Does anyone have a similar problem? And if so, what do you do about it?

~Riella

I'm sure you already know everything I'm about to tell you, but in the case that you don't, hear we go...

I think that making an outline really helps, even if you think you can just pump out a rough draft, or throw down your ideas, and then convert them straight into a draft of what you want it to be. Here's an example of what one of my two outline formats looks like:

And it goes on and on. It's very easy to follow along, even if you're looking back at it from a week ago. A lot of writers think outlines are for either less experienced writers, or that they are a simple waste of time. Not to say that my experiences in writing are superior to anyone else's, and most here probably are superior in skill to me, but I find it incredibly helpful to write outlines. I used to be agree that outlines were a waste of time until I was forced to write one for a 20 page thesis, and it worked wonders.

Sometimes when you're just taking notes and you look back at your ideas all jumbled around, it's hard to tell exactly what you were thinking, though it's easy with an outline. The last type of format I do is using little circles (it's cleaner than the Roman-Numeral system), and just indent them accordingly, as seen here:

-- Even though mine usually have a lot more sub-dots in them, not just as simple as that...

I'm sorry for the bland and boring images, I hope I'm not breaking any sort of rules! I think they get my point across though. I'd do them manually if I could figure out how to format it like that on this forum.

I hope that helps a bit!

Outlining helps me as well whether it is for essays, stories, or presentations.
Also I think a writer should always have a notebook with them, or at least something to write on and with. Ideas can come at anytime.
Maybe you can jot down major ideas, but try dividing up your time to conentrate on one story at a time. It is really hard to develop multiple plots at the same time.

Well, I already outline when it comes to actually planning the book. These aren't those kinds of ideas. This is more about ideas of how actual sentences are worded. Like passages.

And I always write more than one book at once. I can't really help it. I don't consciously plan them. They kind of plan themselves. Ideas pop into my head, and they might be about anything. It'd be a shame not to write an idea down just because it didn't belong to the book I'm actually writing at the moment.

~Riella

I always use my computer to write. I do take notebooks with me on the go in case I want to write down notes and draw a quick scene out.
I like using my computer because it is much quicker for me and I can have different files for different chapters or character ideas.
Not to mention my handwriting is not the greatest and my spelling is practicably unreadable.
@Ithilwen: I use different files to organize my ideas on the computer. Sometimes I just get a scene in my head and have to write the dialogue for it. So I open the file where the scene might take place and just write it there. Even if it is only one sentence. If you like using notebooks, you could probably keep a separate notebook for each book to write quick notes down. You could even use different color notebooks for each book to find it quicker. Just an idea.

Right now I have another name problem.
There is a very minor character, I don't think she even gets any lines, in my book. She is the MC's mother. She has a fairly common sounding fantasy name--Inda. The problem is, upon searching for the name to make sure it wasn't anything embarassing, I found out that it is apparently the name of a main character in someone else's book that I'd never heard of. Except that that character was a man. And the book was titled after him.
Sigh. . .this is really irritating. She's had the name for so long that I don't want to change it. But I don't want people to think I stole it.

^^ You could just change it slightly. That way, it's still close to the name you know, yet it's different from the other character. Something like Ynda, or Imda, or something similar.

It might be fine even to use that name though. Inda seems like a name a lot of people might think of. I'm sure it's been used in many, many books not mentioned on Google. So I doubt it would cause problems to use it. Is "Inda" a famous book?

~Riella

I couldn't say. But given that this character is so minor, I'll leave it the way it is.

Riella, I'd second what 7 said about keeping your ideas in files. I realize you just said you don't like writing on the computer ( ), but in this case, I think it might be a good idea to type up your ideas so you cab move them around and better see how they might fit into your story. There's a program I like called Microsoft OneNote - it came in a pack with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, which I use for school. OneNote is organized like a notebook, with separate notebooks, tabs, and pages, making working on the computer a little, um, less like working on the computer.

Lady H, unless it's a widely known book, I wouldn't worry about your name. I've found it's incredibly difficult to come up with a name that's completely unique - most of the time, I avoid Googling my names for that very reason. I don't want my opinion about a perfectly good name swayed just because someone out there named their RPG character the same combination of letters that I know I thought up on my own.

Well, I'm on vacation for the next week, and I left my computer at home! (I'm actually writing this on my iPod, so I apologize for any typos and/or spelling errors. ) But I did bring along some printed out sheets with about 10k words that I hope to edit/rewrite, by hand of course. I will be most pleased if I manage to be somewhere close to finishes with those by the time I get back.

