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As I sit here contemplating my navel and extracting dust from said indentation, my mind wonders…
I can truthfully say that when I write my stories, I seldom know what I am going to write. I mean by this, that I don’t have a clue how things are going to turn out until whatever it is happens. I just let my mind imagine what will occur and I let my fingers do the walking as I construct what I hope is an interesting story. It’s like I’m in a dream and in that dream, things occur and I write down the journey, if you see what I mean.
I read somewhere that P.G. Wodehouse took ages to plan out his stories and his notes were far more than he ever wrote in his stories. I never write down the plot and how things are going to start, go on and finish before I have written the story. I just like to go on the ride and see what happens. That way is enjoyable to me and I am almost as surprised as the reader when the story finally unravels itself and comes to a hopefully satisfactory conclusion.
Mind you, if I was going to write a blockbuster and it happens to be set in the Caribbean, I may just go there, purely for research, of course!
Comments
So far, I'm...
... between those two extremes.
So far, I've gotten a concept. Then plotted some major events, then let the minor events take care of themselves. (Well not exactly. I try to help the minor ones along, and some days I do more plotting than others.)
Why plot things out? I like to put little "hints" in the story about things to come. By plotting a bit, I get ideas of what kind of things I want to hint about. Some of the hints I've put in are pretty blatant. Others, are likely missed or are missconstrued (I hope) until said event shows up and readers have an Ahhhh moment (I hope!).
Do I stick to my outline/plot? Umm. to be honest, I've been known to diverge. Once even pretty dramatically, but so far, I've always gotten the path back where I'd planned so that I get to the outcome. Of course. We're talking about a large sample here. I've written, what is it, one serial novel, one short story, and started a second serial serial novel (~36k words written so far).
So far, this works for me. :-) (I hope it continues to as well!)
Good Luck, and may your wanderings be fruitful.
Annette
I have to have a beginning and an end.
I have to have an ending in mind when I start to write a story or it never gets finished. I learned the hard way, the evidence is all the unfinished stories on my hard drive. For me, writing is all about getting to the goal i.e. the ending I had in mind when I started the story.
Mr. Ram
Beginning and End
I too need a beginning and an end, before I can get started. I also need a handle on my protagonist and the conflict around which the story will be based. It also seems to help if I can visualize some of story, things like rooms or terrain (maps) or scenes or characters (and their clothing).
Once those things are in place I need to break free of my personal gravity well of laziness to determine which will be the next story and to begin getting words into the computer, a place where I currently reside after sending my current work off to proofing. I want to break free. <- Please feel free to sing this line if you read it, I did when I wrote it.
However, once I begin writing I compare it to crossing a river, finding covered stones a step at a time. Sometimes they are where I expected them, sometimes not, and sometimes I end up backtracking to check out some fish or shiny objects.
I fall inbetween usually
I outline a little but it starts to degrade(?) into the actual story after a while.
Normally I start it in my mind, yes I have one, and develope key scene/goals/waypoints I want for the story including some kind of end goal. I tend to flesh out the waypoints then fill in the gaps. Often in my shorter stories the whole story is plotted in my mind before I start. Just these darned interesting side plots come out and try to make life miserable and your story confusing or is it better? I just confused myself.
The difficulty is if you bounce around in a story it is easy to get lost so you have to know your basic plot/timeline/characters well. If you work it chronologically as you go it is easier to keep track but muses don't always work that way.
A way around that is to note and even partially work out a new idea and save it with a title that tells you where in your storyline it likely fits. If you are a disciplined person a thorough outline is a great tool, just so few of us are that in control.
In the ned -- Oh Crud, I meant end, Iternerant will whip me again for this. Sorry exulted master I meant not disres ...
--WACK!!--
>>It's Itinerant, peon!>>
mommy?
... use a proofer and a test reader or two and don't be afraid to change things when they tell you yoou have gone off your trolley. Sometimes as the writer you are too close to it, IE can't see the forest for the trees.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
That last comment IS important...
... And recognize that some people are really good test readers for continuity, some for plot assistance, some for spelling/grammar, some for feel/emotional impact, etc. It's really rare to find one person that does EVERYTHING you need in a helper!!!
Another thing - don't be impatient to share your timeless prose with the masses. As I recently had demonstrated to me. The impact of the prose can be greatly reduced by large numbers of mechanical errors! Have the patients to wait for your editors/readers to get to your bit of writing. It's likely they have other things in their lives that demand their time. :-)
It's important to remember though, it is YOUR story. Since you are not trying to satisfy some Editor/Publisher (to get paid) YOU are the final arbitor of what your story will say. Take all the suggestions you get (and treat them as just that, suggestions) and use them to indicate that the indicated area needs some work. Spelling errors or gramatical errors are a little different than replacement word suggestions and/or comments about story flow or continuity. With a few exceptions, you should probably accept the spelling corrections and gramatical corrections (though here, try to understand why your grammar was wrong!)
After all, the story is YOURS. You will probably have a style YOU like. This style is probably DIFFERENT from the style of your test readers. This impacts word selection too! In my case, I suspect my style is evolving, considering I'm such a new author. I have much more experience on the OTHER side of the fence, that of a test reader. Surprisingly enough, I can find more typos/gramatical errors in stuff others write than in my own timeless prose. :-) When I'm being charitible, I lay that to the fact I know what I meant to write and read what I meant rather than what I actually wrote. *sighs*
I've read a LOT of good suggestions in this thread, and in threads like it before. I hope others find them useful and thought provoking as well.
Annette
Beginning and end
Definitely have a beginning, an end, and a rough way to get from A to Z before you seriously begin to write the story. Short stories are easiest to plot and plan, obviously. For the novel-length stories, plot and plan as much as you can tolerate. :)
You can do a great deal by self-editing if you have an idea of what to look for, but it's best to find a few readers to review your work.
Aardvark
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi