Writing How to stop writing?

[Suczka]

If all those ideas are sooo good, why do you abandon them?

I do not abandoned them.
I am limited by time. and having only one set of hands to type. I Try to focus on writing and finish one story but others just keep appearing.

if the idea is soooo good, you are going to write a bit more than 8k words.

it is 8k so far.

Those are not values from months ago. But from today morning.

Do you think you are the only person who is swarmed with ideas?

No.
That's why I wrote here to hear from others that have to many ideas how do they deal with that problem.

Obviously we all get distracted at times, we all have different mental health, but you can still mitigate it to a certain degree with discipline. Discipline is not a goal if you are healthy. Discipline is not a goal if you have minor problems either. If it's something serious, sorry, you will probably have a different way to deal with it.

healthy?

Maybe you don't really want to write and want to worldbuild.

But who would read world building stuff without MC and story to follow?

 

[SailusGebel]

I am limited by time. and having only one set of hands to type.

Yes. That why you usually start with one story if you can't juggle multiple ones.

I do not abandoned them.
it is 8k so far.
Those are not values from months ago. But from today morning.

Then what's the problem? Keep doing what you are doing. If you keep wiritng and updating main story, everything is fine.

That's why I wrote here to hear from others that have to many ideas how do they deal with that problem.

And you got your answer from two authors.

healthy?

Did I stutter?

But who would read world building stuff without MC and story to follow?

No one. But people can't read your ideas either. And if you look above, you will see that you, just like everyone else, are bound by limited amount of time. So you either focus on writing one story(if you can't juggle multiple ones) or don't write at all and stick with worldbuilding for yourself. You do it for your own fun.

 

[miyoga]

Discipline is both the means and the goal in writing. As Sailus and Envy have both said, multiple times, write your ideas down to come back to later. 95% of it isn't necessary for the story you're writing. Of that 95%, maybe half of it is useful in the creation of a new story unrelated to your first/main. Of the remainder, maybe half of that is going to be useful in side stories or fillers to your main story and the rest is just word diarrhea that every writer suffers from.

If you discipline yourself to focus on writing the necessary bits of the main story first, then things just kinda fall into place. Adding in the required extra info can happen in the first and second editing phase, just to fill in the holes or to smooth the timeline out. Then, because you've maintained your focus, discipline becomes the goal in writing the next story. Point is, you need to make the decision on what you can/-'t handle and stick to it.

 

[fluffypie374]

Set a reward for the main story, finish today's chapter and get a reward... otherwise, snuggle in bed and waste away the day instead of writing anything

 

[quagma]

I write down all my ideas, because I'd forget them otherwise. Not all of them are good, but many of them can be reworked into something more usable. I keep down the hecticness by only releasing a single chapter a week, and when I need to ruminate on how best to work a chapter, I go out for a walk. It helps settle the mind and the ideas.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

Stop having fun, then you will stop writing.

 

[MasFaqih]

Why not have people critique you so bad that u want to stop writing al together?,i think you are cool thought

 

[Suczka]

Why not have people critique you so bad that u want to stop writing al together?,i think you are cool thought

I'm adult now. I do not need my parents to destroy my passion anymore.
I do that on my own to myself.
I got pretty good at it over the years ;P

I write down all my ideas, because I'd forget them otherwise. Not all of them are good, but many of them can be reworked into something more usable. I keep down the hecticness by only releasing a single chapter a week, and when I need to ruminate on how best to work a chapter, I go out for a walk. It helps settle the mind and the ideas.

Finally someone who understands!
But walks imply going outside. That's where people are ...

Set a reward for the main story, finish today's chapter and get a reward... otherwise, snuggle in bed and waste away the day instead of writing anything

But what kind of reward would be motivating enough ... ?

That why you usually start with one story if you can't juggle multiple ones.

And I started with one.
Then it mutated, branched and split to multiple ones.

 

[Corty]

You need to keep yourself focused.

Everyone is always saying to write down your ideas and keep them in reserve. I say that is the same as dads who collect another cable that will be good for something, having a drawer full of miscellaneous, 20-year-old wires that are no longer in use by any objects in production.

I say, fuck that. Let your ideas come and let them go. Don't be afraid of forgetting good plotlines because 90% of the time, the great idea you jotted down will rot in an online note purgatory anyway, never to be used, forgotten amongst twenty others.

