I need help, pronto!

Okay, so I have this problem. A chronic problem, I think.

I am fond of starting stories, spinning plots and writing about the aforementioned plots...but somewhere in the middle, my muse springs another one on me! And then I move on to the other plot and I'm working on two at the same time. (Those reading my blog know that I have seven in the works right now @@)

I've never finished anything my entire life. Okay, maybe I finished something once but I don't like it. And it might as well have been a fluke, because it's the only one I ever managed to finish! And I haven't even edited it yet! T.T

So tell me, should I just put the rest on hiatus and work on them one at a time?

Or maybe I should continue to work at all of them at the same time until I finish them all?

>.>" How do you guys do it?

Well, I had to take mine to drastic measures. Which was really hard for me because I hoard my works. But, I picked one and I deleted the rest of my works. I mean everything. Anything I started I got rid of. Well, actually I deleted everything and I started something new and I've actually been working on it and I'm pretty far.

If you don't want to do that, you can always just pick one. I think it's best to just work on one piece of work because you can focus all your attention on just one thing and it's easier. That probably didn't help at all, but it's just my opinion.

If you're just writing for pleasure and not planning to get published or anything, then writing a bunch of small stories is fine if you're satisfied.

If you're serious about writing and you want to get something done, then here's what you got to do:

You have to choose your best idea. Not the one that you think everyone else will like, or someone else's idea you thought was cool, but an idea that you like, you created, and that you would like to see yourself grow with.

From the summary sentence, you need to branch out. You need to decide, as a writer, what you want your moral to be. Sure you have a lot of good ideas, but what's the moral, the message, the lesson you want to send out. They may seem like an interesting plot, but what's the message?

If you've decided on your personal favorite and you still keep coming up with ideas, there a few things you can do.

One: You can co-write with someone. This usually gets pieces done a lot faster if you have a co-writer you're on good terms with and if you supplement each other. In other words, you're a good team. You've got the ideas, she's got the descriptions. You've got the character development, she's good at conflicts. Something like that.

Two: You can make a list of ideas that you want to write, and just write it later.

Three: You can include elements of plot from your other stories into your main story. For example, you have an adventure story about some boy who wants to find his parents in the spirit world, I don't know, just an example. And in another story you want to write a romance. You could just include a romance in your adventure story, and there you go, killing 2 birds with one stone, and you've got yourself a thicker plot with more conflict.

Hope this was helpful ^^
-Shina

Lots of people suffer from too many plot bunnies. Here are the tips I use for staying on one project:

1- Hide everything that you're not working on. If you look wherever you store your works and see a bunch of project possibilities, you won't get any done. Make folders for each project, stick all the documents for that project in those folders (maybe for good measure stick all those folders into another folder titled "future projects" so you almost forget what's in there) and only have your current project out.

2- When your muse hits you, run with it for a while. If you're suddenly hit with a great idea, outline everything that you have for the story, maybe write the scenes that have struck you, get all the details down. In short, spend all your creative energy writing everything you know about that story. Then leave it alone. Stick said documents into "future projects" and go back to your other project. You might even have new ideas.

3- If you really have to write something else, write a short story and work on it for a week. Edit it, maybe post it to refine things more, get the satisfaction of finishing it. Don't focus on the plot too much, or the characters, so that the short story doesn't become something bigger. Then you have actually completed something and your confidence gets a boost.

Hope this helps!

~Rosey

I have about three big stories going at once right now. What I do is when I hit a patch of inspiration for one, I work on it for awhile until I hit a block or something. Then I wait and see which story gets hit with inspiration next and work on that one.
I've also had a lot more stories churning around in my head and I haven't even began to write them, (probably because I realized they suck and I don't want to write 50,000+ words on it.)
So my advice would be this:
Think about all of your stories, all the plots, all the characters. Can you write for 50,000+ words on them? Can you condense any into short stories or novellas. Can you combine any two stories? Does one seem like a dumb idea now or one that you don't really like any more?
Pick a couple, two or three that you've really made progress with and really like and think about a lot. These are your 'active' stories. Put them in their own folder. The other ones are just 'stories', put them in a different folder. (Obviously if you get inspiration or want to write in your non-active stories, that won't kill you. )
Don't force any of them. Finishing them all really fast and just writing them as quickly as you can will just cause more problems later. Wait until you get a big chunk of inspiration or something on one, write until it's gone or you've hit writers block, and then wait for the same thing to happen for a different story.
That's what works for me.

-Carly

I believe my sister The.Dreamwalker has the same problem, but deals with it fairly well I think. I tend to get muse for a story, but I never seem to be able to get it into words and down on the word document.

But what I believe might help is just have one main novel that you are really serious about. That way it will keep everything organized. But you just can't stop you muse. What I would do is just right out what you were thinking on a random word document and not piece them together with the rest of the muse. That way you won't think of it much as a novel or another story but just a random blurb you thought about.

I would also follow Rosey's tips too. I believe she got that down.

Another thing when writing multiple stories and you mainly want to get one done, is don't get too attached to the other characters. That means that you will be able to connect more to the characters in your one novel and will get more ideas. Try to characterize them into characters that seem so awesome to you, so entertaining to right about.

And if you have an idea that you have more of a fancy for then the one that you are trying to write, then but the other one into a folder inscripted, 'will finish later'. That way you won't feel as pressured to finish that other one.

I hoped I helped somewhat.
~Incognito

Haha. I have this exact same problem. Or I did, when I had time to write more. *has files upon files upon pages of started stories*. The problem with having many things going is that either you lose interest in one because the other is so much cooler, or you really get nowhere with any of them because you're dividing your time up so much. My tips:

1) Write down the plot. I have far too many started stories where I have no clue what the plot was supposed to be because I didn't write it down. When you get a new idea, force yourself to jot down where you think it's going (if you don't already).

2) Focus. I find that I can get more done when I shut out other thoughts and focus on just one story. It's hard, of course, because some days you just have so many idea you want to work with them all. But pick one you really like and that you see going somewhere, and work on that. Or, if you really can't, then consider a scheduel. Maybe one week you work on one story, and the next you work on another. That way you get things done, though it will take more time.

3) Get someone else to read it. I don't know about you, but the only draft I ever finished was for Kidnapped. I got it done for different reasons, but two stand out. The first is that I wrote it all (all three 'books', about 80 pages each) during class; which meant I either paid attention, or worked on the story. Obviously the story won out on boring days =P. The second was that my friends read it. Getting all their positive feedback really motivated me to continue working on it, not only for myself but for my readers. ^_^ I had a similar experience with Diary of a Villain (until I was hit by RaMiBS and ended up reworking the first chapter until I was sick of the story. Which brings me to my next tip....)

4) Don't stop. =P I used to have days where I would realize I had two similar ideas, or two concepts I liked so much I wanted them together. Or worse, I'd notice something about one idea was good, but the rest was crap. I'd then spend a lot of time trying to see if I couldn't mix two together to make it work better. Or I'd have an idea I wanted to rework from the beginning. Don't do it. If you get picky you'll never get the draft done. And you really want to get the draft done, right?

So yeah, personally I say pick one and just get it done. Then work on the next one and come back to the first when you're ready to revise and improve it (giving yourself a break will be good for you). That's what I hope to do.

Hope that helps a bit.

^_^ Keek!