So...

[tolyk]

I'm thinking about trying my hand at writing again, it's been years since I finished a story. While thinking about it, I realized I never did any prep work to my writing, I would just sit down and write what came to mind.

Tell me, what kind of prep work do you do prior to a short story, novella, or novel. Do you write a synopsis, chapter guide, plot bunny, etc.

 

[Austin8]

I'm thinking about trying my hand at writing again, it's been years since I finished a story. While thinking about it, I realized I never did any prep work to my writing, I would just sit down and write what came to mind.

Tell me, what kind of prep work do you do prior to a short story, novella, or novel. Do you write a synopsis, chapter guide, plot bunny, etc.

hey toly! I haven't written anything in a while either, but, I always began by just sitting down, and began writing, as the story progressed i would usually arrange it into a outline form and add more detail, character descriptions etc. any thoughts or sentences that clicked usually went in the margin, it was usually the ending I had a problem with.

Happy writing man!

 

[oggbashan]

I do most of my preparation in my head.

I think of a story, a basic plot with a conclusion and start to work on who the characters will be. I let it simmer for a week or two, still in my head without any notes, and then I start writing.

It might take a day to finish. It might take a week. It might take a week and then stall for a month, a year, years - just sitting on my hard drive.

If it has stalled, it will get looked at, among others, about once a month. That might start the writing again, or might start the process of a new story. I have my currently incomplete stories in two files. One is called 'under 750', the other is 'over 750' - words that is.

The 'over 750' stories can just be a long introduction or a substantial part of the story with outlines of the development and ending. I always have the ending because that is usually where a story becomes a possibility instead of a vague idea. The story is how I get to the ending I've already decided.

I've just checked. The current 'over 750' folder has 34 separate stories. Those were all started in 2010. Then I have an 'over 750' folder for 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, and 2003. As I go back in time the numbers get smaller because I've completed or abandoned them. All over-750 word stories from 2002 and before were completed or scrapped - except one that remains as a dreadful reminder of how not to write.

The 'under 750' folders contain hundreds of files in total. Each might be only a few hundred words of the start of a story or little more than a basic outline but each started the same way - as an idea I'd developed over a few days of contemplation of the plot and ending. I might have five, ten, or more stories in my head at any one time. When I'm overloaded? A set of 15 x 50-word stories can reduce the load, or I can quickly type to add a few more to the folders on the hard drive. Once filed (and backed-up!) I can concentrate on the story that is working at present.

I'm never short of ideas. What I am short of is time to develop a story from the idea to the final product, but no story is ever the final product. I could always edit, improve, polish, précis, revise any posted story - if ever I get the time. Writing is a recreation. Real life comes first.

Og

 

[Chantilyvamp]

Most of the time I have dreamed what i write so I just sit down and put the dream into words. Sometimes but not often it's a day time mind left the building scenario that I write up later. I rather suck at preperation it seems. Maybe it's because of all the school work I do.

 

[amicus]

A pleasure to finally be able to agree without reservation with Oggbashan.

I think, however, that I begin with a 'plot' idea for a story and then begin to develope the characters. An anomaly, for me at least, is when I begin to create the characters, they don't always do, say or act, as I evnisioned they would...they surprise me at times and I have to follow them.

There is an old addage in writing: 'write what you know about...' to me, that is only a maybe, because with in depth research, you can write about things you don't know about.

I am currently involved in a long, long story, that requires intimate knowledge of US Intelligence agencies and the means by which they acquire, pass on and share intelligence data. My central character is also presenting a problem as he, by circumstance, is basically unwordly, having committed his life to the intelligence service and is unskilled in social settings. I'm gonna get him laid somehow...but that will also change his ongoing personality.

Good luck on your scribbling....

amicus

 

[tolyk]

Thanks for the responces so far Good information

 

[GinaTina]

I usually just sit down and start typing. Sometimes I'll have an inkling of what I want to start, but mostly not.

Sometimes it'll pan out into something worth continuing, other times it's just a dud.

The story I'm working on now happened to be one of those worthy of expanding on.

For me, if I try too hard to map out an entire plot I usually end up frustrated and rarely finish. I think it's best just to have one or two scene ideas and then just see what your characters will do along the way to make everything connect.

It's very difficult to write seamlessly with this technique - but that's where you have to be creative.

And really, isn't being creative a big part of writing?

