How do you write?

I usually have a tab open at Blogger or google drive on whatever I'm working on, and sometimes an extra tab of another story. That way if I get stuck on one, I can try to work on the other.

I write when inspiration hits me. If I come up with a scene later in the story I go ahead and write it or I'll lose it. Then I go back to where I was and write up to that part.

Some stories I can sit and write the whole thing no stop, others I started years ago and they aren't finished.

I write like the rest of my life is, very bipolar!

When I write, I write until the words stop pouring out of my fingers. I take a break, stare at the TV without seeing it. Grab a handful of raisins. Sit back in my nice comfy desk chair and open another story that needs work. I type on that one until the words are all on the screen. Then I might come here and browse the threads.

Right now I have three I'm working on almost simultaneously...

Fraternal Twins 06 - almost finished editing now

With Three You Get Eggroll - not the final title

A Day Like Any Other Day

Plus about a half dozen others I have just put aside for one reason or another.

Generally speaking, if the words aren't flowing, I pretty much consider I'm writing the wrong story.

Since my wife died, I've pretty much just rolled off the bed, checked the email, and dove headlong into one thing or another I've got saved in the cesspool I call a "slush pile" until Dogzilla comes in to point out I have forgotten something. (Which I hadn't, but didn't see the point in waking her just because I can't sleep and was just enjoying the peace and quiet.)

I've generally got the television on for background noise so I don't forget what human voices sound like (today is the Incredible Hulk [1970s with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno] marathon so they have something green on for St. Patrick's). And I'm generally writing something except for pauses to take care of Daisy and the Pussycats (no, not those) or sticking my nose on here for a bit of a break until my hands and/or back get too bad and take a rest.

As far as the actual writing itself, I tend to try to start with a mental outline, but it typically fades into the background as I take on the persona of the POV narrator and start "living" the action, not unlike a method actor I suppose, as my hands try to keep up. So, often where I end up is not where I intended starting off.

Not the recommended methodology, I know. But, it keeps writing fun and fresh for me. And it gives me a chance to see the world through someone else's eyes for a while until it's time to accede to needs of the four foots or come perpetrate my Puckishness on all of you unsuspecting denizens of the forums.

I'm kind of a discovering writer. If I have an idea I just go sit and start writing. Usually I have a particular scene in mind and then just go off to see what kind of character I end up with, what that one does or encounters and I'll only get a glimpse of what is a probable ending by the time I get far enough into the story that it becomes clear of where we're going.

In a way I'm letting my subconscious run my story and I'll just sit back and read it over when it's done writing. Usually with me going 'Ooooh, how will this continue? Gonna poke him to write more ... oh, wait, I'm writing it. Damn'. At that point I generally become conscious about what will probably happen in the chapter after that, but as usual I tend to be wrong in what's actually happening. In that sense it's damn frustrating because I have no control over my story unless I consciously rewrite it And usually that means it actually becomes worse.

But once I let my subconscious run its course, it easily manages to produce 7k-10k a day if I actually get a day to focus solely on the writing. There is no research involved, it just flows. And at the end I have to go fix the errors. Fortunately, I don't have to fix anything in terms of grammar or spelling because my subconsciousness is as fussy about that as I am. And everything it does wrong, I would do wrong as well, so yeah. I'd never notice it anyway.

JasonClearwater said:

That's interesting. So, you're writing it in your head before it hits the page.

I have written the occasional story like that, where I've headed to bed and played the next scene out in my head, in that gap between being so tired I can't see to type anymore, and actually falling asleep.

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I go over scenes in my head any number of times before I actually write them. I have done some very productive work while driving the car, and have not killed anyone yet.

Have you ever gone over a scene while falling asleep, and woken up in the morning with the whole thing done in your head? It kind of freaked out the first time that happened.

Polyacrylate said:

I also talk through snippets of dialogue in what I'm writing, trying to make sure that it doesn't come off as wooden, forced, or otherwise unnatural. I sometimes wonder what the other passengers think when they look over and see me talking to myself.

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I talk out all my dialogue aloud, and when I've finished I read the whole thing to myself, sometimes a couple of times.

I write after work, but most of my ideas usually come to me about 20 minutes after I lay down for bed. Dunno why that is, but I started keeping my iPhone beside my bed so I can type all the ideas flowing around in my brain.

I’m not a fast writer, nor a slow writer. When I draft out a chapter, I type out all the dialogue for the chapter and kind of paint in the background, mood, etc., saving some room for character development in the narrative to compliment what is being discussed in dialogue. It’s chaotic, random, but it works for me.

