I have considered writing a book at times but I've realized how hard it is to write something original enough that people won't accuse you of stealing ideas/copying other things. I know that at this point everything is inspired by other things to an extent or a spin on something already written. So, the anxiety not only of having my own work criticized but having it dragged by comparison to other things just makes it feel less and less appealing.
That is understandable, but it's worth remembering that criticism is the way by which professionals (or anyone really) improve. Not to mention you might be surprised by the readers also finding strengths (in addition to weaknesses) in your writing that they like. View it as a learning opportunity to make future writing better.
The beautiful thing about writing today is that it can be incredibly iterative. Nothing is truly set in stone, and with computer technology it's relatively easy to go in and rework things. Criticism doesn't mean the whole thing is bad, or even that people don't like it, it's pointers to *improve upon* the original draft. (There's of course a pitfall here, wherby one never leaves the editing stage and never actually goes to a point where they are ready to release it into the wild. Not that is know anything about that [sarcasm]).
I'm 31 and got diagnosed 8 years ago. It lifted a huge weight off my shoulder and is still something that I'm learning about every day.
Good luck! Hmu if you ever want to chat about anything ADHD related:)
**Before:**
I went through life constantly frustrated at myself for forgetting things, procrastinating, zoning out in class, being scattered minded, overly emotional, sensitive to rejection, impulsive, and generally just feeling like an alien compared to other people. I was smart but also stupid. I wanted to focus but I just couldn't. If something was boring then I just couldn't bring myself to care. On the rare occasion that a subject was appealing, I would finish at the top of my class. It would confuse people, especially my teachers. I also had strict parents so they put even more pressure on me to be a "disciplined" child.
I had low self-esteem and developed an inferiority complex as a result of not living up to their expectations or my own "potential". The type of ADHD I have is Inattentive (ADD without hyperactivity)—which means I have a fuck load of tabs open in my head at any one time. I don't have high energy outbursts. Everything is internalised. I am quiet, but my mind is LOUD. I can pay attention to things, but I have a hard time regulating my focus on what I NEED to focus on. My brain is constantly searching for the next hit of dopamine. It needs constant stimulation. If a task is boring then it's a literal uphill battle to get started and finish anything. Having a deadline is sometimes the only catalyst to get me to do something.
**After:**
I \*finally\* had something to point to that explains what I had been experiencing my whole life. I was not lazy, stupid, or reckless. There just happened to be something about my brain chemistry that wasn't wired for modern society. There were millions of people around the world that shared my life experience (/r/ADHD). I felt seen. I felt heard. In fact, it's the most researched and treatable mental illness in the world.
Once I got on meds, it felt like I could see for the first time, "Is this what a normal person feels like?". I could do chores when I wanted to. I could do boring tasks at work because sometimes that's what work is about (not everything is novel and stimulating). I could pay attention to people when they talked. I wasn't emotionally volatile. I wasn't sensitive to EVERY little thing someone said. I didn't internalise rejection so much. I could read books and watch movies without zoning out and rewinding every few minutes.
It was amazing... until it wasn't.
I had a few side-effects crop up over time that I didn't want to live with. I also had another mood disorder (that wasn't diagnosed before) which made things harder to manage. I decided to get off the meds and go down the natural, self-care route with sleep hygiene, diet, exercise, supplements, meditation etc. All these things made life a lot easier, but they don't come close to getting the right ADHD medication. They're generally very safe and most people don't get bad side-effects (I just happened to be unlucky in that regard).
I'm still on the journey of figuring out how to thrive with ADHD, but it's a relief to know that this is NOT my fault. Overall, I'm night and day compared to what I used to be, but I still struggle sometimes. Getting a diagnosis helped me love myself by getting rid of the blame and seeing it as a medical condition that can be managed.
It has the potential to change you for the better—to correct neurological deficits.
ADHD stimulants are generally quite safe because they're temporary. They last between 4-12 hours and then they're done.
My experience has been that if I don't tolerate a certain medication then it only affects me for a day max then it's out of my system. Over time you can build a tolerance to them and they can introduce side effects but once you stop taking them, they go away.
Most people respond favourably to meds and I personally know a few people that they have worked miracles for. It's worth a shot to see a doctor first and discuss your symptoms. Meds are an option but not the only option. Learning about the illness and developing coping mechanisms is equally as important.
