Outlines?

[BookCat]

Once I know that a character is going somewhere, then I will generally take time-out to read from a variety of sources before proceeding much further

If you were doing nano, the pressure to get words written would make this a very clumsy, time-wasting method. For nano, it's best to get all the research done before November. Also, generally speaking, if you wrote on regardless, just leaving a note to yourself to research an element which you later found to be very unlikely to be the case (as in the literacy of my farm labourer's daughter), the entire plot which you'd continued to write in spite of lack of knowledge would crash. Of course this wouldn't apply to sci fi, but even then you need to put in some world creation work pre-writing.

I just don't understand the "just start writing" notion and couldn't do it myself.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by BookCat

I just don't understand the "just start writing" notion and couldn't do it myself.

You do not have to. It is not your way, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is only when people arrogantly say their way is the only way that there is a problem.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

You do not have to. It is not your way, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is only when people arrogantly say their way is the only way that there is a problem.

You are right.
Live and let live.
Write and let write.

[carld]

Unfortunately King has a habit of writing himself into a corner. He'll build up the story tension to a very high level and then completely fail to deliver on it with a satisfying ending. I mean really, they cornered the evil-giant-spider-alien-demi-god-clown-thing and punched it to death?

I'm not privy to his thought processes, so I'm not saying this is a direct result of his seat-of-his-pants writing method, but I'm not the only person who has noticed that pattern in his books.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

You do not have to. It is not your way, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is only when people arrogantly say their way is the only way that there is a problem.

Gotta Agree with that!

I keep running into that in a completely different area (art) with certain people.

[djulian]

Originally Posted by BookCat

While I agree that it's up to each writer to discover their method and the majority in this thread are pantsers, I prefer to outline using Word's Outline view. This gives me a skeleton of the elements of the plot, which can be easily changed, or new ideas incorporated, along the way. I can only "pants" flash fiction, even with that, I find myself running out of inspiration after about 500 words. I need direction from a pre-worked out plot and characters.

If you don't outline, how do you cope with things like research? ...

I'm probably a bit strange on research. I start writing a draft, and if there's something I don't know (the name of something, for instance) I write "TK" in the manuscript and keep writing. I got this idea from Cory Doctorow. Later, after finishing the chapter, I can go back and look those things up. In Word, it's easy to search for "TK" and not get a bunch of false positives.

I've expanded this idea out to how I handle research as well. Since I don't outline, I don't always know what I'll need to research--I've got a good idea of where I'm headed, so I can do some research before writing, but mostly I make a note to research things after I'm done with the first draft of a chapter.

Sure, this gives me fits sometimes--I think a series of events could take place, and I write them that way, and research means I have to rework things, but it's very rare that it effects the major plot points. It's almost always very minimal stuff. Usually, I know the major plot points well before I get there, and I've researched enough before hand to handle those.

TL;DR - I do a little research beforehand on major plot points before the first draft, a lot on details (like colors of substances, names for architectural features, etc) after writing the first draft, and then I write the next draft.

[frahse]

Originally Posted by carld

Unfortunately King has a habit of writing himself into a corner. He'll build up the story tension to a very high level and then completely fail to deliver on it with a satisfying ending. I mean really, they cornered the evil-giant-spider-alien-demi-god-clown-thing and punched it to death?

I'm not privy to his thought processes, so I'm not saying this is a direct result of his seat-of-his-pants writing method, but I'm not the only person who has noticed that pattern in his books.

My favorite scenes are those where the monster has broken down the steel reinforced concrete wall, ripped out the titanium steel bars and then the human is able to "fight" him.

Many modern writers can't keep the physics straight.

[Alex Bleach]

I'm probably a bit strange on research. I start writing a draft, and if there's something I don't know (the name of something, for instance) I write "TK" in the manuscript and keep writing. I got this idea from Cory Doctorow. Later, after finishing the chapter, I can go back and look those things up. In Word, it's easy to search for "TK" and not get a bunch of false positives.

Good tip.

I don't do much research, the only thing I really check are dates and names. I write fiction mainly from experience or opinion, so not much research is really needed.

[carld]

Here's a video of Brandon Sanderson discussing outlining vs. seat of pantsing, or as he says, gardeners and architects. The whole series of 13 lectures seem well worth watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glPLT...ure=plpp_video

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by carld

Here's a video of Brandon Sanderson discussing outlining vs. seat of pantsing, or as he says, gardeners and architects. The whole series of 13 lectures seem well worth watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glPLT...ure=plpp_video

I prefer his term "discovery writers " much better then the pejorative "pantsers" I am here by adopting it.

[carld]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

I prefer his term "discovery writers " much better then the pejorative "pantsers" I am here by adopting it.

I didn't mean it as a pejorative, honest.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

I prefer his term "discovery writers " much better then the pejorative "pantsers" I am here by adopting it.

Yes, that is a more appealing phrase. The other term I've heard is "stream of consciousness" writing - which, I guess, covers one aspect of it (one thing that sometimes happens while you're writing), but gives the impression that the end result is some sort of brain-dump, as if the writer is going to publish the first thing that comes out, which is just silly.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by gmw

Yes, that is a more appealing phrase. The other term I've heard is "stream of consciousness" writing - which, I guess, covers one aspect of it (one thing that sometimes happens while you're writing), but gives the impression that the end result is some sort of brain-dump, as if the writer is going to publish the first thing that comes out, which is just silly.

"stream of consciousness" is something different, at least as I was taught in college. That is when you just start writing something, never go back, and do not worry much about perfect syntax, structure, etc. It is intended to mimic how people actually think. It can be very disjointed/etc because people tend to jump around mentally.

That is nothing like writing a novel by the Discovery Method as we are still working towards a structured story told with good syntax/etc.

[frahse]

There are many names used.

In my mind the one that comes to the fore is "sloppy writing."

[crich70]

Originally Posted by carld

Here's a video of Brandon Sanderson discussing outlining vs. seat of pantsing, or as he says, gardeners and architects. The whole series of 13 lectures seem well worth watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glPLT...ure=plpp_video

Thanks for the link.