Sticking to one story...

liesversusjournals said:

I have an issue (and I'm not sure if this is the right place for my post): I'm having trouble with sticking to writing and finishing one story at a time. It's like, I'll get an idea for a story (usually along with a title), and I'll start it...but when I get a first few pages written, I don't know...I just get distracted by a different story idea and lose inspiration for it. And that's when I'll start a new story with the intent to finish that one, and the same thing happens. As of right now, I have close to 40 documents in my Story Drafts folder, over 100 ideas for stories and story titles and I haven't finished a story since June. If anyone has any tips on staying focused on just one story until it's finished, I'd appreciate it immensely.

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I suspect you are procrastinating. There are techniques to help with that.

Are you afraid of finishing? Could you be afraid of people judging your work ?
Are you afraid of rejection if you send it to an agent ?

Or could you just enjoy the idea creation part so much and hate the hard work of instantiating the final result that you avoid finishing the stories.

Do you have problems finishing other things or just your stories ?

After suffering from this for as long as I do things (and not just with writing, I suffer from the same issue when I draw or do model kits), I finally found something somewhat effective.

I just allow myself a small number of stories, and will work on any of them I'm inspired by today. Never more than 3 though. It helps, now I don't keep erasing and starting all over again because I have another idea, I do it because I find an other way to tell the same story!

I did the same thing! Years ago I thought I'd take a pop at doing a Young Adult novel. Sometimes I'd get over sixty pages into a project and I'd either get bored and think of another idea or I'd run out of ideas.

This is what worked for me - I made sure I did my research and my planning before I wrote anything. Seriously. I'd write pages and pages of details about my characters, the setting my story takes place in and the arcs for all involved. That way I knew the direction I was going and it worked. Once you've got your characters and your setting acting like they're busy living their own lives away from you it takes care of a lot.

Also, as you can probably see, don't feel bad about this because loads of us are guilty of it and I think it's normal for a creative. It's not like you get a good idea and then your mind sleeps until it's fulfilled! I bet you're always thinking up cool stuff that would make a great story. Just put them down in a note book - don't get carried away, just the seed of the story - and then get back to whatever one is your focus at the moment. Hope that helps.

I feel the allure of a thousand new ideas. What I do is I save whatever ideas come to mind in a document for later so I don't forget it, and just make myself finish what I'm currently on.

My solution to having too many story ideas was to smash three of them together into the same story. Worked so well I've done it twice now. They were novels, though. Might not work for short stories.

Emily Patrice said:

My solution to having too many story ideas was to smash three of them together into the same story. Worked so well I've done it twice now. They were novels, though. Might not work for short stories.

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What a cool idea! I'll keep that in mind. Did you find it made your stuff more surprising as you were developing it?

I used to - and for all I know, still do - have this issue, too. I'd start a story, and I'd get maybe a chapter or two in before I'd either 1. get stuck and frustrated and give up and/or 2. I'd come up with another idea and want to start working on that instead. I am NOT someone who can work on more than one novel at once (at least not these days. When I was a kid, it was easy to work on as many stories as I had ideas for). I wish I was...I really wish I was! The only thing I seem to be able to do is respond to writing challenges on my forum- probably because the chances of me wanting to stick to whatever I've written for a challenge entry and keep writing it are slim, though it depends. That, and I joined a real life writer's group that gives prompts, so I respond to those when I'm able to.

Anyway...the things that have helped me:
1. I keep an idea journal. I currently have...what's essentially one and a half journals filled so far (I say essentially because I ended up using large index cards to write some ideas onto at one point). Names, plots, dialogue, character ideas, magic ideas...you name it, I've probably written ideas for it down. I'm realistically probably never going to try and write even half of them, but at least I have them written down so that I can go to them when I'm trying to brainstorm and potentially use different elements of them (like different plot ideas) towards whatever I'm already writing or wanting to write.

2. Just...focus and determination. My fantasy novella started out as me writing a last minute writing challenge response. The two main characters were actually secondary characters, but I liked them more than the main character. I expanded on their story some more, wrote another challenge entry with them in it, and...boom. I was determined and focused enough that I was able to finish writing their story, and I'm really proud of it. Now it's just a matter of getting more feedback from beta readers and taking whatever step I need to after that (which is probably more editing/maybe even a rewrite).