… when you are halfway through getting a meal (or doing anything really) and have to stop because this scene just popped into your head and it has to be written right the hell now. At least in rough form because the dialogue is good and you can see the faces, feel the emotions and while the picture is clear and not fuzzy, it needs to be recorded.
… when you have a picture in your mind and you aren’t sure whether it’s an actual scene you saw on the TV, or just something you imagined yourself.
… when watching TV often has no appeal anymore, because there is nothing that compares to the TV in your mind, of your own stories and ideas.
… when you can’t sleep at night because you want to be writing, but when you go to write, you just want to sleep.
I’ll stop for now. Anyone got any others?
… when you know little details about fics for stuff that wouldn’t happen until a long way into the fic, and it’s not even a fic you are writing a the moment. It’s sort of like knowing a little detail about book five of a book series when you are only starting on book one.
Example: My fic ‘Her Happy Ending’ I have about 8k written so it’ll probably become a thing eventually but it’s not on the horizon anytime soon. However, I happen to know that when the Charming’s have their baby son, they are going to call him Nicholas (Nicky) based on someone’s suggestion. Only afterwards are they going to realize to their mild horror that they inadvertently named their son after Rumple because that was his cursed name.
The certain someone who suggested it was very self-satisfied with themselves. Especially when Nicky starts calling Rumple Grandpa because Henry does it and he wants a Grandpa too (and of course both David and Snow’s parents are dead).
… when you have fanfic for your fanfic.
Example: I have this incredible urge for some reason to cross over show canon with the ‘Her Happy Ending’ universe, just for a oneshot because it would be very funny, possibly for no-one but me. However, I just want the Charming’s to be so horrified at what they see because Rumple is so evil etc. and the alternate Charming’s to be like “well Rumplestiltskin is family through Henry” and just shrugging because he’s brilliant with Nicky and isn’t it better to have him with them than against them?