This is for people who have actually written and posted stories here on Big Closet.
1. Why do you write?
2. How do you write? Do you have the story in your head, or do you wing it as you go along? Perhaps some mix in between?
3. Do you have a set schedule to write, or some other ritual?
Fair being fair, and since I qualify (barely) as a writer, here are my answers.
I write a lot of tech stuff. I like to experiment with electronics, and take it to the next step for article. So I was curious how well I could do fiction, and since I like TG and absolutely am nuts about Sci Fi and Fantasy I gave it a go.
I tend to have two writing styles, one I have the ending in my head, and write toward that. I have also drawn up an outline of events, and went with that. I also notice that writing an "emotional" story is different than a factual one. They look and read quite different, enough so that people have commented on them to me. The tech stuff never has any emotional content (go figure).
I do not have either a schedule nor a ritual, and my writing suffers because of it. Maybe I need to start one.
One of the reasons I put this query up is to get pointers, especially for question #3. I would love to hear from Morpheus, Angharad, and several other writers who fall into the ranks of my favorites.
I actually wrote a similar question on my blog, but realized after the fact it was a mistake. A forum question hangs longer, and has a less immediate need for an answer.
An answer.
1) I write mainly for my mental health, but also on the off chance I can make a living doing the one thing that I truly love to do.
2) instinct; I'm sure there are reasons for the style I use, and the tales I imagine live mostly in my head. They are character driven, as in the character drives the story forward so that I almost never have to reach for the individual chapters. In a very real way, the stories drive themselves while I type. (I'm a bit insane, so I'm reluctant to investigate how the sausage is made, preferring the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' idea.) An interesting side note; I prefer to write one draft, but will agonize over word choice for hours some times, a get it right the first time approach. I know most writers don't do that, but it seems to work for me.
3) I write when I feel like it, as long as I feel it. Kind of annoying because I used to be a more logical sort once, believing in schedules and time tables. As for starting a schedule of your own, it couldn't hurt to experiment. But speaking for myself, trying to write when not feeling it only leads to mediocre trash. If you can do it, more power to you. A note on output here, don't worry if you write much, some of the writers here aren't really human but are instead a form of borg collective, so comparing your output to theirs can only lead to madness.
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Slowwwwly
With the lack of comments, anyone who writes for any purpose other than pleasing oneself is IMHO deluded. It's nice to have a potential audience, but that doesn't translate into any tangible reward. The exception: Gathering with other writers is certainly a highlight of my last five years.
I try to write with an endpoint in mind. The interminable stories that run on and on and on lack and endpoint and move from storytelling to Diary. Nothing intrinsically wrong that. If the peepuls luv it, write it! But it doesn't tell a story.
Usually I write sitting on the floor. I've a beautiful desk and chair, but I like my little square of carpet too. Hours? Sometimes from the time I get up to the time I go to bed. I've two novels in the works, The last three chapters of Comdex will be out soon. The continuation is nearly done.
About writing. I write because I have a story bubbling up inside. To not write would be extremely frustrating, and I'd be stuffed with bubbles. Part of the reason Comdex has taken so flippin' long is I got sidetracked, then lost the thread of the story. When I finally figured it out it became a game, winning had the grand prize of telling me the end of the story.
I used to be a senior engineer for Raytheon, and was tasked with writing the course on computers for a particular foreign country. There I learned that styles are like belly buttons. Everyone has one and many/most are useful solely for holding the salt when eating in bed. Seriously Technical writing is EASY. You know what has to be communicated so you write it that way. One of the reasons I left Raytheon was the mindless tediousness in following a rigid, yet changing manual of style.
Story writing can sort of be summed up: Tell 'em what you're going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them. A perfect example is the 1st of the Star Wars movies. You get the long scrolling background story hinting at what's coming. Then you follow Luke to blowing up the death star, then you are told without words the medals they received.
I've gotten too long winded for this! sigh
I really hope nobody is offended by some of my comments.
