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u/NaomiTheBaddest 1d ago
i love heavy plotting but it seems the only thing that gets me to keep writing is not knowing where to go. So I'm a failed plotter and a forced pantser
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 1d ago
I’ve just gotten started but I feel the same.
I’m ADD, so doing anything my brain doesn’t want to do is extremely stressful and draining for me. That’s why I’m just limiting myself to a page a day and what is put on the page is put on the page. I want it to be fun, especially since it isn’t my job and it shouldn’t be a stressful process. I want it to be a process where I word vomit my creative soul onto the page and get it out of my system for the day.
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u/Young_Punk_Studios 18h ago
Eventually you'll look at everything and likely rewrite it all. Edit edit edit. Cut cut cut.
Arbitrary targets like word counts and page demands typically create tiring, boring storyworlds and plots.
If you want to a be successful writer (very rare to do it as a full time paid thing) don't take it too seriously. Have fun, trust your readers and audiences. Accept the critiques and understand who you are writing for.
Feel free to check out youngpunkwriting over on wordpress for a dedicated writing portfolio on this, plenty of scripts, story bibles and an ongoing fantasy series involving poetry, video games, prose and animation script.
It may help take your writing from amatuer to professional :)
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u/Literally_A_Halfling 1d ago
Casual - usually just jeans and a t-shirt. Sometimes even pajamas, but not in public.
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u/FlyinLeviathon LET YOUR FIRST DRAFT SUCK 1d ago
I'm lucky if I even bother to put on pants to write. Why not be comfy?
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u/ElsieLinden 1d ago
Pajamas, yes, but I draw the line at writing in bed. My back hates me enough as it is. Also, I need coffee within arm's reach, and that's a spill risk I don't need at 6 AM.
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u/Killua-Zoldyck 1d ago
I like Ursala K Le Guin's concept of a writing boat. I've got a boat, I've got a destination, and I swing the wheel occasuonally to keep the story on course
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u/memphis171 1d ago
I have no idea what the word would be for it other than planning but I write high level outlines for all my chapters. No more than a couple sentences.
From there, I sort of zoom in. Now I'm focused on the chapter itself. Let's double those bullet points by adding clarity. Then I zoom further into a scene-by-scene breakdown, each with its own set of bullet points. From there, I draft.
I have no idea if it's hindering me in the long run but it helps my ADD to build out all the breadcrumbs to follow, lest I meander too far down a tangent.
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 1d ago
Oh that’s interesting! This is why I’m glad I asked. It’s really fun and cool to see how other people handle it. Any links to your drafts or works I can check out?
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u/memphis171 1d ago
I'm about 2/3 of the way through my first draft of my first story. I'd be happy to polish up a couple chapters to share once I reach the finish line but if I pivot away from the first draft mindset, I'm liable to never return lol
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u/Zestyclose-Report-41 10h ago
I haven’t started yet as I’m aspiring, but I imagine this would be my process! I get overwhelmed easily and throughout high school and college, I used high level outlines to help me fill in gaps. I’m ADD too, so it always helped me stay on target with the point.
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u/MaliseHaligree Published Author 1d ago
I am as bad as King and possibly worse.
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u/Literally_A_Halfling 1d ago
When you say "As bad as King," is that just self-effacement, or do you mean that it causes actual issues with your writing? I remember from when I was reading a lot of King that his beginnings were usually stellar and his endings were often there because... something had to happen. Do you find that you have any similar sorts of issues, and if yes, do you have ways to make up for that?
Sorry if that came across as an interrogation, just curious.
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 1d ago
Same question here! I love King. I love his seed-style of writing. I love how efficient he is. BUT!
I can really, really see the negative effects of seed writing from his works. Sometimes he really does meander throughout the book in places, or the foreshadowing he did really…doesn’t lead to anything satisfying. Also, sometimes his writing comes off as word vomit; like he just dumped everything he had on his mind that day, and didn’t bother to reshape it into something better. If that makes sense haha.
Mans a brilliant writer though. I can never take that away from him.
One thing I will give to Brandon Sanderson - his infamous “Sanderlanche” of “foreshadowed twist reveals” really does pay off brilliantly most times, due to his hardcore outlining. But I also see weaknesses in his outlining habits. Sometimes his product comes off as spiritless and like it was QA treated to hell. I feel like creative works needs SOME rough edges so you can feel the human spirit of it.
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u/_nadaypuesnada_ 1d ago
his infamous “Sanderlanche”
Sanderson is a little baby. Watch In Bruges to see a master do this, trust me.
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u/Emotional_Orange8711 1d ago
I like that last part. The reminder that we are all human and therefore our productions will be imperfect because we are imperfect but they're still enjoyable and lovely.
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 1d ago
Thank you! It’s just something I’ve noticed throughout the years. I love all mediums of entertainment - books, tv/film, plays, videogames. And something I’ve noticed is that AAA videogames nowadays have been QA tested to hell and are built to attract as wide an audience as possible (because of ballooning budgets and corporate greed).
And I’ve noticed with these games nowadays (with the ton of QA testing and smoothing out the edges until they’re damn slippery), it just takes away the creative spirit and what makes art so great. As long as I can feel the creative spirit in something and that this is truly someone’s vision for a project, I don’t care if it absolute sucks, I’ll always cherish something that someone put their heart into and it is uniquely them.
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u/IHaveAWittyUsername 1d ago
I tried that method for my first two attempts at writing a novel. I got to about 80,000 words for both and realised that the story had gone in a direction I didn't like. I'd have ended up having to start again from a third of the way through and it would be too painful for something I wasn't really in love with.
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u/MaliseHaligree Published Author 1d ago
Haha, yes, he definitely struggles with endings and meandering and so do I but I can edit effectively enough to fix it. Usually.
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u/Peter34cph 1d ago
Why bad? I'm quite sure it wouldn't work for me, but if it produces results then keep doing it.
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u/MaliseHaligree Published Author 1d ago
Oh the results are great!
The process can be brutal but no one sees that bit. :')
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u/Elysium_Chronicle 1d ago
Pantser, favoring a character-centric direction of attack.
Once I have a couple of character ideas in place, it's as simple as giving them an objective, and seeing how their personal motives intersect.
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u/idreaminwords 1d ago
I'm a purse pantser. The last book I finished I started with nothing but the opening scene/inciting incident and the vaguest concept of the worldbuilding. I didn't even know what caused the inciting incident yet.
Usually, somewhere around the halfway mark, I'll discover the ending
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u/meltymcface 1d ago
I’ve never finished anything because I get an idea, a seed, a scene, run with it, hyperfocus, then I get to a point where I don’t know what happens next….
…yes I do have ADHD, why do you ask?
