Jabrosky
Banned
As I've said in the past, I have a terrible track record for finishing the stories I start. However, upon reflecting on the few stories I have finished (all shorts, with the longest having a word count somewhere between six and eight thousand words), I notice a few common trends about the process of writing them:
1. I begin the writing with only the first scene in mind.
2. The first scene sets up the story's main conflict or central theme.
3. Once I write the first scene, the remainder of the story unfolds in my mind. You could consider it a form of mental outlining.
4. I never write this mental outline down on paper or type it into a computer file. I keep it all in my head.
#2 may be the most important trend, because I have found that if I never develop a clear idea of the conflict or theme I want to communicate, I am more likely to not know how to continue a story and end up scrapping the whole project. On the other hand, I have more success if I discover my theme while doing the actual writing than if I plan one during the preliminary (or pre-writing) stage.
I don't intend to give anyone advice on how they should write their stories. Instead I only wish to share what seems to work best for me.
1. I begin the writing with only the first scene in mind.
2. The first scene sets up the story's main conflict or central theme.
3. Once I write the first scene, the remainder of the story unfolds in my mind. You could consider it a form of mental outlining.
4. I never write this mental outline down on paper or type it into a computer file. I keep it all in my head.
#2 may be the most important trend, because I have found that if I never develop a clear idea of the conflict or theme I want to communicate, I am more likely to not know how to continue a story and end up scrapping the whole project. On the other hand, I have more success if I discover my theme while doing the actual writing than if I plan one during the preliminary (or pre-writing) stage.
I don't intend to give anyone advice on how they should write their stories. Instead I only wish to share what seems to work best for me.