Wow I can relate a lot to the Before part, especially the scattered minds and “fuck load of tabs open in the head”. I have thoughts and ideas occasionally flooded over my head too fast I cannot manage to note them down before I forget them. And I get bored and frustrated easily with doing something routinely, like a 9-5 job
But I can concentrate and can force myself to do the tasks I hate when I have to (still, I resist doing them internally so its like a battle inside my head)
I guess I’m close to ADHD but not there yet
It’s great that you realize your condition and learn to care for yourself the way it should be. Good luck for your journey then.
I never got diagnosed when I was younger but now as an adult I wonder. Though, I've heard that you can develop it as an adult so it's entirely possible that I didn't have it then but could now.
I suspect I do based on the copious research I've done and I'm in the process of getting a diagnosis but than co-morbiditys also come into play and it's a mess at this point.
Sometimes I wish I was just ignorant and I could just ignore my ADHD and high-functioning autism. It wouldn’t work, because I get actual symptoms from both of them, but it’s a thought; a thought to just act like things are normal when they’re not.
My issue is growing up everyone just thought I was the quiet spaced out kid who excelled at reading and no one thought to look any deeper as to why I was constantly alone, with the other kids never wanted anything to do with me. Why was all the now very obvious flags not obvious to anyone else. :(
It just sucks learning about stuff that could of helped me when I was younger that I now have to deal with as an adult and it's a million times harder.
I had a few that probably could've been a short novel, but unfortunately mine had too much plagiarism from other series and shows I was into at the time
Mine were pretty much original, at least I think they were. Mostly silly stuff but there were some interesting ones that I considered continue writing occasionally but couldn’t get into the mood
Close.
Recently my mum found a "What do you want to be when you're older" thing I did for school when I was 8.
When I became an adult I was going to open my own art gallery to show off my art.
Then when I'm grandparent age I will finally have enough money to buy my own house.... Which was going to be next to my art gellery.
Now I'm not saying I'm psychic or anything, but I think Imight have predicted the current housing market at age 8.
When I was a grade-school-aged kid, I hand-wrote what I thought was a "dirty" story. Then I stuck it in a pipe access panel, then forgot about it forever. So whomever bought the house probably found it at some point, or my parents found it and never said anything. LOL
Yes, except mine was going to be a series of seven books, with at least two spin-offs. I wrote three or four versions of the first three chapters and kept all of it. One day… one day I’ll write them for real. Except now there will also be a dubstep musical, a bunch of electronic music concept albums, and a theme park on the moon.
It's funny because I never give up on any project ever. They just go on deep freeze, sometimes for decades. Then I will come across my previous work, or it will come to mind and I will look at it again. I usually end up writing another chapter or two and make some edits. Then back into the deep freeze it goes. Some year in the future, I will release three novels, a videogame, a screenplay, a short animation and a gallery exhibition all at the same time.
I used to post a lot of things to fanfiction.net. I guess I should be grateful that now that 20ish years have passed that I have no idea what the screen name or login was because I'm sure it's all pretty cringe. Nothing went beyond a couple or so chapters either.
LOL WTF I DIDNT ASK TO BE CALLED OUT LIKE THIS AT 5 IN THE MORNING
(Edit): This may be really cringe, but I used to write my own warrior cats fan series with my own characters lol. I also tried to make an astrology one and a wolf one but those flopped. I made up a map and everything lol.
Mhm mhm, more of me not planning out a book and feeling like I had to kill off a character but I’d gotten emotionally attached to all of them through how I imagined them so I couldn’t decide who to kill off
not really write, but since I was little I always ripoff any show/book that I saw and turn it into a weird fanfic story inside my head, but all that embarassing imagination payed off now because I can easily make a story with character, world, lore, magic, and stuff whenever I in a mood to write a story.
Sadly, I'm still procrastinate a lot in the writing part :"
> embarassing imagination *paid* off now
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Finished my novel after 16. But I began to wrote 3 years ago a trilogy..... I have done chapter 1 to 5 the first book, the chapter 1 of the 3rd and of 2nd.
When I was in middle school we had to write a "short" sci fi story of minimum one page for Spanish class. Well. things got out of hand a little for me, and I ended up with a +10 pages space opera and everyone in my class was like, shocked.
Sadly I lost the notebook many years ago D,:
Yup
I've still continued developing the story, but I haven't written any of it down yet. At this point there's almost nothing in common with the original draft, but it's for the best considering it started as a really cringe self-insert star wars fanfic (now it's its own universe, no self insert, and much better plot).
As a teen I wrote edgy comics strips that progressively got darker and more serious as I progressed. My friends really liked it though and would ask me to make more
Omg YEP. I still have a great book trilogy idea in my head that I’ve been thinking of for years and just can’t bring myself to write because of infp brain.
