I just discovered an amazing trick.

[Bramandin]

They came to a building (description.)



Radley gasped. “I never thought I’d see a castle.”



Jacobi laughed softly. “This is just a large building. Castles are much bigger.”

Instead of stopping to figure out what the town hall looks like, I decided to just skip that part and come back to it when I'm bored/stumped.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

I do this when a new character appears, and doesn't have a name.

Sir (name) glared at the insolent peasant who dared to breathe in his presence.

 

[Toby Frost]

And thus Sir Name of the Second Title joined Sir Jory the Medic, Sir Vaylance the Watchful and Sir Prize the Unexpected.

 

[jd73]

Chapter 1

[Have some cool stuff happen here]

 

[mosaix]

Take care when doing global edits later to fill in names etc. There's the (probably apocryphal) story of the author who was persuaded by their publisher that the name of one of their characters should be changed from 'David' to something different. A global edit followed.

The published book contained:

"The pair stared in wonder at Michelangelo's statue of Kevin."

This still makes me giggle uncontrollably.

 

[sknox]

Kevin. Still one of the underrated masterpieces of the Western World.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Take care when doing global edits later to fill in names etc. There's the (probably apocryphal) story of the author who was persuaded by their publisher that the name of one of their characters should be changed from 'David' to something different. A global edit followed.

The published book contained:

"The pair stared in wonder at Michelangelo's statue of Kevin."

This still makes me giggle uncontrollably.

I did change Ben to Allan, and invented the Allanch seat.

 

[Astro Pen]

Yes substitute names are helpful to avoid diverting the creative stream. I tend to use temporary non names that imply the, er, 'character of the character' like 'Frilp' or 'Zagger.'
(I have been known to stick with them if the setting allows.)

 

[Fiberglass Cyborg]

Take care when doing global edits later to fill in names etc. There's the (probably apocryphal) story of the author who was persuaded by their publisher that the name of one of their characters should be changed from 'David' to something different. A global edit followed.

The published book contained:

"The pair stared in wonder at Michelangelo's statue of Kevin."

This still makes me giggle uncontrollably.

In an undergraduate essay, I accidentally changed the composer Luciano Berio's surname to "beri-beri."

 

[MaxRelaxman]

When I do placeholder text, I try to surround it with three asterisks so it's easy to find later.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Instead of stopping to figure out what the town hall looks like, I decided to just skip that part and come back to it when I'm bored/stumped.

I do that with whole stories.

"It was a dark and stormy afternoon... ... (stuff happens *** )... ... The End.

 

[sknox]

>When I do placeholder text, I try to surround it with three asterisks so it's easy to find later.
Yup. I use square brackets. Anything typographic that is easy to find on a search.

 

[Bramandin]

I use parenthesis, but I find it weird that one would rely on the search function instead of reading the whole thing before uploading.

 

[Pyan]

Because 'search' is better. It picks up on things that your eye misses, because your brain knows what you meant to say, and your eye skips the error.

 

[mosaix]

Because 'search' is better. It picks up on things that your eye misses, because your brain knows what you meant to say, and your eye skips the error.

Very true @Pyan. How many times have I asked Mrs Mosaix to proofread a 75 or 300 word entry, that I've read numerous times, and she sees an obvious, glaring error immediately? When we read our own stuff we read what we thought we wrote not what we actually wrote.

 

[JS Wiig]

As a throwback to my programming days I use “**TODO**”.

 

[Laura R Hepworth]

I'm not sure why, but skipping parts/inserting placeholder text doesn't work for me. I have to write it all out in order or I'll have the same problem of brain freeze that I get if I try to plot things out. Occasionally, I'll have a scene come to me out of order and I'll jot it down for whenever I find the right spot for it, but I just can't skip something (even something as simple as a name) and then come back to it later.

 

[Bramandin]

I'm not sure why, but skipping parts/inserting placeholder text doesn't work for me. I have to write it all out in order or I'll have the same problem of brain freeze that I get if I try to plot things out. Occasionally, I'll have a scene come to me out of order and I'll jot it down for whenever I find the right spot for it, but I just can't skip something (even something as simple as a name) and then come back to it later.

That's true. While I could skip over the outside of the school/church/meeting hall and just slap "castle-like" on it, I had to decide if the inside had rooms or if it was just a hollow building. I ended up cutting the scene or pushing it back anyway.

I also ran into a problem in the fanfiction I abandoned where I wrote a later scene and then felt locked onto a path while trying to change what came before it.

 

[Laura R Hepworth]

That's true. While I could skip over the outside of the school/church/meeting hall and just slap "castle-like" on it, I had to decide if the inside had rooms or if it was just a hollow building. I ended up cutting the scene or pushing it back anyway.

I also ran into a problem in the fanfiction I abandoned where I wrote a later scene and then felt locked onto a path while trying to change what came before it.

Going back to change things isn't an issue for me, but moving forward without writing something I just can't do. I'm a pantser so I plot as I write and if I skip something then I don't know how to write out the next bit because I don't know everything that came before it.

 

[Bramandin]

Going back to change things isn't an issue for me, but moving forward without writing something I just can't do. I'm a pantser so I plot as I write and if I skip something then I don't know how to write out the next bit because I don't know everything that came before it.

True. I have some idea of where I'm going, but I don't think I've ever worked very far ahead and ended up using any of it because I change course along the way and don't get there. That or I'm expositing unnecessarily.