How do you write? And other stuff of little importance to anyone but myself...

[odysseaia]

For days I've been positively dazed by the response from the Big Bang posts. I'm amazed, really and I can only say that the experience of taking part in the SPN-J2-Big Bang has been incredible. It's not just that I've gotten to know a couple of people who are plain and simply awesome, but I feel it has also helped me develop my style of drawing. I

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[odysseaia]

Whoa, what a great answer. Thanks.

For now, I'm sticking to the one-shots but even there I've found that going with one simplistic idea seldom suffices for me. I tend to add action scenes for some obscure reason and for those I need some sort of choreography. As it is, I admire your skill not to get side-tracked even while writing a one-shot. Because without my choreography, that's exactly what happens to me.

So basically I'd say I'm going to snag your method of writing short stories (how long is one of your short stories, by the way?). I really like this mixture between an outline that keeps me on the right track while giving me the freedom to add things at will. Hey, I think I already learned something here! Thanks :)

You write novels? Whoa, again. I'm impressed. I don't think I'd ever have the discipline. I read them and rant and rage about them but writing a novel? Impressing. However, I have to admit, it's very fascinating to hear a bit more about the process of writing a novel. I always imagined authors just sit down and write and "are creative". Apparently it's not as easy as that. There's method to the madness again ;)

One trick I use to help me write, no matter what I'm writing, is acting out scenes.
Ooh, fascinating idea! Of course, for some reason fight scenes tend to find their way into my stories and I'm not sure I should act those out. In fact, that's what I find so hard. I try to experience the things I write about, i.e. when I describe exhaustion I try to think of the way my own body feels when exhausted. However, I have no idea how to apply that to fighting scenes or ghost-hunting scenes for instance. For dialog, I read things out loud sometimes (and wince at my bad, bad English pronunciation).

Another trick you'll probably like better is...drawing!
Can you imagine I never even considered this? But it's genius! I'll try that! :D

Thanks for your help :)

[edgyauthor]

I get easily side-tracked, too, which is why I always try to write things like one-shots in one sitting. I know that if I walk away from it even once, I'll probably never return to it because I'll be working on the Next Shiny Project, haha.

My short stories vary (some are super short while others are waaayy too long), but on average, I'd say they're about 1-4K words. They're usually on the longer side for me, which is weird, because I have the exact opposite problem with my novels. XD

Novel writing is definitely a crazy, difficult process...but despite all the angst, I have so much FUN with it, and actually find it worlds easier than short stories. You should try it sometime if you ever find any new characters or plots knocking at your brain. ;)

Funnily enough, the scenes I find myself acting out the most are the fighting ones. It's rare for me to write a story without them (which sucks, since they're the hardest for me to write, haha), so trying to mirror the action, even though it looks FAR from what's written on the page, helps me get a better "feel" for them. (If that makes any sense at all...) Avoid acting out scenes like that in front of others, though, because they'll think you're nuts. (Not that I know from experience...or maybe I do. *cough*)

Anyway, glad I could help! :D

[odysseaia]

I'll be working on the Next Shiny Project, haha.
Now this sounds frightfully familiar. There are times i feel as if I have the attention span of a three year old child. Something colorful comes my way and the last project is forgotten already. This is why I made a big, sticky post with a to do list. Apart from loving everything that's shiny and distracting, I get a ridiculous amount of satisfaction of crossing out items on a to-do-list once I finished them. That's how I (attempt) to keep all my sign-ups organized (helpfully the submission-dates just jump into my line of vision the moment I log in. There's no hiding).

I'm not sure I could ever write a novel as I'm not the most disciplined person. I tend to have dozens of ideas and start very enthusiastically but then my problems hit me. First of all, I start questioning myself, because I never know enough about any given subject. Then I start researching until I do know enough but have simultaneously burned out all my enthusiasm for the project. This is why I enjoy writing in a fandom. as opposed to doing an original work. In fandom you already know a lot of details and can use the enthusiasm and channel it directly into the story and characterization.

Heh. Acting out scenes in front of others? I demand visual proof!
To be honest, I make up a sort of choreography in my mind (usually when I'm half-asleep on my way to work) and then go with it. It's usually really good but by the time I'm home from work and get to writing, all that's left is a pale shadow of what I thought up. It's the same with pictures. I have a perfect vision in my mind, but the moment my pencil touches the paper, the "new visuals" overlay my mental image and it's gone. That's why I'm pretty much always frustrated with what I do. Perhaps I should do some things to train my memory ;)