• Got an idea?
  • Good.
• Is it usable in your main story?
  • No.
    • Then, throw it out.
  • Yes.
    • Implement it.

This is nothing but the typical case of writers' ADHD, jumping from cool-sounding idea to cool-sounding idea, hoping that it will grow into a cool-sounding arc, but it just grows into a side story tumor that affects the health of the main story, letting it wither away and die.

Only you can stop it by facing the fear of missing out on a great idea while focusing on the main story. Learn to let things go.

 

[RepresentingEnvy]

You need to keep yourself focused.

Everyone is always saying to write down your ideas and keep them in reserve. I say that is the same as dads who collect another cable that will be good for something, having a drawer full of miscellaneous, 20-year-old wires that are no longer in use by any objects in production.

I say, fuck that. Let your ideas come and let them go. Don't be afraid of forgetting good plotlines because 90% of the time, the great idea you jotted down will rot in an online note purgatory anyway, never to be used, forgotten amongst twenty others.

• Got an idea?
  • Good.
• Is it usable in your main story?
  • No.
    • Then, throw it out.
  • Yes.
    • Implement it.

This is nothing but the typical case of writers' ADHD, jumping from cool-sounding idea to cool-sounding idea, hoping that it will grow into a cool-sounding arc, but it just grows into a side story tumor that affects the health of the main story, letting it wither away and die.

Only you can stop it by facing the fear of missing out on a great idea while focusing on the main story. Learn to let things go.

Based

 

[WinterTimeCrime]

I don't understand the question and feel that you're overthinking the situation. If you aren't writing the main story and busy theory-crafting others, you probably weren't passionate about the initial story in the first place.

Drop it. Get the brainstorming out of the way, burn yourself out, and then you'll figure out what you really want to write. However, if it's impeding everyday life, you probably need a job, friends, a deeper relationship, or another hobby (or maybe all four).

99% of the advice authors, including the information on this very forum, is shit that looks good in practice but hasn't been implemented like ever, especially by the people spouting them. Only through trial and error will the sole individual figure out what's right for them. And only information that's practical to you will suffice.

Figure it out. Don't waste time on forums. Seek real-life perspectives. Maybe someone wiser had a similar situation and could answer questions that range out of writing... you seem to be going through a crisis, lil' bro.

 

[SailusGebel]

Finally someone who understands!

 

[Terrate]

Personally, I don't see this as a bad thing. I don't have the same number of words as yours, nor I am close to it. I got like 20k word of words that are just there compiled in a place I call "Unused paragraphs".

Sometimes I do take from it, so the list is getting whittled away, little by little. But there's a difference. Since I wrote it before, it's still filled with grammatical errors and bad sentences that I still have to rewrite the whole thing. It is nice to see that looking back to it, I've improved.

I also just upload on this site like once a week, and sometimes that still gets delayed lol.

Then again, I'm just a casual writer. You may be on a grindset for trying to be full focused by even asking how to not write.

Anyway, it should be fine if you keep writing whatever comes to your mind, but you should also learn when to pause it on the drop of a hat. Like I guess get another hobby where you can easily pause it if you ever do get another idea, then write it down. Then resume your different hobby again as you wait for that other idea.

 

[Suczka]

This is nothing but the typical case of writers' ADHD, jumping from cool-sounding idea to cool-sounding idea, hoping that it will grow into a cool-sounding arc, but it just grows into a side story tumor that affects the health of the main story, letting it wither away and die.

You might be on to something.

• Got an idea?
  • Good.
• Is it usable in your main story?
  • No.
    • Then, throw it out.
  • Yes.
    • Implement it.

As I wrote before it is a gradual process, most of the times.
It is not like I write medieval fantasy and than "what if I added Gunndams to that?"


I write the main story and one thing leads to another, and from civilized story things become darker and darker.
Imagine trying to write "Hobbit there and back again" and after 4 hours of writing you realized that you ended up in dark alleys of Warhammer universe and your MC is royally screwed.
So you take what you wrote in last 3,5h put it in to another file waste an hour or five to write some bits so it can be standalone thing with different MC.
You promise yourself to be focused, only to repeat the same thing tomorrow, and day after tomorrow, ...

