|
Your Writing Process, And/Or Problems with Same |
|
|
treydog |
Mar 17 2006, 03:51 PM
|
![](https://i.imgur.com/GOImXkC.jpg)
Master
![Group Icon](style_images/tower/folder_team_icons/04.gif)
Joined: 13-February 05
From: The Smoky Mountains
![](style_images/tower/spacer.gif)
|
As we seem to have achieved a "critical mass" of writers here, I thought I would begin a thread regarding how it is we do this thing called "writing." The idea of this discussion is to maybe help each other with the creative process and also talk about how we deal with "writer's block."
Here is my process- please note that I do not believe that everyone (or anyone else has to write this way. It is simply what works for me.
Before I ever wrote the first word of Trey, I had made up my mind as to who he was, how he felt about certain things, what his "values" were. He dislikes Imperials and the Empire, hates slavery, isn't very good with authority figures, is perfectly willing to steal (although not from the poor or weak), etc.
I keep a spiral notebook in which I write dialogue, scenes, etc. in longhand. Even though I have been using a computer for (mumble-mumble) years, the act of actually writing in pen and on paper helps me connect with the material. Although I try to maintain a certain flow (chronological in the case of Trey), I have learned from bitter experience to write down EVERYTHING right when I think of it, even if it won't show up in the story until much later. To assist with finding those orphan ideas, I use different colored pens and assign them numbers. Then, when it is time, I just make a note to myself, thus "Insert 15." I usually do not write every word that appears in the final, just as much as I need to get going. Sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less.
Because I am doing a straight MQ story, I depend heavily on the Construction Set to get the in-game dialogue right. On the other hand, I consider how Trey will react to certain characters and situations and "create" conversations are needed if things are to make sense
Once I have enough (usually 3-6 pages) manuscript, I go to Word and begin turning my scribbling into real story. A lot of composing and creating takes place at the keyboard. The manuscript may simply say "Temple Informant." I will take actual dialogue, plus maybe some additional conversation to show the interaction between Trey and the NPC and develop the scene. A quick spell check (Word hates ES names), and I am ready for the next step.
The most important part of the process is the read-through. This is the place where I read the installment out loud to the talented and patient Mrs. Treydog. The purpose of this is to ensure that the writing "flows." If something I am reading "clunks" when read out loud, it needs to be fixed. I also find typos or missing words during the read-through. Additionally, Mrs. Treydog may ask questions or provide other suggestions.
Example- in the scene with Delitian she asked me, "How does the captain know who Trey is?"
So I wrote in the "I am Trey of High Rock" bit. Interestingly, the "... I've heard the name" response is already in-game.
Once I have fixed whatever did not work on read-through, I post the installment.
If this thread survives, I will talk later about dealing with writer's block.
Edited to fix typo and to add:
One of the hardest things for some writers to do is to decide when is "it" finished. The read-through also helps with that question. Bottom line- you have to let it go sometime. If you polish the story long enough, you will be left with nothing- particularly not the enjoyment.
This post has been edited by treydog: Mar 17 2006, 04:41 PM
--------------------
The dreams down here aren't broken, nah, they're walkin' with a limp...
The best-dressed newt in Mournhold.
|
|
|
|
|
![Reply to this topic](style_images/tower/t_reply.gif) ![Start new topic](style_images/tower/t_new.gif) |
Replies
canis216 |
Nov 29 2008, 01:57 AM
|
![](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2179/1812166443_fad655382f_o.jpg)
Knower
![Group Icon](style_images/tower/folder_team_icons/02.gif)
Joined: 28-March 06
From: Desert canyons without end.
