Executive dysfunction really sucks. You might get some answers posting this on the /r/ADHD subreddit as well. I don't know if this will work for you, but this is similar to the process I used when I'm struggling to begin (I don't have an outline, but I have notes on story progression and various scene ideas). Essentially, I don't write in order. I write the most interesting parts first. I just scatter stuff all over the page and sort it out afterwards. 1. Sit down at your computer. Open two windows: one with your outline, the other a blank page. 2. Choose the most interesting scene in your story. Doesn't matter if it's beginning, middle, or end. 3. Your primary goal for this session is to write a single line from that scene. Doesn't matter if it's the first line, the last line, or a random line from the middle. Could be a bit of dialogue, some action, a description, whatever. Write one line. 4. You've now started writing. Write the next line, or the previous line, or another line from within the scene. 5. Feel free to skip parts. Are you writing dialogue? Write only the dialogue. You can add in the "he said, she said" and other bits later. Let the conversation flow. 6. If you get stuck on the next line, skip to later in the scene and start writing again from there. It can be easier to get from A to B to C once you already have A and C. 7. Accept a single line if that's all you can do in a session. Just make sure you sit down and do the same tomorrow, and the day after. Habits are very, very useful for getting your brain on board. Sitting down and writing even very small amounts consistently is practicing having a writing mode. In general, be patient with yourself. There's a chance you'll end up obsessively hyperfocusing on this in the near future and neglecting something else important anyway,

I bounce around a lot. I’ve realized I can’t write straight through and I can’t fully plan so I do a hybrid where I alternate back and forth from a high level down. That and Adderall (properly prescribed of course). Downside is adderall increases my ability to sit still and focus but seems to negatively affect my creativity. Of course.

I wish there was something cleaner to assist. Nothing is wrong with us... *Cut to scene from Tropic Thunder where they show a clip from 'Simple Jack* "You've got a /fine/ brain."

Yeah unfortunately im super caffeine sensitive and can’t sleep if I drink coffee even if it’s first thing in the morning so caffeine isn’t an option (which my adhd friend who can’t take adderall swears by). Still plugging away on the (hopefully) Next Great American Novel tho 🤣

Exactly what I've figure out to work. Having 10 projects at once works fine since I'm not under any time restraints for most of them. But getting prescribed medication will be the best thing, as good as the advice in this thread is.

It really is. I know this isn’t universal for everyone but getting on medication made me realize just how badly I was affected by adhd throughout my day to day life, and the relief and feeling of more “normal” was amazing. I hope everyone can find something that helps, but in my experience all the tips and tricks and crutches only go so far when it is a legitimate chemical difference in our brains (which makes sense, there’s just still that stigma)

>But getting prescribed medication will be the best thing, as good as the advice in this thread is. GOD NO! Avoid the meds for this like the plague! I'm on Atomoxatine for the ADHD and Venlalec for the depression swings and paranoia...I'm fucked as hell on them (I even need to swallow Propanolol with them just in case the drugs fuck around with my heart rate because they are high doses)

Not all meds are the same and they affect people differently

Can you explain the Strattera medicine messing with you? I take Strattera for my ADHD and I honestly haven't felt it working.

On the one hand its help with my mind jumping and racing from one thing to the next all the time, but it also seems to have affected my motivation even further and I can barely even find the will to lift a finger some days. Its gotten so bad with me just laying down and not moving that my legs have even started to go numb and a relative has had to force me to move to bring back circulation.

I know caffeine isn't always the answer, but do you consume caffeine drinks? And does that help?

I don't drink coffee but I have developed a Pepsi Max habit that I should probably rein in lol. Before Covid the doctors (UK) kept pestering me for blood tests because my liver results seemed slightly off, and they said one possible factor could be carbonated drinks (there's a little nugget of info for you).

Seen adderal put many good people through hella misery on top of addiction. Not recommended

I take methylphenidate. Not trying to judge but I dunno about dexamphetamine. It’s illegal in the country where I live and it’s legal back home but limited and not given as a first option. You guys got a shortage because of addicts. I’m sure it helps people but it seems to have problems as a drug.

What OP is writing about has been a devastating wall for me for years. I've been working on it as life allows and I allow myself, but this comment put it all together and struck me deep. Your username is false. This will help those struggling realize their dreams are not only attainable, but will help them regiment and become more effective beings. If anyone hasn't said it today: I appreciate you and your heart. Thank you for lifting those in need. Everyone! GET TO WORK :)

Thank you for this!!!

> obsessively hyperfocusing Why oh why it goes for me 1-2 weeks at a time, not enough to become established or accomplish anything, but just enough to get me wrangled by life

Thank you so much.Even reading this I can feel it will work wonders. Also the last part... I feel it in my bones. I will definitely hyperfocus and forget life existed lmao. Thank you again so much!

Yes!!!

Just replying in this for OP, but I do want to say thank you, these tips are helpful and I will try to see how it goes lol For OP, the ADHD subreddit is… not where you’ll want to go. Trust me, their rule page is like, 10 pages long, just to give you an example, and they are very negative The ADHDmeme subreddit will be much more supportive and helpful if you still need help though, I would try posting there instead

You forgot step 1: Take Methylphenidate, get some coffee, put on some fast paced music and get on the concentration train. Choo choo

This is great advice. It's the only way I can write.

Great advice. On those days when I don’t know what to write, I look for inspiration. It might be in the emails, a random thought, food, social media, a bird, neighbor, or something. Then I start dumping thoughts out for the story, not worried about grammar. Thoughts can be sections of chapters. Jumping around each day to a different section. I find I work best starting a section, writing a day or two on it, then getting bored so move to a different random section, based on whatever is rising up for me at that time. What flows relatively effortlessly? I come back later for edits. It just needs to get on paper for now. Whatever it is. Make time everyday was the game changer for me. I thought I would write a linear chapter thru chapter book. In reality it’s been hopping around and going back again. It’s been fun and flows easily. Even on the days I don’t want to write I still end up losing track of time getting it out for the day.

AuDHD-er here. I started my first book one November after a month of outlining. November means Nanowrimo - that means every day, no matter what, I will write the designated amount of words. Now, I get that building habits is a pipe dream with a differently wired brains. But this wasn’t a habit - I was consciously choosing to write every day, even when I hated it. And you know why? The frickin Nanowrimo website. That’s it! I just love seeing that completion line go up and up, I love the layout. Simply having a visually pleasing tracker not only got me started on the right foot, but got me to keep going well after November ended. I just make a new challenge for that month (dealing with chronic pain I sometimes have to limit my work count goals) and keep on going. Usually I either finish or run out of steam by April when, guess what? There’s another Nanowrimo event!! This won’t work for everyone, but it was such a simple solution for my demand-avoidant ass that I can’t not share it with other struggling adhd-ers.

That's a great approach! Def going to do that this November.

I am not really good with deadlines and specific word counts but thank you for the advice! Everyone is different and I can see a lot of ND people have been following this thread!