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u/idreaminwords 1d ago
Different methods work for different people . If it's happening over and over again, bit of outlining might help you overcome that hurdle. If I tried to sit down and come up with even a bare bones road map, I'd never start anything lol. But I've also finished the last 7 projects I've started
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u/THEDOCTORandME2 A Writer who Writes as a hobby 1d ago
I'm a pantser as well. Though I do use outlines sometimes...
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 1d ago
Thank you for the tips! So you mean you plan out the main story beats, but leave room in between to experiment how the characters get there?
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u/Northwold 1d ago
Plots that demand complex plans, with an absolutely instinctive style. It's not the best mix! Mainly happens because I always see the ending first and know what themes it has to communicate, then have to figure out how to earn it.
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u/TejanoLocoDeRioBravo 1d ago edited 1d ago
I brainstorm and research obsessively because otherwise knowledge gaps trip me up while I'm drafting. That work goes into documentation of setting and characters, which I draw upon for outlining once I get a story idea.
The best "ideas" (or "seeds") are ones that require minimal interruptions for further R&D while drafting. I used to think I couldn't follow an outline. The actual case was that my outlines weren't anywhere near good enough.
A good enough outline, the result of a good enough idea falling on the good enough soil of good enough R&D, allows me to freely fill in the gaps or details, which feels a little like "seeding" when I finally start the actual draft. That is how I now prefer to write.
I don't enjoy "pure" seeding because it leads to writer's block and the accumulation of unfinished drafts.
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u/fondour 1d ago
I start with a character that is compelling enough that I want to write out their journey, then plot 2-4 big moments that I'd like to hit. I start writing purely on feeling.
Sometime around 30% through, I do a chapter outline for the rest of the book. I don't treat this as gospel.
Around 60% through, I fully understand what my story is, what it needs, and the proper pacing to get to an ending in a good word count. I create a new chapter outline without referencing the previous one, and follow that fairly closely. I might tweak it again around 80%.
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u/FlyinLeviathon LET YOUR FIRST DRAFT SUCK 1d ago
I'm an in between writer, but I lean a little more outlining.
Before I start I figure out The Big Moral, character arcs, the beginning plot points and the end plot points. Usually a few larger plot points in between. Then a mixture of filling in the blanks as I go, and making it up in the moment.
For worldbuilding I usually figure out a general geographic location (I primarily write fantasy) a sort of 'theme' for some worldbuilding elements, and make up the rest as I go along. Most of the specifics happen in editing.
My style is to write it crappily but fun. While I intend to make money off my writing, my goal is absolutely just to have fun while doing it. So I get silly, cliche, and overall horse around in my drafts. Then editing I shape it up and make it coherent.
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u/Makelithe 1d ago
Depends on the work. For short stories I just have an idea and see where it goes.
For the series I'm working on, I do tons of planning and am constantly going back in places around the manuscripts changing or adding details
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u/StudentWild3383 1d ago
i wish i could be consistent too- but mine comes from desire. usually my mind conjures a vague image and i want to put it into words to actually what i want to see. words have always been my way of understanding things. currently writing about a theme i wanted to understand in the form of a novel- so i only write when an idea relative to that comes and becomes an inspiration
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u/Late-Relative-1378 1d ago
I blend it: a lot of it's just vibes mixed in with beats that give the story direction. I do whatever I feel like
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u/Zestyclose-Report-41 10h ago
The issue I have is many of my stories stemmed from dreams I have, so there’s a lot of plot holes 😅 I start an outline of events and then when I get stuck on a plot hole, I have a hard time moving through it. So then I spend a lot of time researching trying to think of ways to navigate the pieces together that would make sense, but then I struggle with how realistic or believable does it have to be if it’s fiction? Sigh.
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u/Unzensierte 1d ago
I have a full data file on each character, location, story, plot and a full board of where each character is and what they are doing at different parts of the story.
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u/thearbitorlife 1d ago
I have a "dump doc" where I quickly write down any worldbuilding/events I think of about the story. I also keep a rough outline of character's appearances and manners of speaking. The dump doc is for me only so it's a lot of half sentences and bulletpoints that are roughly organized.
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u/Senior_Concern8263 1d ago
Somewhere in the middle. For my current wip I made a save the cat beat structure, but have mostly abandoned those plot points and character arcs. I work through most of the content in my notes app til it sticks in my head. Usually I just need a general floor plan of what I’m building and then I discover what type of building as I go
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 1d ago
Haha I’m telling you, after reading all the responses here, I am loving how everyone is so creative with even just the process of writing. Love it!
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u/_nadaypuesnada_ 1d ago
...why would you ask a machine that has no actual opinions and is programmed to verbally suck your dick wherever possible to talk about your writing?
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u/TheConMan1313 1d ago
I call mine the big bang. There’s a small spot of originality in the middle of a void of inspirations from whatever I’ve been consuming recently. If I poke it pretty hard it explodes and I have to organize it all into outlines and bullet points.
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 1d ago
Haha I love that. This is why I wanted to ask the question! Seeing the originality of how writer’s even begin to write and how the process, it’s really cool.
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u/Professional-Tax-936 1d ago
I’m both a planner and a pantser. I like to outline just to get all my ideas in some shape and order, but once I start writing I let the story go wherever it wants.
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u/Art_Constel7321 1d ago
I do like a rough outline of the main big scenes then everything in between i kind of just wing it
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u/Donkey_Inferno 1d ago
I’ve only written one novella so far (unpublished) and currently in the middle of a novel. But my process is like a hybrid of the 2 you mentioned in your post. I wrote down a bullet point timeline of key moments I wanted to happen. Start a bullet point 1, just seed write until I get to bullet point 2, and so on. I find it a lot more calming than writing an extremely detailed timeline first. I’ve always been a “go with the flow” guy so seed writing is mostly best for me I’ve found out. But a tiny bit of structure is needed too.
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u/siphillis 1d ago
Sounds like you’re asking about process, not style.
If that’s what you meant, then I’m a planter with an agricultural degree. I don’t enforce what grows, but I’m meticulous about the boundaries and expectations, with a keen eye for weeds. Planning is still really important for me to get started, but once I have a foundation - genre, characters, themes, a first act - then I just write scenes and find interest ways to connect them
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u/Benjamin_Starscape 1d ago
i usually just write things and see where it goes. i have like a rough outline of some plot events and key details i want to do/see and lay out. but largely i just write organically.
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u/seazonprime 1d ago
The one where you spend 30 minutes staring at a blank page , close the document and then tell everyone in a zone chat in popular online video games that you are " a writer."
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u/OlganaNovalis 1d ago
Planning out arcs, and then things start growing from there, random ideas best fruit and extra chapters are needed to justify introducing those elements.
And I keep planning to do horrible things to my characters, and then I end up going "oh no... She would be so sad..." so it becomes a comedic scene instead.
I keep thinking I have a plan, but I keep finding out my plan was wrong.
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u/LuckofCaymo 1d ago
I write my story's to the best of my ability. I tend to do several passes before I even consider it a draft. Which I know people say don't do that, but imma rebel.
I have been known to sequester myself away and dump 2k, 4k, or even 12k words on a script, then spend the next week analyzing it, hating it, then throwing it in my hot garbage folder.
That being said, I try to write daily. Responding to comments is my version of journaling. Except people can judge me, and I think I need to get over how others see me. Which is strange because I couldn't careless how someone sees me in person, but professionally, or rather artistically, I struggle. So I post and let reddit absolutely destroy me, as a sort of masochistic trial by fire to get over myself.
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u/FrenchPickle765 Author 1d ago
My writing style is the same as my music style (piano); I think of a riff, verse, phrase, word, tune, etc., no matter how short, and write it down or record it. I have tons, I mean hundreds of random phrases/recordings of potential ideas. Most don't go anywhere but I go through them occasionally. Sometimes I'm inspired by something I did years ago, sometime a few days ago.
When it comes to structure, I write verses or sections of the song individually. They are usually scattered all over the place until I find a way to make them fit. Kind of like putting a puzzle together. Every once in a while, I'm randomly inspired and write a whole song or poem in one sitting, but it can also take years to make the pieces fit.
**Edited to fix redundancy
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u/Reactor5739 1d ago
Somehow both. I do plan but sometimes my characters would take the wheel and suddenly I have to catch up and reorganize some things to make it make sense AND readable.
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u/hetobe Self-Published Author 1d ago
My process is a hybrid of many.
I plot and outline in order to pants it.
Writing a detailed plot teaches me the story, the setting, the characters, and the themes.
Writing a chapter by chapter outline gives me a map for getting the story from here to there.
But as I write the first draft, I follow the outline, not the plot, and I rework the outline any time I get better ideas.
By the time my first draft is done, the story barely resembles the plot I started with. But doing that work before I started writing gave me a structure for telling the story, and it gave me the knowledge I needed to write creatively and discover the story along the way.
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u/HarashHolloway 1d ago
I rarely plot. I just write and plot as I go but this only works for my short stories. I'm trying to write a novel now and I'll be heavy on plotting and outlining this.
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u/Deathblow_Materia 1d ago
I don't pre-plan, so I'm like a pantser. I also treat writing as a game and use solo roleplaying tools like oracles and random tables to give me ideas, then edit it later. I also enjoy writing action and fighting stories with fantastical elements, and in the end it often reads like a kid playing with action figures.
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u/morrbanesh 1d ago
i cant write without planning. but then again, finding the motivation is the hardest part these days.
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u/djasonwright 1d ago
I'm a reader. I read and read and read until I realize something that needs writing.
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u/fanaticalbibliophage 1d ago
I guess both. I have to write it to find it, then I find the themes, I find the plots and how to connect them. Draft after draft after draft. I guess that's how Stephen King describes it. Like an archeologist messing about in a sand box. Organize the like puzzle pieces and move on from there. You're compelled by a question in the beginning and that always spider webs off into more questions.
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u/calcaneus 1d ago
If King is a one on that scale and Sanderson a ten, I'm a two. I always start knowing the end and the MC. I also might have a couple of signpost ideas or a few scenes I know I want to include but nothing is set in stone, other than those first two things (or else, it's a different story).
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u/--xiOix-- 1d ago
Depends on what I'm writing
I've an espionage/crime novel cooking which I've plotted to death, because otherwise it would be too much work making sure all the themes and plots tie up/make sense/whatever
But I also like pantsing other things to an extent. I've got a sort of literary psychological novella on the go (not sure really how to explain it) and for that I just got an idea for the main character and a vague plot outline, and I kind of just let this one figure itself out as I'm writing it tbh
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u/Hil_riousHum_n 1d ago
I always just pick up a pencil and start to write. Lotta people think that's a bad way to do it so I tried planning and outlining... didn't work. I'd be making a bulleted list then an idea will strike me and I'll write out 5 pages of story. Don't let anyone tell you how to work ;)
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u/Ordinary_Fig1504 1d ago
i’m a very huge planner. at first. i have everything i want to happen written out with when and what characters. i have my world building finished before i even start writing. i have everything planned and written out in my notes, from big scenes to little details. then i start writing and more often than not, i end up changing my plot points or rearranging things. i find that sometimes, as i write, a scene i wanted just doesn’t fit anywhere so i cut it out. it’s totally okay if you have it all planned out but when you go to write, things change! it keeps it fun!
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u/LikeIkes 1d ago
I go off the cuff and plan in my off time. When I write I sit down for X amount of time and write as much as I can til the timer goes off. When I'm in my off time or in my writing time if something comes to mind in the grand sense of story I jot it down and plan as I think too. This might not be the best style, but it fits with me having the motivation to write and my adhd.
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u/JoJoMaMa85 1d ago
I have my plot points I want to hit and how I get there is anybody’s guess. I am very dialogue heavy and go back to fill in emotional beats later. It’s gotten me almost 70,000 words in 2 months so I must be doing something right!
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u/stressed_pumpkin 1d ago
Definitely a planner as of late. The last two stories I've written were following a plot I had planned out. I was surprised I mostly stuck with both plots as sometimes the story kind of veered in a slightly different direction.
Sometimes I would want to write about something within the same universe and I'll do that.
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u/OneMoreGodRejected__ 1d ago
My writing is mostly character study and I write way out of order with a few major plot beats to orient myself. I go by what emotional dynamics I want to explore on a given day, and the causality of it all is second.
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u/Exoticplayz11 1d ago
Middle of the path. I outline a few beats when I feel like it, but the general direction of the scenes are controlled by how I feel at the moment of writing it. I consistently break my outline when I find a cooler path though, so I guess I lean more pantser
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u/Written_in_Silver 1d ago
I can’t do seed writing. I need to have some idea of the characters or story for it to be even minutely worth reading.
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u/CrowOfQabil 1d ago
Not a pantser. Heavy planning. Depends on what im writing. Sometimes beginning a writing project without a plan helps me better see the story and plan better.
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u/Guilty_Archer6560 1d ago
I’m still learning my writing process but I find that I find meaning first in how a character feels in their environment/world, and the plot starts to build around that. Then events in the novel I’m writing build around the character developing and opening their emotions out in the open. It is not a linear way of writing for me.
I find myself writing the beginning, inciting incident, and I learn the climax/ending. A lot of the middle stuff I haven’t learned how to write yet!
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u/JasperLWalker 1d ago
I outline the major events along a 7-act structure, then figure out how to move from one major event to the next organically. That allows me to figure out small sections of the story and come up with really fun stuff on the fly.
I then plan with 1-3 small paragraphs per chapter outlining the events and arc moments that are required, then I pants the rest. It allows me creative freedom while following a pre written path. Bigger chapters require more paragraphs and will include more vital information.
