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How Do You Decide?



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Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:11 pm
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Vervain says...



We've all been there: We have 49 ideas already screaming write me in our heads, and here comes number 50 ready to go on the page! How are we supposed to decide which ideas we write first? How are we even supposed to keep track of what ideas we've had?

More than once I'll forget that I've even thought about something, then find a note about it a year later and go "was that me?" But it was! I just happened to move onto a different project instead.

So how do you handle this?

How do you decide which projects to work on or which new ideas to write?

How do you deal with the ideas that are "left behind", so to speak?

And does it ever end, or do you just keep going generating new ideas as you go?
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Tue Aug 14, 2018 7:51 pm
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mellifera says...



When I first really got into the whole "writing a novel idea", I was really all over the place. I would have an idea, I'd develop a bunch of plots and little details for it, I'd get to chapter 4-6 and then I'd come up with a new idea and scrap the old one for the new, shiny, sparkly one.

Now I'm kind of using a system of just...writing down all my ideas for stories when I come up with them? I have my files on my computer organised into "Active Stories" "Pending Stories" and "Hiatus Stories" based on how I feel about them. "Active" are the ones I'm currently working on (aka the two novels posted on here), "Pending" are the ones I really like but are neither actively being written nor have sunk low enough to be hiatus, and the "Hiatus" are the stories that I have sitting around but don't know if I'll ever return to them (whether the plot was really weak, or if it's an idea that hasn't held a spark for me in a while).

Right now, since I'm writing two novels at once (and frankly it's a horrible idea I don't recommend it at all), I'm not working on anything else. But when I was working one just the one novel and I needed to have little breaks from it to write something else, sometimes I'll sit down and plot for one of those "Pending" novels (or write a short lol), or I'll start writing it very slowly and chip away at it slowly (the reason I had to join LMS as a rogue xD).

I definitely don't know if this is an effective solution, and there are times when I would rather just scrap everything for a new idea because y'know, that little voice is really strong when it wants me to write things, but I guess I just trust that I'll get to my other novels eventually? I just try to write as much as I can down for any project I can think of, so I have plenty of fleshed out content for when I can get around to writing it and so I don't forget because I have a bad habit or not writing down ideas and forgetting them and then knowing I had ideas and knowing I forgot them and getting mad about it.

But I'd really love to hear how other people deal with this! Because I'm sure there are better ways to handle the undying urge to write new projects every time they pop up in your mind.
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Tue Aug 14, 2018 8:04 pm
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Snoink says...



Nowadays? I ask myself the question, "Which project am I more willing to stick through so that it becomes a final product that I can eventually sell?" And then I focus on those projects and complete them.

I have several projects, mind you, some of which are purely artistic ventures at this point. But, I focus on the stuff that gives me actual money.

...I realize this is a rather mercenary reply, but eh. Whatever.
Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.

"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach

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Tue Aug 14, 2018 8:27 pm
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Vervain says...



@Snoink if I had your business and opportunities, I'd honestly feel the same. Nothing wrong with a mercenary answer! We all have to support ourselves somehow, and you do it with your art.

I'll have my own actual answer later tonight. It's something I really have to think about because I do have a system, even if it looks like i don't.
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Tue Aug 14, 2018 9:02 pm
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StellaThomas says...



I am writing two novels at the moment as you probably all know, Unruly and Silk. Usually I bounce between these two by which one I'm drafting most seriously, the season (Unruly is summer, Silk is winter), or just whichever one is calling to me the most.

Do I have lots of other ideas? Yes. There are a few that I always plan on returning to. The necromancy heist in the desert being probably, chiefly, the main one.

Others though, sometimes when an idea is really really taking ahold of me, I "write it out of my system". That is, I push out like 5,000 words, get bored and go back to one of my two main projects. Will there, some day, be a story that grabs me and says write me more, keep going? For sure! That's what happened with both the others. But none of these are it for me.

If you're a writer, you're someone with a creative mind, and it's natural that you come up with new ideas at least some of the time - but some people have much sharper focus than me and can concentrate on a single project for a long time. And I think that, to me, there's a medium. You should neither give every single idea a lot of time and your energy, nor focus on one even when others are dragging you in every direction. The problem is categorising, which ideas are it for you, which ideas are for you to write, if now is the right time to write it.

Sometimes, you'll let things go. Sometimes, you'll turn around and see things in a brand new light.

Shinies happen, and it's not the shinies themselves that are important. It's how you choose to spend your energy.
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Mon Aug 20, 2018 9:11 am
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Tenyo says...



I'm gonna take those brilliant words of @StellaThomas , sometimes I just have to write it out of my system. Hilariously, there have one or two incidences when I've found an entire novel on my computer and had that thought of 'was that me?' because I've written it over a long weekend and not come back to it since.

How do I handle it?
I've found poetry and illustration to be really useful. If it's a fleeting idea that I think would make a great story I'll turn the idea into a picture or a poem first, or short story, something that encapsulates the concept of it but without spilling out into a project I'll never finish. Later I can come back and use it as inspiration if I want to take it further, and if I don't then I have another picture or poem in my portfolio.

How do I decide which projects to work on?
I have a system for it now! To sum it up simply, I ask myself; why does it matter to me, what can I give through this, what about it am I going to fall in love with, and how am I going to keep it interesting. If I can't answer these questions then it's quite likely I won't be able to- or remember to- put enough blood, sweat and tears into the project to get a reward from it. Most likely I'll give up it. Even the most dazzling ideas fall flat when I realise I've invested 20k words in it and not an inch of myself.

How do I deal with the ideas that are left behind?
This was a tough one. I've found that hoarding ideas as a writer to be the same as hoarding objects. The principles are the same- the guilt for holding on to things, the pleasure and reward of stumbling upon something sentimental, the hope to make use of it and the slowly encroaching feelings of depression and overwhelming that comes from being surrounded by too many things.
It was a tough challenge, but I reached the point where I took all of my old ideas, left over stories, things like that, put them on a memory stick labelled with a date three years from now, and deleted them off my computer. The temptation to go back to them, especially where some of them have spanned several novels, was pretty immense, but I knew I had to leave them behind if I was going to create anything new.

Does it ever end?
Nope, but that's the great part. It's much easier to let those fleeting ideas go when I know that doing so will make room for more. Instead of clinging to little bursts of inspiration I ride through them and the enchantment with creativity and new ideas keeps on coming.
I know that I'm much happier in my writing and in my life in general (probably because writing is my life) when there are more ideas than I can keep hold of, rather than clutching to a few and watching them wilt.

How about you? =]
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Mon Aug 20, 2018 4:11 pm
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PrincessInk says...



I always have to go through this process when I'm thinking about what to work on next lol

How I decide? I have a bunch of ideas and I mull them over for a few days (or weeks), going through each and gauging how excited or curious I am about these ideas. The ones that stick around in my head the longest, with the story shaping up, are the ones I decide to explore.

I get ideas pretty often--sometimes I get them everyday! I probably should get in the habit of writing them down even if they're stupid, though...

Even if I get shiny new ideas while working on a project, I tend to just write them down and let them be. Occasionally I think about them and jot down notes so that I have something to work on when I'm finished with a step of a project (like finishing a draft). I like to let them simmer for quite a while so that I don't just jump in without knowing anything--I like to have a sense of where I'm headed.

I am a strong believer that the more you write, the more ideas you get. Once the ideas start coming and you start writing to spin the story in your head, they'll never stop :P
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