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[Mellz Bellz]

Does anyone else besides me suffer from this phenomenon? Is there medication for it?

Seriously though... I am trying to get my groove back and find my fan fic niche again and I'm really struggling. I'm getting these ideas that have potential but for whatever reason I just can't decide where to go with them. At first I just thought that maybe it was the fact that I'm not in the best point in my life to write romance because all my female characters were coming out really annoying and I'm not too big a believer in romance right now. So, I started to think about other genres. I got a bunch of new ideas, I've had the itch to rewrite or finish up old stories that I started... It's like I have all these beginnings that I'm super excited about! Then I write a bit of the first Chapter and start to have doubts and decide to work on something else. It's to the point where I'll literally bounce back and forth between word documents. I have a zillion chapter one's but that's it. How do you guys decide which idea to concentrate on when you have so many? And how do you take a small idea and trurn it into a whole story?

I'm just so indesicive and scared to post anything. I don't know what is with me lately!

[mare]

I know I have suffered from fanfic ADD. I found whenever I had a ton of ideas I just sat on them and didn't do much. I wouldn't even write anything down. If the idea was still strong a few days or week later then I knew it was worth something. If I can't even remember what I wanted to write a day after I got the idea, then it wasn't worth it. That's how I figure out what to write.

I think the hardest part comes when you start the doubting yourself. You should just go with it and don't start asking yourself too many questions that make you change your mind and second guess your decisions.

Another idea that helps me is make it a small one shot. Even shorter than a short story to see if you can come up with a beginning, middle and end that makes sense. If you can do that then you're probably going in the right direction.

Good luck!

[RokofAges75]

I have had a big case of WADD (Writer's ADD) this week.  I have unfinished chapters in the works on three different stories, and instead of finishing any of them last night, I was working on a short story that I haven't touched in almost three years.  WTF?

Usually I'm not like that when I have stories in progress that I'm actually pretty into, but I've been in your shoes before, Mel.  I went through that in 2008, after I had finished BMS.  I had all these ideas that I had been hoarding during the five years I spent writing that series, and I was so excited about finishing it and starting something new, but by the time I did, I had a hard time getting going on any of my other ideas.  I started some things and played around with some ideas, but never really got anywhere with them.

What worked for me was to write short stories and collaborate.  I'm not a big short story person, but I wrote a songfic that I'd been sitting on for awhile, and I wrote a couple of challenge stories for here.  00Carter gave me an outlet to be creative and write stuff that was completely different from anything I'd write on my own, and then we got the idea for Song for the Undead, and that was the story that really sucked me back into writing regularly.  Thank god for collabs, because I didn't have that novel of my own that I could really get into until last summer with Curtain Call.  And Curtain Call was not one of the ideas I had saved in a file somewhere; it came in a burst of raw inspiration and refused to leave me alone, so I had no choice but to write it.  I'm glad I did.

As much as I hate saying it, I think sometimes when you're in a slump, you just have to wait for lightning to strike with the right idea.  I've tried manufacturing ideas, forcing them out, and they never go as smoothly.  The two stories I abandoned to write CC, Secrets of the Heart and Guilty Roads, were both manufactured ideas, and although I like them, I don't have near the same level of inspiration for them.

But try some one shots or challenges, maybe try collaborating if you can, and see what happens.  Sometimes you just have to get yourself writing something, anything, to get the creative juices going again.

[cabybakes]

With y'all here...which is why I always only allow myself to work on one thing at a time.  I have lots of ideas and am short on time, so I will forget what I had in my head.

[Purpura Lipstick]

*looks at the five stories open in front of her on the screen.* No, no I don't know what that's like at all. 

[mare]

It's funny because my next challenge is going to be a collaboration challenge, so maybe that will help.

[cabybakes]

It's funny because my next challenge is going to be a collaboration challenge, so maybe that will help.

Ooh...will it have bigtime rules/parameters?

[RokofAges75]

Yay!

LOL The last thing I need is to start another collaboration, but I will say, it does wonders for writer's block and stretching yourself as a writer, so for those who are feeling stuck and wanna venture outside the box and try something new, go for it!

[mare]

There will be rules somewhat. I haven't put that much thought into it yet. The only rule I am certain of is no banners! lol

[cabybakes]

Shocker!

[Carter-Orange]

I've had times where I've felt like that Mel.  I've got a couple of word docs with beginnings of stories that I might continue some day, or I might just delete them.

A collab challenge sounds fun Mare

[Rose]

OMG yes lmao. During my attempt to write RMTW, I've had 5 ideas pop up and I've been sitting on them. 6 if you count Walked Out Of My Dreams...which I caved, started...and stopped after 5 chapters in attempt to focus LOL. And this isn't counting the 4 collab ideas between me and Julie once we finish Undead that have popped up.

I end up writing the idea down, make a banner if it really won't leave me alone. And then I sit on it. It's usually the best thing to do.





And yay for a collab challenge!

[Mellz Bellz]

Oooh a collab challenge does sound like fun and maybe it would be good for me because it would be like a baby step towards completing something on my own. Interesting that you mentioned falling into a rut after BMS Julie. I totally think that's my problem. After ALTOS which was my most sucessful story so far I think I feel pressure to top it and I don't think I'll ever have the same success with something else.

I may try fooling around this idea I got yesterday and see if it goes anywhere. I ran it by a friend and she liked it plus it's very different from what I usually write which may be good. We'll see... Thanks for the suggestions! Glad that I am not the only one with this problem.

[julilly]

I have everything ADD (Mare can confirm this lol) but my fanfic ADD is pretty intense these days! I am all over the board with fanfic lately. I have three stories in various states of completion and I'm doing a crappy job of keeping up with reading!

[RokofAges75]

Oooh a collab challenge does sound like fun and maybe it would be good for me because it would be like a baby step towards completing something on my own. Interesting that you mentioned falling into a rut after BMS Julie. I totally think that's my problem. After ALTOS which was my most sucessful story so far I think I feel pressure to top it and I don't think I'll ever have the same success with something else.

I may try fooling around this idea I got yesterday and see if it goes anywhere. I ran it by a friend and she liked it plus it's very different from what I usually write which may be good. We'll see... Thanks for the suggestions! Glad that I am not the only one with this problem.

I think that has a lot to do with it.  It's hard when you're so focused on one story/series and one set of characters for so long, and then it ends, and you have to write something different.  And the added pressure of trying to top a story that was successful doesn't help.  Obviously you need to write for you and not worry about other people's reaction to it, but it's hard when you don't know what to write.

I had to step away from my medical drama romance angst-fests for awhile and write some other things, some action, some horror, but even so, three and a half years later, the first novel I was able to get more than a few chapters done of on my own was none other than a medical drama romance angst-fest LOL.  So even though I think it helps to get outside the box, don't feel like you have to stray too far from your roots for too long.  It's always easiest to write what's in your comfort zone, what you like best, and what you do best.  I just think sometimes you have to take a break from that in order to appreciate coming back to it.