Do you write chronologically?

[JoNightshade]

I remember reading once (or maybe my creative writing teacher said this) that many women authors do not write chronologically. I don't mean that their stories are not chronological... what I mean is that in the process of writing, they might start out writing a scene in the middle, then a scene at the beginning, then at the end, etc.

However, I've never actually met anyone who claimed to do this.

So: Do you start at the beginning (or wherever the beginning seems to be) and write until you get to the end?

Or do you skip around?

Just curious.

Guys, feel free to answer as well. :)

[glassquill]

No skipping around for me, thanks. The last time I tried that, I got tangled up in the plotline and fell face first against a writer's block. :tongue I'm not going there again.

[Danger Jane]

I used to never skip around for some reason, but lately I've realized that if I've got a scene on my mind, I'd better just write it because then I can't focus on what I'm trying to. So yeah I am not chronological; also female as you may have gathered from my username.

[blacbird]

Depends entirely on the story. I've done short stories more chronologically than novels, although my current novel WIP is working more chronologically than previous ones did.

Since nobody's every likely to see any of them, I'm not sure how much good advice this is.

caw

[Jordygirl]

Heavens no.
I write from beginning to end, with zillions of delete-rewrite-lines in between.

[johnzakour]

Novels from start to finish.

Screenplays sometimes I jump around but usually start to finish.

I'm an A to B to C kind of guy.

[job]

I write chronologically
mostly.

I know what all the scenes are going to be
very early in the process
so sometimes I'll skip ahead to work on something that's going to happen later,
or go back to work on something that happened before that I didn't do right the first time.

But mostly I prefer to ride the character right through the story because that way I see how she grows and changes,
a lot of which is a surprise to me when it happens.

Diana Gabladon, however, writes chunks all over the place.
Not a chronological writer

[weatherfield]

Well, I'm a girl, and I really don't write chronologically. I'll usually write scenes in dribs and drabs, all over the place, a paragraph here, a line of dialogue there. When I was in school, I would write the first draft of an essay as a series of vignettes, and then look at what I had and start throwing out the parts that didn't fit and developing the ones that did. Teachers would often be aghast at my work habits and they let me know, in no uncertain terms, that I was Doing it Wrong. I've tried on several occasions to be more conventional, but all my efforts at linear first drafts have met with total failure. It's like I have this nagging bit of logic in my head that always says, but how will I know where I'm going if I haven't gotten there yet?

[JoNightshade]

Well, I'm a girl, and I really don't write chronologically. I'll usually write scenes in dribs and drabs, all over the place, a paragraph here, a line of dialogue there. When I was in school, I would write the first draft of an essay as a series of vignettes, and then look at what I had and start throwing out the parts that didn't fit and developing the ones that did. Teachers would often be aghast at my work habits and they let me know, in no uncertain terms, that I was Doing it Wrong. I've tried on several occasions to be more conventional, but all my efforts at linear first drafts have met with total failure. It's like I have this nagging bit of logic in my head that always says, but how will I know where I'm going if I haven't gotten there yet?

Haha, this is exactly what I was asking about. And now that I think about it, I DO know someone who writes just like this! How could I have forgotten? My best writing buddy from college, now about to get her PhD.

[Harper K]

I don't mean that their stories are not chronological... what I mean is that in the process of writing, they might start out writing a scene in the middle, then a scene at the beginning, then at the end, etc.

However, I've never actually met anyone who claimed to do this.




*raises hand* Now you have! And I must plead with everyone here to never start writing non-chronologically. It's a terrible habit, and one I've finally begun to break.

I didn't always write like that, though. When I began writing, I scribbled my stories on paper, then moved on to an electric typewriter. Either way, the use of paper gave me no incentive to skip around. Skipping around would mean losing my place, and likely having to eventually retype a lot of pages. It was best to just soldier on with whatever scene or chapter was giving me difficulty.

