Yesterday I had a migraine. I dropped Tori off at the store and went home to sleep it off. Later in the afternoon I worked on a short story titled, Artemis the Goblin Rat. Before Christmas I participated in The Twelve Writing Days. This is one of the stories I wrote, first draft anyway. Based on the Japanese fairytale The Boy Who Drew Cats, from Gleanings from Buddha-Fields, by Lafcadio Hearn, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1897.
Almost all my writing starts on paper. Scattered ideas that move forward from a beginning to an end. Several days later when the story has been properly digested by my brain, I transfer it to the computer and my writing program. At present I'm using yWriter5, http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html. I still don't understand it's full potential, but am learning at my slow pace. It's been a great help with organization and keeping tract of when I introduced so and so and such and such. The creator, Simon Haynes, seems to have gone through some of the same difficulties I did with my manuscripts. This program is helping me sort them out. I keep it on my stick and, therefore, can use it on any computer at my disposal. It's free, check it out and see if it helps you too.
Maybe you can share where your writing starts. napkin? scratch paper? writing log? computer? etc.
3 comments:
My writing generally starts with thoughts I have entered in a small notebook that is always with me. For longer fiction pieces, the next step is an outline of how I might plant those thoughts into a fictive "story". That done, I then try to remove as many accumulated plot elements as possible, seeking to get to a very minimalist plot. This never works out as well as I wish, and everything I write is by my strict criteria ALWAYS too plot heavy. I do much the same thing with short fiction pieces, but it goes much faster. (g)
Non-fiction always starts with a detailed outline, followed by fragmentary paragraphs and "brilliant" (g) sentences. Non-fiction is always much easier than fiction, as I can be as thorough as I think the subject matter requires. It is also much easier to have published, usually with no third-party editing required (or accepted-g).
Poetry always starts with a single (haiku-like) idea, sometimes just a single meaning-laden word. Often this goes no further than a haiku form piece, as I generally loose interest in expanding my statement.
Thank you. Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Is there a way to meet your plot criteria? Are your pieces getting closer to your demands?
So obviously you prefer non-fiction.
To bad about your poetry, but I totally understand.
I don't "prefer" non-fiction; it's just that I have had to write so much of it over the years (much less these days) and it is therefore easy. For me, fiction has proved more difficult and elusive.
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