![](style_images/tower/spacer.gif)
|
Here's some more progress on the stuff I've been posting in here. An evolving essay, by Vehk! ----------------------------------------------------------- Road weary and bleary-eyed I pull off of the state highway at a rest stop somewhere west of Rexburg, in the high sagebrush desert. I park in the dimmest spot I can find, force the driver’s seat into a reclining position, and pull out my sleeping bag, greasy with sweat and farts and near non-stop use. It is 1 A.M. and I have been up for 18 hours—going through some kind of hell just to make Fourth of July in Missoula. * * * I’ve been aching to get the hell out of Wyoming, land of the sun-baked skull, the suicidal jackrabbit, the sulfur stinking oil well, and the starvation-crazed mosquito. The land where the government-issued Chevy Suburban conks out sixty miles short of Lander on Friday the [censored] third of July, when all are desperate to be anywhere but stuck on South Pass watching cheat grass cure in the sun as traffic blasts by. No cell phone coverage, of course, so I flag down a passing motorist. Somewhere down the road she will call in a tow truck from town. I’m three hours late getting out of Lander. What does that mean? It means, even in the deliriously long days of summer, that I will reach Jackson well after dark. Jackson is only real population center on this night’s itinerary (in these parts a permanent population of 9000 is plenty big) and my route leaves me no choice but drive right through the heart of a tourist town in high vacation season. Complicating this trouble is the fact that I’ve never before been to Jackson—I don’t know the streets. But all that comes later. Out of Lander—what a relief!—I can crank the stereo in my own (reliable) automobile and cruise along at a safe and sane (and blessedly legal) 65 through the western reach of the Wind River reservation, ogling the odd ranch and the more exotic of the billboards, which almost exclusively advertise for trading posts of some ilk. There is one place in Fort Washakie, “Ancient Ways” that makes me think of my friend in Tucson, the one who wants to start his own tribe—never mind that he’s already part Apache. But—like most drivers’ glimpses of these tiny reservation towns—the thought is fleeting. It is difficult to draw out a memory and focus on it, grasp it, when the ever-varying landscape and the golden light of late afternoon assault and entice the eyes with vision after vision. The hills are the color of honey—it hasn’t rained in two weeks—and the high peaks of the west all bear crowns of snow. Somewhere past Crowheart (population: gas station) the highway descends to the level of the Wind River, winding its way through a red rock canyon reminiscent of Utah. Lovely. The river leads me on to Dubois (population: 991) and beyond, to the high country of Togwotee Pass and the Wind River range, Wyoming’s tallest mountains—more than forty named 13,000 foot peaks. The pass itself rises to nearly 10,000 feet, and when I emerge from my shell of GM metal and plastic to walk on my own two legs, feed some mosquitoes, and piss, the air is marvelously cool, an ecstasy utterly denied in my last few weeks of wading through the shadeless sagebrush desert counting cheat grass and Russian thistle. Sunset is drawing near. Even as the highway descends the pass and grows ever more curvaceous I find it difficult to stay focused on the drive. I am presented with the precipitous eastern front of the Teton Range, the iconic Grand Teton (or, simply, The Grand) framed by the wall of subalpine fir and Engelmann spruce on either side of the road. An incurable shutterbug, I am tempted to pull over onto the scant shoulder and set up my tripod in the middle the road—the framing is that good. An insane notion surely—the road is nearly empty but not nearly that empty. After a brief period of agitation—my incurable itch to capture the moment—I pass a combination gas station and RV mega-campground and traffic starts to pick up. The sun flares out in a final explosion of salmon, fuchsia, and orange-hued light as I approach the outer limits of Grand Teton National Park. My pleasant high country jaunt is over. Night falls. At Moran Junction I turn south onto U.S. 191, thereby avoiding a trip through Yellowstone National Park, its motorized hordes, and its entrance fees. At this point it less than 50 miles to Jackson and I am eager to get there. I’m not particularly in a hurry—whether the drive to Missoula takes nine or ten hours doesn’t really matter much in the scheme of things—but I passed on dinner in Lander. I’m hungry. There is plenty of meat on the hoof. There are bison, elk, and moose roaming the benchlands above the Snake River and I spend much of the drive through the park in dread, cursing my feeble headlights and the blinding on-coming traffic, waiting for some equally agitated ungulate to step out in front of my car. Thankfully it only happens twice—one moose, one elk—and I am able to slow down in time to avert disaster. This post has been edited by canis216: Nov 29 2008, 04:56 AM
--------------------
|
|
|
|
Posts in this topic
treydog Your Writing Process, And/Or Problems with Same Mar 17 2006, 03:51 PM Padalin Ohh thanks treydog im hoping taht this would help ... Mar 17 2006, 04:07 PM Zelda_Zealot Sometimes I just write what ever comes to me, if i... Mar 17 2006, 05:58 PM Kiln This thread has the potential to help those frustr... Mar 17 2006, 08:02 PM Agent Griff My writing style is pretty strange. Since most of ... Mar 17 2006, 08:10 PM Taillus One thing, for me that I always take into consider... Mar 17 2006, 08:41 PM jack cloudy I am a bit of a daydreamer, so I usually come up w... Mar 17 2006, 09:28 PM Wolfie Writing...process? What the hell is that? :P
I jus... Mar 18 2006, 01:22 AM minque Hmm havenīt we all different tactiques? Me I devel... Mar 18 2006, 06:50 PM treydog I think we have some excellent ideas here- one thi... Mar 19 2006, 03:21 AM ShraX Here's my process:
I sit down at my computer ... Mar 19 2006, 04:15 AM Tellie Ok...My process:
1:I sit down, enjoying a good cu... Mar 19 2006, 12:10 PM Franavu Okay, here's how I write. Before I started wit... Mar 19 2006, 03:54 PM Kell-Reevor Great idea Trey, I'm glad you started this thr... Mar 30 2006, 12:38 AM davion Hey i'm back but whats new, every month i seem... Apr 2 2006, 06:58 AM Fuzzy Knight Great thread you've made here Trey, now as I... Apr 3 2006, 04:50 PM Kell-Reevor I stumbled across this website during my neverendi... May 22 2006, 08:24 PM minque Ah that site is great Kell! Iīve bookmarked it... May 22 2006, 08:30 PM The Ascendant I haven't written anything that I've put o... May 22 2006, 09:10 PM treydog Kell, that site is quite useful. I, too, will add... May 22 2006, 11:19 PM Mazelure I normaly just think up of a character and what ki... May 22 2006, 11:54 PM Kayla I have a spiral notebook that I keep and write ide... May 23 2006, 12:53 AM Zarrexaij I have loads of notebooks filled with writing.
