Do you write in sequence?

No, I write the part that feels easiest and/or I'm most inspired to write. That could be chapter 2 or chapter 22 depending on what's going on in my brain
I keep organized with an outline and do a lot of prep work to get my chapters set up first.
I just use MS Word.

I don't write in sequence, and I just use a word processor. An outline is a handy way to keep organized when you're writing that way. I've known people who didn't, but they basically had an outline in their head, so it amounts to the same thing. If you can keep everything straight in your head fine, but if you start feeling like it's slipping away on you, then create an outline, sketch or map on paper to help you. Something that shows you what sections are complete and let's you see the holes you still have to write.

I mainly keep in sequence but if a side plot isn't well enough developed in my mind, I come back to it later. I don't think I could do that with the main story though. So many things happen in my work while I'm writing, I'd be wasting my time writing ahead the way I think it will look at this time.

JustJess said:

I can see writing a tentative ending, but as for the rest, I'd worry about having to play connect the dots (scenes).

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I handle it much like Scrawler.

Funny, you can do endings and I agonzie over them...

I always write in sequence, because the characters keep evolving and I'm not sure I'd get the tone right if I wrote the first scene after I wrote the rest of the book. Also, my outlines aren't usually very detailed, I make up a lot of stuff on the spot, so I need to go about it in the right order. I don't think I would be able to write not in sequence, unless I specifically tried. Might be an interesting challenge, but writing is hard enough as it is !

I've got a friend who doesn't write in sequence, though. I think she writes a very detailed outline first, so she doesn't get confused.

I write in sequence. The reason behind it is that I don't outline my story as it comes to me I write down.

Sometimes in the editing stage I may move a paragraph or chapter for better flow, but not often.

Mumut said:

I mainly keep in sequence but if a side plot isn't well enough developed in my mind, I come back to it later. I don't think I could do that with the main story though. So many things happen in my work while I'm writing, I'd be wasting my time writing ahead the way I think it will look at this time.

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Yeah, I pretty much do that too

JustJess said:

And if not, how do you keep your work organized? Do you use a program/software of some kind? Or just word processing documents?

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I write a very detailed outline that makes the bones of my manuscript. I then go through and colour code each scene description to fit whichever character/subplot it belongs then start writing.

I write with a co-author (Lynn Sholes) and we create an extensive outline first. Usually, a rough draft of the ending is created near the beginning of the project. The ending can and usually does change, but it gives us a global direction in which to work. We don't work in sequence but can jump around depending on who has a "handle" on a scene or chapter. We work off mental "snapshots" or dramatic points in time. That means that based upon the outline and "vision" of the plot, there will be points in time that one of us will "see". If the vision is clear enough, that's the first thing that's written. It will always change in some manner, but the more of these we nail down and use as anchor points, the easier it is to connect the dots later. We both use MS Word.

Axelle said:

I always write in sequence, because the characters keep evolving and I'm not sure I'd get the tone right if I wrote the first scene after I wrote the rest of the book. Also, my outlines aren't usually very detailed, I make up a lot of stuff on the spot, so I need to go about it in the right order. I don't think I would be able to write not in sequence, unless I specifically tried. Might be an interesting challenge, but writing is hard enough as it is !

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This is how I write. An idea that I flesh out in a logical sequence of events.

JJ

I don't write in sequence, nor do I have a detailed outline.

Actually, I don't tend to write even a single scene in sequence; I jump around between paragraphs until the whole thing flows smoothly and makes sense. And while I do sometimes write many tens of pages in their final order, it's not rare for me to realize I'm missing a scene and go back to insert it, or write a few scenes out of order to follow one character's story arc and then write another character's arc in the spaces.

This effect actually led to the first chapter I wrote for my first novel being chapter 7 in situ.

There's no right way, it's all a matter of what works for you...

JustJess said:

So it would seem that those who are comfortable writing out of sequence are usually doing very detailed outlines ahead of time, that makes sense.

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That's very well summarised. Love concise writing and analysis. Great point.

JJ

I could never write out of sequence. I'd get lost.

I mostly write in sequence and leave place holders for chapters, or scenes, blocking my progress if I'm in steady progress with one plot-line.

Sten

I write in sequence, unless I write the ending first, and then write in sequence up to that ending.

