write in order, or cut-and-paste?

[reigningcatsndogs]

I have been asked several times, and am always afraid to answer, so would love to know what the rest of you do (I want to seem normal:) and give the right answer!!) Do you start at chapter 1 and work through to the end, or do you write parts out of order and then paste them in where they belong when you get there?

[Scrawler]

I outline first, and then write the parts and scenes I'm drawn to most within the chapters. At times I'll shift things around and cut, paste, rearrange, delete. I recently just added a chapter midway through, cut a couple of later ones, and merged two others. So I guess I'd answer: both!

[DragonHeart]

I do a bit of both also. If a scene is already fully formed in my mind I'll go ahead and write it down, even if I'm nowhere near that point of the WIP (sometimes it's not even for my current project. ). I do try to be linear and go from the beginning, though. First I just want to get the full story down, then I can worry about moving things around, should they belong somewhere else or get tossed out altogether.

~DragonHeart~

[althrasher]

Cut, paste, fill things in so they fit. I hate thinking in such a linear way. I know my whole story--I can't be bothered with things like "timelines" in my writing!

[BlueTexas]

Both. I start with an outline, but sometimes it needs filled in later. I tend to under-write a first draft.

[Chasing the Horizon]

Of my five current WIPs three are being written out of order and two from beginning to end. The novel I'm revising was written out of order as well. Some stories come to me in pieces and others are linear, so that's how I decide. The ones that come in pieces get a much more detailed outline so the scenes have the details right when I write them. No matter which way I write the first draft, I think stuff will end up being moved around in revision.

[Pike]

Just to help ease your mind: normal is what ever works best for you. I've read so many methods on the process, from starting out with an idea and writing it straight through, to writing a rough synopsis, fleshing it out, and using it for a completed draft. The best advice is to go with your gut and write your stories from there.

Me, I like to scrawl a brief outline, deatiling my key scenes and others that strike me as they come. From that I try to write my ending first so I have a finishing line then go back to the beginning and drive it home. I'm the kind of person that needs a detailed map to get from point A to point Z so this works best for me.

Pike

[blacbird]

There is no "right answer". Every writer does it the way that works, and often that means the way it works for this particular project. Movies are commonly made piecemeal, for a variety of practical reasons, with scenes shot entirely out of final sequence, and often the actors don't even know what the final product is going to look like. Good actors deal with this reality. The Pianist, which won big Oscars three or four years ago, was filmed essentially in reverse order, because its star (Adrian Brody, who won a Best Actor Award) needed to lose a lot of weight during the course of the story. They had him lose the weight first, shot the final scenes first, and worked backwards from there, to allow him to gain back the weight and strength needed for the earlier scenes.

Good writers don't worry overmuch about writing order, either. For some (Terry Brooks), it works best to pre-plan extensively and write-by-number thereafter. For others (John Saul), seat-of-the-pants is the way to go.

caw

[reenkam]

I just start writing and go on through. Usually I'll write a paragraph summary a couple of chapters ahead of the one I'm writing once I get past the halfway mark. But other than that it's just a free for all for me.

[WordGypsy]

Just read my sig line! I cut and paste constantly, splitting stories and then joining them back together. There is no right (write ha!) answer, just do what needs to be done to get the story written!

[Carmy]

I write the ending first, then the important or exciting scenes that capture my imagination while they're fresh. Next are the scenes not as important or exciting, and finally then the 'fill-in' scenes. A lot of cut and paste but it somehow comes together.

I don't think I could do a linear write.

[Britchik]

While I have a vague idea of where I'd like the story to end up, I haven't written it down. My WIP is at the moment completely linear, so it makes sense for me to write it in a linear way. If I write a scene before I get to it in the story, I feel obligated to keep the scene as is, and work the writing before it to fit that scene. It's easier when I can change things off the top of my head without worrying too much about the ramifications until I get to them.

[Atlantis]

I outline then write out of order. It can be hard sometimes with several plot lines running around. I could do one scene then not do the follow up scene until several months later, sometimes I forget things to do with the plot, or little changes that need to be worked in. I've found that I get work done faster writing out of order though. I've got five scenes left to go on my novel, all of them in the middle. The begining and the ending have been done for over a year.

[Jamesaritchie]

I detest outlines. I even detest the word. I start with page one and write straight through to the end. I wouldn't use an outline, and couldn't write out of order if someone offered me twice what J. K. Rowling makes, but you have to do what works for you, and the only way to know whether something really works is to try it.

My rule for writing is pretty simple; if it's fun, I do it, if it isn't fun, I don't do it. So try whatever tickles your gizzard, and stick with whatever method strikes you as the most enjoyable.

