Writing non-linearly

[Emilymcplugger]

Oh man, me too! Like three pages of character exposition, people in tears, the world comings apart then:

[blow job, horse walks in]

More flowery prose and people sharing feelings....

Because sometimes, you just want to skip the donkey work and get to the good parts

And of course you can’t write Donkey sex on Lit…well, unless it’s with other Donkeys.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Oh man, me too! Like three pages of character exposition, people in tears, the world comings apart then:

[blow job, horse walks in]

More flowery prose and people sharing feelings....

Because sometimes, you just want to skip the donkey work and get to the good parts

Saying that. In my current story, it took me 9k words to get to a sex scene. I don’t know who had a greater release, me or the MMC.

Em

 

[djrip]

Saying that. In my current story, it took me 9k words to get to a sex scene. I don’t know who had a greater release, me or the MMC.

Em

Mine took about 5k to get to it this time. And then there were only two people there. Both weird for me.

 

[SimonDoom]

And of course you can’t write Donkey sex on Lit…well, unless it’s with other Donkeys.

Unless the Donkeys are aliens, from the planet Heehaw.

 

[EmilyMiller]

And of course you can’t write Donkey sex on Lit…well, unless it’s with other Donkeys.

I wrote human-equine sex in Caputpedes. I did give Laurel a heads up first.

Also human-squid, human-ogre and [implied only] human-gorilla.

Wholesome fun for all the family.

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

I wrote human-equine sex in Caputpedes. I did give Laurel a heads up first.

Also human-squid, human-ogre and [implied only] human-gorilla.

Wholesome fun for all the family.

Em

And it was the same poor girl with all the beasties.

Em

 

[djrip]

And it was the same poor girl with all the beasties.

Em

She had a little help.

 

[EmilyMiller]

She had a little help.

Yea she did

 

[MetaBob]

In two chapters of my Were-Tigress (Book 1 of "Real Amazons, Real Magic") I wrote sections where things happen in parallel. A different sort of non-linear writing.

Unfortunately, Literotica is unable to publish in the form I envisioned, so I had to rely on the reader to imagine the intended result, prepping them with this note:

NOTE: A section in this chapter is intended for display in two parallel columns, indicating carefully timed simultaneity, but this is not a feature supported by this site so the reader's imagination will have to assist.

This note preceded the second such chapter:

NOTE: Two sections in this chapter are intended for display in parallel columns, indicating carefully timed simultaneity, but this is not a feature supported by this site so the reader's imagination will have to assist.

Needless to say, relying on readers to imagine (or physically copy and rearrange in a word processor) is not likely to succeed, and these two chapters got lower ratings than those arranged more conventionally.

 

[oneagainst]

In two chapters of my Were-Tigress (Book 1 of "Real Amazons, Real Magic") I wrote sections where things happen in parallel. A different sort of non-linear writing.

Unfortunately, Literotica is unable to publish in the form I envisioned, so I had to rely on the reader to imagine the intended result, prepping them with this note:


This note preceded the second such chapter:


Needless to say, relying on readers to imagine (or physically copy and rearrange in a word processor) is not likely to succeed, and these two chapters got lower ratings than those arranged more conventionally.

Maybe a daft question but if Lit supports HTML <a> tags and <i> tags, does it support <table>? Oh, what fun could be had....

 

[Laodice]

I tried writing non-linearly once.


My readers did not apprecaite it.

 

[onehitwanda]

I tried writing non-linearly once.


My readers did not apprecaite it.

 

[dadadadiox]

I'm currently writing a fairly involved historical story and I'm trying an experiment.

See, it's a very talky piece. Not always, but a lot of the key scenes involve just two people talking, with the talking being the heart of the scene. I've got fuck-polite-society deathbed rants,two cuckolds sharing a drink or twelve (yeah its LW), longwinded cries for help in a confessional, and long courtly discourses that run for two pages and amount to a highly encrpyted version of 'I'd be totally down to fuck'.

I've found the best stories are the ones where you get momentum early on and (for the moment at least, touch wood) I have it.

One thing I'm try to do to keep that momentum up is for these certain talky scenes to just write the dialogue (In the form A: Hello, Bob - B: Hi there Alan). I can worry about when character take a sip of ale, or when they tug their braid or slow their horse to look at a pretty flower later. I'm finding this is working well because:

a) I'm getting shit done. A lot of longer scenes that would take me two writing sessions are only taking me one. And doing it in one is making everything easier because I get a rythmn.
b) I'm able to focus on the words. As a historical piece, I'm having to put extra thought into how my phrasing (Am I writing "I love you, my lord." or "My lord, it is you that I love." or "Forsooth, my lord, I have for you a deep compassion, nay, a honest woman might even go so far as to call it..." - usually somewhere between the first and second)
c) I've been accused of overwriting inner voices before. Although I'm thinking about what characters are thinking, ultimately I'm focusing on what they end up saying. I can go back later and decide how much of and how I want to reveal that inner voice.
d) My piece is close third. However, using this approach I'm able to (or rather less distracted from) giving each of my characters equal weighting in the conversation. I'm no longer seeing everything from my MCs point of view.

Downsides?

a) I'm probably giving myself a lot of boring donkey work later. Noticably, I'm rushing to write each new scene's dialogue at each session rather than go back and fill in the linking material whenever I sit down to writer.
b) Will the prose I eventually produce be as good as or in the same style as my usual writing.

I'm interested in knowing if anyone else has tried this approach or other ways of non-linear writing. I know some writers write scenes out of order (I'm also doing that at the moment, my character is dying bemoaning life choices he hasn't actually made yet) and especially I know a lot of writers like to write the ending first (or midway). Anyone ever tried anything more advanced - for example, I've seen one writing guide recommend writing a story as one sentence for each chapter, then expanding each sentance into a paragraph, and then expanding each sentence in that paragraph into its own paragraph etc.

I think we're of the same ilk. I write in scenes with lots of dialogue. It's similar to writing a play with more emphasis on characters' words, and actions. I let them tell the story as much as possible rather than narrate. The narrative works fine when you must paint the setting or suggest what a character might be thinking. Two of my characters had a long-distance, five-year on-and-off extramarital affair; many phone calls, passages of dialogue with little action, and no narration... just talk. I enjoyed writing those conversations.