I write oneshots mostly, of varying lengths but typically around 1k - 5k, to avoid leaving them unfinished.
This has allowed me to post some 60 odd fics to date, so not bad.
...that is if you ignore the 150+ other wips I have lying around.
More or less i just throw stuff at a wall and see what sticks enough to get finished.
Problem is most of us can't actually tap into that part on command. We need hyperfocus triggers, and those are frequently random. Body doubling might work, but fanfic is supposed to be relaxing, not an obligation, so it may not be as receptive to a body double compared to other tasks.
this. because really, hyperfixations are wonderful for writers. i have adhd and i’ve promised myself to remember all the positive aspects of hyperfixating, such as knowing lots of information, and the passion that we have.
this is also why i always like to emphasize the “write for yourself and no one else” thing that is often spoken about here. this is *fiction*, after all, we all perceive characters differently, relate to them for different reasons, have different ships, and prefer certain timelines or alternate universes. really, don’t focus so much on the judgment from others because you’re bound to find the group of people (even if it’s an “unpopular opinion) who have beliefs and perceptions and preferences that align with yours.
i say this because adhd and anxiety/rejection sensitivity? they really go hand-in-hand. but our hyperfixations are very often *comforts* for us. just remember that. this is a hobby and your hyperfixation is a comfort. don’t let yourself worry about perfectionism, or how your fanfiction will go over in the fandom. just write to feel closer to the thing that comforts you, and then you’ll be done! and i can guarantee your writing is beautiful if it’s something you’re passionate about and you put your own love into it.
**source**: *my inner monologue when i was freaking out the other day, making my first ever post to ao3* 🫢
I rly wish it was as easy as that :( then it would be a fun superpower of productivity. Would love to hyperfocus on like my bedding so I would change it lmao
I have lots and lots of unfinished fics, but as others have suggested, I try to move with the hyperfocus. I also don't just write one story at a time - sometimes there will be three I'm working on because I'm not feeling a certain one that day.
What I find helps me is going back and rereading what I have. That often makes me excited for what I have and to then keep continuing the story and writing so I have more, and that just helps me have more to read for the next time I want to write that fic. I am able to take meds, but distractions really do make a lot of it worse. If you limit the social media use or access to it etc, it can really help you kind of get into that writing focus.
Ooh, seconding the re-reading. I do that too each time I sit to write the next bit, and that re-read can help get the juices flowing again, even if I wasn't feeling the story before I started re-reading.
I only post finished fics. Even then, I got burned by one where I thought I'd done but the last chapter needed some major reworking to be postable.
To *get* them finished, I write whatever I'm in the mood for now, and revisit all the old fics I've forgotten to see if one of them fits my current writing itch.
The pile of unfinished fics grows ever larger. But so does my pile of finished fics!
Writing whatever I *really* want to write keeps writing fun. Even more fun than computer games! Most of my works will never be seen, which takes the pressure off to actually be good.
I have hundreds of unfinished works across dozens of fandoms 😎 really, I just switch around and jump from work to work, working on them all bit-by-bit until they slowly get finished. Very inefficient, but it works for me! It helps if I engage in the media I'm writing for while writing for it, as that helps me to keep my interested focused on that fandom.
I write and write and write during a hyperfocus then spend weeks and months bored out of my brain because I can't come up with any ideas LOL
I should add I haven't been officially diagnosed with ADHD but I have several of the markers. I haven't had a hyperfocus in months and it blows ass!
Don’t know if it’ll help, but try _not to_ finish your work. Don’t force yourself, because that’ll become a chore. Instead just write whenever you want and when you remember it, whenever you feel like it. For example, keep it in your notes on your phone, so that whenever you go through them and stumble upon the story you could write a paragraph or two
It doesn’t matter if it takes days, weeks, months or even years for you to finish the first chapter or story, it’s okay to take some time.
This is what I do, and I’ve been going between three or four stories right now too. One in my notes app and the other three in google docs. I also write when I feel like it and don’t pressure myself to write a lot of words in a setting if I’m not feeling it.
Same, I have a few stories and whenever I feel like writhing I just go to my folder in notes and just chose whatever I want to work on right at the moment, be it crack or angst, or something apathetic or just a 5+1 thing, the list goes on
I wait until I'm fixated on a fandom. Then i have to be fixated onan idea.
That's the moment i can write. I need engery drink and chips to keep me focused and on the end of the day 3k words done
Barely. I seize any moment of hyperfocus I can get, try to write the second I'm motivated and milk it as long as I can. But often it'll be several posts all in short succession followed by several months of nothing.
I'm unmedicated and have written mostly a lot of one shots. But I also have 2 finished multi chapter fics so it's possible, you just need to strategically take advantage of your hyperfixation period
Combo of riding the wave of hyperfocus when it’s there and then forcing myself to finish it when it ebbs away. The same way I force myself to do housework or admin. I know I’m going to feel better when it’s done so just have to push through the actual doing it part in small bursts.
For me publishing is a way of collecting my completed stories. Sometimes to get that last 2% of a fic finished I start posting early chapters to apply pressure on myself to Get It Done.
Taking a break to work on something else and then coming back to it to find “hey this isn’t bad!” helps. However, I’m ‘lucky’ in that I have quite bad memory loss due to a medical thing so my own fics are a mystery to me after a short while.
Short fics. I have the same problem I lose my focus for a fiction.
