The whole thing, or just bits and pieces?

[bluntforcemama]

When you start to write a story, do you you have the whole thing mapped out in your head, or do you just start and let it take you wherever it will?

 

[Guest]

Both.

Some stories are spur of the moment things. Once I had to get up out of bed after midnight because lines kept running through my mind. I wrote furiously for an hour and a half and wound up with one of my most popular stories (after several days of religious editing).

And at this moment I have several ideas playing around in my head. I add to them subconsciously, I think, and eventually I'll sit and begin to write. But these stories - I don't quite know where they'll end up.

It's fun to wind up with a woman who is dominant when she began the tale as submissive . . .

*grin*

 

[pop_54]

When you start to write a story, do you you have the whole thing mapped out in your head, or do you just start and let it take you wherever it will?

Same as Sarahh, both.

Sometimes I start with an idea but no clue as to how to end it, sometimes I start with an end but no way of getting there. Then it gets written in bits and pieces.

Other times I suddenly have a brainstorm and the whole thing clicks in to the head in one go. Then I can't stop writing until it's finished.

Go how you feel comfy I always think, if you have an idea start it before the idea vanishes, you'll always invent an ending eventually, no story has to be completed in one go if you don't feel like it.

 

[Sabledrake]

Both, for me too. It depends on the story. I find that longer projects have a greater tendency to ramble away from the original plan -- with more characters and scenes, I find that the unexpected turn pops up more often. I can usually stay pretty close on track with shorter works. But even then, sometimes an idea suddenly takes over and I've just got to go with it.

Sabledrake

 

[SexyChele]

Both, though I tend more to have the story pretty well mapped out in my head before I begin to put anything onto the computer. I may add some things to the story as I'm writing, but the whole thing is usually already there.

There are only a couple of stories I've written where I've started with just a beginning or an end or a character.

 

[TheEarl]

Most of my work is planned out in advance, but some of my best ideas have come from 'what ifs' and then the entire story just flows from there. Must admit, the spontaneouses are more fun to write.

The Earl

 

[lobito]

When you start to write a story, do you you have the whole thing mapped out in your head, or do you just start and let it take you wherever it will?

I have a few ideas in my head, and let it go from there, I just start typing (much like a post sometimes), and it "flows" out of my fingertips. If I had an idea what it was going to be like when I started I'd change it around as I wrote it anyway.

 

[Guest]

Interesting thread. One that hits home with me.

I never have a whole story mapped out ahead of time.

What I try to do is to get a general, crude plot idea and story structure in the word processor in a few days or a week to prepare for the arduous period—the editing phase. That's when most my productive work takes place: major plot and character changes, story sequence revisions, and plot re-writes, all lasting weeks (and sometimes months). It is during this period I allow my muse-at-the-moment, my right brain, the freedom to reshape and redefine the story.

And if I think I'm ready with my so-called final edits and proofing, performed by my left brain, I resubmit them to my right brain for review and approval. Often this exchange stirs up further revision and generating new ideas. For me, it's a worthwhile conflict—a testy collaboration—between right-brain and left-brain thinking, creativity versus logic. And when, and only when, both hemispheres are satisfied and sated, does the story feel "whole" and the singular me deems the work fit for submittal.