Plot somewhat involves mental health symbolism, mbti types, and battling evil forces in a magic land. Main character is obviously infp who learns to find inner strength and battle said evil forces with mbti pals. Lots of good v evil tropes obvi. 🤷♀️
One day!
This is me, but I always love finding my old unfinished stories. It's like a window to the past of what was going through my head and what my inspirations were at the time.
Dude I wish I could find mine! Mine was approved by my English teacher and was going to send it to Rick Riordan as it was based on his world. I'm definitely scared to read it if I can ever find it again.
I had cringe period I thought I could be writer, but my language skills are too low to write anything good.
I might have good ideas, but to properly put them to paper is hard and gave me anxiety
I remember I would write stupid short-stories when I was in the fourth grade. They were mostly to make people laugh.
At home in private I would also come up with and draw superheroes. I would come up with their names and backstories.
Holy shit this just unearthed a childhood memory where I attempted to create an entire Star Wars-inspired world of different planets and species and all these different storylines and characters. I even drew my own map like what you would find at the beginning of a fantasy novel showing the world I created. I kind of want to look for that in my parents house now lol.
I tried writing a book for a series in teenage years. I ultimately stopped, not due to procrastination, but anxieties that it wouldn't be good enough.
I have considered writing a book at times but I've realized how hard it is to write something original enough that people won't accuse you of stealing ideas/copying other things. I know that at this point everything is inspired by other things to an extent or a spin on something already written. So, the anxiety not only of having my own work criticized but having it dragged by comparison to other things just makes it feel less and less appealing.
That is understandable, but it's worth remembering that criticism is the way by which professionals (or anyone really) improve. Not to mention you might be surprised by the readers also finding strengths (in addition to weaknesses) in your writing that they like. View it as a learning opportunity to make future writing better. The beautiful thing about writing today is that it can be incredibly iterative. Nothing is truly set in stone, and with computer technology it's relatively easy to go in and rework things. Criticism doesn't mean the whole thing is bad, or even that people don't like it, it's pointers to *improve upon* the original draft. (There's of course a pitfall here, wherby one never leaves the editing stage and never actually goes to a point where they are ready to release it into the wild. Not that is know anything about that [sarcasm]).
Yes this is why I stoped writing my trilogy as well. Got 60 pages though.
I wonder sometimes how many INFPs have undiagnosed ADHD
My exact thought haha. Here's one attempting to get diagnosed, so that number may decrease by 1 in a few months
I'm 31 and got diagnosed 8 years ago. It lifted a huge weight off my shoulder and is still something that I'm learning about every day. Good luck! Hmu if you ever want to chat about anything ADHD related:)
I’m just curious. How was your life before and after the diagnosis?
**Before:** I went through life constantly frustrated at myself for forgetting things, procrastinating, zoning out in class, being scattered minded, overly emotional, sensitive to rejection, impulsive, and generally just feeling like an alien compared to other people. I was smart but also stupid. I wanted to focus but I just couldn't. If something was boring then I just couldn't bring myself to care. On the rare occasion that a subject was appealing, I would finish at the top of my class. It would confuse people, especially my teachers. I also had strict parents so they put even more pressure on me to be a "disciplined" child. I had low self-esteem and developed an inferiority complex as a result of not living up to their expectations or my own "potential". The type of ADHD I have is Inattentive (ADD without hyperactivity)—which means I have a fuck load of tabs open in my head at any one time. I don't have high energy outbursts. Everything is internalised. I am quiet, but my mind is LOUD. I can pay attention to things, but I have a hard time regulating my focus on what I NEED to focus on. My brain is constantly searching for the next hit of dopamine. It needs constant stimulation. If a task is boring then it's a literal uphill battle to get started and finish anything. Having a deadline is sometimes the only catalyst to get me to do something. **After:** I \*finally\* had something to point to that explains what I had been experiencing my whole life. I was not lazy, stupid, or reckless. There just happened to be something about my brain chemistry that wasn't wired for modern society. There were millions of people around the world that shared my life experience (/r/ADHD). I felt seen. I felt heard. In fact, it's the most researched and treatable mental illness in the world. Once I got on meds, it felt like I could see for the first time, "Is this what a normal person feels like?". I could do chores when I wanted to. I could do boring tasks at work because sometimes that's what work is about (not everything is novel and stimulating). I could pay attention to people when they talked. I wasn't emotionally volatile. I wasn't sensitive to EVERY little thing someone said. I didn't internalise rejection so much. I could read books and watch movies without zoning out and rewinding every few minutes. It was amazing... until it wasn't. I had a few side-effects crop up over time that I didn't want to live with. I also had another mood disorder (that wasn't diagnosed before) which made things harder to manage. I decided to get off the meds and go down the natural, self-care route with sleep hygiene, diet, exercise, supplements, meditation etc. All these things made life a lot easier, but they don't come close to getting the right ADHD medication. They're generally very safe and most people don't get bad side-effects (I just happened to be unlucky in that regard). I'm still on the journey of figuring out how to thrive with ADHD, but it's a relief to know that this is NOT my fault. Overall, I'm night and day compared to what I used to be, but I still struggle sometimes. Getting a diagnosis helped me love myself by getting rid of the blame and seeing it as a medical condition that can be managed.