Hugs and Blessings,
Beth
It's what I do
I have always written. Practice improves the end product, plus advice from older wiser or more practiced exponents.
How I write? I just do it and I do it nearly every day, when I feel like it or not. Sometimes I can't wait to get the gleam of an idea down in words and it just doesn't work. Sometimes the idea develops as I write it. I rarely write to a structure or plan unless it's so subtle even I didn't see it. Ideas can come from anywhere, sometimes I read something and it triggers an idea, or see a real event. Occasionally a one liner comes to mind and I then write to support it.
When I semi retire next summer, I want to do some writing for publication, probably tidy up some existing stuff as well as do some new. I hope my creativity persists.
Writing Bike has been a challenge and an exercise in improving my story telling skills coupled with a sort of professional approach to writing. If you call yourself a writer you have to write regularly, whether you feel like it or not. It's like going to work when part of you would prefer to lie abed. I feel in doing so it trains my mind to keep ticking over in writing mode. Whether the end product is any good is another matter and only the reader can decide that. I don't agonise over and over, I write check it possibly leave it for a few days and read it again. If I think it's okay I post it. With Bike I write it, read it through and post it all within two hours--then go to bed.
I enjoy playing with the emotions of my characters and hope I balance the highs and lows, gravitas and humour to round up the story. I don't plan the amounts of each just let the characters perform for me. There's a lot of me in the characters, good and bad, though much of it is as I would imagine it would happen or pure fantasy, some of it is real life adapted and some of the characters are adapted from real people.
Angharad
Writing is relaxation
I started writing when I was doing a lot of Landscape Photography. I'd taken up that as a stress relief from my IT job. I was hospitalized with stress induced Angina.
Sitting for hours waiting for the right light on the side of a Yorshire Dale whilst invigorating can be rather boring.
For some reason, I started thinking of stories to occupy my mind then they got put down on paper and away I went.
Initially it was really hard due to my Dyslexia. That was really frustrating because I could write page afrer page of technical documents at will.
I still do lots of Photography and there are times on long drives that ideas seem to pop into my head and away we go. Sometimes, my imagination runs off into some wierd places. Far too wierd for this site but hey, that's life.
My latest story (unpublished as yet) is based upon something that my ex said about me when we broke up.
For therapy
I started writing TG stuff for therapy. Not that I was seeing a psychiatrist or anything. It was just a way express all the things in my life that I couldn't talk to anyone about. Then along came the web and I set up a website (now defunct) and posted a few. Then it became easier to post here.
As to how: I usually have the end, at least in my head, but sometimes I write it first and then set about explaining how this came to pass. I've tried to outline and get all the ducks in a row, but all that does for me is sap my creative juices. So I generally just wing it.
As to a schedule: not really. I try to write or read in the genre I'm hoping to write in (mostly TG, but I do have another that I write in, that I won't share here) each evening. I hit dry spells where nothing works in the many stories I have started, so that's when I read.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
You are really asking a good question!
Wow Wendy Jean you are really asking some question and with the array of excellent writers who have already answered am a bit shy answering.
But the reason why I write is to pass across to others that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Also it helps me in my everyday work - I take my dog's for a walk and instead of thinking about engineering design I run a story line through my head.
My writing style I have a quite few. Sometimes if I can see the ending I head towards it. But there again I do tend to meander where my story drifts it's own way. And my final method is to start a story then realise that it has a limited life so work a way to complete the story to the satisfaction of the reader.
Do I have a schedule this is simple - NO I write when I feel like it. I truly admire a writer like Angharad who probably has the longest running story which means such a lot to a lot of readers - me included she is brilliant. And she has the humility to apologise when she doesn't produce a story - a true Lady!
Christina
The reasons are numerous....
The "why" is probably easiest to answer:
I write, above all, because my fondest wish is to start my life over as a girl, to live the feminine childhood I never had. I can never be a little girl, of course, but I can write about it, and immerse myself into my fictional world. So in a way, I suppose one could say it's therapeutic.
Even my adult T* characters had the chance to transition at a younger age than I did. They have supportive families (I did not). Or if not initially supportive, the families become so later on.
I write because I like the physical act of writing, and seeing words I've written in print.
I write because it's a creative activity that is not hindered by my disability (unlike my interest in music and cartooning).
And while I admit this is a narcissistic reason, it's an honest one--I write because I want and need confirmation from others that I'm creative, talented and intelligent.
I prefer to type my stories rather than hand-write them (much easier to edit and/or change my mind later when I write on the computer). I do have a preference for the style of story, however, as I seem to be most proficient at flash fiction. This may be in part because in a 500-word story I don't have to worry as much about research, character development or realism, and can simply write. If I'm lucky, lightning strikes and I have a scene interesting enough to include in the Mixed Tapes.
With some stories, I do have a pretty good idea how it's going to end before I start writing (I'm rather fond of the ironic twist ending). Others I just wing it, a technique that lends itself far more easily to the shorter stories than the longer ones.)
As to how I write, there really is no "how" in the sense of a set method or time of day. I write when the mood strikes, where the mood strikes.
Livin' A Ragtime Life,
Rachel
Another answer
I started writing here for two reasons, the first being therapy/catharsis, and the second being curiosity. In particular, I wanted to try and make some sense out of the various demons that ride my soul, from GID to PTSD, which is why I don't find myself writing stories about slim androgynous teens with understanding female friends. I have always written, but it was usually poetry. I started 'Something to Declare' with a rough outline, and then Melanie's story HAD to be told, and it snowballed from there. Some people now pay me for it, while others pay me the compliment of stealing my work, so I can't be THAT bad!
I work shifts, so write when I get time. I know where my stories are going, and quite often have to rein myself in so as not to rush to the 'good' bits, the Big Moments. I try hard to remain character-driven, and I will admit that I get very involved with said people, for that is what they become to me. I do have one little habit, stemming from the episodic nature of writing here, and that is dropping a little hand grenade into the tale every so often. What I also like is to try hard for a closing phrase, something that acts as a 'lived happily ever after' widget but with a bit more to it.
Writing questions
1. Why do I write? I love to write. Way back in elementary school I wrote some pretty terrible Science Fiction and continued writing along those lines through college, most of which went unfinished. I tend to get an idea stuck in my head, sometimes literally for years and I can only exorcise it by writing it. I started writing TG fiction because, quite frankly, I didn't like the stories I found on-line. So I wrote a story that I wanted to read. Turns out some other folks liked it too, so I felt encouraged to keep at it.
2. My story development is pretty much all over the place. I never outline. I keep everything in my head, which isn't always the best place to keep things. Some stories, like The Model start off with "hey, wouldn't it be funny if a boy gets mistaken for a girl while shopping with his mother and sister?" and I just start writing. Another story, Cindi's Prom, I plotted out completely while watching the latest Godzilla movie in the theater. Most stories, I know where I want to go, I'm just not sure how I'm going to get there. The Accidental series originally was going to have a big Casablanca style ending, but somehow went a different direction.
I tend to let my characters tell the story (or at least that's what I tell myself). I also try to play my stories as if I'm watching them in a movie. Some stories I have given up on, but decide to plug ahead with it because of time invested, only to have it turn out to be popular. I also tend to obsess over dialog since that's how the characters come alive.
3. I only write when the mood hits me or when my kids are asleep. Sometimes I get so obsessed with a story, I'll come home for lunch just to write a page or two. I'm also a rather slow writer. Sometimes it takes me an hour just to write a paragraph.
Writing
1) How do you not write? I've been doing it for over 55 years, writing for other people to read. I started trying to write when I discovered that the books I loved had been written by someone. Before and after that, I told stories to whoever would listen, using toys as puppets to act them out.
