Is there such thing as an author having too many ideas?

[[deleted user]]

I have been contemplating this recently and have written a very short blog post on it
http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
I honestly don't know the answer to that question and would love your feedback on it

[[deleted user]]

Uhh, yes. Just look at Season 4 of 'Lost'

[[deleted user]]

Lol. That is one of the best answers anyone has given me. Season 4 of lost was such a mess I swear my head almost exploded. I still don't quite get what was going on because there was just too much information, too many ideas, just too much

[Anthony]

I actually blogged about this once...what you described is essentially how I've been since a kid...

The Opposite of Writer's Block?

I have a problem.

You've heard of author's suffering from "writer's block", but, honestly, I don't think I've ever experienced such a thing. In fact, I experience the complete opposite, which I'll call "Writer's Flood", because that's what it feels like to me.

Imagine: You're writing this perfectly good story, you're heavily involved in the characters, and are pleased at how their development and interaction affect the overall story and even start taking it into directions you hadn't anticipated or planned. This is the fun part of writing, and you are thoroughly enjoying the strange alchemic result of your creativity.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, you get this idea. It's an idea that has absolutely nothing to do with what you're working on. But it's a great idea, a compelling idea, and seductively, beautifully alluring idea that now you can't concentrate on what you were working on. Every time you try to build on your story, this new idea insists on being heard and developed, tantalizing you with all of its possibilities.

You try to do other things to get your mind off of this tangent, this distracting notion that has just entered your mind…maybe browse the internet or go watch TV or go see what the kids are up to. But as you as you do these things, in the back of your mind, your subconscious has just thrown this new idea into the pot and is definitely brewing something. Now the idea is no longer just an idea, but a possible story, one with characters and situations that are both intriguing and compelling. Like an itch you want to scratch but can't, you pull yourself away from what you are doing and then head back to the computer and start typing.

As you type, you say to yourself "All i'm going to do is just write out the basic plot or synopsis of this new idea. That's it! Nothing more. Just want to get it down before I lose it."

And so you type, and type, and revise and edit, and type, and before you know it, you have this new novel plotted out, and some characters created that you are dying to explore. You make a feeble attempt to go back to the novel you were working on before, and it's useless. So you go back to the new book and try out a few lines, just to see what kind of a narrative you can apply here. Maybe even get a sense of the overall tone of the work. So the idea expresses itself and you write out a few lines, and damn if they are not good. So you keep going and going, and before you know it you have three chapters done and feel you're on a roll.

And then it happens.

You get another idea.

And this idea…is unbelievably good. They're all good, but this one is really cool, and you can see it in your head developing from a novel to possibly even a movie or an edgy TV show. And so you say to yourself, "Okay, i'm just going to type up the plot and just save it for later while I finish up here."

Type, type, type type….before you know it, you are a hundred pages into this new novel, digging yourself deeper into this creative hole that doesn't seem to end.

And then you know what happens…?

Right. Another idea pops up. This one, just like the others, is in a completely different genre. So not only are you jumping from developing one idea to another, but you also find yourself bouncing from a suspense thriller type of book to a sci-fi fantasy epic, and then over to a young adult horror, then doing a sci-fi comedy then back to a mystery thriller genre, and so on and so forth. And not only do you bounce from one genre to another, but you also bounce from one format to another--jumping from Novel to Screenplay to stage place to short story to comic script back to a novel.

Honestly, I'm amazed that I can even finish a single thing at all. It seems my written output looks more like a graveyard of brilliant but unfinished works. It's a miracle that THE GESTALT MAN got published. I have a ton of other works waiting in line. But the sheer volume of the amount of work i'm doing, along with my normal day job, and the ongoing job of being a husband and parent, have made the writing incredibly slow. It doesn't help that I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my work.

I do wish I was a little bit more disciplined in how I approach my work. Some people complain about external distractions interfering with their writing…but what about internal distractions? How do you shut off the spigot? Do you even want to?

Do I even want to stop the flood of ideas?

Actually, no.

Is Writer's Flood a problem? Yes, definitely. But it's a good problem. A problem I'm glad to have. In my mind, I am a kid again, playing in the sandbox of my imagination, saving the world one moment, destroying it the next, soaring through space in a starship, battling monsters, solving unsolvable crimes, traveling through time, and being both the hero and villain of my never ending stories.

[[deleted user]]

I feel like this exactly describes what I am talking about. It's like you can't shut it off. You want to but each new idea sounds so good and you HAVE to write it down or you'll lose it, right? And then there's another and another, you start researching things from these new ideas and meanwhile the first project is sitting, abandoned, with a deadline.
It's like the opposite of writer's block but it can be just as bad if not worse.

[Nicolas]

Yes. Yes yes yes.

I write fast, and I'm good at finishing things, but I can barely touch a tenth of my ideas.

