Any creative writers here? | ADHD Information

Just wondering if there were any creative writers here with ADD?  How have you managed with your ADD and pursued writing?

I have an interest in screenwriting and took some classes and started screenplay #1.  Guess what?  I've never finished it. 

What strategies did you use to finish your projects?

Hi,

I write children's books and have written some adult fan fiction, which is published on line.  My problem is that though I have finished my children's books, I can't seem to get the discipline to pursue the publishing process.  I have 6 books written and I have submitted them twice (and received encouraging rejections) but I might wait a year between submissions. 

I'd like to know if there's a way for others like us to link up with people who can help us with this part of the process.

What helped me finish my writing projects was ulitizing hyperfocus.  I put them on my to do list and focused on them exclusively until the work was completed.  Unfortunately, I took a few years break between the writing and the editing and  researching publishers.  In another 20 years, I may actually publish something. 

The book published online was completed in 3 months but it was triggered by an idea that just took over and consumed me and I knew it had a forum.  I think I mostly stall because it seems like a waste of time if it's not going to be published.

Boy, am I glad to see another ADHD writer online!  After discovering this message board, I would've waited a while to post (characteristic of my disorder-related procrastination) had I not seen your message.

I, too, am a hopeful screenwriter.  I fiddled w/some scripts years ago, before I understood structure & format; since taking an online class a couple years ago, I've finished several drafts of one script, 2 drafts of a second, and am halfway thru a third...and have been for more than a year.  For the past year I've been involved in community theatre projects as actor, assistant director and finally director...5 shows back to back to back.  One thing about it is that it sparks & pushes the creativity; in the last 3 shows I did, I acted, directed, designed advertising & costumes, script-adapted, set designed & built, yadda yadda.  The downside: my hyperfocus kept me doing only creative stuff for the shows (except for the copywriting & promo design I do for my dayjob as a newsletter marketer).

However, my experience with the shows gave me one technique I can pass onto you for writing motivation: deadlines.  If you're writing (or performing any creative function) toward a goal, especially a strict time goal, you're more likely to keep at it.  A 2nd tip I can offer most likely would've been taught you in your class: outlining & index cards.  Once you've got your story, your major characters and your destination (the story's climax), then put together your deck of index cards stepping out every 3 pages or so, you should find that the script will write itself (except for dialogue).

What Bannabunch wrote about using hyperfocus is valid for the rough draft.  Then it's a good idea to set it aside & wait for more ideas to come for the revision.  It's when I'm dawdling (which is most of the time) that the ideas come to me.  Indeed, if I sat down & fulfilled writing projects out of all the notebooks, post-its, scrap paper, etc, I have filled with ideas, I could fill a bookshelf.  Just make sure that what you're writing is something about which you're passionate, or you're unlikely ever to finish it.

Good luck, & I hope to "talk" to you again soon!

I'm so glad to hear from some writers!  Writing is such a lonely, internal battle and especially challenging for someone with ADD.

Both of you should be applauded that you finished a book/script! I started a script and obsessed about it night and day for about 6 months.  It was based around some struggles I was going through at the time.  Once I let go of some issues I was dealing with, my passion for the subject matter of the script fizzled out and I didn't finish it.  I haven't picked it back up and it's been almost a year.

One thing about a first draft of a script is to just write it, free flowing with ideas, and don't judge it.  Just get it out there.  That is soooooooooooooooo hard for me to do because I read it along the way and nitpick it and second guess my writing.

I did take an online class that was geared towards helping you write your first draft but I still fizzled out.

Since then I have realized that my organization impedes me every time I undertake a new project.  I've been determined to get it together which is what led me to discover the book You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy. 

I really want to get my life streamlined a bit before I go back to writing so all the clutter doesn't scream at me while I try to write and so I won't waste so much time searching for things. 

I dunno... am I just procrastinating writing again...