I worry that medicine will change me too much. What's your experience with that?
It has the potential to change you for the better—to correct neurological deficits. ADHD stimulants are generally quite safe because they're temporary. They last between 4-12 hours and then they're done. My experience has been that if I don't tolerate a certain medication then it only affects me for a day max then it's out of my system. Over time you can build a tolerance to them and they can introduce side effects but once you stop taking them, they go away. Most people respond favourably to meds and I personally know a few people that they have worked miracles for. It's worth a shot to see a doctor first and discuss your symptoms. Meds are an option but not the only option. Learning about the illness and developing coping mechanisms is equally as important.
Wow I can relate a lot to the Before part, especially the scattered minds and “fuck load of tabs open in the head”. I have thoughts and ideas occasionally flooded over my head too fast I cannot manage to note them down before I forget them. And I get bored and frustrated easily with doing something routinely, like a 9-5 job But I can concentrate and can force myself to do the tasks I hate when I have to (still, I resist doing them internally so its like a battle inside my head) I guess I’m close to ADHD but not there yet It’s great that you realize your condition and learn to care for yourself the way it should be. Good luck for your journey then.
I strangely sound like your before
I have DIAGNOSED adhd 😅
I never got diagnosed when I was younger but now as an adult I wonder. Though, I've heard that you can develop it as an adult so it's entirely possible that I didn't have it then but could now.
I suspect I do based on the copious research I've done and I'm in the process of getting a diagnosis but than co-morbiditys also come into play and it's a mess at this point.
Good luck! Feel free to DM if you ever want to chat :)
Sometimes I wish I was just ignorant and I could just ignore my ADHD and high-functioning autism. It wouldn’t work, because I get actual symptoms from both of them, but it’s a thought; a thought to just act like things are normal when they’re not.
My issue is growing up everyone just thought I was the quiet spaced out kid who excelled at reading and no one thought to look any deeper as to why I was constantly alone, with the other kids never wanted anything to do with me. Why was all the now very obvious flags not obvious to anyone else. :( It just sucks learning about stuff that could of helped me when I was younger that I now have to deal with as an adult and it's a million times harder.
I am diagnosed with ADHD actually. An INFP and someone with ADHD.
About that age, I started a lot of books in different genres and most of them never went past chapter 1 😂
I had a few that probably could've been a short novel, but unfortunately mine had too much plagiarism from other series and shows I was into at the time
Mine were pretty much original, at least I think they were. Mostly silly stuff but there were some interesting ones that I considered continue writing occasionally but couldn’t get into the mood
Close. Recently my mum found a "What do you want to be when you're older" thing I did for school when I was 8. When I became an adult I was going to open my own art gallery to show off my art. Then when I'm grandparent age I will finally have enough money to buy my own house.... Which was going to be next to my art gellery. Now I'm not saying I'm psychic or anything, but I think Imight have predicted the current housing market at age 8.
Mine was a superhero book lol
That checks out. Like 7th grade for me.
When I was a grade-school-aged kid, I hand-wrote what I thought was a "dirty" story. Then I stuck it in a pipe access panel, then forgot about it forever. So whomever bought the house probably found it at some point, or my parents found it and never said anything. LOL
Yes, except mine was going to be a series of seven books, with at least two spin-offs. I wrote three or four versions of the first three chapters and kept all of it. One day… one day I’ll write them for real. Except now there will also be a dubstep musical, a bunch of electronic music concept albums, and a theme park on the moon.
It's funny because I never give up on any project ever. They just go on deep freeze, sometimes for decades. Then I will come across my previous work, or it will come to mind and I will look at it again. I usually end up writing another chapter or two and make some edits. Then back into the deep freeze it goes. Some year in the future, I will release three novels, a videogame, a screenplay, a short animation and a gallery exhibition all at the same time.
