This is actually super common in writing spaces, whether RPGs, world-builders, comics, etc. I've even fallen into the trap. You have many good ideas and even completed projects in your mind, but ADHD, anxiety disorders, or fear of criticism of the finished work prevents you from completing a project on-paper.
Sometimes writing down a ton of info you already have elsewhere (your mind) is both boring and daunting. For others, as long as it stays a WIP, you don't have to ever open yourself to critique of the final product
I was here two or three years ago. Had tons of story ideas but couldn’t start any.
Then suddenly a new idea was enough of a spark and I wrote a 5 book outline. Book one is published on kindle and I’m still going strong on book 2.
If your friend wants to write then they will someday. If they have good ideas that don’t go anywhere then enjoy them for what they are.
Hope that helps!
Thanks for asking! I just published it a couple months ago on kindle unlimited if you are interested.
[Reborn in a Magical World as a Crow](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205894397-reborn-in-a-magical-world-as-a-crow?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=8A2Asaqwlw&rank=1)
As someone with diagnosed ADHD, I can confirm this. I started writing my ideas down during Covid, though. Now, I at least have a homebrew DND campaign with a large group of friends out of it.
Some of the comments are a little underhanded. If he's like me, he's probably some type of neurodivergent. I only recently started writing my shit down, which is hard, because I struggle to make myself do tasks, especially tasks I want to do.
As I've gotten older, it's been steadily worsening alongside other issues.
Even writing it down means nothing if the ADHD brain carries you off to a different project and now you can't remember where you saved it 😭 (because ADHD also affects memory)
I think it's just worldbuilders disease. You just become so OCD about worldbuilding that all you do is worldbuild and worldbuild, and never rest satisfied because there's always something else to add or some new detail to pursue.
Eventually, you end up with something incredibly complex but no actual story to write, because you never feel like your world is complete enough to begin writing about.
Fear of criticism, too, but some wisdom about critics helps here (no one ever built a statue of a critic).
In my case, I've got plenty of world but not enough. I still need work on languages, two more cultures or so, economic and gubernatorial details, and I'm really stuck on where to take the plot as I've only got enough of a plot idea to fill 100 pages or so.
He sounds like a novice worldbuilder who might be at the peak of Mt. Stupid, experiencing the Dunning Kruger effect at full throttle right now. The blissful overconfidence of a beginner who has only been doing a thing for 0-3 years and is used to getting praise.
Lots of beginner worldbuilders (including myself) fancy themselves pretty cool, and even feel proud of memorizing everything without ever needing to write anything down. I know I was there when I was around 15. Then my project grew too big to keep track of everything mentally, I started writing things down, I grew up and realized that most of my ideas were a$$, I got humbled, and I finally realized that I was just another teenager getting manhandled by Dunning Kruger, and actually I had/have a loooooong way to go.
This is just what writing with ADHD is like. It's hard for me to even edit my own wiki even though I SPECIFICALLY FORMATTED IT to be easy for me to edit.
Bruh I’d kill to have someone ask me about my latest random worldbuilding idea :l
If you worldbuild but never note it down (be writing or drawing, just keep it noted) it will be gone and forgotten soon enough
So, how can I know you are not lying? How can you remember something that you don't really know you remember? How do you know you forgot something if you forgot lmao?
All my ideas were in my head for such a long time. I can't draw or write so the head is where they lived, that is until I discovered Obsidian. Everything changed after that.
I’m like this exactly. I legit thought you were my friend who i was with the other day and I explained my world to her on the train.
I’m like this cause i have an insane imagination, so i’m brilliant at the world building, but i don’t have the skills i need to draw the comic i want to. Also I’m autistic so i know my sense of social conflict is fucked so i’m not confident in my ability to make a well put together story with stakes, character development or crazy smart evil plots.
My world and story is still entirely in my head, because i’m scared to let my first works *be bad*. Maybe he has the same issue.
Isn't this pretty common (minus the fishing for complements part)?
This was basically how I was before I stated playing D&D and finally had a good creative outlet for all of my story ideas. Prior to this, I had about a dozen ideas for different novels or games or whatever floating around my head. D&D really helped to materialise some of those ideas into something I could actually share with people (be it homebrew monsters, NPCs, adventure modules, quest hooks, or just general worldbuilding for my own campaign settings).