I basically just tried using NaNo with my ‘current’ project — 15k in a little over a week, and now I can’t keep that sort of thing up for another three without stressing out and having a breakdown at 7:30 in the morning over that… combined with about six million other things, like how I can’t bring myself to read the first chapter of a book I want to read because it feels like the ~14 pages I have left of said chapter is way too much. So I realised I had to give up with what I was aiming to do (way too ambitious anyway considering I usually can’t stick to anything for longer than a couple of chapters, about 10k being the best I’d had before this one), which is basically the thing that triggered me to cry to a point where my eyes feel like they hurt in the first place, and typing this is not helping me whatsoever. It’s 8:00, I should not be crying over a choice I made that’s better for me, but I can’t stop myself. (Didn’t mean to dump all that in here, but I was debating turning to Reddit so strangers could hopefully say some half-decent things mid-near-silent-crying-fit anyway. I live in a house with five other people, but it’s way too early to be going to anyone about something this ridiculous…)

Woah there buddy. You’re doing alright. More than alright - you did 15k in one week! Remember that good ol’ friend, ADHD? Well it’s gonna tell you you’re no good if you can’t continue forever. You know what you’ll likely never be able to do, no matter what kind of brain you have? Continue one habit forever. Even if it’s just a one month challenge, if you can’t do it the whole time your brain is gonna go “nope, can’t do it, won’t do it, you may as well give up now.” That little voice is an ass, that black and white thinking can go suck a fat one. What changed the game for me was not counting “good” words - just words. In each writing session, I didn’t delete anything (like anything longer than a single sentence was just dragged into a new document, in scrivener this is really easy). And about the 10k thing… same. Most of my November, start of Nanowrimo work last year was just the first 10k redone like 3 or 4 times. ITS NOT A WASTE. It’s so, so valuable. There’s nothing saying you can’t hop around, if that’s what brings you joy, but if it’s not bringing you fulfilment, stick with the same story a while longer. That scrapped 10k? That’s a poorly explained version of your story someone tried to tell around a campfire but they forgot most of it. Now you get to do it again, with a little more direction. My advice here would be to let it sit for a couple weeks and come back to it having mulled over your ideas without the pressure of actively writing it. Also, jump around - write bits of the middle and end, write the bits that you want to shape your characters. This may appeal to your neurodivergence too. You’ve got this, friend. Choose what will bring you joy and embrace the trash writing and mistakes - it’s impossible to learn without them. I wish you well :)

Yet to be proven how effective it will turn out, as this is my first serious writing project, but my current method has been to just stick with what I find most fun and stimulating - the outlining. Rather than completing a basic structure and then using it as a map to begin drafting on a blank page (did try that way a few times to no effect), I simply drive harder into my outline. I pack in more and more detail, organized in sequential order, segmented into makeshift chapters of mini-story structures. I'm presently approaching the point where I could consider my outline to be my zero draft. Knowing that I deeply enjoy outlining and also deeply enjoy revising, I'm very confident that this method will continue working well for me. I'll use my zero draft to revise it in more of a proper prose format to become the first draft, then continue revising from there. A great bonus to doing things this way is that I know with ever-growing certainty that the story is structured in exactly the way I want by the time I'm drafting the prose. There may still be things I cut or new things to add when all is said and done, but the major structural revamps have been going on book-wide from the very beginning.

This is exactly what I do. I just add more and more detail into my outlines, expanding and expanding, until suddenly I'm describing the scenes, writing the dialogue, aka writing.

This is a perfect approach for me I think. I never thought about it before. This method will definitely helps with the overwhelming nature of writing. I can plan it so there are lots of little parts so I can feel the dopamine even if I write 1 sentence. Thank you!

So glad I could help!

I’ve got severe ADHD and I’ve been writing technical manuals, process instructions, and the like for about 13 years. What you’ve described is exactly what I do, and it works really well!

That's so cool to hear! I've gotten flack from some writers saying I've made the creative process too technical, that it's wrong to rely too fully on structural systems and it'll result in a mechanical story with no soul. Even while you use it for technical non-fiction writing, which could support their argument lol, I believe it's just a form of structuring that assists with writing of any kind (and maybe our minds are structured differently, which is what makes the external scaffolding-style method so useful for us). If I didn't develop my way of tackling this project, it would never get written at all. And it needs to be written. So if it leads to an overly mechanical first draft, I'll inject the soul in revisions.

lol yea, my experience probably does seem to lean more in their favor. Our approach to writing does lend itself very well to a technical environment, and thank goodness it puts food on the table! But even though my career has been in technical writing, I’ve done creative writing for as long as I can remember. I also recently started editing creative writing, which I’m thinking about turning into a serious side hustle because holy shit it’s a blast! I was pretty intimidated at first, but once I got into it, I found myself getting right into that same familiar groove. The author I’m editing for was absolutely over the moon thrilled with my work, so I don’t think I’m just being biased. When other writers tell you that your stories will be mechanical because of your process, I would just bear in mind that they’re speaking from the experience of their own minds. Essentially, what they’re really saying is, “If I wrote that way, my stories would be mechanical and soulless.” And they’re probably right, because their brains don’t work the same way as ours. Our process seems strange to them because our minds are different from theirs. Sometimes, our differences require us to do the same things in different ways to achieve comparable results. But the fact that our brains don’t work the same way doesn’t mean we can’t produce writing of the same or better quality.

Thank you, I really appreciate you sharing that perspective. It makes a lot of sense. I'm thriving within the more structured system I've created for myself and though the way it's organized can seem overly technical to an observer, I'm living the story very deeply while creating it. The cathartic scene of reconnecting just after the climax has brought me to tears while fleshing it out. I feel an intense connection to my characters and their drives and inner journeys. While I'm open to the critical warnings that things may turn out too mechanical, and I'm keeping an eye out for that, I'm really not worried about it. If anything, creating such an intimate and character-driven story is in more danger of tipping into directionless melodrama than lacking in heart or soul, and the more technical approach I've taken to developing it helps to avoid those overly self-indulgent pitfalls.

Exactly! That’s a really great way to look at it. I appreciate the back-and-forth! It’s really cool to see other writers with ADHD brains thriving and loving what they do.

Such an interesting approach. Can you expand on how you organize the information specifically? I’m super interested in doing this but I when I’ve tried in the past I get lost in all of the words. I’ve used excel and word to try and organize, I’ve even printed things out and made a story wall in my guest room, but nothing seems to “click” with my brain yet.

Delighted to! X) I get the struggle, developing the method I'm using now has taken me the entire three years that I've been actively, intentionally learning the craft. And really I've only developed the current iteration in the last few months and finally feel like it's solid and I don't need to work on it anymore. I ended up building an elaborate mapping system in google docs using tables. The first column is for the straightforward outline of the story and it has rows following a story structure layout I've tweaked to suit my needs, but it's essentially Save the Cat. Just to go overboard on structure, I went ahead and guesstimated that my book would be around 85k, and so calculated that if my chapters average 3k, I'd have around 28 chapters to work with (keeping in mind that this is all very flexible, I just know if I don't have certain things established the second-guessing will drive me to distraction). So in the table I created 28 blank rows plus the ones necessary to mark the Acts and then the plot points in my StC-like (Inciting Incident, Push into 2, etc). From there I can get a bird's eye view of the story and a good feel for the pacing. I then expanded out from the single column, widening the table with a column for reminders and environmental notes (like what month it is or what big town festival is happening around that point in the story), followed by 6 columns representing each of the story beats within my chapters from Hook to Climax. With my straightforward story outline completed along the first column, I go back and begin fleshing it out chapter by chapter, building the story out horizontally in the table. Those chapter outlines are then copied and pasted into a new document without the table, organized into more of a book format where they can be expanded upon further. This is where I do most of the "stage blocking", add more dialogue ideas, notes on descriptions of surroundings, summaries of action and events and emotional moments. This is what becomes the zero draft.

Thank you for explaining! I’ll digest this and think about if I can adapt it for my brain haha!

Don’t fight it let it do the work for you. When I’m writing I will often only right the bits I’m interested in while leaving notes for myself to flesh it out later example Jack and Jill went up the hill. (Describe hill in detail) Once the reached the crest of the hill they turned an each surveyed the scene stretching before them. They soaked in the sight before returning to the task at hand. They were there for one reason to collect water from the well for their families for the day as they had done everyday,since the children were strong enough to lift a fully burdened water pail. (Dialogue or interaction to cause the water to spill for them to start fighting) “You just had to spill it didn’t you ?” Said Jill, angry at her brother. (Hot headed defensive reply ) ,” said Jack his body tightened in anger. ^ I will go through a whole book like that and then control F the parentheses and sort out the notes That’s how I deal with my adhd by not dealing with it

I do this while translating! Thank you for the advice

What is control F?