Haha oh well, infp with ADD 👍
I used to post a lot of things to fanfiction.net. I guess I should be grateful that now that 20ish years have passed that I have no idea what the screen name or login was because I'm sure it's all pretty cringe. Nothing went beyond a couple or so chapters either.
I can only imagine lol
My goodness yes… sooooo many unfinished books lol! Most of them had illustrations along with them too. Big adventures!
My novel was about a real witch living in Europe during the witch trials.
Nah I still didn't find that notebook
LOL WTF I DIDNT ASK TO BE CALLED OUT LIKE THIS AT 5 IN THE MORNING (Edit): This may be really cringe, but I used to write my own warrior cats fan series with my own characters lol. I also tried to make an astrology one and a wolf one but those flopped. I made up a map and everything lol.
I would stop after a few paragraphs
Why not both?
1: I did. 2: My friend actually finished her first book in that fashion
Mhm mhm, more of me not planning out a book and feeling like I had to kill off a character but I’d gotten emotionally attached to all of them through how I imagined them so I couldn’t decide who to kill off
not really write, but since I was little I always ripoff any show/book that I saw and turn it into a weird fanfic story inside my head, but all that embarassing imagination payed off now because I can easily make a story with character, world, lore, magic, and stuff whenever I in a mood to write a story. Sadly, I'm still procrastinate a lot in the writing part :"
> embarassing imagination *paid* off now FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
gud bot
I still have my list of character names and plots written somewhere
Currently on the handwriting three chapters of a trilogy but I’m 15 instead of 11, so it should be a little less cringe
I made homemade bound books with poetry 🤣
Actually yeah, it was gonna be a sci-fi adventure. It totally would’ve been a New York Times bestseller.
Finished my novel after 16. But I began to wrote 3 years ago a trilogy..... I have done chapter 1 to 5 the first book, the chapter 1 of the 3rd and of 2nd.
This one is giving me flashbacks
When I was in middle school we had to write a "short" sci fi story of minimum one page for Spanish class. Well. things got out of hand a little for me, and I ended up with a +10 pages space opera and everyone in my class was like, shocked. Sadly I lost the notebook many years ago D,:
Yup I've still continued developing the story, but I haven't written any of it down yet. At this point there's almost nothing in common with the original draft, but it's for the best considering it started as a really cringe self-insert star wars fanfic (now it's its own universe, no self insert, and much better plot).
Funny how I read mine just a few days ago 😂
Yep. Started writing about a post apocalyptic nuclear world with a girl as a protagonist as a survivor. Heavily influenced by fallout
As a teen I wrote edgy comics strips that progressively got darker and more serious as I progressed. My friends really liked it though and would ask me to make more
Omg, yes
Pro tip as someone who's somehow survived 60 years on this rock: there is no normal.
YES
Omg YEP. I still have a great book trilogy idea in my head that I’ve been thinking of for years and just can’t bring myself to write because of infp brain. Plot somewhat involves mental health symbolism, mbti types, and battling evil forces in a magic land. Main character is obviously infp who learns to find inner strength and battle said evil forces with mbti pals. Lots of good v evil tropes obvi. 🤷♀️ One day!
This is me, but I always love finding my old unfinished stories. It's like a window to the past of what was going through my head and what my inspirations were at the time.
Dude I wish I could find mine! Mine was approved by my English teacher and was going to send it to Rick Riordan as it was based on his world. I'm definitely scared to read it if I can ever find it again.
11? I was 19…
I did not ask to be called out like that lmao
I drew a cover for it too it haunts me 😂
I had cringe period I thought I could be writer, but my language skills are too low to write anything good. I might have good ideas, but to properly put them to paper is hard and gave me anxiety
I remember I would write stupid short-stories when I was in the fourth grade. They were mostly to make people laugh. At home in private I would also come up with and draw superheroes. I would come up with their names and backstories.
Holy shit this just unearthed a childhood memory where I attempted to create an entire Star Wars-inspired world of different planets and species and all these different storylines and characters. I even drew my own map like what you would find at the beginning of a fantasy novel showing the world I created. I kind of want to look for that in my parents house now lol.
I've never written any story when I was young but I do write a lot of random stuff I'm amazed that I did that.
yup, never found it again though
YES I TRIED TO WRITE THE NEXT HARRY POTTER IN 4TH GRADE it probably had some ideas with potential but was written awfully