Just starting... again

[ducky4u]

Hey!

Ok so I used to write a lot but certain events in my life have made it hard to do so. Thanks to such wonderful reading (such as our gracious author host Jim Butcher) I am starting to get comfortable with the idea of writing again. Here is my question:

How do you guys start? How do you organize your ideas? I can write pretty fast and fairly eloquently (hopefully) once I get started, but organization and raising the framework of the plot has always been my most difficult step. That being said, I thought I would get some suggestions from people who have been there before and maybe learned a couple tricks to getting those first couple steps done.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated and you have my eternal thanks.

Ducky

"Laugh... it is the difference between friends."

[LizW65]

This doesn't work for a lot of people, but I've learned from experience that I will never finish a writing project that doesn't have a very clear and detailed road map. 

I start with a basic 1-2 page outline of the overall idea.  My next step is to break it down into thirds -- beginning, middle, and end.  I then outline each chapter separately -- usually a page for each chapter, almost, but not quite, French scenes. 

(I should add that I DON'T adhere rigidly to the outline once I get past the rough draft stage; things get re-arranged, added, or dropped as needed; characters disappear or change entirely, and so on.)  However, it serves as a guide should I get stuck on a particular scene -- I know where to go next instead of shutting down entirely, which is what I tend to do when I hit a snag in a project (bad habit, I know, but I'm working on it.)

As I mentioned, this doesn't work for everyone; there is no one-size-fits-all method to writing, and many people can't function at all inside such a structured framework as mine.  Good luck!

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

I need to know the key scenes.  They're the pillars the story is strung between. This is something akin to Jim's "Big Middle" model excpet with more points of attachment; for a novel of 100,000 to 200,000 words, which is the range my stuff tends to fall out in, there are usually five to seven of these. (The current work in progress has thirteen, but that is because it is insanely long and would be three fat volumes or more slimmer volumes - it falls into nine internal parts, and i have no strong feelings about how those are divided up with extra bits of cardboard -  if it ever saw print.)

One I have the key scenes, I can audition for characters. See who I've got in my head who will react to key thing X by doing Y to keep the plot going, and then figure out who they are, building from those character moments and the world they grew up in.  (I do need a world, but worlds are much easier than stories; I have worlds falling out of my ears.)  Make sure to stop Aramis from sneaking in under some assumed name.  (Never work with Aramis, because he never tells anyone all of what he is doing, including the writer.)

And then, well, I have people, i know where they come from and go to and the key bits they're going through, the rest is working out the path from pint to point to point and then seeing where I can put cross-connections, as many as possible. 

[meg_evonne]

I agree with above.  If the idea of an outline sends terror through your gut, try JB's ....

Big Ass poster board (try the stand up folding monster)  and draw a big ass curve on it.  Buy some colored post it notes... and start plastering scene ideas along the arch.  Use different colors for the sub-story archs (arcs?).  You can move them all around as you fill in the blanks. 

Below the arc, I stick additional post its for each character as I build them, starting with their physical characteristics, move on to their quirks, their flaws, their hopes, their dreams, their relationships with other characters...

Over the top of it, I'll put any wild ass idea that I would like to use in that arc somewhere.

Only problem?  This like eats up your table forever---.  Good point--you can't ignore the honking thing and you've no room to eat anymore so you lose weight.  Bad point--you really can get ticked off lugging it all over the place.  so I shifted to Xcel charts and color code it, now.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

The most important thing to remember about outlining:

Tim Powers, bestselling fantasy author and winner of major awards, does not write a book until he has an outline down to what information is exchanged in every conversation through the whole book.

New York Times Bestselling Author Steven Brust makes everything he writes up entirely as he goes along withoput the slightest idea where it is going; though sometimes goes back and cuts rambly bits ionce things get unstuck again.

Both of these authors have had successful careers including writing some stunningly good books.

Figure out what;s right for you and work with that.

[meg_evonne]

and ditto that.  Also Tim Powers doesn't start anything until he's found, "20 things too cool not to use" while doing his research. He was on the same panels I mentioned before! :-)

[Starbeam]

I agree with above.  If the idea of an outline sends terror through your gut, try JB's ....