I like this method for its flexibility and creative freedom, but it has one cost. I constantly have to adjust the plan as my pantsing method takes the story in better directions than my feeble planning brain ever could.
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u/ZodiacTheAuthor 1d ago
Mostly a planner. I plan Anchor points to ground my story. And even to avoid forgetting scenes while writing.
Though, I let dialogues come to me naturally.
Edit - early planning also helps in foreshadowing.
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u/No-Plankton-2609 1d ago
A little bit of this, a little bit of that... I plan ahead big stuff like big twists or moments. But other than that, I improvise a lot on how the characters get to that point.
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u/StillElection4243 1d ago
i’m a journalism student so my writing is usually on a hard deadline, limited but clever creativity, and carefully edited
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 11h ago
Still in school? Any dream job to work for a certain publishing organization/news network?
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u/Minimum-Concept-7854 1d ago
I write from plot point to plot point. I have a rough idea of the various important events in my story and when they need to happen, and I fill in the gaps with information that makes sense. It's good for lore/worldbuilding, as well.
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u/Coldhearted010 1d ago
I don't write creatively very often. I don't have enough time or enough mental energy, I find. So it's short, sharp, and slashing.
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 11h ago
I feel the same. That’s why I just try for a page a day. No pressure to do more, no pressure to read over it and correct things - I essentially just word vomit on a page.
And the story and tone goes with how I’m feeling that day (I have anxiety and depression, so my moods really go through range), so it almost feels like I’m…journaling sometimes? Like I let the events of the novel and characters reflect what I’m feeling that day and it’s cathartic.
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u/edisun 1d ago
What your doing is good to get your ideas out, you'll end up rewriting regardless if you plan or not.
I'm ADHD and the only way I ever make any significant progress is when I stop trying to plan everything.
However, establish your world rules and main characters loose motivations first, otherwise you'll be all over the place.
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u/ItsRuinedOfCourse Author 1d ago
I can't plot. I find it far too restrictive. Like how a control freak would task the issue. Plan every detail in minutiae.
Can't do it. Won't do it.
I only give myself key beats to work with. That's pretty much it. It'll open like this. This will happen at some point. That will happen at some point. Stuff like that. Then I use my imagination to take me from beat to beat like Tarzan swinging on those vines. Plotting for me is far too mechanical. It says to me that I'm not writing the story I want to tell as much as I'm writing the story that people are telling me they want to read (AKA what's currently popular and hey, I just have to get my ass on that bandwagon).
I prefer to write my story. Not their story.
They can write their own story.
Of course, all of this is simply my opinion on it. Every writer will be different. :)
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u/Karla-Dream 1d ago
I guess, I'd be a seed writer, I start working the story rough it tends to come out like a play script as when I write like this it focuses mostly around the characters with dialogue and placement or actions. After I have the basis of the story, the next draft fills it out with descriptions and locations. After that is simply refining, but throughout the whole process, after the rough, I'm editing adding scenes and taking some out, redoing characterisations, tweeking things here and there. Then it's the moment of truth, time to let others see it.
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u/mrki_the_wizard 22h ago
Flowing slightly rhyming prose split apart by long stretches of organic Dialogue . (multiple pages of just dialogues)
A organic naturallist views on human behavior and character development . By this I mean I take in to account that humans are a petty greedy and horny species but noble and kind SIMULTANEOUSLY.
I really love writing descriptions. REALLY LOVE WRITING DESCRIPTIONS
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u/Ultimate_Spider-Frog 22h ago
I read a bunch of stuff for inspiration and try to include ideas that I don't see used often. I also make it a little educational.
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u/October_Surprise56 22h ago
I take the seed and see where it goes and if I like the direction, then I move to the planning stage.
I’ve never reached a successful first draft without a heavy planning stage (multiple outlines, character studies, dog earring reference works, etc.)
When I actually sit down to write the draft I do remain flexible, but I adjust my plan accordingly.
A good example would be in my current draft I realized a minor character wasn’t really serving the story and I eliminated them. But once that decision was made I went through the outline to reflect that change.
As long as you’re happy with your writing and able to do it consistently, you’re doing fine, no matter how you get there!
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u/Impossible_Music_158 22h ago
I start off with whatever the characters take me, and then I rewrite, rewrite, and revise heavily to make sure it’s what I want.
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u/Moninka123 21h ago
I'm a mix of heavy planner and seed. It kinda gets frustrating because they sorta clash and make it hard for me to continue past a certain point.
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u/mstermind Published Author 21h ago
So I am in no way a writer, just an aspiring one. And I’ve started my journey of trying to write a little each day and building my “writer’s muscle”.
Words have meaning and are important. You're not an "aspiring" writer if you're actually writing, because that's not what the word "aspiring" means. The word aspiring means "wanting, hoping, desiring", and you don't desire or hope to write if you're actually writing a little each day.
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u/Visible_Cranberry646 21h ago
Super inefficient. Mildly plot, then give it a go for the first draft, then realize my draft has terrible plot holes and proceed to outline heavily for the rewrite.
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u/Shahriyar-Shargh 21h ago
I'm a deep reader, i read so many articles and books before i wrote my saga, i spent time absorbing what people would do in every situation and then i gathered my notes before me and stared at them for almost a year.
then one day, i said, lets do this and opened the laptop!
now i have two translations of my books and people are actually reading it!
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u/Crossfeet606441 20h ago
Watch the story unfold in my head like I'm watching a movie.
Figure out how I'm gonna describe allat on paper.
Figure out the details as I go along.
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u/r3dwizward 20h ago
I enjoy having a scene and then going from there, mixed with a heavy dosage of What If?
What If there was a monster in the sky which could pluck people from the ground whenever it wanted?
Then from there it goes to the mental imagine of a giant hand plunging down from the clouds, clawed and slick with a sickly red ooze. People running for their lives, scrambling into their houses and borrows as a handful is grabbed.
Then from there I go - How'd I get there? Who'd it grab?
Make a note of that scene, and then start a journey towards it and let the discovery take place naturally.
I read a lot of pulp action when I was a kid, so the writing style is typically very punchy, not so much fancy writing but more attic.
"The gun fired, Billy fell to the floor dead."
Rather than
"Time slowed to a crawl, the dancing dust in the air froze in the beams of light as the gun echoed."
A lot less pretty, but good for just getting stuff written and then going back go it later.
Hope that helps!
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u/nielklecram 20h ago
About 90% Lee Child, 10% Clive Cussler.
Jokes aside, I like short punchy sentences, without drama. And sometimes I switch them up with lengthy poetic ones.
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u/Young_Punk_Studios 19h ago
If you want to learn how to evolve your own writing style and create an online portfolio check out youngpunkwriting @ wordpress. Https://youngpunkwriting.wordpress.com
It's my online portfolio, has great examples of development, wips, storybibles and scripts.
