Adult ADD & Writing

[astonwest]

Anyone else experience this sort of nonsense? How do you deal with it?

While waiting around for a wedding to start, I was messing around on my laptop, running through plot outlines, queries and synopsis for my next WIP. All of the sudden, my mind starts running through potential plots for two future pieces...so I had to plop those down in another document for later. One of them had a rather odd twist, so I had to work my way through specifics of the story to flesh it out.

It's no wonder I can never get a novel written in a decent amount of time, with these types of distractions.

[Elodie-Caroline]

:Shrug:But it's better than being totally blank when it comes to ideas and plots though eh, and then complaining we've got writer's block ;)


Elodie

[dpaterso]

I call this my butterfly attention span. Fluttering from flower to flower, can't stay in the one place.

-Derek

[Pachydermia]

*raises hand*
I'm a victim.

[darrtwish]

All the time. I have about six novels in the work other than my current WIP, and a few of them are in the very beginning stages..only I don't have a laptop (yet at least, still trying to convince my parents that I should be the one getting the laptop, not them :D), so I have to resort to a tiny notepad that I carry around with me everywhere to write these ideas down, and hope I'm not missing and key details.

[shakeysix]

my characters give me fits. some minor character is always hijacking the story. or trying to get me to write a new one all about him. they spring out of the floorboards like cockroaches.
drives my beta readers nuts. right now i am exterminating a novel--deleting minor characters who got too big for their britches. i ride the delete key for 2 pages at a time. --s6

[regdog]

Happens to me. I have a couple of things started and waiting for me to work on them. I figure write the ideas down when they pop in my head, if not they're probably get lost in fog. :e2writer:

[Jenifer]

Yep! See sig.

Right now I have shelved: two YA, a half-zombie half-mutant thing, and a thriller (also involving mutants and another world)... my active WIP is a crime-type. I have trouble focusing on it when the others are constantly butting in!

[tehuti88]

I have this problem. I deal with it by just dealing with it. I see nothing wrong with working on numerous things all at the same time. Whenever I grow bored with one, I can just work on another! :D

Granted, I don't have publishing or submission deadlines to work under, so I imagine one has to be more disciplined in that case.

What I find more irritating is when I feel like writing, but not on any of the projects I have going. So irksome.

[Quiet Melody]

Yes, this happens to me all the time too! I'm trying to focus on just one story right now but I've got several other stories planned. I keep a little index card holder box and everytime I get an idea for another story, I write it down and put it inside. I carry around a notebook too in case I get an idea when I'm away from home. It really is important to write down ideas when I get them...I'll forget them if I don't.

I used to hate not being able to focus on one story. I felt like I was never getting anything done. But now I sort of like it. When I get blocked on one story, I just move on to the next story I'm itching to write :)

[Pike]

(Doing my best - which it ain't - Dennis Hopper imitation)

It's the Muse, man. It's trying to, like, take control of your consciousness and drive you into unknown territories full of potential plots and characters that will never let you go!

Go with it, man. Just ride it out.

[Indy Tarquinson]

Aha, I'm not the only one who suffers! I'm aching to get my main story done but the little budding ones won't let my attention go. I suppose it is better than having a dry well of ideas like I did a few years ago. I write everything down in an attempt to keep the creative juices flowing...

[Ol' 61]

This happens to me too. I get ideas when I'm at work, when I should be focusing on...erm, work. When I take a few minutes to jot them down,suddenly, I've written 20 pages and gottennothing done! When I force myself to get back to work, I come back to it, and the magic is lost. It's like being possessed, and the Muse is saying, "Just kidding!"

[JeanneTGC]

Happens to me all the time, and thank God. I have a much greater number of completed novels, shorts, etc., because of this. I welcome it, and each one gets finished in its own time.

[Susan Breen]

I try to fit the new ideas into the draft I'm working on. Then it feels like I'm giving the old draft a jolt of energy, and sometimes that takes me off into unexpected places. Other times, of course, it completely messes everything up.

[C.M. Daniels]

That's the story of my writing life.

It's also the reason why I've always got several projects going at the same time. It's like I've the the polar opposite of writer's block.

[virtue_summer]

I experience this sometimes. Right now I'm trying to complete my current novel. I'm over 50K in, but I also have this idea for my next novel. Actually it started out as a scene that I thought would turn into a short story so I started writing it thinking a short story wouldn't distract me too much from my current manuscript, only to discover that it doesn't want to be a short story but that the scene that popped into my head is actually the beginning of something much bigger: another novel. So now I've got both novels tugging at me and it sometimes makes it hard to stay on task.

[maestrowork]

I wish I had ADD when it comes to my writing. I'm super lazy.

[SPMiller]

This is certainly not a problem I have.