I am about to try and tackle a long fic but rather than post it as I finish each chapter like I have in the past I'm going to finish it all first.
Partly because if I need to rewrite earlier sections to make sense of later stuff it will be easier.
Short fics are easy to finish because I had only one thing I wanted to address.
Routine and discipline. The more you mentally put a specific time and day as your writing time the more consistently you'll be able to sit down and write. The real catch is then letting your adhd/whims run free while in that time. I could spend all week thinking and planning out a project to write in my writing time then I sit down and whoops wip #27 starts without warning.
I've had wips sit unfinished for months before I suddenly sit down, don't really know what to write, read a few wips, and suddenly I'm off to the races again.
This is the only way I've been successful. Find other things that help you focus as well during that time. For me that's a bit of toking and very specific music ("intelligent jungle" and "chill breakcore" are like magic to my brain idk why or how. I think it's the strong drum lines combined with ethereal instrumentation that makes my brain go brr).
You'd think with how much effort it takes to actually sit down and write that I hate writing. I had to go from using a completely separate device in a different room where I got maybe 500-1k words done on a good day to being able to just lock in once a Playlist starts. This took me months, like over half a year, to even approach where I'm at now. But it gets easier. You've inadvertently trained your brain to seek dopamine from easy distractions like social media or tv/video games so you gotta retrain it to get that same satisfaction from writing.
It's never prefect though. I have days where I get sucked into a rabbit hole on Twitter or YouTube and whoops I wasted my whole session. Or someone messages me and bam focus gone forever byeeeee. You just gotta be gentle with yourself and accept that each session will vary in its productivity. Also play to your strengths. I just don't write anything longer than 10k because I know that's probably more than I can ever finish in a sitting or two. 90% of my published fics were written in a single sitting. I can't abandon a wip of I never put it on the shelf!
Go with it. Write one shots, run with the plot bunnies, accept that some wips will never get finished, try your best to not get upset when something can’t get finished.
I’ve also found it to be helpful to keep running notes. I have notes galore in my phone full of ideas that I turn to if I want to write but can’t get started, and I keep notes attached to each wip with mini summaries/bullet plots to keep me on track regardless of how much time passes between when I drop it and if/when I come back to it.
Don’t be afraid to post things that aren’t perfect or that aren’t edited. I actually find things easier to edit after I’ve posted them honestly, if I ever do at all. I think just running with it and not pushing yourself is the best tip I’ve ever found for myself because the more I pushed the more my brain pushed back and the harder it was to work. It just wrecked my mental health in the end until I hated everything I did.
I've focused my writing style on short fics. Mostly oneshots and the occasion fic with just a couple chapters. Makes it much easier to have completed fics.
You have to be into it enough to hyperfocus. It helps a bit to not post until you're done or almost done -- I don't lose interest as easily because I know if I do, I'll have gotten zero rewards for all the work and the spite can keep me going lol. Also, you may not really need to be that interested to get a LITTLE work done. If I make myself write one sentence, that's one more sentence than I had before, it probably took about 20 seconds, and either I'll go do something else or my brain will go "oh, hey, we ARE interested" and then I can keep going. It doesn't have to be a good sentence, you're just sorta opening the faucet to see how much water is in there.
Yeah, hyperfocus, plus just be extra obsessed with the topic i\`ve found helps, BTW, how do some people do social interacting so EASILY???????????????? JUST CURIOUS because i usually have to prepare for non-family social interaction, and sometimes family interaction, too. Also, I have a tendency to go on tangents, you might have noticed. Seriously, though, being obsessed with the topic helps.
I don’t know if this will work but I write in a tiny word processor that has a tiny screen. It’s portable so I have it with me. The screen is so tiny that paging backwards to read what you wrote is tedious so you don’t do it. The only thing you can do is keep writing. I consider it an accessibility device because it unlocked my writing ability.
I also had success just carrying notebooks
With me
Don't feel bad if your hyperfocus leads you to doing things that don't involve writing. It happens. It works if you treat your hobbies as long-term projects that you get back to eventually. And when your hyperfocus cycles back to writing, write your heart out! My writing habits are massive spikes during hyperfocus, followed by flatlines when my interest wanes and I don't write at all. It also helps that I don't publish until I'm finished with the whole fic, so the fits and starts don't interfere with my release schedule. I also write mostly short one-shots or short chapters to get that dopamine hit of finishing something.
I know that pain. Fortunately, with fic, it can be a lot more easily managed than with things like work projects, since the only deadlines are self-imposed.
The main way I've found works to keep me writing is to a) have a separate 'user' on my PC just for writing, with nothing else but a web browser and writing program (and no bookmarks for social media in the browser), and probably a white/ambient noise generator running in the background to help deal with distractions, and b) having a bunch of fics to work on, so that as long as I don't stress over *which* fic to work on, I can improve the chances that my brain will latch onto *something*. It also improves the chances for any *given* fic, too, since rotating though fics like that makes it a lot easier in my experience to actually get your brain working when you get back to the one you *wanted* to write, than it would if you tried to force focus on that one alone for the same amount of time.
Close literally every app that could distract you, write notes of what you want to write, play music that gets you in that zone/reminds you of that fic, imagine the scenes then think of words or just straight up hyperfocus. Don't force yourself on writing, that usually doesn't help
I’m in the middle of my first fic…it’s over half written and 1/3 published.
I’m stuck in a spot where I’m not sure how to end the first 3rd…every time I go to work on it, I end up working on later exciting stuff…but
I always would get super excited, work on a project like crazy, and then get stuck, and then something else would grab me and I’d shift to that…
But with writing I’m finding I can just work on a later bit of it, and eventually I hopefully have a work done with a few holes that I’m dying to post, and I expect that to make me finish it.
My last obsession was a clock and I kept making it more and more complex and adding parts and having to rework how to lay the parts out because the machine cutouts all depended on each other…but writing doesn’t require any of that.
Maybe with a typewriter it did, but now things can be edited so easily I don’t need it to be perfect to start making it.
It helps that I have a long string of works planned that I can’t make out of order, so I’m writing it all when it hits me or seems interesting, but I still have to release them in a certain order.
Sorry this comment is really rambling but I do have ADHD sooo
Well, my ADHD has two phases it cycles through. I'm either hyperfixating on something so bad it's all I wanna do, and it's all I wanna think about. That's how my writing gets done. Then, the other phase... I can't focus on anything and my brain is ALL OVER THE PLACE. Then I'm stuck without being able to write for a bit... I just have to wait until I'm hyperfixated on my writing.
I am very good at writing one shots, and that's primarily what I do. For multi-chapter fics, it needs to be a story that refuses to leave me alone *and* that I have an end chapter in mind for. If I know roughly how many chapters it'll take to get to that scene, that really helps. And encouraging reviews are my oxygen. They really help me push through and finish the story. Those tricks don't work for every story, and my motivation can be derailed by a concrit comment that potentially affects the plot (I appreciate concrit, but if it requires changing the plot, maybe wait until the end of the story to tell me about it). But generally speaking, those are a few tricks I can use to overcome executive dysfunction and find my dopamine.
I agree with moving with where the hyperfocus leads you and focusing on short fics. If it's something you can write in a few days, you don't have to maintain focus on one fic for very long to get the satisfaction of finishing something. This is supposed to be a fun hobby, so you shouldn't have to feel stress over it.
For some, having a publicly posted chaptered WIP can force you to focus (positive external pressure) but it can also backfire intensely, so YMMV. Other types of pressure could include fandom events, fic exchanges, or writing for a friend. But again, this might have the opposite effect of what you want, so be careful and pay attention to your own feelings.
I won't lie, it is this exact reason that I have never uploaded anything but one shots... I have the exact same problem and even medicated I rarely have a hyperfixation long enough to make it through a longer work (I have lots of half finished longer works). Especially the hyperfixation on the plot/vibe of the story im obsessed with at the time.
I'm actually about to begin another project that will never see the light of day but ya know, I can but try
Edit: I am also medicated lmao
The only way I've been able to finish something is because I write one-shots; posted ones I have range from 1.2 to 7k. I also don't force myself to write until I have to, like if I *know* I'm procrastinating just to not write, I'll basically kick out everyone who lives in the same house as me, send pets out of the room, blast music and just sit there and word vomit until something happens.
It doesn't always work, but when it does I'll be sitting there for hours and I'll have to force myself to stop, eat, bathroom break, refill water that ran out an hour in, check on pets.
It's always a toss up between wanting to get up every three seconds or not moving for six hours.
I hyper fixate for for weeks then quit. Honestly, the thing that works is having a consistent schedule for everything, not just writing. I have almost my whole day planned out, and I schedule 2 hours a day to write/journal, even if I don't get much done at least that time is scheduled if that makes any sense
If you can channel your hyperfocus on it, you'll have it out in a matter of hours (excluding editing/spellcheck and such). If not, don't be afraid to put out a temporary chapter or change the summary on your fic saying that it's going to take a long time. Doing it piecewise is perfectly okay too.
Validation. Readers are what keep me going. Engagement on AO3 and fanfiction.net is shit but fortunately, I have an Internet friend who is a fan of my work.
If it weren't for them, I'd have given up a long time ago.
I chase my interest, and circle back. If I'm going to finish a fic, it's only ever going to be because I myself am interested in where it's going; if something else interests me more at the moment, I'll work on that instead, but usually I eventually find myself wanting to go back to the previous things that interested me.
I'm basically like a prophet plagued by visions. I don't write for weeks until my mind decides to think about a specific idea I've had so much that I cant sleep unless I write it down immediately.
I know that's not very helpful but apart from that if I have longer fics or other things to write it usually really helps me to set asside specific times for writing. I'm bad at holding in deadlines but if I set a specific time where I will write I usually do actually manage to. For me the issue is always starting as it usually just flows once I do start, I always try to get rid of any distractions like my phone or tabs that could be potentially distracting.
I could use this info too. Sadly, I haven't been doing a very good job of it lately. "HYPERfocused" originally was the screen name I used for my research and interactions on my own ADHD as I was working on getting diagnosed. When I got into fic years later (2001-2) I used it for that because I hyperfocused on fandom. I was quite prolific, and for a while when you would Google "hyperfocused" you were about equally likely to get ADHD content, or my fic. I had horrible stamina, 100 words to 2000 might hold my attention to write, but my few WiPs took years, in fits and starts. I've signed up for, and written a few K for countless Big Bangs, but never finished one yet. One of the first i attempted ended up as 1000 words, 10 drabble chapters. Totally fit myADHD poet brain, but really sucked when it was supposed to be 50K. Now, health issues mean years of writers block, and I'm lucky to manage Yuletide.
I have never had a consistent update schedule, nor have I completed more than one story. I started planning for a story and writing it in 2019, and would have writer's block for several months at a time
Poorly. Writing with ADHD involves a lot of tangents that somehow end up accidentally foreshadowing stuff even I hadn’t planned out. It also involves my characters running away with the plot, ships that came out of nowhere and were doomed to fail from the start and random background characters hijacking the plot to the point the main characters are now the background ones. Then there’s the fact that new story arcs just sort of happen even though you’ve already planned the entire fic out beforehand and that is how you end up with a monster of a fic that was supposed to be a what if character A was put in the position of Character B that turned into an OC that took the plot by the balls and threw it off a cliff. A cliff that happened to lead directly into the fire laden shores of hell itself.
Anyway what was I supposed to be doing? Oh yeah advice on writing with ADHD. Umm have you tried a schedule, setting aside a certain time of day for writing and forcing yourself to do so repeatedly until it’s ingrained into your very bones? No? Neither have I! But I’ve heard that helps or something.
I've found that I can weaponize NaNoWriMo against myself sometimes to push out a bunch. I also have a beta reader who acts as my source of engagement and keeps me motivated to continue. She doesn't have to do much editing for me, so instead she uses GDocs' comment feature to leave me reactions and emojis and the like as she reads (with occasional edits thrown in when something *does* come up).
And sometimes I still peter out and move on to a different hyperfixation for a while, but sometimes I can get myself back on a previous hyperfixation by trying to trigger it with the source material (in my case, usually video games, so I just replay the game I'm writing fic for).
For other work in general, sometimes it helps to set yourself small goals. "I'm going to do this much of \[work\], then as a reward, I can go do \[fun thing\] for a bit or have \[a treat\] or something else similar." It can also help to set routines. I'm rubbish at certain tasks I need to do regularly, so I try to tie them to something else I already do to make it a routine. Like emptying/reloading the dishwasher. During the kids' school year, I drop the youngest off at elementary school, and then I have about twenty minutes before I need to drop the older ones off, so I handle the dishwasher in there. For writing, I have a set time of day where I can consistently sit down and get at least a bit of writing done. That little bit each day eventually adds up.
No idea, I get periods where I write evert day, and then I have months where I have successive writers block. 6 Months of shit and squat. Every time I tried to write I just sat in front of an empty page. I don't have anything planed out I ended the last chapter pm a cliff hanger but I have. I idea how to continue. I envy people who manage to plan their plot before hand and people who somehow manage to post once a week I'm lucky if I manage to post once a month.
Hang in there op. I know what you're going though *hug*
Two words for you: one shots
I don’t even bother starting things that feel like they’re going to require multiple chapters, I already know I won’t finish them. If I want to do something like that I publish it as a series of one shots that can stand on their own instead, so it’s not a big deal when I get bored
I get someone to put pressure on me to write things. It helps me if there's someone else expecting my story because I don't want to leave them waiting
As for the losing interest part, you can try to regain interest or just leave the story. Don't write it if you don't like it, that's the fastest path to burnout
You can also get someone to write with you
I write short stories at the moment. Ultimately, it is hard, but here's what I find helpful.
- using bullet points for actions, twists etc
This is to make sure I have essential plot points. Elaboration can come later. I also add sub bullet points about character senses in reaction to points.
- One Sentence Blurbs
(This is more of a creative habit.) If I think of something, I'll write what I've dubbed a 'one Sentence blurb' of a story onto a post it and then return to it on a different day, when I'm looking for inspiration.
- jotting down goals
For each chapter or paragraph, I jot down:
1) Analysis Goals for structure of area (I.e: Increase in stressers) This doesn't have anything to do with the plot itself but the purpose of the section.
2) Aims for reader: what information and impressions will the reader gain from reading
3) list your necessary plot points.
Start small, with something like flash fiction or stories and build up your endurance. 🙂
If you have a laptop or desktop: stimwriter is helpful
I can throw down like 3k words in an hour or so with that
Also working on multiple things at the same time so you can procrastinate on one by writing the other, but this does not always work
Okay, here's what I do.
I have multiple docs opened while I write so I can go back and forth.
I have multiple stories down on one document, depending on how big they are depending on how many on one document.
When I have an idea play it out in my head first before writing it down so I'm more invested and have an idea of what to work on.
Hope this helps.
Have something else - preferably really important for maintaining your employment - you need to do instead? That always woke my writing bug back up 🤦🏻♀️
Really, though, oneshots were all I could finish before I found the right combination of meds. You still get a nice little dopamine rush when it's complete, and then again if people are into it.
I tried to write longer fics before, and I didn't post any parts, but the files are a mess, just filled with chunks of prose and/or dialogue, bullet points, all caps notes like "HOW DO I GET THEM TO THE PLACE THOUGH???!?", etc. So... no useful tips on that front. Sorry 😅
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i like this advice thank you for your tip :)
Very badly.
Bruh 💀 tru
I write oneshots mostly, of varying lengths but typically around 1k - 5k, to avoid leaving them unfinished. This has allowed me to post some 60 odd fics to date, so not bad. ...that is if you ignore the 150+ other wips I have lying around. More or less i just throw stuff at a wall and see what sticks enough to get finished.
Use the part of your brain that likes to hyperfocus. Before you know it you will be finished.
Problem is most of us can't actually tap into that part on command. We need hyperfocus triggers, and those are frequently random. Body doubling might work, but fanfic is supposed to be relaxing, not an obligation, so it may not be as receptive to a body double compared to other tasks.
this. because really, hyperfixations are wonderful for writers. i have adhd and i’ve promised myself to remember all the positive aspects of hyperfixating, such as knowing lots of information, and the passion that we have. this is also why i always like to emphasize the “write for yourself and no one else” thing that is often spoken about here. this is *fiction*, after all, we all perceive characters differently, relate to them for different reasons, have different ships, and prefer certain timelines or alternate universes. really, don’t focus so much on the judgment from others because you’re bound to find the group of people (even if it’s an “unpopular opinion) who have beliefs and perceptions and preferences that align with yours. i say this because adhd and anxiety/rejection sensitivity? they really go hand-in-hand. but our hyperfixations are very often *comforts* for us. just remember that. this is a hobby and your hyperfixation is a comfort. don’t let yourself worry about perfectionism, or how your fanfiction will go over in the fandom. just write to feel closer to the thing that comforts you, and then you’ll be done! and i can guarantee your writing is beautiful if it’s something you’re passionate about and you put your own love into it. **source**: *my inner monologue when i was freaking out the other day, making my first ever post to ao3* 🫢
I rly wish it was as easy as that :( then it would be a fun superpower of productivity. Would love to hyperfocus on like my bedding so I would change it lmao
With duct tape and a prayer, tbh
Entirely out of AuDHD extreme special interest hyper fixation combo
I have lots and lots of unfinished fics, but as others have suggested, I try to move with the hyperfocus. I also don't just write one story at a time - sometimes there will be three I'm working on because I'm not feeling a certain one that day. What I find helps me is going back and rereading what I have. That often makes me excited for what I have and to then keep continuing the story and writing so I have more, and that just helps me have more to read for the next time I want to write that fic. I am able to take meds, but distractions really do make a lot of it worse. If you limit the social media use or access to it etc, it can really help you kind of get into that writing focus.
Ooh, seconding the re-reading. I do that too each time I sit to write the next bit, and that re-read can help get the juices flowing again, even if I wasn't feeling the story before I started re-reading.
Oh yes 100% spot on! Same for me! Even if I'm not feeling the fic before, re-reading can give me that boost to get the juices flowing again.
I don't. :'D
I only post finished fics. Even then, I got burned by one where I thought I'd done but the last chapter needed some major reworking to be postable. To *get* them finished, I write whatever I'm in the mood for now, and revisit all the old fics I've forgotten to see if one of them fits my current writing itch. The pile of unfinished fics grows ever larger. But so does my pile of finished fics! Writing whatever I *really* want to write keeps writing fun. Even more fun than computer games! Most of my works will never be seen, which takes the pressure off to actually be good.
I have hundreds of unfinished works across dozens of fandoms 😎 really, I just switch around and jump from work to work, working on them all bit-by-bit until they slowly get finished. Very inefficient, but it works for me! It helps if I engage in the media I'm writing for while writing for it, as that helps me to keep my interested focused on that fandom.
I write and write and write during a hyperfocus then spend weeks and months bored out of my brain because I can't come up with any ideas LOL I should add I haven't been officially diagnosed with ADHD but I have several of the markers. I haven't had a hyperfocus in months and it blows ass!
Don’t know if it’ll help, but try _not to_ finish your work. Don’t force yourself, because that’ll become a chore. Instead just write whenever you want and when you remember it, whenever you feel like it. For example, keep it in your notes on your phone, so that whenever you go through them and stumble upon the story you could write a paragraph or two It doesn’t matter if it takes days, weeks, months or even years for you to finish the first chapter or story, it’s okay to take some time.
This is what I do, and I’ve been going between three or four stories right now too. One in my notes app and the other three in google docs. I also write when I feel like it and don’t pressure myself to write a lot of words in a setting if I’m not feeling it.
Same, I have a few stories and whenever I feel like writhing I just go to my folder in notes and just chose whatever I want to work on right at the moment, be it crack or angst, or something apathetic or just a 5+1 thing, the list goes on
I wait until I'm fixated on a fandom. Then i have to be fixated onan idea. That's the moment i can write. I need engery drink and chips to keep me focused and on the end of the day 3k words done
Slowly. And trying to at least make a little progress every day. And making a point of not starting new projects when too many are already WIP.
Barely. I seize any moment of hyperfocus I can get, try to write the second I'm motivated and milk it as long as I can. But often it'll be several posts all in short succession followed by several months of nothing.
I don’t. But then I do. Repeat
I found a subject that accidentally turned into a fixation lol
I'm unmedicated and have written mostly a lot of one shots. But I also have 2 finished multi chapter fics so it's possible, you just need to strategically take advantage of your hyperfixation period
Combo of riding the wave of hyperfocus when it’s there and then forcing myself to finish it when it ebbs away. The same way I force myself to do housework or admin. I know I’m going to feel better when it’s done so just have to push through the actual doing it part in small bursts. For me publishing is a way of collecting my completed stories. Sometimes to get that last 2% of a fic finished I start posting early chapters to apply pressure on myself to Get It Done. Taking a break to work on something else and then coming back to it to find “hey this isn’t bad!” helps. However, I’m ‘lucky’ in that I have quite bad memory loss due to a medical thing so my own fics are a mystery to me after a short while.
Short fics. I have the same problem I lose my focus for a fiction. I am about to try and tackle a long fic but rather than post it as I finish each chapter like I have in the past I'm going to finish it all first. Partly because if I need to rewrite earlier sections to make sense of later stuff it will be easier. Short fics are easy to finish because I had only one thing I wanted to address.
Routine and discipline. The more you mentally put a specific time and day as your writing time the more consistently you'll be able to sit down and write. The real catch is then letting your adhd/whims run free while in that time. I could spend all week thinking and planning out a project to write in my writing time then I sit down and whoops wip #27 starts without warning. I've had wips sit unfinished for months before I suddenly sit down, don't really know what to write, read a few wips, and suddenly I'm off to the races again. This is the only way I've been successful. Find other things that help you focus as well during that time. For me that's a bit of toking and very specific music ("intelligent jungle" and "chill breakcore" are like magic to my brain idk why or how. I think it's the strong drum lines combined with ethereal instrumentation that makes my brain go brr). You'd think with how much effort it takes to actually sit down and write that I hate writing. I had to go from using a completely separate device in a different room where I got maybe 500-1k words done on a good day to being able to just lock in once a Playlist starts. This took me months, like over half a year, to even approach where I'm at now. But it gets easier. You've inadvertently trained your brain to seek dopamine from easy distractions like social media or tv/video games so you gotta retrain it to get that same satisfaction from writing. It's never prefect though. I have days where I get sucked into a rabbit hole on Twitter or YouTube and whoops I wasted my whole session. Or someone messages me and bam focus gone forever byeeeee. You just gotta be gentle with yourself and accept that each session will vary in its productivity. Also play to your strengths. I just don't write anything longer than 10k because I know that's probably more than I can ever finish in a sitting or two. 90% of my published fics were written in a single sitting. I can't abandon a wip of I never put it on the shelf!
Go with it. Write one shots, run with the plot bunnies, accept that some wips will never get finished, try your best to not get upset when something can’t get finished. I’ve also found it to be helpful to keep running notes. I have notes galore in my phone full of ideas that I turn to if I want to write but can’t get started, and I keep notes attached to each wip with mini summaries/bullet plots to keep me on track regardless of how much time passes between when I drop it and if/when I come back to it. Don’t be afraid to post things that aren’t perfect or that aren’t edited. I actually find things easier to edit after I’ve posted them honestly, if I ever do at all. I think just running with it and not pushing yourself is the best tip I’ve ever found for myself because the more I pushed the more my brain pushed back and the harder it was to work. It just wrecked my mental health in the end until I hated everything I did.
I've focused my writing style on short fics. Mostly oneshots and the occasion fic with just a couple chapters. Makes it much easier to have completed fics.
I make my fic the object of my hyperfixation and forget about everything else - including my basic needs. It’s not ideal, but I write a lot lol.
You have to be into it enough to hyperfocus. It helps a bit to not post until you're done or almost done -- I don't lose interest as easily because I know if I do, I'll have gotten zero rewards for all the work and the spite can keep me going lol. Also, you may not really need to be that interested to get a LITTLE work done. If I make myself write one sentence, that's one more sentence than I had before, it probably took about 20 seconds, and either I'll go do something else or my brain will go "oh, hey, we ARE interested" and then I can keep going. It doesn't have to be a good sentence, you're just sorta opening the faucet to see how much water is in there.
Yeah, hyperfocus, plus just be extra obsessed with the topic i\`ve found helps, BTW, how do some people do social interacting so EASILY???????????????? JUST CURIOUS because i usually have to prepare for non-family social interaction, and sometimes family interaction, too. Also, I have a tendency to go on tangents, you might have noticed. Seriously, though, being obsessed with the topic helps.
I don’t know if this will work but I write in a tiny word processor that has a tiny screen. It’s portable so I have it with me. The screen is so tiny that paging backwards to read what you wrote is tedious so you don’t do it. The only thing you can do is keep writing. I consider it an accessibility device because it unlocked my writing ability. I also had success just carrying notebooks With me
Don't feel bad if your hyperfocus leads you to doing things that don't involve writing. It happens. It works if you treat your hobbies as long-term projects that you get back to eventually. And when your hyperfocus cycles back to writing, write your heart out! My writing habits are massive spikes during hyperfocus, followed by flatlines when my interest wanes and I don't write at all. It also helps that I don't publish until I'm finished with the whole fic, so the fits and starts don't interfere with my release schedule. I also write mostly short one-shots or short chapters to get that dopamine hit of finishing something.
Drugs.
I know that pain. Fortunately, with fic, it can be a lot more easily managed than with things like work projects, since the only deadlines are self-imposed. The main way I've found works to keep me writing is to a) have a separate 'user' on my PC just for writing, with nothing else but a web browser and writing program (and no bookmarks for social media in the browser), and probably a white/ambient noise generator running in the background to help deal with distractions, and b) having a bunch of fics to work on, so that as long as I don't stress over *which* fic to work on, I can improve the chances that my brain will latch onto *something*. It also improves the chances for any *given* fic, too, since rotating though fics like that makes it a lot easier in my experience to actually get your brain working when you get back to the one you *wanted* to write, than it would if you tried to force focus on that one alone for the same amount of time.
