfgafasdas

Malone

"When I get overwhelmed by my plots, I go smoke a blunt the end."

That's a good way to handle anything, really.

__________________
There Is A Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed