For the small things like names, etc: I often use lists, pick one that I like and that matches the theme and afterwards I throw it out into the world. In the case that either the readers or I hate such small things later: I know I can still change it. This is a "public first draft" and not a book that will be printed for million. No need to lose sleep over something I can fix whenever I want.
For the mass on ideas and stuff, I just write them down on a different page "for later". And I revisit that page and see whether they still sound good by then. But for decisions there's actually a lot of "more objective work" like looking at your story's genre, theme, arc structure, etc. If you have a working villain for the first novel/arc then there's no need for a second one. Keep him for later... same with events or worldbuilding.
This won't be the only novel/arc you'll ever write, so take what you really need and use the other great ideas for other stories/arcs...
Thank you so much for the helpful response! I often keep Docs and Notes on whatever ideas come to me. I feel like I get to caught up in perfecting the story as a whole that I never just go ahead and just focus on the right now, on the one arc. Also, when you mentioned matching the theme, it really helped me realize that I should write characters that fit the story and focus on what I feel is important for the readers to actually know about rather what little detail that could just be my own headcanon/inside info.
I understand what you mean because I am like that also. 90% of my ideas never see the day of light because they are constantly changing at the drop of a hat, and I play around with different scenarios of the same idea a lot, as well.
First thing, if the idea fades and doesn't pop up again in a certain amount of time, I know that it isn't going anywhere. If it does, I focus on what I really like about at its core and cut out what I'm just toying with. I also like to type out a very rough outline of the idea and try to keep it as basic as possible because I tend to ramble, and that just confuses me later on. Simplify it first, then go from there.
I also always keep a list of things I know 100% that I would like to write, but that is separate from the outlines, and more a jumping board from when I need a little help.
Mostly, I guess it takes time? A few days later that idea you had won't sound as good as you thought, or maybe you change something and the idea you thought was silly suddenly sounds really amazing?
Letting ideas sit and fade wasn't something I had thought much about so thank you. I do leave ideas to sit, but I had never actively took a break from it and let my mind free. From now on, I'll try to let ideas stew before revisiting my own idea list/docs and then really going through it. I also tend to ramble on especially on the little details that I realize readers don't care too much about. I'll take your advice and let things sink and trim things down to the core.
I've been huddling ideas in my head for long. In the case of my first story, which I started to recently write down, it was in the planning or development phase for almost 2 years. I just like thinking about developments or stuff. That's one of the best parts.
Getting a lot of ideas can be a blessing. I take notes of almost everything that dawns on me at any random moment, excluding situations where I'm not able to for various reasons. They are not always close together. They may be a bunch of random stuff, but having them written somewhere still serves a purpose of storing them for later. So even if at this moment you can't introduce all of them, there's always a chance that in the future you'd come up to the point in your novel, where some of the old ideas could fit. So if you can't use all of the ideas, don't immediately discard the unused ones.
Similar as I wrote above, save all the branches and versions for later use. About indecisiveness. It comes to it a lot when in the planning phase, but when you have a decent outline of what you want to write in the chapter, just go at it and try to go with the flow. Then during rereading it, change things which now feel like could be better. But don't drown yourself in that, since you will feel like anything could still be better forever.
For me, I'm the most indecisive during the writing phase, trying to find a word or expression that fits a situation the best, sometimes spending a lot of time stopping at it. But if you just go with the flow, and then reread things, you will have a much bigger context. It's easier to decide on a change when having a nice overlook. So, I'd say, push through the obstacle and return to it after ur done with a chapter.
Honestly, unless the story is a reactive one, I'd rather stick to my own ideas, and again, shelve the additional ones for future use. About the poll, I personally wouldn't ask about the character's name in one. When I come up with one, I try various spellings and just experiment until I feel the perfect fit. When a few are competing, I try to imagine more situations where that name comes up in the story, and at some point, one of them will just sound better.
But that also depends on the story itself. I can imagine settings where asking readers about for eg. race of a new char to be presented works fine.