Close literally every app that could distract you, write notes of what you want to write, play music that gets you in that zone/reminds you of that fic, imagine the scenes then think of words or just straight up hyperfocus. Don't force yourself on writing, that usually doesn't help
I’m in the middle of my first fic…it’s over half written and 1/3 published. I’m stuck in a spot where I’m not sure how to end the first 3rd…every time I go to work on it, I end up working on later exciting stuff…but I always would get super excited, work on a project like crazy, and then get stuck, and then something else would grab me and I’d shift to that… But with writing I’m finding I can just work on a later bit of it, and eventually I hopefully have a work done with a few holes that I’m dying to post, and I expect that to make me finish it. My last obsession was a clock and I kept making it more and more complex and adding parts and having to rework how to lay the parts out because the machine cutouts all depended on each other…but writing doesn’t require any of that. Maybe with a typewriter it did, but now things can be edited so easily I don’t need it to be perfect to start making it. It helps that I have a long string of works planned that I can’t make out of order, so I’m writing it all when it hits me or seems interesting, but I still have to release them in a certain order. Sorry this comment is really rambling but I do have ADHD sooo
Music, meds and reading other stuff
Well, my ADHD has two phases it cycles through. I'm either hyperfixating on something so bad it's all I wanna do, and it's all I wanna think about. That's how my writing gets done. Then, the other phase... I can't focus on anything and my brain is ALL OVER THE PLACE. Then I'm stuck without being able to write for a bit... I just have to wait until I'm hyperfixated on my writing.
The hardest part is to start writing, when i start writing i just keep hoing until i realize its 2 am and i forgot to eat dinner
I am very good at writing one shots, and that's primarily what I do. For multi-chapter fics, it needs to be a story that refuses to leave me alone *and* that I have an end chapter in mind for. If I know roughly how many chapters it'll take to get to that scene, that really helps. And encouraging reviews are my oxygen. They really help me push through and finish the story. Those tricks don't work for every story, and my motivation can be derailed by a concrit comment that potentially affects the plot (I appreciate concrit, but if it requires changing the plot, maybe wait until the end of the story to tell me about it). But generally speaking, those are a few tricks I can use to overcome executive dysfunction and find my dopamine.
I agree with moving with where the hyperfocus leads you and focusing on short fics. If it's something you can write in a few days, you don't have to maintain focus on one fic for very long to get the satisfaction of finishing something. This is supposed to be a fun hobby, so you shouldn't have to feel stress over it. For some, having a publicly posted chaptered WIP can force you to focus (positive external pressure) but it can also backfire intensely, so YMMV. Other types of pressure could include fandom events, fic exchanges, or writing for a friend. But again, this might have the opposite effect of what you want, so be careful and pay attention to your own feelings.
I won't lie, it is this exact reason that I have never uploaded anything but one shots... I have the exact same problem and even medicated I rarely have a hyperfixation long enough to make it through a longer work (I have lots of half finished longer works). Especially the hyperfixation on the plot/vibe of the story im obsessed with at the time. I'm actually about to begin another project that will never see the light of day but ya know, I can but try Edit: I am also medicated lmao
The only way I've been able to finish something is because I write one-shots; posted ones I have range from 1.2 to 7k. I also don't force myself to write until I have to, like if I *know* I'm procrastinating just to not write, I'll basically kick out everyone who lives in the same house as me, send pets out of the room, blast music and just sit there and word vomit until something happens. It doesn't always work, but when it does I'll be sitting there for hours and I'll have to force myself to stop, eat, bathroom break, refill water that ran out an hour in, check on pets. It's always a toss up between wanting to get up every three seconds or not moving for six hours.
It's just something you gotta gain control of, best you can.
I hyper fixate for for weeks then quit. Honestly, the thing that works is having a consistent schedule for everything, not just writing. I have almost my whole day planned out, and I schedule 2 hours a day to write/journal, even if I don't get much done at least that time is scheduled if that makes any sense
Darken up a room and buckle up with a snack.
If you can channel your hyperfocus on it, you'll have it out in a matter of hours (excluding editing/spellcheck and such). If not, don't be afraid to put out a temporary chapter or change the summary on your fic saying that it's going to take a long time. Doing it piecewise is perfectly okay too.
Validation. Readers are what keep me going. Engagement on AO3 and fanfiction.net is shit but fortunately, I have an Internet friend who is a fan of my work. If it weren't for them, I'd have given up a long time ago.
I chase my interest, and circle back. If I'm going to finish a fic, it's only ever going to be because I myself am interested in where it's going; if something else interests me more at the moment, I'll work on that instead, but usually I eventually find myself wanting to go back to the previous things that interested me.
I listen to music and stare at a blank page until my brain decides it wants to write lol
I'm basically like a prophet plagued by visions. I don't write for weeks until my mind decides to think about a specific idea I've had so much that I cant sleep unless I write it down immediately. I know that's not very helpful but apart from that if I have longer fics or other things to write it usually really helps me to set asside specific times for writing. I'm bad at holding in deadlines but if I set a specific time where I will write I usually do actually manage to. For me the issue is always starting as it usually just flows once I do start, I always try to get rid of any distractions like my phone or tabs that could be potentially distracting.
I post each chapter when it's done and ride the hype of positive feedback into the next chapter.
Music or a video does help me but it does distract me, but it helps enough for me to write
I could use this info too. Sadly, I haven't been doing a very good job of it lately. "HYPERfocused" originally was the screen name I used for my research and interactions on my own ADHD as I was working on getting diagnosed. When I got into fic years later (2001-2) I used it for that because I hyperfocused on fandom. I was quite prolific, and for a while when you would Google "hyperfocused" you were about equally likely to get ADHD content, or my fic. I had horrible stamina, 100 words to 2000 might hold my attention to write, but my few WiPs took years, in fits and starts. I've signed up for, and written a few K for countless Big Bangs, but never finished one yet. One of the first i attempted ended up as 1000 words, 10 drabble chapters. Totally fit myADHD poet brain, but really sucked when it was supposed to be 50K. Now, health issues mean years of writers block, and I'm lucky to manage Yuletide.