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Most of my stories have been gestating in my mind for weeks. By the time I commence writing, nearly every detail has already been finalized. It is just a matter of putting the words down on paper. The problem for me, in most cases, is that I only have 1-2 hours per day to devote to writing, and that is only 1 or 2 days per week. A single story can take weeks to finish due to the limits on my available time.

I am currently finishing a story that started with a character. I imagined a woman with a problem, and then wrote the story chronicling her attempts to solve the problem. That story also was largely written in my head before I sat at the computer and started typing.

I have at least a dozen more stories in my mental queue waiting for an opportunity to be written.

For the most part, my stories are written about subject matter that is within the realm of my personal knowledge. Occasionally, I do find it necessary to do some research before writing, or to clarify a factual matter while writing.

I guess the short answer to the original question is that I do most of the planning and plotting in my head long before I actually start writing.

 

[oggbashan]

A pleasure to finally be able to agree without reservation with Oggbashan.

I think, however, that I begin with a 'plot' idea for a story and then begin to develope the characters. An anomaly, for me at least, is when I begin to create the characters, they don't always do, say or act, as I evnisioned they would...they surprise me at times and I have to follow them.

There is an old addage in writing: 'write what you know about...' to me, that is only a maybe, because with in depth research, you can write about things you don't know about.

I am currently involved in a long, long story, that requires intimate knowledge of US Intelligence agencies and the means by which they acquire, pass on and share intelligence data. My central character is also presenting a problem as he, by circumstance, is basically unwordly, having committed his life to the intelligence service and is unskilled in social settings. I'm gonna get him laid somehow...but that will also change his ongoing personality.

Good luck on your scribbling....

amicus

And in this thread I'm happy to agree wholeheartedly with Amicus.

As for "Write what you know about..." if your research is sufficiently thorough and detailed you will end up knowing about it. Georgette Heyer is a good example. She researched her history very seriously and catalogued hundreds of facts before writing a book set in a particular period. Her novel "An Infamous Army" has an accurate account of the battle of Waterloo and at one time that book and her Peninsular War book "The Spanish Bride" were recommended reading for those campaigns at Sandhurst (The UK's West Point).

The Spanish Bride was based on the famous real-life story of Lady Smith. (The South African Town 'Ladysmith' besieged and relieved during the Boer War was named after her.) Heyer took details from the diaries and accounts of the Peninsular War, particularly Kincaid's. Kincaid was a close friend of Harry Smith and knew and wrote about the meeting between him and his Spanish Bride, even if most of his writing is about details of the fighting.

But Georgette Heyer didn't start to write about the Peninsular War until she had studied it fully, including reading every one of the official despatches. She knew what she was writing about, took some minor liberties with timescales in the interests of better fiction, but if she wrote about the taking of a Spanish town then it was taken exactly as she described.

I wish I had the time to be that accurate.

Og

 

[Mrtouf]

I use an outline. When I think of something new, but can't quite figure out how to start writing it, I put as good a description of it in the outline as possible. When I write something that wasn't in the outline at all, I update the outline so it still reflects the direction the story has taken.

At the end of the outline I record any facts about the characters which may help the story along, even if it's just a brief description of them.

When I'm writing, I use numbered headings which correspond to the outline points. I find that it makes it easier to navigate in an unfinished story. If I realise that the order in which things happen isn't right, for example, it's a lot easier to fix it if everything's signposted.

 

[Trudy_Antone]

I usually start knowing who my characters are first, how I want them to begin and where I want them to end. There are definite waypoints in mind with the progression from start to finish, i.e. where the crisis points are, what experiences change or drive them.

Saying that, the ideas are 1%, the rest is bloody hard work! When I fried my harddrive this year I believe I lost over 300,000 words or more of unfinished and waiting to be edited work. It was devastating. I still haven't recovered from that loss.

I also believe in research. Nothing annoys me more in a story than an author getting the facts wrong, i.e. an ambulance officer who does CPR in the wrong sequence, a musician who names a non-existent chord or key, etc. I once spent days calling all the motorbike shops in town pretending to have won the lotto in order to find out the specifications of the top racing bike produced by Ducatti so that my character could buy one for her boyfriend. Also used the Australian Army thread on Facebook to contact wives of SAS soldiers to answer questions anonymously about being a special forces wife. Tonnes of little things like this just to make the technical details richer.

That said, I'm still a baby when it comes to writing. The only way to do it is to do it.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Hi Tolyk - Mostly I just free write. I get an idea and I just put down everything I can think of - every tangent, every idea, every bit of dialogue. Then I start editing, cutting bits out and adding things that bridge the other pieces until I arrive at a cohesive story.