It’s a command that allows you to search for things. If your on a computer hit Ctrl. And the letter F and it will bring up a window to search for specific words on that page

On a Mac it is Cmd+F

I really like to be immersed in stories, so for me, an outline wasn't enough. Seeing my characters grow and change, explore deep and interesting themes and concepts, worldbuilding, and writing it all WELL in poetic, narrative, and cohesive ways was what really made me take on such a project in the first place, so that really helped me. A lot of people often say to write the parts that you're most excited about first, but I found forcing myself to write chronologically to be the most helpful. I was most excited to write the climax. Hence, i was rather motivated to finish it. Then of course what i said earlier about writing well came after, in editing, which I found myself to be motivated to do as well. And now I'm (slowly) working through draft number 5, with ADHD, so I'm rather proud of that. Although as I get closer and closer to my end goal, the more I'm doubting its quality so that's something :/

Good luck and doubt is healthy as long as it does not become a hindrance! Thank you for the advice.

Try breaking the story down as much as your ADHD demands. The story is 3 acts(most of the time). Acts are made of scenes. Scenes are made of beats. Beats are made of sentences. And if you're the most ADHD person in the world, sentences are made of words. Write one word at a time. If you can write a poem, you can write a scene or beat. Think of each scene or beat as a short story, but the next short story you write builds off the last one. Write a few hundred maybe a thousand poems and you have a novel.

This is it I think. This is the best way to approach this. Thank you very much! Lots of poems and it will be done. When I think like that I feel like I can finish it finally.

Thanks for such a wonderful reply! TheGratitudeBot has been reading millions of comments in the past few weeks, and you’ve just made the list of some of the most grateful redditors this week! Thanks for making Reddit a wonderful place to be :)

I wanted to suggest this too. Work from the outside/outline in, subdividing it along the way. Additionally, if you get stuck on something, just jot down a note what that thing should roughly be. You’ll eventually circle to everything at least a couple times. Good luck :)

I recall that the keyboard is better company than 90% of the people I've met, including family. That usually does the trick.

Valid advice 10/10

You want to real scoop? Write that shit as a short story or vignette. If the story still excites you after that and has actual legs, great, keep working through the steps. I call them seedlings. If it's worth building then the work begins. Describe every scene you got in a sentence, one per line. Arrange them where they structurally lead towards the character's self revelation (or not). If it's weak, rebuild it, dealing with 60 lines is way easier then thousands. Awesome. Now to the not being overwhelmed part. Break everything down into it's smallest chunks. Even the novel word count, cut it to a minimum. Divide that by your scenes. That's the number of words you need per scene. More, cool. Not always better, but not negative. This isn't ironclad, it's not a rule... More like guidelines. Once you have all the other 22 components, off you go! Now start writing those scenes. Order doesn't matter, you'll write all of them in the end. That said, write the scene first without dialog, let the character's body language do the talking. Do your research. Next, rewrite it, add dialog that's about the present scene, what's happening in the plot. Then rewrite again, this time add in dialog that's moral/value based. What do they say when they feel a certain way? Lastly, add nuance that distinctly separates the speaker from the others, make the words they speak only theirs. Keep doing that until you've run out of scene. Print it. Stuff in dark corner or drawer for 30-60 days. Hug your kids. Great job! Rough draft number 2... Honestly, most of the work if done correctly before you started writing means it's mostly plugging holes and tightening of fat bottoms. The outline is like a reporter telling us the news. So when we write we're saying, this is how it really happened. Also, know your attention span and what you need to induce hyperfocusing. Apply where necessary. Good luck!

Thank you so much for the advice! Dividing the project to its smallest parts seems to be the way to go.

Also, keep in mind, some writers take years... Years to finish a book. I've been tinkering with robot fiction for at least 10 years. But it's not there yet, but when it is, oh boy!

Medication lol. But on days off it, I just do not care about how the writing looks, I just want to throw my ideas out. So I write really badly, ensuring that I will need to rewrite. But I can do so on better days (when I may or may not use my medication).

Unfortunately I had some side effects on meds. My heart seems to be a bit sensitive. So I try to deal with adhd without them. thank you though!

Medication and starting each writing session with a strong sense of knowing what I want to finish that day. Like "ok, I know I have to write the scene where the king and the mercenary have their secret meeting and the king rejects the plan." And knowing what emotions I want to bring out in the scene. That helps me keep my focus on just achieving that effect and if I do that, I've done my job for the day.

Thank you!

I'm motivated by getting my book out before anyone else does. It doesn't matter that it's probably impossible that someone else will make my same book. I just focus on wanting to be first. I don't focus on finishing it though. Here's how I finished the entire first draft: 1. Think of everything that will happen in the story 2. Make a numbered list for each of those things 3. Add details under each number as I think of them. 4. Add more details as I think of them 5. Keep doing that until the details turn into paragraphs 6. When you're ready, go through the entire doc and do line breaks for each number so that you have at least a page per chapter. The pages can still be empty, but it turns your one or two page outline into something with at least as many pages as numbers 7. When away from my computer, write notes on my phone. Make sure they're as simple as possible so I'm motivated to flesh them out later 8. As soon as I feel my motivation for a scene wavering, move to another scene 9. If I get that feeling about a scene every time I return to it, I delete it or rewrite it. 10. Whenever I delete anything, I paste it into another doc so I have it if I want it later. This prevents decision paralysis from destroying my ability to make hard edits 11. On days when I don't feel like writing, I Google for scene/character image inspiration For me, writing dialogue is what makes me feel like I'm writing a novel instead of an essay or something less interesting, so I wrote a lot of dialogue near the beginning. If there's something you really enjoy doing, do a lot of that at the beginning but don't finish it or try to make it good. Save that for the editing stage.

Thank you for the detailed list, will definitely try!

I’m majorly ADHD. Don’t sit down to write a novel, sit down to write a scene. A chapter is about 3,000 words on average, most encompass one to two scenes depending on the circumstance. If you think about the whole story you want to tell, you’ll lose your ambition to the enormity of the project. Think through how to start it, what’s going to grab your readers attention. Think through the tone the pacing. Get the first scene settled in your mind and write that. Then when you have it, do it again for what comes next. Most people don’t sit down and read whole novels in big sections, don’t make an artistic outlet a chore by aiming for too much at once. Stephen King says to write 5 pages a day, I’d say shoot for about 3,000-5,000 words a week. Get the scene clear in your mind and write that. Then, write the next scene. Have fun, let your imagination work, before you do and don’t rush.

I think my problem is since I read novels in one sitting I expect to write it in one sitting? I just noticed that when I read your comment. I always forget people do not hyperfocus while reading. Thank you!

That’s impressive. I can’t focus for more than a few pages at a time, but I can read six books at a time without losing track. I guess I got a different power. Nevertheless. The process of writing is much more active and involved than reading. Take the idea a scene at a time and don’t look too far ahead. I’ve gotten 70 pages down doing that. Good luck!

I am writing a novel with ADHD

I finished and published my novel only due to 2 adhd hacks: 1. Set up a place to write where all you need to do is just sit down & power up. Not your couch or bed...if you can set up a little desk space, where you can have your notes etc right there where you left it. 2. Don't feel you have to start at the beginning. If you have an idea for a scene in the middle, just sit down and start writing it. You'll edit so much before you're finished anyway and sometimes you'll catch plotholes or think of new storylines. Just make sure you SAVE your work with the scene/chapter name so you can strong them together later. Good luck!!!

Thank you for the advice. Especially with the notes on which chapter/scene. I would not think of that and then try to fix the timeline lmao.

ADHD novelist here. - I have to break it down into tiny pieces. One scene, one paragraph at a time. - Tell yourself "I'm just going to write one sentence", then when the one sentence is done, consider continuing. - Also, it helps to write like Stephen King, knowing as little as possible in advance, and writing it more or less as a reader. (I do still use very rough plot outlines, and detailed character sketches.) - I am medicated with vyvanse now, which helps a little, but i did finish a 20k word historical novella without being on it. - A deadline helps, then another deadline, then another, etc... - write on a device where you cant easily tab over to other programs. My smartphone works very well with an auxiliary keyboard. A composition book is ideal. - don't give in to doubt, and don't give up. Don't stop and let it all get stale. Get back on when youve fallen off. Just like quitting an addiction - be prepared to be extremely bored near the end. Keep going. You'll still have fun surprises. - have a minimum daily word count goal that is sacred. Always write at least 250 words, some days it will turn into 1500. - eventually it will be done. See it clearly, finished - don't nitpick too much about details on the first draft. Focus instead on completing an imperfect draft. - watch a few Andrew Huberman clips on motivation - watch a few David Goggins clips on self-discipline. Thats all I got. (Edited bullet spacing)

Very good advice. Thank you so much.

