The benefits for me, at least, while I am writing a series is to have a "bible" of sorts so I do not contradict myself as I write. Having all of my lore and history and ideas jotted down on paper for easy access helps immensely. And it takes no time at all to add another entry, you can go as fast as you can hand write. To answer the inevitable "Why don't you just type it?" question, I hand write it before I add it to my story so it seers into my brain better. Edit: I am not saying I hand write my entire book, just the ideas that go in my sketch pad.
I find it's a nice thing to put down my notes of the story and the characters in a notebook, handwriting is something I really like, and I can carry my notebook in the purse when I'm away from home. It's so much fun to write down the notes and ideas by hand the old fashioned way gives a totally different feeling. When I first started writing there were no computers and I did all my writing by hand, and there's something in writing that way that stimulates the creativeness.
Had a very nice reply and lost it Anyway, the gist of it was, I can see keeping notes for a series, since there are continuity things to keep track of. But if ones writes like I do (no outline), stickies on the wall suffice. I either use them or don't and then it gets trashed. If one outlines, notes could be tacked into the outline. Ideas for new stuff either get typed up and tossed in a computer file (Called "Ideas") or emailed to me (again going into a folder called "Ideas"). Otherwise, it just seems to be very time-consuming and complicated, worrying about dates and titles and color-coding and referencing etc etc.
Haha, yeah, I don't understand the "dates and titles and color-coding and referencing etc etc," as well. Hand writing into a sketch pad is good enough for me.
i agree. sounds really complicated not to mention expensive! recently I started making little notes about scenes for my new novel on post-its, which I attack to the freezer then I order and reorder them as I want. As soon as I come up with a new idea I write it on a new post it and then I have to reorder them it's quite fun.
You bet there is more time spent organizing, proof reading, revisingeditingng than on writing. That is the nature of the craft. Computers are simply a tool to be used when they are useful to the task and ignored when they are not useful. I know from where you come, Tesoro. I get very creative scribing away in my journal when I am away from home. I just love the tactile, audible and visual senses of my fountain pen filling up a blank sheet of paper. I do not seem to be able to think so creatively when I am at the computer keyboard. I guess it's everyone to their own preferences and methods. It's the final, published book that is the important thing.
I think the organisation is hugely important. I think lack of it is why I've completely failed to finish any large writing project I've ever started on. I'm attempting to change that. My current organisation process for my segments is simply by chapter, but I also had about 6 notebooks that each contained basically a separate incarnation of the story I'm working on.
Proofreading, revising and/or editing happen while I write, so I suppose it's about 50-50. Organizing - very little. It only takes a moment to write a post-it or email; everything else is in the story. Everyone has to work to their own rhythm - I just wonder how many super-organizers are organizing because they're avoiding the writing. I'm not trying to diss anyone or their methods, but some of this does sound a bit obsessive. And I've gone the route of getting every little household doo-hickey on the market to get organized - and kept getting every little doo-hickey until I was spending all my time organizing the doo-hickeys. So how much organization is productive and how much is just staying away from the keyboard?
I have the same sort of thing. I'm 13 novellas into my series, and I have notes on the timeline (so I don't refer to a date where a character is doing something before he was born), a glossary, etc. So, I guess the more involved a story is, the more notes you'll need, but I could be wrong. Some writers write by the seat of their pants. I used to. Then my brain went on strike and now I need notes. If it works, it works. If you put out a decent story, don't change your thing. So I guess some writers don't need to organize or plan (well... maybe on a certain level, they need to plan a little) and some writers need an enormous amount of planning. With my series, I'm comfortable with the amount I organize because I know, at the end of it, I produce something. Of course, maybe there is some stuff I don't need to organize and I could produce my story a little faster, but at this point, I'm not sure what I'll need to refer to in a future story. Some of my notes haven't been used yet, but who knows? Later on, maybe they will be. If it's a standalone story, I just plot out the story and put together some character profiles, but that's it. I don't need to draw a map of the area or make an in-depth timeline. I have a friend, though, who constantly rethinks, replans, reorganizes, but hasn't finished a story. Every time he hits a wall--bam--it must mean he needs to rethink something. I keep advising him, at this point, "Jjust write the story because no amount of planning is going to actually finish it for you. Just because you hit a wall doesn't mean something's wrong. You can't wait for the right mood all the time." But he still does it. So at this point, I let him do his thing because I think I'm getting a bit preachy with him about it. I think this is the point where organization becomes procrastination.
Do you ever have a really productive night writing and wake up the next day thinking "Gosh, I hope I can do that again!" I worry I may lose my touch or lose my momentum sometimes. I still make headway every night, but the worry is there the next day. It's like I'm worried I'll lose the ability to write. I think something I read today didn't help. A blog I read said that many first time writers (that's me) make the common mistake of writing their life story as a novel. Whoops. I still want to forge ahead though. I think I have an interesting story to tell about growing up with a mentally ill father. Sometimes it's a joy, writing, and other times it's very painful so I feel like I'm on an emotional rollercoaster at the moment. :redface:
I wouldn't worry about writing every day. Sometimes I can write all day, every day for a week. Other times I can go several weeks with barely writing anything at all. There have even been times I've written more than half a book, only to decide it wasn't good enough and scrapped it. Oh, and as for writing your life story. I think as long as the story is interesting, it doesn't matter what genre it is. You don't need to write xx numbers of books before you are 'qualified' to write in a certain genre.
Thanks for that. I've just read so much of "Writers write all the time, it's a need to write, not a want to write" lately that sometimes I question what I'm doing. Sometimes writing does feel like homework and I don't want to do it some nights. I'm a full time mother of four, so writing time is limited anyway. I just take heart at thinking it's not the quantity you write, it's the quality. Even if this takes me years, I'm determined to write it!
