Story Ideas in Your Queue?

[RoperTrace]

Sometimes when I'm working on a story, new ideas pop into my head for future stories. I keep a list of them on my online drive to revisit later. Right now I have 16 "good" ideas that I'd like to work on. Two on the list have been published, and I'm working on part 02 for both of them. I did 'Bare Ass Beach' late in 2021, and have about 20,000+ words on pt.02 completed. I recently published another on that list, 'Forced!' less than a week ago, and have ~3300 words on pt. 02. I've been more focused on 'Forced!', pt. 02, since the story is kind of writing itself.

I'm curious how many story ideas you are considering, or if you even keep a list. I write a brief synopsis on how the planned story will unfold. I know that a lot of writers on Lit.com are ten times more prolific than me, and can only imagine what their lists look like.

 

[KeithD]

I have six on my "to do" list currently.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I have a total of four separate story series I plan to write. Two of those series I already started and one is at 90-100k words, and the other is at about 140-150k words. I plan a lot more chapters for these two series and I also plan to start the other two series at some point. Those are just some general plans that are very much dependent on my inspiration and drive to write. I must admit, my drive to write has been dwindling lately, mostly due to the unsatisfying amount of feedback I am getting. Who knows...

 

[ElectricBlue]

A year or two I scribbled the ideas in my head onto a piece of paper, and worked out, with my usual writing speed, that I had close on three years worth of ideas yet to write.

That was a couple of years ago, and most of those ideas all remain unwritten, yet I'm still writing at the same rate and got another lot of (quite different) stories out. This is why I don't bother with lists, and just keep the ideas in my head.

 

[WyreBendr0417]

I'm the same way. I've usually got four to six story ideas at any one time. Some I've started on and am well into, and others remain a brief synopsis in the app I use for writing basic outlines and storing ideas. I hate to think of how many times I've gotten out of bed in the middle of the night to write a synopsis for an idea because I knew I'd forget it before morning.

My Stuff https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=5796107&page=submissions

 

[Djmac1031]

I have several floating around right now; some started, others just a germ of an idea at the moment

 

[NoTalentHack]

I have about fifty ideas in my Google Sheets spreadsheet, but those are mostly just seeds. I know the rough shape of them, the basic plot and some snatches of dialog/description, but little more than that. Of those fifty, I'm actively writing one, taking a break from writing another, and have a really clear idea of what I'm going to do for another ten; I just have to write them.

I also use that spreadsheet to make notes on how they were received on Literotica, the category I plan to put them in, their status, etc.

 

[RoperTrace]

I have a total of four separate story series I plan to write. Two of those series I already started and one is at 90-100k words, and the other is at about 140-150k words. I plan a lot more chapters for these two series and I also plan to start the other two series at some point. Those are just some general plans that are very much dependent on my inspiration and drive to write. I must admit, my drive to write has been dwindling lately, mostly due to the unsatisfying amount of feedback I am getting. Who knows...

I track my comments in relation to total views for all my stories. It varies wildly, but with over 1.6 million views, it takes 16,554 views to get each comment. I know quite a few on here get 100's of comments on one story. I think in my own case it's related to the fact that I don't usually write in incest, or loving wives categories. My most recent story is just under 10K views in 6 days, and still no comments.(edit): I'd forgotten to include the emailed comments which would maybe raise my total by ~25%. Some of those are the best.

 

[djrip]

My ideas pile grows exponentially faster than my completed stories pile for some reason... The good news is I won't have any trouble finding something to work on next any time soon!

 

[NotWise]

Ideas are easy to come by, so I don't usually bank them. I have just one waiting, and that's because it's a story that breaks my mold.

 

[KeithD]

Ideas can pile up on each other and cripple exercise of them and others as well. If I didn't put them into a list as they pop up, they wouldn't only be lost--they'd take other ideas down with them.

 

[TheRedChamber]

My spreadsheet currently has a hundred and one items in it. I've got 4 works that are currently marked as 'in progress'. I usually keep it down to a couple of stories at a time, but I was taking some time off from the novel writing for some more instantly gratifying projects. Then I have 6 stories that have been stalled or abandoned including those that have stalled at the concept stage - i.e. there's one story that has a really great concept (to my mind) and I have some very clear characters and scenes, but despite my efforts has never actually resolved itself into a story. After that I've got 9 works that are 'ready' - I can tell you a full synopsis for each one and could start writing it now, except I'm working on other things.