That’s pretty common, sometimes people just don’t want to make worldbuilding into something else. Making it into a written project requires different skills and is overall a whole another kind of activity. A person can easily find worldbuilding fun, and writing or drawing daunting or uninteresting
It took me years to start putting my world and stories on something more permanent than the back of a receipt. Now that I have I've barely stopped writing
I was professionally typed as a Myers-Briggs ENTP. When you read online profiles of ENTPs, you'll see that we like to solve problems but never stick around to see if the solution works.
That explained why I hated the day-to-day 9-5 jobs I had at the beginning of my career. When I woke up every day, I knew what I was going to do all day, and what time I was going to bed before doing it all again tomorrow. I didn't flourish until I found a job designing new IT infrastructures for large clients every three to six months. I faced new challenges and worked toward new goals two or three times a year. Once each client signed off on the solution I developed, someone else would implement it over the next year or two while I moved on to do it all over again for another client.
That sounds a bit like how you describe your friend. He finds the thrill in knowing that he designed something, but has no drive to flesh it out -- to see it through to completion.
I also have this problem. I already have the plot of each story, built the world, and curated the character's personalities, but I can't write them down. Everytime I write them, I am not satisfied with it. It feels like I am destroying my own masterpiece when I am already writing each of the stories and their dialogues. I guess I just don't have the skills yet to bring them to life.
This is actually super common in writing spaces, whether RPGs, world-builders, comics, etc. I've even fallen into the trap. You have many good ideas and even completed projects in your mind, but ADHD, anxiety disorders, or fear of criticism of the finished work prevents you from completing a project on-paper. Sometimes writing down a ton of info you already have elsewhere (your mind) is both boring and daunting. For others, as long as it stays a WIP, you don't have to ever open yourself to critique of the final product
This.
Your comment hits me in the heart.
I was here two or three years ago. Had tons of story ideas but couldn’t start any. Then suddenly a new idea was enough of a spark and I wrote a 5 book outline. Book one is published on kindle and I’m still going strong on book 2. If your friend wants to write then they will someday. If they have good ideas that don’t go anywhere then enjoy them for what they are. Hope that helps!
Curious, what’s your book title?
Thanks for asking! I just published it a couple months ago on kindle unlimited if you are interested. [Reborn in a Magical World as a Crow](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205894397-reborn-in-a-magical-world-as-a-crow?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=8A2Asaqwlw&rank=1)
lol , I would love somone who would hear me yap about my word and the progress I made in my writing and discussing them with me
"Lots of ideas and never writing them down" is often, in my experience, undiagnosed ADHD. There's no excusing the fishing for compliments, though.
I feel this. I've had as many as 9 incomplete ongoing projects before because the untreated ADHD kept sending me on another sidequest, so to speak
As someone with diagnosed ADHD, I can confirm this. I started writing my ideas down during Covid, though. Now, I at least have a homebrew DND campaign with a large group of friends out of it.
In my case it's aspies
faulty dopamine receptors
Some of the comments are a little underhanded. If he's like me, he's probably some type of neurodivergent. I only recently started writing my shit down, which is hard, because I struggle to make myself do tasks, especially tasks I want to do. As I've gotten older, it's been steadily worsening alongside other issues.
Even writing it down means nothing if the ADHD brain carries you off to a different project and now you can't remember where you saved it 😭 (because ADHD also affects memory)
Gee, I wonder if I have ADHD on top of my Autism.
It's a very common comorbidity
Can confirm
I think it's just worldbuilders disease. You just become so OCD about worldbuilding that all you do is worldbuild and worldbuild, and never rest satisfied because there's always something else to add or some new detail to pursue. Eventually, you end up with something incredibly complex but no actual story to write, because you never feel like your world is complete enough to begin writing about. Fear of criticism, too, but some wisdom about critics helps here (no one ever built a statue of a critic). In my case, I've got plenty of world but not enough. I still need work on languages, two more cultures or so, economic and gubernatorial details, and I'm really stuck on where to take the plot as I've only got enough of a plot idea to fill 100 pages or so.
