How do you write?

I guess I use that, in the sense that it's a linear and no-brainer way to work.

I mean, I 1) Have idea 2) Write idea down as story 3) Edit story 4) Sometimes show story to friend. 5) Sell story.

Mostly, though, I think that a lot of what they teach you about writing in school is detrimental to any decent fiction writing. The "never use nice" or "never use said" rules, for example, lead to a lot of strange words having to stand in the spot where said should be. (for example.)

Mine is always evolving and will probably continue to do so. However, when I started going over the list, I realized that a lot of it I don't do.

Brainstorming: Brainstorming is the one I'm hoping we spend a lot of time on it. It was a lesson learned from the last project--make sure the story is functioning and setup works before writing it. We spent a lot of time fixing thingsafter the fact that could have been done as it was written.

First Finished Version: From there, brainstorming goes to first finished verison. We do treat it as if it were a final as it goes down on paper, rewriting as we go along to smooth out the wrinkles and so we don't have to fix too much later on. I also try to shake out as many of the typos as I go along because I really hate to proofread.

Revision: Then we go to 'revision' and fix story problems. Again, hopefully, getting the brainstorming working right will be critical here. If it isn't, we'll be fixing a lot.

Expansion: The next stage is probably the 'expansion' stage. We don't have an editing stage at all. Most people tend to run over in their books and have to trim; we tend to need to add. Last project needed 15K added just to get it to a minimum word count. This is almost like a major revision because we look for places where we didn't do enough with scenes and expand on those. None of it is filler.

Fast Pass: This one largely depends on the project. Since ours had a historical setting (but is not a historical), we've had to do a pass to weed out modern idioms. We also use this to hunt down repetitions and get rid of them.

We don't really have a final draft stage. By the time it hits Fast Pass, it is final, just needing some clean up.

I start with the first word. I move on to the second word. Then I write the third word. The fourth comes next. And, well, you get the picture. One word after another until I get to the last.


ETA: This looks like your first post? Thread making frenzy?

well, I don't brainstorm first, so I skip that step. I just write, edit, rewrite if necessary.

If I ever do something the same way twice, I'll let you know.

And when I was in grade 3, the writing method was get a pencil, a piece of foolscap and keep quiet while the teacher read his magazine. Ah, public education.

lol, Scribbler. I hear you.

Writing

I skipped a couple of grades in school, including the second, so I missed that lesson. For a short story, I sometimes get an idea first, but more often than not I think of a title I like, and use that as an idea. Then I write the story, edit the story, submit the story.

For a novel, I think of a title, and use that to generate the story as I do with a short story, but I usually read two good nonfiction book on the time and place the story will be set, and then I write the story. I start at page one, word one, and keep writing until I page last and word last.

I skip the brainstorming session on both.

Grade school was so long ago I have no idea what they taught me in second grade. I just remember Mrs. Thompson having legs to die for, even as a 7-year-old.

My writing process? I sit down and write. Then I revise. I don't have brainstorms, they're more like constant drizzles.

I start with a bit of inspiration: a snip of dialog, an image, a situation, a character, a place...it could be anything. My last story came from a single two-second action of my son.

I just take that bit and explore it. Poke it with a big What If stick. I've found that trying to lay out the story before I begin writing it doesn't work for me; I get bored and bogged down.

So, I guess my process is
1. Inspiration
2. Persperation (the physical act of writing it)
3. Cooling off
4. Read and revise
5. Submit

Story

Siddow said:

I start with a bit of inspiration: a snip of dialog, an image, a situation, a character, a place...it could be anything. My last story came from a single two-second action of my son.

I just take that bit and explore it. Poke it with a big What If stick. I've found that trying to lay out the story before I begin writing it doesn't work for me; I get bored and bogged down.

So, I guess my process is
1. Inspiration
2. Persperation (the physical act of writing it)
3. Cooling off
4. Read and revise
5. Submit

Click to expand...

There are times, very rare times, all too rare times, when a single action can make a story pop into my mind that's essentially complete. One of my first big sales to a national magazine came full-blown, beginning to end, because of something my son and I did together. Four hours from the time it happened the story was written, polished, and in the mail.

Shadow_Ferret said:

I just remember Mrs. Thompson having legs to die for, even as a 7-year-old.

Click to expand...

Wow, your grade school teacher had great legs and was only 7 years old?! (you know I like messing with you SF).

I didn't go through the American school system, so I don't remember being taught those steps, although that might just be fault of memory.

I don't brainstorm, at least not on paper. I think out an idea, fairly thoroughly, and then I write it. I get more ideas as I go, based on how the characters are turning out and what I think they would do, or what I think needs to happen.

Then I finish the story. I rewrite and edit it. I get beta readers to make sure I didn't goof up too badly. Edit it again. And then, I suppose, I query and try to sell it. That's where I am for the first time.

I was never taught that writing process, and thank God for that. It would have taken some work getting it out of my brain.

I'm with KTC. "One word at a time." When it's finished, I type 'The End', and that's it. For a couple of months anyway, until I edit. Then I edit...one word at a time.

