For me, anyway, I definitely think about the "how" before I start writing. It's usually the biggest obstacle for me to figure out. I'll get an idea for a story, and know right away that I love it, then spend days or weeks just thinking about how it's going to work. Whether it should be continuous or disjointed, flashbacks or all in the present, which point of view, how much of the story is important to tell and how much can be implied.
Those things -- I think about those in the shower, while driving, while at the gym. Those are the questions that are always kind of running in the back of my mind, no matter what I'm doing. The what of the story just sort of sits there waiting for the rest of it to fall into place. And sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I have some ideas I've been trying to figure out for years (literally).
And I think world-building is a whole extra layer of complication in any process. There's always a danger of doing too much, which is so easy because it's fun. (I draw maps, yo. Detailed maps! In color!)
( ... )
Oh wow. I so know how this feels. All of it, oddly enough. I went through an almost two year dry spell awhile back. I was terrified I wouldn't be able to write again. Then last January (a year and a half ago now), I started in on poetry again. I started slow. *g* By May I started having fiction ideas, and writing stuff by hand, little by little, before I finally built up enough momentum to start writing by computer again.
I kept having to trick my brain, too, to write on paper that had designs on it so it didn't feel like I was staring at a blank page. That would kill any creativity I was feeling.
Then I fell into SPN fandom and everything really got kick started. Now I'm writing a gazillion fanfic stories, and working on an original novel.
Overplotting. Also afraid of that. Don't want things to go stale. Too much fussing, and all the freshness is gone. Ugh.Yes. Its so hard to find that fine line where you have enough plot points to keep from stalling out every couple thousand words, but not so much that you feel you've
( ... )
Hey, Em-- friending you back, once I figure out how.
Don't you just love that idea stage of writing - it's like sex. It's mind-fizzing, as you say, makes you feel good all over, takes you places you never thought you'd go, possibilities everywhere...
And then there's the gestation, and the labour, but man, the sex was good, at least.
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Those things -- I think about those in the shower, while driving, while at the gym. Those are the questions that are always kind of running in the back of my mind, no matter what I'm doing. The what of the story just sort of sits there waiting for the rest of it to fall into place. And sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. I have some ideas I've been trying to figure out for years (literally).
And I think world-building is a whole extra layer of complication in any process. There's always a danger of doing too much, which is so easy because it's fun. (I draw maps, yo. Detailed maps! In color!) ( ... )
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I kept having to trick my brain, too, to write on paper that had designs on it so it didn't feel like I was staring at a blank page. That would kill any creativity I was feeling.
Then I fell into SPN fandom and everything really got kick started. Now I'm writing a gazillion fanfic stories, and working on an original novel.
Overplotting. Also afraid of that. Don't want things to go stale. Too much fussing, and all the freshness is gone. Ugh.Yes. Its so hard to find that fine line where you have enough plot points to keep from stalling out every couple thousand words, but not so much that you feel you've ( ... )
Reply
friending you back, once I figure out how.
Don't you just love that idea stage of writing - it's like sex. It's mind-fizzing, as you say, makes you feel good all over, takes you places you never thought you'd go, possibilities everywhere...
And then there's the gestation, and the labour, but man, the sex was good, at least.
Reply
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