Name Your Tool.

[jomar]

I call my tool "Woody".

Finally, a dick joke! What the hell is wrong with you people that it took so long!

 

[Catharyn]

Finally, a dick joke! What the hell is wrong with you people that it took so long!

Lol. I got it, jomar. Made me smile.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Normally, I just sit down and have a go at it. For short pieces (like chapters in my "Cat" story) it works well enough and I can usually finish an installment before I run out of steam, so to speak. Plus, it feels more natural to me. Downside is that I can get hopelessly lost on tangents which are fun for me, but usually fucking boring for the reader. Thankfully my editor helps me cut that back to a degree

For longer stories (like "Leo and the Dragon"), I've had both a mental and written outline which helps keep things on track, but often enough I want to write certain scenes and don't want to be bothered with necessary, but to me boring filler material, which presents its own set of problems. Finding the motivation to fill in the blanks between the good stuff is the key here.

I've tried writing scenes out of sequence, but that is a recipe for desaster. Does not work at all for me. I have the need to start at the beginning and end at the end. Any other way makes me go nuts.

 

[flipen]

Do you outline, or do you sit down to write with perhaps only a vague sense of where you're going with a story?

I just started my first story about an actual situation and I find looking at video and pics of others doing what I am writing about really helps me contextually.

 

[Hypoxia]

I just started my first story about an actual situation and I find looking at video and pics of others doing what I am writing about really helps me contextually.

As I mentioned, most of my submissions so far have been based on (purportedly) actual events. I can just follow the narrative without outlining. As you have found, using reference materials is really really helpful -- just go with the story. I have NOT been great at devising fictional plots. I may need outline help for that.

 

[mikoli5763]

I have an idea in my head,

sit down at the computer, and start typing. Sometimes the story goes exactly like I pictured it and others it gets redone in my head while I'm typing and goes in another direction. I have tried outlining, but it seemed to hinder me instead of helping.
I have a couple of stories that I started and haven't finished because another idea came to me that was stronger in appeal to me than the previous ones. I do plan on finishing them someday.

 

[StrangeLife]

You are very funny. Why no Humor and Satire stories?

Humor? Moi? Oh but I'm serious as Smokin' Ed's Carolina Reaper chilli - honestly. I'm wearing black cargo pants, I'm driving a black car and I once sat through Meet Joe Black extended edition (almost) without falling asleep. It doesn't get more serious than that.

 

[carlieplum]

LC, interestingly, a lot of the songwriters we (Mr. Carlie Plum and I) admire most describe their writing process almost exactly as you do yours.

I pretty much write in my head first, going through revisions etc., before I sit down before the dreaded blank screen.

My one hitch is if I don't have a good first sentence, I can't start. Sometimes my first sentence doesn't survive to the final version. With my favorite editor, who accuses virtually every writer she works with of burying the lede, it almost never survives. But it's a tool I mentally need to get started.

For writing here, I keep a story file of ideas that have come to me, but aren't ready to write. When the first sentence comes to me, I get started.

 

[Catharyn]

LC, interestingly, a lot of the songwriters we (Mr. Carlie Plum and I) admire most describe their writing process almost exactly as you do yours.

I pretty much write in my head first, going through revisions etc., before I sit down before the dreaded blank screen.

My one hitch is if I don't have a good first sentence, I can't start. Sometimes my first sentence doesn't survive to the final version. With my favorite editor, who accuses virtually every writer she works with of burying the lede, it almost never survives. But it's a tool I mentally need to get started.

For writing here, I keep a story file of ideas that have come to me, but aren't ready to write. When the first sentence comes to me, I get started.

I'm right there with you, carlieplum. That first sentence, once realized, is all I need in order to begin. Without it, I'm yesterday's toast.

 

[oggbashan]

I have just bought a new-to-me book on How To Write A Novel.

The first two sentences of the Introduction are:

There are only three rules to writing a successful novel.

Unfortunately no one knows what these three rules are.

It could be a useful book.

 

[BlindScribe]

I've tried writing both ways (the outline, and...the other way, which I call simply 'organic.'

In my own experience (and each individual's mileage may vary), I found that in general, when I try to write from an outline, the writing sounds stiff...sometimes even stilted. I think this is because no matter how good or complete my outlines are...sometimes, the characters just don't want to go where I want them to go, or do what I want them to do. They have...ideas of their own.

Writing organically lets those ideas come to full flower, though it carries a risk that you don't see when writing from an outline. That is, sometimes, you can write several pages and find yourself in a "blind alley." The stuff you're writing either turns out to be not great, or takes the story in a direction you did not intend, and you have to toss it and back up to begin again.

These blind alleys need not be without value, however, as even stuff you don't ultimately USE in a story could shed some new insights into your characters.

~Your Humble Scribe~

 

[BlindScribe]

PS: When I first saw the title of this thread and clicked...I was thinking it might be VERY different subject matter...LOL

 

[patientlee]

I have just bought a new-to-me book on How To Write A Novel.

The first two sentences of the Introduction are:

There are only three rules to writing a successful novel.

Unfortunately no one knows what these three rules are.

It could be a useful book.

You could cross off "novel" and write in "parenting" in magic marker and not have to change anything else.

 

[BlindScribe]

Kinda have to agree with you there, Lee!

 

[jezzaz]

I have just bought a new-to-me book on How To Write A Novel.

The first two sentences of the Introduction are:

There are only three rules to writing a successful novel.

Unfortunately no one knows what these three rules are.

It could be a useful book.

I dunno - I remember reading an article about a CEO lamenting that at least 50% of his advertising dollars are wasted - 50% of what he did made no difference at all. He was just sick of the fact that he had no clue which 50% it was.

I think in this situation, there are way more than 3 rules. There are lots. The problem is, knowing which 3 actually apply to you specifically.

For myself, I just make up "the rules" as I go along.

I do, however, write out plot outlines. I do it scene by scene, detailing who is in the scene, what it's there for, and what happens - kind of like how Screen Plays do it.

I do it so I know if characters have gone off the rails (and I have that problem too - in the novels I've written there have been about 3 times when I've just had to start again on a scene because the characters had their own ideas about what they wanted to do - most of the time I find a way to incorporate their behaviors into the story, via some slight plot modification, or moving plot flow around a bit. I find it keeps the characters more fresh for me, if sometimes even I don't know what they are about to do.) OR if I leave something and come back to it 3 or 4 months later.

Being able to pick up again really helps.

I'm starting also to write a timeline now, since I've already been tripped up by times not matching up and small inconsistencies that come out of that.

YMMV

Oh, and I named mine "Huge".


What?

 

[Catharyn]

Thanks guys. Some good advice, and some chuckles too.