Writing scenes that are to occur later on...

unthoughtknown · Apr 18, 2006

Hi all,

This applies to those of you who do write in the order that the chapters appear...

If you happen to have ideas for scenes later on in the novel, do you write these ideas in point form (or whatever) with the plan to write the scene in detail when its time comes, or do you write the scene immediately but then revert to the chapter you were working on when you stopped...

Jen.

Forbidden Snowflake · Apr 18, 2006

I make notes, just a few words, noting down what I have in mind. Dialogue? Setting and what happens and why, just describing it so that I won't forget when I arrive there. But I never write something out when I haven't written the whole thing from before.

RobCurtis · Apr 18, 2006

Absolutely. Notes, and lots of 'em, perhaps with the 'thoughts' of the characters which I can later translate into narrative. But I don't stop what I'm doing for more than that.

Even with the most complete of outlines, there are things which will change as you write. Writing a novel is a slightly organic process - it's like the first step of the editing process. But I personally can't leave the story in the middle to write a different part. I'm afraid that if I change horses midstream, my original one will decide to run off and chase the filly in the field opposite.

PastMidnight · Apr 18, 2006

I keep a stack of index cards for writing down ideas for later scenes or chapters. I like index cards because I can shuffle them around if I'm not sure where the idea might fit in. If I have an idea for a chapter that I've fleshed out a little more in my mind, I'll type it into a bulleted list or a brief paragraph (I don't even use complete sentences), but I don't break away from the chapter/scene I'm currently working on.

Julie Worth · Apr 18, 2006

Forbidden Snowflake said:
I make notes, just a few words, noting down what I have in mind. Dialogue? Setting and what happens and why, just describing it so that I won't forget when I arrive there. But I never write something out when I haven't written the whole thing from before.

Yes! I write notes, no actual scenes. But, I NEVER LOOK AT THEM AGAIN. The purpose of writing them is to fix them in the mind, to fix them loosely, because I don't want those notes to force me to get to a certain place at a certain time. Like a business appointment that falls in the middle of a vacation.

Julie Worth · Apr 18, 2006

RobCurtis said:
Writing a novel is a slightly organic process

I'm 100% organic.

Zolah · Apr 18, 2006

jen.nifer said:
Hi all,

This applies to those of you who do write in the order that the chapters appear...

If you happen to have ideas for scenes later on in the novel, do you write these ideas in point form (or whatever) with the plan to write the scene in detail when its time comes, or do you write the scene immediately but then revert to the chapter you were working on when you stopped...

Jen.

I write down just as much detail occurs to me at the time, especially if it's a scene I know will be difficult. Inspiration strikes me very rarely, so if a clear and brilliant vision of a scene suddenly pops into my head you can bet I'll take advantage of it. Then I go back to what I was doing before, and carry on until I get to that pre-written scene, and blend it in. Occasionally things have changed since that little pop of inspiration and I find I can't use most or all of what I have. But generally it works well, and I can get that tough scene written in half the time and with half the aggravation, and the added knowledge that it has that little extra spark because the sharp edge of the idea hasn't been blunted by trying to remember something that I came up with weeks or months before.

unthoughtknown · Apr 18, 2006

I'm glad I posted this. I was curious, though, the majority of the answers are pretty much what I expected and what I was leaning towards.

Julie Worth said:
Yes! I write notes, no actual scenes. But, I NEVER LOOK AT THEM AGAIN. The purpose of writing them is to fix them in the mind, to fix them loosely, because I don't want those notes to force me to get to a certain place at a certain time. Like a business appointment that falls in the middle of a vacation.

Now, that is very interesting...

Jamesaritchie · Apr 18, 2006

Scenes

I don't write scenes I know are coming down the line because I have no clue what scenes will happen down the line. If I thought I did know, I'd still be afraid to write them because I'd hate to force the novel to go in any direction. I don't want to lock myself in to anythng. What I'm writing on a given page goes in the direction that seems best at the time, which may be directly away from any pre-planned scene down the line.