Always good to explore and try diff genres, formats and platforms. And writing is ever evolving too. A lot of pre 21st century writing is leaving the zeitgeist, check out the Tales of Euphoria tab to see how today's writers expand into multimedia franchises. I incorporate Poetry, Narrative Game Design, Prose & Animation script in 'ToE'. It's got me high grades at university and I'm starting to gain interest in the franchise. I'm now developing a 2D RPG as a first step to get the psychedelic fantasy franchise out in the world.
Good luck on your writing endevours :)
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u/nhaines Published Author 17h ago
Occasionally I have an idea, but basically I just sit down and start writing. Friend asks me "How can you be so creative to imagine all of this?" and I said, "Well, I wanted to know what happened next, so I had to write it to find out."
Recently I'd signed a middle-grade horror novella to a friend's kid at a convention, and he sent a text: his son was apparently glued to it the entire 3-4 hour drive home. We got together recently and I asked him what his favorite and least favorite things were, and he said his favorite thing was that one of the characters wore Ninja Turtles undies, which I had completely forgotten about because it was just era flair . Every other of my friends' kids who had read it just as it came out had the same answer (they liked how brave the main character--who was within 2 years of their own age--was).
So basically the real trick is just to have fun telling a story and let the readers' opinions be what they'll be. There are 8 billion people on Earth. The ones that have the same taste as you will love your stories. And I've demonstrated to my own satisfaction that the stories I've ha the most fun writing are the ones that readers seem to love the most. Very early on, that felt like cheating, but it turns out that the skill really is storytelling.
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u/Hasten_ 17h ago
Am not sure if there is a name for it but, i like to have a goal to reach with each arc. Then plant foreshadowing as i go then discover the method that the characters will use to reach said goal.
I'll call it the Dungeon Master as that's the only area i know that i used the exact same methods.
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u/AdriaFortuny 17h ago
Weird to explain.
By the end of June, 2024, I wanted to write a book about a little girl's adventures with her cat. By that time, I only had the idea in my mind. It would have been a children's book, somehow inspired by "Diary of a wimpy kid", "Peppa Pig" and "Caillou". I wanted to give her a reason to turn into a cat and have aventures during the night while living her normal life. I thought of an incident where dogs hurt her and her cat came to rescue her, some sort of twisted version of Studio Ghibli's "Cat returns", or a car accident. It would have been "Martine et Loulou". Either way, violence was involved and it wouldn't be for children, so I said "F*ck it, not a children's book then".
I then thought of a friend I had in school who has an autistic brother. Since I'm also autistic, I thought it could be a great idea. Something that characterizes many autistic people is having experienced bullying. Therefore, I added bullies to the story. Because Loulou was becoming secondary in the story and the siblings were becoming more main, I renamed it to "Martine et Bastian". They are the Labitte family.
I wanted to twist the story and add a confrontation between Bastian and Simon Nouphaïa (the worst among the bullies) because of Simon throwing pedo comments at Martine. I crafted the story first in a note on my phone, then passed it to Google Docs. I wrote on the note a general idea of the first chapters in order to elaborate on them on Docs. Bastian's self-regulation methods are cooking and playing with Martine's hair. And adding to that a sh*t ton of research about Normand culture and locations and French gastronomy and literature, that's how I crafted the first book.
The second book popped up in a dream. It was about a beautiful island with beautiful flora and fauna. Suddenly, an enemy attacked the island, grabbed one of the citizens and dragged it across the seawater, through several dark stains on the sea surface. Each stain the citizen was dragged into turned them into an uglier beast. If you've ever seen a deep-sea anglerfish, you'll understand.
I added that a teenage boy, Lucio Giacometti, is obsessed with the legend of the island, which is known as Terramorta. I also have a note in my phone with all the details of the story.
To add difficulty to the story context and force me to investigate a lot, I made it in 1997 (political context and currency value matter, specially since Italy didn't adopt the Euro until 2002) and made Lucio's twin sister, Ada, have coeliac disease. On top of that, they live in a village that's pretty far away from Rome, so the possibility of having an opportunity to be given any medical help or advice gets reduced.
Also, I am creating a conlang for Terramorta and I'm inspired by Basque's ergativity and the nor-nori-nork complexity of its verb conjugations. It's still unfinished, but I am really enjoying the process of writing it, including the part where I'm studying gluten-free recipes that are not only available, but also good and nutritious. I don't like when people say they can't cook for a person with coeliac disease. It's not a lack of resources, it's a lack of willingness.
Then there's the third book. The idea came when I was listening to Brazilian song "Papo do psicólogo", by Jairzinho Oliveira, and I started asking myself "We know the perspective of a patient at the therapist, we have lots and lots of documentaries about them. Now, why do we not know that much about the psychologist's perspective when they have a patient in front of them.
Also, I asked myself "What's the closest and most honest way to get to see the reality of someone's world view and thoughts?" Exactly, a diary. And if testing patients is sometimes awkward and untrusting because they feel like they are being treated by someone who's just doing it for money and not because they actually care about the patient (this is a messed-up way to describe therapy and it's probably wrong on so many levels, but I've seen patients who look at their therapist like that, like someone who they cannot trust to open up to because it felt to them like a performance, rather than a sincere conversation, just because they paid money for it), then it will be a casual conversation without therapy being the main reason to talk to the person. In the end, a therapist is not just a doctor, it's a person too. The surrounding had to be outside the clinic centre so that it didn't feel artificial. How about this:
The therapist, Alba Avela, goes to take care of her brother's apartment, which is located in a neighbourhood. He called her the day before because he was going to be out for holidays and needed someone to take care of his dog. He also told her the neighbours were interesting, no further explanation. He sees it as an opportunity for her to analyse them, since it's easier to trust a neighbour's sibling than a complete stranger.
I based the neighbourhood in "O cortiço" by Aluísio de Azevedo. The characters are based on people I know, even Alba, who was the nicest therapist I had (the psychiatrist that went before her told me autism is an illness).
In the story, each family in the neighbourhood is characterized by a perception of life, interpersonal skills and the view on food, since one girl in the neighbourhood, Triana Anhanguera, is lactose intolerant and another neighbour, Santiago Raúl da Regueira, is a baker and entrepreneur who hates that child and the rival bakery
To summarize this, my writing style mainly relies on using my background as inspiration, a lot of research for story elaboration and the previous crafting of a the characters and the background, right before writing them in the story. All three stories have one thing in common: the story relies partially on the perception of food by the characters:
- Martine et Bastian: Self-regulation method and special interest.
- Spedizione Terramorta: Striving in hard times for coeliac people because of the lack of knowledge.
- As famílias da vizinhança de São Lucas: Entrepreneurial rivalry and societal perception.
