Linear writing, or scenes as they come to you?

Hey guys.

I'm curious. Do you tend to write one chapter following another, in a linear manner? Or do you jump around on the timeline of your novel, writing scenes as they come to you?

Personally, I have a clear beginning, mid-point and ending in mind for my story, but find it easier to hop back and forth in the plot when putting pen to paper. (Or fingers to keys. Whatever.)

How about you?

Maroon x

 

I usually write linear - do you mean say writing chapter 1 then chapter 4 then going back to 2?

I don't know anyone that does that - sounds quite a weird method.

 

Yep, that's exactly what I mean.

I could very well write chapter 6, then hop to 10, then back to 7.

That isn't to suggest that I don't know what will happen in chapters 7-9 if I hop to 10, or that I don't have at least have a rough sketch in my mind, but they aren't yet set down on paper.

The obvious obstacle with this method is the great deal of revision it requires, i.e. to achieve a good flow through the finalised chapters. But nevertheless, it feels organic to me, where as forcing myself form one chapter to the next can feel restrictive.

I wonder if this really is all that unusual ?

M.

 

I attempted it with one story, but I'm back on linear writing now.

 

I guess that the answer is 'do what works for you'. But isn't that always the answer?

Really I'm just curious to see what the split is on this.

 

I do both. I tend to write linearly for short stories and jump around for longer pieces.

 

I find linear writing to be too constrictive. I started that way when I first started writing my current book, but I eventually moved onto writing scenes as they came. If I felt inspired to write a particular scene later in the book, I'm not going to try to force it back by writing something in order. I might lose the inspiration and who knows if I'll get it back at the right time!

 

I write scene by scene by as they come to me but when I figure out how these all fit into the plot as I outline it I start to move to a more linear progression fitting in pre-written scenes where they seem to go. After I've got everything down I refine and rearrange it as needed.

 

Linear. I write from chapter one (or the first scene for a short story) until the end.

It's just the way I think and it's easier for me to keep track of what happened, what was said and when. Also, it allows me to be more consistent in character development and even dialogue, making for less revision after the first draft.

Terry

 

I tried skipping around once, but I found that I couldn't keep a handle on the characters. I need to write linearly in order that I can keep track of how they've all developed and how far along their arc they are.

Different strokes, I suppose.

 

...Both?
I jot down ideas as they come to me and visit them at a later date.
Does that count?

 

Absolutely nothing linear about my writing method. Scenes come as they come.

 

Mostly linear. I once tried skipping around and ended with tons of different scenes none of them usable. Though, sometimes when I get this great idea for a scene I write it down, but when it's finished, I just know I won't be able to use it later.Things usually change in meantime

 

I jump a lot between chapters. The novel I'm working on now has 34 chapters in various stages of completion. The bit I write depends on my mood so there is nothing linear about the way I write

 

I usually know the gist of where my stories gonna go and suck and I write huge chunks linear but sometimes I get a great idea for a twist or scene and I just write it and copy and paste it when I reach it in my story. had 5 pages that went no where until I was about 50 pages into the story.

The only problem that I ran into with this method is you are more likely to create plot holes.

 

I know my basic plot, and I start writing scenes out of order. I don't necessarily finish them though. Then I come back to the and finish them in order for a while, and then I jump around some more. I guess I just do a little bit of both.

 

I do a very non-linear brainstorming session where I craft the premise, characters, and story outline. I think of things/places/events that I want to include in my story and spit it all out.

Then, after I sit on that for I while, I write out a clear sequence of events, roughly a chapter guide. I have a rough idea of each scene in sequence at this point, but invariably, there is change as the story demands it.

Then I just set the characters in the world I've created and press "Play" and it goes from there.

 

This is a huge problem for me. I'll go on tangents trying to write my way through my created world, only to make little to no sense. Then when I go to ask for critique, I wonder why everyone reacts as though they would give me a look as if I had six heads were I able to see their faces.

 

You guys ought to try and watch Star Wars with the audio commentary on. George Lucas often talks about story elements and the way he crafted his epic stories seems so offhanded... he says things like "Well, I decided that I needed to show a bit more friendship between Anakin and Obi-wan so I added this scene here..." or "This wasn't really working and it didn't fit in with other parts so we just gave up and cut it out altogether."

There's a lot of real gems in the audio commentary. I'm sure some other great stories have good commentary as well.

 

Exactly!

@Seta: Hmmm sounds beneficial, I will give that a try. Oh and im sure that having some over lap or loop holes in a story in the rough draft stage would give a lot of room to play be creative, just sometimes its a little much and some of the parts you decide to keep wont match up with the better parts of another area in the story and it just gets all crazy and diluted. Its like a hefty kid on a pogo stick; you know how its suppose to go, but it just isn't happening....... no offense to the hefty kids out there.

 

I tend to create an outline of the story in a strictly linear order first, so that I can get all the key details down, and often while I'm doing that I'll start having better ideas, and then once you have that you can decide if things would be better moved around, if it would make more sense to show A before B, or D before C. In terms of writing a thematically logical story, I tend to wait til I have a first draft down first, then go back and decide what things should be brought out, what things are most important, what I'm really trying to say with a certain part. So I guess the first draft is more or less linear, but after that you can get creative.

 

I kinda do what you do, Maroon, though usually when I write scenes I don't even fit them into my story. I make a scene, work off it, then keep writing linearly until another great scene comes to me. I write that scene, then go back to writing linearly. Etc, etc.

Linear writing is boring, imo. Writing works best when you feel passionate about it; thus, write when you're passionate. The editing process will smooth any errant corners from your scenes anyway.

 

I jump. My brother calls it "Space Jumping."

My word document is currently 144 pages of plot, organized with titled chapter headings and below each chapter the notes for that particular chapter.

I write page one. When I'm bored, I scroll through the text of notes until I find something I feel like writing about, then write that. So far, I have chapters all over the place, but in perfect order.

There are approximately 50-80 pages completely written, the first 20 chapters are done, and there are bits and pieces - a paragraph here and there - throughout.

That's the method that suits me best. I can't write linearly, because I have to write about the part I'm interested in at the moment.