Adult ADD & Writing

astonwest · Jul 20, 2008

Novel Writing ADD

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 · Jul 20, 2008

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 · Jul 20, 2008

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

-Derek

Pachydermia · Jul 20, 2008

*raises hand*
I'm a victim.

darrtwish · Jul 20, 2008

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

), 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 · Jul 20, 2008

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 · Jul 20, 2008

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 · Jul 20, 2008

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 · Jul 20, 2008

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!

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 · Jul 20, 2008

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 · Jul 20, 2008

(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 · Jul 20, 2008

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 · Jul 20, 2008

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 · Jul 20, 2008

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 · Jul 20, 2008

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 · Jul 20, 2008

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 · Jul 20, 2008

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 · Jul 20, 2008

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

SPMiller · Jul 20, 2008

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 · Jul 20, 2008

Glad to see I'm not alone...

CreativeDreamer · Jul 20, 2008

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

t0neg0d · Jul 20, 2008

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 · Jul 20, 2008

Plot bunnies

Moon Daughter · Jul 20, 2008

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

Chauchat Butterfly · Jul 20, 2008

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.

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