Any experienced long story writers here?

[PaulX35]

I'm busy writing a long story, currently close to 55 pages and approaching 100 possibly. I was wondering if there is any specific material available on Internet on this subject, or if any experienced writers of the longer stuff could provide me with tips.

I've written down the basic story lines, plus details to add in as to character development towards the perceived finish. Basically I'm filling that in. Is that the way to go? I find myself sometimes wanting to jump into something further up along the story. Any experiences as to the dangers of that?

Thanks for any help,

Paul

 

[deliciously_naughty]

The only thing that I've written that's in that league was my undergrad thesis which clocked in near 100 pages. In that case, it was okay to write certain chapters and then figure out the natural progression.

However, in a fictional story....I think it's dangerous to jump ahead. What if your characters change their minds (it happens) and want to do something else. Don't stick rigidly to an outline...you'll miss out on some great opportunities. If you don't like where your characters are at this second in time, throw something in their path to much up their lives

 

[Madame Manga]

I tend to write long. My definition of 'novel' is anything over 100K words; a novella is between 50K and 80K. By that measure, I have two novels and two novellas under my belt and I'm about one-third of the way through another novella. Yes, I jump ahead, but I also prepare myself to discard or heavily revise those scenes. They are never set in stone just because they are down on paper. Kill your darlings, as they say!

Often, writing an advance scene is my way of taking notes or experimenting with possible story directions. I may change my mind about the whole story after writing ahead. I outline, but only after I've done a great deal of writing and I know my characters well. After a certain point, I usually find that I have all the high points sketched out with bits of dialog and action, and the writing process becomes one of linking those points together. So those advance scenes become the signposts for the story and help keep me on track.

MM

 

[Star of Penumbra]

One of the stories I have here is in the 'Novels and Novellas' section. It's about seven webpages long (I don't know the word count because I don't really care about that).

That story kinda wrote itself. When I started, I didn't really have anything specific in mind besides the main character; it just kept getting longer, and seemd to write itself.

I am also working on another (non-erotic) novel that I hope to eventually get published (I'm not counting on it, though). I've written several scenes out of order, and I only have a very vague outline of what's going to happen next.

There really isn't a 'right' or 'wrong' way to write a novel. Just write in the way that works best for you.