The other 80+ rows in the spreadsheet are vague ideas ranging from a vivid scene to just a title. Looking through the list there are probably at least 10 that now feel like corny ideas and I could delete them, but on the other hand, they're not really taking up and space and I might become reinsipired by them someday.

Since I've published 20 stories in total, you could say I'm generating 5 ideas for every 1 story I finish.

 

[RoperTrace]

My spreadsheet currently has a hundred and one items in it. I've got 4 works that are currently marked as 'in progress'. I usually keep it down to a couple of stories at a time, but I was taking some time off from the novel writing for some more instantly gratifying projects. Then I have 6 stories that have been stalled or abandoned including those that have stalled at the concept stage - i.e. there's one story that has a really great concept (to my mind) and I have some very clear characters and scenes, but despite my efforts has never actually resolved itself into a story. After that I've got 9 works that are 'ready' - I can tell you a full synopsis for each one and could start writing it now, except I'm working on other things.

The other 80+ rows in the spreadsheet are vague ideas ranging from a vivid scene to just a title. Looking through the list there are probably at least 10 that now feel like corny ideas and I could delete them, but on the other hand, they're not really taking up and space and I might become reinsipired by them someday.

Since I've published 20 stories in total, you could say I'm generating 5 ideas for every 1 story I finish.

Five for one, sounds about right in my mix. I was reading the one synopsis on one of mine this afternoon, and thought hey, maybe this is just a 750-word shorty. But it begs for a part 2, which might grow exponentially.

 

[MrPixel]

You guys made me count the unfinished/unpublished works in my story folder. Nine. That's somewhat significant because when I have a story idea, it goes into words almost immediately. The "idea" usually results in 1K or so words before I back off and think about development.

Of the nine, two were completed and uploaded, but deemed against the rules on LitE. They're good stories, but won't see the light of day, at least here, as the point of each story is why they were rejected. One (a big multi-chapter story) has elements that won't pass muster, either, so it's going to sit in the folder until I relent and edit-out the prohibited content.

Two more are anonymized personal spleen venting and I get queasy whenever I think of taking them live. I'm going with my gut on those for the time being. One other is a potential contest entry for later in the year; it's completed.

The remaining three are in-progress beginnings, one started just this morning that is already at the 1K mark.

We won't mention the 26 chapters in the queue from my big series waiting for final polish before hitting the "publish" button. I guess I should get on the stick with these?

 

[FifthEstate]

I like to make a draft story title and description on Literotica. Obviously, both are very likely to change numerous times, but for whatever reason it makes each idea more tangible for me and it puts them in a place I view more often. As I begin writing, I keep the word docs in a new stories folder. I have 6 or 7 in there currently.

 

[oneagainst]

Forty-odd at the moment, of which 4 are full story arcs of 15-25 ch., which leads to an question - how quickly do you go from a good idea to a finished piece of (say) 4k+ words, and does it vary? Does spending 2 months on a story drastically change the original idea because you rework and rework it?

 

[TheRedChamber]

Forty-odd at the moment, of which 4 are full story arcs of 15-25 ch., which leads to an question - how quickly do you go from a good idea to a finished piece of (say) 4k+ words, and does it vary? Does spending 2 months on a story drastically change the original idea because you rework and rework it?

Given a whole morning or afternoon, I can write about 2.5k words in a sitting, so 4k in two days, but I'm more likely to write 6-8k words as a shortish story and take three days over it. I'm much productive if I can get those three days all in a row (a luxury). Some longer pieces I start to write and leave for months, but the story idea doesn't drastically change as I plan and don't start to write without a clear outline, at least in my head. Then it's on to my beta readers for a few days/a week.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Forty-odd at the moment, of which 4 are full story arcs of 15-25 ch., which leads to an question - how quickly do you go from a good idea to a finished piece of (say) 4k+ words, and does it vary? Does spending 2 months on a story drastically change the original idea because you rework and rework it?

It depends a lot. I rarely write 4K stories, but on the ones that I have, the ones where I had a very clear and simple idea in my head that didn't deviate, it takes a day or two to go from seed to story, then another day or two for editing and tweaking.

But if it's a more complicated story? If it's something I'm all in on, I can sustain 4-6K words per day when I'm not very distracted. But I also don't do a lot of pre-plotting or outlining, and I'm willing to shift a story around if I like a different direction or find an interesting theme to emphasize. I'm also willing to drop it for a while if it isn't gelling. I've got a story in my queue that I wrote the first 6K words for a month ago, but just didn't like how it was arranged, etc., and it's going to sit there for a while. I've got another four stories that I'm kind of rotating between as I feel like it, and all of those are going to be probably a minimum of 10-12K; I think I might finish one of them in the next few days, after letting it sit for a week while I poked at another one.

