I have been in a writing hiatus the past four months, however, now I have started blogging and got back into my writing, I am having an ideas overflow. In the past month, I have been trying to work on my current project, whilst having ideas for two new and exciting stories.
I gave in and focused on the idea that has been at the forefront of my mind. I have now planned out the plot, characters and written a huge chunk of the story. But then, another spanner in the works! Only last week, I became inspired by a creative writing assignment with an idea for a romance book and threw down 10,000 words, like you do!
I feel like with all these ideas I will never get anything finished unless I discipline myself to focus on one task. I wondered what I should focus on first and how I should manage all these ideas that keep popping up in my head. Do all writers suffer with the same affliction? I sought the advice of my creative writing teacher. How do writers focus/ decide what to focus on with so many distractions?
She told me there are three types of writer:
The single minded writer. Some writers only ever have one idea for a story and that’s it. When they are finished, they are done with writing. Other writers literally only work on one book at a time. Rick Moody is like these type of writers. Moody suggests sticking with that one project, even when you are stuck. In fact, doing nothing and let the idea sit instead, is his top tip.
“You know in ‘Purple America’ I knew it would start with a bath, and then I had no idea where it was going next. You know, sometimes I had to stop for a month because I had no idea what the next bit of story was going to be.” Rick Moody
The John Fox, Writing Life: How 50 Famous Authors Find Writing Inspiration
Trying other types of stories, whilst sticking with the story, the writer is currently working on.Other writers, like me, get multiple ideas whilst writing. However, they like to finish one story at a time and try not to become too distracted by the other ideas. Therefore, when new ideas come along they info dump as much as they can and then come back to it later.
Joshua Ferris suggest that when you get stuck in your story and can’t find a way to move it along, then start another project. Ferris had already written two hundred and fifty pages of Then We Came to the End when he decided to put the work on hold and do something else instead.
“I put them away and eventually gave myself over to a very different manuscript.” Joshua Ferris
The John Fox, Writing Life: How 50 Famous Authors Find Writing Inspiration
Lastly, the ‘write a bit of this and a bit of that’ writer. A writer has an idea for a story, they start writing it, then another idea comes along and they start writing that story too. They dip in and out of each story as and when, and they do this without getting confused!
As Brad Chisholm suggests, work on whatever screams for your attention the loudest.
The John Fox, Writing Life: How 50 Famous Authors Find Writing Inspiration
Can you identify what type of writer you are? Can you juggle writing more than one book at a time? Do you need to get ideas on paper and focus on the one story or are you planning to only write that ONE book? Whatever the type of writer you are, discipline is the key, whatever way works best, find a schedule and stick to it. This could mean working on one story one day and another the next.
Q. Why is it, the busier you get with writing, the more ideas and word count flow?
A. The creative juices are flowing and as you are using your brain more in this capacity, you are more likely to get even more ideas for stories to write.