How do people write?

[jon_jones]

How do people here write their stories?

With my first story (here: http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=94136 it's not very good), I came up with the idea and wrote it at my computer very quickly, looking back I wouldn've added lots more detail had I thought about it for longer, or even just left it overnight before I submitted it, with my second story (which I'm writing now) I'm writing it longhand when I feel motivated, and will write it up and polish it on the computer when it's finished, which I think is a much better approach. I stopped writing it last night when I wrote something I wasn't happy with, and will come back to it when I find a way of moving the situation on, it's taking longer, but hopefully I'll have a better end product.

How do these methods compare to others ways of writing?

Jon

 

[Guest]

I started out doing all of my writing on the computer. I have had some problems with my back lately, so I have taken to sitting on the couch and writing in a notebook and then transferring it to the computer after I have written several pages.

 

[Weird Harold]

How do these methods compare to others ways of writing?

A wise old curmudgeon once told me, "Set down and letthe story flow from your fingers without edits or corrections until it's complete. Then throw out the one third that is total crap and edit the remains into an intelligible story."

I've tried to follow his advice ever since, because whenI tried it, it worked for me and continues to work for me.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

A very dear friend told me to "write for yourself" which is probably why I write in notebooks first, like small letters to myself that I eventually share. Handwriting is a more personal approach for me and I like to go back and read it that way.

~A~

 

[CharleyH]

MY process:

Buy notebook.

Start writing on computer, and jot down any ideas, theories, cool sexual thoughts and emotions I might have in notebook.

Jot down words, phrases out of the blue.

Weave into computer written story and then think - cringe - no - edit.

It takes me weeks to write something worthwhile, and days to write something weak. I need to talk about the story, need to write and rewrite til as is well in my mind.

However, I have always found the process of a notebook per story (MY god - you do not want to see my files) can also benefit future stories. For me to write on paper means that I am closer emotionally as my pen scrapes and scrawls metaphors and terms. I feel closer to my own writing and to, well me and my experiences when outlining on paper.

To me? There is something sexy about the process, and I believe that the sexiness and emotion transfers better than simply keying something down.

But thats me, and where I am going with this thought? Dunno.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I do all my writing either in my head or at the keyboard. I have atrocious handwriting and my longhand is very slow. I’m an atrocious typist too, but I’m much faster that way, and I have to be able to look at the piece and at least get an idea of what it will look like on paper (or the screen). Since I do all my plotting and a lot of editing while I’m writing, I have to be able to do major revisions in the middle of a story, which you can’t do in longhand either.

I never make notes. That just doesn’t work for me. If it’s good enough to use, I’ll remember it, and if the story needs an outline, then it’s probably too complicated anyhow.

The most important thing is to sit on the story after I’ve written it and let it cool off. Write hot and edit cold is the way to go. I’ll edit it and tweak it until I reach the point of diminishing returns. It’s never perfect, but it’s acceptable (usually).

---dr.M.

 

[pop_54]

Yeppers, just sit and crash it out at the keyboard, leave it a day or so if I get fed up with it, then start it up again.

If you write the whole thing on paper then have to sit and write it all over again at the keyboard, maybe that you'll get fed up with it, I know I would, but my patience is short sometimes these days.

 

[Sabledrake]

Stephen King says, "One word at a time, baby," and then goes on to liken writing a book to the building of the Great Wall of China (and, from the size of some of his manuscripts, I can't think of anything more apt <g>).

Myself, I start at the beginning with an idea and a few key scenes in mind. Then I just go, and see where it takes me. Sometimes it's straight into a dead end, and I have to go back and rework everything -- that happened last month with the book I'm working on.

Once it's done, for larger projects I put it away for a few weeks and try not to even think about it. Then I look at it again with refreshed eyes and mind. And usually I then have to edit it down, because I have a tendency to exceed word limits

Sabledrake

 

[flawed_ethics]

I usually imagine out a whole story - the key bits anyways, before committing anything, be it paper or otherwise. This might happen over the course of a meal, at work, whenever my mind has time to think about the story and it's characters. They'll get refined along the way, and I find that in doing so, the story idea becomes better and the characters more involved.

Once story wants to become concrete, I'll construct a loose outline it on a little paper notebook I keep for my loose thoughts. Like CharleyH said, there's something exciting about the pen (or pencil, if you prefer) scribbling across the page. It helps to juice essential details from a scene I might otherwise waive while typing.

Eventually my outline will head up my computer file, so whenever I open to work on it, it's there to greet me. If you've thought about it enough, it'll write itself.

Editing - now THAT's hard!

(For what it's worth - my first Lit story was written the same morning after I woke up dreaming it. I sat on it though, let an editor hack away at it, and polished it before submitting it later that week. I still get feedback on it today.

My second story I rushed through the same day I wrote it. Let us never speak of it again.)

 

[PorscheLynn]

I'm only at about the same stage of writing as you. I have one story mostly finished, and I'm working on a second to keep me busy while I let the first one "cook" a little.

How I wrote the first one: it started by relating the events of a sexy weekend with my boyfriend to a friend over instant messanger. When describing one particularly passionate encounter that weekend, I found myself going into great detail, making it a narrative. That's what inspired me to write a story. So about a day later I took the transcript of the conversation and edited it down to the vital parts; the narrative, and a little bit of the descriptive background. From there I worked on piecing the background together with the narrative so that it flowed more like a story. At that point I had a good, but brief and mostly out-of-context encounter. So I started imagining a story for how two people might have gotten to this passionate evening, rather than keep it as personal. This resulted in buildup that includes two scenes of masturbation, as well as dialogue, setting, and premise.

So basically I started with a conversation as my seed, and added around that, working mostly backwards. As for the computer vs. paper issue, I've found I vastly prefer to type the story up first, and do my editing by hand. I just can't mark a document on the computer the way I want to when I'm editing.

 

[The_Fool]

I just document the movie that runs in my head. One scene at a time. When finished, I go back and see if the words conjure the same imagery I had as when I started. If not, I edit to fix.