So I basically follow your chart. Throw away things away or to other files. But it is tome consuming...

I don't understand the question and feel that you're overthinking the situation. If you aren't writing the main story and busy theory-crafting others, you probably weren't passionate about the initial story in the first place.

You may be right on overthinking. It helps at problem solving at work but not in this situation.

If you aren't writing the main story and busy theory-crafting others, you probably weren't passionate about the initial story in the first place.

You wouldn't tell someone: "If you got assaulted and r... robbed, that means that you weren't passionate about your safety in the first place."
Maybe the comparison was harsh but that sentence really made me angry.

Figure it out. Don't waste time on forums. Seek real-life perspectives. Maybe someone wiser had a similar situation and could answer questions that range out of writing...

Real life perspectives do not exist.
Family: "You spend time on [insert any hobby in existence]? You are wasting your time. You should work 12 hours a day. Otherwise you are worthless as a human. You should be ashamed for even considering having fun."
And none of my friends write. :/

So sadly I am doomed to seek advice online. And and you are doomed on my stupid questions until I figure things out or Tony would ban me. Whichever comes first ;P

you seem to be going through a crisis, lil' bro.

Yep but it is "suffering from success" type of crisis. I have to many ideas.
When I start writing at Sunday afternoon after i write few sentences I look at the clock and wander why it is 2 hours earlier than when I started writing? Than it occurs that it's Monday and I should be in work for the last 6 hours and I haven't slept yet because I was writing.

Personally, I don't see this as a bad thing. (...) just there compiled in a place I call "Unused paragraphs".

Sometimes I do take from it, so the list is getting whittled away, little by little.

If i could take it form there it would have stayed if not in the main story than in notes to main story.
Those are completely unusable in main story! Despite having originated from it.

Then again, I'm just a casual writer.

If uploading once a week makes you casual writer than what does that make me

 

[SailusGebel]

Maybe the comparison was harsh but that sentence really made me angry.

 

[LuoirM]

I had an idea to write a story. That was my first mistake.

mood

 

[Corty]

Imagine trying to write "Hobbit there and back again" and after 4 hours of writing you realized that you ended up in dark alleys of Warhammer universe and your MC is royally screwed.

It's still the same. It comes off to me as not knowing where you want to go with your story, and you throw your ideas into the story instead of letting them go, ending up in a place completely different from where it started. And reading it, it sounds like the change is like pedal to the metal, from 0 to 100, really fast.

My only advice is that when you have a story idea, you should first go through the whole story in your head instead of writing it immediately. Go through the start, the MC, their motivation and goal, and what you want the story to end with. Only start writing it after that is done, and if you get inspiration in the middle of writing, you will ask the same questions I wrote. If that inspiration screws over the plans, you let it sink back into your subconsciousness.

That's the most I can offer as an advice.

 

[Nevafrost]

People indeed have different problems. If I were to start a thread about writing, it must have been how to continue writing and get motivated while snoring in my sleep.

 

[miyoga]

At this point, I think we can say that you've got 2 options.

Option 1: Just write. Don't worry about where it goes or what happens, just write the story because you're doing it to relax and release the pent up creativity that you can't make proper use of in your 9-5.

Option 2: Treat your writing like a 2nd job to help you stay focused on the story you want to write. The point Winter made about not being passionate about the story you're writing is, in my opinion, absolutely correct, and that's why it makes you angry.

When writing to release feelings, you follow your every whim no matter which way it goes. But when you sit down to put together the story you want to tell, you need to tell all the little ideas that pop up to take a hike. Going back after you write something and saying "does this fit with where I want my story to go" is the very beginning of the editing process, and it seems to be a step that you're skipping.

There's no reason to listen to any of us in what we suggest, especially me. Compared to Winter, Sailus and Envy, who each have multiple novels to their names, I'm a nobody with 2 short stories that total maybe 7.5k words combined. They are the ones who I would say to listen to as far as advice is concerned. At the end of the day though, you've gotta do you.

 

[Terrate]

If uploading once a week makes you casual writer than what does that make me

All you have to do to be a self proclaimed casual writer is just upload a chapter even if it’s the only one

Though I suggest you stockpile chapters before you actually start uploading if you want to have a good “start” on your statistics.