What kind of writer are you?

[scheherazade_79]

This isn't a question about your inspiration. This is a question about the actual act of putting pen to paper and transferring what's in your mind into a a literary creation.

How does it happen for you?

a) Do you see the picture unfolding in your mind?

b) Do you hear the story being read out inside you and simply write it down?

c) Both of the above.

d) This is a stupid question that can't really be answered.

e) Something else.



Discuss.

I'm just curious because I'm very much a b) type. I know that people are usually disposed to either visual, auditory or kinaesthetic learning types, and my way of writing corresponds to my way of learning. Does this ring true for anyone else?

 

[M J Lindsay]

I "see" it like a movie in my mind and write it in such a way that I hope the reader can "see" it, too. I've usually been thinking about the characters and the plot for a long time before I sit down and try to picture what is happening scene by scene. Sometimes the scenes take me in different directions than I'd planned, but the basic core usually remains the same.

I wish, sometimes, that I did "hear" the story read because I can really struggle to find the right word to describe exactly what I'm picturing in my mind.

M J Lindsay

 

[original_cinnamon]

Good question! c) and e) for me, I think. Probably.

Usually, I start off with the kernel of an idea (whether it's something somebody says, an image or just a bit of something that would make good plot) and think about how it would shape up.

From there, it's a case either of "hearing" a narrative or vignettes of same, or "seeing" how it will unfold, like a play.

Alternatively, the character comes first, in which case they just turn up with their hand luggage and hammer on my brain until I let them in. Then they sit on the couch with their feet up, watching football and telling me how I have to write things.... hey, where'd that straitjacket come from??? No-oooooo....!

Cin xx

 

[scheherazade_79]

Thanks, folks. Really interesting answers! By the way, welcome to Lit

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I channel for a spirit guide named "Mr. First-nighter".

No, seriously, that's a good question.

I usually seem to start with just a feeling in mind, a kind of emotional tone, and that translates into the setting of the story. It becomes an image of where the sex will take place: the room, the weather outside, the time of day. That sets the mood for the sex: whether it's going to be joyous or passionate or sweet or whatever. Once I know that mood, my characters kind of appear. I know something of who they have to be to achieve that mood, and once I have an idea of who they are, it's not hard to fill in their details.

When I write, I see very clearly what my characters are doing, but I switch back and forth between what they're doing and what they’re feeling, and usually it’s a matter of just describing it. But sometimes I’ll find myself going into automatic, where it’s almost like I’m hearing the words a line ahead of where I’m writing. That automatic part is fun, but it’s never very good. I have to punch it up in the editing.

Sometimes I go for a walk and tell the story to myself, and occasionally I'll come up with some good stuff that way

---dr.M.

 

[scheherazade_79]

Nice. I like the way you described the germination of the idea. Almost like a camera lens with both sounds and feelings coming into focus.

 

[CharleyH]

I start with a concept. Note, I never throw anything I write out, and I really need a new filing cabinet to house things I've written since, god, 1982. LOL BUT I AM NOT a pack rat! I keep a small box of index cards, so I get an idea, jot it down until I can think of something to surround it.

Once decided, I work on a premise, making hand written notes, sometimes charts, which I often misplace, but the story concretes in my mind, and once it is there I immerse in it, and research, even if that means just reading as much as possible about a time period, or some aspect of imagery. From here it spreads, I see a character, and then other characters and I get to know them, and then one of them speaks and says 'this is what I want' . . . sort of a Stanislovsky thing.

From here it takes the shape of a film in my mind, which is probably why I often miss scent. Note must remember to write smells . . . and from here, I write from inside that characters head, trying to understand the motivations, emotions, trying to see emerging metaphors. I suppose I analyze, and am often accused of over-thinking. However, my best work comes from this process.

On the other end of the writing scale, when something is not as important to me, I simply start with a sex act in my head, an environment, and write it without too much thought. It gets finished a hell of a lot quicker this way, but is hardly as satisfying.

 

[impressive]

The mind movie is a good analogy for me -- but the cinema of my mind includes smell and taste and touch -- not just sight and sound. I really feel the action with all of my senses (regardless of whether that comes through in the writing).

When I'm stuck on a sex scene, I'll take it to a wank session and let it unfold there. Works every time.

When I'm stuck on story direction, I'll save it for those moments just before sleep (with pen/paper on the nightstand). The characters are more likely to "speak" to me in those moments.

Once I've done the mental choreography, I choose the metaphorical feel of the passage -- say, musical -- and weave related words into the story. (See the end of "Boiling Point," for example.)

 

[brightlyiburn]

That's tough for me to answer. I'm not always certain where what I write comes from, where it begins, how I decide how to get from one point to the next. Sometimes it's very vivid pictures in my head, but other times it's completely impulse. It feels like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book. Every little detail is already there, waiting to be tapped. The story is already written and it just come down to picking a few different branches in the path.
Occasionally something I write comes out of nowhere. My short peice, Pledge to Fall, was one of those weird cases where there was no plan or anything. It just came into my head, rather vivid, and I wrote it. There's no more of the story than I wrote, and no ideas have ever come to me on expanding it. When I read it, I don't think of it as something I wrote.
I get something similiar to that occasionally, but not very often, and not quite like that.