Ev... May 24 2006, 03:06 AM The Wolf Oh dear.... My writing technique (in itself inexis... May 24 2006, 05:39 AM burntsierra Having looked through the fanfic section carefully... Jul 3 2006, 06:57 PM jack cloudy I'm still a daydreamer though I now actually p... Jul 3 2006, 07:05 PM![](style_images/tower/to_down_pipe.gif) Kiln
Yes, those unfinished stories are kind of sad. Bu... Jul 4 2006, 12:08 PM Ze Milanio
Oh dear.... My writing technique (in itself inexi... Jul 4 2006, 02:39 PM The Metal Mallet Well I have to say my process would be considered ... Jul 5 2006, 03:34 AM minque
There are quite a few stories that just when they... Jul 5 2006, 09:17 PM Sir Radont I get a small spark of an idea, whether a bit of d... Jul 6 2006, 03:26 PM minque
Also, I try not to write anything without my iT... Jul 6 2006, 09:38 PM Kell-Reevor This isn't so much of a process as it is a too... Jul 27 2006, 06:21 PM The Metal Mallet
Yea, I attempt to do that when writing in my fic... Jul 27 2006, 06:41 PM minque Emotions? Hm I think I include that all the time i... Jul 29 2006, 10:30 PM Mazelure
I think that most of my work is pretty much base... Jul 29 2006, 11:11 PM treydog One of the things I discussed in this thread was t... Nov 11 2006, 02:21 AM The Metal Mallet Writer's block is definately dreaded among us ... Nov 11 2006, 04:18 AM Black Hand I dont get writers block it would seem...there are... Nov 11 2006, 11:11 AM jack cloudy That's what I did with Oasis. When writing fan... Nov 11 2006, 03:09 PM canis216 I just sit down and bang out my stories when I fee... Nov 13 2006, 05:36 PM The Metal Mallet I just thought I'd bump this thread considerin... Jan 6 2008, 08:23 AM canis216 Thread necromancy... approved.
From the opener, ... Jan 6 2008, 09:05 AM Olen Mallet: try reading Assassin's Apprentice by ... Jan 6 2008, 05:30 PM![](style_images/tower/to_down_pipe.gif) redsrock
Thats what I generally do though I tend to run... Jan 6 2008, 09:40 PM 0rimus This is a rant so hold onto your pockets.