 

[RoperTrace]

It depends a lot. I rarely write 4K stories, but on the ones that I have, the ones where I had a very clear and simple idea in my head that didn't deviate, it takes a day or two to go from seed to story, then another day or two for editing and tweaking.

But if it's a more complicated story? If it's something I'm all in on, I can sustain 4-6K words per day when I'm not very distracted. But I also don't do a lot of pre-plotting or outlining, and I'm willing to shift a story around if I like a different direction or find an interesting theme to emphasize. I'm also willing to drop it for a while if it isn't gelling. I've got a story in my queue that I wrote the first 6K words for a month ago, but just didn't like how it was arranged, etc., and it's going to sit there for a while. I've got another four stories that I'm kind of rotating between as I feel like it, and all of those are going to be probably a minimum of 10-12K; I think I might finish one of them in the next few days, after letting it sit for a week while I poked at another one.

'More complicated story?'- Do you ever have what seems a simple story idea, and while writing it the story takes off in a different direction? That's been happening more to me as of late. Not trying consciously to make it more interesting, the story just seems to detour in a different direction as if I had little control over it. A good friend who was a lifelong teacher, told me several years ago, that I appear to have the adult version of ADHD, and some of that rings true.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I think I have ten solid ideas, that will likely end up as stories. But new ones keep popping up, and I get fired up and bang out five pages, before remembering I have four WIPs already.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

I think I have ten solid ideas, that will likely end up as stories. But new ones keep popping up, and I get fired up and bang out five pages, before remembering I have four WIPs already.

I'm struggling to finish a story for the Valentine's contest, and it may have to wait till next year because my overly fertile brain keeps dreaming up new stories. While I've been attempting to get the first one done, I wrote and submitted a 750 word, and started two more VDay stories.

I've got tons of other stories on the go, too. Maybe I need help, lol! And I don't mean with my writing.

 

[oneagainst]

'More complicated story?'- Do you ever have what seems a simple story idea, and while writing it the story takes off in a different direction? That's been happening more to me as of late. Not trying consciously to make it more interesting, the story just seems to detour in a different direction as if I had little control over it. A good friend who was a lifelong teacher, told me several years ago, that I appear to have the adult version of ADHD, and some of that rings true.

Yeah, I had a vignette about a chastity belt and a wedding day, 2.7k words, then thought "what if?" - The Monogamists Ch. 01. Half a million words later, just finished all story arcs.

Re ADHD - same. Adult friend ran me through her diagnosis and I was like "shit, me too. maybe that's what's been going on all these years". She said get on the pills and I thought about it for 1.2millisec and it occurred that far from an issue, it's like a superpower: the ability to sit down and lose yourself in creating something for 3h and 5k words at a time.

 

[oneagainst]

It depends a lot. I rarely write 4K stories, but on the ones that I have, the ones where I had a very clear and simple idea in my head that didn't deviate, it takes a day or two to go from seed to story, then another day or two for editing and tweaking.

Good to get in the zone, right? I wrote AG in two weeks (long flights, funerals) but then left it for 6 months without opening it and then did the initial editing pass. The gap lets you step back and get a good look at the shape of the thing as a whole, I think... the 10,000ft view as opposed to obsessing endlessly in the weeds

 

[NoTalentHack]

Good to get in the zone, right? I wrote AG in two weeks (long flights, funerals) but then left it for 6 months without opening it and then did the initial editing pass. The gap lets you step back and get a good look at the shape of the thing as a whole, I think... the 10,000ft view as opposed to obsessing endlessly in the weeds

I'm in that ADHD club, too, and I'm amazed you were able to hold off six months on the editing. Once I latch onto a story, I burn straight through and just have to get done with it; I can't put it down. I know my quality would probably improve a bit if I did take that kind of break to reassess later, and if I were writing professionally, I'd try to, but... yeah.

 

[oneagainst]

I'm in that ADHD club, too, and I'm amazed you were able to hold off six months on the editing. Once I latch onto a story, I burn straight through and just have to get done with it; I can't put it down. I know my quality would probably improve a bit if I did take that kind of break to reassess later, and if I were writing professionally, I'd try to, but... yeah.

Ah, I was constantly tweaking the stories before that one in the pipeline, publishing 1x or 2x of 3k words every week. Thank [deity] for the publish button, 'cos then it's set in stone and you HAVE to walk away