[Question] How do you write?

Fun Size

Fun Size

For the writers on the board here, I'm wondering what your process is (assuming you have one).

For me I've always plotted everything out well in advance for short stories, but my blog is very much an "inspiration strikes" thing where it all fall out at once and then I take a day to touch it up/add jokes. I would call the stories mostly failures because while they're written, no one has ever read them (all sent back to me). I don't consider the blog a failure because the point is to be funny, and despite having all of eight readers, it makes me laugh.

I recently accidentally started writing what might be a longer story, and right now I'm just kind of letting it come out and lead me where it will, with hopes that I can fill it out later with more detail/humor.
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

I used to write by the seat of my pants..."lead me where it will", as you've said. I haven't ever taken a creative writing class or anything like that, so all of the writing I've done has been "on the job training".

About a quarter of the way through my first book, I realized that just writing blind wasn't going to cut it for a longer piece. I was spending too much time scratching my head with writer's block, not knowing where I wanted to go next. I'd spend week or two on a single chapter. I wasn't even sure how I wanted it to end.

So, I found an article on the "snowflake" method of writing, and used that to get through the first book. But the snowflake and I didn't get along well. I didn't like the time spent on all the synopses and things that it calls for. I didn't have an issue holding that information in a more generalized way in my head while working on the actual meat and potatoes of the story.

So, for my second book, I opened an Excel spreadsheet, and laid out the plot by "scenes". Basically a short one-liner telling me what was going to happen in a scene, until I had plotted the book from beginning to end. Then I just "connected the dots", writing out in detail the scenes I had previously outlined until the thing was done. I was able to write a first draft chapter in a day or two instead of a week, because I had a fairly clear road map from the start. People have told me it's much tighter and better paced than the first book.

I also started learning more about the actual craft of writing, the three act structure, that kind of thing, but I mostly still just put the scenes together by what felt right to me.

In both cases, if I came up with a new idea, I just went with it. Berry wasn't even in any of the character notes or outlines that I did for the first book, but once he was in the story, he quickly became an integral part.

For the third book, which I've plotted out and have started already, I spent more attention on the three act structure. I figured out the beginning, midpoint, and ending scenes first, which made it much easier to fill in the gaps and avoid the struggles with the "sagging middle " that I've had previously. I'm still using an excel spreadsheet with a list of scenes, but I feel like I have a better understanding of the basic principles of storytelling. I was able to plot it out in a day rather than struggling with the outline over weeks. I think/hope that this one will end up my strongest work yet, and get completed faster than the 2nd one. I'm pretty excited about it.

All that said, there are plenty of authors who write awesome stories just by the seats of their pants. There's no hard and fast rule that says you have to plot out in advance, or that you have to develop character backgrounds, detailed world notes, or anything of that nature.
 
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LittleKagsin

LittleKagsin

I may not be held in as high regard as the published authors on here, but I do enjoy writing. I think the way everyone writes is probably quite different, what works for one person may not work for another.

When I was first starting my book, I had a very, very general idea of what I wanted it to be about and I would just write. I wrote for hours every week. (I used worked at a movie theatre as closing projectionist and that meant that I was alone in the theatre, waiting for movies to get out, for probably 2 hours That's when I did a lot of my writing.)

Once I have a grasp on the characters and can write for them easily, I start to map out where I want the book to go, in my head. I will also do what Tinwhistler does and write a short paragraph, few lines, of a chapter, somewhat mapping in advance what I plan to have happen. By now, I have the whole book planned out in my head.

Sometimes I get stuck when I'm writing, which is one of the worst things in my opinion, so I'll put a placeholder there and come back to it. This allows me to keep my flow and any momentum I have.

I used to have this habit of merely writing out scenes (I did this a lot at the theatre), which really lead nowhere. The only usefulness it brought to be is that I learned how to write for my characters, make them believable. Anyway, once I actually started on the book and I knew where I wanted to start, I was about three chapters in before I started mapping out where the book would eventually go.

I'm not sure where you are in your process, but as of right now, I don't think it's a terrible thing that you're just letting it all flow out. For me, though, I wouldn't write a whole book that way. I think it could lead to writers' block and that's no fun. Planning in advance is the way to go, especially if you want better cohesion at the end of it all.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Sure, I'll reply to this ancient thread.


I write a semi-regular article for the official Blood Bowl NAF newsletter, each article about 5,000 words (they're far too long). I do this by typically spending 3 to 4 days writing it in my head, and then finally strapping myself to my desk for several hours and vomiting the contents of my skull onto the keyboard all in one go. I then edit none of it and hit post, job done.


There's probably more efficient ways of doing this.
 
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