Hello everyone.
I seem to have a hard time organizing my ideas.
For example I have one story in mind, but then I always get other ideas to add or replace the current content of the story. I feel like my mind is jumping all over the place with ideas and scenes that don't connect.
How can I organize my ideas, stay on topic with out trying to mash 4 or more different ideas in one story ?
Hi Amanda. I have the same problem. There are a lot of ideas floating around up there and I don't want to lose the quality of any of them by trying to squish them all together. I have notepads. I keep one pad on me so I can scribble down anything that comes to mind, then I have a notepad/clipfolder for each "story" at home and I regularly file things into them from the first pad.
I started in complete chaos and nearly buried alive by scraps and post-its but now I have them all available to dip in and out of as needed. I will admit though, that 6 months into this system, I've definately spent more time on one specific idea and the others are waiting patiently for my second book x x (fingers crossed!)
Thanks! I will try that :)
It sounds like you know your characters, but havent given them a grand conflict to get their teeth into and fight for, so you keep dreaming up minor conflicts that wont carry through a whole novel.
Take one of those ideas, keep elaborating it and elaborate again until it becomes a huge problem your characters are facing. Do a wall chart and mark out four sections. Use sticky notes to show what must happen in each section for the conflict to unravel and resolve. Your musings can be sub-plots, but you must stick to the one main conflict throughout the story.
Once you have the main plot line, you'll fly through it because you already know your characters so well.