On the other hand, I don't want to force you to just sit in agony trying to decide. Everyone has their own way. So yours might just be going to the Discord, Forum or wherever and asking others to decide between options you can't pick one. I mean, that's a solution.
I really appreciate the detailed advice and hearing your perspective on writing. Thank you! Before trying my hands at writing, I edited(still do) translated novels so I often get stuck in that editor's mindset of fixing up what I've just written rather than going with the flow and getting it all done before going back to edit. I'll try to better focus on just writing rather than editing.
Also, it was interesting to read your take on picking ideas and picking character names. I think that for me, this character, and this instance, I just felt a poll was the best solution. I could decide on every other characters' name, but I just could not on this one. It's like picking a baby name, you know? I liked them all. I started with one I liked, then there were more I liked. I'm also very particular about the sound and "look" of the words/name, but I just needed a second opinion to really set things in motion.
Once again, thank you for the response!
This is a very good question with a tough answer for me...
What I do is write the story without chapters or any fine definitions of a story. If I start out writing in chapters I feel restricted which I don't want to do when exploring a new idea. I establish the characters and main ideas then I just free write up to around 1000+ words. If I feel like the momentum is taking off I keep going, if I don't then I push it to the side and try something different. But then I take the ideas I liked from my previous free write and establish them into my next rough draft.
What also helps is when I feel passionate about an idea. It takes a lot of dedication and time to continue a story so, why not find something you're passionate about before cementing it as the story you're going to write? That's why I don't like to write for the popular genres because I know eventually, I'll get bored if I go along with what everyone else is doing.
Writing without chapters is something I haven't heard about before and will probably try myself. Chapter length, ending a chapter, and transitioning is something that I found restrictive. I never thought of just ditching chapters first before organizing them.
I get really invested into my ideas. I think it's mostly a good thing since I become really passionate about it and even if it's based on a popular genre or premise, I can still appreciate it for what it is and stick to it. I guess it does have it's downsides where I can't ever really put my thoughts of it on hold. I also get really attached to the ideas I have incorporated or fit into the world so it makes it difficult to discard them. Thank you for sharing your take! It was really helpful and fascinating.
One more thing I forgot but struggled with for a long time: the need to plan all details out to the fine details so that all set-ups and foreshadowing work. This kept me awake and stopped me from actual writing for a long time, because I always felt "there's more I have to think about" or "What if I forget to do Y?".
Actually listened to a writer podcast while in traffic and there the same question that bugged me came up. "How did (enter bestseller author) managed to put in all those small details at the start of the novel?". And the simple answer from the editor was: "The author wrote the first draft, saw that stuff was missing, went back to the beginning and added it". And although I always knew that in the back of my head, it was some kind of wake up call for me.
It's alright to miss stuff in your first draft. It's alright to have some smaller things without detailed set-ups. You can just add those details later if they are needed. Just because you threw chapter 1 out in the open, doesn't mean you can't go back and edit in some details if your arc is finished. Based on your writing speed some older readers might have to go back and re-read stuff anyway.
For me that was probably the biggest thing that changed me from "starting but stopping early" to a story, where I actually hate my work-forced two week hiatus. The knowledge that the stuff I put out doesn't have to be perfect. That it's alright to have only the big moments of my story planned out in advance and go with the flow.
To me, that was probably the thing that killed my indecisiveness.
"Don't wait until you wrote the perfect chapter. Just write. And make it perfect later."
Oh my gosh. I really appreciate your response! Because I'm a hobby editor, I guess I focus too much on editing especially as I write. I never just be the writer and write the story. You've definitely given me a wake-up call.
"Don't wait until you wrote the perfect chapter. Just write. And make it perfect later."
That quote is amazing and I'll definitely remember it. Thank you!
So what is the character like? Cuz I'd need to know that to give an answer to the poll.
The character for the poll is the currently planned main character. I already had the names of the other characters worked out, but when I revisited the MC's, I felt like it just didn't fit. It was a name that's going to be read often so I wanted one that was well-liked and easy to read/sound out.
