Because this is what I do: write it all down, in bits and pieces. Never in a linear structure
I daren't do that: I would write all the 'interesting' bits and then never finish the story! Also I find that I need to have made the journey with the POV character, to experience what he's gone through. On the few occasions that I wrote scenes out of order, I had to rewrite the later ones as I found they were no longer what I wanted after I'd gone back and done the earlier ones. I guess I only know where I'm going after I've made the journey!
Usually, I start with single scenes, some core idea what the story could be about, and I write all that down. Then I connect the scenes and wonder a bit more about the motives of the characters.
Yes. The 'inciting idea' sparks off a train of thought in my head, but I don't write for a few days. I wait till it's burning a hole in my head: normally that will take two or three days, and my subconscious will have been chewing away at the story too. It's usual in that stage for me to lull myself to sleep by thinking through story questions. Then I wake up and find I have answers! (Often also I bounce ideas off my husband: just the process of talking at (not to!) him can resolve problems!)
When I can't see any further, I switch to editing mode and try to eliminate everything that makes me cringe, see if I see something else, write that down and edit once more. Then it goes to the betas.
I'll have the main draft, which is linear, as I said, and usually a subsidiary document open which acts as a notepad: for ideas, questions, images that have occurred to me.
They ask questions and I see how stuff is missing on the page that exists in my head.
Exactly!
Or I have no clue and then I have to go and listen to the characters, watch them closely and write more shitty first stuff. And so on. My usual number of versions goes from two to five or six. With the exception of one fic where I wrote fourteen versions over the course of two and a half years - but I was a little obsessed with that one and it's clearly not my standard procedure.
Some of my longer stories run to more versions than average. Do you retype from scratch or do you edit on screen? I find that I have to do a complete retype or the story doesn't get the fresh approach it deserves. Though with the 'editor on' type story, I'm increasingly able to edit this on screen until the very final draft.
It's hard for me to post an example, because especially in the first drafts, I tend to shuffle around important bits to see where they will fit best in the end.
I'd be interested at some point to see an early version compared with a later one, but I can see that it's going to be tough to choose material!
Sorry for not replying sooner! Your comment somehow got moved from my inbox-folder, and cleaning up today, I found it. *blushes*
I had to rewrite the later ones as I found they were no longer what I wanted after I'd gone back and done the earlier ones.
I don't mind changing a scenes once I get there again and find that they don't work any longer. But most of the times, those early written scenes hold a core that will get used in the story sooner or later. So sometimes I move a scene from one place to another or even split it up into separate ideas or re-write it from a different perspective, but I will mostly keep the core.
Oh yes, the process of talking can do wonders to knowing what it's all about! All we need is someone to listen and nod every now and then. *clutches teddy bear*
I edit on screen - I'm far to lazy to retype. What I do is that I make a copy of the old document with a new version number. Then I open the new document and the document with comments from my beta and switch between those two all the time. I don't like the "accept changes" option in Word, because I want to make a conscious decision what I take, and I want to understand what I take, too.
I daren't do that: I would write all the 'interesting' bits and then never finish the story! Also I find that I need to have made the journey with the POV character, to experience what he's gone through. On the few occasions that I wrote scenes out of order, I had to rewrite the later ones as I found they were no longer what I wanted after I'd gone back and done the earlier ones. I guess I only know where I'm going after I've made the journey!
Usually, I start with single scenes, some core idea what the story could be about, and I write all that down. Then I connect the scenes and wonder a bit more about the motives of the characters.
Yes. The 'inciting idea' sparks off a train of thought in my head, but I don't write for a few days. I wait till it's burning a hole in my head: normally that will take two or three days, and my subconscious will have been chewing away at the story too. It's usual in that stage for me to lull myself to sleep by thinking through story questions. Then I wake up and find I have answers! (Often also I bounce ideas off my husband: just the process of talking at (not to!) him can resolve problems!)
When I can't see any further, I switch to editing mode and try to eliminate everything that makes me cringe, see if I see something else, write that down and edit once more. Then it goes to the betas.
I'll have the main draft, which is linear, as I said, and usually a subsidiary document open which acts as a notepad: for ideas, questions, images that have occurred to me.
They ask questions and I see how stuff is missing on the page that exists in my head.
Exactly!
Or I have no clue and then I have to go and listen to the characters, watch them closely and write more shitty first stuff. And so on. My usual number of versions goes from two to five or six. With the exception of one fic where I wrote fourteen versions over the course of two and a half years - but I was a little obsessed with that one and it's clearly not my standard procedure.
Some of my longer stories run to more versions than average. Do you retype from scratch or do you edit on screen? I find that I have to do a complete retype or the story doesn't get the fresh approach it deserves. Though with the 'editor on' type story, I'm increasingly able to edit this on screen until the very final draft.
It's hard for me to post an example, because especially in the first drafts, I tend to shuffle around important bits to see where they will fit best in the end.
I'd be interested at some point to see an early version compared with a later one, but I can see that it's going to be tough to choose material!
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I had to rewrite the later ones as I found they were no longer what I wanted after I'd gone back and done the earlier ones.
I don't mind changing a scenes once I get there again and find that they don't work any longer. But most of the times, those early written scenes hold a core that will get used in the story sooner or later. So sometimes I move a scene from one place to another or even split it up into separate ideas or re-write it from a different perspective, but I will mostly keep the core.
Oh yes, the process of talking can do wonders to knowing what it's all about! All we need is someone to listen and nod every now and then. *clutches teddy bear*
I edit on screen - I'm far to lazy to retype. What I do is that I make a copy of the old document with a new version number. Then I open the new document and the document with comments from my beta and switch between those two all the time. I don't like the "accept changes" option in Word, because I want to make a conscious decision what I take, and I want to understand what I take, too.
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