Your writing process

[EmilyMiller]

So I used to exclusively write quasi-autobiographical stuff and still do some stories in this vein (my On The Job event story, for example and another I have 25% done). For this, I basically just started writing, remembering what happened. My main creative choices were about splicing together different events, embellishing the more boring bits, or deciding what to leave out

Now that I’m writing more de novo stories, I find it’s different. Now I try to write notes on what the story is about, themes, things that I’d like to have happen etc. I then often write an introduction, to see if I’m actually interested in writing it. If I am, then I try to sketch out a structure. This might have things where I’m unclear what might happen - “maybe A thinks B and so does C, but how does that reconcile with D?”.

Then I start writing. I write on my phone, using the Office 365 version of Word. Maybe it would be different on a laptop. I tend to write a section, then save the whole document back to Lit and use the preview function to read the latest bit. I make changes to the Word document when I find errors, or ugly sentences, or continuity issues. Every few sections, I go back and read it all (again in Preview) from the beginning. Often noting things from later writing that I should have introduced (or foreshadowed) at the beginning. Or realizing that I need to insert a new section.

How does that compare to your process?

Em

 

[John_Vandermeer]

That is pretty detailed explanation... For me, since I usually am aiming for a multichapter novella, what I most focus on is what is the impetus, what changes in the main characters' lives, and on the basis of that disruption what is the likely new resting state, and how do they get there. Said like a geek, equilibrium-->disruption-->transient state-->equilibrium. Who the characters are is obviously crucial, as that determines how they react to the disruption. I also often think about "tactics" in an overall "strategy" my main characters (mostly FMC) will bring to bear given who they are, the opportunity set, and the nature of the disruption. And within that there is a semi logical sequence, though there are alternatives, that go from point A to point B. Hence giving some sequence to the chapters. At first I thought I was mostly writing MMC experience. But I find myself more and more writing FMC agency actually. If that makes sense. I also notice I probably put more emphasis on "world building" than most writers outside of SF/Fantasy type stuff. Though my world is almost always a very thinly veiled version of some real place I know, which makes it easier.

As far as the writing I try to think out the key events of a chapter before I get in front of the computer. Any key twist or experience or growth along the way. And once I have that for a chapter, I try to do a quick chapter dump. Almost stream of thought. After that is done I go back and try to clean it out. And there is where I usually get lazy after a handful of passes and decide it is good enough as it is (not being paid for this after all) and release it to wolves wholly unripened. I type in word and copy and paste into the Lit publishing tool.

 

[KeithD]

How does that compare to your process?

Em

Ideas pop into my mind, often on the few minutes in which I'm fully waking up in the morning. I track down a few notes I'll need, like names and places, I sit down to the computer, and I compose.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Ideas pop into my mind, often on the few minutes in which I'm fully waking up in the morning. I track down a few notes I'll need, like names and places, I sit down to the computer, and I compose.

Better than decompose I guess

Em

 

[gunhilltrain]

This is not sanctioned by any creative writing course, but sometimes I write the beginning first and then the end, and work towards the middle. Or there may be more than one such gap to fill in. I had to do that with the Geek Pride entry, because it got kind of complicated. I had four pages of notes for that, and I had to decide which details to use and which to leave out. Not that it's actually done yet.

 

[djrip]

Now I try to write notes on what the story is about, themes, things that I’d like to have happen etc. I then often write an introduction, to see if I’m actually interested in writing it. If I am, then I try to sketch out a structure. This might have things where I’m unclear what might happen - “maybe A thinks B and so does C, but how does that reconcile with D?”.

All this resonates with me, I'm always putting notes about what's coming up after some whitespace at the bottom. Then I'll write more, and then think of more notes. Then gradually delete the notes as that part gets written or the story moves in a different direction.

I write in Gmail drafts. They are waiting for me on any computer I sit down at. I have one older laptop that won't open Google docs but it can still edit Gmail drafts.

I tend to read from the beginning during each session, making tweaks and adjustments until I reach the end of what's been written and then continuing on while in the flow of the story from having just read it.

 

[EmilyMiller]

All this resonates with me, I'm always putting notes about what's coming up after some whitespace at the bottom. Then I'll write more, and then think of more notes. Then gradually delete the notes as that part gets written or the story moves in a different direction.

I do exactly that

Em

 

[tenyari]

I have a character and a theme in mind, then I just hit 'record' and start typing.

My stuff is almost always stream of though that then gets edited. That leads to some very long stories where not much gets done... but it also leads me into a lot of character and setting depth as I'm just writing the characters doing things, experiencing the world I've put them in, and how they feel about it all.

I just submitted a story an hour or so ago, that's 21,480 words long. I wrote it in 2 days, edited it, and published it. I'm barely even started. It's just chapter one. Once the theme is in there, I can just get on a roll. And now I know this character and her world so I could just sit down at any moment and let it roll out. I still can and do get writer's block. Especially if I write into a corner or something in life moves me away from feeling a character. I'm just on the other side of a nearly 20 year long case of writer's block... so yeah... But when I feel a character, it just 'happens'.

Sometimes I have to actually add a plot in after the fact...

 

[djrip]

I have a character and a theme in mind, then I just hit 'record' and start typing.

My stuff is almost always stream of though that then gets edited. That leads to some very long stories where not much gets done... but it also leads me into a lot of character and setting depth as I'm just writing the characters doing things, experiencing the world I've put them in, and how they feel about it all.

Sometimes I have to actually add a plot in after the fact...

This is how I play Skyrim. Just walking around, looking around.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have a character and a theme in mind, then I just hit 'record' and start typing.

My stuff is almost always stream of though that then gets edited. That leads to some very long stories where not much gets done... but it also leads me into a lot of character and setting depth as I'm just writing the characters doing things, experiencing the world I've put them in, and how they feel about it all.

Yes, this is me; no preconceived plot - how can there be when I've not met my characters yet? Certainly no outline on paper, possibly a few thoughts in my head, a scene or two, usually a visual image.

I've had characters arrive in the course of a paragraph, steaming up from my subconscious, ready for this story, or more likely, bit characters who get their own story later.

Like you, my writing is pretty much stream of consciousness, gets minimal edit. I reckon my final version is 97% - 98% first draft, which keeps the energy raw. I have a rolling edit process, going over the previous sections before I write today's. This keeps the continuity together and the pacing right, but my edit is minimal - words and sentences mostly, the occasional rejig of a paragraph.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Take ADHD meds in the morning. Go through routine. Spontaneously get two to three new ideas as meds kick in half an hour later. Forget one to two of them before I can write them down. Obsess over remaining idea for next hour; don't actually write anything, just think real, real hard. Maybe write something if I get free time. Discard story until somewhere between three days and three years later. Repeat until same idea won't leave my head for three days in a row. Brain fever seizes me, and I write 4K a day on whatever story it's decided to "really" focus on until I'm done; ignore work if necessary, panic-code to meet deadline. Themes, characters, beginning, and ending may all change during this process.

Edit. Edit. Edit. Submit. Edit. Submit. Read. FUCK! EDIT! Submit again. Wake up at three in the morning to see how it's doing. Obsessively click back and forth between Feed and Works pages to see numbers change. Read it again now that it's up; see three missed typos and a dozen ways I wish I'd slightly changed the phrasing. Fuck! Think I should hold onto the next story longer. Know I won't. Finally pass out again at five.

Wake up, tired and exhilarated, at six-thirty; snooze.

Take ADHD meds.

 

[Voboy]

I just write.

I start out, normally, with a setting and a situation. Then I shuffle through my prior stories and find a side character I'd like to write a story about, and write up a couple of paragraphs and a cast list. The cast list contains capsule biographies and small details I'd like to make sure I keep consistent.

Then? Out come the words. I'm unwillingly on Word through Docs these days.

I know within 1k words, usually, whether it's a viable concept, then I revisit every 5k or so to make sure it's still worth writing. Eventually the rest of the plot occurs to me, and I write out a sequence of bullet points at the bottom of the doc. The last line often occurs to me about this time, too.

I finish, then reread it precisely ONE TIME for continuity and word choice. It's best if that's done in a sitting, or at worst within the same day. Any fixes are invariably minor: what shows up on Lit is probably 98% of what came shitting out of my fingers at the moment I wrote the thing.

I download as a Word doc, upload that to Lit, and Bob's your uncle.

 

[tenyari]

Yes, this is me; no preconceived plot - how can there be when I've not met my characters yet? Certainly no outline on paper, possibly a few thoughts in my head, a scene or two, usually a visual image.

I've had characters arrive in the course of a paragraph, steaming up from my subconscious, ready for this story, or more likely, bit characters who get their own story later.

I do have some stories on my computer with very long highly developed plots and notes in outline form.

Those stories have sat unfinished for decades. If I try to plan it too much, I plan right out of my creativity.

Oh yeah, characters arriving in the course of a paragraph. I do that a lot. Major characters have just walked into my scene unannounced and more or less told me "hey, this story is now half about me" right then and there. A great example of that will be in my next story. The 'second lead' popped in just because my character said something she was thinking, and I randomly typed a response, put quote marks around it, then described the person who'd responded... birthing the 'second lead' right then and there.

 

[onehitwanda]

My writing process:

step 1:

step 2:

step 3:

I'm obviously exaggerating for dramatic effect But it's not that far from the truth.

 

[onehitwanda]

Edit. Edit. Edit. Submit. Edit. Submit. Read. FUCK! EDIT! Submit again. Wake up at three in the morning to see how it's doing. Obsessively click back and forth between Feed and Works pages to see numbers change. Read it again now that it's up; see three missed typos and a dozen ways I wish I'd slightly changed the phrasing. Fuck! Think I should hold onto the next story longer. Know I won't. Finally pass out again at five.

oh God. I'm having such horrible flashbacks right now.

 

[EmilyMiller]

My writing process:

step 1:

step 2:

step 3:

I'm obviously exaggerating for dramatic effect But it's not that far from the truth.

It clearly works, hun .

Em

 

[ElectricBlue]

Oh yeah, characters arriving in the course of a paragraph. I do that a lot. Major characters have just walked into my scene unannounced and more or less told me "hey, this story is now half about me" right then and there. A great example of that will be in my next story. The 'second lead' popped in just because my character said something she was thinking, and I randomly typed a response, put quote marks around it, then described the person who'd responded... birthing the 'second lead' right then and there.

This, absolutely. Some of my best and favourite characters have done this. They're always a ton of fun to write, because they're usually unravelling at a million miles an hour, and the problem is keeping up. God knows what's going on in my subconscious, with these women (they're always the women) conjuring themselves cup to the surface.

 

[NoTalentHack]

oh God. I'm having such horrible flashbacks right now.

I have embraced my weakness and called it strength. None may claim otherwise.

 

[neuroparenthetical]

My characters take form and insist upon themselves. My general idea for a story becomes their playground. I shrug and go along for the ride, while burdening half or more of them with my sense of humor and my tendency to overanalyze. I don't outline. I just putter around with the ideas in my head, then write.

Right now, I'm writing a story where I 100% want the quasi-maybe-antagonist-who-even-knows to drop a mini-speech about how the only way God in Heaven can make people truly happy is by using a form of mind control on them, which is a big-ass hammer pounding a big-ass nail all the way home. I'm tempted to bring up the "I must become Superman IV The Quest For Peace" joke from Family Guy as a response to it.

The trouble is that said character is a nineteen-year-old girl who maybe isn't super interested in being my mouthpiece. I contemplate the irony of forcing her to be anyway, and then promise myself I won't go meta again.

 

[alohadave]

I need to know where the story ends, or I end up making a scene or two and coming to a stop, with nowhere to go.

That's okay when writing something short, but not that useful when making a cohesive story.

So I try to make an outline of the big plot points, and work the story into that.

 

[onehitwanda]

I need to know where the story ends

bonking. Always the bonking.

Sometimes the oral sex.

 

[EmilyMiller]

My characters take form and insist upon themselves. My general idea for a story becomes their playground. I shrug and go along for the ride, while burdening half or more of them with my sense of humor and my tendency to overanalyze. I don't outline. I just putter around with the ideas in my head, then write.

So how does that work when your main character is, well, yourself?

Em (not a narcissist, honest)

 

[ElectricBlue]

So how does that work when your main character is, well, yourself?

Em (not a narcissist, honest)

Put yourself with an imaginary someone else, or write about yourself from their point of view.

It will still be all about Em, but at least you'll give another character a go, and you'll see yourself from another point of view.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Put yourself with an imaginary someone else, or write about yourself from their point of view.

It will still be all about Em, but at least you'll give another character a go, and you'll see yourself from another point of view.

Like this?

Em

 

[aim2plz412]

So I used to exclusively write quasi-autobiographical stuff and still do some stories in this vein (my On The Job event story, for example and another I have 25% done). For this, I basically just started writing, remembering what happened. My main creative choices were about splicing together different events, embellishing the more boring bits, or deciding what to leave out

Now that I’m writing more de novo stories, I find it’s different. Now I try to write notes on what the story is about, themes, things that I’d like to have happen etc. I then often write an introduction, to see if I’m actually interested in writing it. If I am, then I try to sketch out a structure. This might have things where I’m unclear what might happen - “maybe A thinks B and so does C, but how does that reconcile with D?”.

Then I start writing. I write on my phone, using the Office 365 version of Word. Maybe it would be different on a laptop. I tend to write a section, then save the whole document back to Lit and use the preview function to read the latest bit. I make changes to the Word document when I find errors, or ugly sentences, or continuity issues. Every few sections, I go back and read it all (again in Preview) from the beginning. Often noting things from later writing that I should have introduced (or foreshadowed) at the beginning. Or realizing that I need to insert a new section.

How does that compare to your process?

Em

I believe there are two types of writers: there are architects and there are gardeners.

Architects painfully plan out every details, constructing the narrative methodically brick by brick.

Gardeners, throw down seeds, water it, and see what happens. With luck, you have something salvageable.

I am of the gardener variety. My ramblings have a life of their own and I just prune the growth.

Art is tricky like that.