Writing Tastes/Styles/Etc. What do you do?

However makes you feel comfortable. There's no set rule on how to get started. Just get started. Find your own way and do it.

kim

Everyone does it differently, I think. It can be helpful hearing how others begin to give you ideas that might work.

When I was thinking of my first novel, I used the Gotham Writer's Workshop Writing Fiction book, and did all of the writing exercises in the book using my novel. By the end I had a bunch of scenes, descriptions, snippets, questions, settings and characters that I could draw on. I had begin learning about the craft and it wasn't quite so scary as beginning on page one. I just bought Ursula LeGuin's Steering the Craft, which is also full of writing exercises, and I am working through them thinking of my second novel. I'm neither an outliner nor a "pantser" so this works for me.

NiennaC said:

How do you get started? So, you've got that great idea, how do you begin? An outline? A random paper filled with notes? Do you write using a tape recorder (there was an author I'd heard of that spoke into his tape recorder and then later wrote down everything he'd said in his recorder). Do you like to type or write with a pencil? Or pen, or marker, or crayon (but goodness help you if you're writing a novel in crayon).

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I usually begin by burying the neighbor somewhere in the desert because I can't afford to share my royalty check with the guy who came up with the great idea.

I start at the beginning and keep writing 'til I reach the end. Simple!

I usually get ideas on the most inconvenient moments at the most inconvenient times, so things mostly start with random notes on whatever piece of paper I have handy. Then I go brainstorming (either in my head or on paper) and depending on how that session went I either go straight into writing, or I do an outline.

scarletpeaches said:

I start at the beginning and keep wiping 'til I reach the end. Simple!

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I do that when visiting the loou...another great story that began whilst visiting the land of oz.

NiennaC said:

How do you get started? So, you've got that great idea, how do you begin?

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I start out writing a "profile" of the main characters. Their personality quirks. Potential quotes. Likes/dislikes. Then I graph out the potential flow of scenes in a very loose outline. Other than those organizational things, I just jump in on a scene and start writing. Sometimes I write the critical scenes early -- confrontations, etc... Those give me something to "reach for" as I write the earlier scenes.

Stijn Hommes said:

I usually get ideas on the most inconvenient moments at the most inconvenient times...

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Especially when I'm trying to either fall asleep or stay asleep!! My ideas come at odd times that aren't entirely appropriate. I got a great one (at least I hope so) at Christmas Eve mass staring at the crucifix. I fumbled through my purse looking for something to jot notes on during the sermon. My hubby just rolled his eyes.

Daunting, isn't it?
A novel is a big project.

You have three or four things working for you.


1) About most everything you write for the first six months, you're going to discard or change beyond recognition.

This is a good thing
-- doesn't sound like a good thing, does it? --
because it means everything you're about to sit down and write is throwaway and practice and on-the-job training.
You don't have to get it 'right'.

You are free to write stupid stuff and awkward bad stuff or stuff that doesn't fit in the story.
Whhheeeee!!
Freedom.

The first million words are for practice.



2) You don't have to write 'a novel'.
You only have to write this one page
that is in front of you.
(I'm stealing this from Bird by Bird which says it a lot better.)

So you sit down to write the scene where Rory offers Gamorgan a glass of lemonade and then clouts him over the head with an aubergine.

Or even, you just describe the aubergine.

You only have to look at that one square inch of story when you are working.


3) And no one is right.


John BigNameWriter uses crayon on yellow lined paper and never revises.
Dorothy PopularCulture outlines with stickynotes and a big bulletin board.
Lena Literati spends six months doing research before she even touches her keyboard.

You cannot write like these folks because you follow their method.
And the only one who knows how you should approach writing is you.


4) You get to do more than one thing at a time.
That is ... you get to work on your outline between 10 and 11 in the morning,
and then fool around with scenes written out on 3x5 cards for a while over lunch,
and then do some research on 18th Century locomotive slang on the bus home,
and then, after dinner, sit down and write the third scene in strict chronological order or scene 27 because you see it.

You can try several approaches at once.
They are not mutually exclusive.



5) The only dead-certain, absolute requirement you face as you start your story
is that you must put your butt in a chair and your hands on the keyboard and produce words.

It is good to start this right off.
Go thou out and produce copy.

Make words.
Fill the screen with words.

Nora Roberts put it well. "You can fix anything but a blank page."

If in doubt just open a program and start to type. That's pretty much all I do. Some time I write a 20-40 word long outline at some point just as a reminder.

One thing I'm CONSTANTLY doing is turning things over in my head like pieces of a puzzle. I'm normally a tad chatty, so when I get quiet, my family has learned that I'm in my own little world and let me be. I think about plot, characters, pacing when I'm driving, when I'm relaxing, when I'm watching TV (which I rarely do anymore). Just arranging and rearranging waiting for that moment of inspiration...

