To combat this, I normally don’t talk about the threads I want to do. We can pick a jumping off point and decide on an ultimate theme, but anything beyond that will ultimately ruin it for me and I won’t want to finish it.

When I’m talking about characters with my partner, I try to stick to things that I ultimately won’t care enough to thread, like abstract AU “wouldn’t it be cute if XYZ” sorta talk. I’ll also talk about how much I’ve enjoyed what’s happened so far in the thread, but I don’t like any kind of “what if we do this next?” because then the joy I’d get by writing it is sorta usurped by planning what it is I’m going to write, and the dopamine is already eaten up by talking about the thing rather than doing the thing.