Anyhow, to answer your question, he's a reincarnator. In his past life, he was an avid gamer and even did some speedrunning. In his new life, he was raised by his merchant grandparents who by the start of the story, had passed away. He eventually uses the money he has to open a successful tailor/jewelry shop.
As for his personality, I would say he's polite on the outside, but with people he's close with and in his own head, he's pretty foul-mouthed. He has a "Fuck this shit. I'm out!/Fine, I'll do it myself." kind of attitude. For example: on the outside, he'd say, "Please excuse Mr. Smith. He's been heavily misinformed on these matters." What he really wants to say is "He's a f*cking idiot who believes everything he hears."
He's can be pretty impatient and a stickler for things like detail/diligence/punctuality. He's also a workaholic and perfectionist. He often has tired and baggy eyes that he often covers up with makeup. He has a love for fashion and flair. Due to having lost his grandparents and not having parents, he longs for a family. He really values his appearance and hair. He also loves mangos and hates small insects like centipedes.
Now, once he regains his past life's memories, he still acts pretty similar, just that he would be a little more self-aware and tone things down or do things in moderation. And due to being a gamer and speedrunner, he has a do it till it's perfect mentality as well as a munchkin/min-max approach to power. He also has a "Delegate, delegate, delegate!" approach to business and running an organization while still holding very strict and meticulous standards.
One of my problems is trying to introduce the premise in a smooth way. I'm also not sure if the premise is "too much". How do you, I guess, boil down ideas into a simple premise?
I feel like my novel idea just has too many parts. If I had to summarize the premise, it'd require paragraphs to explain.
Just to give you an idea of what I mean, here's what my general premise is (not my official synopsis):
A boy awakens the memories of his past life as a result of going through a coming of age ceremony. Upon awakening the memories of his past life, he realizes he's ended up reincarnated into the worlds of [Dark+Hearts], a fantasy horror visual novel with RPG elements.
The story of [Dark+Hearts] is a horror parody of the otome genre. It's full of two-faced capture targets, evil cults, city-ending monsters, and eldritch horrors. Even in the good endings, things get pretty bad.
Knowing the plot of the game, the MC realized that he has only 15 years of time to save the world from complete destruction. Luckily, along with awakening those memories, he's gained powers that will help him on his quest to save the world.
You see, in the setting, everyone can use magic to a small degree. Additionally, everyone can awaken a relatively-unique ability that often is fairly weak unless trained and magically upgraded. The coming of age ceremony caused a rare "double awakening" of his "unique special ability."
His unique ability was summoning three humanoid golems that he could control which were fairly weak and useless. The double awakening caused the golems to transform into chibi version of his past game avatars. He was an avid gamer in his past life.
These three chibis are alive, act as his mentors, and each represents a character from a game he's played before. Chibi ONE is from a Scifi Superhero game(Mass Effect meets Worm/Ironman). Chibi TWO is from an action fantasy game centered around killing gods(Breath of the Wild meets Campione). Chibi THREE is from a modern urban fantasy platformer(Control meets Mirror's Edge and Infamous).
Basically, the idea is for the MC to be in a dramatic
crapsack death world and have to save the world. It's a cliche in that it's another reincarnated in a game world like
Death Flags, but I didn't want to do something too new and unfamiliar. I liked the idea of turning a semi-dark world into a brighter one. I really love SIs and
Out-Of-Context Problems where the MC has powers unknown to the world he inhabits. I especially wanted to have him build a secret organization that's like the Kingsman+Continental(John Wick).
I plan for the MC to be a steel wire/string, needles, spear, and gun user. He focuses a lot on increasing efficiency. He's a person who delegates tasks and spends a lot of time making equipment and plans. Only for the big stuff does he take it on himself. He's relatively OP, but the problems he has to face are often political, strategic, personal, or psychological.
So, yeah. Thoughts?
