Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

What is your writing process? My first novel wrote itself. I jokingly call it "plot without thought." But it felt sacred.(see goodreads blog http://bit.ly/1l1LjU4) Does anyone else write like this?

Most of my books are just written like that: I get an idea, sit down and start writing. The few times I've done plot outlines I've only ended up changing them because the story ended up going a different way. I like to let my stories tell themselves.

I always do a detailed synopsis first (whether it's for a full length novel or the free stories posted on my Goodreads blog) and basically do most of the editing as I go.

Some writer I know called that natural plotting. If it works for you, don't knock it. Personally, I start with a character.

I write like that most of the time. I don't do any outlines/planning. I just start writing. I like this way because I get to experience the story/world right along with my characters.

I start with a premise.

Then the characters invariably come in and take over and tell me the story. It may or may not have anything to do with my original premise. They tend to be insistent. I try to keep up.

I also edit as I go, periodically going all the way back to the beginning. It helps me keep in touch with the story and maintain consistency.

I too start with a premise, usually one that requires research. As I explore different topics for information, I often get ideas that take me in a different direction than what I originally intended.

I thought all writing required research ;-)

I don't know; maybe not necessarily. I personally read for information as well as entertainment, and want to know what I am being told is factual; this is what I try to pass on in my own stories. If I am writing a western and mention canned goods or dollar bills, I want to be sure they were in common usage. In my current western, I can't refer to most of the towns on the current maps because they didn't exist in my time period. But if they're in my story, they were there. That's what I mean.

On some subjects, it takes me a long time to articulate, even to myself, how I feel about the subject or the idea. That's how I felt about the idea of post apocalyptic societies. I had read Lord of the Flies, but somehow it just did not feel right. Everything I had learned about anthropology and sociology suggested that groups who were stranded tended to cling to their basic beliefs, even in extreme cases like that of the Donner Party or the survivors of the airplane that crashed in the Andes.

I had read other survival stories like The Swiss Family Robinson and The Mysterious Island, but the best was Tunnel in the Sky. That seemed the most likely scenerio, so finally giving in to the urge to tell a similar story, I wrote Surviving the Fog. I did not plan to write a sequel, but after receiving complaints from female readers, I wrote the same story Kathy's Recollections from a girl's POV.

Aside from my first completed novel, which was meticulously outlined chapter by chapter (and which in the end I may have edited the outline to fit what I had actually written as much or more than I wrote to the outline), and kept a spreadsheet of estimated word counts, actual time spent writing and actual word counts, word counts per time spent writing, forecasts of when I should finish the book, etc...

I do not outline the plot. New books begin with either a concept (which implies a specific opening scene) or an opening scene (which implies a concept). BUT, I cannot get on with writing until I have the same thing for the ending: a scene and a concept. I may not know who the real bad guys are, or what's really going on, but I have to at least have some idea of beginning and end.

The middle part is the journey of discovery that marries the two. It's a journey full of surprises, struggles and revelations.

On several occasions, though, I've reached a certain point where I just knew I'd never be able to go forward without sitting down and describing what's really going on, who the bad guy(s) is(are) and what the back story behind the scenes is.

I've actually written documents called "Whats Really Going On" to spell that out.

After that's sorted, I can then charge on to the finish, knowing that I have a map of the terrain even if all the roads and stops along the way are not spelled out explicitly.

I'm trained as a screenwriter and, even though structure is king in drama, I found early on that plot comes easy to me, but character does not. So I don't outline either. I work in a 5 act structure, rather than 3, and only plot out 20 pages at a time. When it came to writing my non-fiction book though, I had to show the structure in the proposal to the publisher. As I was writing it, I saw that each chapter was really an essay and I approached it that way. Still, I applied the dramatic build to the overall structure, so hopefully, even though its a non-fiction book, I still convey an increasing sense of urgency and ever increasing impact.

Jill wrote: "I'm trained as a screenwriter and, even though structure is king in drama, I found early on that plot comes easy to me, but character does not. So I don't outline either. I work in a 5 act structur..."

I envy you. I would love to figure out how to do a screen play/

Renee wrote: "I thought all writing required research ;-)"

Some writing projects will require more research than others. Sometimes you'll be writing about something you know enough about not to need to do much in the way of research. Sometimes, especially in fantasy, you're making everything up so don't need to do any research. Other times, especially with historical fiction, you need to do a lot of research. I'm sure you get my point. Although, if you count reading in the genre you choose to write in, then I guess all writing projects technically require research. Mind you, I think researching as much as possible to put in extra details helps the story as a rule, as the extra details bring it to life for the reader.

Micah wrote: "Aside from my first completed novel, which was meticulously outlined chapter by chapter (and which in the end I may have edited the outline to fit what I had actually written as much or more than I..."

Beginning writers, you can learn a lot from Micah's methods.

My first two books came out more or less organically and required major surgery after I finished. I dreamed them up as daydreams while going to sleep at night.

My current two books have loose outlines that change as the story develops. The advantage is that when I get stuck at the end of a scene and I'm not sure what to do next, the outline comes to my rescue and gets me going again.

However, I don't allow the outline to be a straightjacket. If my muse dictates another path, the outline has to change to accommodate that.

I think I prefer the outline method, especially when experimenting with new writing methods. In these cases, the first book is going to be told in first person from the view of the sidekick. The second in the series, while written in third person, has a female heroin; something I've shied away from for a couple of decades because being in her head isn't natural. Forty plus years of marriage gave me enough insight into the female mind (I hope) to brave the challenge. So far, it seems to be going well, but it's on the back burner until I finish the prequel.

Amanda wrote: "I don't know; maybe not necessarily. I personally read for information as well as entertainment, and want to know what I am being told is factual; this is what I try to pass on in my own stories. ..."

That's research :-)

I find myself doing tons of research no matter what kind of story I'm working with. Gotta have the details right!

Corralling a multitude of ideas with characters that are as wilful as bulls seems to be how it happens for me. The first 20 000 words come readily; then it has to brew.

Al wrote: "My first two books came out more or less organically and required major surgery after I finished. I dreamed them up as daydreams while going to sleep at night."

That made perfect sense to me. Should I be worried?

Mine start as daydreams of an event, a scene that usually ends up at or near the end of what will eventually become a story. It's as if I know the destination, but must work out the correct route to that place.

As for characters, they just seem to show up according to the needs of the story. Something must happen for the story to be told. I need someone to do X, who or what would fill such a role? The characters evolve to fit the need.

Usually, I end up having a scene or an image come up while listening to music or something. I just start imagining a scene as it would look if I directed it in a film. If the idea's cool enough, I might start writing some things down.

It's not a sequential process, so I sometimes struggle to come up with all the little "in-between" bits bridging these ideas together. I don't usually outline, and it's pretty nice that way; you never know how the story or characters will evolve or react since even you as the author don't always know what's up next.

Most of my first drafts would be comparable to others' second or third revisions since I can't really separate my editing side with my creative side. It takes a lot longer since I end up going over everything several times, but it works out in the end.