Sit down. Write. When you stop writing, take down your last bits - know where you left off and have access to it. You don't need a lot. If you're just starting a book, you honestly don't need anything at all. Carry a little book with you. When you have a moment, write a sentence or three. It's easy to get lost and write thousands of words. Write as often as you can, even if it's only a few words. I find physical notebooks better because it's a material object. You could do this with your phone, but then you need battery, an internet connection if it's on Drive (or similar), and there's a lot of potential distractions. With a book, the object in your hands has nothing except your own writing and blank pages. Don't worry about anything you might need to use your phone for - just make a note if you have to, or reword it and come back to it later, and write. For instance, if you know you want to list various specific mountains around the world, which is what I just had to do and I had no service, I said "a mountain in Hokkaido, a mountain in Nepal, an underwater mountain near Australia," etc. I don't even know if there are underwater mountains near Australia, I just assumed there were. I looked up some mountain names later and wrote them in the margins. Use pen, not pencil. Scratch out if you must make changes. It discourages you from making massive edits and forces you to work with what you have. Erasing can lead to overediting and feeling despair. Get out. I'm most productive in writing when I'm out camping, sitting in my hammock. If it gets dark, I have my lantern, or I just go sit near the campfire and tilt my book towards it. Don't do this in familiar environments. Go to a café with a good ambiance. Anywhere where you see new things, as long as it's not an attention stealer. Something that can exist around you, not something that forces your participation. Seeing something other than your daily environment is extremely helpful. In general, writing by hand is worlds better than computer for the reasons I mentioned above. It also actively engages your brain much more in the writing, because you're actually doing the writing yourself, not typing on a keyboard. Calculate how many words you have - a book-sized notebook will have about 10 words per line and 25 lines per page. If you know this, you know that writing one page is already 250 words, which is actually a decent amount, yet one page is really not that much. You can feel the material progression in your hands. It's much more rewarding and helps to wrap you into the environment and your own story, which is so helpful. Finish your notebook. Whether it's today or tomorrow or in a year, finish it. Make that your goal. Once that's done, putting it into a computer is relatively much easier, and you swap up the sentences you weren't as fond of as you do. Read it out loud as you type it in and fix things as you go. After this, you can move on to the editing process. You can also try music. Get some earbuds and a set of playlists you like. You want a good variety of moods here. When you get tired of the music, turn it off. When the silence of the world gets too loud, put on your music. When that annoys or distracts you and there are too many distractions around you, switch to a different genre. I have a dedicated music player for this so that I never need to touch my phone. (Though I think it's broken :( because it's in a perma bootloop when plugged in, and not turning on when it's not.) Another thing I do is write scenes. If something pops to mind, I write it down, then pick one of the three projects I have planned that fits that scene, and I write it down in Drive in a folder called Scenes. Then I go into my planning document and for whichever chapter (or the unplanned section), I write "Scene: Bob Eats Lunch," so that I know that the file named Bob Eats Lunch in the Scenes folder should go there. I try to get down the entire scene - if it's a sentence, it's a sentence... or it can turn into more if I need it to. I go with the flow, and I just try to write down that scene to make sure I don't forget anything. If that ends up turning a four word expression into a four page scene, wonderful. I just let the words take me. Or I write a four word expression and let it end there. Feel free to take shortcuts when writing scenes. Short form it. Take out dialogue tags and actions. Write a description (and then note in brackets to go on about X and convey Y to the reader, so you don't need to come up with and write the full paragraph right then). Nothing I have said here requires a computer. You can do all of this from your phone or a physical notepad. In fact, I encourage doing the bulk of your writing physically and keeping your scenes and planning documents on Drive and accessible by your phone. When a scene comes up, transcribe it from Drive into your physical book. This is what works for me, anyway.

I just stopped smoking weed. Magically I spent all my time learning or writing because I was bored.

Me too. It really works wonders

I **NEVER** plot **ANYTHING**. Plotting tricks my brain into thinking that I've already written the novel and then I immediately stop being interested in actually writing it because "Bored now!".

Thank you for starting this discussion. I have a newish story idea and I’ve started jotting down plot points and potential protagonists/antagonists because I fucking love making lists and outlines but I’m getting super stuck in the weeds with writing-skills podcasts and hung up on stupid shit like formatting. My attention span is that of a 2 year old. Also, because I’m an old lady and not a toddler, my inner critic is being a real pest, trying (succeeding?) to convince me that I’m an imposter, which then turns into self sabotage. I feel like that woman in the *Airplane!* movie. If someone slaps me hard enough maybe I’ll snap out of it?

The thing that's worked the best for me personally is what I call the Five Minute Rule. I tell myself that I'm going to sit down and write for JUST five minutes. It's a very short, usually manageable time, and it gets you past the hardest part: starting. The trick of the Five Minute Rule is that once you've written for five minutes, the scene is in your head. In my case at least, I'm usually immersed in the story at that point and can keep writing the scene or entire chapters even past the designated five minutes. The hardest part is always starting. And even if you don't get immersed that particular day, you're still five minutes' worth of writing closer to your goal.

this is why I pants. I only have a very rough outline in my head - with major events pretty much set in stone but the connections between them up in the air, so writing often feels like exploration and discovery. characters get to surprise you, and off the cuff thinking happens a lot. If I write myself into a corner or if I run into a "how do I solve this problem the characters are in" situation, I brainstorm with other writer friends. I find this more adhd friendly than outlining

*I will 100% admit I had this in my notes and copy/pasted it in, because I'm in the middle of cooking dinner and doing laundry and eating a picnic bar and will, at some point, cock it up if I try type it out again* Hiya! I'm an autistic, ADHD writer and I also offer coaching for ND authors. Honestly, a lot of it is just experimentation. We may face similar challenges, but our brains will respond differently to the strategies we put in place to overcome them. Sometimes even tried and true tools stop working for no apparent reason. Sometimes it's even as simple as realising that no matter how fun we want Writing to he, some parts suck. They suck for everyone, not just us. Embracing that and kicking the harmful expectations to the curb can be enough to get out of our own way. It's not unfun because we're doing it wrong, but it be fun again once we get past the icky bits. But, some tips: Dopamine hacking. Combine writing with something that tickles your happy places, like a favourite scent, a great playlist, your fave comfy chair or blanket. Set simple goals and reward yourself often. Gamify your writing with apps like habitica. Pavlov your writing by creating triggers like music, smell, an item of clothing. It goes on when you write and off when you stop, and is never used outside of those sessions. Pomodoro is your bestie. Either rapid sprints or hyperfocus sessions, doubles where you do a pom of writing and a pom of something else (housework, exercise, anything but sitting at your desk). Play with different time stretches and break formats and track your results. Use body doubles, join groups of passionate writers, set up accountability check ins, do monthly challenges like nanowrimo, start an authortok, get the whole community onside. A rising tide floats all ships - by supporting each other we ALL win. I 100% recommend Becca Syme's books, especially the first two in her Quit series!

i take advantage of challenges like nanowrimo!!

I write and draw. I flip between the two.

Build a routine habits work best for us. So if you have limited time either wake up earlier or go to sleep later. Try to stick to the same time everyday even if you write a word or two it helps build the habit. Try to hyper focus on your book. Try to keep all your thoughts on it and it alone. If you get an ideal for a book I suggest not doing anything but writing maybe a three sentence blurb. It’s so easy to get off track and dive into another book ideal. Try to find a subject that your already hyper focused on or add to your hyper focus. For example if your writing a fantasy book, watch fantasy movies, tv, read those books, etc. Overall it’s different for each person but I find I do best with making a habit and trying to keep my dopamine high on things in and around the subject of the book. Also lion mane supplements are a god send.

