If I had to describe myself, it would be in a word that has many meanings with a complexity which falls off the tongue.
A word made up of many elements, is deceptive in appearance, and creates an illusion from the imagination.
My word would be Phantasmagoric. ~Summer Ross

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Whats your writing style blogfest entry

Shallee @ Life, the universe, and writing  is holding her blogfest today! Click on her link to check out all the entrants.

 The rules:
"On Tuesday, January 18th, blog about ANY part of your writing process-- how you create characters, how you plot your novel, how you organize your rewrites, your whole writing process from start to finish, anything. Even if you're a complete pantser, tell us your pantsing process. Do you write chronologically? Jump around? Edit as you go, or just dump it all on the page? Let us know!"

Here is my writing process:

I dump it all on the page- no kidding. an idea gets stuck in my head and the first thing I do is write the idea down. I then leave the note book alone.
 See I have this problem- I cannot just jump right into typing, I have to hand write the story first.
 After the idea is written down I store it in my head for a day, or a few hours, or possibly two days just pulling more and more into the idea until I have an outline in my head of where I want it to go.
 I write the outline out, then start writing the story. I write until I have completed every structured point of the outline.
 Then I go back and add in descriptions, quirks, more dialogue, and what not. Then I do a self edit.
After I self edit I send it to my critique group for editing. Then I rewrite until I think it shines.


I use this same process for my Academic papers as well. Always hand written first, then outline, then finalizing. I think it is easier when I can physically see a structure to write from.

28 comments:

Alex Ong said...

I used to hand write everything before I could type too. Now I just go right to the computer and just jot down notes as I go along.

Alex
Breakfast Every Hour

Erinn said...

Wow you must have nice hand writing, because I never hand write anything-- mostly because I hate my handwriting so much.

Christine Danek said...

Great process. It's neat to see everyone's process.
HAve a great day!

Carolyn V. said...

Ooooo, I like this blogfest! It's so interesting to see how other writers do it! =)

Shallee said...

This sounds like an interesting way to structure the story as you go! I love seeing how everyone's processes are so different-- but we still have the same goals. Thanks for sharing!

Michelle Merrill said...

Wow! That's cool. I don't think my hand could hack out that many words. Thanks for sharing.

N. R. Williams said...

I don't hand write anything except the grocery list. LOL When I get an idea I think about it for awhile, get an idea of place and time period, start looking up names in my resource book and create a word.doc for all my notes. Then I paste that doc into the ms doc so I can refer to it while I write.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author

M Pax said...

I keep handwritten notebooks. Only trouble is, then I have trouble reading them. lol This is a fun blogfest. Thanks for sharing.

Francine Howarth said...

Hi,

You're firmly in the Plotter camp! ;)

best
F

Jennifer Hoffine said...

I've heard of writers liking the longhand thing. I'm glad I don't need to because transcribing from paper to the computer takes me forever.

Old Kitty said...

Oh wow!! You handwrite everything first? That's just so amazing!!! Yay for you!!! Take care
x

L.A. Colvin said...

I love that you hand write so much. When I'm doing the mommy thing and running kids to various places I carry a notebook around. Then when I'm waiting for any practice or club meeting to be over I can sketch out some scenes and type them up when I get home. BTW LOVE the Fairy-tude!!

Kari Marie said...

I admire your ability to write longhand. It seems so much more "writerly." carpal tunnel and sheer laziness would do me in every time. Your process seems somewhat organic. I also like to let things sit with my muse before writing.

Talli Roland said...

Hand write first! Wow, that's hard core!

Golden Eagle said...

Awesome that you write longhand!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

That's kind of how I do it as well. I don't type fast, so it's easier if I write by hand.

Unknown said...

I do that too. Write down the idea and then let it sit to consider it through is so important. Visualising it all. I use hand writing if I'm feeling things aren't running smoothly. The crossing out and moving word order etc, when writing, is so satisfying.

Elena Solodow said...

Hand-written?? Wow. Your poor fingers!

Roland D. Yeomans said...

Whatever method works best for you is the one to use. I hand write notes on my breaks and lunch half hours. Raymond Chandler said he hand wrote his stories because he could see the problem areas better that way. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by my post, Roland

Melissa Hurst said...

I hand write my ideas for books, character sketches, and the very loose outline I come up with, but the actual writing of the book is done on my laptop. It would hurt my hand to write so much:) Thanks for sharing your writing process!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

I hand write as well. It keeps me from the distractions of the computer. It's too easy to self-edit when typing.

Unknown said...

It would be hard for me to hand write everything first so I think you're amazing. If it works for you, you have to do it that way.

Sonia said...

I almost never hand write - certainly not academic papers! I never outline those, either. And I amazed you can transcribe from paper to screen without editing - I can't.

Sari Webb said...

Wow handwriting the story is true commitment. It must be a really good way to get to know your characters and plot back to front when you handwrite first and then transpose onto the computer.

Rachna Chhabria said...

I too handwrite the story before its transferred on the computer. I am enjoying reading everyone's entries.

Amie Borst said...

my story brews in my head a bit. then i write from beginning to end (I know - who does that?). there are usually subplots and twists that i had no idea were there.

i tried making an outline once....let's just say it was a trainwreck.

Plamena Schmidt said...

I can't jump right into typing either! I actually hand write my whole first draft.

Marieke said...

I'm a week late, but catching up on this blogfest now after I finally put my own entry up =)

Hand writing is dedication! I couldn't do that... Well, except for random scenes during meetings ;)

I heart comments~~ You all Rock my world!

Make your own