The hard truth is, there's only a few small people in the world that can write a full length novel without an Outline, so if you've ever caught yourself thinking, or do think for that matter that you can write without one, chances are, you can't.
I'm sorry, but its the god honest truth and I'm not saying it to demean you. Its good that you're that confident and I hope you're one of those small few that can operate without one, but as I said, the chances are slim that you can, and here's why!
Think for a moment how monumental the task of writing a novel is. Its huge, no one way or another about it. Even if you're writing short stories or novellas its still a huge under taking in its own write because its not enough that you have an idea in your head, trust me on this. I have hundreds of stories in my head and only about forty of them have been gotten to a point where I've started recording them down in notebooks to develop later.
And thats what you have to do with an idea. You have to develop it into a story, and that means World Building, Creating Characters, you have to have an idea of what your Start, Middle and End is and then you have to work out how that how sequence comes together, and believe me its not as simple as characters going from Point A to Point B. If it was, everyone and their dog would be a writer and stories would suck major ass.
A story is long twisted mess of events, detours and situations that you have to keep track of. And you're not just keeping track of your story, ooooooh no. You also have to keep track of your characters, you have to know how they're growing, and you have to keep them in check when they start trying to tell the story they want to tell.
You have to know when and where things are going to or have happened, how its going to affect the story and how its going to affect your characters and the world you've created.
This is why an Outline is your friend.
Now there's tons of ways to outline and plan your story and I'm not going to tell you what they all are, thats why the Cyber Gods gave us Google.
I will tell you how I outline though.
I tend to think of an Outline as a dirty, messy dry run of the story.
When I'm outlining, I write a play by play for each chapter. A lot of people they just write a single sentence play by play of the most important things that happen in their chapters, I however, write paragraphs of semi detailed play by plays, in which I detail whats happening in the story, how the characters are developinging, how they're interacting - dialogue and such - and what they're feeling about the situation. And this could mean that I end up with four or five pages of bullet pointed paragraphs.
Thats what works for me though. As I said there are dozens of different ways to do it and different things work for different people, you just have to find which one works for you and go from there.
I just know that with my method, once I have outline done or at the very least the chapter I want to write, I can knock that chapter over inside of an hour or two depending on my focus.
By the end of the first week of NaNo this year, I was already three to four days in front thanks to having my outline mostly done.
Wednesday 26 November 2014
Tuesday 25 November 2014
Writing Drafts: Write the Shit Story First, Then Write the Good One
It goes without saying that when writing Drafts the last thing you should be worried about, is how good it looks.
I am without a doubt, the biggest offender of this.
Because I come from a fanfic writing background, drafts arent really done, at least no one I know that writes fanfictions for the internet bothers to write a draft and then rewrites a new version; if you do, that's fine, but in my experience thats not how fanfics are done since you have beta readers you can turn to, to spruce it up.
Obviously writing a book is different from a fanfiction.
A lot more care is involved.
HOWEVER, writing a draft is different and its taken a long time to get my head around that concept; but once you do it can make the world of difference in the long run, if you have trouble getting stuff written that is, and god knows I do. Although mine is more a focus issue than anything else.
Why writing a draft is important:
When you have a story you want to write, whether you realize it or not, 9 times out of 10 you've married yourself to an idea and if you're like me, taking alternative paths can be like trying to get blood out of a stone. You might run up against a roadblock while you're writing when your brain is telling you one thing but your muse/heart/stubborness is telling you another.
This is why I've adopted the motto
Write the Shit Story First, Then Write the Good One
This is why drafts are important. When you write a draft, do everything that you want to do in it, no matter how stupid it may seem in terms to the story, just write it, because this way you're getting out all that crazy you might have built up from developing your story. Once you can convince yourself that its just a draft, you will not only have more fun writing, but you will also get more work done in the long run, both of which are the ultimate productive goal.
But theres another reason why Drafts are important, as well as the importance of writing the "Shit Version" first.
When you complete your Draft with everything in it........ you have your blueprint to eventually writing a publishable novel.
Once your Draft is complete you can study your story - I recommend printing it out - and you will be able to see your mistakes; you will see what works and what doesnt and you'll probably even come up with new things you probably didnt even consider the first time around. And, eventually you will be able to smooth everything out, make everything flow right and ultimately weave together the novel you really want to publish.
These are just my opinions of course, they might not work for everyoen, but personally, I am the first to admit that I've had trouble writing my stories because I tend to procrastinate over all the little things and I ultimately don't get anything done. Partaking in NaNoWriMo this year has opened my eyes to certain ways that frankly I should have realized well before now. And upon realizing these things, I felt like I had been unshackled creatively.
So give it a try ^__^
I am without a doubt, the biggest offender of this.
Because I come from a fanfic writing background, drafts arent really done, at least no one I know that writes fanfictions for the internet bothers to write a draft and then rewrites a new version; if you do, that's fine, but in my experience thats not how fanfics are done since you have beta readers you can turn to, to spruce it up.
Obviously writing a book is different from a fanfiction.
A lot more care is involved.