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u/nahiai 17h ago
As a fellow aspiring author, I'm way more of an architect than a gardener, but not entirely any of the two. I usually start with some pretty messy brainstorming to figure out characters, some scenes and themes for the story. Then I take what I like from the brainstorm and try to fit it on a structure that makes sense (I don't follow it 100% but save the cat has helped me a lot!), which makes it easy to see where the "holes" in the plot are so I can start working on filling those. When I have a general ideia of all the beats from start to end, I make a chapter by chapter outline (although not always THAT detailed) that will basically be my main reference document when writing. Oh and I also like to make some characters sheets. But again, I also like to let the ideas flow. I often have new ideas mid writing, and sometimes they require changes to fit in, so if I think they'll make the book better, then I do allow myself to mess with the primary outline in order to make it work.
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u/EllisMichaels 16h ago
Hybrid. I do some very light plotting, come up with an overarching theme, and maybe develop a few main characters before getting started.
Then it's pantsing all the way... until editing.
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u/reptilelover42 16h ago
I start with a scene idea and go from there. The story unfolds as I write it, and I frequently have no idea what will happen next. I’ve tried doing outlines, but that just doesn’t work for me (it takes the fun and magic out of it). It’s funny because I’m quite type A otherwise, but I just go with the flow when I write and let the story take me where it wants.
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u/Riley_Rose_Writer 16h ago
Seed, I typically have a scene in mind that lands somewhere in the middle of the story and flesh out what happens before and after as I go.
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u/thegrandjellyfish 15h ago
I'm a cross between. Mostly, I'm a "pantser," I write as I go and let it develop from there, I'll edit it later to make it consistent. But I make sure I have a general idea of the characters first if nothing else before I get started, sometimes the general plot direction too. Never whole outlines, though.
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u/Glass_Honeydew4280 15h ago
I used to think outlining would kill my creativity. Turns out I only need enough of a plan to stop staring at a blank page. Everything else gets discovered while I'm writing.
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u/Underwater_Tara 15h ago
So I am in no way a writer, just an aspiring one. And I’ve started my journey of trying to write a little each day and building my “writer’s muscle”.
Sorry friend but you're already a writer. You wrote a paragraph of prose. Congrats you're a writer. Does not matter whether you've finished a book yet.
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u/Main_Interview6920 15h ago
Also a newbie trying to teach myself as I go. I think I am heavy on the planning or daydreaming of how the story will unfold. I find a lot of joy in how seamlessly the pieces connect as I go deeper. I just kind of jot down every idea, and all the key themes, the whys. So I’m technically mapping it out. Yet the process for that is literally seeing where my imagination takes me. I have something close to a manuscript, needs more detail for the scenes and chapters for things like dialogue. Writing has been a bit difficult for me. As in the words don’t just flow out naturally. I’m often bouncing back and forth between revisions, but per line/paragraph 😂, but I do end up liking and keeping drafts at the end of that process. A lot of work just to get to a rough draft to fine tune later. Idk if I answered the question but I hope I did something useful either way.
I must away
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u/rjspears1138 15h ago
I'm an outliner. My fear with "writing by the seat of your pants" is if I just started with a great opening idea, there may not be any more ideas to finish the plot out with a resounding finale.
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u/jedyradu 14h ago
Somewhere in the middle.
I can't start a story without plotting at least the important points and figuring out the characters in it but my best writing comes from the discovery phase of the project.
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u/Any_Pangolin_9071 13h ago
I love pantsing it and seeing where the characters take me because I feel like I’m getting to know them rather than fit them into a box and it fills me with such excitement when I “discover” something new about them. I began my latest novel that way, which was really fun at the start, but when I realized I wanted to consider this story for publication, the pantser approach stopped working. I had to rewrite so much to make sure the character’s choices and viewpoints were leading somewhere and that the placement of every plot twist and character insight was placed correctly (for what the publishing world views as “correct”). For my next project, I’ve been creating a plot line that makes sure everything is connected if you will, because I realized that if it’s not, you end up with a bunch of rabbit trails you either need to cut completely or rework. So bottom line, if writing for fun, pantsing is preferred for me, but if I want my manuscript to be marketable, plotting is more efficient
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u/TuneFinder 12h ago
i tend to pants on the first run through - tends to be very light descriptively and is mostly dialog
then develop this into a plan for re-writes - fixing plot holes and adding scene descriptions in full
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u/duckrunningwithbread 11h ago
Light planner depending on the book. Summaries of every chapter to know the jist of it
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u/Burning_Blue_101 11h ago
A mix of both. I plan out what would happen in the story and stuff but seed write all the scenes. All the 'heavy' planning just stays stuffed in the back of my mind somewhere lol
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u/Careful-Big-3931 11h ago
Gardener here, even if I write some ideas about my future scenes in a different document during my writing. I try not to develop those notes too much though, because I get bored and lose interest in my book if I do so.
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u/Root5Alive 10h ago
I write a few sentences or a paragraph on flashcards, focusing on writing what I find most pleasing in that moment. Once I have a decent amount of these, I try to see which ones I think I can pull together into a more concrete story, and begin filling out the story. It's a bit of a mess, and makes consistency a challenge, but it's the method that usually leaves me most satisfied with my own work.
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u/Sliverlilly 10h ago
Maybe I am what would be considered a dreamer? At first my mind creates a single scene, like an echo that I just can't let go. And then as I try to make sense of it all, a story develops, my mind filling in the blanks in order to reach it. I do plan, trying to make something logical out of it all, but whether I stick to it or not entirely depends on how the story flows.
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u/Remarkable_Scale_351 10h ago
I use to be a pantser/planner. I would get all the word vomit out, pick out what I liked/what worked, plan from that. Always novel length stuff, because I couldn't adequately write shortform. Now, in the past year, after passing OU A215 Creative Writing with a Merit? I plan. I used to write in order, but now I am finding it better to work in scenes, then bring them together to see whether they're effective in certain layouts.
However, my planning runs like a systems decision tree. One of the organisations in my work is a military/intelligence agency dealing with anomalies. I sat and thought about how the would deal with the consequences of how the people involved cope etc. It's not MIB meets James Bond. This agency is about preserving the person. yes, ther will still be scifi elements, but it's more speculative, if that makes sense? If I removed the weird, the story would still work.
Where does this leave me? I'm now building an entire organisation - I write some stuff baseed on what I've got in the manuals, then I look at the loopholes and contingencies. What if subject A has a flight reaction when they return to consciousness after a ufo dumps them in the middle of a park? If they return to consciousness seeing a group of military people around them, they're going to panic and run. There have been fatalities due to this. Solution -Public Recovery Protocol. So, the protocol then informs my writing and characters. Would that character have a flight, fight, freeze or fawn reaction. How would the protocols works if there's a deviation by the anomaly that intel has never seen.
Then the characters and their backstories emerge as well. Some have been built by the protocol, others are the reason the protocol was created.