On my initial edit, I start looking for better words to convey what I’m trying to express to the reader. By the second edit, I’m looking to see how the story flows. On my final upteen edits, I’m checking the grammar. If I haven’t gone insane or gotten trigger happy to post it on Lit, I send it to two nice, online female friends of mine who read it days before I post it.

Then, I rinse & repeat as needed when I have time to write again or feel up to it - depending on how excited I am about the point where I am in the story.
Kant

The voices in my head haven't been insistent enough lately to force me to write but when I do it's mostly just "sit down and do it". Sometimes I scribble notes first. I select a strategy (*) and place my fingers on the keyboard. It's pretty automatic from then on... unless I'm blocked, in which case it may be set aside for a few hours or months. But I usually tell myself to write the story and it emerges at its own pace. I'm only a tool.
_____

(*) Strategies:

1) Follow a known storyline, as from a journal.
2) Create a setting and set the players loose.
3) Visualize an ending and write to reach it.

Over the years, I've tried to establish some kind of routine. Writing starts shortly after breakfast and the first set of daily chores. I'm my lady love's eyes and occasional guide dog, so that's gotta come first.

My creative process begins with an idea which I keep tossing in my head around for a few days until I have a rough outline, which goes into a file. From there I do necesseary prep work, like writing character sheets and noting down important world details if they're not already in one of my folders. That's the cool part of writing in relatively complete settings.

The rest is going down the scenes in my outline. I try to break the story down into logical chunks which I can reasonably finish in one or two sittings. Several of those chunks form a chapter or even a whole story. When I have enough to show, I pass the pieces off to my beta readers (usually my lady love and my editor) which will result in some heated back and forth in regards to continuity or suggestions on how to improve what I've written. My current story, "Fading Stars", has gone through some pretty extensive revisions before each chapter was cleared for posting. When I'm in the zone, I can put down anywhere from 2k to 8k words in one sitting, other days have me squirt out my personal minimum of 1k, most of which will end up edited out in the next session anyway when I realize I wrote utter shit the previous day.

Depending on how well the story flows and the schedule of my editor, it takes around six to eight weeks from draft to finished chapter, but I've had stories ("Temptation of Gheeran" and "Shilana's Trial" most notably) gestate for almost two years until I found them good enough to post. Thanks to all the wonderful people who spent time on looking through my work, I have to add. Without my beta readers and especially my editor, I would fare much, much worse.

I meander through it

There are scenes that arrive fully formed in my head. I keep those marinating until they are ready/appropriate to thread into a story... and or matched to a character... and then it's write/edit/break/write/edit/break. I work out dialogue in my head first.

There are scenes that materialize as I write. Those are rare, but it feels good when it happens. I think too much sometimes.

But bottom line is, it takes me forever. I have multiple story lines in my head at anyone time. I chase the one that's most compelling to me in the moment. I have a master timeline of all my characters since they are all in the same universe/world.

My writing is sporadic. I generally only do it when the mood strikes. Once, we lost the Internet for two days and I wrote a story and some poems out of boredom. I usually stick with it until I'm done.

Exception would be when I'm writing a book. Then of course I have to take breaks. I will still write for hours on end. I also go back and proof read a few times.

If it is something I am going to submit here, it is generally written late at night and then I'll go back and reread the following day. If I am tired or turned on, then I tend to make mistakes.

Gentleman_G said:

I'm kind of a discovering writer. If I have an idea I just go sit and start writing. Usually I have a particular scene in mind and then just go off to see what kind of character I end up with, what that one does or encounters and I'll only get a glimpse of what is a probable ending by the time I get far enough into the story that it becomes clear of where we're going.

In a way I'm letting my subconscious run my story and I'll just sit back and read it over when it's done writing.

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You sound like me - one of the few people here who plugs into something from the psyche and it just goes "blurt." I'll read material later and think, "did I just write that?"

Most folk here seem to be a lot more deliberate in their approach, with plot outlines, character sheets and so on - that's completely foreign to me.

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KindofHere said:

Where do you think the plots, character sheets, outlines, etc, come from? Same place it comes from within you, they just have a different method of putting it on their final piece of paper.

When all that spontaneous soul searching and exploration is thoroughly thought over, jotted down, pondered, and lived within their minds, they start to write and it continues with the words they use to create their scenes and develop their work beyond what they've already planned.

Nobody plans the order of a hundred words let alone a few hundred thousand in their outlines, and even passages to be used later aren't planned, they come out because that is what the writer is feeling.


