Novel What's Your Writing Process?

As a person with ADD, I find just beginning to write and then going back and editing what I've done is usually how I do things. I'm not usually good with the planning but as I've gotten older, I've found that planning where I want a story to go has helped me exponentially just with the world building and organizing events.

 

Once I come up with the initial idea I'll write a brief summary that only I'll end up reading so it's nothing impressive. I used to never start the story until I had knew exactly how it would end but I have since broken that habit, as it tended to hinder any writing at all. I usually put on music to fit the mood of what I'm writing, for example recently I was writing a scene that took place in the woods so I put on some ambient stuff with forest noises. For the most part I need to be alone when writing and I absolutely can't do it when someone is looking over my shoulder. I shut right down. When doing my final draft I always read it out loud so I can hear how it flows.

~Chad Lutzke

 

When I first wrote my series, it was unplanned - everything was completely based on my hands. But then again, I was thirteen so I was a bit off an idiot back then Each time I rewrote my stories, I kept it the same but I've changed the minor details. Like for example, I no longer feel the need to punch my protagonist because of how annoying she was in my head.

Now I've planned most of the future ones so I don't make a mess of everything. As I get closer to some parts, I'll add more things to make the story exciting.

 

A smart writer should be a Clever Thief while Stealing Inspirations,squeezing out ideas from famous writings.

For example ,I used to use an ipad app named "Novel Idea Master"—just copy contents from masterpieces or from net,the app will auto split the contents ,and generate new ideas for you to select .

I like the method, easy and efficient.

 

I started with a main character, my villain. I let her simmer in my mind over many months until I understood, her primary neurosis and her primary motivations. Then I cast her in a role. From that point I sketched out in point form a basic premise for the story. A revenge plot. Then I drilled down to her crisis event and then how she plans to get revenge. Okay, got it. From that point the other characters became obvious and I sketched them out as well. Next I broke the story up into story movement chunks, leadup, crisis point, plot set in motion, ending. And I wrote a short paragraph on the basic gist of each.

Each time I sit to write I focus on just a single scene in any one of these movements, lights, camera, action, write. I go hell for leather on that scene then walk away. Writing the scene usually brings up loose ends, frustrations and things that just don't quite fit. Nevermind, I let it all simmer again until I can tidy it up. Then I go back and edit.

I've written two full chapters now and actually I don't like to write in sequential order. I write scenes as they come to me. Usually as I answer in my own mind important plot elements. A few times curious things have happened, secondary and tertiary characters become known to me during a scene and I'll go back and write a little bio on that character for later. Likewise things like cultural events, historical background and context raises it's head during a scene. Something that I know to be true for this milieu but was never consciously aware of it until its right there, being relevant to the story.

I experience this realtime, evolution thing a lot. And it's interesting. I like it, but sometimes I discard these little intrusions if later I find them to be too derivative of something else or pulling the plot off course. Case in point, my initial plot bore an alarming resemblance to Great Expectations. Luckily I picked this up and modified until it was something more original.

 

My process of writing essay is , I understand the topic . I talk with clients and try to find out what exactly they want in an essay. I do sufficient research related to the topic. Once I'm done with it then I start off my work. Basically ,I try following these steps.

 

I tend to be very critical of my own writing. I keep going back to read what I wrote, rewrite or change things, etc. So I finally decided that I just had to push forward, give myself no excuse to stop the progress of the story. Then afterwards, I will go back and read through it all, do the research needed, etc. The hardest part for me is getting the whole thing written down so that's what I focus on.

 

Funny thing is that I write more at school than at home. Maybe I have more energy there. First I think about my story and then just write. After that I edit it on my computer.

 

First post here and new to writing as ACCERBYSS is. Currently working on my first novel and presently at 92,000 words.

The approach that I took was to get the basics of the story down. The start, the end and the critical points in the plot. From there it was basically a join up the dots exercise. This gave me a lot of latitude to develop the characters and their relationships with each other as the story moved from 1 critical point to the next.

The critical points were at times pushed back or brought forward in the story to accommodate the journey that the characters are on. It has also made the story a lot more character driven and that is going to be the reason for some major rewriting in the story. Not just to improve the story but to give the characters even more depth in the early chapters.

Hope this helps.

 

drink green tea
put on a cd from My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
read a couple pages of a Bret Easton Ellis book, usually The Informers
write

 

As said earlier , I ask what the client wants actually. Some of the students just get a topic without knowing what it is, during this time it really gets to be difficult. But sometimes I feel that this is far better. Because you can study the topic by yourself. And help the students later. Because I make a point that whatever I write the students understand each and every thing.