[shakeysix]

i write scenes and dialogs first. sometimes i begin with two complete strangers talking for pages and pages--no action, no scenery, sometimes no names. later i go back and fill in notes as to scenes and characters. in the old days all these notes were kept in binders and legal pads, and then handwritten into manuscripts. (no i did not use a freaking turkey quill pen!) these days i start with handwritten notes and when i have enough info for a scene i put it into a word doc. and keep it in my drafts folder. over the winter i try to piece all the scenes into one work and then "quilt"--add detail during the spring break.--s6

[DVGuru]

I work straight through with no outline, just some basic ideas of where I want the story to go. If I come up with a good scene that I know will take place later in the story, I let it sit in my head until I'm ready to write it. If I forgot the scene, it probably wasn't worth writing to begin with.

[Melanie Nilles]

I'll answer like many of the others. I outline, sometimes writing out scenes in a synopsis form as they come to me. But to actually write the story, I work in a linear form so I know what came last; because sometimes those summarized scenes change. Okay, they often change, at least slightly. Sometimes during the writing I delete scenes and replace them. Often during editing that happens, or things get shifted around.

By the time a work is done, it ends up being a little of both.

[ChaosTitan]

I write in order. I read a book in order, so outline or no, I couldn't possibly write it out of order. It feels dishonest to portray the emotions of a character Chapter 23 if I haven't written the previous twenty-two chapters and let the character experience them.

[scarletpeaches]

I detest outlines. I even detest the word. I start with page one and write straight through to the end. I wouldn't use an outline, and couldn't write out of order if someone offered me twice what J. K. Rowling makes, but you have to do what works for you, and the only way to know whether something really works is to try it.

My rule for writing is pretty simple; if it's fun, I do it, if it isn't fun, I don't do it. So try whatever tickles your gizzard, and stick with whatever method strikes you as the most enjoyable.

This is my method too and it's also my attitude to outlines.

[shakeysix]

i carry my characters with me. i always have one or two at the back of my mind and so all day every day they are growing with me. haunting me to get out sometimes.

there are two diff. types of reasoning--inductive and deductive. i think that inductive means infering something general from some small detail and deductive means taking a general idea and working it down to its smallest ideas. maybe. it has been a while since i studied this. ( anyway if i am wrong someone will correct me. that is the beauty of AW.)

my point is that despite all the diff personal approaches to writing, generally we writers divide into either going from the small to the large, or the large--plot and timeline--to the small. i don't know why this is. any guesses? it is fascinating to hear how others approach a novel--s6 ps--i taught english comp. for fourteen years so that you know i am not just blowing this out my nose.

[thepainpasses]

I outline and then write in order, because I find, by c&p-ing, I write all the good bits (that is, my favorite scenes) first, and then I have to fit in all the filler, and my writing lacks that way.

[Kaytie]

I begin at the beginning, but often by the time I'm in the middle I realize that the order of what I've written needs changing.

I don't write to an outline but I do keep a "story so far" kind of outline so that if I have to leave my manuscript for a time I don't have to read all 200 pages of it to refresh the story in my head.

[Manderley]

I make an extensive outline, then write linear from start to end.
A friend of mine makes no outlines, write whatever she feels like, then tie it all together later on.

My way works for me, her way works for her, and there is no way we could swap approaches. So stop looking for the "right" answer, and just do your own thing, et voilá! You have found the right answer. ;-)

[Lyra Jean]

I have tried writing with no outline and I have 5-6 started novels but not completed ones. Some of which I have lost.

So now I'm trying an outline and seeing if it will help me finish something. Cause my previous method wasn't working in the least.

[WorldPlanter]

Well, I'm basically a novice at this point so I'm not sure how valid my advice will be but I'll give it a go anyway.

I've always felt that my approach to writing could be compared to planning a road trip. I know the starting point and the destination, as well as a few locations that I'll pass through on the journey. My outline is my map and I used that to determine my primary route.

However, I don't know if I'll have to take a detour down an old dirt road when passing between two towns on my trip or if I'm going to encounter a blizzard on a mountain pass. Those are the type of events you can't plan for on a road trip just as there are moments of inspiration in writing that come about without planning.

Once I've determined my route (outline) I try to write as linearly as possible so that every subsequent action naturally follows from the previous, but nothing is set in stone. Sometimes I have to back track or cut ahead.

I've actually seen someone else use this same analogy for their writing so I know there's at least one other person that uses a similar approach. Maybe I came across it on this forum.

