Experiences When the muse strikes at the wrong time

[GojiBean]

Hoyo!

Do y'all ever seem to get your best character/worldbuilding/story ideas at the worst possible times. Say, for example, when you're in the middle of your work shift and have no time or access to RpNation or any other writing app because you're busy with whatever it is you do for work?

For me, it happens all the time. I'll get ideas which I really, really like and kinda want to give myself a pat on the back for because of how much they tickly my creative brain and make me want to turn it into something. But I'll get those ideas either right in the middle of work or in the middle of doing something completely unrelated which needs to get done (like finances and/or other life/home related necessary activities), and by the time I get to my computer most of the idea has left my head.

Granted, I'm ADHD. So, my attention span is already fubbernucked, as Markiplier would say. XD

How about you guys? Do you ever seem to get the best ideas at the worst possible times and either risk losing them, or actually do lose them and then get frustrated at whatever it was that prevented you from capturing it in a timely manner?

I'm curious to hear your stories!

Cheers!

- GojiBean

 

[AnimeGenork]

It happens... far too often

Sometimes, I manage to remember at least the spirit of the idea I had when I was busy doing who-knows-what. The heart of a character, a concept, etc etc. Other times, I completely lose the idea except for a word, like "cat." Cat what? I can't remember. I've lost some potentially fantastic ideas that way, and who knows if I'll ever have them again?

I try my best now to write them down in a note on my phone, or keep the thought in my head as long as possible. Not that this always works, considering I'll open up Google on my phone to look up something and won't remember what it is a split second later.

I should really do something about that

 

[Kaiju Cat]

Yes, oh, yes I get them in the middle of work and get my best ideas while lying in bed. It doesn’t help I’m hyper fixated on One Piece lately with the newest arc and episode 1104 is .. insane. Unfortunately, no I know is a One Piece fan so I nerd to myself.

 

[nerdy tangents]

I find it helps to kind of roleplay in my head.

So for example I get an idea for a plot twist at work. I will spend the rest of the shift (when I get the time) just roleplaying out what that plot twist might look like.

It actually is how I find most of the plot holes I have accidentally written myself into. By just playing through an idea in my head until I hit a snag and I’m like “hmm okay so let’s edit this and see what happens.”

It’s also how I “write” all my posts for roleplay. I try to outline them while I’m at work so I can make sure I have the best version when I actually get to a computer.

Now sometimes after all of that I go a completely different direction anyway but it’s less “I forgot” and more “hmm that wasn’t a good idea after all.”

 

[Jannah]

Usually when I'm lying in bed trying to go to sleep. It's not like I can get up and start writing, especially if I have work the following day.

 

[Nu Epiq]

Definitely when I'm at work, I think of my best stuff especially when I'm dealing with rude people. I tune their ignorance out. By the time I get on a lunch break, to write everything down, I've forgotten half of it or everything.

 

[FrostyDragon]

Six out of seven nights a week, this is me before I go to sleep. I actually enjoy it, and find myself mentally writing my post in my head whilst I'm drifting off to sleep. I've had to be pretty disciplined about not giving in to the muse and getting up to RP, because if I did, I don't think my muse would ever let me sleep!

Sometimes creativity hits when I'm out and about running errands or at an appointment or something. Then I try to simplify the idea into a few words that will help me remember the general idea. My muse tends to only spit out ideas that are relevant to where I'm at with my current RPs, so I find it's not too difficult to remember my ideas even when I'm unable to write them down straight away. Usually though, even when I'm not at home, I find myself mentally writing out my posts if creativity strikes and I can't actually write anything down. I don't remember a lot of them, but writing a post in my head is kinda like a practice for the actual writing, so when I do write, I often know what I need to have happen and it doesn't take me as long to get a post done.

I don't know if it's just me, but I've actually found that mentally writing a post really helps me deal with my stress and anxiety when I'm out. Like I was sat waiting to be called in to an appointment and was mentally writing up my next post, and it really did help to dispel a lot of my stress and anxiety. I actually worry I might become so absorbed in my head that I won't hear when I'm called in for an appointment.

 

[Idea]

Absolutely all the time. There was a point where I tried to carry around some pencil and paper with me in hopes of writing down whatever ideas I had. Sometimes my brain comes up with entire scenes or stories and if I happen to hit upon an idea I really like this can actually cause a block for me when working on something later if I'm not able to recall what it was because if I try not to think about it, in the back of my head something feels missing from whatever I'm working on due to lacking that idea. Sometimes that's one of the things holding me back the most from doing things as fast as I would like, just getting stuck on this thing that's on the tip of my tongue (or brain) but I can't quite put my finger on it anymore.

The times it happens the most to me is while taking a shower. A shower is really great for thinking of ideas, but I often need to get them down quickly or I'll forget about them again.

One thing I found can help sometimes is remembering what the source of inspiration was. Sometimes going back to the same scene, piece of music or whatever else, or even just thinking about it, can help recover the idea.