And then? Sometime around 1994, my family got a computer, and soon after that I became an Internet junkie. My attention span plummeted. My writing philosophy became "if it's too hard, or if it takes too long, skip it!" This can work in moderation. Just tonight, I stared at the last page of Chapter 5 in my novel for a good 15 minutes, tried a few sentences, deleted them, stared some more... and finally realized that if I was going to write more than 50 words for the day, it was best to just move on to the beginning of Chapter 6. So I did. 500 words done. But I didn't dare move on to Chapter 7, or 8, or 18. Not anymore.

The worst thing I did, back in my unstuck-in-time writing days, was jump back and forth even within one scene. I'd write the first sentence of a scene, then the last sentence, then try to connect the two with an appropriate middle. Didn't work very well. I got to the point where I rarely even had a complete sentence in my manuscripts -- I'd start a thought, realize I didn't know where it was going, truncate it before the period, and move on to another. You can rack up a word count this way, but not a story.

When I realized I was writing forum posts, Livejournal entries, and emails this way (because it's so easy to start with "Regards" or "Talk to you later!"), I knew I had to buckle down and start writing things in order again. I've spent almost a year working on this, and it's finally beginning to feel more natural for me.

In fact, I think I'll go fill in that hole at the end of Chapter 5 before I head to bed tonight.

[kristie911]

Always beginning to end. I'm confused enough most of the time without purposely making it worse! :D

[Paul J. Andrew]

I can't even imagine skipping around. I'm way too anal for that kind of fluidity.

[alaskamatt17]

I sometimes skip around. I'm still experimenting, trying to find what works best for me. Usually I'll write in order unless there's a scene coming up that I really want to write now, in which case I hit enter a few times to give myself some room, and write the scene with //// as a header. Then I splice it in once I reach the appropriate spot.

I don't think I've really used the same method for any two stories though.

[RLB]

Mostly chronologically, but I keep a different file for lines or scenes that I want to come later, in case I think of something and don't want to forget it.

But when I write a scene with lots of dialogue, I usually write out the conversation and then go back to the beginning and add all the action that is going on at the same time or the character's unpoken thoughts/impressions. If that makes any sense.

Oh, and female, BTW.

[DeborahM]

I too, write chronologically. If I have a thought for later, it becomes a note for insert at the bottom of my WIP and delete each note as it's entered.

I don't know about you guys, but I dream my writing chronologically and have to get up and write what I just dreamed. I can't wake up enough to make a note to myself because I'll go back to the scene in my mind and it won't leave me alone until I get it down on the computer, which also means I could be up writing furiously for 3 hours. Then the next morning, I'm wasted but back on the computer in the afternoon fired up and ready to go!

[aspiringwriter]

Nope

[Anne Lyle]

But when I write a scene with lots of dialogue, I usually write out the conversation and then go back to the beginning and add all the action that is going on at the same time or the character's unpoken thoughts/impressions. If that makes any sense.

Oh, and female, BTW.

Same here. I write the story chronologically but my first draft is really bare bones: dialogue, major action scenes, maybe a brief description if it occurs to me in the heat of the moment... Then I go back and flesh it out on the second draft.

(I think of it a bit like movie production, where they edit the filmed footage together before doing the heavy CGI work, redubbing fuzzy dialogue, etc. Watch the deleted scenes from "Galaxy Quest" (e.g. partially rendered CGI rock monster) and you'll see what I mean!)

On the other hand, if I have multiple points-of-view, I might skip ahead in my outline to the next PoV scene for that character, rather than try and switch characters mid-flow. But next writing session I will aim to go back and fill in, so I don't get too far ahead of the game.

[Legionsynch]

My roommate, who is a girl, does this. She writes the scenes out of order, then works to integrate them.

I can occassionally jump ahead and write a scene, especially if it's fresh in my mind and I don't want to lose it. If I try writing out of order though, I end up with a beginning and an end, and I lose interest in the middle.

[ErylRavenwell]

I do sometimes jump to the more inspiring chapters (the mental "book" usually leads the real one by half a dozen chapters or so), then back to the boring ones.

