telophase | *Your* writing process?

Entry tags:

Your writing process?

Now that Yuletide assignments are out and it's time to get down to the nitty-gritty of starting the story, I want to hear about other people's writing processes. Because (a) I love reading about writing and (b) nothing gets *me* inspired like reading other people writing about writing. :D I hit the bookstore at lunch today, but there was nothing on the writing shelves that I hadn't read other than stuff with cruddy writing exercises ("Describe your favorite memory!" "Describe a brilliant sunset!") and stuff that talks about writing in way too fluffy and inspirational tones.

So: what do you do when you sit down to write? It could be poetry, fiction, nonfiction, fanfic, from a prompt or not. Whatever floats your boat.

And don't worry about being long: I'm at the ref desk on Saturday and will have nothing to do but sit there and read your comments. :)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I actually posted this on a forum within the past week, but it answers your question, so I'm cutting and pasting from over there. This is for academic writing:

I usually start a project with the yellow legal pad, either free-writing or with a rough outline of the questions I want to explore. Then I begin reading. I have an expensive habit of using amazon.com as my library because I like to mark in my books. After I've read a given source for a little while, I start note-taking on the computer. I make a new file for each source and keep all the files in a folder dedicated to that project. I use Endnote software to keep track of the bibliographic information. During the same period I'm free-writing on the legal pad, where I can work out my own ideas without having to bring the research in yet beyond referring by name to one of the sources I've been using.

I eventually hit a point where I'm ready to start writing on the computer rather than the legal pad. I begin by typing my free-writes into the computer and start moving quotes and notes from my source files into the drafting file. Endnote enables the bibliographic information to move from the source file to the draft file automatically, so my works cited page is being generated as I draft.

During this same time frame of a few weeks I'm also meeting my research partner for lunch and discussing the project with her. We have tablet computers, so sometimes we'll take the computer or else a legal pad to lunch. If we're working on my project, I'll have her take notes while I'm talking out my ideas. Again, I'm generating a lot of text along the way.

Depending on how well the draft is going organizationally, I either keep adding to and refining the draft file or I do a restart once I have a pretty clear idea of where I'm going. I do the restart when the conceptual organization of the draft file is too messy. On those occasions, it works better for me to work from a new file and only bring things over from the draft file as I'm ready for those ideas. Sometimes, if I'm struggling with organization, I'll print out the draft and cut it up with scissors in order to shift paragraphs and sections around.

Once I have a fairly substantial draft done, I'm usually sick of it, so that's when I turn it over to my research partner to read. I give her directions depending on the stage I'm at. Sometimes I'll tell her to focus on clarity or organization, but if I'm feeling fairly satisfied with the structure and development, I'll tell her to focus on the language. We both teach grammar and style, so she's a big help with that. I then use her suggestions to revise and/or edit. Once she has read for style and I've done the final edit, it's ready for me to send to an editor.

I do have a couple of different methods when I'm writing something. The most common way is that I start my writing process by not writing.

Whenever I begin on a project, I spend a good chunk of time thinking about it. If you ever had a chance to watch me working on an assignment, you might notice that I pace a lot. The times when I think most clearly are when I'm not sitting in front of a computer, so pacing, lying in bed, and sitting on the john are perhaps my most fruitful *ahem* moments.

Since I usually know what I'm supposed to write about by the time I start an assignment, I use this method to decide on how to open my article and what information should be included. Now, granted, I generally lose about 60-70% of the stuff I come up with during those times, but what I remember is more than good enough for me to keep. However, I recently picked up a digital voice recorder, and I'm starting to use that to record my thoughts, so hopefully I won't lose as much. I'm still a little perturbed about talking to myself in the bathroom though.

Once I do finally settle down to write, the initial bit is just a brain dump -- getting all of the ideas down into written (or typed) form. These early notes are pretty incomprehensible (as anyone who has ever seen my notes from meeting minutes can attest). Instead of wasting time trying to piece together my thoughts to exacting detail, I jot down a couple of salient points that are key to the idea. These notes become mnemonic devices, of a sort, that I have learned to use pretty effectively within a 72-hour period.