NiennaC said:

I have one. I was just wondering about other people (for discussion purposes). I should have made that clear, sorry! My fault.

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Well, I get an idea of what I want to write, then I pick out my MCs and get them names and make character backgrounds for each major characters and a small background for the minor ones. THen I make a really basic outine of what I want to write.

I. this happens
II. That happens.

I do this for about a few pages. Then I draw a map or print a picture of the scenery I want to use. I'm writing a YA fantasy, so I made a map of my world, which I use a lot. Then I begin writing, all tell. Then once I'm done, I go back and fill in the spaces, and hand it over to a critiquer to slaughter it. Then I fix what they see as errors, then send it off.

kim

I never did a major outline for my series, but I did replay the plotlines so many times in my head that it was as if I had memorized an outline. I did, however, keep a very detailed timeline. I would have been lost without that. And I commissioned an artist to do a map for me up front. That helped a lot too, especially in terms of consistency.

With me, it usually starts by being gripped by an idea -- that can be kicked off by a place, by something I read that kicks something off, something I hear... last time it was somebody on the radio talking about receiving antiviral drugs for their HIV. I heard the sentence, It was like having been in the land of the dead, and coming back into the lan of the living.
And with that, I somehow had a plot for a children's fanatasy story "In the Land of the Dead" in my head. Nothing to do with HIV, or drugs. It was just that phrase that jumpstarted me.

I got my notebook & started scribbling a rough outline, a couple of scenes, more outline... and then I started getting on the PC and writing the story.
Which is going very much stop-and-start, it's been a while and it's still not quite finished, but I have the outline and I still have that shiver I got when I first heard that sentence about the Land of the Dead... I hope I'll get it done soon, I want to move on to other stuff.

Writing

I'm simple. No, notes, no outline. I grab a notebook and a pen, I write down a title I like, then I start writing. When I finally write "The End," I send it in.

The only thing I've changed over the years is speed. I write my first novel in three weeks. Now it takes three to four months.

I tend to walk around with a pen and post-its just in case I get an idea. When I do I'll write it down and then at boring times during the day (work, class, on the train, when someone boring is telling me something.....) i'll start out scenes of the book in my head and see what happens, kind of like watching a movie.

when I actually start writing I somtimes just go for it for a couple chapters and then i'd make an outline with about a paragraph of info for each chapter. then I have something to reference. I'll usually end up changing things once I write a chapter, leading to new outlines, but it helps to keep ideas in order.

the last manuscript i completely i just kind of sat down and wrote. I thought of the idea all at once during a class and then i gave myself a 2 week window for completion. Usually this would mean nothing to me, or any other writer, because you can't force things. But, somehow, I pumped out the entire thing in 13 days from idea creation to final words and did a full revision in a day. it was stange but definitely lead to a feel good moment. i recommend crazy-person speed writing if you haven't tried it...you might be surprised with what comes up

but to answer the question better: i usually outline as i go

I start by writing a 2-5 page synopsis of the main plot and main characters (unless it's a sequel, in which case just the plot). Then I decide about how long I want the book to be and format a document with the number of scenes I need for the story to end up that length. Then I outline what should happen in each scene.

My outlines are anywhere from 5,000-20,000 words depending on the story. I don't always follow them exactly, but by the time I'm done outlining I know what I want to accomplish in the story, how to accomplish it, and how the subplots interweave with the main plot.

Sometimes I do a chapter outline instead of a scene outline if there aren't any subplots.

I very frequently write the outline out of order, putting the most pivotal scenes in place and then deciding what scenes are needed to bridge from each pivotal scene to the next.

I usually write a 2-3 page synopsis, do some character exercises, ponder it for a month or three, then sit down at the computer and write a completely different novel.

Nicole

Once I get an idea I want to start writing right away...but I don't let myself. I push the idea around in my head tomorrow, form a few sample scenes, write the character's names a couple hundred times...and then I start, once it's absolutely killing me.

One thing I won't do is write in blue pen. No. No no. I hate blue pen. Pencil, black, or nothing.

When I decide to start a new novel project, I buy myself a nice notebook (currently I'm into the Europa spiral-bound ones - lots of pages, and they come in different colours so I can tell them apart!) and start "thinking aloud" on paper. Once I have enough ideas together, I put together a rough outline, then start hammering out the first draft. Simple!

I daydream about it as long as possible without putting anything into words, get the pictures flowing like a movie without sound (okay, there's music but I can't hear anyone speaking), until I can't stand it any longer. Then I start writing with the scene I can't get out of my mind's eye. Sometimes this lasts for weeks or months (one is going on years now), once I had to pull over and write a 3K word short story before driving the rest of the way home from work. All my first drafts are in longhand so far.

I got the idea of not letting actual words form from John Gardner & it really works for me (his books on writing are really cool). Most of those first words that make it out get changed anyway, but the energy is higher or something.

My advice would be to try anything & everything you hear about until something clicks -- and have fun with it.