I have a friend who writes totally out of sequence, no outline at all, barely an idea what the story might be about, whatever strikes her fancy. When she gets about 50K written, she starts looking for themes, etc, and then uses the rest of her word count to make a cohesive story out of it. Must work for her--she won a John Campbell a bit ago.

Dead right - If it works for you, fine, but what is related below strikes me as the expected outcome from a 'total chaos' approach and I can't imagine many writers following that path.

It's certainly not for me.

What's in one scene is usually dependent upon the previous scene and also impacts upon the next.

Continued success to you.

Andrhia said:

I don't write in sequence, nor do I have a detailed outline.

Actually, I don't tend to write even a single scene in sequence; I jump around between paragraphs until the whole thing flows smoothly and makes sense. And while I do sometimes write many tens of pages in their final order, it's not rare for me to realize I'm missing a scene and go back to insert it, or write a few scenes out of order to follow one character's story arc and then write another character's arc in the spaces.

This effect actually led to the first chapter I wrote for my first novel being chapter 7 in situ.

There's no right way, it's all a matter of what works for you...

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the first part of my book has to be done in sequence for me. It's an event after another and the previous always influences the next.
About half way through the story, which I haven't really written anything serious, I could jump from here and there without much problem.
But I haven't done that either. I'm focusing on the first part first.

in sequence...but go back and tweak

I normally have zero idea what's going to happen until I write it

I write in sequence. I have a mental outline and I really don't do good writing things out of order. If I do, I never end up going back to write those connect-the-dot scenes because I somehow feel like they've already been "written."

Once, however, when I was doing a major overhaul and I had to rewrite enormous sums of the book, I took large sticky notes and made a scene-by-scene layout of my novel, with each colum being a chapter and each sticky being a scene. I rewrote the scenes by precedence, not by order. It was interesting. I have to have some method - otherwise I just go nuts

-Feathers

Writing out of sequence doesn't appeal to me because no outline that I've ever written can convey tone, and the tone of the story has a tendency to change from day to day.

I don't write in sequence, I write the chapters as they form in my head, after an initial small outline. I write on MS Word on my PC, once my novels start taking shape and there are quite a few chapters, I break it up into separate chapter documents and add them all to a folder named after the novel. It's much easier for me to edit doing it this way too.


Elodie

I'm going to start this out by saying I'm really weird. OK. That said, I am a horrible pantser because I'm all about the plan and what's going to happen next. But for some reason I can never sit down and write the scenes in order; they tend to come to me on their own volition, so I do the actual writing part out of order. Many times, something will come to me that wasn't a part of the outline, so I have to figure out where those scenes go as well. So while I'm anal-retentive about the details, the right side of my brain makes everything really messy. Connect the Dots, anyone?

I had a huge problem with writing this way for the longest time because I basically trashed my WIP whenever I had to change something. It was so counterproductive to getting anything done and it was so frustrating. Recently, I started using Microsoft OneNote to help with this, and I write each scene on its own tab in my notebook, which makes it so easy to move around. I can create sections for research, characterization, setting...just about anything related to world-building and whatever else I need. I even make storyboards with pictures and music.

And of course I have a section devoted to just the writing part. If I need to move something all I have to do is click and drag it, which is awesome. It's great just because of the flexibility, and I love it because I don't have to scroll through a few hundred pages to cut and paste things when I realize something belongs somewhere else. I absolutely believe this method would work best when you're working on your draft mode, and not so much when you're in the polishing stages. When you're ready to polish, all you have to do is convert your notebook to a Word document and you're all set!

Anyway, this method has worked really well for me, and I highly recommend it to anyone who writes out of order. I'm also a mom of 2 and a full time student, so I have to take my time to write and inspiration where and when they come I use it for everything related to my university studies, things like taking notes, plotting research papers, and so on. If you have a SmartPhone (I have a Dash) you can download the Mobile version to your phone and type up notes from your phone when you don't have access to your PC, and I like that feature quite a bit. So go to the website and play around with it, you can even download a 2 month trial if you don't have it already or check out the forums to see how other people use it. I've seen quite a few writers in there and a they have great ideas, too.

Good luck! (And I'm sorry I took up so much room!)