When I'm ready to write intelligibly, I decipher my notes, expand them into working sentences, and piece my article together. I'm usually able to create a decent enough draft at one go such that I need only one revision for it to be ready for submission, but that's provided my ideas are still fresh in my mind (hence the 72-hour grace period).

The second most commonly used method isn't really a technique. I just barf words all over the page and hope that something interesting comes out. I do take a teensy bit of time afterwards to edit myself, but sometimes I need to turn things around very quickly and I don't have time to think too hard on the matter. That's how I wrote this entry, BTW. :)

The third method I use is what most people learn in school, and I'm sort of forced to use it for the EFL essays I write. Outline -> Draft -> Revision. It's too boring and too structured for my taste, but it has its uses. Whenever I use this method, the outline is the hardest part, but once I have that done, my drafts and revisions can be hammered out in minutes.

When I'm doing technical writing, I have document templates that I designed to be used universally by the team. I use the template to organize and outline (ugh, I just realized that's what I do!) the main points of the document. Then I expand on each of the points to pad things o... I mean, make things sound more credi... err, I make it read pretty.

I should note that just about all of my assignments these days require quick turnaround. I haven't had to put more than 3000 words together in a long time (not including the huge blobs of text that come from doing cut-and-paste text captures for technical stuff). I do have random notes that I've jotted down for random long-term projects, but I'm really not sure how I'd piece something that's 10,000 words or more together anymore, so in a way, I'm curious to see how other people respond too!

I cry. And then I visit a deep, nasty corner of my soul where I remember how nice it used to be (before academia) when I spent my days doing payrolls--all of those tidy numbers, adding up so neatly. I cry some more. Sometimes I eat cake.

I split things up into sections with working titles in all caps. Then I dump everything I need (quotes, ideas, topics) into the appropriate sections and work through them one by one, steadily refining and shaping stuff until it makes sense. I do my own proof-reading and editing. The only person better at proof-reading than I am is my advisor. She gets to rip it all apart in the end anyway.

In which I sound Quite Insane, I'm certain.

I usually start with a couple ideas, like hermaphrodites and body art (actual example) and arranged marriage societies and clan social structure and pack behavior among humans, rattle them around in my head a good long while, combine with other random cool bits, generators, prompts, etc.

I talk to aluragayle every day via chat, in a quiet casual way, and she's always happy to give me prompts or ideas if I need them. Sometimes I bug other friends. I sort of stuff my brain until things start to leak out on the other side. Then I go and work with my hands. I cook, clean, garden, eat, etc. If I don't have time to get in enough absorbing stuff with my hands, my writing tends to suck. I know this is crazy, but I've finally accepted it, and hey, I get a lot of laundry done that way.

Eventually, I start to see scenes and dialog from my characters' point of view, and I'll play out a scene a couple ways, usually before falling asleep. I tend to have several snippets of scenes or scenarios before I sit down. Then I pop in the music and just channel. I have very different character point of view in my brain, and the music helps. I like Rolling Stones a lot at the moment, but I used to always write to Emmylou Harris.

If life has crashed down around me, sometimes I write to block it out. Then I don't need the hand-work stuff so much.

I almost always have a distinct person as intended story audience. When I write, I'm writing for them. I'm telling them this story. I did this even in college with papers, so it's not a new thing. I love to write fics for friends, usually to cheer people up. Just one of those things. I find those flow very easily.

I don't do much tinkering after I've written it. I'm more likely to rip out a scene and start fresh than heavily edit sentences.

Well, I got hit so hard by an idea while I was reading the Yuletide assignment info that I think I need to check and make sure the person didn't actually ask for the story...i don't think so...but I am trying to steal time to do canon research (and related research) because the idea is just so tempting.

There were two fandoms, actually, that appealed. But the one gave me an idea.

Same here. Well, actually I got hit by it when I was signing up, and actually wrote the entire outline down. Unfortunately, I wasn't assigned it. XD I suppose I shall have to write it after this.

Maybe it'll come up as a pinch hit?

Who knows? :)

I usually contemplate it for a while until I have some sort of idea. Usually in the car. I typically have a beginning sentence and an ending sentence, or at least an idea of what the end will be, before I begin, but often very little idea of anything else.

Then I sit down at the computer. Then I randomly surf the net for five hours, before giving up for the day.