 

[TxRad]

Writing for me is an idea, a song, or a phrase that sticks in my mind and irritates the hell out of me until I finally put it to paper...

I never know where my stories will go from that initial point... it's like it's already written and I'm just copying it down... When I finish one line, the next is there in my mind... it will flow until it stops or my concentration is broken and then I put it away until later.... I usually have anywhere from 20 to 30 stories boiiling at any one time...

Later, when I have some time to write, I'll pick one that catches my eye and read it for edit.... if it is there, I'll pick up where I left off and go again until it stops or is finished.... What the it is, I'm not sure... a feeling mostly or maybe a picture in my mind.... All I know is that the words are there......

 

[cheerful_deviant]

I see things visually, or like a movie in my head. When I write I usually start off as just a short series of events, like a single scene in a movie. Sometimes this is inspired by another story, movie, whatever. I fit in characters that I like, then I build a story around that event and those characters. I usually have at least some idea of where I want the story to go, but not always.

I have a couple started that I have several good ideas for scenes but no real final destination. Who knows if I will ever finish them.

By biggest challange isn't the storyline, it's getting it onto paper. I know what I want the characters to do, I can see it in my mind, it's getting it down. Some writers will just type away and then go back later and edit the scene to make it more what they intended. I can never seem to do that. When I write, I constantly backspace whole sentences, sometimes whole paragraphs because it just doesn't sound right to me. I'll spen an hour on 40 words rather than leave it and come back to it later. That's probablly why I hardly ever finish any stories.

 

[Guest]

I see things visually, or like a movie in my head. When I write I usually start off as just a short series of events, like a single scene in a movie. Sometimes this is inspired by another story, movie, whatever. I fit in characters that I like, then I build a story around that event and those characters. I usually have at least some idea of where I want the story to go, but not always.

I have a couple started that I have several good ideas for scenes but no real final destination. Who knows if I will ever finish them.

By biggest challange isn't the storyline, it's getting it onto paper. I know what I want the characters to do, I can see it in my mind, it's getting it down. Some writers will just type away and then go back later and edit the scene to make it more what they intended. I can never seem to do that. When I write, I constantly backspace whole sentences, sometimes whole paragraphs because it just doesn't sound right to me. I'll spen an hour on 40 words rather than leave it and come back to it later. That's probablly why I hardly ever finish any stories.

get out of my head duck dodger~
very much the same way for me. when i read or write its like watching a movie inside my head. very distracting when the fucken characters dont take direction!

i hate having to yell Cut! unless i get to use that megaphone and im wearing a beret.

 

[impressive]

When I write, I constantly backspace whole sentences, sometimes whole paragraphs because it just doesn't sound right to me. I'll spen an hour on 40 words rather than leave it and come back to it later.

*nodding head vigorously*

 

[yui]

I see things visually, or like a movie in my head. When I write I usually start off as just a short series of events, like a single scene in a movie. Sometimes this is inspired by another story, movie, whatever. I fit in characters that I like, then I build a story around that event and those characters. I usually have at least some idea of where I want the story to go, but not always.

I have a couple started that I have several good ideas for scenes but no real final destination. Who knows if I will ever finish them.

By biggest challange isn't the storyline, it's getting it onto paper. I know what I want the characters to do, I can see it in my mind, it's getting it down. Some writers will just type away and then go back later and edit the scene to make it more what they intended. I can never seem to do that. When I write, I constantly backspace whole sentences, sometimes whole paragraphs because it just doesn't sound right to me. I'll spen an hour on 40 words rather than leave it and come back to it later. That's probablly why I hardly ever finish any stories.

*nodding head vigorously*

I think I channel CD and Imp when I write (because this sounds just like me).

Which now that I think about it, sounds kind of kinky...

 

[cloudy]

I see things visually, or like a movie in my head. When I write I usually start off as just a short series of events, like a single scene in a movie. Sometimes this is inspired by another story, movie, whatever. I fit in characters that I like, then I build a story around that event and those characters. I usually have at least some idea of where I want the story to go, but not always.

I have a couple started that I have several good ideas for scenes but no real final destination. Who knows if I will ever finish them.

By biggest challange isn't the storyline, it's getting it onto paper. I know what I want the characters to do, I can see it in my mind, it's getting it down. Some writers will just type away and then go back later and edit the scene to make it more what they intended. I can never seem to do that. When I write, I constantly backspace whole sentences, sometimes whole paragraphs because it just doesn't sound right to me. I'll spen an hour on 40 words rather than leave it and come back to it later. That's probablly why I hardly ever finish any stories.

What the duck said.

It's exactly like a movie in my mind.

