How do You write?

[redmarvel]

Do you plan out your stories with a plot, location, etc?

Do you start with "Who, What, When, Where, Why and How"?

Personally, I get a thought and write my stories around that thought, letting them build themselves and see where I end up.

For example in the Bio thread I had a name that immediately made me think of a Desert. Yet I didn't want to leave any Hypester in a desert, so I had to have an Oasis. Then I considered the fact that most Hypesters live in the USA, so which Desert in the USA has an Oasis in it... Which lead me (and the bio) to Vegas which also had a Pyramid which made perfect sense for my story. And viola, the bio wrote itself.

 

[Ultra Lantern]

I plan out my stories.

 

[Danalys]

i get as far as character and overall plot and some moments in that plot then give up.

the last thing i really remember writing was an exercise in tension between two people who knew each other so well that they had nothing to say to each other as they sat in a cave with water dripping off stalactites between them.

edit: i also did some micro fiction based on making the dangers of everyday life into cliffhangers.

and sarcastic remark: i move my fingers in a particular way which either moves a pen to make letters or types to make letters.

 

[Schlosser85]

I write character biographies and a general plot outline.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I write an outline of the story itself. Bios and such come to me as I write the scenes out. I don't make sheets tracking who they are. I just kind of roll with whatever comes out when I make the scene. My outlines are detailed though.

 

[Alex The Great]

I just dive into it really. I just plan in my head

 

[Manic]

I write a vague plot outline so I know where to start and end, but then I let myself deviate from it as much as I need to as I write the actual story. Maybe half of my endings don't turn out how I originally intended.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I only go off outline if I think of an idea better than my original one.

 

[Yurka]

I start with things I'd really like to see/things I havent seen before and try to build around that

 

[Tron Bonne]

I do tend to plot out my stories, but at the same time, I did kind of let it go free form and let the writing evolve sometimes around the idea. I have a structure, but it's loose enough to let things breath.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I start with a single sentence saying what it's about.

Then I write an outline.

Then I write who the characters are

Then I revise the outline.

Then I get to actually writing the story and revising and other things.

 

[Enriquespy]

Just got the idea in my head, then I just start typing. Much more fun that way.

 

[Watson]

Depends on the story honestly. Sometimes I go to character bios first, other times I plan the plot, and sometimes I just jump right in.

 

[Manorly]

If I'm really wanting to get into a story that's started swimming in my head, I go through six steps to make sure its worth writing. Developing it further by each step.

 

[E-Man]

Why, with a pen and paper you silly goose!

 

[UltimateJustin]

I begin my work by choosing what kind of emotions I want my characters to experience in the course of the story. Sometimes I will spend weeks before moving forward with the process.

 

[knowsbleed]

I use my finger.

 

[Jennifer Walters]

I write an outline of the story, a general summary of the characters themselves, their point A (where they'll begin) and their point B (where they'll end up.).

If it's a more detailed thing like a series of stories/screenplays. I'll write general important stuff for the sequels that way I can plan out writing tools like foreshadowing and irony.

Sometimes I'll write out the ending point before the beginning point. Others I'll just go in linear progression with it.

Uh, if it's a small little droplet of fiction. I'm probably going to just dive right into it and not plan much. Though I don't usually do these very often.

 

[M.E.H.Z.E.B]

I just start writing. It all comes to me as I go. Really.

 

[The Question]

I don't have a set method. I'm currently working on three stories that I've but varrying levels of planning into: A very long one where I'm basically planning out the entire plot arc and individual character arcs before writing it, a shorter yet-still-long-one where I'm planning out the characters and a general idea for the arc and then I'm just going to start putting them in scenes together and see what comes of it, and a third short story where I've basically done a smaller scale version of what I'm doing with the very short story. And I've just started another story that I'm quite literally making up as I go along. For me, different stories demand different approaches, and they each exercise a different, important literary skill.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

Whether when I would write up comics or short stories, I would approach them the same way, come up with a core idea, and then make up it as I went along.
eg Guy attends a wedding reception, one of the guests is a werewolf, but no-one else sees it but him. The thing writes itself, I could have taken that story and made it as long as i wanted, in fact, I think I wrapped it up too early, I could've done more interesting things with it, but I was thinking it would have to be a short length for an anthology comic.

Other times i would start off with just a daft notion and see what kind of story I would end up with, not knowing how it would go until it got there.

eg A guy sits and plays the guitar to write a song, but the strings keep snapping, so he grabs washing lines outside his window to use as guitar strings, and throws the clothes down into the street....

so i started with that idea only and got a real good little comic book story out of it that went places i did not imagine at all until i did it panel by panel in sketch form...

and short story wise, one time I started with the most simple mundane idea ever, two hungover guys trying to carry a big carpet along a series of streets to another house. Just frickin take that and run with it, if it ends up good, great, if it ends up a lot of crap, so what, at least you are writing, and that is the only way you will get better.

I have heard of writers saying that they came up with plots, endings and characters all in adavance, but when they started in on the writing, the characters came to life in such a way that they felt they would not do the things they had originally planned for them to do plotwise, even changing good plot ideas and endings, scrapping them altogether, as they did not fit the characters as they had evolved. You have to be like that, you have to be brutal, not being so precious about your ideas, no matter how good you think they are. Keep em for another story.

 

[Lantern Venom]

Do you plan out your stories with a plot, location, etc?

Do you start with "Who, What, When, Where, Why and How"?

Personally, I get a thought and write my stories around that thought, letting them build themselves and see where I end up.

For example in the Bio thread I had a name that immediately made me think of a Desert. Yet I didn't want to leave any Hypester in a desert, so I had to have an Oasis. Then I considered the fact that most Hypesters live in the USA, so which Desert in the USA has an Oasis in it... Which lead me (and the bio) to Vegas which also had a Pyramid which made perfect sense for my story. And viola, the bio wrote itself.

What you are talking about is seed writing. It works really well for many authors, including Stephen King.

I do modified version of that. I see certain scenes with crystal clarity in my mind's eye. I write out those scenes and figure out how to get from point A to point B later on.

 

[Victarion]

I started by envisioning the sort of world I want to set a story in. Right now I want a sort of mage-punk world where you could have some automobiles, oil rigs, as well as "magic" rigs, nuke plants, "magic" plants, etcetera with fantastic races. Among the races I have goblins, dragons, kyuroki, thrinaxes, draelghul, and humans and what ever else I can come up with.

From the setting, history is the next thing that comes to mind. I think of how my world got to the point I initially envisioned it as being at. Before the discovery of "magic", there would've been a world-wide crisis where older forms of energy were wiped out.

From such large events I envision major points within those events. Then I fit characters to those.

Viola!

 

[Spider-Who?]

with my groinal region.


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[Lunar_Wolf]

I'm storyboarding my script right now, but, I told myself that; ''I had to come up with 10 stories before I can proceed with anything.''

I came up with 9 stories. The 9th story was my favorite and I didn't feel like I needed to come up with another.

I then brainstormed on characters and placed 3 large pages on my wall. Each page had an act.

Act 1: Introduce characters and issues or problems they have.

Act 2: Try to over come those issues and problems.

Act 3: Resolve those issues or problems.

Then I worked on each act, expanding it and what not. I tend to have conversations with myself as the characters. I know, weird, but I find I can write down better lines that way.

Once I finished my script, I went back over it 3 times, changing things as I went along.