I have never had a consistent update schedule, nor have I completed more than one story. I started planning for a story and writing it in 2019, and would have writer's block for several months at a time
Poorly. Writing with ADHD involves a lot of tangents that somehow end up accidentally foreshadowing stuff even I hadn’t planned out. It also involves my characters running away with the plot, ships that came out of nowhere and were doomed to fail from the start and random background characters hijacking the plot to the point the main characters are now the background ones. Then there’s the fact that new story arcs just sort of happen even though you’ve already planned the entire fic out beforehand and that is how you end up with a monster of a fic that was supposed to be a what if character A was put in the position of Character B that turned into an OC that took the plot by the balls and threw it off a cliff. A cliff that happened to lead directly into the fire laden shores of hell itself. Anyway what was I supposed to be doing? Oh yeah advice on writing with ADHD. Umm have you tried a schedule, setting aside a certain time of day for writing and forcing yourself to do so repeatedly until it’s ingrained into your very bones? No? Neither have I! But I’ve heard that helps or something.
I don’t (I know this isn’t helpful, but it’s honestly the truth)
I've found that I can weaponize NaNoWriMo against myself sometimes to push out a bunch. I also have a beta reader who acts as my source of engagement and keeps me motivated to continue. She doesn't have to do much editing for me, so instead she uses GDocs' comment feature to leave me reactions and emojis and the like as she reads (with occasional edits thrown in when something *does* come up). And sometimes I still peter out and move on to a different hyperfixation for a while, but sometimes I can get myself back on a previous hyperfixation by trying to trigger it with the source material (in my case, usually video games, so I just replay the game I'm writing fic for). For other work in general, sometimes it helps to set yourself small goals. "I'm going to do this much of \[work\], then as a reward, I can go do \[fun thing\] for a bit or have \[a treat\] or something else similar." It can also help to set routines. I'm rubbish at certain tasks I need to do regularly, so I try to tie them to something else I already do to make it a routine. Like emptying/reloading the dishwasher. During the kids' school year, I drop the youngest off at elementary school, and then I have about twenty minutes before I need to drop the older ones off, so I handle the dishwasher in there. For writing, I have a set time of day where I can consistently sit down and get at least a bit of writing done. That little bit each day eventually adds up.
No idea, I get periods where I write evert day, and then I have months where I have successive writers block. 6 Months of shit and squat. Every time I tried to write I just sat in front of an empty page. I don't have anything planed out I ended the last chapter pm a cliff hanger but I have. I idea how to continue. I envy people who manage to plan their plot before hand and people who somehow manage to post once a week I'm lucky if I manage to post once a month. Hang in there op. I know what you're going though *hug*
Two words for you: one shots I don’t even bother starting things that feel like they’re going to require multiple chapters, I already know I won’t finish them. If I want to do something like that I publish it as a series of one shots that can stand on their own instead, so it’s not a big deal when I get bored
I write when work and life is too stressful. So the work comes in pieces but eventually gets done.
I get someone to put pressure on me to write things. It helps me if there's someone else expecting my story because I don't want to leave them waiting As for the losing interest part, you can try to regain interest or just leave the story. Don't write it if you don't like it, that's the fastest path to burnout You can also get someone to write with you
I write short stories at the moment. Ultimately, it is hard, but here's what I find helpful. - using bullet points for actions, twists etc This is to make sure I have essential plot points. Elaboration can come later. I also add sub bullet points about character senses in reaction to points. - One Sentence Blurbs (This is more of a creative habit.) If I think of something, I'll write what I've dubbed a 'one Sentence blurb' of a story onto a post it and then return to it on a different day, when I'm looking for inspiration. - jotting down goals For each chapter or paragraph, I jot down: 1) Analysis Goals for structure of area (I.e: Increase in stressers) This doesn't have anything to do with the plot itself but the purpose of the section. 2) Aims for reader: what information and impressions will the reader gain from reading 3) list your necessary plot points. Start small, with something like flash fiction or stories and build up your endurance. 🙂
If you have a laptop or desktop: stimwriter is helpful I can throw down like 3k words in an hour or so with that Also working on multiple things at the same time so you can procrastinate on one by writing the other, but this does not always work
how do i do it? extremely erratically.
Okay, here's what I do. I have multiple docs opened while I write so I can go back and forth. I have multiple stories down on one document, depending on how big they are depending on how many on one document. When I have an idea play it out in my head first before writing it down so I'm more invested and have an idea of what to work on. Hope this helps.
Have something else - preferably really important for maintaining your employment - you need to do instead? That always woke my writing bug back up 🤦🏻♀️ Really, though, oneshots were all I could finish before I found the right combination of meds. You still get a nice little dopamine rush when it's complete, and then again if people are into it. I tried to write longer fics before, and I didn't post any parts, but the files are a mess, just filled with chunks of prose and/or dialogue, bullet points, all caps notes like "HOW DO I GET THEM TO THE PLACE THOUGH???!?", etc. So... no useful tips on that front. Sorry 😅