posted
I was wonder peoples thoughts on the subject of whether a book needs to written from start to end or if inspired by a certain pieces of the story in your head, you can get away with writing it in sections each in their own. As that I’ve only written short stories and I’m trying to branch out into something longer, I have no idea how to handle that much content.
Posts: 1 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
I have occassionally felt it was an ok idea to write which chapters you are inspired to write, but after a few attempts I am inclined to pronounce it a miserable failure. (at least for me)
First you need an outline. If you have not outlined your books you cannot write it forwards, backwards, or jumping around. But even with an outline, as you begin to write, the words will take on a new shape. A typo will spawn a new and interesting idea. The direction some dialogue goes is not as you originally intended but it works well.
Here's the point. If you are writing from start to finish, these are less of a big deal. If you wrote chapter 15 already, then it will be difficult to make the previous 14 chapters flow into it. It keeps you rigid, stuck to your outline in a way that no writing book I've ever seen has suggested you do.
And here's the other thing. Chapter 15 written before Chapter 1 will not flow. Each chapter flows from the end of the previous, and there is a dependency there that cannot be manufactured.
So if someone has a great idea on how to make jumping around work, I'd love to hear it, but it doesn't work for me.
posted
I'm working on a project now that has inspired me to write portions of it out of sequence. The reasons for this mainly are that there are important peices of the story that need to be included. Writing them before that point in the story arrives allows some focus or serves as a reminder of what the overall goal is. It's not all that different than writing an outline or using a road map to plan a vacation. There are certain places the story needs to go before it's at the end. Writing the landmark sections keeps me on the right path.
Posts: 20 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
I daresay this all depends on the writer and the material. Sometimes a future scene comes to mind so vividly I write it so I don't lose it, even if I have no idea how I'm going to arrive there.
Working in a scene or a pre-written chapter is no different than working in a correction or editing change. True, you usually can't just take out one thing and insert another -- things have to be feathered into the text, the edges re-written to a smooth transition. That's why editing is such an involved process. Change begets more change. I think that's part of the art of writing -- and the challenge of it.
[This message has been edited by Kolona (edited February 23, 2004).]
posted
Here is what I'm doing, and it's been working beautifully. For most of you writing a novel is something you've done before, I never had. For the first time ever I'm about 40k words and climbing and have a definite deadline for the end of the book. It will be written completely in May and revised throughout June, yay!
Here's what I did/am doing.
1. The world-building part About 4/5 months before any actual writing I had been developing the world. What it was like, for everyone, how it operated, why, the history? How did people get there, what were the current conflicts, where would they go? Et Cetera, Et Cetera, Et Cetera... That lead me to the natural devloping of characters and subplots that would construct my main plot.
All of this in mind I began the very rigourous outlining procedure. When it was done that quickly became the backbone of all my writing. And believe me, you can't hold it all in your head.
I had two outlines, one was a POV sketch. It had on the left side a POV of the character I was writing in and on the right a brief description of what important events must happen.
The other outline was much more detailed, but it served mostly as just an idea storage. When it came to the actual writing I've been using the first oen much more heavily and letting whatever gaps may appear, fill themselves naturally.
That aside I broke the book into sections and would attack it, a segment at a time.
(notice)Section-> a "quarter" of the book Segment-> between POv changes or an event
Then set a goal and began writing.
For flow I find it is best to start at the top and write through the end, but sometimes I find it difficult to get in the mood to write certain parts. Or other times I have inspiration and am too excited to not jot down all my ideas for a later event.
No biggie, I will skip ahead and write knowing that when I get to that part of the book I will re-write over it, but it will be a good reference to help contain what I need to know and remember for that segment.
No results are guranteed but for me this method has worked brilliantly. I love it.
Also try to write without ripping up your work. It's inevitable that some of your stuff, especially around the beginning will be distasteful. Just come back to it later, but try to push all the way through the book if you can.
posted
Okay, Pup, if you're going to do something longer, you really need to work it out before hand. You don't have to outline, but you should at least be able to write a 5-10 page synopsis of the story, showing what happens and why it happens, and knowing how the principle characters are invovled. You don't have to have a lot of details, but you need some kind of road map. In another thread (the one about Terry Brooks) we talked about orgainzation. It's very important. Just remember to always ask "why" whenever you think of something.
