Friday, May 7, 2010

The In-between* Stuff

For the same reason that I paint all the edges of a room first, I can’t write all my favorite scenes first and glue them together later. Just as the edges of a wall would never get painted if I started with the middle, that glue would never be applied to those scenes. Glue is boring to write. ;)

I do skip ahead once in a while if I’m stuck or I have a moment of inspiration, but for the most part, I write chronologically. What about you? Do you like to skip around? Or do you start at the beginning and go straight through to the end?

*Between is one of those words that if you stare at it long enough or say it enough times, it no longer looks or sounds like a real word. Too many e's or something. It's kind of annoying. :)

21 comments:

  1. I'm the same way. I can't do piecemeal. I envy those people who can jump around when they get writer's block in a certain place. i just stew till it comes out.

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  2. I try to write beginning to end but I sometimes skip around if I get stuck.

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  3. What a great analogy. I skip around some. It kinda bugs me, but when I get stuck, I feel like I have 2 choices: do nothing or get something done out of order. :)

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  4. I'm just like you, I have to go in order. :) The only time i'll skip ahead is when I do Nanowrimo because I want to keep the pace up, but it results in messy first drafts--not fun.

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  5. oooh i have that problem too. The only time i skip the boring and write the fun is if i'm having a hard time feeling motivated with a project.
    It usually doesn't work

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  6. I start at the beginning and write straight through the book. But that doesn't mean I don't know what's going to happen at the end. Before I start writing I have to know my ending, but I don't write it until I get there.

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  7. I'm pretty linear, though I didn't start at the beginning...well, it became the beginning of Book 2. But if I'm suddenly struck with inspiration for a particular scene I'll write it down in my notebook by hand. It's a big mess, but it's out of my head. And, like others, sometimes I'll write a later scene if it's just to write something because I can't get myself motivated on wherever I'm at. Those usually end up getting trashed anyway, but at least they get me writing again.

    Good question. It's so fun and insightful to learn how other writers do it.

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  8. I write straight through...no skipping around or jumping ahead. Just the way I roll. But I'm also an outliner, which means I do visit future scenes, just to build a framework though.

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  9. I am a very linear writing - can't help it! And if I get stuck, I don't move to a new scene - I just stew and stew and stew until I can start back up.

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  10. I always start at the beginning and write to the end without skipping around, although occasionally I have to rearrange things. Getting to those fun scenes is like a little reward along the way.

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  11. I totally write in order! If I'm excited to write a scene later in the story - that gives me motivation to write to get there.

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  12. I hear ya. I start with a list of the scenes I need to write. In general, I go in order, front-of-book to back. If I'm unmotivated by the next scene, though, I'll look ahead to a scene that stands by itself somewhat (doesn't depend much on my knowing what was revealed in the previous scene) and write that.

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  13. Sometimes when I get stuck, I have to skip ahead. That often helps me figure out how to connect the dots in between. I try not to skip ahead again until I have those dots connected, but basically I do whatever works.

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  14. I'm too linear and symmetrical. I MUST write in order, even if it's painful. Yeah, I'm boring like that. *sigh*

    Have a great weekend! :-)

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  15. I really enjoy the images here. I think about a jigsaw puzzle as well. The outer edges are done first and the middle filled in later. One goes with what comes clearly first; that may not always be the beginning.

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  16. I wrote my whole first manuscript in order. Now I'm on my second manuscript and I feel free to skip around a bit. Sometimes a scene just jumps out of my head and I have to get it written, even if it doesn't happen till way later in the book. Other times I'll get bored with the part I'm working on and skip to another part.

    I like writing this way, it's a lot of fun. Plus, I was just working on my beginning forever. I'm finally done it, and now I have like five chapters of the middle already written to look forward to skipping. Yay!

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  17. so nice to find all these other people are chronological writers, too. i'm learning now that, if i get stuck on a scene, it usually means i'm writing it from the wrong p.o.v. (hard to fix when you're wriing 1st person), or it's not the right scene to put there, or it's an unnecessary scene (if i think it's boring, the reader will think it's boring too).

    if that doesn't clear up the problem, i go write something else, but i can never skip ahead.

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  18. I usually can't do piecemeal, but sometimes a scene from way later in the book comes to me, or sometimes, it's the scene I first think of. I always write it down so I don't lose it. Sometimes, it's really raw--like just back and forth dialogue. It inevitably changes by the time I get to it, so I don't waste a lot of time focusing on it being pretty.

    The In-Between pieces are tough. Not really so tough to write for me, but tough to make interesting, to infuse w/tension. Especially when all I really am trying to do is to get from point A to point D in a logical manner. :)

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  19. This is interesting. I really expected there to be more of you that skipped ahead. :)

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  20. I start at the beginning and go straight to the end. I can't imagine doing it any other way - I'd just get lost.

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  21. What a great analogy. And yeah, my writing style is very similar. If I'm inspired to write a "future" scene, I put it in a separate file or just jot it down so that I don't feel like I'm just filling in the blanks to get to that scene. But I do write with a broad (not chapter by chapter) outline. I need the mile-markers to make sure I'm not getting too far off track.

    For NaNoWriMo, I tried the "write all the favorite scenes first then fill in the rest later" approach. Didn't work.

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