cathconns
Junior Member
Professional Threadkiller
Posts: 74
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Post by cathconns on Aug 5, 2007 22:22:17 GMT -5
I've been having trouble getting started with a new work-in-progress. Usually I just sit down and write, no planning, no outline, nothing but the main concept and a few bits of dialogue in my head. That doesn't seem to be working right now, so I'm thinking an outline might be the way to go. So I'm wondering, do you plan before you write? How much do you plan (worldbuilding, outlining, etc.)? Do you ever find that planning too much takes the fun out of writing? If you don't plan, do you ever have moments where you don't know what direction to take? How do you overcome that? Any advice would be helpful, because I just can't seem to get started.
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reenkam
Junior Member
Tuesday's coming...did you bring your coat?
Posts: 59
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Post by reenkam on Aug 5, 2007 22:35:21 GMT -5
I don't usually plan, but I have in the past. I didn't really follow said plan, but it was nice to have it, I guess.
Sometimes if I can't get started on a WIP I either make a couple bullet points about what I want to happen in the first scene or two or I just start writing like a dialogue between two characters or something like that. It doesn't have to have anything to do with the actual piece, but it can help get you into the swing of things, so to speak.
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Post by kamikaze189 on Aug 6, 2007 13:29:25 GMT -5
I plan in the sense that I usually end up thinking about the story when I'm not writing it. This allows me to come up with many scenarios and twists I could write. Then, while I'm writing, I generally pick one of them.
I usually don't write down exactly where and how everything is supposed to happen.
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afs
Full Member
Posts: 135
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Post by afs on Aug 8, 2007 0:33:12 GMT -5
I don't plan too much. I get the basic outline, but just kind of wing it from there.
Writing should be like the best kind of murder. Over-planning, while safer, just makes it another chore. There needs to be a good mix of "think ahead"and "Johnny-on-the-spot".
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Post by eliflauta on Aug 8, 2007 21:23:27 GMT -5
I let ideas bounce in my head for a bit before launching into action. Sometimes writing down a few sentences on the corners of homework assignments and tests so by the time I get that piece of paper returned, the idea has seasoned a bit and I can decide how I feel about the segment I wrote down. Usually when I start something, I start smack dab in the middle. This is where my essays get weird, but whatever. YOU CANNOT CHANGE MEEEEE! *cough* anyways, when I start from the beginning I usually get a product that my peers enjoy more, but I don't like as much. So how I start depends on whom I'm trying to please. And I never ever do an outline. I don't care how much my English teacher begs me, she/he shall never succeed! I will not crumble beneath the wise words of someone much more qualified than I! Waaaaaait...well, yup, that's my writing style in a nutshell.
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Post by dangerjane on Aug 12, 2007 18:56:23 GMT -5
I get this feeling and something'll jog it along and I'll know what I want to write. So I figure out the setting if I don't know it already, and do some notes on it if I don't know it already, and maybe a little musing on the characters while I start writing.
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