 

So how would we do that?  Do we do it here and set it up as another thread or do we need to post somewhere else?I love the idea of a writer's forum!I wrote one novel which took roughly a year. I am in the military and spent six months sitting in the deserts of Qatar, Afghanistan, and Iraq. I had nothing else to do so I wrote a great percentage of the novel. Of course, I have lost focus on getting it published. I had a friend in New York who is a writer read it. He said it was great but people almost never tell you what they really think. I think I going to try to pursue the publishing once I get a chance. Currently, I am in the midst of a history masters and writing 50-100 page papers every three to four months.  

See here:

http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Market-2007/dp/1582974276 (look up who will publish your book, send to multiple houses...lots of other helpful info for all markets)

http://www.sourcebooks.com/ (fastest-growing independent publisher in the US)

http://www.amazon.com/Write-Book-Proposal-Michael-Larsen/dp/ 1582972516/sr=8-5/qid=1163443289/ref=sr_1_5/103-8788421-7519 014?ie=UTF8&s=books (how to write a book proposal, you will need one)

I wrote a lot in college and just when I was out of college.  I have a book that I have written, and essays that will be made into a book.  I also wrote a whole musical in one day.  It is not actually finished, but most of the melodies to the songs and the basic plot and much of the dialogue just wouldn't stop coming out of me one day.  It was really strange.  But fun.  I don't know where I put it, but I know I wrote it all out in a notebook somewhere.  I also write poetry.  I'd like to  submit it in a book form to a publisher.

I have been crawling using the exercises in the book Stopping ADHD and I feel much more capable of filing and keeping things organized.  The trick is in getting everything organized that hasn't been organized.  So, as I wade through my stuff and get it organized, I will find these projects and one by one, submit them, or work on them.

Here is my plan:  I teach, so in the summer I will write more.   I also am going to attend a writer's group in my area that meets at the local Barnes and Noble.  I think that will motivate me and keep me thinking about writing.  I find mostly that ideas come and then the time goes by without me writing.

It would be great if we could get a writer's group going on this forum.

 

 

Jeez!  I thought no one had replied to my 1st post, and just realized TODAY that they all were going directly into my "Write" e-mail folder in Hotmail.

About a writer's forum:  What about starting a group on our own website or community?  I'd thought about that for some time...

Nope.  No where near.  Why?

 

bannabunch.Do you live in colorado 

[QUOTE=Bannabunch]So how would we do that?  Do we do it here and set it up as another thread or do we need to post somewhere else?[/QUOTE]

Go to the basement but......look out for pirates

LovelyLady,

Your situation seems similar to mine...I aspire to be a (Paid Pro) screenwriter, but fear that it will never be...WHY??? I can't finish a script...I have SO MANY GREAT & MARKETABLE Ideas(cause that's what the industry wants: commercial, marketable scripts), but they may never see completion because of the Procrastination factor of my ADD...I got roughly 85% of a first draft finished on One script(been "working on it" off & on for years). I know it can be "Harry Potter" HUGE, if Only i could finish the damn thing. On another script(a comedy written w/Jack Black in mind), I have about 12 pages written. The rest of my "idea arsenal" consists of loose scene outlines & vague plot descriptions. I've been out to L.A. twice for a Screenwriting Expo & pitched some stuff, but no sales, just some advice, ranging from very helpful to no %#$%# help at all...

All the screenwriting books(and I have TONS of them) say the same thing: You HAVE TO HAVE THE DISCIPLINE TO WRITE EVERYDAY, NO MATTER WHAT...

So where does that leave the ADD person who has the best intentions, BURNS inside to BE that screenwriter, & legitimately HAS the TALENT to be great(or at the very least, to be an in-demand, Highly paid HACK)???

This is what makes me want to SCREAM so loud it echoes throughout the universe & Back...

I've watched YEARS of my life go by...bouncing from Mediocre Job to mediocre job(Just got home from the latest about 3 hrs ago)...NONE of them getting me any closer to my dream...While I toil away at a job where I am criminally underpaid & WAY, OVERQualified, I die a little more inside everyday...But I have a wife, a kid, & a mortgage...Imagine Kevin Spacey in AMERICAN BEAUTY except w/out the career or better yet, Peter from OFFICE SPACE(minus the humor) & You get My Life...

