![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
May Writing Meme: Day 4
May. 4th, 2011 07:24 am4. How much of the story do you know before you start writing it? Do you use outlines?
For any individual story, I usually know the progression of events before I write it. Sometimes, I'll hit details I don't expect, and I definitely end up writing completely different stories from what I intended, but at the individual story level, I usually have most of it mapped out either before I start writing or fairly early on in the process.
So. Outlines. I've noticed that formal outlines are usually--not always, but usually--a sign that a piece just isn't going to work out. What I tend to do in longer pieces, rather than outlines, is build up scenes and their progression bit by bit. So if I know that roughly,this is the point in the story where Rikku and Balthier steal the space shuttle, I'll put in a line or two of them attempting to hotwire it, and then in the scene break above that will be them bantering as they sneak into the space port, and then another break and a couple lines of them arguing about which one accidentially caused them to launch into space.
And so on. The point is to get a foundation down that can support everything else. Then when all the important bits are in place, I connect the dots. Sometimes with longer stories, the dots will be whole scenes rather than individual lines, but the same principle applies.
( All the days )
For any individual story, I usually know the progression of events before I write it. Sometimes, I'll hit details I don't expect, and I definitely end up writing completely different stories from what I intended, but at the individual story level, I usually have most of it mapped out either before I start writing or fairly early on in the process.
So. Outlines. I've noticed that formal outlines are usually--not always, but usually--a sign that a piece just isn't going to work out. What I tend to do in longer pieces, rather than outlines, is build up scenes and their progression bit by bit. So if I know that roughly,this is the point in the story where Rikku and Balthier steal the space shuttle, I'll put in a line or two of them attempting to hotwire it, and then in the scene break above that will be them bantering as they sneak into the space port, and then another break and a couple lines of them arguing about which one accidentially caused them to launch into space.
And so on. The point is to get a foundation down that can support everything else. Then when all the important bits are in place, I connect the dots. Sometimes with longer stories, the dots will be whole scenes rather than individual lines, but the same principle applies.
( All the days )
