Anyone else have this experience?
You're working on what you know is going to be your "next story" and it's going well. Then, one morning, you wake up and a totally new idea has infected your creative mind. No matter how much you try to keep working on the first story, the new one won't let go of you.
Happened to me this week. I was happily working on another "Satisfaction..." story but a new and, I think, more interesting idea has taken over. My worry is that often when this happens to me, the old story gets lost into the shuffle but, in this case, I really do not want to lose this one because it ties the other two "Satisfaction..." stories together into something more cohesive.
For now, I'm writing the new idea. I just can't get it out of my head. But once I have a first draft of it, I hope I can get my focus back on to the "Satisfaction..." story and finish it before I start editing and proofing the new one.
Is that how other authors would handle it? Any other ways you've dealt with stories that insist on being written in spite of your best efforts to write something else?
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When other stories intrude
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Story Verifier
It happens all the time. Some of my best stories are "intruders". Take "Rachel's Panties" for example. Or "It's Not A Fetish". They both just slipped inside my head while I was trying my best to continue the stories already there. Sometimes, though, I do have to step back and squash an idea into two or three lines in my "bunny cage" document so I don't completely abandon the other stories, but it's hard.
Alpha Blonde
I have had this happen before. Usually I jot down notes, maybe create a sketch, sometimes I'll even write up to 1500 words if it's in my head and I need to get it out. Sometimes there's something that inspired it - photos, song lyrics, something I saw. I'll save everything I have related to that new story concept into a folder with a working title and it goes to bed for a while until I can find the time to return to it. Several of my most popular stories started out as a lonely folder on my desktop that I revisited several months to a year later.
The Linebacker
It definitely happens. Some stories just explode out of me while others seem to take forever, often being set aside because something else is in my head.
Mazztastic
Ugh! It happens ALL the time to me!!
That is why I end up get nothing written...
That is why I end up get nothing written...
Active Ink Slinger
LOL! That is "standard operating procedure" for me! If I don't have at least three stories whirring around in my head all the time, there's something wrong! It's just a matter of priority. I work on one story until it's either finished or I get stumped. Then I move to the next story and work on it and soon I will figure out how to proceed with the first one again!
I keep notes and snippets of my stories so I can remember my train of thought while I work on another one.
I keep notes and snippets of my stories so I can remember my train of thought while I work on another one.
For me it depends on what I'm working on - where am I in the writing process?
I only take on one big project at a time: only one novel or novella.
Sometimes I do need a break - a few days maybe - and this is the perfect time to write a short story or two.
But if my idea will be a novella or a novel - or just complicated (some short stories are not walk in the park) then I'll add it to my writing list - jot down characters / ideas / goals / etc . . . and focus again on my big project.
If I'm not feeling my big project I do let myself take a break - switch gears. Now I self-publish erotica so sometimes that's doing cover art and other such things that are still important and related to that same project.
I only take on one big project at a time: only one novel or novella.
Sometimes I do need a break - a few days maybe - and this is the perfect time to write a short story or two.
But if my idea will be a novella or a novel - or just complicated (some short stories are not walk in the park) then I'll add it to my writing list - jot down characters / ideas / goals / etc . . . and focus again on my big project.
If I'm not feeling my big project I do let myself take a break - switch gears. Now I self-publish erotica so sometimes that's doing cover art and other such things that are still important and related to that same project.
Advanced Wordsmith
I enjoy writing long stories. Conceiving the plot, writing the outline and building the characters is the most fun. Writing the story at times becomes drudgery. Ideas for new stories are constantly popping into my head, I have dozens of outlines. Usually writing the outline is enough to get me refocused on the story I'm currently trying to complete, but I admit that I have eight unfinished stories that are over ten chapters. Sometimes you just lose focus.
Testing The Waters.
Stories jump in on me all the time. Some only get notes files/cover mock-ups and the like at the time, but others demand everything else come to a halt until it's written.
There's never a time when several things aren't in various stages of completion. Often times, it's handy to have something that's at a sex scene while everything else is in plot mode. They're two completely different mindsets, and when one isn't engaged, the other usually is.
I burn out easily, so having several choices is one way I manage to keep writing.
There's never a time when several things aren't in various stages of completion. Often times, it's handy to have something that's at a sex scene while everything else is in plot mode. They're two completely different mindsets, and when one isn't engaged, the other usually is.
I burn out easily, so having several choices is one way I manage to keep writing.
Good Will ---|--- You Serious?
Active Ink Slinger
Yes as I write I have memories of the subject matter and often distracted. It is not unusual for me to have two half finished stories to complete.
Rainbow Warrior
I never work on just one story at a time. I usually have 4-6 stories in progress at any given time, and if yet another one pops into my head, it gets added to the queue. I never set deadlines for myself, and some stories get written in a matter of days, while others take years. I actually prefer new stories to intrude, because its a fresh idea, and sparks my creativity, which then spills over to my older WIP.
Cheeky Chick
I've had this happen while I was in the midst of typing a story, I got inspired to write another and opened up another Word and began writing that one. I had two going at the same time. Both did amazingly well. I get inspired easily when I am not trying to be inspired. :3
Advanced Wordsmith
Yes, this has happened to me, too. I'm thankful when it's just a poem that whizzes into my mind, because then I can get it written and go back to the story. Sometimes I've seen myself writing two at the same time (one or a few paragraphs at a time, switching between both), just because both ideas were there. I didn't find it much of an intrusion or feel that they infected each other, but maybe I'm just not that great a writer. We'll see, if I manage to get the courage to submit anything here.
Active Ink Slinger
I quickly jot down the details of my newest plot bunny (title, one paragraph synopsis, and description of main characters) and try my best to go back to the story I am currently working on.
I have a list 70+ titles long of "future projects". So there is always something to work on.
I have a list 70+ titles long of "future projects". So there is always something to work on.
Click here to read my stories.
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