Big Ass poster board (try the stand up folding monster)  and draw a big ass curve on it.  Buy some colored post it notes... and start plastering scene ideas along the arch.  Use different colors for the sub-story archs (arcs?).  You can move them all around as you fill in the blanks. 

Below the arc, I stick additional post its for each character as I build them, starting with their physical characteristics, move on to their quirks, their flaws, their hopes, their dreams, their relationships with other characters...

Over the top of it, I'll put any wild ass idea that I would like to use in that arc somewhere.

Only problem?  This like eats up your table forever---.  Good point--you can't ignore the honking thing and you've no room to eat anymore so you lose weight.  Bad point--you really can get ticked off lugging it all over the place.  so I shifted to Xcel charts and color code it, now.

My b/f's mom made me an arc thingie.  Big bulletin board in the middle, space on the sides and top for the arc.  Backed with plywood, or something similar, with the foam stuff like from science fair exhibits, and covered with cork.  Took a couple tries to get it right cause just the cork on the plywood wasn't enough for the pushpins to go through.  At some point I plan on taking a picture, but lots of other stuff to get done first.

[belial.1980]

Meg and Starbeam turned me on to the following podcast: http://www.writingexcuses.com/ (Thank you guys!)

It's full of good advice. And it's pretty entertaining too. Three guys who're relatively new authors give advice in 15 minute episodes to aspiring writers. You should check it out.

[LizW65]

Tim Powers, bestselling fantasy author and winner of major awards, does not write a book until he has an outline down to what information is exchanged in every conversation through the whole book.

Huh.  Pretty damn close to what I do.

[Starbeam]

My normal inclination is to get an idea, start writing, and when I get to a point that everything coming out is pretty bad, I start world/character/plot building.  With that done, I'd usually go back and start rewriting from the beginning, and sort of keep doing that when new stuff pops up or changes.  There aren't always too many changes doing this, but new scenes, better dialogue, etc.  It sounds similar to what Patricia Briggs said she does, and from the little bit I've read of "The History of Lord of the Rings," Tolkien did this kind of thing a huge amount.  Though his changes were really big ones from one draft to the next.

I've yet to actually finish anything that's not considered flash fiction, so I'm attempting to write linearly using the story arc.  And no going back to change anything until I get to the end. Currently, that is stuck while I'm reading a research-ey type book.

[thausgt]

Meg and Starbeam turned me on to the following podcast: http://www.writingexcuses.com/ (Thank you guys!)

It's full of good advice. And it's pretty entertaining too. Three guys who're relatively new authors give advice in 15 minute episodes to aspiring writers. You should check it out.

Seconded! I recommend going through the archives of all the old episodes and, if you happen to have the hard-drive space, the bandwidth and the patience, download as many episodes as you can. Every one of them has at least something you can use, even if it's just the writing prompts.

In response to your overall question, you seem to be what the "Writing Excuses" crew call a "discovery writer". This means that your writing style is to essentially take dictation from your muse, rather like how Mozart used to hear entire symphonies in his head. In light of that, you might consider just letting your writing go where it will. Be advised that you will end up with sentences, characters, scenes, and even entire chapters that you may or may not be able to use in the story you intend to submit for publication, but that doesn't mean that you should banish such fragments completely. Keep them in your writing files, for when your muse gets around to giving you the stories into which they fit better.

Good luck!

[EmmettSpain]

Hey Ducky! As I'm sure you're getting from this, everyone is different in the way they do things.... I tend to start with the most exciting or interesting image, or the strongest point I'm trying to make... basically what excites me about writing, and what I really want to get to. I keep a basic road map of what I want to do with the story, but if it's getting the ball rolling that's the issue, I reckon it's fun to start with a bold introduction... after all, the first couple of pages are what usually make up people's minds one way or the other if they're going to read on. Go in hard, grab people's attentions, then settle in to flesh out your characters and the universe you're trying to create...