I worry about that all the time. That some day I'll just stop being able to write. I'd like to publish at least one book in my life, so the thought of not being able to write kind of scares me. I'm still in the planning stages at the moment, but that's quickly coming to an end and I can only hope I can make some repeated progress right after. (School life is catching up with me though, so I'm not able to use my time as I like, unfortunately. =/) I suppose this is what I'm trying to say: yeah, you're not alone when feeling that. I see threads about how many people write per night and think so myself, "I haven't been able to write at all for a while!" It's a bit depressing, but I know if I stick to it, I'll get past writer's block eventually. =)
I do sometimes. I do that with my art as well. The thing is it really is something that is integral to my being. It may ebb and flow but it never really fully leaves me. As for writing your life story in your first book. I wouldn't worry to terribly much about it. It is your first. The first will not be the best. It takes practice, practice, practice. The first thing I wrote had some massive parallels to my own life. Now I've learned how to apply my own emotions I've experienced at one point or another to my characters and their experiences. There's only so many emotions but countless situations to cause them. Now my characters go through some of the same things I have but they are their own character and not a projection of myself like they used to. So in summary, don't sweat it. Enjoy yourself.
About writing your life story I don't think that is the problem as much as the fact that it might be hard to view it critically, when it comes to editing and revising, because there are too many feelings involved in the creating of it and you can't look at your work objectively (that is always hard, but in this case I think it might be even harder). that's at least what I think is the reason for people to discourage beginning writers from it.
I didn't really like writting and had never written anything (aside from a few poorly done English papers) until about 6 years ago and then the desire to write hit me like a... (cliche). Well, it hit me hard and I find it difficult to go a single day without doing something related to writing. The point of this is that I don't know anything about writing. I don't have an education in it. I haven't always loved it. I'm not even super well read. So when I write something that turns out okay I am always amazed and wonder if I will ever manage something like that again. I'm so glad you posted this thread because I really thought I was the only one who thought this because none of my writer friends here have that problem. Thanks.
Thank goodness I have found this thread. I have been trying to write what I hope to be a reasonable novel but have not laid down a single word in nearly a month. At first, I couldn't go a day without writing but I just don't know how to expand my ideas at the moment. I have no real expectations or dead line so I will keep going all the time I am enjoying writing. I think it is more important to WANT to write instead of HAVING to write at the beginer's stage as most of us seem to be.
I was doing good this past summer. I self pub'ed two of my older novels and outlined a series that is going to have more than 30 books. Then I started looking at the two I self pub'ed and kicked myself, during the point that I was trying to record them for audio books. They weren't horrible but they were bad enough that I started a learning process that has now completely killed my confidence. I have learned since how to design a plot, properly sketch characters, build scenes properly and create the confilct in those scenes that will keep readers reading. But at what end? I haven't written anything pallettable in over two months. And I've been in the process of co-writing a YA/MC doomsday setting/survival/romance and am getting nowhere. It's to the point of hiring a ghostwriter to convey my ideas, and that's hard when there is no money for such fluff and I have no intention of ever even trying for a book deal. Epublishing is the way to go, and I wonder if I am trying too hard in order to stand out. I have read several fiction ebooks (even from the big publishers) that have made no attempt at what I am trying to do. So I guess my question is: How polished should a manuscript be when I've only sold 10 books in the past six months anyway? (And if family doesn't count then I'm in real trouble. . .)
Wow, look what I've started! Im so glad to know I'm not alone. I've wanted to write a book for years. I wrote poetry and short stories as a teenager, and stopped writing for a long time. Years, even. Life got in the way. I married and had children and there was just no time, for many years. Two months ago, I sat down and started writing in notebooks. Stories about my Dad. Now I'm thinking I could make a book out of it. (Names changed, etc) I write when the kids are sleeping. It's not ideal, but it's all I've got. I sometimes feel too fried at night to even want to look at my laptop, but I try to persevere. Yes, I'm struggling at the moment because my story is so personal. It's all about my early life. I want to remain as true to life as possible, to hnonr my Dad in the process (he's the main theme) but real life is essentially boring, isn't it? I've got all the funny and true stories about him all planned out, but I'm having trouble writing the mundane day to day stuff and linking it all together in a believeable story. But that's part of the process. So, I guess the answer is we're all different. Some eat breathe and sleep writing, but it's very hard when you have children, a full time job, or school. It'll get easier once we've all sold the film rights to our books. Then we can have cooks, cleaners and child minders to make our lives easier!
Yes OP, I also feel that way the morning after a big creative session, but usually it's paired with a barrage of criticisms from that picky bugger who resides in my head with me. This usually leads me to wondering why I ever thought what I'd written was good in the first place. Death to that picky little ... GRR! So I am always on that rollercoaster you mentioned. The best thing I have learnt to do is disengage for a while. I write every day, just not fiction. I join forums discussions, write blogs and reviews or just my thoughts. If I do write fiction, its some 'scene to nowhere' type thing that I put away for another day. At least then the right circuits in my brain are getting exercised.
I'm writing a comic book about a martial arts school and one person suggested to me that my story may need a "quirk". He gave the example of the Tank Girl comic book. How she's kinda butch but kinda cute at the same time with heaps of huge guns. And there's also the Naruto manga/cartoon. Which is full of a school of ninjas as opposed to just normal people. I suggested that my character could struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder while fighting and he loved it. So, do I NEED a quirk to make it instantly appealing and unique to new readers? Cheers.
I agree with CruciFICTION but think the OCD thing could be extremely entertaining. I can imagine a MC fighting (and he always has to have the fight occur in a certain order) and the other dude messes up that order so MC just knockes the dude flat instead of continuing the fight.
The OCD-ness of Monk was one of the reasons I absolutely love that tv show. I need to buy it on DVD, I think.
