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Post by girlyesterday on Oct 23, 2009 8:46:49 GMT -5
Curious how other writers here work, do you start writing in the middle and work outwards or do you start at the end and work backwards or do you start at the beginning and methodically work your way through the story in chronological order?
I am more of a start in the middle writer but lately, I've been doing the chronological thing. Not sure how well that works for me though.
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Post by heredoncove on Oct 23, 2009 10:42:18 GMT -5
I always start with a scene and build out from there. I find that it helps me flesh out my characters more and get a sense of where I want to go
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Post by thelunarfox on Oct 23, 2009 11:14:52 GMT -5
I start from the middle generally. Then I work out.
For Nanowrimo, I always work from beginning to ending, but then it's usually boring and lacking something.
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Post by mdpthatsme on Oct 23, 2009 12:09:00 GMT -5
Oooh, a hard topic for me, because I really don't know where I start...I just do. I scatter plot I guess, because some things are in the middle, end, or beginning and revert to other scenes. Now that I think about it, I'm a very confusing writer in the process. ;D
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Post by Stacy on Oct 23, 2009 16:31:08 GMT -5
I start at the beginning and go on until the end and then stop.
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Post by laura on Oct 26, 2009 9:14:52 GMT -5
I've seen this question sitting here for days now, and only just realized my answer to this as I sat down for my writing time this morning.
I suppose I start with the height of the conflict, whether that be the height of the novel, or the chapter, or the scene. I start with the point at which things can't get any worse, and then I work around it, trying to figure out, "Now how the crap did they get themselves into *that* mess???"
Then I have something to work towards. I seem to always have some vision of a scene or conflict or problem that I'm working towards or around. That seems to be my fuel.
Once I have something to work with, then like mdp said, scatter plotting! I usually have endings (in a vague and blurry way) before beginnings. The vague and blurry is important though, because it usually changes once I write the beginnings and actually slug my way through it all, but still keeps the same "personality" the original had.
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moondaisy
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Post by moondaisy on Nov 5, 2009 21:04:24 GMT -5
Now this... I found really interesting!
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Post by raquelaroden on Nov 8, 2009 10:16:51 GMT -5
I guess I start at the beginning, and catch the reader up slowly by introducing bits from the past. I try to add complexity to a character as I go, and resist the impulse to show all my cards at once. I think some of my characters come across as a bit mysterious for all that, but that's much like some of the people we meet every day. When we hear about someone's childhood or some major event that happened, it is like piecing together a puzzle about them, and we get that satisfying "Oh, that's why she's like that" or "That's why she reacts that way to X" feeling whenever we find out some tidbit of information about them.
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Post by mdpthatsme on Nov 9, 2009 21:20:38 GMT -5
Drawing out the mysterious past of a character is one of the best approaches to build suspense. That's what keeps readers coming back and that's what decides if you are a good writer/storyteller or not. Especially if a story starts off with a character who has amnesia and slowly gets his/hers memory back. Those are always fun. Of course since the last time I posted in this thread, I've been thinking of where I start. I think it's like carnaxa said on another thread, we start whenever the idea sparks us. Maybe that's what I do...some inner thinking here...maybe I am just scatter-brained seeking out points and some way throw them all together in hopes a story will come out. We may never know.
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Post by dbloveshermac on Nov 10, 2009 8:51:53 GMT -5
My unfinished stories and novels almost all start in my head with a character, a set of characters, or a setting. Then I noodle over them and ponder what kinds of things would happen with them. If the character combination is dynamic, they start to tell their own story.
Now if I could just be dynamic enough to finish them. ;-)
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Post by mdpthatsme on Nov 15, 2009 1:57:00 GMT -5
dbloveshermac: Finishing is just about as hard as starting them...especially when writer's block smacks you in the face every other chapter. I've only finished one manuscript ever in my writing lifetime and it had to be rewritten immediately...mainly because I was very displeased. Oh well, which actually now, I've rewritten that same story 10 times, unfortunately no joke. However, I make it a point to know where I'm going with a story as soon as I figure out where I start (scatter brain, scatter brain) then I'll decide what the ending will be like. ;D
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moondaisy
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Post by moondaisy on Nov 23, 2009 20:15:41 GMT -5
I have a few finished novella's in my drawer. I call them novella's because they are all books with a word count betweeen 65,000 and 85,000. In other words, nothing a publishing house is interested in. I wrote these stories organicly, i.e, a basic idea involved into mature characters and a storyline which I could see through till the end. Back to the Sims 3. I play only Sim of the Month Challenges. Why? It's short, (hopefully) sweet and I can make people reading it happy. When I start these stories, I look at the pre-defined characters. I may change clothing, hairstyle... but that's it. Everything depends on the pre-ordained personal traits and, in fact, the challenge. When I do not like the challenge - which is the case with poor Raj Bebedadeh (and probably evil Peggy Sue in the next one) - I will still make a max effort. I feel it's not his fault he got a lousy challenge, but I also feel I have to put all my expertise into make him... well, ok-ish. If I bond this much with SOTM (Sim of the Month Challenges) created by someone else,you can imagine just how crazy I would go for a character/story entirely designed by myself. The answer to this thread's question: I start by knowing/coaching my subject. Then the subject evolves and when the story picks up momentum and starts to roll all by its self... I let him/her just do that
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Post by sb on Dec 4, 2009 15:34:29 GMT -5
Since I write collaboratively, it works a little differently. For each major episode within the long story, I can usually come up with the middle and the end. Gayl comes up with the beginning. That's because I'm bad at coming up with beginnings. Then we start and go as far as it goes, and/or until we reach the fork in the road that takes us somewhere else. So far, over three years, there's always been another fork in the road. Even the ditches have interesting stuff down there. We both know where we're going; there are no surprises - I don't post a SURPRISE chapter I haven't thoroughly vetted through Gayl.
Personally, images play a large part in my writing. If I come up with an image that intrigues me, I write to it.
It's interesting the most of the comments seem to focus on the character instead of a plot. The characters certainly control the plot for me instead of the other way around.
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Post by thelunarfox on Dec 4, 2009 17:53:36 GMT -5
^ That is what I am super interested in. How in the world you and Gayle manage to work on updates together is fascinating. Then you have separate stories that interconnect and all of it crafts an entire world.
And plot and character- I'm horrible at plots. Character usually comes first for me too. It's just easier that way I think. I guess, in many cases, events come first, and then I see how it all relates. Which event came first or if that even happened that way. The messier the going is, the more accomplished I feel when it's done.
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Post by sb on Dec 5, 2009 9:44:13 GMT -5
^ ha! People usually seem astonished that Gayl and I are still speaking to each other after working together like this for three years!
We discuss everything. Share draft notes, thoughts, brainstorm together, edit each other's work, take shots for each other. A chapter in Sessions will usually include shots taken by both of us and writing by both of us. The worlds are identical. Even if I'm not writing Rising Above, for example, those characters exist in my world, in the same lots (decorated exactly the same). They play appropriate roles, show up and interact with the characters in Passages, etc. We know the characters thoroughly. If I'm not comfortable with the way I've interpreted a scene or a specific response, she helps me out and vice versa. Gayl's indepth knowledge of the music industry enables us to include realistic detail about the lives of these people we're writing about. When I've written something that needs that detail, she punches it in. And neither of us is afraid to tell the other: that doesn't work; there's a hole; why did she do that; that's a tangent or that is NOT a tangent don't cut it out...and so on. A lot of email going back and forth.
Everybody seems to feel they're no good at plots. Even writers with the most astonishing plots apparently think they can't plot (ok that includes you Lunar Fox!). I disagree.
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