How Overthinking Works & 3 Ways to Use Overthinking in Your Writing

Thinking too much, overthinking spiral, loaded down with self-doubts – whatever you call it, overthinking is so common there are even comics about it now. So let’s talk about how overthinking works and ways you can use it in your writing.

How Overthinking Works

The key to a believable overthinking spiral is self-doubt and thought distortions (especially catastrophic thinking). The process is simple:

1. Make a plan or come to a logical conclusion.
2. Ask “What if?” or “Is that too ____ ?” in a way that weakens or contradicts that conclusion. (The question can be a legitimate concern, but as you loop through, they generally get less and less realistic or practical.)
3. Adjust or change the plan based on the question.
4. Repeat steps 2-3 ad infinitum.

Let’s say you’re planning what to serve at a party for friends. Since you want to keep things simple and minimize dishes, and it’s summer, you think, “I’ll just grill some burgers and hot dogs, grab some sides, and be good.”

Then, you start overthinking…

• Is that too boring? Maybe, I should do something different. Like fried chicken or sandwiches.
• Or is that boring, too? What about barbecue? I could get some ribs.
• But what if someone is vegetarian? Will they have enough to eat? I could do fajitas or something it’s easy to leave the meat out of.
• But those get messy. And what about people who don’t like Mexican food? I should probably have an alternative.
• Is that too much work, though? Is it in budget? Maybe, I need to make things simpler.

And it starts over from the beginning. And that’s pretty much how the decision variety works. When it comes to answering questions, it’s going through all the possible meanings of the question and struggling to identify which question the person is really asking.

The core of it is the self-doubt in both cases, though – the lack of confidence in your ability to make a good decision, identify something correctly, or to accomplish the task successfully.

For many people, overthinking only rears its head with specific situations that make them uncomfortable. Such as hosting, public speaking, or interviewing. For others, that’s the way they live because they’re insecure about most things.

But unfortunately, anyone with the ability to think analytically has the power to overthink. You can question any decision and make it seem like the wrong choice if you want to or feel the need to (most people don’t want to overthink).

3 Ways to Use Overthinking in Writing

1. Characterization

This is pretty obvious, but overthinking definitely makes a character more realistic. Since so many people have experienced it themselves, they can empathize and bond with the character because of it. It’s also a bit of a stereotype with super analytical characters (and/or people with really high iQs but low social skills), but that’s not a requirement – any character can experience this believably. Well, barring extreme egotists, I guess.

Here are a few aspects to consider when using this method:

• Is it normal for this person to overthink or is this an unusual situation?
• Is there a witness? How does seeing this make them feel? (Hint: If you’re trying to get something accomplished, and someone’s overthinking is blocking that, it can get frustrating. Although this can also depend on how often this person has to deal with someone else’s overthinking.)
• How does the overthinking affect the final decision? Do they work back around to the original? Do they end up with a really strange choice? Do they give up and let someone else pick or flip a coin?

When writing characters like this, how the person who’s overthinking feels and how the witness(es) reacts are going to have a major affect on how the scene plays out. So it’s definitely something to think about when writing it.

2. Plotting

Overthinking is pretty dangerous when you have to make a decision now. And stressful. It can also guide you to unusual and unexpected actions because you overthought all the normal conclusions and then were forced to make a decision fast. Which makes it a kind of wild card for plotting.

If one of your main characters overthinks, they could send the plot in unexpected directions or give the antagonist opportunities to get ahead / overcome the protagonist because of the delay. I mean, people overthink small things like what to wear on a date or serve at a party. How much would the same people overthink if their decision affected the fate of the world?! [Neon sign: Opportunity. *blink blink*]

3. Humor

Overthinking isn’t logical. It may seem like it because logic is used to do it, but the act of overthinking is irrational and anxiety/emotion bound. From the inside, it’s stressful and the decision feels super important. From the outside, it can be pretty funny because the decision usually isn’t super important (Of course, it depends on how strongly you empathize).

If you throw in a little overthinking in a conversation or have someone explain their overthinking process, there is definitely an opportunity to add some humor. In fact, if you think of characters you’ve watched or read who overthink, I bet you can identify some moments where the authors used the characteristic to get a laugh (The Big Bang Theory comes to mind…).

Overthinking Where’s Waldo

Can you find the overthinking in this article? There’s at least one blatant spot that was not a deliberate example.