Do you live your stories in your mibd?

[comegently]

I do.
The scenes are in my mind's eye as I type, imagining myself in the situation faced by the lead character.
In fact I get quite turned on by it at times.
That provides the main flow but I have to tidy it up on a different day.

 

[KeithD]

Sure.

 

[Winter_Fare]

To an extent, especially when the seed of an idea first takes root, I live it. I have always had a vivid imagination. But once the clay is on the table so to speak I have to be more detached to shape it into a story or the wheels of the plot fall off and I go down rabbit holes and end up writing in circles.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Yep. I formulate the concept in my mind, explore the different scenarios, work out which path is likely to give me a good result.

It's a particular good way of spending time driving to a project.

 

[SkyBubble]

Yes, I come up with ideas that way and it heavily informs my first drafts. After I put it aside for a bit, I can sharpen it and clean it up a little.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Pretty much. Sometimes a scene will need a closer edit, the next day .

 

[gordo12]

It's like a video playing. And I frequently am talking to myself going over dialogue. Wifey will ask who I'm talking to? It's kind of embarrassing.

 

[LexxRuthless]

It's like a video playing. And I frequently am talking to myself going over dialogue. Wifey will ask who I'm talking to? It's kind of embarrassing.

^ This. When I'm in the middle of a longer story or series, I often wake up with a vivid "scene" in my mind. Then it's a matter of getting to my computer and writing it down quickly before I have to go relieve my bladder. Been some close calls.

 

[Bazzle]

You have to, and the prettier the protagonist, the more they creep into your own head!

 

[lovecraft68]

I'd say most authors do. I see mine playing in my head like a movie. Not just the sex scenes, but picturing the characters having conversations in whatever setting.

The movie in my mind would be like a directors cut version where as the characters interact my voice comes through

"No, that really wouldn't happen"
"No one speaks like that"
"What are you thinking? Cut!"

 

[SimonDoom]

I had to think about this for a while before figuring out my answer. I'd say, "Sort of, but it depends on the story."

My imagination is visual, so I would say that in the case of every story I write I play a kind of video in my mind of the story, and I do it repeatedly, as I write the story, and afterward.

My stories tend to be rather over-the-top, so it's difficult to imagine living them as real-world experiences, although it's fun to imagine. Like imagining I'm a character in Lord of the Rings, or Star Wars.

Also, I often write stories with female protagonists, and I'm aware that in such stories I'm probably observing what's happening rather than living it, because I don't really know what it's like to be a woman.

 

[oggbashan]

Yes, and no.

I see the storyline in my mind and scenes from it. But I am a detached observer, not a participant.

For many of my stories, I wouldn't want to participate.

 

[MrPixel]

... I see mine playing in my head like a movie. Not just the sex scenes, but picturing the characters having conversations in whatever setting. ...

Similar here. The mental visual of the characters engaged in conversation have become my favorite part of writing. I need to develop better technique in illustrating facial expressions, however. In some cases the sex, following or preceding, has been reduced to single paragraphs, the important parts being the interactions around it.

I'm especially enjoying one character this way, a female lawyer who matches wits with and is a foil to the protagonist. Those conversations are especially fun.

 

[gordo12]

^ This. When I'm in the middle of a longer story or series, I often wake up with a vivid "scene" in my mind. Then it's a matter of getting to my computer and writing it down quickly before I have to go relieve my bladder. Been some close calls.

When I was writing Fido I kept waking up around 3-4 am laughing hysterically. I'd have a hilarious scene envisioned. I couldn't shake them. Weirdest experiences of all the stories I've written.

But often, going down for a nap, something will pop up and I'll lie there running it through my mind. Then I have to get up and write it. Wrecked a lot of good naps that way!

And Lexx, keep a large glass/bottle at your desk. Just saying...

 

[Zeb_Carter]

It flows through my mind like a TV Show or a Movie. I don't start writing until I have most of it worked out up in my head. It is full of stories, some true, most fiction. I write the fiction ones or a fiction story based on a true story.

 

[TadOverdon]

There are images and moments that are vivid to me. And then there's a great deal of writing surrounding those passages that, TBH, serve no larger purpose than to lend those moments context.

 

[Blind_Justice]

I still have to find my mibd.

 

[TadOverdon]

I still have to find my mibd.

As a materialist, I'm pretty sure your mibd is just a function of your braydn.

 

[jehoram]

I do live the stories in my mind before I write. If I lived them anywhere else, I'd be arrested.

 

[yowser]

I do live the stories in my mind before I write. If I lived them anywhere else, I'd be arrested.

Well said.

About eighty percent of the time spent 'writing' my stories occurs in my mind. The actual words-to-screen is just a transference, although some of it all changes when the scene gets played out on the screen in real time and 'adjustments' are required.

But then editing takes five times as long as the actual writing (typing anyway.) If a tale gets ten hours of typing, the editing is many times that, changing things around, making it a better tale. I could probably chart it all out in a handsome spreadsheet/graphic but would get a headache if I tried to do that, and there are variations between stories that complicate generalisations.

Living, reliving, rethinking the scene - over and over again until it's done. Trying to make the narrative as good as possible.

 

[SamScribble]

I'm not sure about 'live' my stories in my mind. But I definitely 'watch' my stories in my mind. For me, story writing is largely a matter of transcribing the movie that is playing in my brain.

 

[yukonnights]

I've said this before, but yes. In general, I get an idea and I jot it down in my "idea file" for some future date. When I pick that idea up again, I do a scene by scene outline in more detail. But once I get started and the characters come to life, the outlines loose their importance and it's definitely more like watching and transcribing at that point.

Many of my stories are set in nature, so there is also plenty of time and mention of these experiences the characters are having. But without the movie in my head, I couldn't write anything.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Yeah. I work in solitary so all day I'm running ideas, plots, and scenes in my head.

Also sort of off subject, I love playing Sims and sometimes I'll build the house in my story in my game just so I can see it and make sure it makes sense. I work a lot better with visuals so this helps me being able to actually 'see' the house my characters live in.

Now that's a good idea.

 

[TadOverdon]

I collect a lot of visual reference for rooms, buildings, clothing, locations and the like before and during writing. I don't always use the details literally, but they help point me in a certain direction.

Also, maps.

 

[PennameWombat]

Yes, and no.

I see the storyline in my mind and scenes from it. But I am a detached observer, not a participant.

For many of my stories, I wouldn't want to participate.

Ogg said it first, my 'style' is mostly like this, much more so than what others have described as a movie or video that they're transcribing.

I've never been a visual artist and my ability to draw is negligible, although I do build models in my mind of the settings. But they're not always photorealistic, so to speak. I get the occasional vision of a scene in a dream or might see something IRL that sparks a thought, and some of them are key to some of my stories, but not all lead to effective stories. I have a number of them in my 'ideas' folder just to have them around, just in case.

But even with my creative sense way toward the verbal/written side of the ledger, I have trouble comprehending how you'd not have to visualize some fair amount of things for an effective story.

But 'live'? For me, no, not really.