Creative Burrow

BunnyWarren => WritingChatter => Topic started by: elbitjusticiero on 08:03pm Fri, Jun 19, 2015

Title: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: elbitjusticiero on 08:03pm Fri, Jun 19, 2015
I don't. This is, I usually start writing at the beginning, but switch to a different scene as soon as I get bored, and then to another, and another. Then I keep restructuring the outline of the book until it satisfies me. Then I fill the gaps. Then I fill the new gaps. Then I rewrite and fill some more. Then I get exhausted and stop writing for a year.

It's not a very productive process, but it gets the job done, eventually.

What is your process, dear novelists of the Burrow? What are its advantages and disadvantages? Have you considered changing your writing method?
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: Bunny on 12:53am Sat, Jun 20, 2015
Yes and no....sometimes I jump around a little, or write partial scenes...

Essentially I have two processes...

If I have an outline, then I may write notes about scenes or partial scenes as they come to me so I don't forget. This is not so bad because I have an outline of what should be where anyway.

If I DON'T have an outline then I am writing in order almost all of the time as the story takes me places.

I prefer the first one, but I do the second for short stories quite often. The problem with going in order is sometimes I get stuck and am unsure where to go or how to get where I want to go....if I have an outline I have the key scenes, how I got there, notes, and all sorts of awesome to go on....so getting stuck is less likely and nearly impossible.
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: elbitjusticiero on 12:58am Sat, Jun 20, 2015
That's cool. Your system for long texts is similar to mine, although mine is more chaotic and full of guilt and regret. ;)

Do you rewrite much, or do you find that having an outline helps you set things in their final form in the first pass?
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: Bunny on 04:14am Sat, Jun 20, 2015
Oh god I rewrite all the freaking time. I re-read everything from the start over and over and over and reword or add/remove things.

It's the most annoying thing I do! But then again it does make it a whole heap better so there's an upside to the madness ;).
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: elbitjusticiero on 04:20am Sat, Jun 20, 2015
Well, I'd like to read sone longform text of yours sometime. :)
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: Bunny on 01:47am Sun, Jun 21, 2015
I have part of my novel series here...

http://www.creativeburrow.org/serial-stories/the-other-world/
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: tasha on 10:04am Tue, Jun 23, 2015
I usually take forever to lay down the plot of the story and once I have done that then I start with the beginning and get myself into the character up until the end. I don't switch scenes but continue forward
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: elbitjusticiero on 10:08am Tue, Jun 23, 2015
Tasha, I envy you. :)

Bunny, cool! I'll be reading that one. In fact I've just started.

Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: Duck59 on 08:20am Fri, Sep 4, 2015
When I wrote my first novel, which is in publication at the moment, I started at the beginning and finished at the end, apart from one chapter where I'd had an idea for a scene and got it written while it was fresh in my mind.

I'm trying to write another novel now and I've got little bits and pieces all over the place. Part of the reason was that I wrote one particular scene as a separate story for a creative writing course. I realised that there was scope for incorporating it into a longer work. So now I have got one block that I'm quite happy with and a lot of little bits that I'm not sure about.

I'll get there. Eventually.
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: elbitjusticiero on 06:02pm Mon, Sep 14, 2015
When I wrote my first novel, which is in publication at the moment,
Tell us more!!!
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: Duck59 on 05:00am Fri, Sep 18, 2015
It's a humorous (I hope) novel called The King and is based around a character who runs a golf tourism business in Scotland. He is based on an old boss of mine and is horrendous. Philistine, misogynist, egotistical, you name, he's got it.

It is, in some ways, a bit of revenge fiction. Part of me really wants my old boss to read it, but given that he views people that read books as effeminate dilettantes (or would, if he knew what it meant), I suspect there's no chance.
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: elbitjusticiero on 09:51pm Fri, Oct 9, 2015
OK, so can we read it already?
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: Duck59 on 05:50am Sat, Oct 10, 2015
It's due out on January 29th.
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: Bunny on 12:09am Wed, Oct 14, 2015
Baiting us with an interesting plot and then making us wait! :'(
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: AetherEquii on 02:32pm Wed, Oct 14, 2015
I don't usually write in order. I kind of plan out the entire series at the same time, and see where it goes from there.
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: Duck59 on 01:08pm Thu, Oct 15, 2015
Baiting us with an interesting plot and then making us wait! :'(

I'm not baiting anyone...I have no control over when the publisher is going to put it out!
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: CharliePurcell86 on 02:00am Sun, Nov 22, 2015
I outline in order, but when I write, I bounce around from scene to scene. I usually start with the really exciting parts or the conversation parts, and once those are filled out, then I go back and do the more in-between stuff. I have very, very thorough outlines, though, so it's easy to bounce around without losing where I am.
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: elbitjusticiero on 01:32pm Sun, Mar 27, 2016
I wish I could have a tight schedule so that I could do the same! But I find it hard, it's like my schedules are never fully formed until I'm actually advancing in the story.
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: Duck59 on 05:45am Mon, Mar 28, 2016
Well, I'm now in the bizarre position of reading my own novel. I know that sounds a bit pretentious, but it's simply a case of reading through it and hoping the proofreader has managed to get rid of the glitches. I went through the manuscript with him and I think we got all the rubbish out. So far, so good.
Title: Re: Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order?
Post by: Pugas on 05:50am Sun, Feb 11, 2018
That's not pretentious at all, Duck59. It's a necessity if you don't have someone to do this for you. To answer the original question, I can't write in any other way but in the chronological order of the events. But I have heard numerous examples of people taking various other approaches. Try different stuff out and do what ever works for you!