It seems strange to me not to write something in order, from A to Z. Of course, if you have a highly detailed outline, then you can easily write whatever you want whenever you want. But if you have, say, a 7-page synposis of your story, it would be best to write it beginning with scene one.
The benevolent typo that Christine mentioned is true. And it's usually not a typo per se, but a mistake in typing--sort of like a Freudian slip. I had a story take a different direction when I accidenlty typed something wrong, and I know that Orson Scott Card's HART'S HOPE was the result of a drawing mistake as he was sketching a mythical city. Things like that do happen, and when they do you have to ask yourself what your unconcious is telling you.
posted
Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles was originally a bunch of short stories about mars that he condensed and reworked into a novel. That's one way to do it, I guess.
As for outlines, I agree with what Steven King has to say in "On Writing" about plot. You don't need 'em at all, and a lot of time they'll really hinder creative writing. Sure, it's nice to have an IDEA where to go, but if you create believable characters, each with their own motives, your story will almost write itself. An outwardly contrived plot can cause problems with motivation and pacing that will leave your character--and your universe--rather flat. Just an opinion, not everyone can work like that . . . I guess.
posted
Different things work for different people. I, for example, have to outline and maintain focus. It took at least five thirty or fifty page false starts before I finally realized this. I'm in awe of people who can just find an image and strike out into the uncharted wilderness. It just doesn't seem natural to me.
And I can't look back. Projects die when I look back. I feel like Orpheus bringing Eurydice back from the dead, agonized, exhausted, curious beyond human endurance, trying to trust in the oh-so-trustworthy lord of the dead that she's going to be there when I get to the top, when page 400 finally falls out and I'm done.
(Can you tell I'm suffering through the horrible middle/climax? )
posted
I like writing out of order, actually. As long as you do it with the idea in mind that the out of order stuff that you wrote may have to be completely overhauled based on the stuff that comes before it when the chapters are in order. I think it's a good idea to write the stuff you're really excited about first. Of course, my mind doesn't tend to think very linearly, so that approach probably doesn't work at all for some people. Everybody needs to find their own groove and go with that. It just comes with experience, I guess.
Posts: 1528 | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
WW has a point. As long as you are willing to regard the material you've written out of sequence as basically bits of outline that will be entirely rewritten in light of earlier chapters, then writing out of sequence is fine.
I regard the entire document as completely mutable, forever. Still, while I occasionally write out of sequence, I write from beginning to end. If you aren't excited about the whole thing, then you aren't able to write it. And if you're excited about the whole thing, then why not just start at the beginning?
Of course, often I find that the beginning is earlier than I initially thought
posted
Pup, If you want to write it out of order do it. I am not the one to tell you how your creative juices should flow, that is for you to decide. I do think that some kind of plan is necessary, whether it is an outline or synopsis, or as indepth as a treatment.
Start your story where you think it is the most interesting and work it from there. You might find that there is more story in front of where you began. Or you may change the direction along the way. I do know that you must be excited about telling the story, so it makes sense to begin it where it grabs you the most.
To paraphrase what Terry Brooks said: "you might as well start it somewhere exciting as somewhere boring." I highly recommend his book, SOMETIME THE MAGIC WORKS. It isn't just a "how to" book, although it does have alot of good pointers.
The only drawback I can see to writing your story in chunks, is the hellacious editing you are bound to go through. Maybe you can avoid some of that by being as precise as possible in your "chunk" writing. But it still means some thick editing is in your future.
posted
No, if you're too precise in your 'chunk' writing, then you have more trouble revising it to fit in with the story later on.
Frankly I find myself having to go back and put something into chapter one so that I can have it in chapter 20 (or the next book or book after that) all the time. It goes both ways. But it is far more common to have to revise chapter 20 (if you've already written it) to accommodate something that happens in a prior chapter. Sometimes you have to chop chapter twenty into bits and spread them between chapters 15, 30, and the next book.
Write it, then chop it. You'll either end up doing a lot more work on a later chapter by writing it first, or you'll get a chapter that doesn't fit into the rest of the book. But if you're willing to do the extra work (and since when is writing work? ) and want to start writing in chapter 20, then do it.
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