I think, I don't know, I could be wrong, probably am wrong, or maybe I'm not. I don't know.

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I'm trying to say others here are far more structured than I am - plots fully worked out in their heads, outlines, character sheets, endings known before they even start writing, that sort of thing.

Gentlemen G sounds like me in that he just starts writing, and finds out what's happening as he goes along. Which seems to be the exception, from this and previous threads on this subject.

There's no right or wrong - but fascinating the differences between methods.

I try to get up early when I'm not working and do a couple of hours a day. I aim for at least 500 words minimum but nearly always exceed that (maybe around 1500 in two hours).

When I'm away with work I have dinner in my hotel room and write then - trying to get maybe 3 hours done after dealing with work work stuff.

I also don't edit until I'm finished the whole thing - putting it to one side for perhaps a week before starting the edit.

I can't write when its quiet. I suffer with tinnitus so the silence kills me after 30 minutes. I distract myself with instrumental music (definitely non-vocal or I tend to sing along), ambient grooves from YouTube or orchestral game / movie music. I have a particular liking for LOTR and Howard Shore when I write fantasy stuff!

K.

MelissaBaby said:

Have you ever gone over a scene while falling asleep, and woken up in the morning with the whole thing done in your head? It kind of freaked out the first time that happened.

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No. Only whatever I've gone through the night before. I've heard of other writers finishing scenes in their sleep... unfortunately, not something my brain offers.

Kantarii said:

I’m not a fast writer, nor a slow writer. When I draft out a chapter, I type out all the dialogue for the chapter and kind of paint in the background, mood, etc., saving some room for character development in the narrative to compliment what is being discussed in dialogue. It’s chaotic, random, but it works for me.

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You start with dialogue? Interesting. When I asked the question, I didn't expect people's processes would be so diverse.

Hypoxia said:

The voices in my head haven't been insistent enough lately to force me to write but when I do it's mostly just "sit down and do it". Sometimes I scribble notes first. I select a strategy (*) and place my fingers on the keyboard. It's pretty automatic from then on... unless I'm blocked, in which case it may be set aside for a few hours or months. But I usually tell myself to write the story and it emerges at its own pace. I'm only a tool.

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I too, am only a tool. At least, so EB constantly tells me.

Blind_Justice said:

My creative process begins with an idea which I keep tossing in my head around for a few days until I have a rough outline, which goes into a file. From there I do necessary prep work, like writing character sheets and noting down important world details if they're not already in one of my folders. That's the cool part of writing in relatively complete settings.

...Thanks to all the wonderful people who spent time on looking through my work, I have to add. Without my beta readers and especially my editor, I would fare much, much worse.

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Sounds like a good process. When I have an idea, I start writing, and when I hit a point where character background starts to flesh out, I start jotting down the details. It's arse about face, but I have no patience.

careythomas said:

There are scenes that arrive fully formed in my head. I keep those marinating until they are ready/appropriate to thread into a story... and or matched to a character... and then it's write/edit/break/write/edit/break. I work out dialogue in my head first.

There are scenes that materialize as I write. Those are rare, but it feels good when it happens. I think too much sometimes.

But bottom line is, it takes me forever. I have multiple story lines in my head at anyone time. I chase the one that's most compelling to me in the moment. I have a master timeline of all my characters since they are all in the same universe/world.

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My books and stories quite often start from a scene, too. But it doesn't sit in my head longer than an hour before I write it down, and usually a story will emerge from that. Or a novel.

Jada59 said:

My writing is sporadic. I generally only do it when the mood strikes. Once, we lost the Internet for two days and I wrote a story and some poems out of boredom. I usually stick with it until I'm done.

Exception would be when I'm writing a book. Then of course I have to take breaks. I will still write for hours on end. I also go back and proof read a few times.

If it is something I am going to submit here, it is generally written late at night and then I'll go back and reread the following day. If I am tired or turned on, then I tend to make mistakes.

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Yes, I find that too. 3am logic errors.

KelvinBlack said:

I try to get up early when I'm not working and do a couple of hours a day. I aim for at least 500 words minimum but nearly always exceed that (maybe around 1500 in two hours).

When I'm away with work I have dinner in my hotel room and write then - trying to get maybe 3 hours done after dealing with work work stuff.

I also don't edit until I'm finished the whole thing - putting it to one side for perhaps a week before starting the edit.

I can't write when its quiet. I suffer with tinnitus so the silence kills me after 30 minutes. I distract myself with instrumental music (definitely non-vocal or I tend to sing along), ambient grooves from YouTube or orchestral game / movie music. I have a particular liking for LOTR and Howard Shore when I write fantasy stuff!