I have probably five times as many outlines as first drafts, and that doesn't include shorter concepts that became short stories and novellas instead of novels. I've sort of reconciled myself with being perennially behind, because no matter how much I write, it never leaves a dent in the stuff in my head. It's intensely frustrating.

[[deleted user]]

It is so frustrating. And just when you think you are just about out of the slush pile, you get buried in a new wave of ideas. I have so many concepts written down I had to get them their own binder and then another binder. There are probably a few hundred of dusty ideas that I just didn't have time for but wanted to write. The good thing about this is if the day ever comes when I get writers block and can't come up with ideas; I have a bunch of them sitting on a shelf waiting to be written

[Nicolas]

I keep little files on my computer with research, outlines, cover mockups, whatever was in my head. Then, when I want a new project, I just look at which one's the biggest, and jump into it. I'd feel so much more useful if I didn't have to get bogged down in revisions. I'm a slow reader, so it's painful spending ten times as long just reading my own writing, instead of drafting new ones. Right now, I have 7 or 8 unpublished novels in varying stages of revision, plus two or three in-progress novellas or serials. I don't think I'll be able to breathe until I've knocked them off my to-do list.

I can't imagine trying to keep it organized in a binder, S.K.N. How does that work?

[[deleted user]]

Nicolas wrote: "I keep little files on my computer with research, outlines, cover mockups, whatever was in my head. Then, when I want a new project, I just look at which one's the biggest, and jump into it. I'd fe..."

The binders work because I write everything out longhand on paper with a very specific brand and color of pen. I don't know why; but I always have to use the same kind of pen exactly and I can tell when I didn't. I will write these ideas on several sheets of notebook paper and file them away with a list of sites to use for research. I have actually spent so much time away for certain ideas that when I go to find these sites later; they're gone. There is little to no organization in the binders. No genre distinction or age group or anything. When I need an idea I literally have to read through everyone until I find one I think I can work with. My only currently published book was actually one I had stuck in the binder for a few years and came back to so that gives me hope for the others

[[deleted user]]

Cody wrote: "It is definitely a blessing and a curse. I was talking to some friends after my first novel and they asked how I was going to come up with ideas for number 2. I almost laughed because I had ideas f..."

I still seem to be working on that honing and postponing thing. Sometimes I can be very good at it and sometimes there is nothing that can get me to focus on what I want to work on. I think one of my biggest problems is that I work in too many genres. I have read several studies, blog posts, etc. saying an author should find their genre and form who they are but I can't seem to stick to one genre. Although I look at JK Rowling and see that she has done so many different things. But then again Stephen King has settled down in the horror genre. It's all very confusing really

[Anthony]

I think ultimately this all arises out of boredom. My mind hates stagnation. So when I'm working on something and its a boring part of the story or something where I've written myself into a plot corner...instead of forcing myself to slog through it... My mind knows me better than I know myself and so it allows my imagination to go and play and Voila-- a new exciting story to work on to distract me from the necessary evils of what I'm currently working on.
I love that I have a seemingly endless fountain of ideas...but at the same time I also wish that I was a bit more disciplined as a writer to put the right amount of focus and work on each project. It is one of the basic tenets of writing: You must finish what you start.

[[deleted user]]

Anthony wrote: "I think ultimately this all arises out of boredom. My mind hates stagnation. So when I'm working on something and its a boring part of the story or something where I've written myself into a plot c..."

Exactly. Especially when it is, as I am supposed to be working on, the final book in a series with two out of three books either published or about to be. I have to finish this but I keep finding such interesting and awesome ideas and I end up straying from my rough draft and going to other books and ultimately putting off the ending to the book. I don't think it's that I got bored. it's that I hate the ending but I love it at the same time. But it's so miserably awful that I am putting it off because I am essentially destroying 3 of my characters.

[[deleted user]]

But it doesn't matter because I love seasons 1-3 and 5-6 of Lost.. So...

[[deleted user]]

Josiah wrote: "But it doesn't matter because I love seasons 1-3 and 5-6 of Lost.. So..."

Yes, the rest of it is pretty awesome. That 4th season though is really chaotic and jumbled together

[Justin]

Too many ideas?? If theres such a thing I am yet to come across it, I'd welcome it tho!

[Lee]

I've been there, editing and polishing something I've read what feels like a million times is probably the hardest, most boring part of writing. I allow myself to delay and distract myself, but only to point. I do write up the basic storyline for the next book and any flashes of ideas, but I am disciplined enough to go back to the job of making the current book ready to publish. You know what? I always fall in love with the story again and do what I have to, because there is nothing better than knowing that your hard work is ready to be published. I enjoyed reading this thread because I could easily identify with the sentiments expressed.

[[deleted user]]

Exactly. I am on the third book of a series and I have been working on these same characters, and these ones only, for almost 2 years. I want to finish this book but then I really want to start other things. And I have all of these ideas that I can't do anything with yet