Why write a scene I think will happen down the line, only to find out the novel goes off in another direction, and that scene never gets included?

Diana Hignutt · Apr 18, 2006

I also let the story and the characters drive the novel. Sure, I've got an outline...it starts of very precise for the first five chapters, and then hits just a few points here and there. In the beginning of a book, I'm just learning about the characters and their motivations, so I need a foundation of sorts, after that I let the characters be who they are and do what they would do and let the chips fall where they may...

Do I keep ideas about things that may happen along the way? Sure, I've got a little spiral notebook for such ideas and character points. And if those ideas or story events fit, maybe I'll use them. Maybe not.

Avalon · Apr 18, 2006

I use an outline. As I go along, when something new pops up, I jump to the outline and insert a note along the lines of "Somewhere in here, Marina needs some kind of reminder that she still has to open that envelope her brother left her." Or "Somewhere in here, the peasants revolt and Aubergine is trapped in Beauregard's stable loft."

When it's time to move on to the next scene, I scan through looking at the 'Somewhere in here' bits to see if 'somewhere in here' means 'now'.

icerose · Apr 18, 2006

I usually have an organic outline because before I start writing I have a pretty solid idea about the entire story. I write a paragraph of each chapter, or more depending on what I know, if I don't know the whole story then I leave those parts blank. This allows the story to grow and change and evolve without losing any of the ideas I already have. With an organic outline I write much faster and find plot holes sooner rather than later.

If I encounter writers block, I place a book mark at that spot and move on to spots that I know how they are going to work often pondering the holes in my work. I will talk about them to my sound board (my sister) and when I have it figured out, I return to that bookmark and finish it up, or write as far as I can. This prevents me from halting my progress.

This doesn't work for a lot of writers but it works quite well for me.

Good luck and have fun developing your own way of doing things.

Sara

Tirjasdyn · Apr 18, 2006

I use an outline, but if I have a flash then I write it and make outline notes. I use ywriter so my outline is always under the corrisponding scene.

I've started taking a little advice from Writer's Little Helper by James Smith. He suggested to write one view point at a time to keep voice consistant. (this might seem obvious to some but I never thought of it). Since my novel has four view points separated by chapters this has me skipping chapters for other view points as I concentrate on the first pov.

Example: The first character is chapters 1,2,6,10, 13,14, 17, 18, 21, 23, 27
So, following my outline I write those in order.

Shadow_Ferret · Apr 18, 2006

If the scene is compelling enough, I write it as fully as I can and simply stick it at the end of my current WIP seperated by several carriage returns.

Then when I get to that point in the story, I simply insert it and make the adjustments within that scene that are necessary to make it fit within the context of the rest of the story.

I don't make notes, they get lost. Nor do I understand what my notes mean later on when I actually get to that scene.

katiemac · Apr 18, 2006

jen.nifer said:
Hi all,

This applies to those of you who do write in the order that the chapters appear...

If you happen to have ideas for scenes later on in the novel, do you write these ideas in point form (or whatever) with the plan to write the scene in detail when its time comes, or do you write the scene immediately but then revert to the chapter you were working on when you stopped...

Jen.

I don't usually write upcoming scenes, unless I'm brutally stuck at my current place in the WIP. However, I'll revisit those future scenes a million times a day in my head. Once I went so far to attach a piece of music to the scene, where the progression of the song matched the progression of the scene. It worked; I had detail for detail down by the time I came to write the scene, and I didn't need any notes.

But, while I always start from the beginning when I write, a specific scene is usually what I brainstorm first (like the climax), and then the rest of the story molds itself around that point.

CaroGirl · Apr 18, 2006

I don't write scenes in order. I have a rough plot outline into which I slot the finished scenes. If I have a great image or idea, or even an entire scene that I know will work well within the story, I write the whole of it before it escapes me entirely. If, by the time the work has evolved into completed first draft form, the scene doesn't work exactly as written, I rewrite it, rework it or remove it. The same thing can happen to a linear writer who finds that, by the time he reaches the end, the beginning needs to be changed.

