Writing - Planning or Stream of Consciousness

[tessarin]

Well real life and a general fatigue has slowed down my writing a fair bit recently. However, that slow down has proved useful in another way. It's forced me to reappraise whether I am over planning my fics. On some days I have struggled to write portions and yet on other days when inspiration has hit me and I have disregarded my plan, I have been

Comments

[keith5by5]

Do you just write loose outlines for each chapter or the story as a whole

[tessarin]

Thanks for this. It mirrors my own experience.My own are mainly narrative and plotline outlines but they do include a brief character overview for the leads but not the supporting cast. I have been wondering about doing it for them but have held off as its too much work.

Interested that you write bios for original characters. Are these WIP's, just brief outlines originally. Or are they fully featured including physical appearance, goals, quirks etc before the first line is writing.

I find without a plan stream writing leads to big plotholes but then so does overcomplicated planning. Futher I was finding that the plan was acting like a set of railroad tracks. The ending I had planned had a 'cool' reveal but characterwise was like kryptonite since the plot from the middle to the end led there I have been stuck. In the end when I let the characters dictate it it became easier but it was a pain letting that reveal go.

[keith5by5]

"Thanks for this. It mirrors my own experience.My own are mainly narrative and plotline outlines but they do include a brief character overview for the leads but not the supporting cast. I have been wondering about doing it for them but have held off as its too much work

[speakr2customrs]

I tend to write a summary, a very loose outline of the story as a whole, and a more detailed treatment of a few points along the way. Almost always I write the very last line first; for instance, over two years ago I wrote the last line of 'Tabula Avatar': Buffy lowered her sword and smiled behind her visor. "You can call me 'Light of Heaven'." It will probably be another two years, and perhaps another quarter of a million words or more, before that last line is reached but I'm still on course

[tessarin]

Thanks. Interesting your take on the last line thing. I generally have starting scenes and the end scene playing like a little sketch in my mind. Generally this occurs during the initial inspiration phase often quite a while before I put a plan down. But not the last line.

'I've been trying to modify it for months but when the road-block turns out to be caused by the road going to the wrong place it's a little hard to rectify the problem.'

That was sort of the problem I was having that prompted. The end scene fitted but the participants and their motivations were off.

Do you find the bios help with larger cast sizes?

[ozma914]

Do you just write loose outlines for each chapter or the story as a whole

[tessarin]

Thanks it does seem that using the plan as a loose framework to guide the story rather than a series of absolute checkpoints seems the most popular method.

'Are the bios redone for each fic? No ... um, not yet. Should they be?' No idea. This primarily arose about writing sequels in fanfic. I've found digging back in earlier fics for character details and motivations a bit of a problem especially if they're written a while ago.

sequels in fanfic

[ozma914]

That's a really good point. Since almost all my stories are set in the same universe post-Chosen, in a way they're *all* sequels. I haven't redone the bios each time, but I have had to take care to keep track of where everyone is and what's happened to them.

Then there are my Dana and Buffybot, who've changed quite a bit over the course of my stories ... maybe I do need to look into bios a bit more carefully.

[electricalgwen]

I have almost never outlined a fic, although I should note I tend to write short one-offs. I have written outlines for two major multi-chapter things and then... not written them, or at least not gotten past the first chapter as yet. (In both cases, I had written the first chapter before the outline.) It seems as if having the outline written puts me off - I've told the story to myself, I know where it's gone, and the actual getting there isn't important anymore. I want to go and write something new, something that I don't know where it's going yet. Usually I start writing and keep going until it gets to a natural end

[tessarin]

Thanks.

'It seems as if having the outline written puts me off - I've told the story to myself'

Actually that is exactly the sort of problem I was alluding to. When you just write it down as it occurs, you keep that joy of discovery thing going. Planning does seem to remove some of the edge and turn the getting the A to B into a bit of a chore.

The out of sequence thing I only tend to do when I get stuck, jump ahead and then come back when the transition presents itself.

[trepkos]

Do you just write loose outlines for each chapter or the story as a whole

[tessarin]

Thank you for your comments. The general framework approach seems to be the preferred approach.

'The plan is just a skeleton - like a decayed autumn leaf. I try and fill in the smaller veins and flesh it out bit by bit.'

Nice analogy.

You mentioned you plan out the narrative and keep the metaphors in your head. Did you use relationship maps at all , say whiteboarding them?

[trepkos]

No - I've never heard of doing that.
Again, all in my head, I guess.
It's very cluttered in there!