The General Writing Process

Started by somanycharacters, February 12, 2016, 10:08:48 AM

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somanycharacters

Hello!

This question isn't really one related specifically to roleplaying in general but more towards general writing (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, etc).  I'm curious about other people's particular methods.  How much planning do you put into the story/poem/whatever before you start really putting words to paper?  How many times do you revise things?  Do you develop an outline that then takes on a mind of its own and completely changes how the story turns out?

Any and all answers accepted, I'm just curious about how other people do things.

The Dark Raven

Have you seen the Literary Discussion board?  We have conversations like this all the time in there (and in the Writer's Group). :)

Check my A/A | O/O | Patience is begged. Momma to Rainbow Babies and teetering toward the goal of published author. Tentatively taking new stories.

somanycharacters


Oniya

There's probably as many different ways to write as there are writers.  I'm what they tend to refer to as a 'pantser'.  I write 'by the seat of my pants' with little planning - although certain projects I have are requiring more planning than I'm used to.
"Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women.~*~*~Don't think it's all been done before
And in that endeavor, laziness will not do." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Don't think we're never gonna win this war
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Beguile's Mistress

I like to write the type of characters I want to read about so when I find a writer I observe how they handle their characters and look for insight into their behavior.

The main characters in one series of thriller I read are a police lieutenant and her husband, a business tycoon who used to be a criminal.  Both are very strong people and highly individualistic and in a conversation with another writer she observed that she like the male character because he let the cop be herself.  For me, I see it as him not letting her do or be anything.  He loves her for what she is, understand and appreciates that, and lets her be.

They are my epitome.

The Dark Raven

Quote from: somanycharacters on February 12, 2016, 10:41:43 AM
Nope, I'm not approved yet!

That serves me for answering before coffee in the morning.  ;)

I'm....a hybrid.  I pants and I plan, in that I will plan out characters by what they tell me in free writing and I will plan a general outline of things I think should happen in the story.  Also, I love pictures and color coding.  I tend to follow this format for back story.

Once I start writing, though, all bets are off on whether the muses do what they said they wanted to do or not.

This is for novel writing only, for me.  And I have a hard time not editing inline as I go, as I have training that required me to be concise and quick in my narrative (I have a degree in medieval history).

Check my A/A | O/O | Patience is begged. Momma to Rainbow Babies and teetering toward the goal of published author. Tentatively taking new stories.

Emphatic Enigma

It depends for me.

Novel writing tends to be somewhat planned or structured in my mind or on paper. I like to remind myself of what is going to happen and why, since sometimes I tend to get caught up and I'll forget a few details I wanted to add. xD Not to mention, when I write and and an idea pops into my head to link something from previous writing. Then I may just disappear off into another direction. ;p

For posting it's a bit different. I don't tend to plan unless there's a specific event. I usually just read a reply and then think of a way my character would respond. When I begin writing sometimes it differs from what I first thought but yeah, minimal planning unless my partner and I discuss otherwise.

SmuttyReader

I just write, than go back to edit. I let my characters do what they want, put themselves  in sticky situation and let them get out of them by themselves. I'm just writing it for them.

Rhedyn

It's pretty rare that I plan before I write whether it be for a roleplay, novel or short story. I tend to just sit down and write and let the story progress naturally within my flow of writing. I always let the story and characters go in the direction they want to go in even if I have made a loose plan and what they want is against that plan.

I do not edit at all until the entire thing is finished. With roleplay posts I let myself read through and make edits a maximum of two times otherwise I get picky with it and then worry that I have not written well enough which leads me to get anxious and hold back posts for days or weeks because I am nervous to post them. With my other writing I edit and rewrite a lot more over a much longer space of time, usually with big breaks between sessions so that I am always looking at it in a fresh way rather than in that hyped creative place I was in when I was writing the first draft. 

midnightblack

It's been a few years now since I've actually brought any serious piece of writing at all to conclusion, so my approach is probably not the best.

The first thing I do is spend a lot of time thinking. Whenever I'm in the kind of activity that allows me to let a part of the brain wander off, I do just that. Days, weeks, sometimes months go like this, when all I do is run through ideas, settings, characters and keep fiddling with them in my head until I end up with something that I like. That's the point where most of the stuff stops, because if I realize that I don't really, really like it, I just abandon it. The next phase is research. Unless it's something built completely in a vacuum, I spend some time reading about that particular topic. If it's the case of historical facts, I try to relieve myself of my own ignorance on that matter. If I'd need to write about a character swimming, I'd take a crash course in swimming techniques. Sometimes I simply try to understand if the physics that I'm describing makes sense. I hate being inaccurate or downright wrong with the stuff that I write.

Once the points above are complete, I power through the writing in what is probably an unhealthy way, in the sense that I spend some days when I forget to eat/drink/sleep and just write until exhaustion. Ideally, my batteries should last until that piece is finished. If it's not the case, I take a break during which I revisit the points above and just go through the text again and again, polishing bits and the likes. Usually, whenever I look back over something I am appalled by the pile of complete garbage all that effort has produced and just work it through all over again. And again. And again. Until I'm happy. This can take a very long time.

Roleplaying can be as hard as that or a lot easier. Sometimes, someone just wants a little of bit of innocent smut made on the fly, other times it's all about the ordeal posted above at its finest. The nice in-between is when one of us has everything worked out and just needs the other person to bring their own charm to the backbone and make something of it. I'm probably holding the world record for the streak of plays that never saw conclusion because of loss of interest/real life problems of my partners. This has made me a bit weary of ambitious cooperative projects because I do truly hate leaving things unfinished, particularly if they are shaping up nicely.

In conclusion, I'm all about tears of blood that avail to nothing.  XD
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Lady Shadow

I am usually a "fly by the seat of my pants" kind of writer. I don't have that much experience in in-depth roleplaying (yet) hopefully I get approved soon so that can change! But I just let the ideas flow, and edit later. Usually it's not what I expected, or doesn't turn out the way I expected, but that's okay, because I am proud of what I have written. So we will see how I fare!
Rhythm is something you either have or don't have, but when you have it, you have it all over.
Ambition is like a V8 engine.
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