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I am by no means a great author or even a published one, but I enjoy writing some fan fiction or short stories, and have came across this issue more than once. I can be doing great on a particular part, telling one character's side, when all of a sudden, I start thinking of another character and their own story starts to develop. So much so, oftentimes, that I get caught up and distracted from the goal of the main character. Anyone else have this issue or have ideas on how to counter it? Thank you in advance.

Start new files for every paragraph. Proof read and erase.

I feel like starting a new file for every paragraph might be too much.
You would end up having millions of tiny files that would get lost easily on your computer, let alone being able to put everything together well.

I like the idea of starting new files, but I agree that doing so for each paragraph could become cumbersome. Maybe try new files for new characters and their developments or for new chapters? It might help to break it down like that and find links between the paths of development you are taking.

If it's "in the moment" I usually pop down to the bottom of the file and write myself a note. I'll write a paragraph or an idea of feeling down and then continue with my original story. I have a file for story ideas that I will open and copy and past the idea into it. I then add a bold faced title so I can find it easily later. As I use up these ideas I erase them from the file so it's not all old ideas that I keep.

I keep one document for character development that is separate from the manuscript that I am working on. As characters arise, I create a header for the new character, then create header links whenever character interactions with one another causes a change in their traits/bio. This makes it easy for me to map out and watch them evolve as the story is written.

I do most of my writing with Evernote, which is really useful for keeping track of everything and making sure everything is organized. The way that you can organize each small note file into notebooks and then the notebooks into notebook stacks could be really handy if you wanted to start a new file for each paragraph like Johntherobot suggested, and be able to keep track of everything easily. When I was writing my coursework last year I kept a notebook stack for my English work, a specific notebook for this particular coursework and then broke it down into chunks of paragraph/sections in each note and it was really useful.

I definitely also get distracted while writing a lot, my main problem is getting ideas for other stories and wanting to write them all down before I lose them - it's great when I have lots of ideas but it doesn't help me focus on the one that I'm trying to write at the present time! I'm still trying to work this out for myself so I can't offer a lot of advice that definitely works for me, but using programs like Evernote has helped me to organize and keep track of things a lot. Unfortunately I don't have Word on my new computer yet otherwise I'd probably be using that a lot too. :/

But yes, I'm sending you lots of positive vibes and encouragement with your writing endeavors! It's a long and difficult process to get certain ideas developed to the extent that one wants, but I think that it's really great that you have all of these ideas that you want to work on and expand!

I'm a horribly sloppy writer, so a lot of this advice is enormously helpful to me too! For the last big thing I wrote, I just had a whole bunch of documents with paragraphs and fragments of ideas...not organized AT ALL. The idea of having separate files for character development sounds promising though, and might help you out. Thanks for posting--you're doing the disorganized a big favor

Interesting question, Lore...

I am a published author (2 novels, short stories, reviews, articles, etc) and I simply make side notes when I'm slightly off track with either a new character or a plot twist. If a sidebar idea comes to me, I open a new document "plot ideas" and write the divergent ideas there, then churn ahead with the main thrust of my story. Later, taking a break from the principal task, I go back to that temporary "ideas" doc and rearrange it, add comments, and save it for later. Some of those random thoughts later became new separate stories. But I don't get distracted. Otherwise I'd never get anything finished or if it were finished, it would be so muddled as to make little sense.

If I may ask a feedback question, why do you write fan fiction? Isn't it more interesting to write your own stories, unique and individual, and not a take-off of something that another person has written? I'd appreciate knowing what motivates someone to write fan fiction instead of a totally new story. Thanks.

Well, I am just like the dog in the movie "UP" - I could be writing something ~SQUIRREL~ yah, I get totally distracted by another idea that pops in my head... So I just write it in my Paper Idea Book & move on... other wise I would get nothing done!!

