Post by DocQuantum on Aug 5, 2017 0:11:03 GMT
I've just been spending a rare afternoon all to myself, just plotting out some of my unfinished stories and writing new chapters for others. It made me think about my writing process.
Most of the time I begin a story with just a basic idea: ie: What if there was an evil JLA? What if an on-the-run Stretch O'Brien and his pregnant wife stayed at Rest-Haven where Eel O'Brien discovered he has plastic powers? What would happen if the new Earth-S heroes fought the Marvel Family?
With the basic idea in mind, I start thinking of possibilities. This is the brainstorming stage, and it can go in crazy directions. For example, the Stretch O'Brien idea has now developed into a wild sci-fi story, as you might tell by the change of title. Often I come up with so many ideas that they can't all be used, though some may be used later on somehow.
I might also just start writing the first chapter midway through the brainstorming stage, when I just have a bare-bones idea. For example, I wrote a short intro featuring the niece of Lana Lang attending the funeral of her father (Lana's little brother), with the intention that she would follow in her Aunt Lana's footsteps as a variation of Insect Queen, but more modeled on Marvel's Spider-Girl. And that's about when I petered out on the idea and have just given it up as a potential story idea for someone, and nothing more.
With more successful stories, I'll write several chapters before I end up stopping.
I end up stopping 99% of my stories because I realize I need to carefully plot out the rest before I can even continue, or the stories will devolve into a nonsensical series of events.
More brainstorming, this time not trying to throw out every idea on the wall, but narrowing them down to the most viable ones, and plotting my course.
This is followed by more writing, as I write chapters following the plot I've written out. Sadly, I often procrastinate at this stage, because writing to the plot is not always as interesting as just free-writing. Still, if I buckle down and get it done, it shouldn't take long. See my Thunderstruck story, for example. I had several goals in mind for that story (hero is a stranger in a strange world, his methods of fighting crime are different and get unexpected results, hero comes into conflict with law enforcement, hero finds a new family, hero meets and battles another hero but ultimately finds acceptance, and hero is enshrined as a hero in his new environment, so much so that he's invited to join a hero team), and I managed to write it all out fairly quickly as a result. Still proud of that story, even though some parts make me cringe -- I'm a white Canadian, after all, not an African-American from Baltimore, so my characterizations and dialogue may be way off, since I based it mostly on watching The Wire.
Throughout the entire writing process, I will make edits and occasional rewriting of my story thus far in order to keep it in line, and make it fit into one cohesive whole. By the end of the editing process, I have my story.
If I was smart, I'd wait until my story was done to post it, as I have done for some stories. But much of the time I end up stalling my stories after posting some chapters, forcing readers to wait longer between chapters.
So, does my writing process sound familiar to anyone here? What is your writing process? Maybe we can share tips.
Most of the time I begin a story with just a basic idea: ie: What if there was an evil JLA? What if an on-the-run Stretch O'Brien and his pregnant wife stayed at Rest-Haven where Eel O'Brien discovered he has plastic powers? What would happen if the new Earth-S heroes fought the Marvel Family?
With the basic idea in mind, I start thinking of possibilities. This is the brainstorming stage, and it can go in crazy directions. For example, the Stretch O'Brien idea has now developed into a wild sci-fi story, as you might tell by the change of title. Often I come up with so many ideas that they can't all be used, though some may be used later on somehow.
I might also just start writing the first chapter midway through the brainstorming stage, when I just have a bare-bones idea. For example, I wrote a short intro featuring the niece of Lana Lang attending the funeral of her father (Lana's little brother), with the intention that she would follow in her Aunt Lana's footsteps as a variation of Insect Queen, but more modeled on Marvel's Spider-Girl. And that's about when I petered out on the idea and have just given it up as a potential story idea for someone, and nothing more.
With more successful stories, I'll write several chapters before I end up stopping.
I end up stopping 99% of my stories because I realize I need to carefully plot out the rest before I can even continue, or the stories will devolve into a nonsensical series of events.
More brainstorming, this time not trying to throw out every idea on the wall, but narrowing them down to the most viable ones, and plotting my course.
This is followed by more writing, as I write chapters following the plot I've written out. Sadly, I often procrastinate at this stage, because writing to the plot is not always as interesting as just free-writing. Still, if I buckle down and get it done, it shouldn't take long. See my Thunderstruck story, for example. I had several goals in mind for that story (hero is a stranger in a strange world, his methods of fighting crime are different and get unexpected results, hero comes into conflict with law enforcement, hero finds a new family, hero meets and battles another hero but ultimately finds acceptance, and hero is enshrined as a hero in his new environment, so much so that he's invited to join a hero team), and I managed to write it all out fairly quickly as a result. Still proud of that story, even though some parts make me cringe -- I'm a white Canadian, after all, not an African-American from Baltimore, so my characterizations and dialogue may be way off, since I based it mostly on watching The Wire.
Throughout the entire writing process, I will make edits and occasional rewriting of my story thus far in order to keep it in line, and make it fit into one cohesive whole. By the end of the editing process, I have my story.
If I was smart, I'd wait until my story was done to post it, as I have done for some stories. But much of the time I end up stalling my stories after posting some chapters, forcing readers to wait longer between chapters.
So, does my writing process sound familiar to anyone here? What is your writing process? Maybe we can share tips.
