Aurora (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
auroracloud) wrote2018-04-02 09:36 pm
auroracloud) wrote2018-04-02 09:36 pm
Entry tags:
Write Every Day - April Day #2
If you are wondering what this is about, I explained more in yesterday's post
Today was a really blah day for me for some reason. I would have had tons of time to do things, writing as well as anything else, but most of the time I was just tired and listless and didn't want to do anything. I did buy five of the books I was looking at yesterday, though. Well, they weren't expensive. Oh, the peril of e-books...
Today's Writing (and optional question!)
I felt like writing poetry, so I wrote some. I also spent a bit more time planning my novel. Not nearly as much as I hoped I would, but at least some. It took the form of a mind map about the personal relationships of one of my protagonists, as well as an attempt at sketching her home.
What forms of planning/preparation do you have that aren't writing as such? I'm not a very visual person, so I don't do a lot of visual things, like some writers do, but sometimes mind maps work nicely for me - they allow me to see what I already know and offer an easy, noncommittal way to come up with new things. Like, today I wrote different categories of relationships my character would have - family, work, study etc. - and jotted down the characters I knew, and then I came up with some new ones to fill in the blanks. I used lots of colored pens. :-) Sometimes I've tried to create plot graphs, but I don't know if they're any use for me. Time lines can make sense some times, for example to see how different subplots advance. I know some writers create playlists for their stories/characters, but I usually can't listen to music while writing, so that doesn't really happen for me.
Well, one of my constants is just taking a walk with the story, going round walking while letting the characters and stories spin in my head. Works with some other activities, too, like doing chores at home, or travelling/commuting.
Tally so far
Day 1:auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, st_aurafina, sylvanwitch, trobadora, ysilme
Let me know if I missed you or if you wrote but didn't check in yet! You can join us or drop out any time.
Today was a really blah day for me for some reason. I would have had tons of time to do things, writing as well as anything else, but most of the time I was just tired and listless and didn't want to do anything. I did buy five of the books I was looking at yesterday, though. Well, they weren't expensive. Oh, the peril of e-books...
Today's Writing (and optional question!)
I felt like writing poetry, so I wrote some. I also spent a bit more time planning my novel. Not nearly as much as I hoped I would, but at least some. It took the form of a mind map about the personal relationships of one of my protagonists, as well as an attempt at sketching her home.
What forms of planning/preparation do you have that aren't writing as such? I'm not a very visual person, so I don't do a lot of visual things, like some writers do, but sometimes mind maps work nicely for me - they allow me to see what I already know and offer an easy, noncommittal way to come up with new things. Like, today I wrote different categories of relationships my character would have - family, work, study etc. - and jotted down the characters I knew, and then I came up with some new ones to fill in the blanks. I used lots of colored pens. :-) Sometimes I've tried to create plot graphs, but I don't know if they're any use for me. Time lines can make sense some times, for example to see how different subplots advance. I know some writers create playlists for their stories/characters, but I usually can't listen to music while writing, so that doesn't really happen for me.
Well, one of my constants is just taking a walk with the story, going round walking while letting the characters and stories spin in my head. Works with some other activities, too, like doing chores at home, or travelling/commuting.
Tally so far
Day 1:
auroracloud, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, st_aurafina, sylvanwitch, trobadora, ysilmeLet me know if I missed you or if you wrote but didn't check in yet! You can join us or drop out any time.
no subject
I consider myself quite a visual person, but I don't plan for my writing like I plan for other things. Mind maps are good...I do have one for all the characters in my novel and their connections to each other...but I don't use them that often. If I set out to write a big story I know I need an outline. I used to be a pantser but I'm definitely not now. But when I set out to write a 1000 word quick story and it turns into a huge monster I often don't outline for that...so things slip through the cracks of my attempts at organisation.
But thank goodness for Scrivener and its split screen feature. If I couldn't write with my outline and chapter file side-by-side, I don't know what I'd do.
no subject
I don't do much (or any) planning for short stories either, but I definitely need one for long projects, like hopefully-to-be novel manuscript. Otherwise, after then 10,000 words I just muddle about not knowing where I'm going and how to get there, and the project just loses steam and dies down. I may change a lot of things while I'm writing, but I need to have some plans when I start out.
Yes, Scrivener is a wonderful too for me, too! And the split screen feature is very handy. I'm the most dependent on the index card feature and the many fields of information you can use there, as well as the snapshots and rollbacks when I'm editing, but the split screen definitely has its uses. I hadn't actually thought of using it to work on the outline and the chapter file side by side, I'll have to try that for this project!