I finally started my new MS. I know, I know, I said I was going to do all this planning, and research, and..., but you know what? It just didn't work for me. I honestly tried, but I just couldn't stick with it. I kept finding too many distractions.
I know a lot of people spend a lot of time up front preparing to write, and I really admire that. What steps do you take, and how do you keep yourself motivated while you're in the planning stage?
I get the idea flash, but find it hard to plan properly before I start writing. I find that starting to write gives me the most ideas. I might change my method once I learn more...but for now I am just diving in head first, more or less!
ReplyDeleteBeing a mom of a two year old I started singing the Dora theme song as soon as I saw the title of the entry.
ReplyDeleteI normally plan everything out in my head Big key events, fully plotted out before I start to write. My latest WIP i wrote the 1 sentence pitch before I started writing
I'm with you Caz once I start writing, I get ideas, but I'm just not a planner. I do have a rough outline, I think that's the best I can do.
ReplyDeleteErinn, I try to avoid Dora in favor of Diego. He has more animals, so he's cool with me. My niece usually goes for that.
Good for you!!! Getting started and really deciding to do this big project is half the battle. I'm just about where you are right now.
ReplyDeleteResearch is a wonderful thing and I can get a lot of inspiration from the process. But sometimes it's just another way for me to stall. Besides, I can do all the character sketches I like, when I start writing the personality of my character is going to bend and develop in ways I never planned.
So, I research until I'm really not learning much new. Then I start the manuscript about five times until it really takes off. It's probably odd but that's what's been working for me. :)
I love world building. For me, that's when the story starts to develop. Plot points appear, and characters start to take shape. I ask questions (or my son asks me questions) and then things develop.
ReplyDeleteIn my steampunk world, I wondered if they would have telephones. If they did, how would telephones be handled in this mock Victorian era? Oh, easy. Telephones are kept in a closet. When someone wants to ring you, they set up an appointment to do so. At the appointed time, the butler brings the telephone out of the closet, the phone rings, conversation is had, and then the phone is returned to the closet.
I got a great scene, three characters and a two plot points out of that world building bit :)
I'm too impatient to plan everything from the start. It certainly helps and I would recommend planning, but I can't always do it. So I just write :)
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those who spends a lot of up front time planning for a novel! It's especially important for me as a historical writer to do the initial research so that it doesn't bog me down while I'm in the writing phase. But also, with the upfront planning, I usually don't have quite as much editing when I'm done.
ReplyDeleteThe way I wrote my MS (took a month to finish), I sat on the sofa for a few minutes, closed my eyes, and the ideas just came to me. Then I'd see the plot all the way through, connected with the other plots in my mind, and jolt it down for future books (trilogy). I'd then run to the computer and write. I mainly just sat at my computer and wrote and wrote. I knew the main thread, but the story just kind of unfolded as I wrote.
ReplyDeleteNow that it's finished, it's time to write the second book. Agents or publishers would want me to write down the skeleton of books two and three, but I don't know if I could! I think I'll have to write the second book A.S.A.P to know how it would go. Of course I know the main points, but the rest just comes as I write.
In other words, I can plan the main points (or I just know the points, since I know how books two and three will end), I know how the characters will develop and which issues will come up in what books (not much of it is written down, it's mostly in my head), but I can't plant much else than that.