You did forget the, "Scream until your ears bleed," and, "Curse everything and everyone you've ever known" stages, which usually come between the editing and the final copy stages.

Oh is that normal for a writer then? I thought that was my baseline/normal mood ever day of the week!

scarletpeaches said:

Oh is that normal for a writer then? I thought that was my baseline/normal mood ever day of the week!

Click to expand...

Yup. It's pretty routine, really.

An idea pops, the story develops, when it's ripe enough I pick it and throw it onto the paper, currently using a pen and paper.

Once it's in final draft I type it up, doing a good chunck of my editing then, saves me from the procrastination I usually face, then let it stew, then go over it again, then pass it off to someone, if they have things they have issue with, I address those issues, then if I'm feeling confident enough I send it off. If not, I let it sit for a bit and come back later and read it again.

1) Idea for a character. Without this I go nowhere. Period.

2) Brainstorm setting and action for character. Most of my characters feel "right" in a specific time period or setting. I usually take a week or so to figure out which one fits, if I don't know it already. Then I start slotting them in.

3) Plot. This one varies drastically. Sometimes I am a "one word after the other" type, but other times I actually do a synopsis or outline.

4) Write the damned thing. See (3) for reasons this sometimes varies.

5) Revise. Then do it again. This is a newish phase for me, so I'm still sorting it out.

I tend to come up with almost saga characters (in other words I'll have a more modern character's great-grandfather show up in an earlier work, or a secondary character in one story will show up a few years earlier as a MC), so characters are very important to my entire process.

I was prepped to be flip and say "I write with my hands," but I think I'll behave now (*waves to Tsuki*).

I think I follow that old model in some fashion. I don't brainstorm in quite the same way as I did in school, but I use work hours, driving time, shower time, and standing in line time to go over scenes in my head. To think about what comes next, or what may come later on. So maybe it's more like a brainshower.

Siddow said:

So, I guess my process is
1. Inspiration
2. Persperation (the physical act of writing it)
3. Cooling off
4. Read and revise
5. Submit

Click to expand...

For me, exactly.

My process consists of:
1. Write everything out by hand
2. Complain about having to type it all out.
3. Listen to my wife question why I write everything out by hand when, if I typed it out on the computer in the first place, it would already be typed and I wouldn't have to complain about having to type it out.
4. Re-explain to my wife that I don't think the same way behind a keyboard as I do with a pen in my hand.
5. Watch my wife roll her eyes.
6. Sit down at computer, type for ten minutes
7. Figure I should go see what is happening at "Absolute Write"

PeeDee said:

I guess I use that, in the sense that it's a linear and no-brainer way to work.

I mean, I 1) Have idea 2) Write idea down as story 3) Edit story 4) Sometimes show story to friend. 5) Sell story.

Click to expand...

I don't know PeeDee, could you dumb it down a shade?

I follow the same basic pattern, is there another way to write then?

sfecphory said:

My process consists of:
1. Write everything out by hand
2. Complain about having to type it all out.
3. Listen to my wife question why I write everything out by hand when, if I typed it out on the computer in the first place, it would already be typed and I wouldn't have to complain about having to type it out.
4. Re-explain to my wife that I don't think the same way behind a keyboard as I do with a pen in my hand.
5. Watch my wife roll her eyes.
6. Sit down at computer, type for ten minutes
7. Figure I should go see what is happening at "Absolute Write"

Click to expand...

I write pretty much everything in longhand (Now using a Special Edition Dr. Grip gel pen with a custom grip.), as well, but typing into the computer is when I do sort of a second mini-draft. What goes into the computer is a much more polished version of the story than what I have on paper.

No complaints. This is one of the reasons I love longhand. Going from longhand to the computer gives me an extra bit of polish that I find difficult to get any other way. There's something about going from paper to the computer that allows me to notice mistakes and sloppy sentences I often miss when everything is already on the computer.

Jamesaritchie said:

I write pretty much everything in longhand (Now using a Special Edition Dr. Grip gel pen with a custom grip.), as well, but typing into the computer is when I do sort of a second mini-draft. What goes into the computer is a much more polished version of the story than what I have on paper.

No complaints. This is one of the reasons I love longhand. Going from longhand to the computer gives me an extra bit of polish that I find difficult to get any other way. There's something about going from paper to the computer that allows me to notice mistakes and sloppy sentences I often miss when everything is already on the computer.

Click to expand...

I work this same way, when I have the chance. If I'm on deadline for something, then I tend to do first and second draft straight onto the computer.

But I have a short story I'm writing right now that no one's waiting for. So I'm writing it longhand with a comfortable fountain pen (Waterman makes the best pens, honestly) and when I'm done, I'll type it up.

The important thing about writing long-hand first, in my view, is that you're more likely to tell the story in a shorter, tighter format by default. There's less opportunity to flail and needlessly expound when you're writing by long hand. Other authors have noted this too. If a story, typed, would be 10,000 words, and it were written long-hand, it would be 6,000 words or less.

I like that. I think that's important.

(that, and I just think it's important to be able to comfortably and competently write a story no matter what material I have at hand, be it by hand, typewriter, computer, or stone tablet.)