Do you set aside a time each day to write? Do you write five pages stream of consciousness then trim it down into something that makes sense? Are you a planner? Do you write in a notebook? Do you write once, edit once? write twice, edit once? Write once, edit thrice?

I don’t have a consistent process. I’ve been experimenting with writing in a basic markdown editor, maybe 500 words at a time, then stringing together multiple entries as best I can. What I find is I have lots of ideas and thoughts that are separate, and critical to my ability to form complex thought is correlating multiple seemingly unrelating things, which then creates a new more complicated and hybrid whole. I can’t sit down and write 5,000 words on one thing, but I can write 500 words on ten things, and then use that as the basis of a mosaic piece that (when edited well) comes together into a unique whole.

  • altz3r0@beehaw.org
    1·
    1 year ago

    I see writing in two ways. The first one is the art, the creativity flow. The second one, I see it much like I do programming. To me, the writing part is usually the last step of the process. Well, technically the middle, since the other half is refactoring editing.

    My programming is chaotic.

    Anyway, what I mean is, I usually begin by writing a short draft of what I have inside me that wants to come out. Once I regurgitate that out, I see what a mess it is, and begin to shape it. I turn it into an outline, I think about what the draft really is trying to say, and once I have an outline and an actual message, then I begin to write at the same time as I define the context.

    I write it all out, taking breaks to run some editing rounds every time I feel blocked or just not that much into it, and push through until I have the final draft. I don’t measure words per day or set a daily goal, but I do write a lot. Well, to be more precise, the issue I have is that I have to force myself to stop, or I’d just spend all day writing and nothing else. In that sense, you could say I have a stopping goal by the time my working hours begin. But I digress.

    Finally, once that is done I begin the editing process, which depending on how serious I am about the story, can take a lot longer than the actual writing. (I imagine that is a common thing, however.) If I were to put a ratio to it, I’d say my writing process is 30% drafting, and 70% editing.