Jordan's recent entry on her blog on how writers, and especifically she, approach their stories got me thinking (very hard) about my own approach to writing.
It's been almost 2 years since I decided to take writing seriously. In all that time I've tried to learn the ropes of the trade. I've joined critique groups and taken countless workshops. (BTW, the last one was Cara King's Deep POV at Romance Divas and it was totally insightful.) I've met many wonderful writers (both unpub and pub) on the Net (especially at that wonderful place, Romance Divas), shared ideas with them, and exchange workout sheets. Hopefully all that might have shaped me in so way, right?
So last night, being too tired to continue with the story for the Phaze - Surge contest, I sat down and took stock of how I go about writing. Here's what I came up about my writing approach:
1. I'm a total pantser.
Ideas pop in my head and I just write them. It's that simple. I can't plot a story. No matter how much other writers tell me the importance of outlining a story, I just can't do it. Why? By the time I finish the outline and doing all the thinking, I'm so sick and tired of the story that end up NEVER writing it.
2. I write dialogues first.
The dialogues between my characters are the first thing to pop up in my head. I believe that what the characters say and how they say it say a lot about themselves. Those interactions are very revealing.(So this explains why I skip the descriptive paragraphs and go straight to the dialogues when I'm reading a book.) So when I write a story, 99% of the first draft is all dialogues.
3. I leave the "authorly stuff" for last.
Authorly stuff are things like inner thoughts, descriptions, etc. If I try to add them while I'm writing the dialogues (something like: "Don't move," he said in a husky voice. He stood back and let his eyes trail down...), then I lose my inspiration. So when I'm not inspired, I sit to do the authorly stuff.
4. I write in a non-linear way.
I don't always start from the beginning. Maybe what pops in my mind can go in the middle of the story. Sometimes I've come up with the end of the story before I even dream of how the story starts. An example of this was a story in which I wrote the scene of the first chapter, the scene of the second chapter, and another scene which pretty much could go almost at the end of the story. It wasn't until a few days later that I wrote a scene that went before the last scene I previously written. And two days later, I came up with the rest of chapter 1.
While I was very active on critique groups, I tried to go with writing chapter 1 first, and then chapter 2, and so forth. After 3 or 4, I'll stop, the inspiration gone. Why did I stop if I had so many ideas before? Simple, I didn't write them 'coz I was going in a sequence so now they are *poof* gone. So bottom line, I write whatever comes to my mind and after a while I start organizing the scenes. This leads me to point #5...
5. I write by scenes not by chapters.
Although I've been known to write chapters at times, it's easier for me to write scenes. Again, since I write as inspiration hits me, I write whatever I need to write at that moment. So the scene can be long or short, it doesn't matter. If I feel it has what it needs, that settles it.
Conclusion: I'm one screwy writer. (Or is it screwed up writer? *lol*) I follow no formulas. I have no method to my madness. Let's face it, the way I write is totally insane.
So my question to you all is, how do you approach your stories? Do you plot it ahead, outline, synopsis and all? Do you interview your characters, fill out characters sheets, etc.? Do you write the descriptions first or do you do just dialogues? Do you write the beginning and the end first? Do you follow a formula? |