I require months to properly develop a plot idea into a solid, logical sequence of events.

[astonwest]

Glad to see I'm not alone... ;)

[CreativeDreamer]

From the looks of all of my WIP I have this problem too! As long as your productive, don't feel bad!

[t0neg0d]

I have the added problem of liking to write in so many different genres. So, ideas lead to becoming bored with the previous genre on the whole. VERY distracting. =(>

[Matera the Mad]

Plot bunnies

[Moon Daughter]

Ha! Look at my sig. MMS is a bitch sometimes.

[Chauchat Butterfly]

I come up with a new story idea or variation of an old idea once a week it seems. There are twenty novels I could be writing right now and I don't know which one to start with.

[Melenka]

I have the opposite problem right now. I'm nearing the end of my WIP and nothing is coming to me for the next one. Sure, I have ideas I've batted around from time to time, but nothing is screaming at me to get this book done so I can start on the next project. I figure it will come when the time is right.

[ChaosTitan]

In the past, I've had little trouble picking a project and seeing it through to the end. Lately though (and I think it's much to do with a lot of real life stress), I've had a mad case of Writing ADD.

I started a new novel (Novel A) around February and worked on it for a few weeks, hitting a decent page count. Then I was struck around the head by a new, completely different idea that I just loved. So Novel A went to the back burner, and I worked religiously on Novel B for a while. Then I hit a wall, got a new idea for Novel A, went back to it. Then in May, when I got an agent for Novel Z, he asked for brief descriptions of two more books in the series. Which led to me starting work on a sequel, Novel Y. Two chapters later, I smacked myself upside the head, said "don't work on it until you sell the first one, you idiot," and went back to Novel A.

Now I'm quite dizzy.

[Shadow_Ferret]

Novel Writing ADD?

That scattergun blast of ideas happens all day long to me, distracting me from ANYTHING I'm trying to do, writing, working, reading, dealing with my family.

[angeliz2k]

To be honest, I don't have tons of idea floating around my head, and I usually can only work on one at a time. I was working on one story and was about halfway through when an older WIP barged in and took over my attention. So I had to put aside the newer story to focus on editing the old WIP. When I'm done, I'll go back to the newer WIP and focus on that. Hopefully when I'm done with THAT, I'll have another brilliant idea. But who knows . . . ?

PS. However, I do have moments where ideas for my current project take over. Like daydreams, sort of. They come pretty strong when I'm in the shower or on the bus or watching Food Network (mmmmmm).

[Treyos]

It's a frequent problem for me, as well. I'll be trying to focus on one story and getting all sorts of ideas for sequels and other stories; I have to keep telling myself "one at a time!"

Btw, I don't listen to myself very well. ;P I've got several manuscripts that have been left by the wayside in favour of newer projects and literally dozens of story ideas bouncing around in my skull, with a few of them even jotted down to make sure I don't forget them.

Of course, this is pretty normal for me in all aspects of life, so I'm pretty much used to it. ;)

[writersprite]

I've never had a problem with completing a novel. My problem is my tendency toward re-writing them. In fact, I have 1 Inspirational Romance that I have re-written 5 times!
:flag:
This final re-write WILL BE the last one...or else the characters will hunt me down and kill me--speaking of characters seemingly having a life of their own, that was the motivator for completing many [if not all] of my projects up to date. The characters simply would not let me go. They grabbed me by the hair and drug my forward, the visions of their adventure and the pain of their drama so bright in my mind and soul that I couldn't help but write pages and pages.
:e2writer:

And this was before I started typing all my novels. I began writing the old-fashioned way: with pen/pencil. My handwriting has steadily gone downhill since transitioning to total computer input. But when the ideas/words/scenes are happen so fast that you simply CANNOT write them down quickly enough [and you type 100 WPM], you have to do what you have to do in order to get it all down.
:e2BIC:

Thankfully, my ADD has settled down...or else my Control-Freak nature has won the battle...but it is definitely welcome to have more than one project currently in the circle. If I didn't have a tangent to get onto when hitting a brick wall in one, I would be reading/editing when I've come to hate the current project--something they say to never do because you will end up deleting pages that are fine.
:Hammer:
When I find myself wanting to delete an entire chapter/scene, I tell myself to "walk AWAY from the computer!"

[astonwest]

I've never had a problem with completing a novel. My problem is my tendency toward re-writing them. In fact, I have 1 Inspirational Romance that I have re-written 5 times!I have a manuscript which I re-wrote maybe 10 times over the course of 2 years, had no luck with submissions...re-wrote it another 5 times over the last year, and just received a partial request. Nothing wrong with re-writing... ;)

[aspiringwriter]

I am always thinking of story ideas...and it's like I want to roll ALL of them into one but can't.

