Books are never finished. They are merely abandoned.

[rheasilvia]

Today, I bring to you something I'm sure nobody expected from me: a bit of writing meta. :-)


My usual writing method is very straightforward and methodical: I start at the beginning and keep writing until I get to the end.

It helps if I don't know too much about what happens along the way, but just let the story unfold as I write. This is because if I want to find out what happens next, I have a motive for writing; if I already know everything that happens, I tend to lose interest. For most stories, a certain amount of advance plotting eventually becomes unavoidable, but I try to keep it to the necessary minimum – a loose framework within which the characters and the story can unfold freely. Of course, this method isn't without its pitfalls, either, chief among them the danger of writing myself into a plot corner, getting stuck and losing motivation, and abandoning the story.*

In the past, I've deviated from the linear writing style only occasionally – to skip one scene that I was having particular trouble with or to write one scene out of sequence that popped into my head with particular vividness, and that I probably wouldn't be able to write as well later on.

In the past weeks, I've been writing a story completely beyond any semblance of linearity. Scenes pop into my head at random, from all over the story's timeline – I write them as they occur to me. And, for me, I wrote like a fiend, so clearly the alinear method has some things going for it. (The scenes have now stopped popping so energetically, although I one just came to me again and I hold out hope they will speed up again.)

It's very odd and unfamiliar… I have no real idea why this happened, and it throws up a host of problems that I'm unfamiliar with and never really wanted to get this well-acquainted with. Also, there is one problem that I know very well, one of the main reasons why I always stuck with the linear method in the first place: The incredibly bother of going back to fill in missing scenes that I am not inspired for and that I have already passed by, plot-wise.

This last week, I have tried to go back to the story's beginning and start filling in scenes. And – ugh. I know what needs to happen, in general terms; this is all just character development, but right now I don't know how to clothe it in interesting scenes. I find myself uninspired. I just want to rush things, get past this and back to the *interesting* bits, and of course that kind of attitude gets me nowhere with the missing scenes in question.

/writing woes

So… Do any of you usually use the alinear writing method? How do you motivate and/or inspire yourselves when the time comes to go back to the beginning – or don't you need to? Do you have a different writing method altogether? Do you have any general tips and tricks on motivation and inspiration?


This is all related to the new quasi-fandom I mentioned in my previous post… I think that I will soon have to out myself completely here, in the hopes that maybe, just maybe I can interest some of you. :-)


But now for something completely different.

Have some Snape/Nazgûl slash: vulgarweed's "Black Is the Colour" reveals the secret of just where all of those villains shop for clothes anyway (Bram's of Carpathia: The Very Finest in Sinister Menswear, if you must know), what undead witch kings use as a pickup line, and many other things you will not want to miss.



* I've done this several times, once with a really long scifi novel that I still vaguely wish could be saved – but that I still have no idea *how* to save. (Besides which so much time has passed that I'd have to rewrite the entire thing anyway to adjust the main character – he's noticably from a different phase. *g*)

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/solo____/]

Why so serious coy? ;-)

Go on, do it already!

[rheasilvia.livejournal.com]

I am a very serious person, you know. Very serious. Plus I'm cute when I'm coy. :-)

Go on, do it already!

Yeah... I will, I will. But you know I'm going to have to try and convince people not only that I am not insane, but also that they really think these guys (these guys in particular, mind!) are damn nice and interesting and really good together.

It's a challenge. Maybe I'll finish the story first and hope it has conversion powers. :-)

Also, I'm still waiting for your pimp post so I can refer to it, you know!

[ellensmithee.livejournal.com]

I sort of write alinearly. I start with a vague outline, write the beginning and the end first and then fill out the main scenes of the rest of the story as it occurs to me (I used to leave the sex scenes for last, but now that I've been rping for years, the sex scenes are often next after the beginning and end ;-)). I leave the filler and scene transitions to last. I sometimes have problems getting motivated to start writing period, but when I'm motivated, I don't have problems with any of the scenes. I've tried writing linearly and I have problems sticking with it.

Übrigens, wir sollen uns mal wieder treffen. :-D

[rheasilvia.livejournal.com]

Yes, that does sound like a more motivated version of the method I seem to be gradually adopting. And even filler scenes and scene transitions don't kill your motivation? You're definitely a stronger woman than I...

Übrigens, wir sollen uns mal wieder treffen. :-D

Find ich auch! :-) Ich muss echt mal eine Pimp-DVD zusammenstellen. *g*