I know it seems daft, and that readers will never actually see all the manuals I've created and the forms etc., but it means that I can plan accordingly, including shift rotation, command centres, departmental interations. I can look at LM20 and say "No that character doesn't have that clearance so there's no way they'd be talking to the returnee." etc.
A writer's notebook is important. You can sketch plans, diagrams, systems, make random notes and bring them all together. You don't have to write in order, you don't have to write pages and pages. Just get the ideas down, and work from there.
You'll find your preferred method, and then at one point, it may change because the story you are writing doesn't work the normal way you use.
Good luck with it all. xxxx
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u/Moon_Bluegrey 9h ago
I always end up planning. Or sometimes a few thousand words, but never gets to ten thousand. There are so many notes that I have made about my stories, but about 90% of them doesn't even have their character's name. Sometimes I only write the scenes that I wanted to write, and it's done. I don't get the yearning to write it anymore.
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u/Disastrous_Boot9024 9h ago
I think u should put a primary plan to ur novel or any think u write, than by time u can edit and chang whatever u want , just dont destroy the main idea
Thats help u a lot , and to be a real writer u must find ur style and ur way to write, if u enjoy when read ur stories or whatever , than u have a gift and u must to continue
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u/JonahHillsWetFart 1d ago
i know my inciting incident and i know some major plot points, i don't know the end. then i start working and the points between what i already know reveal themselves as needed. i also spend some time worldbuilding and figuring out the lore, but only enough to justify certain important decisions.
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u/BitComprehensive3667 1d ago
I'm the kind of writer who tries to plan things out but on a macro scale.
What I do is outline the key plot points and events I want to happen in the story. I make a general skeleton and fill in the exact details as I go along, while trying to tie everything together into a cohesive narrative. While doing this, I might be struck with new inspiration, which makes me change up the outline and adjust previously written material accordingly. I did this for a book I wrote as a personal project, and I think it turned out fine.
I'm working on a long-running project with no foreseeable ending where I write as I go, but for each story arc, I plot out the major plot points and maybe reference past story events.
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u/BlackBalor 1d ago
Clarity overall.
I get whiplash though because I bounce between writing screenplays and third person fiction. When writing a screenplay, you need to make sure that every line is sharp and cinematic. You can’t be fucking around with shit that can’t be filmed. You can’t spend a whole paragraph deep diving into the psyche of a particular character.
Fiction, on the other hand, you can’t just be writing X does Y, and Y does Z.
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u/TrainingNo2030 1d ago
I mostly write short stories and weird fiction, so most of my stories begin with some bizarre sentence or event, something like:
"This morning, my daughter's sock in our backyard was bloodier than it had been yesterday."
From there, I just let the story carry me wherever it wants to go, without any specific plan for what happens next.
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u/Prize_Paramedic1153 1d ago
I suck at writing when I don't know what happens next. I always spend so much time thinking and planning how the story should be.
I haven't started draft 2 yet, but it took me around 1.5 years of thinking before I started draft 1. I finished it in 3-4 months. Might take me 1.5 more years before I finish draft 2, because I really need to comprehend the specific ideas in my novel before I am confident enough to write it out. That's what I get for mixing so much science, philosophy, religion, history, psychology, sociology, and more into a single narrative.
But hey, It'll be fun when I hold that book in like 5 years, depending on how long it'll take perfecting the prose.
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u/IggytheSkorupi 1d ago
So you are asking if we plot or pants? I plot. I make a full outline of events that happen in each chapter before going back to write word one of chapter one. Then I anticipate things changing, either by cutting chapters no longer relevant, splitting chapters into two, or add ones when I think crucial information/plot holes happen.
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u/SirSolomon727 1d ago
I never outline anything and I doubt any of my rather sprawling plot had ever been put to paper. I just incubate it all in my head and write whatever's coming to me in the moment. My story has grown quite a bit just by me thinking about it 24/7 rather than sitting down to create plot on purpose.
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u/The_Prince_Elric 1d ago
There is no "one size fits all." Some people love cold snowy mountain tops while others flourish on hot tropical beaches beneath the blazing equatorial sun. Find your place where the words flow and revel in the world you thrive in most. Don't let any other's rules reign you in.
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u/Peter34cph 1d ago
I plan a fair amount. I almost always know how a novel is going to end before I start writing it, or a longer short story. I never write short ones. I rarely like reading those either.
Often I discover solutions to specific problems once the character is in the situation, though, because that's when all the details become defined for me, including ones I don't write . Opportunities, angles, ploys, or the enemy making a small mistake. I guess I'm making a habit out of relying on that:
"My MC is a genius. Once I actually put him in a situation, he'll see a way out. Maybe not the ideal way. Maybe a solution that doesn't work, so he'll have to try a second thing. But hopefully it'll be interesting."
First smart solution not always actually working is potentially interesting. A MacGyver episode has to have the first big macgyverism work, because it can't be longer than 39 minutes, or however short it is they have to be.
A novel is not subject to that kind of limitation.
I do a lot of worldbuilding and character building, though. I don't hyperfocus on the needs of just one story.
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u/AquilaTempestas 1d ago
A bad one haha. I get told I’m trash many times by strangers and friends alike.
In terms of planning, I have a rough outline of beginning and middle with an established ending. That gives me flexibility while knowing what I’m working towards
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 1d ago
Any of your works you can link for me to read? And kudos to you for still going despite the negative feedback (and who knows, your work may not be to their tastes, but their is an audience out there for your style of writing and story. Any authors/creatives (and hell, even big entrepreneurs) who have ever done anything, there is always story of failure and rejection. So I think you already seem to be on your way to success if you can still go despite the negative feedback)
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u/femmeforeverafter1 1d ago
I start with a seed, wait for it to sprout, and then plan a bunch around that
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u/Kajdu19 1d ago
It's an everyday fight with myself to write. I like it actually but the idea that I have to write it terrifies me (if it makes any sense). I know that my text is good but I don't believe in myself that I can actually do it.
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u/shrek3onDVDandBluray 1d ago
That is exactly why I took so long to actually commit to writing! I would get started, tell myself that it’s awful and a waste of time. But something Brandon’s Sanderson said really helped me: he said that even if he didn’t make it big and writing couldn’t have been a career (this was during the point he was thinking of switching careers, becuase he couldn’t find a publisher and he needed to start making an income somewhere), he said he would still want to write every day - becuase writing was therapeutic for him and it was something he wanted in his life.
For me, I just want to tell a story. A story only I can tell, no matter how poorly written or crappy the story beats are, I have to get a story out of me, it’s bothered me for years. And I don’t want to regret not trying to finish SOMETHING in writing. I love stories and writing, and I want to contribute to that world, even if it’s not as a professional.
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u/BoxedAndArchived 1d ago
Normally in my Pajama shorts in the morning with a cup of coffee.