 

my writing process doesn't involve nearly as many baths and sandwiches as Douglas Adams' did, but I think I've made pretty good substitutions with cats, long walks, and occasional pauses to dance awkwardly to Knife Party or Gorillaz.

when it's time to write, I sit down and write. I write until I stop--which is either when I'm done, when I run out of words, when I realize I'm so tired that the words aren't coming out right any more, or when a cat pokes me repeatedly wanting attention. when I'm working on something, I'm working on it even when I'm not writing; I'm thinking about it all the time, sometimes even in my dreams. you know the saying that an average person can think about up to seven things simultaneously? I think of them as hamster wheels. when I'm working on something, one of the hamsters is always dedicated to that project. this gets complicated if I try to work on more than one writing project--as I'm doing now, in fact; one hamster is dedicated to Current Fanfic Project, and another one is still working on Other Ongoing Fanfic Project (which I haven't written anything for in months), and this means my attention and ability to process other things may sometimes fail to the point where I walk into walls.

 

I begin by writing a detailed outline and some character profiles. I write the first draft quickly, only worrying about quantity at that point. The outline is a big help, though I often come up with new ideas as I'm writing. Later drafts, I work on improving the quality of my writing. I have had people beta read my writing, but so far that has offered very little feedback.

 

I believe, there is no predefined way to start writing, everyone should start writing with their own techniques. It is a very easy process. I write about the topics only from which I am very much familiar.

 

LITTLE CARDS!
There are these little address cards my girlfriend *ahem* procures from her workplace. They are great for organising content in the initial stages. A character should fill one card. A chapter should fill one card. If I can't fit it on the card, I'm thinking too big. If there is too much space on the card, I'm thinking too small.
When the cards are all complete, I can lay them out and arrange the information, see if it makes sense, see if I've missed anything. When the first draft is finished, the cards are lovingly filed away.

 

WRONG!

 

Um, care to elaborate? Who are you to tell @HoraceCombs how to write?

 

index cards! yessss, those things are amazing! I use them a bit differently, but I do admit I tend to have very long alternating with quite short "chapters," and this idea might fix that. thank you!

 

For writing, every one is having their own process such as initial process is the title on what they are going to write , thoughts, implementation of thoughts, indentation for writing.

 

I write using Scrivener software. It allows me to organise everything at my fingers tips.

I start by writing bullet points about the initial plot, with maybe ideas about how the plot 'might' develop. I do all of that in cafe's in a notebook for about half an hour each day. I create a handful of initial characters and give them some initial features. I think that excessive characterisation and excessive plot planning is limiting to creativity and fun writing.

In the evenings I sit and create a document for each of the next four or five scenes that I think my early plot will follow, and label them as such. Then I spend an hour, or two, at the most writing the scenes and dialogue. I target 2,000 words a day, but sometimes get to 3,000. When I need names I just look up and wait ... they pop into my mind and that's it.

As I write through the book, ideas occur to me spontaneously and I follow those lines. Same when I sit in the cafe developing the next few stages of the plot, and then back home to write. When I am about two thirds way through I start think about the ending. I do some research on the web for places, restaurants, streets and a bit of tech information. But I don't like too much research. I like to make stuff up. So I use some real streets but put in a few fictional ones too. I cannot stand books where a quarter of the book is spent giving me an inordinate amount of technical detail.

 

My writing process can be finicky.

For fiction and such, I usually just have a vague idea for a story (a few sentences or a paragraph, or possibly crude bullet points). I research a bit, if it's needed. Then, I go ahead and draft a few scenes. On a norm, I end up scrapping quite a bit of my writing segments. Sometimes, I'll hop to and from different parts in the plot; other instances, I'll keep at a steady pace and work until I come across a rut. When I do, I stop writing for awhile and move on to something else. Then, I'll come back to my original piece and start over. This process is a sort of elliptical until I get something finished.

 

A cup of coffee, a warm room, a clear schedule and a line of cocaine usually does the trick!

 

Those who fail to plan, plan to fail, yes it is true. It is important to know what you are going to write. I always pre-plan before writing anything. These preplaning helps alot, atleast you have an idea about what you are writing.

 

1) Brainstorm notes.
2) Synopsise the plot.
3) Convert this into screenplay.

 

Usually it's hard for me but i have different plans for each story. Usually starts with the main concept and then I workd ownf ormt here.