Tuesday Has a Process...Sort Of

Surprise! It's Tuesday here! Normally I post on Tuesdays, I know, but due to some technical difficulties on my end, I was unable to post on my usual day, so...here I am! :) This week's topic on writing process couldn'tve come at a better time actually, since I recently just started a new WIP! My writing process differs with each story I write. Sometimes I'm a pantser and plot as I go and sometimes I'm a plotter and have a rough outline as my guide while I write. This time around, I'm still not 100% sure what my process is going to be, but here's what it looks like so far:

1. The idea is born! Feverish note-taking ensues!

2. I write and take notes as I go.

3. I make an insane deal with myself, using a little thing I like to call 45 Days to Done.

4. I track my progress with a word count tracker.

5. I despair, eat copious amounts of chocolate and somehow find a way to continue on.

6. I write some more.

7. I get inspired to create a visual inspiration collage-or two-that I have way too much fun creating and waste almost a whole day (oh, wait, that was today, lol, my bad!) working on. Here are the finished products:

And that's where I'm at in the process so far. I'm still in the beginning stages of writing the story, I'm having the usual doubts, but I'm also having a ton of fun getting to know my characters and their world and I'm going to try my hardest to push through to the end and get a rough draft written...even if it kills me!

Wish me luck! :)

~Ella

P.S. From looking at the collages, can you guess what my story could be about? I'd love to see your guesses in the comments!

Prep Work

It wasn’t until I started doing NaNoWriMo that I really got into prep work. By hearing how everyone else does their prep work and seeing all the different ways there were to do it I realized that I didn’t have to do it the way my elementary teachers had told me to. Then once I started experimenting with it I got really into it. Now I’ve developed tons of different prep tools that I can use.

Writer’s Journal: Sometimes I write down quotes, definitions, or names in it. Other times it’s research notes, but mainly I write down descriptions of things that inspire components of the story.

Word Wall: In all honesty, it’s more of a main idea or plot point wall than a word wall. I just called it that because it’s a rip off of a word wall that I saw in an elementary classroom.

Idea Book: Basically, this is a quick scrapbook of the story. They usually include a mock up of the book’s cover, a general inspiration section, a page or two for each character, and a miniature word wall showing the major plot points I want to cover.

Models: A lot of times I’ll end up finding at least one model for each story. Sometimes it’ll be objects that symbolize each phase of the story, but other times I’ll make clay models of characters so that I can reference then when I’m having problems.

Wordles: This is an organizational tool that I usually make once I’m a few chapters into the book and sometimes not until I’m completely done with it and ready to start the sequel. However, sometimes if I’m having a hard time getting started or am really excited about the story I’ll jot down the key terms, character names, and important objects just so I can keep track of what I want included and what all the names are.

Bubble Diagrams: Yeah, I’m really not that into this one, but I still use it on occasion so I thought I’d include it. Sometimes when I have something that I want to happen in the story but that I’m having a hard time working in I’ll make it into a bubble diagram, with that event at the center, and use that to help me figure out how to weave it into the story.

-Aaron

My Writing Process

So it's my week to choose a topic. And couldn't remember if I was supposed to post today or on my normal Thursday, so Em if I stole your day I'm sorry. You hadn't posted and then I freaked out and was like "oh goodness was I supposed to post first?" so I'm so sorry if that is the case, please feel free to steal Thursday this week. But not forever, please, because I love Thursdays.

Now to the point, I am in the throws of a project for school, I'm writing a novel for credit as in I'm being graded on writing for fun!! Sweetness! So I've been approaching new ways to plan out my story.

The approach that I normally take is simple. I write the story as it comes to me. i.e. on the palm of my hand, my tiny notepad at work, in my notebooks at school instead of paying attention in class. It has always worked for me. Granted, I don't always produce massive amounts. But what I produce tends to have a significant importance to my novel, scenes that pull it together you know?

Of course then there is the brief outline. Scenes and ideas, whatever flutters across my thoughts. This special little sheet of paper has no rhyme, nor reason, it is just a list. It is, in my opinion, the most basic of any outlining that I do.

Next up is the note cards. I tend to take the ideas from my brief, expand on them on note cards and then shuffle it all around until I like the way it plays out. I don't like this way all that much because it takes a lot of time, and we all know how precious that time is. Not that it isn't worth it, but sometimes I just think it makes more sense to write every scene out, beginning to end, and then shuffle it all around. Of course that gets messy and can take up just as much, if not more, time you never really know.

Now I'm approaching a new type of planning, as referenced in paragraph one, because of my Independent Study aka the class I designed so I'm being graded on what I love. I'm throwing caution to the wind and approaching outlining with a whole new outlook. I'm starting small, a list of ideas (in chronological order this time), then expanding that into scene summaries. I'm then going to organize those scenes into chapters (so it's a chapter by chapter break up) and eventually give the scenes dates. As in stuff like Oct. 17th or something like that.

So normally my writing process mimics my life, it is all over the place organizational wise. However, now I am trying out something new and going to see if I can pull off organization. Wish me luck.