K.

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There's a ten hour version of 'Time' from Inception that makes good background music. Does set a certain mood, though.

electricblue66 said:

You sound like me - one of the few people here who plugs into something from the psyche and it just goes "blurt." I'll read material later and think, "did I just write that?"

Most folk here seem to be a lot more deliberate in their approach, with plot outlines, character sheets and so on - that's completely foreign to me.

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I've read books from established writers who described their creative process and everytime I read such a passage I'm like "That doesn't sound even remotely similar to how I write". Used to think I'm a freak, but by now I've accepted that freakish creative process to just write. After all, if it works, why bother changing?

The really tough part for me is when reading it over and discovering something's wrong and I have to fix it. Then I realize that subconsciously writing something's way easier than consciously writing.

I did notice that once I get a few chapters in and getting a decent idea of how the story's going, I make up a detailed outline, chapter by chapter. I already know it will be obsolete after having written a few more, but it allows me to establish a few ideas I have to incorporate into the story. Or at least being able to look back and see what I planned to do, sometimes allowing me to add a few lines to a chapter to connect them with a different one.

Also, sometimes I do write character bio's, if only so I keep track of whatever a character's heritage or background is. It helped me to correct a few sentences where he suddenly had a different job, for instance, or a different haircolor.
Silly subconsciousness. Just changing the character because it feels better at some point. And me needing to fix that afterwards. Sometimes I feel more like an editor than an actual writer

Whenever I have time and want to, for as long as I want to.

It’s a hobby, not a job for me. I have no deadlines. I write because I enjoy the act of writing, not because I want to “be a writer.” So if I’m not feeling it, I just leave it for another time.

When I am writing, I tend to do a few hours, but sometimes it’ll just be 10 minutes.

You start with dialogue? Interesting. When I asked the question, I didn't expect people's processes would be so diverse.


Yeah, i’m kind of weird like that - not wired like that. There is method to my chaotic madness within reason. Hashing out all the interactive dialogue first let’s me refine aspects of the chapter and gives me a target length. There’s no other distractions in front of me, allowing the dialogue to flow smoothly and naturally. It’s like a blank TV screeen that only plays sound or listening to a conversation with one’s eyes closed. I think of it as the first step in my writing but as I said it works for me. After all the dialogue is written, I paint in the other elements and actions going on with the dialogue tags. For me, this process helps me visualize the mood, location, and all other aspects of the chapter.

Something else I’ve noticed me doing that’s kind of weird: when I reach the end of the chapter, I tend to write 1-2 paragraphs for the next chapter to keep the flow consistent and see how it looks, then copy and paste it into a new page of notes for the next chapter. Not the best strategy, but to me it feels like I’m watching a movie when I read an entire storyline back to backKant

I only write when I am in the mood. And I make sure that I am in the mood at 7:30 every morning.

A point made above should be reiterated: We're not paid to write here. It's a hobby, not a job. (Except: those who write professionally and repost here.) We can certainly approach it as a job, maybe even a fun job, but it requires work, real honest work, with discipline and schedules and shit like that. If work is fun, go for it. Don't suffer for it. Unless you must.

_Lynn_ said:

A large hammer?

I'm about 10k into a story now. I hoped to finish it this weekend but we'll see. You'll like it.

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Yes; at least a pound, (a Ball-Pein hammer.)

I should add that using outlines and character sheets is necessary for me. I prefer to write spontaneously, but when my one-shots became parts in a larger series, simply paging back through my old stories isn't an option for me. I use a text-to-speech system when writing, and to find a particular piece of information in an often >10,000 word story is a hassle even with word searches and the like. Therefore I keep important data seperate from my drafts in smaller, easier to navigate files. All it needs is a quick alt+tab. As for outlines, it took only writing myself into a nearly impossible situation in "Ghost in the Machine" to realize how useful a somewhat organized plot synopsis can be. If I had one when I started writing the series, I wouldn't have had to lobotomize one of my leading characters and totally change the ending from what was originally planned to the Frankenstein it is now. Should I ever find the time to rework it into a proper e-book, I would work more diligently

I know we're only getting "paid" in 1-bombs and troll comments, but even so I am cursed being a Virgo. Useless perfectionism. My lady love always sighs "if you only would get paid for all the work you put into your stories". Well... I'd LOVE to unleash my monstrosities upon the paid market, but without decent covers (and I mean something different than barely clad ladies) that won't happen. Minimal eyesight, no graphic editing skills, no money, no covers to MAKE money. Vicious circle.