Honestly, I think part of it is my A.D.D. Oh well, who knows :)

[shannonmac]

sometimes I wish I didn't have the internet...when I get ADD I tend to surf...


how do you think I found this site! :D

[Chrisla]

Anyone else experience this sort of nonsense? How do you deal with it?

While waiting around for a wedding to start, I was messing around on my laptop, running through plot outlines, queries and synopsis for my next WIP. All of the sudden, my mind starts running through potential plots for two future pieces...so I had to plop those down in another document for later. One of them had a rather odd twist, so I had to work my way through specifics of the story to flesh it out.

It's no wonder I can never get a novel written in a decent amount of time, with these types of distractions.

I can't even watch TV. Tonight, as I watched a program with my husband, about a husband who faked his own death, I thought, "but what if that wasn't the reason at all? What if. . ."

[Sunshine13]

I call this my butterfly attention span. Fluttering from flower to flower, can't stay in the one place.

-Derek

Huh, I like this metaphor!

I'm totally ADD with writing (well, almost everything really except my daughter).

That's why I have so many projects in the works.

BUT . . .

I realized if I ever wanted to finish something and have it be to the best quality possible for my writing level/skills at the moment -- I have to focus on one thing at a time. Hence why I finally chose the hardest first, my novel.

However, I can guarantee you that once it's complete and I'm working on querying, I'll be working on query letters while revising my next script. But then I'll just focus on the script once I've got the majority of my querying done. Hopefully . . . :Shrug:

[writersprite]

I am always thinking of story ideas...and it's like I want to roll ALL of them into one but can't.

I hear you! Every time I work on a novel and/or finish it up, somewhere in the midst of writing it I have allowed a character to persuade me to give them their own book to solve their problems. "It worked so well for Chris, why not me?" they demand. "Don't I deserve a shot at a straight life? Don't I deserve to find true love? I don't want to be a heel forever, you know!"

:flag:"..ok..."

[writersprite]

I can't even watch TV. Tonight, as I watched a program with my husband, about a husband who faked his own death, I thought, "but what if that wasn't the reason at all? What if. . ."

HAHAHAHAH!
You are NOT alone! I'm constantly inspired by movies and/or TV to write it better, or on a different tangent, or in my own voice. It is as if I view the success of the series/movie as my own personal challenge.

[BeluvdLily]

I don't know whether I really do have adult ADD or not but I sure feel that I do! I've never been diagnosed but I sure have to wonder. I can't seem to come up with an idea for a novel that I can stick with. I suppose I need one I feel passionately enough about or is it just a case of picking one and sticking with it through til it's finished? I'm so bad to start things and never follow thru. Help!

Anyone else have this problem and what do you do about it? Any suggestions for me?

[Mad Queen]

Isn't there anything you feel passionately about? You can write about it. Write a story about something common that you think is very wrong or something few people appreaciate but you think is very good. Think of everything you love in novels and write one that has everything that you love. Think of everything you love in characters and create a character that has all that until you'll fall in love with him or her.

[Beach Bunny]

I don't have ADD myself, but I have several immediate family members who do have it. It seems to me that what works for them is deciding they want to do whatever it is they need to do. If that makes sense.

The gift with ADD is the ability to hyperfocus, focus on one thing to the exclusion of everything else. So, the house could be falling down around your ears while you are writing and it won't wreck your concentration.

You can get tested as an adult and there are medications for adults with ADD that you can take. If you want to go that route.

There are also alternative remedies that you can try. Off the top of my head, I can't remember what they are.

There also behavoiral modification techniques that might be of benefit to you. Again, working with a therapist is the route to go for that.

What works for some people, does not work for everyone.

Good luck with this. :)

[Mad Queen]

The gift with ADD is the ability to hyperfocus, focus on one thing to the exclusion of everything else. So, the house could be falling down around your ears while you are writing and it won't wreck your concentration.
I've just diagnosed myself with ADD.

[astonwest]

Actually, there was a discussion related to this topic here (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110044). Maybe a mod can merge these and pop it to the top?

[Birol]

I can do that.

[Nateskate]

ADHD- attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, impacts people differently. Some are very focused, but can't stick to one task. Others look relatively calm, but their thinking is scattered. But ADHD runs in my family like the Force in the Skywalker family. And it impacts us differently.

I think and write fast, but notice it in my rewrites- lots of careless errors, not due to a lack of effort.

I think our strengths are a weakness and our weakenesses are a strength to some degree. What I mean by that is that a creative imagination can be both a blessing and a curse. What seems a flaw can also make us good at things that others can't do.

I've often wondered if my quick moving mind also enables me to make characters more alive??? In a sense, I can get into each character's heads. But then I have to reign that in.