And, I have the internal editor that's always there, too. It drives me crazy. I can't just get it written, and move on, intending to edit later. I just can't. I'll agonize over ever single word, until it's the way I want it. The plus side is that my stories need very little editing, just for typos, mainly. The minus side is that it takes me forever and a day to finish anything.

 

[impressive]

I think I channel CD and Imp when I write (because this sounds just like me).

Which now that I think about it, sounds kind of kinky...

There's a thread for that, too.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

Stories unfold in my mind like images from a movie. Usually it hits me from start to finish in one big blast, the whole plot just flows. That makes it hard for me to change anything when the actual writing starts, cause I don't like to fuck with the process. When it comes to plot, I'm sort of an idiot savant, it's the words to express my ideas that trip me up. Characters come to life later as I invent them to serve the purpose of the plot.

 

[Guest]

Stories unfold in my mind like images from a movie. Usually it hits me from start to finish in one big blast, the whole plot just flows. That makes it hard for me to change anything when the actual writing starts, cause I don't like to fuck with the process. When it comes to plot, I'm sort of an idiot savant, it's the words to express my ideas that trip me up. Characters come to life later as I invent them to serve the purpose of the plot.

ive got the popcorn
sit on my lap and
lets write a story
http://www.addis-welt.de/smilie/smilie/essen/yu3.gif

 

[OhMissScarlett]

ive got the popcorn
sit on my lap and
lets write a story
http://www.addis-welt.de/smilie/smilie/essen/yu3.gif

A lesbian three-way story?!

 

[Guest]

A lesbian three-way story?!

is there any other kind?

 

[brightlyiburn]

When I write, I constantly backspace whole sentences, sometimes whole paragraphs because it just doesn't sound right to me. I'll spen an hour on 40 words rather than leave it and come back to it later. That's probablly why I hardly ever finish any stories.

You know, I don't do that sort of thing very often. You guys make me realize just how impulsive my writing really is.
Perhaps my ideas are more organized than I ever realize. I would say it's a haphazard mess in my head, but I always know what the next point is that I'm trying to get to. Or maybe I've just been a disorganized person so long that I'm used to it?

My biggest problem has been outgrowing my stories. Like while I'm doing it I like it, then a few months later I look at it and go "Ohmigod, these ideas are so lame". I have that problem mostly with my fantasy stories for some reason. It drives me nuts. And lemme tell ya, that ain't a long drive.

 

[steve w]

I'm hoping that analysing your writing isn't like riding a bike, because

a) if you think about it too much you'll fall over

b) I can't ride a bike

With my longer pieces (i.e. novel-length) I have to see it as a series of short movie clips, otherwise I lose the sense of it and the structure falls apart.

With my shorter pieces, it's generally just a phrase or single image that comes to mind, and it just flows from there. The piece acquires a "voice" of its own. Generally, these are the pieces that I'm most pleased with when I read them back, and require the least editing.

One other thing - whenever I have a major character, I ascribe an actor/actress to them. This means I can then easily picture their face, expression, and their body language in any circumstance, without having to create that image from scratch in my head. I find that gives me consistency when I describe the same character in different situations or emotions.

Hope that helps/entertains in some way

 

[Belegon]

The "movie in my mind" thing works for me in the sense that I do visualize everything and could easily see locations, etc. I even think of real locations I've been where I could film things.

But one thing I see being mentioned that is completely different for me is that many of us seem to see a scene or a situation. For me it is all about characters. I understand the "channel" analogy very well, because they often go directions I had not intended.. Actually, the only story here that has never "twisted" in the telling is Wingman and that is because I just retold and enhanced an actual event.

My writing is all about characters. They are in charge of me and I am just taking direction. The frustrating part is that often they shut up for extended periods of time.

 

[Halo_n_horns]

Not wanting to sound redundant here, but...

The movie-in-my-mind scenario seems to fit best for me also. I'm an artist before I'm a writer so the whole thing is mulling through my mind, sometimes for weeks, or longer, before a version is set in my head that I want to get out. Pretty often the details will get the better of me since as an artist I see things in very miniscule details. Sometimes this is good, sometimes this is a great challenge because I know the scene I'm writing doesn't need to be as "wordy" as it is.

 

[curious2c]

Well...I get ideas from real life situations...at work, home, traveling, and just observing people. Then, as I often do, throughout the day while working or playing, I do 'what if' scenarios. If one of those scenarios happens to trigger a 'flood' of ideas, I begin to run the movie of the ideas in my head. Lots of editing later, I have a full run movie up there, and I begin to work out the whole thing on the computer. Sometimes, as I'm writing, other avenues will pop up and I'll note them, and if something doesn't seem to be working right...go back and take that branch road.

Once in a while, when things are really working well, I'll get ideas while writing one story, for several other stories. I make notes, base storyline...or even just the premise in a folder and keep that to come back and visit once in a while. Another way of what ifing.

Sometimes, what I think works and what I 'see' in my mind doesn't translate well to print...(PC) and I stumble...but mostly it is a smooth process that works for me.