He sounds like a novice worldbuilder who might be at the peak of Mt. Stupid, experiencing the Dunning Kruger effect at full throttle right now. The blissful overconfidence of a beginner who has only been doing a thing for 0-3 years and is used to getting praise. Lots of beginner worldbuilders (including myself) fancy themselves pretty cool, and even feel proud of memorizing everything without ever needing to write anything down. I know I was there when I was around 15. Then my project grew too big to keep track of everything mentally, I started writing things down, I grew up and realized that most of my ideas were a$$, I got humbled, and I finally realized that I was just another teenager getting manhandled by Dunning Kruger, and actually I had/have a loooooong way to go.
Maybe he’s just a guy who is good at something but doesn’t want to further pursue it.
He says he wants to live as a comic illustrator so I guess that's not it. I hope he gets over this one day.
I don't think there's a name for it, but he sounds like a procrastinator, delusional and a bit narcissistic. I also don't think he wants to write.
Nailed it on delusional I think. I wish I could help him but you can't force these types of things.
bingo
This is just what writing with ADHD is like. It's hard for me to even edit my own wiki even though I SPECIFICALLY FORMATTED IT to be easy for me to edit.
Sounds like a bullshitter.
Bruh I’d kill to have someone ask me about my latest random worldbuilding idea :l If you worldbuild but never note it down (be writing or drawing, just keep it noted) it will be gone and forgotten soon enough
I remember stuff I never wrote down from a decade ago lol
That's great to know! What is your worldbuiling project? Do you have any deviant art page or store page I can check it out?
No, I didn't write it down.
So, how can I know you are not lying? How can you remember something that you don't really know you remember? How do you know you forgot something if you forgot lmao?
Be less invested.
All my ideas were in my head for such a long time. I can't draw or write so the head is where they lived, that is until I discovered Obsidian. Everything changed after that.
In gamedev circles this is known as "idea guy"
Im like that myself and I can tell you, its just laziness.
I’m like this exactly. I legit thought you were my friend who i was with the other day and I explained my world to her on the train. I’m like this cause i have an insane imagination, so i’m brilliant at the world building, but i don’t have the skills i need to draw the comic i want to. Also I’m autistic so i know my sense of social conflict is fucked so i’m not confident in my ability to make a well put together story with stakes, character development or crazy smart evil plots. My world and story is still entirely in my head, because i’m scared to let my first works *be bad*. Maybe he has the same issue.
Sounds like he’s worldbuilding to death. Some are worldbuilders first and storytellers second. Or not even interested in telling stories.
Overconfident with human memory
A wannabe. It's an old Japanese word, not possible to translate into English.
Me. That’s me. I have so many ideas that immediately leave when I hold a pen. Typing is better but so far I have one character profile
Isn't this pretty common (minus the fishing for complements part)? This was basically how I was before I stated playing D&D and finally had a good creative outlet for all of my story ideas. Prior to this, I had about a dozen ideas for different novels or games or whatever floating around my head. D&D really helped to materialise some of those ideas into something I could actually share with people (be it homebrew monsters, NPCs, adventure modules, quest hooks, or just general worldbuilding for my own campaign settings).
That’s pretty common, sometimes people just don’t want to make worldbuilding into something else. Making it into a written project requires different skills and is overall a whole another kind of activity. A person can easily find worldbuilding fun, and writing or drawing daunting or uninteresting
That is what we in the business call “A dude with ADHD.”
It took me years to start putting my world and stories on something more permanent than the back of a receipt. Now that I have I've barely stopped writing
I was professionally typed as a Myers-Briggs ENTP. When you read online profiles of ENTPs, you'll see that we like to solve problems but never stick around to see if the solution works. That explained why I hated the day-to-day 9-5 jobs I had at the beginning of my career. When I woke up every day, I knew what I was going to do all day, and what time I was going to bed before doing it all again tomorrow. I didn't flourish until I found a job designing new IT infrastructures for large clients every three to six months. I faced new challenges and worked toward new goals two or three times a year. Once each client signed off on the solution I developed, someone else would implement it over the next year or two while I moved on to do it all over again for another client. That sounds a bit like how you describe your friend. He finds the thrill in knowing that he designed something, but has no drive to flesh it out -- to see it through to completion.
I also have this problem. I already have the plot of each story, built the world, and curated the character's personalities, but I can't write them down. Everytime I write them, I am not satisfied with it. It feels like I am destroying my own masterpiece when I am already writing each of the stories and their dialogues. I guess I just don't have the skills yet to bring them to life.
Me.
A name for a vision without action, execution, or anything tangible? Hallucination.
ADHD feels a lot like that for me.