Then I randomly surf the net for five hours, before giving up for the day.
ROFL!
That's exactly why I bought a laptop. I go into my studio and write where there is no net access.

For fic or fiction, I start writing dialog. If the characters keep finding things to talk about, or if the talk provokes action and begins to branch out into larger scenarios, I know I have hold of something. After a session or two of that, I start to organize it into an outline, even if only mentally, and then write to the outline. Needless to say, the organization is elastic. As in "near-infinitely expandable", because I tend to write serialized epics that take me years to complete, probably the equivalent in word count of a fat paperback trilogy at least.

A short story, for me, is often three months' work and about the length of an average novel. A truly short story is three or four weeks in the making at least. I always want to wait a while and see what parts begin to look overwrought or under-thought before I show it to anyone. I get nervous before posting -- it's always a good thing when I have at least one intelligent beta reader who can confirm my instincts or point out absurdities before they hit the general public.

I write first drafts as fast as possible, then go back and sub better wording where I've used shortcut cliches, add in anything that seems to be missing, and start waxing purple in the descriptive passages. Third pass, I cut out the purple and often a lot of what I added. Three tubby paragraphs will collapse into a single sentence, or even vanish entirely. Major rearranging may take place, and I may get a bright idea and completely rewrite something. It's hard for me to quit polishing. Each fic chapter I post has gone through five or six versions at absolute minimum. When the whole story is finished, I revise it as a whole, because it can always get better. I have to set myself deadlines for posting or I would never let go.

If it's an essay, on the other hand, I usually get mad or otherwise worked up about something, pound it all out in a couple of hours as if I were ranting on some unmoderated forum, and then spend one or two days softening the less temperate statements and amplifying the examples.

Well, the way I've been writing fics (hah! All four of the ones I've posted, plus the one that's in beta now and the one that's kicking around in my head ... ) is very different from the way I write the one or two short nonfiction articles per week that I do at work for our intranet site.

For the short articles (which are usually 4-6 paragraphs - maybe 2 pages, is printed), once I have a topic, I stack up four to six sources (almost always online) and read them all end to end, one after the other. Then I muck around with an opening sentence that will grab their attention ... which is actually the second chance I have at that, because I'll also be writing a really short "teaser" that goes on the front page of the site. Sometimes that sentence will end up standing alone as the first paragraph, especially if the article is about something surprising. What happens next depends on the type of article. If it's a biography, it'll just proceed in chronological order. For most other topics, I'll do a general summary and then proceed to several interesting examples. I try to have a wrap-up that's as grabby, in its own way, as the opening, so that the readers come back to check us out the next day. (If I'm feeling really brain-dead, I'll fall back on doing a recipe article: one paragraph of cheerful appetite-whetting nonsense about the season of the year and what it makes people feel like eating, and then off to several recipes from good online sources, with links.) Note that I can do one of these in about 60-90 minutes at this point because I have to do it all the time. Deciding on the topic is the hard part!

The fics have been working very differently. The ideas generally bounce around in my head for a week or two until I'm starting to tell myself whole scenes when I'm walking to the Metro, washing dishes, or waiting to fall asleep. Then I usually want to bounce the idea off someone else, who has usually been sanada because they've mostly been SDK or Saiyuki and she's just as big a fan and can call me on it if I do stupid things re OOC or mistakes in canon events. I write the bare bones of the story as one or two paragraphs just summarizing the events, sometimes with bits of dialog if a line or two has emerged. Then we talk a bit back and forth (by e-mail) about why the characters would (or wouldn't) do what I've described, and what seem to be the strongest or weakest parts.

Then I just start writing the whole thing down, start to finish. I often backtrack during the writing, because sometimes I'll suddenly recall something that I said earlier and think of a better way to say it, and I often start from the top again and read through all that I've written at that point to see how it's flowing. Once I've got the whole rough down, I usually leave it at least overnight. When I come back to it, I go through it mainly for technical points, but I'm also listening in my mind's ear to how it sounds. I will sometimes trim and tighten at this point, and I'll also eliminate or rethink overused words (I sometimes get on a kick and use the same adjective a little too often, for example). I'll take a last look at my opening and ending, and then I'll send it off for beta. And it doesn't usually change much after that.

