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Post new topic   Reply to topic How do you begin?
Amlynd



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 PostPosted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 6:53 pm Reply with quote        
I've been working on free-writing a lot more lately, because despite the mockery that that sort of exercise sometimes gets from anyone who isn't enrolled in a class or a workshop, it really does help to get your ideas down on paper, even if it's in a raw format such as a free-write. I've found it tremendously helpful here lately, and it's nearly helped me to get over my Writer's Block--just in time for NaNoWriMo!

Racing often helps me as well--having a "reason" to write, even if it's just to prove myself to somebody else. I really want to have a novel race, where a partner and I would see how many words of a story we could write in a day until we got the whole thing finished and all wrapped up. That's why I participate in NaNo every year--because it gives me the "right" to write, since I told myself that I would.

Most importantly, though, is finding something in the story that drags you, as the author, into the fray. I think that's what's always helped me the most.
uozenna5



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 PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 3:49 pm Reply with quote        
When I write it starts from a dream. Then I create my characters. Create their would then set them loose. As characters fall in love or something drastic happens I follow the characters. My characters create their story I just record it.
oceandream



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 PostPosted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 1:04 pm Reply with quote        
I can see where some are coming from with a writing journal. It does help to keep ideas in one place and to back to. Yet I date mine so I known when I get a idea. Knowing when I got it, somehow helps me to continue with it.
Malfise



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 PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 10:10 am Reply with quote        
I'm pretty good at imagining what my characters are doing. When I go to sleep at night, I have a running movie in my brain. I tend to skip ahead of where I am, however. Right now, I've just finished chapter one of my latest attempt at a novel, yet my brain has already figured out the big finish Lips are Zipped

I do keep a writing journal....I have a drawer of old journals full of story ideas... though not many of them are keepers...and I can't honestly say where my story ideas originate from...they just sort of explode in my mind at random and I'm like "HOMAGOD I GOTTA WRITE THAT DOWN"

....yup Neutral
Malverne
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 PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:45 pm Reply with quote        
I'll pick up an idea from anything:movie, TV show, music, books. From there, a plot sort of unfolds, and I work backwards, and start at the beginning, then write from there.

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I AM THE SMARTEST FUCKING COOKIE IN THE BATCH

Malfise



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 PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 3:51 pm Reply with quote        
Yeah... a lot of times, just asking "What if?" is a good way to start...

Write down your daydreams and stuff...
Sameth_Delaetus



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 PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 6:16 pm Reply with quote        
I tend to be daydreaming almost 24/7. Bad habit, especially in class (*hides from teachers*) buuuuut...I'll be just kinda stringing random things together and then I'm like..."Oooh. Melikey." and I squirrel it away for further reference/use.

For instance, a fandom I've recently gone ga-ga over is the one for Four Brothers. One of my friends likes Twilight (but is a sane fan, I swear ><; ) so I offered to write a fic with my OC's love interest as a werewolf and one with the love interest as a vampire.

For me, vampires equal cold and darkness.
Which is how the story started off with my character bitching about traipsing through snow banks in Detroit at a quarter to WHYYYYY in the morning instead of chillaxing in Hawaii, on vacation, as she was supposed to be.

I'll also sometimes be inspired by what I'm doing.
A story I think I lost started off because I was trying to imagine how a certain character would react to watching Cars (the animated movie). So I ended up writing a movie-night scene which totally ran away from the original point but was still majorly awesome...

At any rate, I normally start because I like the random sequence of events I've strung together, or because something I'm doing/watching triggers inspiration...or because I fell in love with a character from a movie/tv show/manga/whatever xD

_________________
Walk the dark path
Sleep with angels
Call the past for help
Touch me with your love
And reveal to me my true name

(Will assassinate someone for an Huo Draconem Svarde, Adult Dragon Wings Ice Adult Dragon Wings Fire Happy )
Malfise



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 PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2011 6:19 pm Reply with quote        
A lot of my stories used to just be fanfictions twisted so badly that the characters became my own .___.

I've sort of moved away from that, though . . . though I often put my OC's in a fandom just for fun, to see what they would do in certain situations.
Elrakis



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 PostPosted: Thu Jun 21, 2012 7:29 am Reply with quote        
I can get an idea from anywhere, something I hear, see, feel, dream, whatever. Now, to what I do with that idea...

Either I make a short story of it, but then it usually "marries" with an older idea so that they together form the basis of a story.

If I don't know what to do with it, I just write it down in my epic collection of ideas until the future gives me the right opportunity to use it.

Other ideas get bunched up together to form story some what longer than a short story. Since these stories require (that's how I work) a bit more planning, I leave them for brainstorming and so forth.

Those are the three ways of my ideas. I try not to have too many projects active as once. And how I get started? It varies a lot. Sometimes it comes naturally, sometimes I think really hard about it, and sometimes I change the beginning of a story several times before I get satiesfied. Guess my cognitive skills must be good, because I often find it easy to begin writing. Once I get an idea it quickly "marries" and off we go!
EposVox



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 PostPosted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:51 am Reply with quote        
It's simple! Whenever things come to mind, write down All The Things!



..at least that's what I do.. Embarrassed
Elrakis



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 PostPosted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 1:22 pm Reply with quote        
That's basically what I do too.


EposVox



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 PostPosted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:39 pm Reply with quote        
Oh god, my eyes!!!
Dr. Tick Tock



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 PostPosted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:33 pm Reply with quote        
Woops, Doc here, popping into the randomly revived thread!

I think a lot of what everyone said are things all writers deal with/have done/have tried. The only thing is, all writers are different. I have seen so, so many quotes from published authors talking about "the correct way to write," which directly contradicts another published author's "correct way to write."

In the end, it is up to you to experiment and find out what you're good with. Writing is one of the most fickle of human arts. As such, you cannot take advice from other writers. That sounds ridiculous, but it's true. You can listen to their suggestions and ideas, but there is no such thing as advice in the writing world. Like I said, there's suggestion, and ideas, and (usually subjective and thus not always reliable) critique.

It's funny because I'm the same way you said you were in the first post, Chu. I'm motivated and determined with nearly everything I start, except my writing.



...Despite everything I just said, I'll throw out an idea/technique that I haven't noticed mentioned in this thread yet. I thought it was brilliant when I came across it, and though I have yet to use it (it's not that great for short stories required in college workshops), I plan to use it once I want to start my novel. It's called the Snowflake Method. Of course, like any and all writing techniques, it has its pros and cons. But, also like any and all writing techniques, there is absolutely no rule any where that says you have to stick exactly to the guidelines given by its creator. If you think a method is the best one you've seen, but isn't perfect for you, then tweak it. Make it perfect for you. And go crazy.

Whew, lots of italics in this post. And this is one large post. Sorry! I tend to be long-winded about this kind of stuff :0

Doc, out. -blasts off-

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Elrakis



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 PostPosted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:02 am Reply with quote        
It wasn't randomly revived. It was selected for re-animation. Also, beware of the tik-toks of Trantor... just sayin'.

I read about the snow flake method and have never tried it. Seems good, but too organized for me. I'm more... ad lib.
superbinka



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 PostPosted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 3:26 am Reply with quote        
The Snowflake Method is really designed for writing for publication, not writing for fun or enjoyment. For short stories I don't plan at all, and for longer works I plan out the plot, maybe a paragraph long synopsis, and then write. Planning down to each of the hundred-and-something scenes really doesn't grab my fancy, it turns what should be fun into a chore.
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