Writing Process

Writers, students, what is your writing process? How do you write? When? Where?

Whenever a deadline makes me, otherwise (and more commonly now) whenever the mood strikes me. It comes in spurts of random inspiration, usually. I could be on the subway and suddenly feel like I need to write something down, or I could purposely sit down in front of a notebook and do it. It just depends on how I feel. I also find that sometimes to get at the root of what I'm trying to say, I have to write freehand for a while first before it manifests itself.

Also...no jokes about how "it comes in spurts", plz.

Originally Posted by tomgirl

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Whenever a deadline makes me, otherwise (and more commonly now) whenever the mood strikes me. It comes in spurts of random inspiration, usually. I could be on the subway and suddenly feel like I need to write something down, or I could purposely sit down in front of a notebook and do it. It just depends on how I feel. I also find that sometimes to get at the root of what I'm trying to say, I have to write freehand for a while first before it manifests itself.

Also...no jokes about how "it comes in spurts", plz.

What exactly do you write when the mood/inspiration strikes? Is it more like a journal type writing or something more? Just curious.

Originally Posted by Imhoff

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What exactly do you write when the mood/inspiration strikes? Is it more like a journal type writing or something more? Just curious.

I suppose it's more journalistic...I either document something I saw, or something I thought of, but not usually in any linear way. I used to write more fiction/non-fiction short stories, but I get too impatient with them and end up writing down whatever random thing I think of now. Sometimes it's anecdotes, something it's me working with my own thoughts.

Writing fiction, I'll start with some abtract moral or philosophical idea, and the characters and story will grow organically out of it. Just inventing characters and stories for their own sake seems like writing a soap opera to me-- a completely pointless, tiring exercise.

Even with posts on SF, I use the same "inside-out" way of writing; I'll type out some key phrases, and then go back and construct sentences and paragraphs around them.

Anything longer than two or three paragraphs is never written continuously from beginning to end. Depending on how seriously I take a project, everything gets splintered apart and fused together in new forms throughout the course of dozens of rewriting drafts.

Originally Posted by Hunter Wyeth Jibbett

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Writing a good novel is like making love to a woman. If you stay disciplined and do it often enough, something worthwhile will come out of it. But novels can be laborious. It could take months.

Months!?!

Originally Posted by tomgirl

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I suppose it's more journalistic...I either document something I saw, or something I thought of, but not usually in any linear way. I used to write more fiction/non-fiction short stories, but I get too impatient with them and end up writing down whatever random thing I think of now. Sometimes it's anecdotes, something it's me working with my own thoughts.

Gotcha. So, let's say something funny occurs (outside SF) or interesting happens, do you try and write it down as soon as you can trying to encompass every detail, or wait till home/private? BTW, not purposely trying to send a MoL vibe out, just curious.

I used to do a journalistic approach to writing and found it to be tedious. Find myself more or less thinking/jotting down ideas like screenplays. Although, if anyone found my composition books, they wouldn't be able to decipher what-was-what as it is strictly shorthand/jumble.

Originally Posted by Mujib

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Writers, students, what is your writing process? How do you write? When? Where?
Most people get blocked by trying to write everything perfectly on the first draft but as they say "good writing is in the re-writing." A good analogy is gemstones - you start rough, then polish, then cut. And as with gemstones, even a poor quality stone can be redeemed by good polishing and cutting. So I just get it down first, then re-write it with better phrasing, then re-write it again to make it as short as possible.

Originally Posted by epb

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Most people get blocked by trying to write everything perfectly on the first draft but as they say "good writing is in the re-writing." A good analogy is gemstones - you start rough, then polish, then cut. And as with gemstones, even a poor quality stone can be redeemed by good polishing and cutting.

I've mentioned this to a few musicians I know. There are two important components in creating a work of art:

1) Getting ideas.

2) Taking those ideas and making them better.

