Are Writers Cursed By Thinking Too Much?

One of my best friends has told me that, " think too much," and that I'm very random. The randomness goes hand in hand with thinking too much, you could say.

I spend much of my time observing. I'll think of particularly vivid descriptions I could weave into stories. I'll take a seemingly normal event and spin it into a story. My thoughts contain the words, "I wonder if," or other such things quite often. In order to keep a lot of these ideas fresh in my head, I'll force myself to through repetition and through working with them, trying to improve upon them and flesh them out. And so on, and so forth.

Once, when I posted some of my work on SYW, one of the comments was that nobody thinks like my narrator, with the exception of a lunatic. Truth be told, that narrator's thought processes are/were a lot like mine.

Quite often, instead of taking the approach of actively brainstorming for stories by letting my mind wander and analyze, I'll spend my time letting my mind work in over drive just to amuse myself. Make up little stories as I go.

So, I ask you, my fellow AWers, am I alone in this insanity, or are you with me?

ClaudiaGray said:

A writer with one great idea is a writer with something to do. A writer with 100 great ideas at once is a writer who probably isn't making much headway.

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I don't have that problem.

Even when I have an influx of ideas at a particular time I am able to filter out the trash and let the cream of the crop rise to the top, while I leave the rest to percolate and, hopefully, age like wine.

Besides that, most of my facilities go toward the current work in progress; my ideas are treated like delicacies come upon during a time when food is rationed, and nothing but the staples are given out.

Most users here boast a laundry list of stories, ideas, etc. while I always have the prospect of my creative well running dry nagging me, no matter how realistic such an event is. Nearly all of my ideas begin in the, "It'll do," stage, and I can fashion something serviceable out of them; rarely do I get that, "Eureka," moment, but, oh, how I savor it when I do. Those darlings are the ones that get all the attention and pampering.

However, I used to churn out stories. Short stories. Teacher, with whom I shared my writing, told me that I was prolific for my age and experience. That was a direct result of my propensity to skip the editing stage altogether. *cowers in the corner* I'm not that way anymore. I swear!

ClaudiaGray said:

It's fine if you're random. But your characters and your work can't be.

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Agreed. Well, on the latter point.

Random people exist. Look no further than Walter Bishop of the show Fringe for an example of a random character that exists and works extremely well. Sure, he is a bit mentally deranged in his own right, so he more or less falls in line with the commentary on my random character, but I think you get my point.

Though I did learn my lesson with that particular work I posted. Early drafts of my work tend to be played rather close to the vest; characters begin their lives often as caricatures of people I know and, "Write what you know," tends to go a little too far and it's like I'm populating my stories with clones of people I know, except with my personality. Exaggeration, but it makes the point.

Esuna said:

I do, however, have the problem of thinking about my writing more than actually doing it....

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You could say I have that problem too. Though I don't fall in line with the writers that will compulsively edit until they've done more harm than good, but I do have an inner perfectionist and it comes out when I'm thinking about writing. I'll spend more time having an internal monologue (though it often ends up being spoken out loud) about where to go with a story than actually going the ways I decide on.

Because it's kind of topical, given what we're discussing:

Makes me think of Randy from A Christmas Carol when he falls down in the snow bundled up beyond recognition, not laughter, now that I look at it.

I spend my day thinking about stuff like that. Luckily I get some ideas out of all of this insanity.

Samantha’s_Song said:

I talk like this too, I start off about one thing, then get onto something that's related, usually somewhat distantly to it, and then can't remember what I was on about in the first place.

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See, I’m so used to going off on tangents that I’ve gotten quite good at getting back “on topic” once I’m done, though the people I’m talking to have more trouble with the transition.

swvaughn said:

Alas, my overthinking spills over from my writing into everyday life.

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Same for me. Rather than go with my gut/heart, I spend ages thinking things out rationally, and exhausting all avenues of possibility.

As a result, I have an active imagination during scenarios such as the one you presented. Simple things such as using my dad’s credit card to buy my Wii after camping out for it can make me nervous because I’ll think up possibilities, such as them accusing me of identity theft or something along those lines, even though I know/knew that there would be no such problem as long as my dad verifies the payment.