Wednesday, June 6, 2012

IWSG: RIGHT Writing Process?!

Today is the day! If you haven't joined the group, check it out at: insecure-writers-support-group


Okay ... still thinking about Stephen King's book ON WRITING. And still getting back into the groove of writing a first draft. I've been revising two other manuscripts for SO LONG, I felt like I'd forgotten how to write a first draft!

I had this BIG plan of plotting out my story, because that's what great books on the craft of writing suggest as the RIGHT process for writing. But it seemed so overwhelming ... I had trouble starting.

Then I read King's book, and he suggests, "... put a group of characters (perhaps a pair; perhaps even just one) in some sort of predicament and then watch them try to work themselves free" (page 161).

That one line gave me the freedom to sit down and just start writing. YAY! But then I hit a road block ... I had questions about the characters ... questions about the path they were taking ... questions about who was the REAL bad guy going to be ... questions about motivations and solutions ... ACK!

So I grabbed Blake Snyder's SAVE THE CAT! book and roughed out a sketch of my story using his "Beat Sheet."

Fresh breath! Now I have a rough idea of how the who are going to do the what and the why and when in my story. It's not plotted out precisely, but I now I know which general route I'm taking to reach my destination. A little bit of Snyder's process plus a little bit of King's process plus a WHOLE lotta my process = pure writing bliss.

And I think the most important writing tip from King's book is:

"The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better" (page 274).

14 comments:

  1. Perfect! Free-form inspiration, and then directed creativity.

    To me, it sounds like the ideal blend of the pantser/planner dichotomy!

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  2. I like your approach - it seems like a combination of free-writing and plotting... and I've got to get my hands on On Writing! Mr. Snyder's book also sounds very useful...
    I'm popping in from IWSG.

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  3. I love that...the scariest moment is always just before you start. So true! So cool that you are taking tidbits and then creating your own way. Congrats on writing bliss! :-)

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  4. That's awesome to combine the techniques to create what works for you.

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  5. Wow, that's what I call being proactive and taking advice seriously - well done! I keep hearing about Stephen King's book and I'm definitely going to have to buy it. Especially now I've read the quote about just before you start being the scariest part. That part is so scary to me that I'm afraid to start my novel incase the story isn't as brilliant as I thought it was! Silly, I know! Off to Amazon to buy it now!

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  6. On Writing is my favorite writing book. And I love the quote. So true!!

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  7. Great post. Good that you found what you needed to get you writing again.

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  8. I love both of those books! It's amazing how sometimes we get so set in our ways that starting from scratch again seems overwhelming. I'm kinda at that point too! Great post!

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  9. That's great! I love the quote from Stephen King on creating characters. I never realized when I started how much goes into the craft, but I've learned so much along the way already.

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  10. I love the first draft. I can't stand those Character Profiles but Elizabeth George has a great suggestion in Write Away. She says to sit down and freewrite sort of stream-of-consciousness about your character. Everything you can think of for them. She guarantees your characters will then give you lots more ideas. I've been meaning to try it!

    Good luck with your new draft!

    Denise

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  11. i am in your boat, editing for ages & about to go to camp nano in august. more like drill camp nano! thanks for the tips!

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  12. Hope you're making progress. I find it hard to switch gears, too, which I'm trying to do. Finished edits & need to pick up my WIP again ... And, I need to write first chapters of two new pieces. Ah. I like the idea of putting characters in predicament. Perhaps I shall go do that ...

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  13. Great quote! I'm definitely going to read both books when I'm finished with a draft or two of my WIP. You're revising two projects? Lol...wanna trade? i'm still plowing through my first draft. Can't wait to get to the next step. Do you find that the first draft is so hard to write because the possibilities are endless and the ideas aren't fully formed that it's hard to know where everyone/everything fits best? Or is it just that starting a new project is a lot harder when you've done so much work on others?

    Thanks for finding me through the IWSG. Nice to meet you too! :)

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