I would abandon the screenwriter dream, but it's all I have left...

WILL I EVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN???

Pray 4 me & I shall for you...

Peace...

I'd love to know how she got published.  Did she have an agent or does she have the skills and sticktoitness to do it herself?

I totally relate to the writing thing.  It's as if it takes so much out of me to do it that I fight it even though it also comes so naturally to me.  I also nitpick the crap out of it because I know that in order to ......"get it out of me" I have to just let it rip and for me anyway, that means I go on and on and on and on and that's fine but  no it really isn't.

Did you all decide on what you wanted to do?  Start a section here or another message board specifically for writers and maybe creative types with ADD?

Awesome!

Thank you for creating the forum topic.

I am currently waiting to go through my evaluation. I have to wait until March 9.

But I have been writing forever. I enjoyed daydreaming and putting some of those daydreams and even real dreams into writing is fun. Teachers always say that you have to like to read to be a good writer. However, I can rarely read a book. Only a couple of times I have read an entire book, by staying up all night obssessed with it. And that's in my whole life. How weird is that?

So, I took Media Communications in college. These were the only classes I did good in. Math...horrible. Anyhow, I learned about writing for media, journalism and for TV and screenplays. I work on productions of independent films. But recently I started my own video production company. I love it and am doing good, except the business end. It's not attractive. I really need to be capable of concentrating on that aspect or I will blow it. But the rest is a blast. There are so many different things to do.

So, I have written online at Writing.com years ago. I started a story on chapters. On every chapter I had a big "cliff hanger" type of ending. So people would email me and tell me to hurry up and go to the next one, they found it good and wanted to read more. But it faded. I have left it hanging. I just can't get myself to finish it.

I also have three screen plays that I started. The latest one I was up for three days and wrote about 50 pages, that's almost half of a feature film. But I left it behind and am on other things, like my biz. I am trying not to forget about it. I have a task reminder in Outlook. Outlook and the dry erase board by the kitchen are my best friends.

My problem with writing is that I seem to get halfway through and get an idea for another great story. I am forcing myself so hard lately.

I sure hope I can finish something. It will be the most awesome thing! To actually finish a screenplay. I can probably give it to someone I just met who works in hollywood, or maybe even film it myself.

Wish me luck getting the help I need to so I don't blow it.

I will come back here gladly. Thanks for starting this!

 bannabunch,it's because my second cousin is an ADHD author(female) and writes children's books and happens to live in Colorado . The world is small and one just never knows, you know ?!   Even in cyber-world.
I  occasionally come across people  who are on my side of the globe that I knew or encountered at one time on the other side of the globe. Nothing surprises me much anymore !
worldisround39098.0474884259Interesting topic! Somehow not surprised an ADHD group would be top-heavy in writers, not to mention musicians, artists & other creative types.

I'm a former news writer/editor/photographer. Went to school for it, practiced the trade for 15 years, made a nice living at it, won awards, had fun uncovering graft & corruption in low places, helped escort a few nefarious political types out the door, and impulsively (!) left the field 10 years ago.

Also have three or four novels sitting around in various forms of completion (one is on a series of 5.25-inch floppy drives, if this gives you a clue!), have several other concepts outlined, but haven't done much of anything tangible with them. Which probably sounds right familiar with y'all.

I'm a writer and a publisher. I'm also a former programmer/tech. I prefer
writing over the tech for obvious reasons.

I'm curious, I've been recently diagnosed by my doc but I have not been
prescribed medication because I haven't had the evaluation, etc. I've
heard conflicting stories over the meds and I want to know from people
who have actually used them.

I've heard some say they make the mind clearer so you can focus more on
what you're doing. I've also heard others say that they take away a good
part of your creativity which causes the confusion but helps you with
great ideas and such.

Which is right?Writers group, or writers thread or just writers email list... I'm up for it.  I'm very passionate about my writing and about my lack of writing.  I live in California and on the Web so I'm sure I can meet with virtually all of you.  PM me with your email address if you are interested in forming/joining a writers group, I am.