Everythi... Apr 27 2008, 07:34 AM paragenic Change the font, line spacing, font size, and char... Apr 28 2008, 04:51 PM paragenic Oh, yes of course AND when reviewing remember the ... Apr 28 2008, 04:54 PM treydog In response to the advice to "make it interes... May 2 2008, 01:08 PM bbqplatypus I'm of the opinion that there is no single rig... Aug 29 2008, 02:10 AM canis216 I'm posting this to sort of show how I'm s... Nov 16 2008, 06:40 PM The Bean After reading this thread, I've come to conclu... Nov 16 2008, 11:15 PM seerauna It's not that strange, Bean. I do that too. Ex... Nov 17 2008, 12:28 AM canis216 Yeah, I don't think your method is all that st... Nov 17 2008, 12:33 AM canis216 Current progress on my stuff above:
--------------... Nov 17 2008, 01:47 AM canis216 More progress. Why am I clogging the thread with t... Nov 17 2008, 04:35 AM bbqplatypus I also know exactly what Bean is talking about. I... Nov 17 2008, 08:53 AM canis216 Well, it is meant to be an entertainment, that... Nov 17 2008, 05:03 PM![](style_images/tower/to_down_pipe.gif) treydog
Well, it is meant to be an entertainment, that... Nov 17 2008, 06:31 PM canis216 With first person nonfiction I think embellishment... Nov 18 2008, 03:24 AM bbqplatypus Right now I'm doing something that I've ne... Dec 8 2008, 03:14 AM Olen Well this took some finding (why is it in Treydog... Sep 14 2009, 11:39 PM treydog As to the first- I guess because I originated it..... Sep 15 2009, 12:20 AM canis216 I don't shoot for any fixed number. I just fin... Sep 15 2009, 03:55 AM Illydoor It depends on how you feel really. I'd say aro... Sep 15 2009, 04:22 PM Olen Seeing as we have so many new members I thought I ... Mar 19 2010, 11:34 PM![](style_images/tower/to_down_pipe.gif) Burnt Sierra
I must say I think it would be better placed in t... Mar 20 2010, 01:00 AM SubRosa Looking back over some of the comments, I find I h... Mar 20 2010, 12:22 AM Verlox Eh, outlines, notes, drafts; I have no need for su... Mar 20 2010, 07:03 AM canis216 Here's a question: how much research do you do... Mar 20 2010, 08:28 AM![](style_images/tower/to_down_pipe.gif) Destri Melarg The best piece of advice that I have ever been giv... Mar 20 2010, 11:00 AM![](style_images/tower/to_down_pipe.gif) Verlox
Here's a question: how much research do you d... Mar 20 2010, 05:41 PM![](style_images/tower/to_down_pipe.gif) mALX
Here's a question: how much research do you d... Mar 20 2010, 06:32 PM treydog @Canis216- I try to be "consistent" with... Mar 20 2010, 12:51 PM Olen Lore is an interesting one. For the basic concept... Mar 20 2010, 07:05 PM Dantrag Be like a method actor. Take a while, and actually... Mar 20 2010, 07:20 PM![](style_images/tower/to_down_pipe.gif) mALX
Be like a method actor. Take a while, and actuall... Mar 20 2010, 07:38 PM canis216
[snip]
Another thing is to 'steal' tech... Mar 20 2010, 10:01 PM Fiach hmm looks like I'm a little late to the party ... Mar 22 2010, 08:44 AM Olen Yet again I'm going to commit threadromancy on... Jul 23 2010, 10:23 PM DarkZerker I'm a document/report writer. Therefore, I hav... Jul 23 2010, 10:45 PM Acadian 1. Planning. Disclaimer: I'm all about the ... Jul 23 2010, 11:13 PM Destri Melarg
The first is on planning. How much to plan? . . ... Jul 23 2010, 11:42 PM SubRosa 1- Planning. I plan very far ahead. For the TF, I ... Jul 23 2010, 11:52 PM Zalphon Edit: removed Jul 24 2010, 12:00 AM treydog Planning- I won't have a lot to say about this... Jul 24 2010, 01:20 PM haute ecole rider In the specific fan fic I'm currently writing,... Jul 24 2010, 05:37 PM Ornamental Nonsense The question of planning is an interesting one, be... Jul 24 2010, 09:07 PM Cardboard Box With regards to mine, all the planning I did was t... Jul 25 2010, 09:21 AM Jacki Dice Planning- For me, it depends on who is in the chap... Aug 7 2010, 12:12 AM ureniashtram I hereby invoke the spell of Threadnomancy and- ba... Nov 1 2010, 04:02 PM![](style_images/tower/to_down_pipe.gif) mALX
I hereby invoke the spell of Threadnomancy and- b... Nov 1 2010, 04:30 PM Acadian I'm speaking just in generalities here about d... Nov 1 2010, 04:32 PM haute ecole rider Character introduction. That's the fun part of... Nov 1 2010, 04:41 PM SubRosa I am not sure how much more I can add that has not... Nov 1 2010, 05:34 PM ureniashtram No words can express my gratitude, really. So I sa... Nov 1 2010, 05:47 PM haute ecole rider You're welcome! Good luck! :goodjob: Nov 1 2010, 06:20 PM SubRosa Here is an idea that just came to me. For a good e... Nov 1 2010, 06:31 PM ureniashtram Aha! Nice suggestion, dear Sage! Hmm... an... Nov 1 2010, 06:37 PM
1 User(s) are reading this topic (1 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:
|
|