Start to finish.

[kyektulu]

In my writings I dont just jump in there and write from start to finish. There is one reason for this which is I am so darn forgetfull!
I will get halfway through the book and forget some past action which at the time was very important and end up having a story which when read has three different plots and only one ending which is out of place!
This time I decided to buy a folder and have every aspect of my book planned out and catagorised before I even begin to write it properly.
In short it is 'half written', I have got every important event and action in there but not the detail yet.
My charecters are well rounded and each planned with satistics, personality, my intention for the charecter and a personal history all written on his/her profile.
I have drawn a map of my world, listed important events in history its dietys and terrain. As I am hoping to write a whole series of books in the same world.
I even have a litle notebook that I carry with me everywhere in case I get a spark of inspiration or an idea for my book and cannot trust myself to remember later on. I hope you understood what I am trying to tell you.

I am just wondering how everyone else writes and what your style is?

 

[SciFi_Short_Story]

the folder thing you do is absolutely essential for a well-written, round, complete story of any length. Sometimes I find it odd that such extensive work is done just for a short story, but it is still vital, and one can tell when an author has done his homework and when he hasn't.

Something else to consider in the folder: if the world is related to real-life, a "Fact List" should be included, with all matters of scientific, geographical, and economical areas, and other information listed. An example of someone who does this well is Michael Chricton (just look at his bibliographies. Think - a bibliography for a novel!)

Examples of writers I feel have strayed (sometimes a lot) from their original intentions (mostly in just the more recent/closing books in a series): Robert Jordan, Tim Lahaye/Jerry Jenkins, Gentry Lee (in the "Rama" series), etc.

And as for the notebook thing - if it were cool for a guy to carry a man-bag, I'd definitely have a notebook for inspirations in it. What I NEED to do is put one next to my bed...

 

[dustinzgirl]

I just write usually. it starts with a scene I play out in my head at work because my job terrible bores me, and then when I get home I furiously type it out, or if my mate has not had a chance to make dinner, I scribble on notepads, sticky notes, napkins, whatever. Then I take a day or so away, re-read it, edit for the three f's= flow, flaw and fornication *seriously, some of my language and writing is pretty intense* or sometimes I just post it somewhere without editing it at all. I am the most disorganized person I know, and this method is not something I recomend. My novel was originally spread over two computers, three note pads and about a bijillion stickies before I actually typed it out. Crazy, I know.

 

[Auer]

Well, Kyektulu... The folder sounds great! I have a folder in my computer, and there I have all facts about the world I've created, different realms, etc. Everytime I "create" a new person, place, myth or something like that I write something about it in a word document and save it in this folder.

A notebook is a good idea, too. I used to have a small notebook and wrote all ideas in it whenever I had them. Now I just try to remember ideas as long as I can write them down with computer.

But about writing itself... I don't make very tight plans about stories. I usually have an idea about the start and just a general idea of what's going to happen. Then I just start writing and normally the story starts it's own life and I just write it down. I don't always write directly from start to finish, but chapters from here and there - very spontaneusly, depends on my feelings. Mostly it has worked well for me, but sometimes it's difficult - my first book had 431 pages and the next one has about the same so it can get difficult sometimes

 

[Princess Ivy]

my problem at the moment is that i have it plotted out, roughed out the scenes, and am currently filling in the detail. but, my kids are on school holidays and my life has once again resorted to chaos as a meens to thwart my plans. i really need to get it finished up by september. i was doing so well with it. but now, it looks doomed to float around for time immemorial. i'm very depressed about it.

 

[Culhwch]

Welcome to my world. My hard drive is a graveyard of unfinished stories. Late at night you can hear the characters screaming, 'Complete me! Complete me! I want to be a real boy!'

 

[Ash]

Welcome to my world. My hard drive is a graveyard of unfinished stories. Late at night you can hear the characters screaming, 'Complete me! Complete me! I want to be a real boy!'

It could be worse, they could still be in your head and not even have made it to your hard drive yet. It makes it much harder to drown out their screams when you're trying to sleep

 

[Quokka]

I've often wondered what an Author like Jorden's writing space looks like. With so many details to keep seperated are there maps and character bio's everywhere or is it mainly just in his mind?

Usually I'll have a story taking shape in a word doc. more or less starting at the begining and working forward (although I'm yet to write a story where the first page or so when I'm finished, is anywhere near what I started with, slowly learning to just bite my tongue and move on rather than rewrite it 47 times when I'm still developing the story. )

Then I have my 'random ramblings' book, with everything from maps, sketched idea's, whole scenes, character bio's, converstions, one line or joke etc. normally just scribbled down as I think of something. As I type along I keep checking through and deciding if I want to add what i had written down for that section. Then when I've got the first draft down, I'll go back, edit and decide what needs to be moved where. For example, alot of the time I'll add heaps of info trying to describe the world then later worry about spacing it more effectively and writting it into the events rather than lecturing.

 

[PERCON]

I find it difficult to completely plan out a story without slowly going off the idea of writing it. I usually plan things in my head, make sure it'll make sense then write it. I tend to plan each chapter in my head a few days before writing it up, I find it easier to keep the story flowing by doing it that way.

PERCON

 

[star_song]

i have many different writing styles... if i am writing a series of sorts or a book i usually plan out the plot line by scenes, i also have a character list then i make profiles for each of them with everything wardrobe personality history family faults appearence wardrobe age everything, once every profile is written i begin the first scene of the book and i usually write it scene by scene all though not necessarily in order. i find that if i have a rough sketch of the plot it helps me stay on track and it helps me to convey the idea i want to get across. then afterwards i place all the scenes in order or move them around and attain a finished product.

if it is a short story of if i dont feel like order in my life, i take an idea and run with it just start writing... then it seems to me characters and story lines just spill out and i get to know my characters without having to be proper about it. at that point the story writes itself and i decide if i want it to remain a short story or if i should turn it into something worth finishing.

its ok to have a grave yard of unfinished tales, theres always time to write the story.

 

[FelineEyes]

I have notebooks (the nice, little expensive ones that non-author and author friends get authors and other writing obessed people) that I scrawl random things in that very rarely about to anything.

I sometimes have notes and file on my computer that contain notes on my characters and my world. Not often.

 

[PERCON]

I got a notebook, but instead of writing things to do with my stories I ended up writing poems and now I can't stop. I'll leave my notebook alone till I want to write more poety. As for story writing I've finally started to finish off a trilogy I've been writing for a while. I wanted to write all three in a row before I started to change my mind about the plot. Now all I need to do is patch up bits of it and it'll be finished.

Start to finish, indeed

PERCON

 

[Stormflame]

I have always sat down before hand and wrote up the characters. The thing that I always found hard to do, was breath life into my characters. A knight must have valor, and be stern, and violent, yet- charming. A sorceror must have skill, and demeanor, and wisdom that flows through all his words and actions. A cleric must have faith. I have always found it a challenge to make these attributes STICK throughout the entirity of my writing. It is too easy to sway from the road that we choose a character to walk down, therefore, a bit of that character and his/her/its comes under scrutiny and therefore, doubt, to the reader.

Tricky subject....