2 questions really:- 1)Do you plan everything out- chapter, section, paragraph or whatever etc or do you do the "walking the dog" approach ie just start writing and see where it goes? Maybe a mixture of the 2? __________________________ 2)How do you publish( or hope to publish)? Is it, just the big houses? Or smaller independents? Or maybe the self publish route? (as indeed some big hitters have done..) Do commercial ie "marketability" issues affect your writing? Thx all!
I take the walking the dog approach, though I do have in mind what the main plot and ending will be before I begin. I am uncertain yet how I want to publish.
It really depends. I usually do a mixture of the 2. I'll start off by just letting it take me places, but if its a project I know I will put down and revisit later, I make notes about characters, settings, little details I'll remember and sometimes I'll map out where I want those details to go later on if a good idea strikes.
I don't really plot things out. I do write about a page describing each of my characters before I start a story. I'll also do a lot of research regarding the setting. So I usually have a solid idea of setting and characterization, but I usually figure out the actual plot as I go along.
a mixture. i write what i'm envisioning, and then start to work in a more systematic way when editing and tying things together. but i like to make sure things flow out, they're best that way
"...I confess that bookwriting is not my style..." ventured the goblin quickly adding "...I mean what is the point in spending weeks typing out a work that then sells on amazon for 99cts, where flipping humburgers would be more lucrative and where posting across forumland would gain one a bigger readership by far...", in fact, the goblin also understood that these days most readers hadn't the time nor attention span to read at length anyway, continuing "...so in answer to your question then, I mix both those methods together, at times being objective with some set goal and perimeters in mind, at other times I'm subjective as in playing the part out to myself, yet either way, since the post is reposted many times, the process becomes blurred between the two methods...", where more often the goblin just fretted over whether readers could and world read this far, saying "...nah, surely not, no one in their right mind ever reads this far, I mean you haven't have you, good, I was worried for a second...", as the time called the goblin away again, not a moment too soon too, for the walk with the dog had gone far enough xxxx
Short stories are easy - walking the dog gets it over with. A large piece of work - walk the dog a bit, particularly to form a synopsis of the story, chuck down scenes, then start putting together 'threads' to weave the scenes together, which later become chapters. This allows for easier editing throughout and after too.
I've done both. The walk is fine if I don't have too many names to remember. But sometimes I find that my first couple of chapters don't read as well as the latter. This is because the dog has to get into a stride sometimes that has a long lead time. Always be open minded about rewriting the first quarter or so of the story to maintain a realistic flow. Jal
A mixture of both. Mostly the first. For poetry I just start writing and the words come to me naturally. Writing short stories or scripts a short brainstorm serves to structure the ideas and divide the scenes. Once divided the ideas come to me naturally as if there was no brainstorm. Publishing I have no idea I mean I write random segments from my work on Facebook it's good to gauge the public's reaction to the work in question. From previous experience, avoid scams. If you "get in" and are published and you get a letter saying you have to pay 20 bucks or so to be included it's obviously a fraud. But before knowing about the bill it's the greatest feeling in the world.
Most of what I write is boring crap formatted to the Chicago Manual of Style (not even slightly similar to Strunk & White's "little book"). But I have written a novel of 16 chapters that started as an exercise in fiction. I may publish it some day, but I didn't really write it to score a buck. It started as a single short story about life in the 70s after a global economic crash. I put it up on hippy.com in 2002 http://www.hippy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=187 I have started another dozen or so, but only make marginal progress on them these days as I chase the greenbacks to put my kids through college. Perhaps I'll retire and finish some of this stuff! Jal
I'm still engaged in what I've written here, but if I got more serious about it, I would print it out, go to the first page, move through the whole thing and add--subtract-correct-embellish,etc for additional historical (human) facts pertinent to the time period and more observations concerning the historical ambience (1879) of the geographical areas written about. (lay of the land). So far, I just sit down when I take a notion and it flows with no plan, really. I enjoy it. Wish I'd started when I was a youngster instead of waiting 'till I was an old crack. So it goes.
I just sit down with pen and paper and it takes on a life of its own...and I just become an instrument, somehow....
I started writing got half a chapter then got a computer never went back to finish that story. I had an idea about time travel thought of how it would end. While working if i got an idea i would write it down on scrap paper. One day i had the beginning all in my head with a clear path to the end and a lot of good ideas for the middle. The rest i had planned to fill in when i got there or hope to get more good ideas at work that night. I was at a shitty job at the time so that was my way out. But i got lucky and fell into a good job so i didnt need a book deal anymore to get out of the ghetto.
I usually let an idea stew in my head for a while. It might be an idea for a specific part of a story that I can't just start with, so maybe I'll write it down and then think about what's going to happen leading up to that event. With poetry I write in short bursts, and then revise it later on. One thing I've learned is that you can't force it.
1) I try to plan out, although "when the feelin' come upon one ..." 2) I haven't published (a mixture of confidence - in conclusion and ignorance in how to do it) 3) No -I write how I feel
My best thoughts come at midnight around 3:00 am while everyone is sleeping, that's around the time I usually just zone out and write around 5 to 10 songs. I just let it flow naturally.
You buy enough food and and alcohol for two weeks,lock yourself in a room,tell the truth,and write the great American novel;even if you're Latvian.
I write only in conversation inspired by reference to inquiring minds and try to keep that conversation as public as possible.