That's a male thing, though. Aren't men supposed to be more chaotic?

[Lindo]

The more chronic I get, the less logical it becomes.

[TrickyFiction]

I have to write chronologically.
If I don't, I'll just write the fun parts and put the rest off indefinitely.

[Stijn Hommes]

Just the opinion of a guy:
I write short stories from start to finish, but on my first novel I already started out of synch. I started writing the opening scene when I realized the real opening was something else, so I already wrote out of order from the very start.

[Trench Kamen]

I used to never skip around for some reason, but lately I've realized that if I've got a scene on my mind, I'd better just write it because then I can't focus on what I'm trying to.

Might as well just say "Same here". I like to ride the peaks of inspiration. It enhances the overall quality of the entire work, if each scene is written when it feels right. I don’t have an logarithm for when I write sequentially and when I don’t. It depends on whatever strange blueprint I have laid out in my mind at that moment.

And I am a female.

[jmindigo]

I find if I try to jump around I get all mixed up as to what has happened to who, when, where, etc... The most jumping around I do is occasional detailed notes on scenes to come, I'm a beginning to end kinda girl I guess.

[Stijn Hommes]

I find if I try to jump around I get all mixed up as to what has happened to who, when, where, etc... The most jumping around I do is occasional detailed notes on scenes to come, I'm a beginning to end kinda girl I guess. That's when outlines are particularly useful. It's much easier to skip around if you got things planned in more detail.

[Elodie-Caroline]

I start writing my work from where I have the original inspiration, it depends what scene arrives in my head first.
In my very first WIP, I wrote the ending first, then the beginning. The beginning actually could have been the last chapter, but it looked better as the first; the rest of the story is telling the reader what happened in it before the story came to it's conclusion.

In my second WIP, which is finished btw. I had the whole story set out in my head and started that from the first chapter and wrote right on through to the last chapter. I then got ideas for a chapter in the middle, wrote that, and then changed my last chapter completely! I went onto changing a couple of chapters, rewriting a whole new one, and then spent last weekend writing a whole new first chapter, now making the first the second! lol. Okay, it's a bit @ss about face, but it works for me and makes the novel much better.


Elodie

[Willowmound]

many women authors do not write chronologically

Just the women, eh?

I wrote a novel in a non-linear way once. Not because I intended to, I just had all these disjointed scenes suddenly making sense as a whole. So I filled the blanks and made an ending.

This was the last novel I wrote before my seven-year hiatus. It actually got some personalised rejections (i.e., not form), which I at that time didn't appreciate as anything special.

Oh well.

[aadams73]

I write from beginning to end and I'm a woman :)

Skipping around really doesn't work for me.

[D.Hall]

I have to write chronologically.
If I don't, I'll just write the fun parts and put the rest off indefinitely.

ditto.

[Taniray]

It mostly depends on one's taste. Sometimes i write chronologically and sometimes i do have to write down the scenes from the middle of the story that come to my head and usually they are the strongest ones so it whould be a crime not write them. The main thing is not an order of writing scenes but what we have after the novel is finished.

[Tasmin21]

I actually did this with my fantasy WIP. For a long time, it seemed to stave off writer's block, because I didn't have to worry about rushing through things to get to the scenes that were so bright in my mind.

However...since I'm currently stalled on said project, I'm not sure if it was a good idea or not.

[scarletpeaches]

It's never even occurred to me to do anything other than start at the beginning and work through to the end; anything else seems a bit slapdash, or hit-and-miss. You read a book from beginning to end, don't you? Of course, I don't outline so you'd think I'd be a bit more fluid in my writing, but this way I get to discover the story at the same time as the reader. I mean, what happens if you write something in for chapter nineteen and you go back to do chapter four, and something you write destroys the need for what 'will' happen later on in the book?

[ErylRavenwell]

I reckon it comes down to mentality. Some people like to construct everything in a stepwise fashion, others multi-task (that would be me, although I only focus on one project at a time) and some are just plain chaotic (Tolkien comes to mind :)).

[janetbellinger]

I am experimenting with different approaches to this.

[CaroGirl]

I wrote my last novel by skipping around and writing whatever scene hit me on any given day. Unfortunately, that left me with a tangle that proved difficult to unravel. I still don't know if it's adequately constructed.

I'm writing my current WIP entirely chronologically and feel that it's going, in general, much better than my last. Maybe I had to go through the jumping around process to learn how to write a novel. Or it might be that this novel need to be written chronologically, whereas the other one didn't.

[ChaosTitan]

I may have ideas for scenes that occur later on, but I write in chronological order. Although I may trip that up for the WIP, because it's broken up into several parts. Some take place in the present, some in the past. Depending on how my brain wants to function, I may write all of the present scenes first, and then go back and write the past, and combine it all at the end.

Dunno.

But for the most part, I am female and I write chronologically. :)

[Sassee]

I never write chronologically.

However, it should also be noted that I don't use outlines.

Basically what happens is this... I'll be writing on my WIP in chronological order, get a sudden idea for something further on, and skip right to it to get the thing on paper (or on screen) before I can forget it. I'll also use this technique when I get "stuck" on part of my WIP. I'll finish up the little detour and then go right back to where I left off in the chronological writing, and in doing so I've given myself a goal to write towards. Sort of like an outline, but not. And if I end up having to change the scene when I get to it, I do so, but at least the basic idea is there for me.

It works great for me. The only problems I have are when other things (like work <sigh>) get in the way of my writing, or if I happen to have an incredibly bad day of writer's constipation. Though I'm a very A.D.D. person and "jumping around" is how I normally function even on day to day activities, so it's something I'm used to and I plan around it.

Contrary to what teachers might tell you, there is no "wrong" way to create a piece of writing. There are easier ways, sure, but as long as the end result is the same, it doesn't matter what method you use to get there.

[BarbJ]

Hand up for chronologically - kinda, sorta. I have to have the starting point (which may change in rewrite) before I can put it on paper, and from there I continue on. Some sections may be no more than a sentence with a germ of an idea of what I want, some may be 20 or 30 pages. In the meantime, I'm jotting down ideas as they occur and hopefully remembering to incorporate them.

There is, of course, no right way or wrong, but the comment about gender affecting this is interesting - and, apparently, incorrect.

[BardSkye]

Female here. I can't skip around with the story. It's like running laps; my addled brain sees the finish line, says "Hey, we've already done this" and jumps off on a tangent instead of finishing the race.

Brilliant ideas get noted down but not worked on until I get there. If they're still brilliant they get put in.

[Chasing the Horizon]

I'm female and I write out of order. I always write individual scenes from beginning to end, but may write scenes from chapters 4, 12, and 20 all in the same night. This is the only way that works for me. I do tend to write most of the interesting scenes first, then discover perhaps I don't need as much of the stuff in between as I thought I did.

I do work from a detailed outline, and whenever a scene doesn't quite follow the outline I immediately rewrite/update any effected scenes that are already written, this way I don't get confused, or have a big mess when I'm done. I don't think my first drafts have much more inconsistency than those of most writers who write chronologically. I have an excellent memory for what I've written, so that probably helps too.

[Varthikes]

I'm a guy. I always write chronologically.

I have sometimes thought about jumping around different scenes, but I didn't feel it's work for me. My stories tend to unfold as I progress. While I outline what I want to happen in each chapter, how it happens can change drastically.

It would be a continuity nightmare for me.

[Scrawler]

After I do a really solid outline, I skip around as brilliant ideas fly through my brain. I know that what I'm writing in chapter 7 will impact chapter 19, so I'll skip ahead to flesh out the scene.

[Inkdaub]

Thus far I have always planned to write in order but ended up skipping around.

[Michael Dracon]

Chronological, unless I think of a really good scene that will come later.

It's highly likely I'll end up revising that scene as soon as I reach that part, but I still write it down before I forget it.