The Writing Process

newsmanfan

newsmanfan

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Stephen King still uses his trusty Underwood typewriter, I hear...I like them as art objects but they're too slow for my fingers (I type about 95-110 wpm depending on how tired I am). I gave up writing longhand a looong time ago as my thoughts go too fast for the pen to keep up and it only winds up stifling me. Prefer a laptop computer, preferably Apple (I STILL love Clarisworks, HATE Word); I usually perch with it on my lap in bed. Have to have background music, and I always make a "soundtrack" of specific songs to conjure the mood I wish to put into the piece.

As far as ideas, I tried the "jotting it down when it comes to you" approach but I wound up getting annoyed by it. Now I just let a new idea stew in my head a few days, toying with it like a cat with a new nippy mouse, doing sort of a background-obsessing thing all throughout my day and night until it gels. I find the shower and laying in bed before sleep (when I am physically most relaxed) to be the most productive times in terms of visually, mentally plotting out, blow-by-blow, each scene I wish to work on, and then the next chance I have I put my fingers to work writing it all out (and the scene usually changes a little as I write). I find it best to know my characters really, really well and then just throw a situation at them...they'll react, I'll record! I only get stuck when I'm not sure how to get from point A where the story currently is to point C where it needs to be next...but sometimes (if I'm lucky) the characters themselves will suggest a route.

When you're stuck, I suggest surrounding yourself with images and sounds which are related somehow to your story idea! It may trigger a creative thought. :news:

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charlietheowl

charlietheowl

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newsmanfan said:
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As far as ideas, I tried the "jotting it down when it comes to you" approach but I wound up getting annoyed by it. Now I just let a new idea stew in my head a few days, toying with it like a cat with a new nippy mouse, doing sort of a background-obsessing thing all throughout my day and night until it gels. I find the shower and laying in bed before sleep (when I am physically most relaxed) to be the most productive times in terms of visually, mentally plotting out, blow-by-blow, each scene I wish to work on, and then the next chance I have I put my fingers to work writing it all out (and the scene usually changes a little as I write).
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I've often wished I could bring a notepad into the shower with me, because that is a great place to glean up ideas. Unfortunately I think the ink would run!:smirk:
 
G

Gonzo's Hobbit

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newsmanfan said:
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I gave up writing longhand a looong time ago as my thoughts go too fast for the pen to keep up and it only winds up stifling me. . .As far as ideas, I tried the "jotting it down when it comes to you" approach but I wound up getting annoyed by it. Now I just let a new idea stew in my head a few days, toying with it like a cat with a new nippy mouse, doing sort of a background-obsessing thing all throughout my day and night until it gels. I find the shower and laying in bed before sleep (when I am physically most relaxed) to be the most productive times in terms of visually, mentally plotting out, blow-by-blow, each scene I wish to work on, and then the next chance I have I put my fingers to work writing it all out (and the scene usually changes a little as I write). I find it best to know my characters really, really well and then just throw a situation at them...they'll react, I'll record! I only get stuck when I'm not sure how to get from point A where the story currently is to point C where it needs to be next...but sometimes (if I'm lucky) the characters themselves will suggest a route.

When you're stuck, I suggest surrounding yourself with images and sounds which are related somehow to your story idea! It may trigger a creative thought. :news:

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I'm with you newsmanfan in that I don't normally write long hand because I can't keep up with my thoughts a lot. The notebook I carry is just in case I get a really vivid image that I don't want to loose, or if the thoughts in my head are drvigin me so crazy I have to write them down to get them out.
I have found though that I can't let the ideas stew out too much because if I do that I end up finding every flaw that they ever might have. I'm not saying it's not good to find discontinuuity or erroes, but it's to the extent that there's no suspension of belief if that makes sense.
 
CensoredAlso

CensoredAlso

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Gonzo's Hobbit said:
I have found though that I can't let the ideas stew out too much because if I do that I end up finding every flaw that they ever might have.
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That's true, sometimes you can't let yourself think about it too much. Just get it on paper first and worry about fixing things later.
 