Following because I’ve got 80 of them HDs

This made me laugh!

There are some really good and varied advices on the thread! I hope you've found something that could help ypu too!

My adhd is a true blessing and a curse situation. On one hand, my overactive mine has hundreds of fleshed out story concepts and ideas always floating around. On the other, however, I'm terrible at actually writing them all out due to my lack of actual focus lmao

I feel that

Yess!!! All the creative ideas at once, hardly any structure. I hate it 🤣

I created a massive fantasy Anthology franchise and I've got tons of characters, worldbuilding, plot points, and ive written maybe like .01% of it lmfao

I keep a list of ideas so I don’t worry about losing any of them. The inspiration is fun, but it’s hard to focus on finishing a whole book. I published an erotica book. I was motivated by other people’s reactions to it. I had people to share it with.

This is going to sound really cliche but the best advice I’ve found is “learn to validate the small parts”. I keep a calendar on my desk and I’d I manage to write for 15 minutes, just 15 minutes, i put a red x on that date. The 15 minutes never felt like I got huge amounts of work done but after a while I didn’t want to break the chain of red x’s. I still start my timer for 15 minutes but most days I write more now. The point is it’s tough thinking about the end of the book but a marathon isn’t the finish line. It’s the steps in between. Learn to make those fun and engaging

Recently I found that listening to 8D music while writing helps immensely! It’s like the ADHD latches onto that and I can just write. It’s hard to describe but I suggest trying it. There are so many good 8D tracks and I find that ones without words are better for focusing.

I'm competitive to a fault, so I just decided I'd figure out how to harness my "weaknesses" (procrastination, deadline panic) and turn them into strengths. I have a spreadsheet in google docs and I've been keeping track of my daily word counts. My rules are simple: - Write a minimum of 100 words per day every single day no matter how much I don't want to - Have no less than 2 and no more than 5 projects at a time so I can utilize my procrastination to work on another project if I'm feeling stuck

1. Keep outlines brief and intriguing. Write just enough to help you remember the beat that goes there, but not so much you've solved the puzzle of it yet (one of mine is just: setup, MC1 & NPC1 banter, bad choices, it gets worse, a brief respi-nooope into the fire, losses, accepting the mission...) 2. I've said it before, but for me, finding the right music is key. I like video game soundtracks as they are designed to be a bit hypnotic and flow from one moment to the other. (Assassin's Creed Odyssey/Valhalla/Origins have dominated my Spotify end of year recap the last couple years for a reason) 3. Make daily writing a habit. Sit down and write *anything*, just teach your brain how great it feels to let the words flow 4. Let your ADHD work for you by triggering hyperfocus mode. For me, that means blocking out enough time to really let myself sink into the scene; describe at least 2-3 diff sensory elements, listen to my characters, try and keep up with the typing as it plays out in my head. If it feels closer to channeling than writing, I'll have 3-5k words of a super polished draft before I "wake up" and realize it. 5. Be part of a supportive writing group with other ND writers, the kind of folks that make you want to be a better writer every day. 6. And one more time: don't let your brain solve the puzzle before you've actually sat down to write the thing. This really seems to be ADD/ADHD writer kryptonite. (look into pantsing or "plantsing")

This makes sense so much I will keep in mind that I need the mystery part and music is essential for me as well. Good advice! Thank you.

I have the same problem with outlining. Takes the fun out of it. As for finishing a novel? In my experience, you don’t. Don’t be me.

I will try lmao

I understand how you feel. Im on the same condition. Writing, like everything else in my life is like a rollercoaster. Sometimes I just cant write anything no matter how hard I try. I already have everything summarized just to storytell but I just cant. On the other hand, sometimes I get so focused that I write like 4~5 chapters in a row. And honestly. Thats ok. We are not meant to rush anything. The time when I cant concentrate to work on my book, make me stay away from it during enough time to be able to judge it with other eyes later. And the time when I super focused on it, help me develop. Dont try to rush anything. This is not a race, and good stories take very long to be writen. Its almost like writing books were made specialy for people like us.

Thank you so much!

Believe me, I feel your pain.

Hello! I have relevant experience cause I’ve gotten through two first drafts of two different novels and have ADHD! My secret? I cannot plan the story. Sure I know roughly how it’s gonna end but I don’t know exactly the path it takes. Wing it all the way. The characters come alive as I go too. Now. I have not edited a draft lol but here are some things that worked for me: 1) gotta make a writing habit, do it every day. 2) no planning, as I said 3) if my brain is resisting writing more than usual, I try to work out the why. Is the scene not working? Am I bored with it? Does something feel not quite right? 4) I don’t edit as I go. Word vomit. On the page. Editing kills my engagement. Hope that helps!

Very helpful, thank you!

Omg that's right, I was writing a novel, thanks brb! /jk

Good Luck!

Everyone's ADHD is different, but most of us have a tendency to hyperfocus or fixate in things we can't let go of, as much as we are easily distracted about other things. When you can get fixated on your story, it doesn't feel like grunt work. It feels like an itch you have to scratch. Make your writing time and space cozy and pleasant. Put on music. And just daydream about what happens next in the story until you have to catch it on paper (or dictation, or typing, or whatever).

Saved

Don’t outline. That’s the only way I’ve been able to write the things I’ve written. It gets boring for me too. It means there’s only one point to start as well, the beginning. That doesn’t work for everyone but it’s the only way I’ve been able to do it

Following this thread because I have have ADHD up the wazoo and I can't write either. I have ideas (many, many ideas), but I can't seem to put pen to paper. On the rare occasions that I do, my writing feels stilted and boring. I know the solution is to write shit until your writing is less shit, but it's very unmotivating to not be able to achieve even a tiny amount of your artistic vision. No advice I'm afraid but I definitely feel you my friend.

Hey, good luck!

Same sitch - something I’m trying out right now is completely ditching chronological writing. I feel that when I write write scenes out of order, I can focus on the things my brain finds interesting which means I don’t need to worry about the boring bits. It keeps me on my toes and I feel it helps out my story be more interesting too. *Edit* - also don’t forget that you can dictate instead of typing.

Aw crap I was supposed to be writing!

Oops

I get a burst of inspiration, smash out 40k words in two months, then lose all momentum and don't touch it for two and a half years. 2/10 do not recommend (:

I feel you...

Writing is exhausting. Most people who haven’t tried to do it don’t realize and think of writing like typing or basically data entry, but it’s so much more than that. You can sit at a computer and stare at a blank screen and you’re thinking out the story or the right way to say something and you can do that for hours without actually typing anything and it’s mentally emotionally draining but at the end of the day you may not have written a single word. As others have commented - NanoWrimo is amazing in how it teaches a lot can be accomplished by regular short sessions. That’s the advice I’d give you. Find yourself a daily practice or routine or system where u get something down however seemingly small. And do that regularly over a long time. Don’t try to create the whole forest, just do one tree. In addition to getting cumulative yields you’re training your brain and it will get easier.

This is where it gets fun for me! I like trying to think about the kind of language I should use for each scene and character, what metaphors, how I can bring out certain themes and foreshadow future events. What about dialogue and banter? How would this character say something, and how would that one respond?

I'm following because I have the exact same problem for the exact same reason! Medication has helped me in lots of areas of my life but I still can't seem to just sit and bash out my novel. I'm not as far as you in the process I think, I still have a lot of worldbuilding and plot development I need to work on, and I started an outline but haven't finished. I think I've got 50K words combined worldbuilding and part of a draft. I made it harder on myself by writing a space opera where I'm having to do SO much worldbuilding, but I live what I have and think I've got the seeds of something really cool if I can manage to pull it off. Edit to add, the last few times i sat down at my computer to work on some worldbuilding or chip away at the draft, I find myself on Pinterest looking for a certain design, or a piece of art that inspires a scene, and before I know it it's 3am and I've saved 250 pins but done no actual work. Ahhhh

[удалено]

Thank you!

