Has anyone here ever tried writing a story just literally making it up as u go along?

I've had it go both ways. Sometimes the second draft takes far less time, because it really is just editing, and sometimes it takes me forever. I suspect it can go that way with either style though, if having written out your perfectly plotted story you find that there are elements that just won't work?

Oddly enough, the story I am currently having the hardest time with, and having to do the most rewrites on, is one in which I already know what will happen. Not because I plotted it out, just because it's already there, in my head, all the way through (which isn't usually how it works for me). Now I find myself second guessing every bit of info I put in, instead of just writing the movie in my head like I usually do. So I don't know that the already figured out way works for me. I'll finish it though. Even if it kills me

 

I do it all the time, write 3 at the moment and I am just making it up.

 

Yeah most all of the time. I don't plan too much, especially starting out.

I get a spark or 'inspiration', if you will, and just write. Ideas come and go as I carry on, and then I often do some brainstorming to see where I'm headed... for a novel, I think some kind of 'overview' is good eventually to keep you on track.

 

That is my usual writing style. I'll have the idea, but throw in randomness here and there.

 

Make it up as I go along? I've always done things that way. It's led to a lot of chop-work, but it's the only way I know to get the story out the way it is in my head. I've tried to plan everything out or had some sort of outline to work from, but the story takes over and says, "No that happens like this... authors... they mean well..."

 

Totally with you on this one! I recently discovered that when admitting a friend to read something i was working on, and his critiques totally turned off my creative side at least with that particular story, because I could only see it with critical eyes. I was told so even in a book I read (about writing) that you cannot be a critic and creative at the same time. I learned the hard way! now I have to let that one sit for IDK how long before i can look at it again...

LOL! that was a good one!

You are not the only one, The more I write the more I appreciate the planning as it helps me not losing inspiration or direction with the story. But as for the topic question: I did that a lot when younger, I wrote everything from the ideas that appeared in my head at the very moment. It was really fun. Now i plan at least in my head and dreams before writing it down, but I have always used daydreams as a source of inspiration.

 

Yeah, mostly I make it up as I go along. But the first draft is usually so brief its practically an outline, so I rewrite and use the story version #1 as a sort of template to build off of and perfect.
So, I suppose that I sort of do both.

 

When it comes to short stories and poetry, I tend to make it up as I go along. When trying to write a novel length story, however, I find it difficult to just make it up as I tend to go off on too many tangents and the whole story gets lost in a pile of side stories and back stories. Many of these details come in handy later, of course.

 

I always make it up as I go along..

 

plot and revision

I personally think this method is used by those who have a greater passion for the idea of writing, than actually writing a novel. Which isn't really a bad thing. Elgaisma described something about her first draft coming out disjointed, upside down forcing her to do volumes of rewriting, and that's exactly how I imagine it would end up being.

In the end you're using the stimulus of writing to build up your plot. While others like myself only start a project when they have enough of a plot to stimulate the writing. Both methods could work, but I think I'm safe in saying you'll do way less typing and retyping with the second one.[/QUOTE]

This is where I am with my current short story. I started out with a character, then I kind of threw him in a scenario and a setting and added other characters. Now I'm realizing that my lack of knowledge of the setting I chose actually makes my plot rather useless, and I'm having to completely redefine my setting and plotline, not to mention how my character interacts within it. Basically means LOT of red ink and lots of frustration, and lots of time. I'm hoping that I'll get better at this stuff as I get more experience in the craft.

 

I plan the main events, like the big twists and plot-changing stuff, and the MC's are always there in my head beforehand. Then I just need to get on a computer and start typing. The story unravels by itself, I don't usually plan things while I'm writing. And I always day-dream up scenes I want to write in.

 

Yeah, did it for a series of 4 Naruto fanfiction books and it worked really well.
Thing is though, they were handwritten so it was a bit hard to edit. If it was typed up and improved, it would make a great story. A friend who read my fanfics as I wrote them really liked the stories that went on in them xD

 

Wow old school. My spelling is so bad I could never hand write.

I also have too much of a scatter brain and like to change my sentences after I wrote them.

As for creating things as I go along... I do some of the time but usually I have a plot in my head that I am writing to. The writing as I go along stears the story towards that plot. I usually have like 4 big events in the story that I am trying to get to. Also there is always the underlining story that I am trying to tell.

Its funny most of the stuff pops into my head while I am taking a shower or some times after doing a lot of writing, I find my self dreaming the story and all of the ways it can go.

