Couple of Questions About Writing Process

joshuakrey · Post by **joshuakrey** » 16 Jul 2009, 00:00

First off, hi! My name is Josh, new here. I'm here, so I love books and I love to write. I'm going to school for journalism now, but my real passion is writing fiction. I have a few questions that don't necessarily have straight up answers, yet are a matter of opinion and style.

1 - When you first start writing, how often do you look back and read what you have written, besides the occasional refresher?

(I've heard from numerous sources this is a bad thing to do when you first start writing because you will always find things to fix and you won't really get to far along and I have found this to be true.)

2 - What do you use to record ideas, plots, characters, themes, etc.?

3 - Have you ever started out with the intentions of writing in a series of stories (i.e. Harry Potter, Twilight)?

(Not necessarily those types of series, but with the intentions of not having a definite ending and writing more books after that one? I personally would really like to do this, but I'm no sure if that would be the way to go for my first book(s).)

Glad I have found this place!

-Joshua

andr70 · Post by **andr70** » 28 Jul 2009, 04:22

Hello there! I'll try to answer your questions.Well, it's really difficult to keep in mind all I'll possibly need, so I try to write it down somewhere.As for writing sequels, I guess I won't manage it, as it's so hard to concentrate on something for a long time! And I try not to read what I've written, as if it happens, I'm never satisfied.

Mer_Blackwood · Post by **Mer_Blackwood** » 05 Aug 2009, 22:16

Whether it's a bad idea to go back and revise probably depends on the individual writer, and perhaps on the individual work. Some people get caught in endless revision loops if they start rewriting before they get to the end. But other writers need to have a sense that what's behind works before they can usefully write forward.

I do rolling revisions: that is, I usually start off revising yesterday's work before writing forward. Sometimes I don't get to writing new stuff because yesterday's is a mess and needs major attention. I usually write short-story length.

My major work in progress is a fantasy poem called The Winds of Winter. I can't, so far, tell if a scene doesn't work because the poetry is bad, or because I took the wrong approach to it entirely. So a scene that's badly written might as well not be written at all, for all it tells me about the direction I'm taking the story. That's why I find it useful to revise while I'm working on the first draft: if nothing I can do to revise a scene will fix it, that's a good indication that it's the wrong scene.

My progress has been very slow and painstaking, but I'm not in a loop of endless revision.

I have some thoughts about a sequel to the poem, but I don't know what form it will take, and I don't have a plot for it. I have vague ideas about a supernatural mystery that might turn into a series, but I'm not starting any other large projects until I finish The Winds of Winter.

I might need to change my working method if I start writing novels, because probably getting the words exactly right will be less important, and getting an overview of the plot will be more so.

The Mythwriter · Post by **The Mythwriter** » 12 Aug 2009, 18:28

I'm glad you mentioned the bit about revising, I'm definitely in with the group that can't look back too often or I'll end up re-writing everything. An author named D.J. MacHale even said he can't read his own books, he wants to revise them even though they've been published for years. Thus far, I've always written the whole thing, then re-read and revise as I go. But I really like Mer_Blackwood's idea of rolling revisions, I think I'll give that a shot in the future myself.

I've tried recording ideas for plot and characters on paper or such things, but it never helps, I never look at what I write for that. In the end, everything's pretty internalized in my memory for writing.

Series? Maybe... my fantasy work could probably be split into a trilogy if I wanted it to. But I just write what comes, and if I decided it needed to be split up or if I had so much there was no choice, I would write a series. But mainly, I just let it come and decide that later on.

By the way, I'm new too, so my suggestions are more on the amateur level, just so you're informed!

selfer · Post by **selfer** » 09 Sep 2009, 18:54

1) If I'm really in the groove, I try not to go back and re-read what I've written. It can really get you focusing on parsing every SINGLE word you put on paper and that can be detrimental for your first draft.

2) I record ideas via email. I have a message from myself that I keep replying to in my main email account. I can send them via my phone, and I'm sure I'll never lose them.

3) I think a series is a great idea. It's one of the most effective marketing tools in the book publishing industry. If you can get people hooked on the first book, they'll be hooked on the sequels. Good luck!

mtjoe74 · Post by **mtjoe74** » 28 Sep 2009, 00:31

My advice (and a book with alot of answers to your questions) is to read Stephen King's book "On Writing". Great read and very helpful.

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MonikaM · Post by **MonikaM** » 14 Dec 2009, 05:20

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Author Eyes · Post by **Author Eyes** » 31 Dec 2009, 18:47

mtjoe74 wrote:My advice (and a book with alot of answers to your questions) is to read Stephen King's book "On Writing". Great read and very helpful.

I totally agree, excellent book!!

Anorion · Post by **Anorion** » 13 Jan 2010, 14:04

Also, Isaac Asimov's Gold has a great section on writing.
I'm a journalist, and have gone through the regular training.

1 - When you first start writing, how often do you look back and read what you have written, besides the occasional refresher?
I used to write and submit a story, but my editor made me read and re-read often. At the end of every paragraph if possible, and at least thrice once the work is done. This helps a lot, as one ends up reading the same thing from different perspectives, which improves the piece a lot. Even when I write for myself, in my free time, I follow this as a rule, it helps a lot.

2 - What do you use to record ideas, plots, characters, themes, etc.?
3 - Have you ever started out with the intentions of writing in a series of stories (i.e. Harry Potter, Twilight)?

Answering both these questions together. I think I know what you are talking about here, and I am working on something similar. My approach is to keep writing short stories in the same universe, using the same characters. This helps really define the characters, and they grow over time, so you get a fair sense of how to handle them, what motivates them, what they stand for and basically who they are. The themes and ideas are ingrained within the short stories themselves, so once you have written a few, you have a set of characters and a great set of ideas to build up on. Haven't reached a level where I can craft a plot across a series yet, but at least all the background info is getting filled in. I don't know if this is the best approach, but for me, it has got me working on something that is consistent.

hope this helps

Eric McClean · Post by **Eric McClean** » 21 Jan 2010, 00:19

joshuakrey wrote:First off, hi! My name is Josh, new here. I'm here, so I love books and I love to write. I'm going to school for journalism now, but my real passion is writing fiction. I have a few questions that don't necessarily have straight up answers, yet are a matter of opinion and style.

1 - When you first start writing, how often do you look back and read what you have written, besides the occasional refresher?

(I've heard from numerous sources this is a bad thing to do when you first start writing because you will always find things to fix and you won't really get to far along and I have found this to be true.)

2 - What do you use to record ideas, plots, characters, themes, etc.?

3 - Have you ever started out with the intentions of writing in a series of stories (i.e. Harry Potter, Twilight)?

(Not necessarily those types of series, but with the intentions of not having a definite ending and writing more books after that one? I personally would really like to do this, but I'm no sure if that would be the way to go for my first book(s).)

Glad I have found this place!

-Joshua

i don't really look back again and again after writing because it confuses me as a result i get stuck up in the middle.

ResearchScholar · Post by **ResearchScholar** » 03 Apr 2010, 20:22

The issue of the frequency of revising drafts depends on individual temperament and habit. I am very fastidious, and so I would ensure that the initial chapters I've written are of a very high quality so that they set the benchmark for the rest of he book. If you cannot get a reader interested in the initial pages then in all likelihood the book will be put back on the store's shelf.

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lamp · Post by **lamp** » 21 Apr 2010, 03:55

I constantly review each paragraph of anything I write, regardless of the type of writing it may me. Additionally, when I reach a sticky spot, I read it through a few times in different ways which helps to jog my next move.

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