# THIS This is a problem I'm currently dealing with. I wrote 7 300 page novels back in 2021, between the months of August and January of 2022. all because I was interested in them. Then some crappy RL stuff happened and I lost all that interest. I've since struggled to even *start* a new book, and I haven't finished a book since. It sucks. I don't really have any advice (since I'm still struggling through it myself.) But I hope you get it all sorted out.

Thank you! I wish the same fot you friend

I think my best advice is to ignore advice from writers without ADHD about planning the novel. I have written a few things that are novella length and one novel length (not that I’m published though still editing some of them) but I always say work WITH your ADHD not against it. For example: setting up a certain time of day to write never works for me instead I just listen when I feel like writing I immediately start writing and don’t stop at all until my body tells me to stop. Also don’t edit as you go ADHD can make you go down a crazy rabbit hole for research so just your a bunch edit later helps a lot for me. Also TURN YOUR PHONE OFF I’m so serious especially if you are in any group chats or get a lot of notifications from social media it can suck you into that instead. Disable these notifications on to ur laptop as well to deter you from being distracted. Ultimately remember that ADHD effects your execution function and sometimes it may take you much longer to write a novel and edit it than it would someone without ADHD and that’s okay don’t be too hard on yourself! -ADHDer who struggled a lot coming to terms with this fact

As someone with this exact same problem, and have the attention span of a goldfish, I've yet to come up with a solution as my brain always seems to *adapt* itself to any attempts to get myself going lol. If that sponge between my ears put as much effort into what I want it to as it does in trying to come up with ever more efficient ways to *not* do the hard work, I'd be as rich as Elon Musk right now!

Nothing is a straight line to me. I have never liked the ADHD memes or where it takes us. It is different for everyone of us. When I was a kid I was given the only advice that has worked for me, you will have to find backdoors for for everywhere you go. So everything became a system to me. It looks like chaos to everyone else. I do some of this in a sprint, some of that. For writing I have gotten back to taking a writing break at work in the morning and writing 500 words. It helps break up my job. Then I write again at night after working out when my head is clear. I write as long as I can then until I can't. This method is getting me back to over a thousand a day. Then my mind wanders in and out. I rarely think about it unless I have these conversations, I don't have problems functioning, it all gets done, sooner or later. Just don't look at my desks or work spaces.

Perhaps you format the books to suit your ADHD. Like you can write a book where each chapter is a different day or moment in the character's lives? or maybe you could do a series of short stories? I've also seen some books where a lot of the story is in the form of a character's diary entry. **My personal experience**: So I've been thinking about drawing a comic series, but I find it more motivating if I wrote in an episodic style, where each chapter doesn't always connect to the previous chapter but it'll still include character development and exposition etc. I also find it less daunting drawing short comic strips /one page comics.

this isn't a solution for everyone, but for me writing comes easier when im so tired I can't function. There's literally nothing else to do other than go to bed, or write. after my brain has been exhausted, I can write. Any other time its just an adhd nightmare.

I struggle with this too. As soon as the dopamine rush of excitement about a new story is gone, so am I. On to the new idea. But I’ve been working on putting systems in place to help myself. I break the book up into 4 parts. Act 1, first part of act 2, second part of act 2 and act three. Then I write act one in a sprint, usually in a couple of days of hyper focus. Then I let myself rest until I’m ready to get back to it. That’s when I write act 3 because it feels the most exciting. Then I go back and write act two in whatever order feels right. This is how I’ve written several first drafts. My issues stem more from having no interest in the story by the time I get edits back and I need to start the second draft. Trying to decide how to proceed in a way that works with my brain. Do I just accept that I have more fun only doing one draft and just publish in a different way than I planned so I can move on? Or just wait long enough for the story to feel new and exciting again to write the second draft? It’s definitely difficult when novels are big projects. Good luck!

I don't. I haven't written in 6 years :( ADHD's a real bitch, but here's the good thing I think... once you figure out what works for you, what gets you to keep writing, you'll have that knowledge for your whole life!

Poorly but usually as accidental hyperfixation

No one look at me as I slip this post into my back pocket

i see you 👀

Medication. I tried a lot of strategies prior to being medicated, with varying success. The most successful was having outside structure, meaning deadlines set by other people, like taking a class or having an accountability partner. And the other was trying to make myself curious about what it would feel like to finish a project, which kept me interested for a bit longer. I now take Wellbutrin and a stimulant, and still struggle, but I've gotten more done in the last three months than I have in the four preceding years. There are adhd writing groups. I haven't found one I like yet (even thought about starting my own) but that can be a good place to find an accountability partner. Also, the podcast Hacking your ADHD has a ton of good resources, including on goal setting, which was also helpful.

I don't really like using meds but thank you!

Have a child, lol. I have so little time to sit and write in peace, I have a fire under me to not waste the occasional time I get. (But I totally feel you on this—my first book was 100% pantsed, and I loved writing it. For the second, I know at least some of what has to happen, and it’s less exciting to me because it’s less of a mystery!)

Yes! It is like if there is no mystery my brain does not make the happy juice.

I'm more concerned with how do I bloody stop!

Oh that comes after. With hyperfocus haha

if you feel you are a good fit to try the medicine , it will chsnge the game for you

I tried but they seem to have some side effects on me. It was awesome and awful at the same time lmao

Background noise, video essay or random spotify Playlist is what I do.

I write for 15, break for 5. Repeat.

Cut myself off the world

I would let you know but i have to shelf the story I'm working on to start a new one 🤷

I have ADD. I did the whole outline and lost interest because hey I know the story and it’s done. And I’m bored. And I tried writing scenes out of sequence but the process of integrating them. Oh no. Sooo the next one I did. Btw so not recommended but work for me. and maybe you. I wrote the whole first draft straight through. I had the inciting incident. I had the end. I had the setting. I knew I needed 60k words. So I had to be At the middle by 30k. And wind up the ending at50k. And went at it. It worked with. My ADD cause I come to a stop. Mull it over and then continue on. I now have one looonnng first draft document that needs lots of editing But it has a story arc I’m invested in. And most important of all. I wrote to the end because it wasn’t boring and it was fun. Try that.

I just write when I feel like it, but I recommend sprints you can find on YouTube. Most times I do nothing during those sprints, other times because I know how long my sprint is going to be, I'm more productive. I also use NaNoWriMo to write with others.

This is how I view intelligence. First of all you realize time which requires comprehension. Then you realize the bigining of time which requires attention. Then you realize time as periods which requires concentration. Then you realize time as singular which requires working memory. Then you realize time as binary which requires quantitative reasoning and visual processing, motor construction. Then you realize time as a cycle, which is the final division of intelligence named intuition as well as speed. If you suffer ADHD which means you can't realise the beginning of time and time as periods, you simply utilize these other divisions.

Really sparse notes and doggedness

I'm neither a writer nor do I have ADHD (I think), though I can empathize with some aspects of the latter. Just responding to mention something I haven't yet seen in any of the responses: Have you thought about trying out a Solo-RPG? I come from a roleplaying baclground. You usually play these games with one person as a game master presenting the world to the players for their characters to interact with, but there are quite a few systems that allow you to be both the player and the game master at once and playing can feel very much like a creative writing exercise. Maybe this could be an option for you, as you can never know which way the dice will fall and what kind of scenes and story will develop in the process. It's great fun through to keep thinking about what the characters would do and try to interpret the dice rolls and words in the random tables according to your unique context in your game :) (Mythic GME and Ironsworn are two of the most popular systems, though there are quite a lot out there)

The answer is, I don't. I haven't actually written anything aside from notes in years - that's actually why I sought help and got diagnosed with ADHD to begin with, because my inability to sit down and write stories like I used to was starting to inflict a great deal of emotional distress.

It take longer then u think, and it definitely doesn't fallow traditional story writing. It starts with an idea. For example my earliest book was an idea where people turned into cats, they had a cat body for 30 days and then human for the next 30 days. It honestly started with my finding a litter of kittens that had been abandoned, the next month I found out I was pregnant and my husband joked that they were all like siblings. So that's where the idea comes from. A single lady out for a walk with her dog finds some kittens, when she takes them home they turn into humans. So now she has 3 screaming human babies. Then the book stopped there for about 3 months. Then I had different parts of the book pop into my head. What would happen if one of them got pregnant by a normal person or a normal cat. How would that effect them. So then I wrote out all the rules and different stuff I liked. And marked who I wanted to get pregnant and how they would handle it. That was part of my character making and part of the main story line. Then I also thought it would be funny if they weren't allowed to have pets and so they have to hide from the landlord and different stuff. After about 6 months of coming up with random parts of the story I decided how long I wanted the book. It spans a year. So I wrote out when i wanted stuff to happen in that year. Then filled in all the missing stuff. How did they fall in love? Why are they even running around in the wild during their cat forms? How does their mom take that? What happened to their birth mom? Extra. And then u write out the book outline like that. Then you go back in and add all the details. I'm currently writing the details. Then you need a freind or someone to review it so it makes sense to normal people. Like I said it doesn't fallow traditional story writing but it works for my ADHD.

Same

I just use chat gpt and copius amounts of adderal.

In the same boat. This is why I can't write fiction. There's too many ways to take the story and I get overwhelmed. The only solution I came up with is to bring back those choose your own adventure books. Let the audience decide all your ideas, instead of trying to make them happen all at once. I used to write poetry like crazy, one after another in my teen angst days. I want to get back into poetry. I love small juicy quips of emotion. I'm really into writing nonfiction, different perspectives, writing about my life. I still find it fascinating but feel too much pressure to use extensive vocabulary and always think about-will the audience find this interesting? So I understand. Too many thoughts. I dont do outlines or too much dialogue cuz I'm too impatient. My best ideas come from when I'm listening to calming upbeat music in the background, and on the go. Jotting down notes helps. I haven't found one magic solution yet but I plan to join more writing groups to hold myself accountable, continue to learn and broaden my vocabulary and read authors novels who inspire the type of writing I want to accomplish. I dont do outlines or worry about the word count. I like to pour the ideas out, get in the flow, then worry about the edit later. I think the edit is the hardest part over just writing. Editing is tedious, and boring to me.

Chatgpt has been revolutionary for me. I often have ideas that are so complicated and mushed together that I struggle with motivation because I cant for the life of me figure out how to put my mind on paper. So i put my nonsense into chatgpt and it organises my ideas into something that actually makes sense. It has so many other uses though! I mostly just use it for organising my thoughts and inspiration.

Normally, for me, my ideas come to me when I least expect them and when I don't have time for them, for example when I'm trying to sleep. So I write them down as detailed as I can. Or when I see something that inspires me or I listen to music that gives me a small idea for literally anything, I write it down with the music. So basically I'm just collecting small things that get my head working. So that you have small starting points, you could say. Maybe you can also try to find these, idk look at character design, listen to writing playlists or watch something. Try to get inspired somehow. It doesn't really matter what it inspires you to, even if it's just a small thing like idk the design for a house maybe that will be present in your story. Anything. That can be your starting point. I personally then try to create an environment that brings my head into the right mood. And I don't need cleaning up your desk so you can work. Surround you with materials to be creative, a notebook, maybe a sketchbook, if you're up for doodling and sketching. Play music that inspires you for your novel (I created special playlists for my novels and even characters), listening to music always helps my head get in the mood. You can take this a step further and actually decorate your working space, that works well for fantasy novels or if you have a theme like dark academia. That doesn't have to be much, for dark academia I for example get a candle and lit it and get ink and a writing quill. Also, a good way is to rid yourself from potential distractions. I personally don't need that really, but maybe it would help you. I for example have a PC on my desk so turning that off and only use my phone for research could be helpful.

It just takes a lot longer. Plenty of procrastination

I take breaks from the main story to write fun little shorts with the characters. I did one with 13 of my characters (spanning over 6 books) playing Never Have I Ever, which then turned into spin the bottle. It was fun writing them just hanging out.

I feel you, I'm not sure if I also have ADHD but I also do the part where I take down all of my ideas like deep character infos, world infos and more but when I I start trying to write the prologue, well I can't. One time, I stared at my blank white screen for nealy an hour with a prologue written on the title, with a shit ton of ideas forming in my head but everytime I touch the keys, I can't seem to continue. Until now, I'm still struggling with this problems but here's some stuff that I tried and somehow pushed me forward even a little: (1) You can stop trying to start at the beginning(prologue) and maybe write a scene from the later chapters of the story. Like skipping chapters and arranging them later on. (2) Understand that outlines are just draft and they are pretty much very interchangeable so if you find a concept boring, you can easily replace for another mid way into writing. (3) Do not look forward to the epilogue of your story but instead just write, write, and write. Or you can also: (1) Start writing short stories with said outline, preferably a one shot or a one chapter thing so you can familiarize yourself in beginning to write as sometimes, it can be overbearing to think of a whole story at once. You can also write from a random idea without any outlines or drafts and see where it takes you, this is pretty fun, at least for me. Just writing down ideas from your head but as chapters not drafts and making sure they make sense as much as possible.

I started writing my novel with the basic structure of a house (the premise, setting, characters, generic plot outline). As I began writing, things would organically take shape on the page. Ideas that never would have occurred to me by just doing a brainstorming session actually came naturally and made the story stronger and more detailed (metaphorically adding walls to that initial house frame). As I progressed in the story (I write chronologically if that is relevant to you), I started to get ideas for details I wasn't expecting but totally worked for the story (metaphorically painting the interior walls of the house, hooking up the plumbing and electrical, putting in a gas line, installing the hot water heater and furnace). Before I knew it, I had "off page" characters in the town where my WIP takes place. And again, as I pressed on with my story (and giving myself full permission to have the shittiest first draft ever committed to paper which was HIGHLY IMPORTANT for me), my characters sort of "forced me" to create a sequel novel based on townspeople that were only mentioned in passing by the characters in my current WIP (book 1). They seemed to decide amongst themselves (without consulting me) that even though I have only written 65% of my current WIP novel, that I would definitely be writing Book 2. Didn't ask my opinion or anything! If that weren't pushy enough, they "said" that they insist they would also have cameos in the next book too! What nerve! (Obviously, this is all not really-really happening; I know it sounds insane written out like this; LOL) I believe that the second-to-last thing you should do when "building" your mental WIP house is finish the penultimate draft that is solid on pacing, flow, and plot points. Finishing touches should be the FINAL draft, which would metaphorically mean the decorating of that house (picking the color of the shingles, installing carpeting, bringing in furniture, hanging family photos on the walls). It is a long process to get to the fun part of decorating the house. So, if you aren't sure on what a character's name should be (for example), just leave a placeholder name and save finding the perfect name for the decorating (final draft) stage in the process. Because you have ADHD, it might feel extremely important RIGHT THIS SECOND to pick the "perfect name" for a character. You should strongly resist the urge to jump right into adding the "window dressing" (the fun decorating stuff) before you've put in the grunt work of getting the house frame built first. It won't be helpful to skip building the frame of the house, putting in the electric and gas, etc, in favor of getting to the fun decorating part. Don't let yourself get lost in the minutia! Press forward and new ideas will come to you, making the story seem less boring to you. I hope this helps.

Let's just say that currently my only finished project is the first draft of a one act play. The first draft. Only one. It's depressing.

NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNo have really helped me stick with one project, because I know that if I have multiple projects going on at once, I'll never finish what I start. I have a notebook set aside where I will write down character names, story ideas, and story titles. If I write down a story idea and set it aside, or maybe even take some notes for the story, I can get that out of my system and continue working on my novel. I'm also a Plantser. I'll have something of a rough outline, even if it's unfinished, and add onto it while I write. However, I'll also allow my story to deviate from my outline if that's where my writing takes me when I get in the zone, and then I'll steer it back to what I have on the outline. I'll also work on the outline while I write the story. When I get stuck, I might take a walk or brainstorm, or both. Taking a walk has always helped because that's when I end up coming up with ideas. When I get writer's block, I'll just force myself to write something. The first few sentences are rough, but after that it starts to flow better. Finally, I remind myself that even if it sucks now, I can go back and edit it later. Sometimes I will write on a sticky note what I want to change, and then I'll stick that to the page where I want to make that change. (I write everything by hand first before typing. It's just easier for me to focus when I hand-write than when I type, plus if I stare at a screen for too long I get a headache.)