The ad-hoc writing is usually just building to one of those main events. I try to give a small event at the beginning of the story just to hook the reader.

I don't know. I am probably doing it all wrong. I am new at the writing thing. I just use what I like in books I read. I also avoid things I hate about bad books. There is a shelf of bad books I started but never finished.

 

I do that all the time

 

I usually come up with a basic idea in my head (usually on the bus to/from work or in the middle of the night or when I'm listening to music or when I've had a few glasses of wine) and I have an idea of how it's going to end and then I just make up everything that leads to it and develop the twists as I write. Sometimes it'll contradict itself but then I can go back and rewrite it, the basic story will always be the same but I might add or change a few details later and tidy it all up.

 

I totally agree on what you're saying, that is what I have always thought too. I belong to the same category, the planners. I will do no writing until I have enough material and before I know where the story is going, how it will end and who the main characters are. Then I leave some details to the inspiration of the moment, and that works well for me. I rarely suffer writers blocks because of not knowing how to move on from where i am. If I do it's rather out of bad self confidence. Usually this way makes me finish a first draft in somethign between 1,5-2,5 months. my first one took 2,5 months and it was 85K. Now i'm at the revision stage and that actually seem to take longer ( im currently on something like the third or fourth draft).

 

Corrected

And yes, you have basically eliminated the possibility of writers block by simply planning out a beginning, middle and end. The only reason I would leave a page blank is because I'm too lazy, not because I don't know where my character is going to go next.

 

George R.R. Martin cleverly divided writers into two types; Architects or Gardeners. Most people are some combination but everything is adequately covered with the two categories.
Architects plan and write everything out. They build the worlds and characters long before they set to putting them in a story. They produce the materials and framework then start coloring in the details.
Gardeners let their ideas grow organically. They nurture them along and explore as would a reader. A famous gardener would be Stephen King.

 

That's the only way I CAN write. I've tried to write an outline and stick to it. It's never worked. I know, in a general sense, where the story is going, but it has to have the freedom to wander where it wants to go. Otherwise, it just seems as though I'm retelling stories that I've heard somewhere else.

 

Yes. It doesn't end well.

 

When I was younger, I tried to sit down and create characters, the world in which they lived, the plot and everything else required for a good story but I always found that so tedious. I always had a small scene in my head that would stick with me for days until I actually got it down on paper. I'd post it and people would ask for more and I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about where the scene could go. I would just write and write until I hit a brick wall and couldn't get over it. I've started so many stories that eventually got abandoned that it's pretty sad. I've finished a few stories without planning anything and a couple of them were okay. I read the first one I ever finished recently and I kept thinking to myself 'why did anyone say this was good?!' There's really no point at all in going back to do another draft of it. I don't know what possessed me but it was all over the place and made zero sense.

My goal now is to create a realistic world with characters that are life-like instead of cardboard.

 

Sometimes I get in a really goofy mood and I'll start writing a story as I go along. I usually find these stories hilarious, but when I show them to other people they don't get the humor. Oh well, I thought they were a riot.

 

Lol ive done this plenty of times, its extremely fun and you usually end up with a decent sized story because you are not held back by writers block, etc. It just flows out naturally. In fact, doing this first before starting on a book for example can REALLY help.

 

My planning stage is my stream of consciousness stage. I spend a lot of time writing an outline, where I put down major points I know I need to hit, then start filling in the blanks with as many possible ideas as I can. I've often got twenty Wikipedia and Google Image Search tabs open at the same time, and each new thing I write down seems to either fill in a missing piece of the story or cancel out / improve another idea, till the story coalesces on the page in front of me. I sometimes feel completely out of control of the process, lol. What's the quote about the sculptor discovering the statue in the rock, rather than making it? I can't seem to write without a strong outline, but sometimes I don't even feel particularly involved with making that outline.

When I DM Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, I often am going in blind, though. There a bit of improv is necessary, especially when your players throw you a curveball. Sometimes you'll build epic stories as you go along, but that has the advantage (or weakness, depending on your players) of having real people as your characters, and a number of imaginations at work.

 

If want an idea for a children's story, I say to my kids "do you want me to tell you a story"? - "Yeaaah" And then I do start with "once upon a time" and make it up. They are my muse! I can't easily tell a story to a computer, but when they are listening, the story just happens.

I do need the seed of an idea to start off with, and sometimes I get the kids to make suggestions. Sometimes I open a magazine randomly and weave a story about two or three random pictures that I then have to connect somehow. Afterwards, if it was any good, I write it down and embellish it. It's fun.