2) Sometimes I dream the story before writing it. Like "Herself" that I wrote earlier this week, I had nearly that whole story in my head when I woke up. Sometimes a character occurs to me that I would like to write about and I construct a story as I go, which is what is happening with "Damselfly" who was a character/avatar from when I played City of Heroes but before that was a character in a superhero RPG with some friends. Sometimes I have no idea except a title when I sit down to write which is what happened with "Reality TV". Sometimes I have a thought about HOW I want to tell the story, using a certain technique, like with "Sam I Am" which is a reverse diary.
3) I'm not a schedule person. I try but it ain't happening. Often I write when I must, when the story, character, idea or simply the urge will not let me alone and forces me to stop what I am doing otherwise and write. I write even when I am not at a keyboard and have no paper, turning over descriptions and dialog in my mind when I am walking the dog or driving to the dentist or even sitting in the dentist chair with someone else's hands in my mouth.
I write a lot that never gets posted to BC. I write comic book scripts for artists. I write game scenarios for RPG games. I write snips and nuggets of things that may later be included in other stories. I have two half-completed mainstream novels that I work on when I can, and two other TG novels that I work on when they demand I put an idea down. I have a couple of dozen plot outlines for stories that occurred to me that I do not want to forget. I have a dozen or more incomplete stories, many of them here, that I still intend to work on when I can. I write music and poetry and put them together as songs.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
I came back...
to answer this question. Even though I'm sure some moron is going to jump to some asinine conclusion and twist what I say here, I just don't care. It's not about them.
So, in order by the numbers:
1) I've told myself for years that I write because I like to tell stories. That's only partly true. I also like getting positive responses to my writing. Sometimes, when I'm feeling down, or feeling sorry for myself I need that.
2) I use a program called Scrivener. I usually start with a character in a situation and build from there. One of the nice things about Scrivener, I can keep any ideas I come up with and all my research in the same project file with my prose. I usually have an idea where the story will go, but often during the journey the destination can wander.
3) Like many writers I am exceptionally good at finding reasons not to write. But, the only way to get better is to write every day. If you're a highly organized person (which I'm certainly not), it's probably a good thing to set up a scheduled time to write. Most of the advice about writing every day is that even if you aren't "inspired" to write on your current project, write something. Journal the day's events, write bad poetry, write jokes, do a scene from your favorite TV show, anything as long as you're putting something on the page.
Technical writing and fiction are two extremely different animals. They just don't work the same way.
Wendy, I know that I didn't tell you anything you didn't know. Just write, hon. You'll do fine. All of us find our own way of doing it.
~And so it goes...
Why, How & When
1. Why do you write?
When I started I had a goal to become a published writer (Young Adult Fiction). I started writing TG because so much of what there was to read online was unsatisfactory. When I ran across a good story it was like finding gold. I soon realized that writing was much harder than I had imagined. I had the stories in my head, but didn't have the technique. I'd taken quite a few writing courses in college and started reading "How To" books. Eventually I read nearly 100 books on writing, including "On Writing" by Stephen King, which was one of the best.
Now I realize that becoming published is beyond me, but I still like the discipline involved and write for that enjoyment.
2. How do you write? Do you have the story in your head, or do you wing it as you go along? Perhaps some mix in between?
My writing regimen is almost always the same. I start with a plot in my mind. Then I look for tension between the main characters. That tension usually helps develop story arcs. I complete an outline and start writing. After I've written three to five chapters I go back and edit looking for ways to further define the characters and draw the reader into the story. Once I have complete manuscript I take out a copy of "The Plot Thickens" and go through my characters looking for ways to better introduce them to my readers. I do this with every story and normally find five to ten new points to emphasize about each of my characters. Occasionally this will result in major plot changes. At this point I may or may not ask a beta reader for comments. I've had varying results with this phase.
Then I set the manuscript aside for at least two weeks . . . the longer the better. When I come back to it I've gained perspective and can more easily see plot holes and consistency errors.
After I post a story I will come back to it after six to eight months and rewrite it online. At this point I become highly self-critical and hopefully grow as a writer.
3. Do you have a set schedule to write, or some other ritual?
No . . . most of my writing occurs when I have a lull in my work day.
Thanks for asking!
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)