Writing.....

[fractured_sun]

Yay it's friday, and yay a little more progress on my hlh-shortcuts fic. At the moment it's not so much a fic as unconnected paragraphs.... This is however a step up from bullet points so progress has been made. It's funny how my method of writing changes between stories.... Some start out as random ideas in bullet points and get written out of order as paragraphs more bullet points get added and turned into paragraphs and then (hopefully) the whole lot is fit together. Others I start at the beginning, and just write without benefit of plot and see where it takes me. (Amusingly the one's which basically are bullet points were written in order, from start to finish in one go). None of them ever turn out quite what I originally planned and whenever I read them back I am always surprised by which bits worked and find things I didn't even notice before. I always do when I read other peoples writing, but you would think that having written that I would know it inside out . Does anyone else find that with their writing?

Comments

[mogwai_do]

Happens to me all the time ;) I've gone back and read old stories and had no recollection of writing them or read something and thought, wow, that was actually *good*.

My subconscious is a strange and dark place - I think it does most of the work ;)

[fractured_sun]

I've gone back and read old stories and had no recollection of writing them or read something and thought, wow, that was actually *good*.

Oh good it's not just me.. funnily it's often the fics I didn't really like at the time that I look back at and think 'this is better than I remember'.

[unovis]

My writing process changes from story to story. Very often I write chunks of a story, not necessarily in order, that are put together later. I always have this -- slush pile? sock? this space at the bottom of my story files where I throw ideas and scraps of dialogue or descriptions that may or may not find their way into the final story.

Sometimes I start at the beginning and write until the end. I hate plot.

[fractured_sun]

slush pile? sock? this space at the bottom of my story files where I throw ideas and scraps of dialogue or descriptions that may or may not find their way into the final story.

I like that idea I sort of do the same but with bullets and paragraphs, and if they don't fit but I really liked them they may become drabbles or ficlets.

[elistaire]

I like this bullet point idea. I may try that.

I generally start at the beginning and go until the end. My brain has usually worked out all the main elements before I even start writing, and little detail stuff gets decided on the fly.

[fractured_sun]

I generally start at the beginning and go until the end. My brain has usually worked out all the main elements before I even start writing, and little detail stuff gets decided on the fly.

Actually I much prefer writing that way... it usually produces better writing, but it never works on my terms. Writing that way it can take me months between the right kind of inspiration and which fandom speaks to me is in the capricious hands of whichever muse chooses to torment me (which doesn't really work when I have a deadline for a gift). Plus if it's a long plotty fic I write myself into corners if I don't work it all out first.

[elistaire]

I agree about the inspiration issue. Usually I'm just too tired to have the energy needed to write. That's my biggest problem.

[mackiedockie]

I have often read some of my old files, and wondered "Who did this, and how did it get into my computer?"

Writing, I usually start pretty close to the beginning, and power on through, but I almost never know where exactly the road is going until I actually get there. Sometimes to my beta and fellow writer's despair, no doubt *g*. I usually have a solid scene in mind, and a conundrum that must be faced or overcome, but I still sometimes surprise myself with the ending. Nah, I have to admit, I surprise myself all the time. Not the most stable writing style, indeed.

[fractured_sun]

I have often read some of my old files, and wondered "Who did this, and how did it get into my computer?
Sometimes I read back old fic and wonder if it really was me who wrote. If I look at some of my stories they are in such a different style from the rest that I am convinced they weren't in fact written by the same person but are instead beamed into my brain by aliens, or cats or something.

[jinxed-wood.livejournal.com]

My writing style is all over the place, and the way I write depends greatly on what inspired me to write the story. For instance, I really want to write a Christmas/Solstice crossover fic featuring Methos and Romana, and I want the mood to echo this Christmas music video I found by Annie Lennox. So in my mind, I can picture the place and the mood - but a plot? Not so much:-P





On the other hand, hlh_shortcuts has turned out quite plotty, but the mood of the piece veers from amusing fluff to drama. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

I do know my writing is like my painting in one respect. I can tell in the first thirty seconds of a writing/painting session whether I'm going to produce anything decent that day. It's either clicking or it isn't.

And I obsess about my opening paragraph.

[fractured-sun.livejournal.com]

it's either clicking or it isn't
oh yes, some days I just can't write anything worth reading and the most I can hope to do is some editing. Other days I can just sit down and words just come.

[snakewhissperer.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, i even have it where i make a throwaway comment in the begin and somehow, they'll come back at hte end and refer to it...60 pages later. And I've got to go back and check it.

[fractured-sun.livejournal.com]

:0) Not just me then, that's good... I find that particularly with my chaptered fics (the fact I can go a year before updating doesn't help) I just have to go back and check whether what I'm writing makes sense with what went before.

[silvercobwebs.livejournal.com]

*nods* Absolutely.

And I also wondered if many other people wrote in a non-linear fashion. I hate opening paragraphs with a passion, so I usually start writing the middle and the 'good bits' I must write there and then before I forget why they're supposed to be good *g*.
Sometimes I'll revisit an old fic and be either pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised by a line I'd totally forgotten about, or one that I'd obsessed about at the time and now can no longer see the big deal with. Writing's funny that way, isn't it?

[fractured-sun.livejournal.com]

so I usually start writing the middle and the 'good bits' I must write there and then before I forget why they're supposed to be good.

Me too... (I'm glad it's not just me). Otherwise I get all impatient and force the earlier bits and they come out all rushed and squashed seeming.

[darthanne.livejournal.com]

I /love love love/ your icon.

I tend to start at the beginning and write in order these days, although I have notebooks full of ideas/notes especially for the longer stuff. Sometimes I wonder why I do those as things change as I go along. Muses do what they want, and ignore the plan. Some are worse for that than others.

[fractured-sun.livejournal.com]

It was created by arenee1999, probably for one of the hl_stills challenges... they have some fantastic icons for sharing, you should go take a look...(there's always a high percentage of Methos too, which keeps me happy).

Muses do what they want, and ignore the plan. Some are worse for that than others.
my Methos muse is terrible for that... and he never stops talking :0)

[adabsolutely.livejournal.com]

Wrote my shortcuts first draft in four scenes chronologically, but when I read it again, after letting it stew for a couple days, I discovered scene one and four had to be chopped. Now I'm backfilling and will need a new ending. Sigh. I'd had it all nicely outlined, for all the good that did me, but I'm happier with it now. An outline makes me feel secure, though it doesn't always work.

[fractured-sun.livejournal.com]

:0) I hate it when that happens.... and yet it always does. My fics never go as planned. Methos (particularly) always has his own ideas - usually they work out better in the end but it's still frustrating.

[lil-1337.livejournal.com]

My process varies between the two styles too. The longer fics, especially ones that are plot heavy, I tend to have at least a few things I know need to be in it and then the rest fills itself in. Shorter stuff I open and document and just let it flow out.

[fractured-sun.livejournal.com]

Me too... I usually have no idea what's going to happen in a ficlet until it's on the page. Actually all my GW fics have been written without a plan, this works for the short fics but is also why it takes so long for me to update the WIPs...I have no idea what'sgoing to happen in the next chapter.

[pat-t.livejournal.com]

I'm about half way through mine and stuck. Darn it all. I'll figure it out though.

[fractured-sun.livejournal.com]

You'll work it out, I sometimes get horribly stubborn when I get stuck. I write myself into a corner and refuse to delete anything instead make myself work a way out of it. Eventually I take a break and come back to it and a solution just comes to me (usually).

[adabsolutely.livejournal.com]

I think the hardest part is leaving it alone for a few days or weeks and not thinking about it. But is really helps.