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Gonzo's Hobbit

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That's a nice little list, thanks for posting it Speed Tracer. At first glance it kinda looks slightly cliche but when you actually start reading it there's some nice stuff in there. Plus it makes a good reference in general.
 
Slackbot

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I come up with ideas anywhere, but I seem to get them most often 1) when I'm taking a bath, and 2) when I'm commuting, because I have a long bus-train commute.

I'll play with ideas for a long time, even if they seem like bad ones, because you never know, an idea that I thought was not good enough might have an angle worth considering. ("Silly is Good" started out that way.) I'll often get the characters together and let them act out the concept, often trying many variations until one sticks. I'll also doodle my ideas out, and in fact a lot of the pics in my doodle dumps are me thinking about story ideas on paper. If I like an image enough to do a fully-painted-up version, there's a good chance it'll turn up in the finished fic.

When I've gotten enough energy from these ideas to want to write a story, I'll open up my word processor and tell it to myself in quick summary form, as if I was pitching it to someone. Hit the important notes, sometimes include bits of dialogue if they're important enough. This is not the story itself, but an outline. I find a lot of weaknesses and flaws in this stage, and iron them out. Here is my outline for the first chapter of "Masks," to give you an idea of how fast I work:
1: Start on a show intro. Kermit begins the show, then they run through the opening. Only one set of arches, with main characters in them. Ending with a trumpet gag (trumpet sounding like a gong). Then they have other character do the arch scene with musical playback. And another take, until they get them all. They'll be composited together.
Gonzo and Camilla are there with Billie, who has grown noticeably. She's still in diapers, and toddling about energetically. She's grown fast; it must be the chicken side. Fozzie is with them, pitching trumpet gag ideas. Some may even be usable.
After they break, they gather in the audience. Kermit sits on the edge of the orchestra pit. Rundown of what's going on. The TV deal is inked. They'll have almost the same schedule as before: 4 shows (F-M) and 3 days off. The difference is that the shows will be filmed, and they'll make the TV show out of the best clips. Best? Most entertaining. Big difference. The fourth day they'll film any backstage business and any other incidental footage, so the show will be onstage only three days a week. A little muttering, but this is accepted.
Kermit thanks everyone for holding on this long. He doesn't say it often enough, but they're like a big family, and he thinks they're all the greatest folks he's known in his life. Rowlf: we're just about all the folks you've known in your life!
The actual show starts in two weeks. Some of the acts are already in progress. He'll need more. It doesn't matter how silly they are. If they wouldn't work in the stage show, they can be filmed on the fourth day for the TV version. They're booking guests—and this time some people actually *want* to be on the show!
Final word: It's gonna be great, so do what you always do: dive in and let's have a ball! Everyone cheers.
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I'll write this outline over several days, coming back and tweaking it as I get ideas, smoothing it out, and generally gathering energy. Them, when I can't wait any longer, I paste the outline into a new document and start writing. I write the story ahead of the outline, and delete bits of the outline as I write them. Now, the outline is a good tool, but the story is not graven in stone, and often unexpected things happen between my fingers and the keyboard. That's fine, and even desirable--Some of my favorite scenes have happened when the characters seem to come to life and run away with the script--but I always remember that this needs to contribute to the story.

One problem I often face is writer's block. We all know about that! My solution is just write the dang scene that's giving me trouble. Write it good, write it bad, but write it. Once you smash through the writer's block the flow will come back, and you can always come back and fix a poorly-written scene. (But, often, I'll come back and find that that scene wasn't as bad as I thought.)

It usually takes several days to several weeks to write the first draft of a story, depending on its length and complexity. When I finish, I go back and start editing. And, believe me, my first drafts need lots and lots of editing! As do my second, third, et cetera. I'll find typos, clumsy phrasing, repeated words, things I could have written better, and so on. And I'll rewrite. After the second draft I print my drafts out and mark them up there, often changing fonts in between drafts so it won't look like the same old thing. I take my time on this stage, often editing five to eight drafts, waiting a few days to a week between them so I can look at them with fresh eyes, until I'm really pleased with my work. I know it's time to stop when I'm merely fiddling with word choices.

By that time, I'm generally sick of the dang thing and ready to inflict it on the world, so I post it. And then find that one last typo.
 
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