HOWEVER, writing a draft is different and its taken a long time to get my head around that concept; but once you do it can make the world of difference in the long run, if you have trouble getting stuff written that is, and god knows I do. Although mine is more a focus issue than anything else.
Why writing a draft is important:
When you have a story you want to write, whether you realize it or not, 9 times out of 10 you've married yourself to an idea and if you're like me, taking alternative paths can be like trying to get blood out of a stone. You might run up against a roadblock while you're writing when your brain is telling you one thing but your muse/heart/stubborness is telling you another.
This is why I've adopted the motto
Write the Shit Story First, Then Write the Good One
This is why drafts are important. When you write a draft, do everything that you want to do in it, no matter how stupid it may seem in terms to the story, just write it, because this way you're getting out all that crazy you might have built up from developing your story. Once you can convince yourself that its just a draft, you will not only have more fun writing, but you will also get more work done in the long run, both of which are the ultimate productive goal.
But theres another reason why Drafts are important, as well as the importance of writing the "Shit Version" first.
When you complete your Draft with everything in it........ you have your blueprint to eventually writing a publishable novel.
Once your Draft is complete you can study your story - I recommend printing it out - and you will be able to see your mistakes; you will see what works and what doesnt and you'll probably even come up with new things you probably didnt even consider the first time around. And, eventually you will be able to smooth everything out, make everything flow right and ultimately weave together the novel you really want to publish.
These are just my opinions of course, they might not work for everyoen, but personally, I am the first to admit that I've had trouble writing my stories because I tend to procrastinate over all the little things and I ultimately don't get anything done. Partaking in NaNoWriMo this year has opened my eyes to certain ways that frankly I should have realized well before now. And upon realizing these things, I felt like I had been unshackled creatively.
So give it a try ^__^
Monday 24 November 2014
Introductions
I've always had a problem with introductions, in every aspect of my life.
I'm not much of a social person, so when it comes time to talk about myself, I have trouble. I tend to shy away from selling myself because I'm usually worried that I'm going to sound like an over confident jack ass or under sell myself and not be taken seriously again.
So, I will say this
My name is not, Rivyn Daniel.
My real one is in fact a really boring name that I generally hate with a passion for a number of reasons that are not important.
What is important, is that I am a writer.
What do I write?
Well I originally started off writing Fanfictions while I developed my craft over the years. As for my own, publishable stuff however, I love writing Fantasy, Science Fictional, the Paranormal/Supernatural, Adventure Thrillers and Crime Thrillers. I have dozens of stories in the works, and very few of them are progressing because I have trouble focusing entirely on one story for very long before my brain calls me off to another one.
I am also an artist...... sort of.... an amatuer artist would be more precise.
I am formerly trained in traditional painting and sculpture work and I have been drawing my whole life. I have my own little art studio all set up, though at the time of this post it is in a desperate need of tidy up.
By now you might be wondering what the purpose of this Blog is.
Well, its quite simple really.
This blog will be a place for me to write up my thoughts concerning writing, and I will be sharing my thoughts and opinions on story writing in general; from character development, to outlining, to world building. I don't claim to be an expert in these fields however; there are a number of how to write books by authors that have that covered, that are dead certain they know the exact formula that everyone should follow to be successful....... but I think they're full of shit. Yes there is some useful hints throughout said books, but in general, everyone is different and no one way works for everyone.
So I will be sharing my views and who knows, maybe it will shake something loose with someone that happens to read it.
For the most part though this Blog is for me, something to unwind my brain on.
But we shall see where it goes........
Welcome......... to My Journey............
I'm not much of a social person, so when it comes time to talk about myself, I have trouble. I tend to shy away from selling myself because I'm usually worried that I'm going to sound like an over confident jack ass or under sell myself and not be taken seriously again.
So, I will say this
My name is not, Rivyn Daniel.
My real one is in fact a really boring name that I generally hate with a passion for a number of reasons that are not important.
What is important, is that I am a writer.
What do I write?
Well I originally started off writing Fanfictions while I developed my craft over the years. As for my own, publishable stuff however, I love writing Fantasy, Science Fictional, the Paranormal/Supernatural, Adventure Thrillers and Crime Thrillers. I have dozens of stories in the works, and very few of them are progressing because I have trouble focusing entirely on one story for very long before my brain calls me off to another one.
I am also an artist...... sort of.... an amatuer artist would be more precise.
I am formerly trained in traditional painting and sculpture work and I have been drawing my whole life. I have my own little art studio all set up, though at the time of this post it is in a desperate need of tidy up.
By now you might be wondering what the purpose of this Blog is.
Well, its quite simple really.
This blog will be a place for me to write up my thoughts concerning writing, and I will be sharing my thoughts and opinions on story writing in general; from character development, to outlining, to world building. I don't claim to be an expert in these fields however; there are a number of how to write books by authors that have that covered, that are dead certain they know the exact formula that everyone should follow to be successful....... but I think they're full of shit. Yes there is some useful hints throughout said books, but in general, everyone is different and no one way works for everyone.
So I will be sharing my views and who knows, maybe it will shake something loose with someone that happens to read it.
For the most part though this Blog is for me, something to unwind my brain on.
But we shall see where it goes........
Welcome......... to My Journey............
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