Just do whatever works for you. Experiment and have fun.

ChaosTitan · Apr 18, 2006

It depends on the scene and just what about that scene has inspired me to write it out of turn.

I usually write with outlines, so I have a broad idea of the beats of the novel. Once in a while, a specific scene bonks me over the head and insists on getting attention, even if it's sixty pages further into the story. If it's just a few lines of dialogue, or a neat description, I'll hand write it into a notebook, or onto an index card. It gets filed away with all my other notes, and 9/10 I'll think "Oh, wait, I've got something for this scene," when I get to the actual writing of it. Sometimes I find those notes, sometimes I don't.

A few weeks ago, I found myself writing out the dialogue between two characters, for a scene to take place at least three chapters beyond where I am now. I hadn't considered the scene before that moment, but it made perfect sense. In order to preserve the scene for later, I simply wrote the dialogue like I would a stage play. All the details, dialogue tags, description and movements will be added in later when that scene is needed.

If I had waited to write the scene when called for, I think I would have lost some of the magic in the spoken words. I certainly won't have remembered all the details.

Bigbunny · Apr 18, 2006

I do write some parts ahead of time, but not in detail because often I don't know precisely what will happen between where I am and that scene that's stuck in my head. If I end up using the scene later, fine. If not, fine. I just file it away in my novel notebook for just in case. Sometimes a cool scene can evolve into something different altogether.

Phouka · Apr 18, 2006

I tend to t write scenes as they come to me -- but if I'm in the middle of one when the muse hits, I jot down notes and do the new scene next. I don't write in order at all, and as I've tackled longer stuff, I find that I rearrange things often as I go through them.

janetbellinger · Apr 18, 2006

jen.nifer said:
Hi all,

This applies to those of you who do write in the order that the chapters appear...

If you happen to have ideas for scenes later on in the novel, do you write these ideas in point form (or whatever) with the plan to write the scene in detail when its time comes, or do you write the scene immediately but then revert to the chapter you were working on when you stopped...

Chapter? You mean some of you have already got it into chapters? If I get an idea for later on, I tell myself to write it down, then don't. I try to keep it in my head.

RobCurtis · Apr 18, 2006

Mr. Poopy Pants said:
Its like building a bridge, when you can see both sides of the ravine, its easiest.

Seeing both sides is one thing (i.e. knowing what the end is going to be). But starting to build on one side, then jumping to the other side, then doing a bit in the middle, isn't how I learned to build bridges. You got more than one writer - fine, write different bits. One writer / bridge builder - keep checking the other side as you go, keep hitting the supports in the middle (write to the outline), but start at A, go thru B, and get to C.

Julie Worth · Apr 18, 2006

Mr. Poopy Pants said:
Its like building a bridge, when you can see both sides of the ravine, its easiest.

I think it's closer to a maze...with wild animals inside.

Anya Smith · Apr 18, 2006

I have a basic outline of plot. If a scene pops into my head, I write it immediately. I polish it up later when I come to it in sequence.

Annabella5780 · Apr 18, 2006

If that happens (and I don't outline--I'm more the type to write with what comes at the moment and fill/clean up later), I usually just write as much information I can into notes in a word file. Then, I take that and save it in the same folder/area where I've got the main WIP saved. If later, it happens again and I've not gotten to the first scene, I just add some space, and repeat the process. It happens rarely, though, because of how I write.

unthoughtknown · Apr 18, 2006

janetbellinger said:
jen.nifer said:

Hi all,

This applies to those of you who do write in the order that the chapters appear...

If you happen to have ideas for scenes later on in the novel, do you write these ideas in point form (or whatever) with the plan to write the scene in detail when its time comes, or do you write the scene immediately but then revert to the chapter you were working on when you stopped...

Click to expand...

Chapter? You mean some of you have already got it into chapters? If I get an idea for later on, I tell myself to write it down, then don't. I try to keep it in my head.

I think writing in the order that the chapters appear helps with those chapter hooks yes?

Writing scenes that are to occur later on...

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