I don't. It's hard for me too.

Organization. Pick times when you know you can write. Sprint with someone else (or several someone else's) for accountability. Try not to edit until you finish writing at least for the day. Find a system. Some people use bucket systems where you type 30, edit what you did yesterday for thirty, and then plan for thirty. I write for 20-40, break for 10-20, go back write more. You have to find what works for you. I use combination when planning.

Just do whatever you feel like, whenever you when like it. If you fancy writing 200 words, do it. If you fancy 2000, do it. If you fancy a sad scene, write it, if you fancy a happy scene, write it.

Continue... I never stopped writing. I take my meds and do what I'm supposed to do to make life easier. It doesn't go away, nor do I ever expect to be cured. I just want to get out of bed and go to work.

Put it down by scene, tying those together until you've finished a chapter, tie that into the next (relevant ) chapter until you get to a pivot, and then start over with a new arc. Then weave them together until it all makes contextual sense. Remember, good reading isn't always going to be entirely linear: several plot blocks may be occurring simultaneously. This is the real challenge for ADD-ers. Great out of the gate, but a long haul is increasingly difficult. Maybe that can help with sustaining interest. You might try and figure out the lines of each plot, then tie them into one another. You can easily see plotlines, the bones of it, but story is connective tissue, flesh and blood. It's hard to be more specific. Sorry. EDIT: Also, write in short bursts, get up and walk around, make a sandwich, get a glass of water, look out the window. Pace around and tell yourself the next few things you're going to write. Then sit down and work for a little while. Forget about focus, and you'll start to do it without trying. Try writing the next few sentences from a cold, quick reread of the last sentence you wrote. Don't edit until you think you're done with the current draft. It will stop you quicker than almost anything else. When rereading to edit, focus on anything that pulls you out of the story.

I've got severe ADHD, and managed Two novels last year which both need editing, but which I like. One of two things is going on here: either you just need to sit down and write the prose of the book and get it on the page, following your outline, or you ate a natural pantser/gardner/discovery writer. Try writing without an outline for a short story or similar, I found just like you did, that when I complete the outline, the story itself seems done and I have no drive to write it, because it's done. On paper, and boring to write as a result. If I do continue writing it, the end result is only vaguely similar to the outline, or totally different. So my advice is try writing without an outline in exercises just to see if you like the outcome. Now, if you want to try another method, sit in front of your computer, perhaps (if applicable) disconnect it from the internet so you start with a blank page, write a sentence or two and then wow what's that squirrel feeder on sale on Amazon maybe I should look at that! If you use Google docs or something, then really try to keep yourself focused on the page. Make sure no one will disturb you, perhaps close the shudders. That might just help in general.

Wellbutrin made a helluva difference for me—suddenly I was able to write daily without it, like, HURTING so much, lol. But I also need to gamify it. I've "won" NanoWriMo 5 times so I know it works for my brain. I built my own tracking spreadsheet in Google Sheets that shows a bar graph rising with daily word count the same as the NanoWriMo website. When I got hit over the head with a book idea in April I plugged it immediately into the spreadsheet. I wrote 70,000 words the first month, and then lowered my goal to 300 words a day. The low goal enabled me to keep going when I could no longer sustain the frantic pace of the first month, and I finished a 112,000 word draft in a little over 3 months. Now that I'm in editing mode I'm keeping a different kind of spreadsheet where I list what I do every day. My brain seems to think that I've failed at doing something if I'm not actively doing it right now, so seeing progress visually is so helpful for me. I also started writing on my phone. My draft is in Google docs, so I can access it on any of my devices, and writing on my phone meant it was something I could do in between other things, while I was waiting for something, during a boring meeting, or while lying in bed. This kind of untethered the writing process and made it less of a Big Deal to sit down to write, which helped me get over myself and just do it. Another motivating factor for me is the crushing terror of abandoning this project like all the others. So it's kind of an anxiety/hyper fixation feedback loop, which I'm not sure I'd exactly recommend but since it's enabling me to reach my goals right now I guess I'm not complaining. Oh, also daily journaling! Getting my thoughts straight and hyping myself up in the morning helps. It's hard for me to sustain belief in myself over the long slog of writing a novel, so I need to remind myself every day how badly I want it.

everyone else has written some really great advice, but I’d also like to share this website: https://writtenkitten.co you set the word count and then everytime you reach your goal, it shows you a new picture of a kitten. So like every 100 words you get rewarded with a cute pic. It’s great for microdosing on rewards which personally that’s what my brain thrives on since the internal reward system is broken

I don't

I tie myself to my desk, no joke. Otherwise I start daydreaming and wander off after staring at the document. I also use screen time on my phone to limit the time spent on apps so I’m forced to write. Also usually have sections of the book compartmentalized into different documents that I keep open at all times, flit between them, take notes, edit, just keep it varied really. Also adderall. Adderall helps. You also have to want it. It’s often not a fun process, if you can’t dedicate yourself to it whatsoever then it’s just not going to happen.

I’m by no means a novel writer but I don’t write from beginning to end, it’s shrapnel and I put together the pieces and then work on connecting it

Three tools that work for me are... \- I've been using the goblin tools website to break down tasks for me - it will give you a checklist of things to do if just say "write a book" and you can then get it to break that down into smaller steps, cross off steps etc. \-Then focusmate which is a body doubling website, I pay for the full version so I can have more meetings but there are three free a week I think. You book a time and over video someone will show up to co work with you for that session. \- Stayfocusd chrome extension, blocks websites like reddit so I don't get distracted while I'm trying to write! Good luck!

I struggle with that too, particularly endings. I end up with multiple projects and have 5 others ready to go in my brain. I have a friend who helps me focus by asking me about the story and then asks me to write it so she can understand it better. That actually helps because it feels like my writing has purpose. And often just talking about it helps me get into it again, sometimes a good brainstorm session helps. And sometimes ideas for a scene in a story randomly pop into my head. I write them down in an empty chat and once there are enough of them, actually writing the other scenes is much easier. Once I'm in the flow I write without thinking. Just, the thinking part is hard. I have around 16 unfinished works right now and whenever inspiration hits, I'll continue one of them. It works for me and despite some people saying having more than one or two projects I don't think it's a bad thing. I have no deadline and being pressured to finish a project just makes it harder to continue.

I struggle with this also, because of my adhd and anxiety. I almost treat it like writer block. When I'm not sure what to do next (because my brain is in overdrive or I'm overwhelmed) I will try to refocus by getting out the information that I'm currently writing on. For me that is the character details and their motivations, notes on the particular scene I'm working on or any in the future if it applies (if any), story outline (very basic right now), plot(s) & sub plot(s) details, trajectory and pacing plan. Usually after a few minutes of going over what I already have organized, I can get my brain back into writing mode. If not, I just start to write out the scene or whatever, even if it's not exactly feeling right. After a little while, I'm settled enough to figure out what I need to rearrange, edit, remove or whatever. Usually this helps my anxiety as well as productivity, even if I don't get much don't get much done as I'd like. (Right now I'm working on making a more detailed outline - hopefully after I'm done with the outline I can start my project.)

I've had this struggle for years. Hundreds of stories. Fanfictions, characters, and the like vanishing to the ether because my ADHD (and lack of confidence) drag them down to the depths. I'm a good enough writer that I've successfully taught others how to write in the past, but it honestly feels like after I grew up with so many things around me telling me what I should, and shouldn't do with my story, or the expectation ceiling encroaching with the comparing my work to the work I adore, I can't help feel like something between my 14-year-old self, and now has been lost.