It seems to me that many people just want to think that their ideas are just too precious and perfect and inspired to be improved upon. They don't understand that the real magic of intuition comes into play when you're discovering all the possibilities latent in that flash of inspiration. Ironically, by calling something a "sketch", it is almost as if they're casting something into its finished form. They're giving themselves an excuse not to work it into a more satisfactory form, because its finished form is as a sketch.

So I just get it down first, then re-write it with better phrasing, then re-write it again to make it as short as possible.

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True, I find my rewriting sessions involve more subtraction than addition. The "style" I've arrive at involves using as little description as possible when setting up scenes; anything that that is necessary for the reader to know will be revealed through clues in the text. This has a way of dropping the reader headlong into the action of a scene, where they experience it as something that is happening rather than something that is described.

Phrases or little rhythms of words come to my head. I write them down in a little book I carry with me. Usually I annotate them with how they should be said with underlines, little emphasis marks and all that (I perform most of my stuff). Sometimes I'm in the mood and I just sit down to write explicitly, that goes in a bigger book I keep at home. I also go through phases where I make myself write x amount of pages per day, but those don't last long. Almost everything is written on paper, but sometimes I'll write in a text document if there's no choice.

Every so often I go through my books and see what I like, what I don't like, what chunks I can save and build on and what parts I don't like anymore. Sometimes if I see a recurring theme I merge together two different pieces and hack out what isn't important anymore. This process happens I'd say 5-6 times a year but it should probably happen more.

An important part for me is the readings, I do readings whenever I can. I prepare by reading the pieces aloud and that's when I catch the most awkward phrasings or repetitive bits. Usually I sign up to do performances even when I don't have much new stuff, because it'll force me to really work on something that isn't done yet.

Writing non-fiction books, with a family and full-time job:

I write primarily in the evening after everyone's asleep. I do 1-3 hour shots , generally writing in small chunks and I put it together at the end. I don't know how I'd write as much as I do if I had a typewriter; cut and past is my friend.

Since I write non-fiction, I have to balance research with writing. Many times the research is the most rewarding part, and certainly the most fun. Some research I can do online and some I still do the old fashioned way- dig through stuff (old records, files, interviews with people).

My first book was not well-edited by myself or the editor at the publishing house, so I take a more thorough approach now. I try to avoid the bell curve of editing. There comes a point where you just need to let it go and send it to a different set of eyes.

How consistent are you? I've always wanted to get to a point where I'm writing every night for at least an hour but it always gets pushed aside, especially when work/school gets crazy.

Originally Posted by misnomer

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How consistent are you? I've always wanted to get to a point where I'm writing every night for at least an hour but it always gets pushed aside, especially when work/school gets crazy.

I am consistent when I have a book to write or deadline for an article. I try to give myself enough breathing room so that nights when I am not in the writing mood, its not a big deal if I skip.

Originally Posted by Imhoff

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Gotcha. So, let's say something funny occurs (outside SF) or interesting happens, do you try and write it down as soon as you can trying to encompass every detail, or wait till home/private? BTW, not purposely trying to send a MoL vibe out, just curious.

I used to do a journalistic approach to writing and found it to be tedious. Find myself more or less thinking/jotting down ideas like screenplays. Although, if anyone found my composition books, they wouldn't be able to decipher what-was-what as it is strictly shorthand/jumble.

Haha, no MoL vibe at all. I think some guys on here are afraid of talking to me because I'll out them as being "creepy" or something. Just don't message me about how bad you want to marry your daughter/meet me for a coffee and everything should be fine.

Anyway, I try to write things down as soon as I think of them. If I don't, I usually forget the exact wording later. I've scribbled things down almost anywhere. It's annoying on the subway, but I'll usually type something out on my phone if I have to. I need to describe every detail the way I'm thinking it or seeing it, or else it slips away.

No one would be able to decipher much of my writing either. I don't do it for anyone else's eyes, though. It's just something I've always enjoyed doing for myself. After taking tedious creative writing classes in university, I've realized it's kind of better to just take it for what it is and enjoy it instead of over-analyzing everything about it.

Anyone care to share some writing?