Write Every Day - April Day #2

[auroracloud]

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.

Comments

[sylvanwitch]

I, too, walk around with the characters and spend time thinking about my story while I'm doing something else.

One thing I've done on this novel is write down a bunch of questions about my MC's motivations. When I'm stuck or not feeling right about the story, I can refer to those questions to see if I've answered them, and if I haven't, that can sometimes tell me where the problem really is.

I wrote 577 today. I had intended to shoot for 1000, but it wasn't happening. I think I really need to spend tomorrow reading the whole 60K and figuring out where the heck it's going, and now that I've mentioned it, I think I need to look at those questions again to see if they'll give me some sense of direction.

[cornerofmadness]

I'm not much on prep work with a few exceptions. I make a few notes on what I'd like to see (because I'll forget) and I make up character sheets because a) I write multiple projects b) I will forget details c) it helps me explore them d) did I mention I'll forget?

Today I worked on the author's note for the novel and edited 2 pages of a short story that was also picked up for publication.

[carenejeans]

I've gradually realized that while I don't write outlines, with novels I need to write a sort of meta/brainstorming/notes journal as I go along. It's like a shadow novel. I've done this through several Nanowrimos, and at first I didn't want to count it in my daily wordcount, since it wasn't part of the story, exactly (and sometimes feels like just flailing and whining). But I finally realized that if I didn't write it, there would be no novel, so now I include it.

I don't do this with short stories, since I tend to write a sketchy first draft in one fell swoop.

As for my writing today... it's been a really hard day and all I've got is an alibi sentence. I'm pleased with it, though! 8-)

[ysilme]

Just popping in quickly to leave my word count; 220 words of drawer fic after a relaxing, lazy day I partly spent in Skyrim. ;o)

[talkingtothesky]

I made a point of being sure to catch up from Day 1. Splitting my 1600 words between 4 projects made it seem more attainable, motivation wise. In the end I wrote more than expected, so I only needed to add to 3 projects to get me to 1,800 words.

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.

[st_aurafina]

Ugh, I'm a terrible planner. These days, I at least try to write down where I want to be at the end of the story, and five or six things that I want to have happen in it. And then I need to write the story to see what happens (tweaking my plan along the way) so I can write it for real. Which I never seem to get up to. I have so many wips.

But I did write 615 words today on my POI thing.

[shopfront]

Kind of daydreaming and then jotting down words in either a list, spreadsheet, or zerodraft is generally how I plan best.

Some words yesterday (2nd), had a brainwave for tweaks to the steampunk novel. Otherwise I suspect I won't be anything else done until next week now because packing and moving is about to start in earnest, urgh.

[trobadora]

I wasn't feeling so great most of the evening, and I almost didn't manage to write more than an alibi sentence, but then I wrote a little over a thousand words after all. (Yes, still drawerfic.)

I generally don't do any visual things other than make maps for fictional worlds. Otherwise it's all text for me. Outlines, scene breakdowns, character motivations, timelines - all words on the page. It all goes into the same document, too - I like having everything in the same place, and organising and re-organising the info so it's easily findable also helps keep it present in my mind.