I love writing, unfortunately I also have a teensy tiny problem...

I have too many works in progress

For that reason I mostly do short stories and poetry/ songs. I am currently working on a longer work of non-fiction called Cotton~Tales about my rabbit and some of his wild cousins. At the moment it's more of a series of short stories, and I've been writing them out of order, but I'm thinking of going back through once I have a draft for all of them and editting them into chapters. Currently it stands at about 36 word document pages, and I'm about half-way done. I hope to eventually get it published, but I've got some work to do first.

Another one I just started is a short story, which I've tentatively called, "The Raven's Vision." In some ways its kind of a tragedy. It's about the lives of two twin boys who end up driven apart by their differing world views, except it takes place from the point of view of a raven, who is sent to watch them.

I'm writing another longer work called Love Among Wolves and Bears, which I've put on hold until Cotton~Tales is done. I've got three chapters finished, but I think I'm gonna scrap the third and rewrite it since it doesn't portray the characters quite like I want it too.

I've also finished quite a few other short stories and songs. I focus mostly on Sci-fi and Fantasy, but I'll write regular fiction too. Another thing I've noticed, is a lot of mine either have animals as major characters, or take place from the point of view of one. Consequence of being a Zoology major I guess I hope to someday get a few published, but right now I'm just trying to survive college. Any recommendations as to how to approach publishing though?

I'm also hoping to participate in NaNo this year, I might do Script Frenzy too, we'll see

If you have any questions/ comments about my works, feel free to pm me

That's my problem too.
I have this very long project, Elwen, a prequel to my first novel, The Black Galloper. I've been working on the thing for three years. Then I have this The Broken-Fingered Magician story sitting around that I should really do more with. Then there's Thiswold Thyster, or the Golden Enemy: A Novel of the Kisaars, which I've just started. There's also Like a Firebird, which I'll have to do more on.

Im reworking a large portion of my plot in the novel I am mainly working on now. Soon it will be time to do research! Now with research I always find it both a daunting and exciting task. I hope I am able to find some good resources.

I'm a little worried that my story will end up melodramatic. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to avoid melodrama in plot/characters and writing style? Thanks.

I suppose there are worse problems to have, Wolfy. I'm afraid I can't do much to help, since I've had the same work-in-progress for more than three years. But I think it's neat you have so many ideas! Sometimes I wish I could play around with some of the ideas floating around in my head, but I don't really know what I'd do with them. I spend way too much time thinking about my current story to come up with another plot at the same time.

Oh, and I also find it interesting how you guys seem to have titles for all your works! I'm great at coming up with chapter titles but awful at thinking up with a name for my story as a whole. I found out that my current working title is the name of another book and also a movie, so I have a feeling I'm going to have to change it. Again. *sigh*

Valiant, is there a specific part of your story you feel is "melodramatic"? I'd love to help, but I'm not quite sure how.

I never make up titles for my works. And if I do, they sound awful. The best I've done is working titles, and those have changed quite frequently. Though I suppose you know your title best when you know your story well, and I don't know it well until about after the second draft. Which I've never quite gotten to.

You see my dilemma?

I'm pretty good at coming up with titles. In fact, sometimes I'm better at coming up with titles than actually writing the story to go with them! The other titles of books that I'm planning are A Path Less Traveled, Nimdor, The Jewel of the Northlands, The Outcasts, Sunset Sky, Stories from Sevron, Terreha, Fire-bright, Wielder of the Twisted Sword, and Victors in the Midst of Strife. Those aren't all part of the same world. The first six are in my first world of Sevron, which has the working title of The Sevron Sagas. The next three are in Elsayan, or at least that's the name of one country, since I haven't decided on a name for that overall world yet. The last is a sort of fantasy-in-the-real-world type thing.
Yes, that was long and involved, but I love talking about titles.
And I've decided not to bother about the name thing anymore, except for one or two. Since they aren't incredibly well-known names/companies I figure it doesn't matter. Its not like I'm naming someone Coca-Cola or something incredibly obvious.

Well I'm worried about making my characters too sensitive. I think I'm going to tune down the emotion and understate their feelings and at the same time slowly up the stakes. I'll update later as to how its going...

Some good titles come from really good lines in the story itself. So you if you find a line that really stands out in your story and describes a major theme/plot, then that might work.