So, I’m 26 days into nanowrimo – by my chart, that’s 86.67% of the time by the end of the day, and 80.29%
done with the writing before I start today.
This month was an experiment – several experiments, actually.
* Writing 15K fiction pieces.
* Writing fiction-for-submission serially, i.e., one after another with no break.
* writing several pieces of different lengths for nano.
What I’ve learned already is that I have a process in writing for submission that is different from my process for writing for y’all or for serials, and that messing with it messes with my brain.
The process is:
* write 250-1000 words of a piece
* throw it out
* start again.
* finish that, then edit heavily.
skipping steps 1 & 2 totally messes with me. <.< Also, wastes time.
I’ve also learned that pacing for longer short pieces is totally foreign to me and I have no idea how to do it.
also, I need/want/crave/like distraction projects. See Doomsday.
that’s it so far. See you on the 1st!~
This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/855189.html. You can comment here or there.
Do you want questions about your writing process, or is this just an observation? Wishing you a good Thanksgiving!
I would not mind questions at all!
Is that actually so different from your usual writing process? You write a lot of things all over the place, and post a lot of short bits that do what they do and aren’t going to go anywhere else. The first start to throw away sounds like one of those, except in this context you’re throwing it away (filing it away to see if anything happens with it in the future?) rather than posting it as a standalone. If the “first start” were words on something unrelated, could that still prime the pump for the real story without being a throw-away? Or do you need to write something in ‘verse to get in the groove of the story, when it’s a new one? Does it matter whether you’re writing in an existing ‘verse for a story for submission? Of course, I’m guessing based on what you post here. Maybe there are lots of things that never see the light of day. But sometimes you post even “this isn’t quite right yet” bits …
Hrrm, you do have a point. But, no. It has to be in the world/prompt; it’s the way I poke away at the idea until I find something that clicks. (I do save them, yes)
Barring the sort of muse that leaps on you and demands you write This Thing Right Now, with details, you’re going to have to figure out what you’re writing somehow. If leaping in writing and seeing what that sparks generates usable “second start” ideas reasonably reliably, that sounds like a functional story generation process to me. I can see where the test-run bits are frustrating, but it sounds like they’re serving a purpose, and it sounds reasonably efficient and effective for you. (For you — I could spend agonizing hours generating 250 words. 😉
oh, I’m not knocking it. It works pretty well – it just clashed with what I was trying to do for Nano!
Does the test run have to be immediately beforehand? Could you do those before nano starts?
I doubt i’ll do “bunch of submissions” for nano again, but… seems to work better right before, yes.