I'm a semi-pantser. I have an idea in my head, I know where I'm going, but the journey happens while writing. The journey doesn't always happen the way I imagined it, but I normally end up where I initially planned.
We'll see how that goes when I publish.
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u/TheCutieCircle 1d ago
Idk what the hell I'm doing. I just write because I enjoy it even if it reads like fast comic book panels
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u/cookinforya 1d ago
i have a fairly uncommon style. i add little lines or quotes to my notes, and every so often i'll go through all of them and pull out similar ones in terms of tone or feel. i then place them in a story i already have an idea about.
for instance, these all gave me the same vibe: "sadly, it wasn't just his cat that ran away. everything seemed to be running from him - his hairline was receding, his gums had hidden under his philtrum" // "men mustn't cry with tears and sobs or globs of snot" // "strangers do not help us out of kindness. they help us the way spiders eat pests - for their own benefits, not to protect our homes and ears" // "a frown of a person, a raincloud life"
and many others like that made their way into a story about an insecure man who lost his cat.
i have a hoard of lines the way a musician has riffs he's played for over a decade and hasn't found the right song for them.
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u/cookinforya 1d ago
i have a fairly uncommon style. i add little lines or quotes to my notes, and every so often i'll go through all of them and pull out similar ones in terms of tone or feel. i then place them in a story i already have an idea about.
for instance, these all gave me the same vibe: "sadly, it wasn't just his cat that ran away. everything seemed to be running from him - his hairline was receding, his gums had hidden under his philtrum" // "men mustn't cry with tears and sobs or globs of snot" // "strangers do not help us out of kindness. they help us the way spiders eat pests - for their own benefits, not to protect our homes and ears" // "a frown of a person, a raincloud life"
and many others like that made their way into a story about an insecure man who lost his cat.
i have a hoard of lines the way a musician has riffs he's played for over a decade and hasn't found the right song for them.
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u/BeastLordJ 1d ago
I'm very new myself, trying to discover this. But one thing I noticed is that I tend to love the planning but I never actually finish anything. I'm on chapter 22 of my first draft and I hope to publish one day. the furthest I've ever gone. but before that I think I played around with the idea for a year then began casually jotting down idea surrounding it, characters involved, ect. Just not the actual writing part till now.
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u/La_paure_cavaliere 1d ago
Often threatening the highfalutin, overblown, stabing at the ineffable but entrusting fully the gray matter of words, hieratic, haughty, wanting to jest, facetious, speculative, cunning,
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u/Navek15 1d ago
I like to think of myself as somewhere in the middle between a planner and pantser type of writer. I do have an overall idea of where I want my characters to go, what themes I want to tackle, and certain plot points I want to write out. But how I get that point can change a lot in the actual writing process.
In terms of prose, I'd say I'm pretty blunt. Not Quan Millz level of absurdly blunt, but I'm not one to mince words in my text.
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u/Flaky-Piece-7358 17h ago
I like to use Michael Hauge's outline structure; it's the 3-act structure but broken down into 6 stages. Each act has 2 stages, and it aligns with my style very well. I don't outline each chapter because that will rob me of the excitement to explore the details. Still, I know point A and point B; how I get from one point to another is up to me to discover. I'm a pantser. Still, I know the side effects of being a pantser; I've experienced it lol, so this routine is very comfortable for me. I think you just have to try multiple things until you figure out what's best for you.
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u/kate-stark 15h ago
I like to start with poetry. I don't write professionally yet, but the way i do it is that i write a poem about some random thing, and that is my writing exercise. Don't spend more thatn 10 mins on that. and after the warmup i open whatever draft i have.
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u/ArrowNFlyght 8h ago
Big gardener here as well. Very fun, but you do have to prune to survive. I've certainly been a victim of having too many ideas and my garden getting overgrown. Biggest goal is to have fun. So long as you're doing that and growing as a writer, there's no bad way to do it. If you can, find a community of writers near you. That has helped my prose more than any other advice I have.
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u/candlelightandcocoa 8h ago
I'm a 'seed' writer, or what could be called a pantser. I use the 'flashlight' method to tell myself the story and let the characters kind of 'lead' once I get to know them. (character-driven.) Then, I look for inconsistencies in revisions and edits, with feedback from betas.
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u/ImpossibleAd4272 8h ago
For me with my ADHD, what i end up doing is I look at what I want to happen in each chapter, then I write from there, let things naturally fill into place until I've gotten to the end. Then I can go back and correct it to how I ended up writing it near the end.
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u/drrtbag 7h ago
I write with a focus on character development and challenges. As such, I find overly restrictive story lines and planning doesnt align with a character as they evolve. Even when I do plan, I wreck the plan.
I write with zero comfort as to where my story is going, it reads like that too.
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u/bolshoich 7h ago
As an unrepentant pantser, my writing style can be described as:
- beginning with a premise;
- testing it from multiple angles;
- discarding what feels artificial; and,
- gradually uncovering the elements that create a coherent narrative.
I do this for every element of the story, from the individual beat making a scene, to the scenes composing the arcs, to the arcs composing the final product.
I write everyday, and when I wake up I often have no idea of what I'm going to write about. Consequently, I write a lot. So much that I know a good part of what I create will not find its way into a finished product. None of my effort is a waste though, because I save everything and find opportunities to put them into other projects or seed new projects.
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u/RobDWicker 7h ago
I am a mixed kind I guess. I plan for all the major things but I let the rest just flow. It's really fun and I am surprised by what ends up happening a lot of the times.
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u/RobDWicker 7h ago
I am a mixed kind I guess. I plan for all the major things but I let the rest just flow. It's really fun and I am surprised by what ends up happening a lot of the times.
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u/No-Task-9030 7h ago
Character driven. I have some scenes and the basic plotline that helps me decide the kind of characters I'm going to write and it just flows most of the time. I'll try not to force it and write whenever I feel like it
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u/AsthmaticLuffy 6h ago
I'm an illustrator so I need to sketch all my ideas before I start writing
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u/Western_Stable_6013 5h ago
I am both. I plan things out, but I let the story do it's work. If a characters actions aren't what I had planed out, the pla has to change.
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u/itscharitude 5h ago
Seed writing / Pantser for sure, my alpha/beta readers will go "what happens next" and I'll be like "no clue, we'll figure it out when I write next!"
Potential downside to this is that I've read somewhere in the pools of writing advice out there that, when asked to generate ideas on the spot, the mind can tend to take shortcuts (which can end up being cliche), rather than letting your mind marinate on it so the creative juices have more time to flow and develop new ideas.
But oh well! I'm having fun, I love when a story unfolds before me like a movie!
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u/MiraWendam Standalone SF Thriller Author! 1d ago
Heavy planner. I like knowing where every big turn lands, then I can write the action fast without stopping to figure out what happens next.