I cover my ears and start writing.
(I.e. I have a big set of ear phones that cover my ears completely. I put them on usually without music these days.)

I usually only write short stories which don't require me to keep an outline or extra notes but for Nanowrimo I'll be keeping a pad of paper beside me to scribble on.

Well, in my world of writing, it seems that procrastination makes my writing juices go go go. That meaning in a sense that if I have to write a paper for class that is 5 pages long, I won't start writing it until the very last day. I don't do outlines as I find them useless, as I have never understood then nor even how to take notes in class. I was the one that just stared and listened. If I did write something, it was because it was on the overhead display that the teacher wrote out for us. But it seems that I get more into it, more infused with the topic when I have this quickly dropping amount of time before its done. I can't tell you how many times I stayed up til 4 AM in college writing those damn Art History papers because I didn't start them until the last possible moment. But in that time, usually late at night, I am in my zone. Its quiet, I can have my headphones on and listen to music and just go at it as I feel it.
And it seemed that I felt more able to write whenever I listened to a certain song.. "Your Clown" by Effiel 65 I think.
But that is basically my way of writing for classes - Its totally different for my other works.

When I write fiction, novel or fan stuff, I find myself getting ideas and wanting to write more and more when I am busy with other activities. Like just today at work, I work Fridays from 10-5 and usually time from 1-4 is slower than crap at our grocery store, so I stand back at our counter where no one really sees me and I write. I wrote one paragraph today, mostly because I kept crossing out lines and rewriting them. Yet I seem to let my mind wander more during work, as its not something that I really have to put my mind toward. Alot of times, I have tons of bits of paper around my computer and in my room that I have written on at work because the muse smacked me there. Heck I even drew a picture one day at work, and most of it while I was actually doing work! Other times, its when I'm driving in the car. I got the idea for my novel that I am trying to write, while driving back from the Renaissance Fair. Thank god my friend was there so that we could brainstorm and keep things fresh in my mind. ANd it seems such a fantastic idea as well. I hope that I actually can write it and get it published.

Most of my stories, I already have the beginning and ending figured out. Even more so, they kinda play out in my head like mini-movies, I see it that visually. Even for a comic that I *want* to draw, but most likely will never do, I was nearly in tears as I pictured the ending scenes in my head. Its the matter of turning that movie to words is what gets me. I will sit and stare at my computer screen and type some words, delete them, rewrite it, delete that, write it the first way. I seem to never be really sure with alot of my lines until I just *know* that its perfect. Sometimes I will write an entire page of stuff for the story and days later delete it because it just didn't fit in the right way. Though alot of the time, I know that if I can just get to a certain point, I know that the words and the story will just flow from my mind, structured as it is in my memory.

Mostly to me, its when inspiration hits me. Sometimes at night, sometimes in the day. I am always getting ideas or at least more lines to add to my stories.
ANd it usually seems to turn out for the best. I have had one very popular fanfic (Inuyasha fanfiction, yes its sad, but true) that many have loved and are waiting in the wings for chapters of my newer story. That is what gives me the most inspiration. The adoration and comments of my readers.

And for the heck of it, here is an excerpt from a novel that I am trying to write currently along with the one I mentioned above. Tell me what you think.

"I Was A Secret Agent's Cook"

All my years as a child, I loved watching my mother bake in her kitchen. From sunup to sundown she was always in that kitchen, cooking her heart away, humming a tune that never had words to begin with yet still had a meaning. My eyes would glaze over at the sight of cakes and pies laid before me on the table. My mouth watered for the succulent pieces of roast beef and goose she would place on trays of silver. My world was filled with food, surrounding me at every hour. Even my dreams were catered with pineapple glazed hams and cherry delight crèmes.
Yet I never had a bite. Oh, I may have at the small crumble of apple pie that wasn’t finished off properly, but I never dined this way. These foods were not meant for me, nor my watering taste buds. All this food was meant for people of the higher status, my mother’s employer and any of their companions. My dinners, though warm and filling, were meager compared to the luxuries my mother could conjure up from the oven and stove. Much like a witch at her kettle, stirring up her potions, she could turn a travesty of a fallen soufflé into a magical delight on the tongue.
Saying that my mother was a cook would be an understatement. An artist of food would work much better to describe her and her life. She worked and we lived in a mansion home located on the middle of 40 acres of bright green and shining English land. During the 30 years that my mother worked there, it was owned by a menagerie of lords and dukes, one after another as they rose and fell in the political system. I never really paid them much attention, as they never paid me much attention either. The only time that they actually saw me was at the service line up whenever a new lord was arriving to take his place in his new home. I stood by my mother, her flour covered hands on my shoulders, as there was always something baking back in the kitchen and there was no time to clean up.

