Are You An Idea Introvert, Extrovert, or Ambivert?

How different writer archetypes relate to their ideas.

During a Ninja Writer’s live Zoom call this week, an interesting topic came up.

One writer reported that she hadn’t written anything in a while. She had so many ideas, she said, that she felt frozen thinking about them all. She couldn’t choose one, so she didn’t. As a result, she wasn’t writing at all.

I’ve written before about the idea that there are writer archetypes and that all writers fall into them in some way.

I’m a Teacher writer. When I write, I focus outward.

My top-level skill is writing for an audience. If I don’t have readers, most of what I write doesn’t have much purpose. I wouldn’t write about writing or productivity or, really, almost anything I write about, just for myself.

My writing isn’t particularly cathartic for me. It’s my work. I write for my readers.

This Ninja Writer? She’s mostly an Artist writer. Her tendency is to write for the beauty of the work. She writes for her muse. She’s less interested in how many readers she has and more interested in making sure that those readers get a gorgeous reading experience.

A big part of the archetypes is how we manage ideas.

Actually, a big part is how we even get ideas in the first place. But also? How we deal with those ideas when we have them.

There are two archetypes that I’m not going to focus on too much in this post. Skippers are writers who thrive on having an assignment — often they are journalists, copywriters, technical writers. And Hesitaters are writers who still have a foot on the break — they will fall into one of the other archetypes eventually.

Both of these types generally have a strong secondary in one of the following three archetypes — and the way they manage ideas will follow suit.

Teachers, like me, are idea magnets.

Ideas are our economy. They’re our chocolate. We get as excited about other people’s ideas as we do about our own. As a result, it’s easy for us to be bombarded by ideas.

But that’s okay. Because if we’re in a healthy place, we feed off the energy of those ideas. The more we have, the more we want to do, and the more we actually do.

Unfortunately, though it’s easy for us to start a thousand things and never finish any of them. In other words, it’s easy for us to binge on our chocolate, taking a bite from each one and putting it back.

Teachers are like extraverts, when it comes to ideas. We draw energy from them.

Artists, like my student, tend to hyperfocus on one idea at a time.

For the most part, they are more interested in their own ideas than they are in other people’s — they just don’t have the bandwidth to get excited about everything.

Artists generally have an incredible ability to hyper focus on a single idea and stick with it until it’s done. They tend to manage their energy — if they do have more than one thing going on, they do a good job of organizing their time so that they have time to work on each one until they’re finished.

There’s often a feeling of let down when they finish a project. A kind of now what dejection. And also, they sometimes worry that they’ll never get another good idea once they’ve finished this one.

Ideas are the Artists vegetables. They might love them (or maybe they hate them. True story.) But they are as unlikely to overdose on them as you are to go overboard on broccoli.

Following that analogy, sometimes Artists take a look at the wide, colorful, delicious array available to them and just can’t make a decision. FOMO kicks in. All the choices are overwhelming. And every single idea seems as good as the next.

Artists are introverts, when it comes to ideas. They are easily depleted by too much immersion in them — especially other people’s. They all seem equally important and the import of them all makes it difficult for this writer to make a decision.

Spillers are confessional writers and their ideas are often built it.

Spillers often write with a top-level goal of healing. They are storytellers, first and foremost. When they write, they write for themselves first and attract an audience by offering solidarity.

Of all writers, Spillers usually find it the easiest to niche. They have a story to tell, after all, and their ideas revolve around that story.

My students who are spillers know what their topics are. Usually, they don’t worry too much about ideas at all. They pull so much from real life that their idea pool is nearly unlimited.

These writers often write things that are so cathartic to them, they’d write what they write regardless of an audience. That authenticity is their main draw to readers.

Spillers are ambiverts, when it comes to ideas. They are energized in the moment, but sometimes get overwhelmed by over-exposure to ideas.

So, what will you do with this information?

Probably something similar to what you do with the information that you’re an introvert, extravert, or ambivert. (Note: You can be an actual introvert and an idea extravert — or an actual extravert and an idea ambivert — or any other combination thereof.)

If you know that ideas drain you, then you’ll know to manage your idea input so that you don’t get overwhelmed.

If you know that ideas feed you, then you’ll know to surround yourself with them. Especially if you’re experiencing a lack of enthusiasm for your work.

If know that you’re an idea ambivert, then you’ll know that you need to foster your ideas, but too much immersion can be too much.

Teachers, then, need systems to make sure they don’t flit around from good idea to good idea without ever getting anything done. Finishing is as important as starting, after all.

Try this: Keep an idea notebook. Write down every writing idea you have. Give yourself permission to dive into those ideas regularly. But also? Manage yourself. You need clear goals, so that you actually finish what you start. Tiny goals were made for you, because you probably do great with spending small amounts of time every day or week on several different projects.

Artists need systems to help them make sense of their ideas when they’re feeling overwhelmed and stuck. Once they choose a project, they’re likely to stick with it until it’s done, but they also run the risk of sticking with that project well passed the done point, working on perfection. And also to avoid having to face new ideas again.

Try this: Set some boundaries for yourself. What does done look like? Do you really need a tenth draft? Set a time boundary for yourself as well. Deadlines are good for you. If you find yourself totally overwhelmed and unable to choose a new project from all of your ideas, it might help to start with priorities. Make a list of all of your possible projects, then prioritize them. It’s okay if your priority is just where your heart is, by the way. And it’s okay if your goals aren’t what you think they should be based on what other people want. Artists are rebels!

Spillers are often very compartmentalized in their thinking. Whenever someone leads with telling me their niche or niches, I know I’ve probably got a Spiller on my hands. They tend to go all in on one area of their work, letting the others fall to the wayside. Imagine trying to juggle three balls by throwing one up in the air at a time. Spillers need systems for making sure they keep all of their balls in the air.

Try this: Set a schedule that allows you to batch your attention and your ideas. If you’ve got two or three different projects, prioritize them, then schedule a day or two during the week for each one. Give yourself permission to go all in on each idea for the time you’ve allotted to it. It might help to schedule time for a whole day rather than part of a day, especially if you find yourself struggling to shift gears between projects.

Here’s my secret weapon for sticking with whatever your thing is.

Shaunta Grimes is a writer and teacher. She is an out-of-place Nevadan living in Northwestern PA with her husband, three superstar kids, two dementia patients, a good friend, Alfred the cat, and a yellow rescue dog named Maybelline Scout. She’s on Twitter @shauntagrimes and is the author of Viral Nation and Rebel Nation and the upcoming novel The Astonishing Maybe. She is the original Ninja Writer.