#adhd writing

#1. Brainstorm and outline visually

Use mind maps, concept charts, digital whiteboards, and calendars! Mapping story elements visually helps manage "whirlwind" ideas. You can use tools like Scrintal or Mindomo. :)

Me? I use a giant whiteboard in my office. It helps a LOT.

Sometimes, in my writing, even I have found it hard to tell when someone is interjecting themselves into my written conversations without highlighting the words in a designated color. So I'm trying the more script like writing style... I suppose I'm looking for feedback on whether or not this is a welcomed change.

Below are spoilers for Fairytale Affair:

I'm feeling very satisfied right now. Proud of myself for reaching my goal. My brain is very much like "Good job, take 5, take a nap, drink some water." Which is probably good, but I'm always slightly worried my hyperfixation is going to leave. I've abandoned projects for less than this, but I know myself well enough now to know what's really going on: I'm going to have to organize all my notes for the new subplots, map out the next few chapters, find the next "happy point" I want to reach in the story.

Basically, starting a "new project" within the current existing project, and my brain is like, "That sounds like work, I don't wanna do that rn."

And honestly, this next arc is probably going to be quite fun to write, because I get to play with the social aspects of it now, the part I lovingly call my Rumor Arc. And I already have an idea of what I want to do with the next few chapters anyway. I just have to map out my beats, and then I'll be back at it again by next week.

As you might have gathered from my last post, I had to lock the hell in for a zine fic. What I thought would be a cute little one-week sprint turned into a full month of writing, trimming, rewriting, formatting, bargaining with the gods, and wrestling the word count down to the acceptable limit. I hit the exact maximum word count, which feels like both a victory and a curse. It’s done now, and I’m just waiting for the head of the zine to sign off.

I also got confirmation that I can write a fully fleshed-out version of the fic once the zine is released, free of word constraints. Will I ever get to it? Who knows. But the door is open, and I’m kind of excited about it, even if the last stretch felt like dragging myself across broken glass.

Anyway, I’m back. Unless I get yanked back to do an overhaul for any works, or another fandom project decides to jump me in a dark alley, uploads will resume.

Now, listen. I wasn’t only doing event work during my little disappearance. The hyper-productivity demon did not leave my body, despite multiple attempts to excise it. Completely unrelated to events, I have drafted 25k words of Bonus Features brainrot, wrote a 4,200-word plot dump, a 10k outline, and started marinating additional installments for Rot. Bonus may get a name change when/if I upload it, but that’s a problem for Future Me to deal with.

I also built a new Fandom Carrd to replace the old one. It started as a proof-of-concept playground for some CSS I was writing professionally, and then it just... mutated into something much bigger. Three pages on the home page still need to be built out and optimized for mobile, but that’s because I’m balls-deep in one of the deeper sections right now.

I set up a Carrd for the main Discord server, too. The colours and layout are still placeholders because I’m waiting on graphics, but if I finish mine first, I’ll just start slapping things together and making sure it’s WCAG-friendly so no one strains themselves.

I have also been beta-reading for my bestie, @prettyliminal, my buddy @siverfanweedo, for a couple of events, and for a few people who have reached out to me directly on Discord.

So, yes, the productivity gremlin remains undefeated, even with a 40-hour week commitment.

Blackbird uploads will resume. It’ll be interesting to revisit it since I haven’t touched the story since I wrapped up on my end last summer, and I have a very specific edit window to keep myself from rewriting entire things out of spite. We’ll see if the tone survived the passage of time.

After all that, I have a story currently squeezing my balls (if that wasn’t obvious). I might start posting the small pieces I wrote specifically for Tumblr just to get them out there while I keep drafting. Maybe they’ll even make their way to AO3 if I feel brave. This does mean that Cherry Blossom, The Games We Play, Catnip ch.3, and Azure Down are still sitting in the corner gathering dust while this new obsession ruins my life. If I need a break, or if my ADHD decides to yeet into another direction like it did when I wrote Vieras, I might drop something for those, too.

And to the person(s?) who asked about my OCs in my inbox: I haven’t forgotten you. I just had to shut everything down to eliminate as many distractions as possible to get the zine fic done. After I sort through the ungodly amount of anon harassment I still get (it’s been a year since I removed the cancer from my life, but apparently we’re still doing this), I’ll get back to drafting that. I also adjusted my scope because originally, I was going to give you all of my OCs, but... girl, let’s be so for real. I staffed an entire restaurant with OCs this month.

I’ll still probably be a little quieter here. The best place to reach me is Discord, either through any of the servers I own, the event servers I’m in, or through DMs.

Brain: Okay, so. What if, instead, I make you write a scene where the High Lord's meeting takes place and Nesta attends as as an emissary and meets Eris Vanserra for the first time and realizes that they're mates?

vs

I feel like one of the main reasons I love it is the way it’s written. It makes it feel more…impactful? More emotion I guess. Or makes the emotions Peri feels easier to understand. I can’t describe it well but it’s very good. Your writing is very good. That with the names of the chapters being silly while the fic is pure angst it great. It kinda makes me wanna read more angst that’s long and emotional.

keep up the good work bro the fic is so good ahhhhhh!!!!!!

I’m so greatful people enjoy my writing.

I honestly wasn’t sure if anyone would bc there wasn’t much angst in the fandom, but also I thought people might because there wasn’t enough angst in the fandom, ya know?

But also because I have a bit of a unique writing style. I write in a way that feels right for me.

No rules.

I allow myself to format the way I want, and word things the way I want without worrying about what I’m “supposed to do”

I write like poetry in a way, it’s fun and allows me to express myself more. I focus on what I want to focus on. If something feels boring to write, It’s probably boring to read, so I rather leave it out or write it from a different angle.

I think I’ve said this before in an AO3 comment reply, but I think a lot of my writing style has to do with the fact that I have ADHD. I struggle with focus a lot unless it’s something I’m really interested in, but even then I get distracted and procrastinate. I’ve learned a few tricks around this that helps, and it affects my writing style a lot.

-I have more spaces between lines so it doesn’t look too overwhelming.

-“if something is boring to write, it is boring to read” thinking

-focus on the good parts

-Always keep in mind what your readers came here for.

-keep things snappy and to the point (don’t go overboard with describing unimportant details)

In a way, I guess you could say I’ve created an “ADHD friendly work” idk if that’s already a thing, if it is, I haven’t seen it and want to see it.

I kind of wish there was more works that were like mine. I struggle a lot with reading books. I only really read fanfics because those are the only things that can keep my interest without me zoning out or getting frustrated that I couldn’t process what I just read or I get lost in meaningless words.

I guess I really just write what I want to read. I hope I can inspire others so that I can also read what I want to read.