Your Writing Process, And/Or Problems with Same Options

[treydog]

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

[davion]

Hey i'm back but whats new, every month i seem to dissapear don't I? lol, well this is my writing style.

Before i start i make sure i have everything i need. Make sure i'm not thirsty, not hungry, don't have the urge to have a smoke, that kind of stuff, then i'll sit down, open up microsoft word do all the paragraphing and tittleing and that stuff and where i am ganna put the words and the font and size and all that.

Then i sit there for several minutes trying to think of a name for the story. After about 2 minutes, if i haven't thought of anything that sounds good to me, i'll just pick a random name like, "Joo-Joo Bongaloo!" or something then when i get more into the story and figure out what the feel of the story is going to be, i rename it with the appropiate name.

After i get the tittle settled, i turn on music via xbox or ps2 and T.V.(input 2), and hit tab for the paragraph indention thing, place my fingers on the keys and start typing. I have no clue what i'm going to say, I don't plan out what i'm going to write, I don't even think of where i want my story to begin. This is litterally what happens, no joke!

I place my left middle finger on the W key, my thumb on the SPACEBAR, my ring finger on the A key, my index finger on the F key, Pinky Finger on CTRL key, then i put my right index finger on the N key, my right middle finger on the K key, and my right ring finger on the : key, my right pinky on the SHIFT key, and my right thumb on the space of plastic underneath the SPACEBAR.

Why did i tell you all that? Beats me i just did, thats all there is too it lol. Thats just how my hand naturally sits on my keyboard when i'm getting ready to type.

Now when it comes to writing actual story, my mind goes blank and my fingers just start bouncing all over the keyboard and i don't know how the story turns out until i'm finished with it. Then when i'm done for the time being, i go and check to see if i put the same thing mroe than once right next to each other and look for type-o's and what not.

Like the story i just started called, "Endless Oblivion" i had no idea how i was going to make my char do anything, didn't know what race it was ganna be or what gender or anything, i just named my story then placed my fingers on the key and they went off and did their own thing and when i checked back i was done with that part.

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Trey your style works for you really well, but its not for me but some of those things you listed can be used for spell checking, taking the authentication of what your talkin about and all that good stuff.

What i don't do that you do is that i don't have what the NPC's say word for word. I find that if you do that it they sound too much like machines, just like in the game lol. I take the basic topic of what they were talking about and type it back out in my own style, to make the reader feel like the NPC chars my main is talking to are actually people and not just having the MC walk around like he's in the Matrix™ ya'know? lol. What works for you though ya'know what i mean? thats just how i do.

Something that i didn't see you talk about Trey, and i did a brief read so i could have skipped it and not known it but this is what helps me too.

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With me i cannot write a story just out of the blue like steven king and all them. I have to base it off of a game i have played or a book i've read that i'd like to have seen more of a certain character and what not. I mainly stick to writing stories about games i have beaten.

Like i finished writing a story based on the Half-Life 2™ game. But insted of writing down what you did as Freeman in my own words, my main character was Adrian Sheapard from the Half-Life 1 expansion pack Opposing Force. I called it, "Opposing Force 2" because i really wanted to see Sierra come out with a sequle to that expansion pack, so insted of waiting for them to(possably never) come out with one, i decided i should write the story based on how i think it should go down. It's not very long story, but opp force wasn't very long either. But if you guys have ever played HL1 and the OpFo expansion you'll know what i'm getting at.

But back to what i was originally talking about. Inspiration.

I make sure i know the game pretty well before I write a story about it or what i did, ect., ect., . If i know the story well enough, or if its still fresh in my mind, i'll write the story. If not, before i begin to write, i'll go into the game and start playing the game from a new char or whatever, and as i play i get random sentances between 2 random made up chars pop into my head.

Like today, i had beaten Oblivion last night, and so i made a Adventurer char to go around and get all the goodies and what not, and on my journies i came to a house and i got an idea in my head that i will probably use in the story with something along the lines like, "I had journied through The Great Forest for several days, and after my encounter with several of the wilderness beasts, i had ran out of rations so i went to the house to see if i could possably get some water or food."

And after that poped in my head i was inclined to go see who was in the house and i got in it and everything in there was thrashed, and i found noone, then when i made it to the attic i found like 2 familys worth of skeletal remains up there.

Ya'know, inspiration. My problem though is, i can keep what came up in my mind locked away until i go to sleep cus once i wake up i forgot how i wanted to do it and all that so i have to jott down what i want, and if i think that it was actually stupid when i wake up the next morning, i go and edit it to make it work with the rest of the story.

If your like me and write stories based on games, then playing the game MULTIPLE times, even if its the same story line over and over again it, to me at least, helps give you ideas and the like.

Well i think thats all my 2 cents.