Advice?

[ydt81]

I've been really wanting to get back to finishing an old story of mine and move on to some new ideas.*
My problem is that my inspiration comes at the most inopportune times. I'll be distracted at the library or in line at a cafe and out of nowhere *a great scene will unfold in my head --dialogue and all--from start to finish. *But when I sit down to type out a scene *or even scribble some thoughts on a notepad, it's a slow and uncertain process that can take hours.*
Does* anyone have any advice on getting around this? I can't count how many ideas have died out because of it. Is this something that's just *typical of the creative process or do I need to meditate for 20 minutes before writing? Drugs??
(*kidding)

But seriously any advice would be really helpful, both in my erotic writing endeavors and formal writing.*

Thanks

[Rarity]

I understand how you feel. I make dresses for a "living" and I'm hit by inspiration every time I turn a corner. When I sit down to draw it out for references sake, it takes forever to get down - if I get it down at all. However, the same applies to characters and stories. I would be in the middle of making a dress and BAM, it hits me. So I would stop and type a little bit before I get lost and go back to making the dress. Rinse and repeat, then I get a good chunk of story within a day/1~2 hours. It may not be desirable half the time, but I do get out some "OK" stuff, I guess.

What I find with both dress making and writing is - don't "meditate" for too long. As you do, the idea warps and changes until its something you don't want to work with or something you can't fully remember. Let it flow from your mind to your hands/fingers, and what you get is what you'll take. If the idea pops in your head, keep it fresh by starting with the basics. The who, the what, the where. You could miss out on 90% of what unfolded in your head, but as long as you have the important things, you can take it from there.

An idea could come from seeing a simple thing.
The idea takes form with some lines or words on a paper.
Then sheets of fabric or paragraphs.
Then, at the very least, it turns out to be something good.

Nothing's perfect. Good enough is, well, good enough. That's why people tend to "scrap" things, because they feel that it's not perfect to them. I feel half my "products" are crudtastic (writing wise), but I toss it out there anyway. Some people like, some people hate. I'm fine with it either way.

[The Magus]

Believe it or not, keeping track of story ideas is a skill, so if you do it often enough you'll gradually get better. Everything I've ever read about being a writer says that you should keep a notebook nearby and get used to whipping it out whenever inspiration strikes. Sometimes even a word or two can be enough for you to remember what the idea was. If you're more visual, try keeping a camera with you (or use your cell phone if it has one) and just snap a picture of whatever inspired you.

Also, you're not going to remember every idea, or be able to work it into a good story. It's a bit of a filtration process, so for every 100 ideas you have, maybe only 10 will make a good story, and of those 10, maybe only one will keep your interest to see it all the way through. Unfortunately, there's no way to know which ideas are story ideas before-hand.

One of the advantages of the notebook process, though, is that you then have all of those ideas whenever you want them. Writing's a little bit like chemistry, sometimes an idea doesn't look like much (it's inert), but if you put it with one or two other ideas, there can be explosive results.

[Lucas88]

If you're out and about, send yourself a quick email or text, depending on how long the scene/idea is, with the who, what, when, where, why, and/or how. You can flesh out the details later.

BUT...

Most of that stuff is the "factual" stuff of the plot (for me, anyway) and probably easier to remember than dialogue. Always make sure to send yourself any catchy dialogue that you may come up with...sometimes that one interesting line might trigger all the rest but it's the easiest to lose in that crazy whirlpool of ideas you call your mind (again, for me, anyway).

[ydt81]

Thanks everyone! The thread was pretty quiet initially so I'd forgotten about it. All of your advice was spot on. I already keep a good store of ideas bottled up in my email and a few journals; now that I'm done with a request that's kept me pretty busy, I'll be writing ideas down more often to make it a habit. My other issue has been with hesitation (thanks for your advice in that whim). I'll try and plan the framework first before getting into details.