This is so, so awesome. Composition studies folks like TR Johnson and Sondra Perl talk about writing with a "felt sense" of when you're on the right track, where you need to go, when the words are getting you to where you want to be. I think this takes over more in creative writing because in essays, we're trained out of listening to our felt sense with a series of rules of what needs to get in there, when sometimes it would be better to listen to the popcorn first, and then go back and make sure someone else can read it.
I only outline myself when I 1) know I'll have to come back to something later and I'm afraid I'll forget, 2) I'm reaching the end and I need to put some clear scenes in mind to push myself to finish (endings are hard), or 3) usually after Minute One some scenes will spring to mind, and I'll make some notes for what will happen later in the story, once I've properly built up to them.
Oh, that's cool. And it sounds about write for me.
I've actually gotten caught by #1, because I don't outline. I do have a scraps/note file, though, and that helps me to catch some things. Sometimes.
When I'm writing, because I don't write linearly, my writing files look something like this:
Beginning, set up, PoV begins and something is happening.
Of late, that's porn.
//This indicates a break in the scene, where either more stuff will go, or I'll eventually break the scene completely.
The rest of the scene, or bits of it.
* * *
//A scene that I'll fill in later, depending on whether it actually needs it. In a story with split PoV (typically alternating), this is where the next PoV will be, but maybe I want to skip ahead in time and stay in Clark's/Lex's head space.
* * *
So the next scene picks up here.And now, having written that out... maybe I outline as I go a bit more than I thought, but it's never a separate outline. It's just notes in the story file itself. "//" means "Come back to here and flesh this out, clean this
( ... )
I love the comparison with popcorn. ^_^ Our family mostly did air popping, though I remember the stove top (so cool!) and at work we do the microwaves. ANTICIPATION... and don't wander off before they get burnt. ^^ (We've had a few fire alarms at work because of that ;p
( ... )
I realized I kept writing myself into walls Offhand, that statement right there is what might have been where things went wrong in my Clexmas stories. I loved Stray when it was done, but writing was a bitch. I liked writing Reclamation, but wasn't satisfied immediately after it was done (I like it much better now, though there are still things I would change, and will, when I get back to writing the original version
( ... )
I don't remember ever planning in RPing. It was mostly: this is the universe we're playing with, your character, my character, improvise! I don't know how large they ever got, as most of my RPing was/is done in chat (I save all IM convos) and the current one that I haven't poked around in in a while... I haven't checked to see how long it's gotten. But it's three of us RPing together post by post. Timewise, it hasn't gotten very far, but when you're RPing, scenes last a lot longer than they would if it was just me in charge of it all.
You just have to know your own character and their goals and motivations. The story I failed to write last year for NaNo? <-- that is the reason I failed. I think it's the main reason my last few original stories have gone nowhere, despite haunting me still. I cannot seem to get a grasp on the leads. (I have a new book and I'm making another attempt and I'm even throwing both stories into a pot and mixing them up in hopes of figuring it out
( ... )
My main RP venues have been forums, chat(aim and now skype), and email. I would log all of my chats, but I like reading my logs so I would edit them into a more readable format in my word processor. Thus, wordcounts
( ... )
Comments 10
I only outline myself when I 1) know I'll have to come back to something later and I'm afraid I'll forget, 2) I'm reaching the end and I need to put some clear scenes in mind to push myself to finish (endings are hard), or 3) usually after Minute One some scenes will spring to mind, and I'll make some notes for what will happen later in the story, once I've properly built up to them.
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I've actually gotten caught by #1, because I don't outline. I do have a scraps/note file, though, and that helps me to catch some things. Sometimes.
When I'm writing, because I don't write linearly, my writing files look something like this:
Beginning, set up, PoV begins and something is happening.
Of late, that's porn.
//This indicates a break in the scene, where either more stuff will go, or I'll eventually break the scene completely.
The rest of the scene, or bits of it.
* * *
//A scene that I'll fill in later, depending on whether it actually needs it. In a story with split PoV (typically alternating), this is where the next PoV will be, but maybe I want to skip ahead in time and stay in Clark's/Lex's head space.
* * *
So the next scene picks up here.And now, having written that out... maybe I outline as I go a bit more than I thought, but it's never a separate outline. It's just notes in the story file itself. "//" means "Come back to here and flesh this out, clean this ( ... )
Reply
Reply
I realized I kept writing myself into walls Offhand, that statement right there is what might have been where things went wrong in my Clexmas stories. I loved Stray when it was done, but writing was a bitch. I liked writing Reclamation, but wasn't satisfied immediately after it was done (I like it much better now, though there are still things I would change, and will, when I get back to writing the original version ( ... )
Reply
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You just have to know your own character and their goals and motivations. The story I failed to write last year for NaNo? <-- that is the reason I failed. I think it's the main reason my last few original stories have gone nowhere, despite haunting me still. I cannot seem to get a grasp on the leads. (I have a new book and I'm making another attempt and I'm even throwing both stories into a pot and mixing them up in hopes of figuring it out ( ... )
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