[christinex]

I write in a very similar way to WorldPlanter, except that I don't outline. Never have, and probably never will. (I have completed six 100K-plus manuscripts.) I have key scenes scattered throughout the book that I know are important (and which I look forward to writing), and I always know how one of my novels will end. But how I get there tends to be more organic, although I always write in a linear fashion. I need to take the journey with the characters and experience things as they experience them. As ChaosTitan said earlier down in this thread, how could I possibly know what my characters' reactions in Chapter 25 are going to be if I haven't written the previous 24 chapters?

[Anthony Ravenscroft]

how could I possibly know what my characters' reactions in Chapter 25 are going to be if I haven't written the previous 24 chapters?
Um...

...because you've known since quite early in the process that Chapter 25 (or thereabouts) sets the stage for the major turning point in the plot? as in, without which the story collapses?

Okay, maybe some people are just taking transcription from angels or Martians or whatever, but I'm a radical with the weird notion that I'm actually creating these dratted things (albeit from scraps & archetypes).

[Penguin Queen]

Do what works for you. :)

I seem to have a different modus operandi with each piece -- the first "real" novel I wrote (mystery), I did a very stuctured and detailed synopsis for beforehand and pretty much stuck to that. The second one (also a mystery), I knew the beginning and I knew the end, but I had pretty much no idea how I would get from one to the other. I wrote it in chunks over the space of more than two years, interspersed with something completely different. (I mean, another project.)

I'm currently warming up to re-write than and limber up for #3, and who knows how I'm going to approach that...

Anyway - who needs normal? ;)

[Azraelsbane]

My first novel I wrote in 3 months, straight through, but after that I seem to have become linearly challenged. I've been working on a series of books for the past 8 years or so, and I have been jumping between not only chapters within books, but books in general.

My suggestion is, if you can go in order, do it. It makes things much less complicated, and a lot of people have a problem keeping the story cohesive if they jump around a lot. My problem is that I've known the entire storyline for my 3000+ page series since the beginning. Sometimes I get a good idea for a chapter a book or two down the road, sit down to outline it, and end up writing it instead.

Did I mention that outlining is my archnemesis? :)

[shakeysix]

i do it that way, too. i read once that it is called "branching". it might have been in a textbook that i saw this, i have had so many, so i can't credit the o.s. the idea of the aricle was that branching is okay. it is more time consuming, but a valid approach. a teacher should allow her students x number of rewrites so the branchers can get a handle on their main idea. it was written in defense of a portfolio approach to composition 1.

i had been fighting branching in my own work. and getting no where linearally speaking. once i allowed myself to split and spin things came together.

i think of it as clipping a snowflake out of a piece of notebook paper. first you have to build the paper. then you clip out what you don't need. piecing a quiltblock works too--s6

[Ab_Normal]

I have yet to finish anything, so this time around I'm trying outlining, in the hope that knowing where I'm going will keep me on the road, or some such thing.

Anyway - who needs normal? ;)

Not me! :D

Sorry, couldn't resist...

Norma

[blacbird]

i do it that way, too. i read once that it is called "branching". it might have been in a textbook that i saw this, i have had so many, so i can't credit the o.s. the idea of the aricle was that branching is okay. it is more time consuming, but a valid approach. a teacher should allow her students x number of rewrites so the branchers can get a handle on their main idea. it was written in defense of a portfolio approach to composition 1.

i had been fighting branching in my own work. and getting no where linearally speaking. once i allowed myself to split and spin things came together.

i think of it as clipping a snowflake out of a piece of notebook paper. first you have to build the paper. then you clip out what you don't need. piecing a quiltblock works too--s6

It also helps if you have a shift key on your keyboard.

caw

[EelKat]

Usually I write best out of order, just writing things down as they come to me.

If the story comes to me in order, than great! If the end comes to me before the beginning, and the middle comes in chunks here and there, no worries! I'll just sort it all out when it comes time to edit.

For me it's more important to go with the natural flow at which the story comes from your brain to your fingertips. Sometimes it may come to you straight from beginning to end, other times it may be scattered all over the place. Don't worry about it. Just write what comes to you as it comes to you.

[HeronW]

Yes to both! lol

I try to write in order, then I go back to edit and think this should be moved here and oh, I need to put something else here to make this flow better, and this character needs to be introduced, and I have to set up someone else for a fall. So yes, whatever way it works best!

[Enzo]

I sometimes get brilliant (my interpretation anyway) ideas for scenes with characters from my WIP that don't seem related to what I'm writing at the time.

I will put those scenes aside and wait until later to see if I can fit them in. Sometimes it works with a little adaptation, sometimes it doesn't, and I put those scenes aside for the sequel.