So, I was wondering what order you tend to write your stories in? Beggining to end, random pieces that come to you, or something else? Why? Sorry if there's another thread on this I didn't find it and I was interested in your input.
I prefer to go chronologically, but I stay flexible. That way, if I think of something awesome I have to do later on, or if I get stuck but still want to keep writing, I don't hit a roadblock.
I always tend to go in a linear path, but I will jump around depending on what I write. The last novel I wrote, one which I'm still painstakingly editing (lotsa vodka involved), I jumped a few large gaps of time. Other than that I always go in order, lest I become confused... the vodka might not help when it comes to the confusion.
I write from page one to the end, in order. It helps me keep things straight and consistent for the reader (as well as me as I write). Terry
I story board it and get the major events planned out. Then I imagine those scenes and jot down some notes. After that I start writing the actual story. While I usually go from beginning to end I frequently write down pivotal scenes ahead of time as I picture them. I insert them later when I get to that point in the story. While I always say you're best off doing what works for you, next time I have writers block I'll try adapting one of the styles here and see if I can't get past it.
Same for me. I'd love to experiment with some of the other methods, but I honestly don't know if I'd be able to do a story without the beginning coming first. It helps me get to know my characters, set up foreshadowing, et cetera. Of course, mixing it up makes it easier to put in foreshadowing...
I wrote out of order when I was writing in first person. I was starting to confuse even myself towards the end. I have rewritten the whole thing, in order, and it is a better story (and in third). I thought going out of order was better, but then I realized that your going to be wanting to add in details, and if you try to put in foreshadowing, it just gets jumbled up and repetative. My first draft ended up being like a long winded set of notes. But everything I do is long winded so its fine.
I go from beginning to end. I don't do a whole lot of jumping around, as I like to forge the story in my head as I go along, rather than doing a ton of pre-planning.
I imagine the process is significantly different between short stories and novels, and I'm certain that every writer has a unique way that works best for him. I write only short stories; and, for me, there are maybe three general parts of the process. First is evolving the story, which has nothing to do with its chronology, but more to do with how a story concept emerges from a bit or a whole bunch of stuff I write down (I don't usually begin to write a story AFTER an idea occurs to me, but I get the idea from beginning to write something). Second part kind of bleeds out of the first part. It's what a lot of writers might think of more as "rewriting," because I usually have quite a lot written at this point. But I think of this part as the part where I write the actual story. It involves filling out story parts and connecting them and kind of discovering where I think the significance lies. I couldn't really say there's a clear point where the first step ends and the second begins. Once I'm satisfied that I know what story I'm telling (which happens once I feel like it's actually "written"), then I decide how to sequence the story parts, which may or may not be in chronological order; and I pay more attention to story beginnings and endings once I've done all-the-above. I think of this last part more as crafting the story (or rearranging it for a reader and rewriting parts to better connect them with whatever now comes before and what follows). For me, all of these parts lead back to each other in a kind of complicated dance that ends (only) when I send it off to a publisher. When it comes back, it will then compete for notice with other stories I've started. But if it wins out, the dance will pick up wherever it left off.
most of the time my simple story becomes part of a MUCH larger story later on. so really, most of my stories start at a calm point in the middle, and as i progress to the end, i reveal bits of the area between the beginning and the starting point. an easy example of this is my character Parker Searson, the story starts off with his recruitment into a government operation, and throughout this operation i reveal flashes of his mysterious and troubled past, and somehow manage to link his past to events in the future as i go. took awhile for me to realize that it's much like the mechanics used in Lost.
I write as the events come to me. It's almost impossible for me to think in terms of scenes, because I wouldn't know when one scene ends and another begins. So I've started taking to writing notes in the manuscript itself so that I can come back to it when I feel the time is right (i.e. when I know how to approach that section). I'm probably going to keep doing this with almost every scene now, though, because it works for me, and it tends to move the story along.
I generally have a plot mapped out in my notes before I begin writing, so I write the story from the beginning to the end. I don't think I'd be able to write random scenes and then stick them together. For some reason, I think I'd end up with something that didn't fit together well. The process is the same with novels and short stories for me. Plan the story out, start at the beginning, and write. But that's the beginning of the story, not chronology (if, for example, the story starts in the middle of a timeline and then returns to the start of it, I'll write it as it appears in the story). That way, I feel like everything fits together well, and I can foreshadow, etc. without worrying about having already written the scene I'm foreshadowing/referencing. ~Christian
