Plan Before You Write? What a Novel Idea

Another week gone in 2013, and all is well.  As far as words written, I've continued to hit my goals.  Total word count doesn't necessarily reflect that I've done anything this week though, as I have continued to prune as I go.  Even rewriting entire chapters sometimes.  It's been brutal but worth it.

"Rin and Finnius" is coming along,(pruning and all) though at this point, I'm not certain what kind of length the story will be.  I had intended it to be short novel length, but it may not make it.  This is do to my very poor planning for which I take full responsibility.  It seems that starting to write with nothing but a few ideas in my head may not make as much sense as I thought it would.

My biggest problem with not planning, is writing a bunch of stuff that doesn't really work, only to realize it after I've left that part of the story.  Then there is a decision to make.  Go back or forge ahead with a broken story.  I don't like either option.  I did try to forge ahead, but ultimately decided to go back and edit.  It was that bad!

While forging ahead is probably the right decision in most cases, I couldn't do it.  Now some of the early holes patched and a little better plan in place I can continue to write.  The plan is probably not as good as it should be, but I think I can bring the story to a close with the path I'm on.  The important thing is that there has been a lesson learned.  Plan your story before writing your story.

With all the things I'm learning, the next story is bound to be better, right?  That's the hope anyway.  Thanks for stopping by and until next time, I'll be here...write 'n' stuff.

So, I'm No Pants-er!

When I sat down and began to write seriously, I knew that I had to figure out what kind of writer I would be.  That is to say, pants-er or planner (ie. discovery writer or out-liner).

Pants-er or pant-sing are terms taken from the expression "seat of you pants."  As in writing by the seat of your pants.  This approach involves little or no planning, just sitting down, writing and seeing where the story leads.  This approach works well for some.  Don't believe me?  Just ask George R. R. Martin, the "Game of Thrones" author how it's worked for him.

I thought that I would try the pant-sing thing as I wanting to get started and had a few ideas that I wanted to run with.  While I did take the time to throw some ideas on a page, it was not an outline and it didn't take long for me to figure out that my new story was broken.  The more I thought about it, the more holes I punched in it.  I realized that I needed a better plan.  The biggest part of that plan was an ending.

Having an ending in mind gives me a goal to shoot for.  Something to work toward.  After sitting down one night and writing an ending, I felt much better about where we were heading.  Though it was plenty painful; I had to cut several scenes and chapters that were already written, I like having that goal in mind while writing and will apply what I've learned here to future projects.  I will also put a lot more time into outlining before I start writing.  At this point, it's safe to say that I'm an out-liner that will probably pants some things in the story as the opportunities present themselves.  You can't plan everything after all!

Thanks for stopping in!  Feel free to leave a comment or check in on Twitter.  I'll be here write 'n' stuff!

2013 Week 2; Still Writing

It hasn't been a bad week.  I've had some opportunity to write, and have surpassed my 1,000 words a week goal for the second week in a row.  While that's not the biggest goal in the world, it's my hope that it will keep me writing all year.  2013 has started great and I look forward to the rest of it!

It hasn't been all roses though.  About mid-week "The Chronicles of Rin and Finnius" was going nowhere.  There was a scene, that when I sat down to write it, I couldn't figure out how to put it down.  Earlier that day, Bull Spec magazine (@bullspec) put on Twitter that they were taking submissions for there zine.  When I saw that my mind went into gear for what I would write for a sci-fi story if that was possible.  So, when Rin and Finnius turned to a dead end, a new document was opened and a space story was started.

That new story now sits collecting dust, waiting for the next wall to pop up.  The next day, thinking about Rin and Finnius, I figured out an ending.  Later, the ending was written, and things are looking up for "Rin and Finnius" now that there is a clear destination.  Before I had that destination, I was like a ship without a rudder, and everyone knows that a rudderless ship isn't getting anywhere fast.

"The Diary of Oic Oricson" did not get looked at at all this week.  Oic is my first person experiment that I plan to put up on the blog, one diary entry at a time when more material is available.  That plan may change if it turns really bad.  We'll see...

Lastly, my main distraction from writing this week is reading.  The final book in "The Wheel of Time" series came out Tuesday.  "A Memory of Light" is a massive read that I will savor.  It is the fourteenth book of the series that has been completed by Brandon Sanderson after the passing of Robert Jordan.  "The Wheel of Time" is epic fantasy at its best and everyone should read it.  But that's just my opinion.

Moving into the weekend, there should be some time to write tomorrow and Sunday and maybe some time to draw.  So have a good weekend, I'll be here write 'n' stuff!

2013 Week One: In The Books

One week into the new year already.  Most people set goals for themselves this time of year, but I've never really done that.  This year however seems to be different, or maybe it's just me that's different this year.  I did resolve to be a bit more consistently creative this year.  We'll see how it goes.

I've started work on two projects already.  "The Chronicles of Rin and Finnius" (working title) and "The Diary of Oic Oricson."  I seem to work on Rin and Finnius when I'm at home and Oic Oricson when I'm on the go, but no matter what I'm working on I have a common problem.  Naming.

I struggle with naming.  People, places, things or whatever.  I'll come up with this really cool fictional person or thing and need a name for him/her or it only to blank out.  This has got to be a common problem, but it isn't anything that's ever talked about.  At least not that I've heard.  I'm hoping that I will overcome this  hurdle soon because it slows me down and my writing time is already limited.

On the bright side, I managed to get down about 4000 words over the first week.  I've struggled some with where the story ("The Chronicles of Rin and Finnius") is going and considered changing course, but I'm going to continue on the track that I'm currently on.  I like the basic story arc and it is teaching me some things as I write.  When the story is done, I'll take a look and see what needs fixing.  If it can be fixed that is.  If not, I'll just move on to the next story.  It seems that all my story ideas come to mind when I'm writing, so I'm looking forward to finishing this story so that I can start on the next one.  Fun times!