Yes, I'm slacking off ...

[apocalypsos]

[Poll #604067]

I'm just curious, because I keep reading how everybody else is reaching the second chapter or getting so far along in their stories, and it just strikes me because when I write, I write big chunks of scenes or dialogue as I think of them, usually tend to finish the first and last chapters before I finish any other parts, and then string them together in the end.

In other news, I finally figured out how to make playlists on my Zen. Because I'm a dumbass, see.

EDIT: HEE. Feed Me To The Tabloid Monster got recced on rec50. Cooooool. :)

Comments

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

I start at the beginning and go until I reach the end...and then I edit like mad, and also as I go, and if I think of a scene that should be inserted somewhere, I'll write it and stick it in.

If that makes sense.

[apocalypsos.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, that makes sense. But I swear, I couldn't write like that to save my life. I'd get to chapter two or something and stall, and skipping to another scene keeps me writing when I'm stuck somewhere else. Plus, when I write the last chapter early, I know what I'm trying to get to -- otherwise, I tend to wander off forever without an ending.

[honorh.livejournal.com]

That's exactly how I write. I have to bully my way straight through, because any scenes I have planned may change dramatically according to the needs of the story by the time I reach them.

[kijikun.livejournal.com]

I'll usally start at the begining but if a scene that would come later hits me, I'll write it.

[tenebris.livejournal.com]

I do that start at the beginning thing, but inevitably there'll be a scene--oftentimes the one that brought me to the story in the first place--that I'll end up writing waaay in advance of what's in the plot. Oftentimes there'll be several of those, so I'm basically filling in the text steadily from the beginning, and patchily from the end, until I reach some sort of middle.

[newredshoes]

Amending my vote for the first option with comments...

I can plan and plan and plan for ages before I get much written; this planning includes outlines, notes, false starts and genuine paragraphs or sections to be used when they're ready to go in. But I have this horrible problem where I can only write the main body from beginning to end. I can't do enormous chunks of plot out of order; I have to keep them in my head or in a stark, reduced form until I get to that point in the story, and then I expand on them. (This is one reason I've had trouble with the story I'm doing for NaNo right now: I've been planning it for about four and a half years, and starting it over and over and over again, but the beginning is frankly kind of boring, and I have to get through that before I can get to the juicy bits.)

The massive editing and rearranging and rewriting comes later, when I've put the manuscript in a closet for six weeks and then bring it out ready to maul with the red pen of justice!

[florahart]

Beginning to end, but with the sticking stuff back in back where it shouda been if I'd'a thought about it right at the time.

:D

Well. Last year I posted chapter by chapter, but there was pretty clear chronology and it was fanfic, which I pretty well do start to stop anyway.

[foenix.livejournal.com]

I'm too lazy to log in and reply to the poll.

I always work from start to finish...or at least stopping, since I don't always finish. ;)

I'll sometimes go back and tweak, or add stuff as it comes to me, to flesh things out, but this is rare until I've finished the first run through. I'll have ideas of scenes in my head, but they don't hit the page until I get to them.

[miggy.livejournal.com]

I have to write whatever particular scene I'm inspired to write at that moment, or the process of writing would feel like trying to chip away at a stone block. But it helps on that count that I usually have a whole, detailed outline in my head from shortly after I think up a plot idea. If I was someone who surprises herself by what she comes up with in the middle of writing a scene — and I have plenty of friends who are like that — the linear way wouldn't seem nearly so grinding. (And, uh, I'd run into far fewer problems like when I already have the climax written but then realize that one midpoint of the outline doesn't make any sense.)

[milkshake-b.livejournal.com]

I used to write the linear way--I still do for some stuff, though I can't think of any piece I haven't had at least a few things written before I got to them sequentially. (The closest I did to an all-in-order lately was because I was doing it in, like, a day, and didn't have time to hop about and string it all together.) As you might have inferred, these days I do the out-of-sequence thing.

Having done both... it really is all just whatever works better for you.

[kittikattie.livejournal.com]

It depends on what I'm writing. There's one series I write where I write comepletly out of order, and I keep my witty parts in txt files and ref them when I get to that part. On most of my novels I start at the beginning, make my way to the end, and then stop--and if there's something witty, I add it between. I tend to write quotes/snippets before I write the novel, or write scenes.

[elizabethr.livejournal.com]

I put that I write pieces and then string them together but that's not entirely true. I find that my characters dictate my writing. Sometimes one wants to be the center of attention, sometimes another. they string my plot wherever it needs to go and I follow out of curiosity over what they'll do next. Sometimes it's in order, sometimes it isn't, but every time they find their own way of threading themselves together without my having to go back and do it for them. My favorite finished piece (well, it needs a few minor edits but I'm waiting for my artist to finish reading the present draft and give me feedback) started in my head with one plot and by the end the story had changed and yet seemed far more complete. The protagonist I'd planned turned out to be a side character and the antagonist merely a pawn.

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

I could never keep myself straight if I did it your way. Usually, I just start at the beginning.

If it's a long project, though, and I'm impatient to get to a scene I think I'll particularly enjoy, I might write that scene and then return to where I was.

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

Whichever way it comes. My biggest handicap as a writer is lack of discipline: my longest suit is flexibility. The fanfic I'm doing in LJ I'm doing in order, because of the medium I'm using. Sometimes I write in bits, but I always need to set the scene and start things going before I can do anything subsequent.

[timba.livejournal.com]

I use a combination of things.

Generally, I start at the begining, and if for some reason, I get stuck, I'll do a VERY basic outline, and then start writing where inspiration hits me. Then, I'll go back to the begining, and now that I know what happens later down the line, I can write to it.

:)

[jrosestar.livejournal.com]

One of my friends has about 5 books published. She writes in sections and then pieces them all together like a jigsaw puzzle when she's done.

I can't possibly wrap my head around that, even though she's explained it to me several ways.

When I write, it's just as if I'm reading the book (or watching a movie) the story unfolds for me as I go along.

[jrosestar.livejournal.com]

Of course, when I edit the thing I find myself inserting new chapters and such. But the story must run its course through my head from beginning to end in rough form first.

[rosaleendhu.livejournal.com]

I tend to use both methods, depending on how and when the ideas hit. I'm much more likely to jump around on a long project than a short one.

[elbiesee.livejournal.com]

It's like a jelly donut. You write the basic story first (the crispy, flaky outside), and then you add the good stuff later as it comes to you (the sweet, gooey inside).

Now I want a jelly donut. Grimmit.

[gentleman-lech.livejournal.com]

I actually do a combination of the first and second options. I write a basic plot synopsis from beginning to end, with important necessary bits like major revelations and whatnot. But the details don't come until after I start filling stuff in, which usually comes in whatever order I get inspired in. And I'm not above revising my outline when inspiration strikes and I write something that didn't originally fit.

[erinlin.livejournal.com]

For nano, I start at the beginning and keep going until I reach the end. The rest of the year, I start at another point, write to the end, then fill in the beginning.

madness in the method

[nycdeb.livejournal.com]

my method is more linear than not - though that's mostly because if I did it all in bits and pieces, I don't think I'd get to an actual stopping point.

What I do is roughly sketch out a plot, figure out the minimum number of things that the plot is absolutely dependent on and then start from the beginning. I keep moving forward and by the end I've got about three times as much material as I need or should use and about half of it is in the order it should be.

Then when I edit, I move stuff around a lot -

so I guess I'd call my method "Linear Jigsaw Puzzle"