The planning process

[demotu]

allopathic, who knows me in real life and doesn't actually read my writing because he doesn't watch Torchwood (but is a cool guy who likes to chat about writing processes and other such things) got me thinking. The particular question he posed to me was:

Do you put a lot of thought into your writing before you start typing?

I hemmed and hawed a little, and

Comments

[thaddeusfavour]

Very interesting. Thinking about writing is almost thinking about thinking. :P

[demotu]

Yes! Exactly. It's really really hard to articulate. So I just used a lot of examples. :)

It was a fun thought experiment, though.

[tintop_lizzy]

I am in love with your brain. I have merely wavered about description v. dialogue, but will waver with a more informed lack of decicion now. have memmed this for later perusal. Thanks.

[demotu]

What do you mean you "wavered about description vs. dialogue"? My distinguishing between them, or your writing them?

Enjoy! I just started thinking about it and ended up writing this long, random thing. :)

[tintop_lizzy]

Was relating my shortcomings to your much greater abilities, sorry to confuse the issue. Thanks for the insight though, I'll attempt to draft/redraft with a little more insight now.

[demotu]

You know, I think it would be even better to sit down and analyze your own writing process, since I doubt it's the same as mine, and knowing how you work might help to do it more consciously.

But hey, if this helped, great!

[kel_reiley]

that is very detailed and organized
my writing process is something akin to a jigsaw puzzle falling on my head from the top shelf of the closet (when i was merely looking for some gloves or something) and i have to try to find all the pieces

[demotu]

And by "very detailed" you mean effing huge, right? I again fail at being concise. :P

The jigsaw thing would explain why Bits and Pieces is non-linear, I guess. I like the metaphor. I like thinking of it how native american wood carvers think of their work: they didn't create the animal they carved, they released it from the wood. I often feel like I'm slowly uncovering an already existing story.

[kel_reiley]

in a 'i am not the creator, i am merely the vessel' sort of way

non-linear story-telling is actually much harder
with a straightforward story, all you have to do is put the pieces in chronological order - this leads to this leadds to this - the edges of the puzzle match to make up the picture
with 'bits and pieces' i actually have to rearrange the whole picture and yet still find a way to make sense at the same time (or force ppl to go blind from focusing too hard)

[demotu]

Yeah, I can see that. I find with bits and pieces I pay closer attention that I normally do to fics because I need to - and I usually sort out the timing in a sentence or two, it's very well done that way.

[antelope_writes]

Thank you.

[demotu]

Lol! You're welcome. I'm glad you made it through! It turned out a little longer than I expected... (I should give up these expectations.)

[allopathic]

I can tell that this would have been a long text-conversation.

Also - I'm flattered to hear/Read that I'm a cool guy ((Insert Smile Here))

Lastly - I do read some of your stuff. After all, I read this didn't I?

((Grin))

[demotu]

Yeah. I realized that last night and ended up wanting to articulate it to myself a little more fluidly than in an IM. If I didn't answer your question - or you have others - do feel free to ask. Clearly, I enjoy thinking about it.

:D