daredevilkink | Discussion/Off-Topic Post #1

How do you guys write? Do you plan things out before hand? Do you do a lot of prewriting then go back? How long does it take you to write things?

I always like hearing about people's writing processes. :)

I generally start with an idea and a few lines of dialog and start writing. The rest of it flows from there. I generally try to write something every single day because then it becomes easier and easier to write.

Well, I've started filling a prompt after a stretch of about 10+ years since I wrote anything, and apparently my style is to write snippets of scenes and dialogue at random and then puzzle-piece them together.

I've got one line of dialogue that's pretty much bounced around every possible location in one scene before I found the right place for it.

Omg, same here. The first scene I wrote for "This is not your city" turned out to be the current chapter 2. And then I wrote 3, then 1, ect...

ayrt

I've decided I dislike this method, because now all my tenses are mixed up. ^^;

AYRT-Omg, same! When I wrote part 2, it was in past tense and the rest of the thing was in present, so I had to go back and change it and now it's leaked over into the rest of my writing where it starts out in present/past and then switches to the opposite and it makes sense at the time, but I have go back and fix it.

I'm a very visual person, and for me it usually starts with something I see in my head. Sometimes it's literally like a scene starts playing like a little mind-movie. I call those my "scene flashes". And then it's easy to just sit down and write the characters talking in my head. (Okay, that sounds a little schizophrenic, but I swear it's innocuous. They don't tell me to do things. :-P)

Sometimes it's just that scene that ends at some point, and then I need to stop writing, sit back, and really ponder where I wanna go or what the characters would do/say next. And sometimes it pours out all at once until the fic/chapter is done. (This is usually means I don't get as much sleep as I should, cause I can only really write in the evening, and it's not like my brain is on a sensible schedule.)

It rarely happens that I plan my fics or draw sketches or schedules or storyboards or anything like that. I think I've only done that once or twice, for very long, more complicated fics where I needed to figure out what was happening when (like on which weekdays) in order not to mess up the timeline.

And when I have ideas that I can't write right away, I just put down notes at the end of the story to flesh out later.

I usually also write chronologically, cause that's just how my brain works. I've been known to flesh out a few things further down the line if I get inspired and don't wanna lose the thread, but then I always find it kinda annoying to have to go back and fill in the blanks.

Hope that answers your question. :-)

I get an idea, then I let it sit around in my head while I test out different possibilities and try desperately to find an ending. Then I make a rough outline, so that I know where I want to go, and then I start writing. I usually write from "beginning" to "end;" I don't write scenes and then try to patch them together. I often go back and edit, add some things, delete others.

I know I'm quite a strange member of the fanfic community because I never post a story until I've got it complete. Because one of my really big pet peeves is a story that never gets finished, especially if I've invested emotionally in it, and want to find out what happens. So I try never to do that to others because I don't want to be a hypocrite when I complain. *g*

Even when I am posting my stories, I'll still be tinkering with them. Sometimes a reviewer will say something that will have me go back and add a line or two for clarification, or just to make the story a bit "richer."

I have been known to take months to write a story, but the first one that I wrote for Daredevil, The Nelson Shot, I completed in only eight days. You know, sometimes I amaze even myself. *g* The Guilty Party raced along at a very similar speed, though it took longer because it's a longer story. It's basically finished, except for the edits that come from reading the reviews, as I said above, so I'll give it a writing time of five weeks. And I've started a new fic, currently untitled, and it's coming along at a good pace as well.

I'm amazed at how fast I'm writing these days; I'm usually a bit slower than this. Maybe writing about superheroes is giving me super writing speed? Wouldn't that be nice. :-)

> write as much as possible before the idea slips away
>Think about it while excercising
>think about it while working
> think about it at 3AM when I have four hours to sleep before my appointment
>Update notes in my phone periodically
>Try to edit the ensuing mess of good ideas and nonsense
>Fail to make it into something legible
>Break to rageclean while blasting Schoolhouse Rock
>Edit more, get help from gf who can English good
>Finish to satisfaction, post
>Notice 3+ errors as soon as it's too late to do anything with them
>"Close enough for politics"
>"phew, that was a hard one. I'm gonna wait a while before trying another"
>Immediately find three great prompts
>Start again

Snippets of dialogue generally start the process, I then flesh out a scene and if I like it, then an entire story. Sometimes a concept pops into my head that I'd like, and instead of prompting it I try to write it, but again it usually starts with dialogue. I'm not so much for the descriptions, I usually really struggle to describe a scene. That may be a good thing though, because I'm amazed by how often I'm complemented on my attention to detail.

1. Uh... Start to write a prompt for the kinkmeme.

2. Decide to add a little more detail. Maybe even one of those +1, +10, +1000 points thing?

3. Realize I'm halfway to a finished fic. Take a long break from it to yell at myself.

4. Find someone else who prompted a similar idea on the kinkmeme.

5. Go ahead and finish the fic.

6. Fix any tense problems, find a stupid title for it.

7. Post my fic to AO3, the Fill post, and the other person's prompt thread, pretending that I was writing for that one all along.

Well, I've done something like this twice, anyhow. It's not like I'm the most prolific author. (A third time I came up with a basic prompt after step 3, then went ahead and filled it myself anyhow.)

Phase 1: Oh, sweet, perfect idea! I should write this down/screenshot the prompt and paste it into a Word document! Man, this is gonna be awesome!

Phase 2: Hmm... I'm kinda half/half on this now... let me just write/plan out a bit of this ((this part is tricky - I plan things out, but if I'm not 100% on the idea, I might write a bit from the scene in particular I was thinking of. Sometimes I don't plan, and just write, if it's an idea that's kinda 'bleh' and a mini-minifill sort of thing))

Phase 3: Okay, you've started it, you have to finish it. *3 hours pass* Okay, maybe just a paragraph.

Phase 4: You've started this. Finish it or else you are nothing but human trash.

Usually I either constantly promise myself I'll finish it and just ignore it. Occasionally I'll push myself to end it, but that's usually with minifills or stories I really, really want to do because it just sounds so cool and I feel guilty for not writing it.

Discussion/Off-Topic Post #1

What's your Creative Process?

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