Re: Any advice on planning?

Patricia C. Wrede wrote:

It also hurts that I have a powerful sense of the image of a story in mind, which is my real "plan," and often shoves anything I've written down out of the way.



I'm not quite clear on exactly what you mean by this, either, but it doesn't sound particularly odd. Though perhaps the fact that you're conscious of this "plan" is a little unusual.



I'm a little unusual *cough*. I mean, (here we go again - didn't I SWEAR I wasn't going to do this anymore?) I have a strong mind. When I tested for MENSA I scored way up on the scale (th IQ scale). Anyway, I mean, my brain works pretty good. I have always been amazed at how I could consider conepts others could not even understand (I was wondering about infinity of both space and time when I was 9 years old). I teach myself subjects fast than any teacher can. And when I start to write, I may not even have a lot of cnscious ideas about how things are going to go, just a familiarity with the characters and situations, having thought about them some. Yet I seem to be able to invent them on the fly just as well. All of which means, I write pretty well, first draft. I go back, looking to rewrite, to change, looking for things that are wrong, stuff to cut, and I don't find much. I don't fully understand it, but I like the result, and most of my critiquers do, too.

And people do not understand when I describe myself. I say "certified genius" and instead of "high measured IQ" they hear "egotist." Things like that. It hurts.

If you know your characters, know your situations, know your events well enough, the story pretty much writes itself. If not, wait, think about them, put down more notes, until you Do.



This is very good advice...for anyone who happens to work the same way you do.


I started out saying, my method is likely of little use to many others. Well, something like that.

It is demonstrably *bad* advice for people who are strongly at the opposite end of the spectrum -- those who need to write from a blank screen and surprise themselves, for instance, or they get bored and lose any motivation to write the story.



Hmmm, isn't htat what I just descibed? No, actually I think I have described my analysis of how I wrote, after I wrote from the "just get it written" method. When I started the first completed novel, all I had was a couple weeks of thinking about it, purely from a daydreaming gamer standpoint. I only later came up with this description for a method I didn't realize I had used.

It wouldn't be all *that* good advice for me, and I'm a lot closer to the center of the spectrum. The two novels I've done that "pretty much wrote themselves" were the two where I started off knowing the *least* about the characters, situations, and events. One of them is one of my all-time bestsellers; the other is catching up fast, from a late start.


Hope it stays in print. The tax situation having screwed up inventory rules has really wrecked late sales.

Furthermore, I'm almost never a "burst" writer, not even on a smallish scale, and trying to make myself be one generally has...less than stellar results.



I am. Sometimes. There's been times when I hacked away at a piece regularly, but mostly I sit and try, and either make monumental progress, or nothing. Moods. That's all it is.

You were doing just fine at articulately explaining how *you* work.


My method is probably of little use to most writers. I break all the rules.


Yes.

The problem is, every writer has a different process that works best for *them*, and if you don't *know* that somebody works the way you do, you can wreck their writing prospects most thoroughly by advising too strongly that *your* way is the best, most effective, or fastest way to get a story written.



Did I do that? I did say, "My method is probably of little use to most writers. I break all the rules."

Because if somebody who -- for instance -- really needs to surprise themselves sits down and makes a lot of notes on their story, actually writing the thing may become a torment and a misery, to the point where not only does it *not* "just write itself," but it can't get written at all.


My expectation is that someone just writing it has either done some thinking about it, has a plan of sorts in mind, or is just wandering about the page, and THAT requires a lot of luck to turn up anything good. Still, luck as a lot to do with it.

All methods, from the "I make myself work 4 hours a day" to the "live in a cave, find yourself first" ideas, and all the rest, are really just crutches that people can try, seeking to get started, and complete a work of whatever complexity they are capable of, and want. I cannot leave a quaestion unanswered, at least in my own mind (I cannot just say, "it just IS, damnit!"), and so I do a lot of thinking, and this creates complexities which even I have to write down to keep straight.

If it doesn't work, try a different crutch. Sooner or later you are walking, then running, and no more such thing is needed, until next time.

--
Godwin is a net-nazi
Learn about spam: http://www.seige-perilous.org/spam/spam.html


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Where is Skip and the Flying Pig?
    ... This makes for inefficient speech which when transcribed makes for inefficient writing. ... As a writer, I would rather leave good yarn-spinning to my voice where it belongs. ... A good writer bypasses the physical senses and goes right to the source - the mind. ...
    (rec.boats.cruising)
  • Re: British Trident programme dead?
    ... On the triviality of Usenet (NB I am making no more money out of it ... Have a back-up plan, because the first one won't work. ... Do bear in mind that all of us are but transitory phenomena, ...
    (sci.military.naval)
  • Re: Writers Studio, NYC?
    ... inspire/teach you how to make yourself a better writer. ... writing is non-planning. ... enjoying stringing words together (something about enjoying words in ... (Never mind want to write.) ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: Gas prices rises 10 cents a gallon over 2 weeks
    ... weather me through the Blumph! ... That's a plan. ... I keep in mind that in many transactions, ...
    (misc.survivalism)
  • Re: !!!!!!!!!!! Do NOT Stay at Wynn Resort for Special Occasion - Completely Disappointed -
    ... Who in their right mind does not discuss suppositions with the very people ... You are an idiot that does not plan well, ... Completely Disappointed - WARNING WARNING ... Don't plan on being treated special for a special occasion - YOU HAVE ...
    (alt.vacation.las-vegas)