Question

[Locket]

I have an idea practically spilling over in my head, but I'm so worried that I'm going about it... not in the wrong way, but a way that's not as constructive.

What do I do first? Get all the details and every little thing nice and orderly, or jsut dive in and type, and hope I don't hit too many snarls too quickly? Or something else?

 

[Tariel]

I have an idea practically spilling over in my head, but I'm so worried that I'm going about it... not in the wrong way, but a way that's not as constructive.

What do I do first? Get all the details and every little thing nice and orderly, or jsut dive in and type, and hope I don't hit too many snarls too quickly? Or something else?

It really depends on your style. If the idea is so eager to get out that it's spilling out you may want to write out a basic idea and then go back and make the details all nice and neat--if necessary. That usually works for me, it may not for you.
If you're usually organized, you will probably do better to get all the details out. If not, just go for it

Remember, there's always revision

 

[MacGyver4Christ]

What I do is just jump in! Just start writing! It might come out quick and maybe be a little messy but at least you will have started writing and like Tariel said 'Remember, there's always revision'

 

[Locket]

Well that was last night. This morning I'm staring at everything I wrote last night. Perhaps I should have been clearer When I was hurriedly pecking out words, it was about the ideas that flooded in, not the actually story. I didn't know if I should try and nail down every detail of the plot or not

Not like I have any time now. *wails* I hate tests. lol. But thank you both for your replies

 

[Tariel]

write down your ideas and keep them. If you don't write something down, you run the trisk of loosing them. Then let those ideas play around in your head. Let them develop. Try not to think about them too much. If you're anything like me, you'll know when they're ready to be turned into a story...you'll just know

 

[Received]

Depends. Some writers advocate the free-write, no thinking, revise revise revise scheme; some are for a little more structure and planning. Ultimately I find a planning to tempt me not to write at all, which isn't good -- I get caught up in thinking about the act, the constituents of the story, and never get around to sitting in the chair. I think a lot of it has to do with your brain-lateralization. If you're right-brained (left-handed), you're going to be more intuitive, more free-flowing; the opposite is true if you're left-brained (right-handed).

 

[silentpoet]

I have read two or three main writing books this week. And Stephen King is not so big on outlines and organization, but the other books reccomend it. I can see points to be gained on both hands. I lean toward outlines, at least for novels. In short stories it might not be as needed. Even with the outlines you are mainly trying to fill in the bits of the story that you do not know. At least that is how it is with me. I know part of the story and the outline helps me figure out what I don't know. You have to be true to the story and that is what King is concerned falls a little bit when you work to fit it in the structure of the outline.

 

[Blessed-one]

well, to me, i'd write down the ideas in point form just so i don't forget them.

besides, when you look back on them, you'd see how some things aren't in order and such, how some ideas might be useful or not, etc.

 

[Received]

Ah, book recommendations: E.M. Forster's Aspects of the Novel; John Dufresne's The Lie that Tells a Truth. I highly recommend the first primarily for its classical emphasis on the novel (it was based on lectures given by Forster in the 20s); the latter is good contemporary stuff, and I agree highly with all of it, save for his great contempt for adjective and adverb usage, and the systematic bareness of his dialogue.

 

[Tariel]

If you're right-brained (left-handed), you're going to be more intuitive, more free-flowing; the opposite is true if you're left-brained (right-handed).

really? Doesn't seem that way for me

I can barely give my story enough structure for it to have a plot--which I would assume would show that I am intuitive--yet I am right handed.

When I write, I pretty much just like to make up my characters, sktick them in this world...then see what they decide to do

It's really fun...and in some ways my writing is more like reading a story than writing one. At least on draft one

...and on drafts two, three, and four, actually

Can't say about draft five...I'm only on my fourth major revision

 

[ALIgator]

I do kind of the same thing as Tariel. Usually I just develop my characters and kind of a basic idea of what the story will be about. Then I just kind of see what they do and how they react to the situations they're in. I really enjoy this style because it's never boring and what ends up happening can even surprise me sometimes! The only problem is it takes a lot of editing to get everything to me more orderly and organized, but I think it's worth it. I've tried planning out the details first, but sometimes I feel like I'm forcing the characters to do something that doesn't really fit with their personality, and if I take out one little part the whole rest of the story is messed up. But you just have to play around with it a little and see what works best for you.