I tend to just let plots happen, so if something happens that goes "off track", I just find a way to work around it. In a story I'm working on right now, a character got executed before he could have a conversation with the protagonist, so I'm going to have her imagine the conversation instead. That way, I get to have the execution where it feels right and still keep the conversation, which is pretty pivotal to what's going on. Also, if you find yourself getting distracted by another character, follow that impulse. You might discover a whole new story.

I can't speak to why everyone writes fanfiction, but I know that I write it because I see something in another story that I want to play around with. I may find a character or a plot arc that my fingers are just itching to write about, but I haven't explored it enough to make it my own. Fanfic for me is a way to work with a character or a setting and make it feel like something I can play with. Fanfic is something of a safe space, because I don't need to worry too much about building from the ground up; I have a structure to embellish.

Ah, "safe space" -- but what's the chance of selling that fanfic and seeing it published, compared with writing a story all on your own, you build from the ground up, and sell it? I mean, as I see it, you're acting slightly like a ramora that rides along stuck to a shark. Sorry... but I really believe that when we sit down to write fiction, the whole "universe" of ideas is laid there before us to create from.

When I created my modern private detective series, I deliberately chose a "new" character, not the old fashioned hardboiled but a smart, educated, and very modern PI, uses all the new electronics gear, etc.

I didn't want to borrow from anyone else.

Besides, with fanfic, the original characters being copyright, doesn't that severely limit your chance to sell that story? You'd have to get "persimmon" from the original publisher, right?

The thing is, it's not necessarily about selling the story. For me, writing's a way to make things. If I get money from it, that's great, but that's not as important. There is a certain satisfaction from writing a story that's entirely my own (or mostly "my own", considering even my original fictions have something that inspired them), and that's why I write original stories in addition to fanfics. However, there's a different kind of satisfaction from writing something that's very closely inspired by another person's writing. There's also a different sort of challenge. I try to make my fanfics well-written, and I also want them to feel like they could work in that universe. Sometimes, for an even greater challenge, I mix two different universes to see how I can make them connect.

Judging by your reaction, my calling fanfic a safe space may not have been the right term. It's really more of a playground, a place where I can go to write and toy with characters and settings without having a great deal of pressured laid on me. I don't write my fanfics seriously (although they're not all fluff and fun; I've got several that have gotten very intense), and they give me a chance to relax a bit with my writing.

Ah, a much better description. A sort of pean to the characters that you admire. That makes sense.

Thinking back, I've jotted down notes at times regarding characters that I've enjoyed in stories by other authors, such as "wouldn't it be fun if Elvis Cole met Spenser?" and so on. After all, one of the greatest (and most insane) fantasy novels ever, "A Feast Unknown" by Phil Farmer, tells of Tarzan meeting Doc Savage.

And don't get me wrong -- I enjoy my writing and wouldn't write if I didn't get personal satisfaction from it. But I still write with the objective to sell my stuff, and fanfic just isn't a market, mostly because of copyright infringement. So I turn my principal energies toward short stories and articles and now, my novels, all of which I've actually sold (as being paid real money for) -- except of course my newest novel which is still being shopped and I hope to have some good news on that front soon.

I prefer to write by typing on my computer, BUT I always keep a notebook and pen handy--for my series, I have a five subject notebook and each section is for each book in the series. If I ever get any ideas, I just right it in the section for whatever book I want to put it in. I do the same with the specific notebooks I have for each story I am writing. If it's an entirely separate idea from any book I am currently working on, I write it down on whatever I can find (usually a notebook, as I have an abundance of these) and as soon as I can access Google Docs, I put it in my ideas folder.

Sometimes it's hard not to get side tracked by these ideas, and it can slow down your creative process. However, it can be beneficial for a writer to have some side projects to help inspire new ideas or to help get you back into the writing mood, which is why I keep that ideas folder in Google Docs. Sometimes, those little idea sparks can become your favorite thing to write; they can even help you find your style and your favorite genre to write. They might even become your best seller!