For fic, I spend an inordinately long time chewing it over in my mind: riding on the Metro, walking the dog, lying in bed waiting to fall asleep, any time and place where I have spare mental cycles gets used for this. I work out the scene progression in my head, try to pin down all of the details of clothing or environment that I need to get a sufficiently vivid visual and spatial sense of everything, and eventually progress to even writing out whole passages in my head until I've got a sense of the tone it's going to be told in, key phrases that I want to hang on to, that sort of thing. When I'm finally ready to sit down, it tends to come out all in a rush, one sitting or maybe two if my energy runs out in mid-stream. Music and scents and such can be very helpful in maintaining the right mood for me, but I need to be in a setting that's fairly free of distractions; that generally means writing in the wee hours, when I know the phone won't ring and there's minimal noise drifting in from outside.

I start with a picture, and if I don't start with a picture I usually try to see my idea as a picture, or better yet, a story from the manga involved. Like a lot of people here, I run these pictures through my mind while lying on my back with earphones on. Or else while walking, which is more when the dialogue comes. When I get enough of the story clear enough I start writing, and hope that what's visual and semi-conscious and right brain will translate into left-brain words. (And for that I cannot have music of any kind playing. Silence is what I need.) Sometimes it does; frequently, if it's a product of half-waking floats before going to sleep or after waking up, it doesn't.

I usually write at the laptop, though sometimes I've been known to sneak around at work. Usually I write on an idea I get, but sometimes I just have to sit and plow through the story. Lately I've had to write with something in the background; Dan Savage's podcasts are a permanent guilty pleasure, but if the show or webcast is too interesting I don't get things done. (It's your fault my

springkink stories are not done, Mad Men!)

I normally start with a scene or two and write around it, even with a prompt. Like...my Saiyuki AU started, really, with a story about Studio 54, because I knew I wanted Gojyo at Studio 54. The Internet knows all, so I dug around and found a bunch of stories, including one where a guy couldn't get in until he'd taken off his shirt, which the bouncer found ugly. And so I had a shirtless Gojyo wandering around Studio 54...and let's face it, after that it writes itself. But I write original stories much the same way.

You got me. I'm terribly random about my creative processes, and my muse is a hummingbird with a speed addiction.

For CTS, I had a personal fantasy taking up too much space in my head. Then, I had a conversation with a friend at a forum which gave me the brilliant idea for how to structure the story. As for drumming up the gumption to do each chapter, I really just go with whatever the next scene is supposed to be based on a pre-existing plot (fanfiction is blessed with having this). Unfortunately, I get lost in thinking about later scenes that I really want to get to and lose the willpower to write the current scene. Ack.

Addendum: I also write to music. Then again, I do most everything with music on. :P

One thing I do with CTS that I never thought I'd do is take advice from a reader. Typically, I'm a complete lone wolf with my creations and dislike taking suggestions from others with a passion. But, with this particular story (Jee. I might as well call it a fan novel because it's 50 chapters long already and expected to be over 200 chapters long when it's finally finished.) I've found that I rely on feedback from one reader in particular a lot. I don't think I can call her a beta reader because I proofread everything myself before posting, but she is a crucial guide for tweaking the latest chapters and refining ideas for future chapters.

Every chapter of CTS begins with a quote so I often hunt up lyrics and movie quotes that will fit each chapter before beginning writing on the actual chapter. Another thing I do is spend endless hours doing research that isn't from the canon story so I can get details as realistic/ correct as I can. It's silly to waste hours looking for info on the time of year when peaches ripen just for a one sentence reference to a certain tree, but I'd be mortified if someone called me on it if I got the facts wrong.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Your writing process?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject