Forum: Author Hangout

So I'm not sure if it's timewise really more efficient,

It has nothing to do with efficiency. It has to do with letting your creative side do it's thing.

ETA: It's also one of those times to tell rather than show. Typically when you're writing like that, you tell more. Then you can go back and change it to showing.

It has nothing to do with efficiency. It has to do with letting your creative side do it's thing.

The theory behind it is that you write out of two separate hemispheres of your brain, the analytic, and the emotional side. Thus you write, spinning down the page, purely from the emotional side, not allowing your inner editor to step on your vision. Then, when you go back, you give the analytic inner (as opposed to external) editor a chance to do it's thing.

However, the one often inhibits the other. So when you do both, you end up with less creative writing (i.e. it doesn't flow as smoothly), and when you edit, you're not as efficient (i.e. it takes you much longer). By separating them, you're theoretically doing both more efficiently, getting the words out and then cleaning them up without getting tripped up by your imagination.

Maybe I should also mention, that the later corrections need ten times the time of the initial writing. So I'm not sure if it's timewise really more efficient, but that's not the point of the article.

The key is, when the writing is flowing, you write, hell bent on grinding out as much as you can. When the flow slows, you switch to editing. If the flow stops indefinitely, you examine the story to identify where you went wrong.

But that's largely been my aim whenever I write, as I'll lock myself away and just write and write until I finish the entire first draft (switching between writing and editing as described), before I begin my revisions of the entire book, cleaning it all up, adapting the story to anything new added since I started, expanding certain scenes—as appropriate—and adding the few actual character or scene descriptions.

The easiest tactic for me is to pretend I'm writing an email. Just let it rip.

I can't even write an email that way. I'm constantly editing it.

I'm still on my first wife and haven't been sacked since before then.

A probationer employee I fired complained she'd never find another job. Speaking from personal experience I told her if no one who'd been fired ever worked again, very few folks would have a job.

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The easiest tactic for me is to pretend I'm writing an email. Just let it rip.

Or a forum post. 'D

I never knew that had a name.

It sounds like a name someone made up just to give it a name. I think of it as a creative data dump.

Not really. It's a first draft, to be edited later with all the final word choices, beats, etc. Just a method of getting it out of one's head and into words.

It's mostly capitalizing on bursts of creativity. You know it won't last, so the idea is to not waste it by obsessing over details, but to get as much written, creatively, as you can. You can always edit, whether you're feeling creative or not.

It's mostly capitalizing on bursts of creativity.

I understand and even agree with the concept. The problem with it is for those of us who have full time jobs. Sometimes I have five minutes available to write, sometimes I have three hours. Rarely do I have a full day. But I also have one of those oddball brains that I can't shut off both sides.

I have my day job and my work from home job. Writing is #3 at best. When I'm at work or home, I keep Wordpad open and if inspiration strikes, or the characters decide to act out a scene in my head, I have the opportunity to jot something down.

That's a sensible compromise, and you've got your feet in the world of writing, learning techniques (like these) along the way. When you retire in a few years (?), I'll look forward to the works you can produce as a full-time author (who earns virtually nothing, like the rest of us).

In my case, I'm disabled. I'm hardly rich, but I'm comfortable and have plenty of time available, and writing give structure to my life. If I wasn't writing, I'd probably watch TV all day.

But I also have one of those oddball brains that I can't shut off both sides.

I'm not sure that any of us can shut off both sides. If you did, you wouldn't think at all. 'D

I'm not sure that any of us can shut off both sides. If you did, you wouldn't think at all.

Like a Democrat?

What I meant by my comment was that even when I've been drinking my usual so that I can finally go to sleep - other than being just a bit more obnoxious in my posts, I will still see and correct typo's as I'm writing.

I know the 'kids' call it keyboarding today. 40 years ago, it was touch typing and I could do 60 wpm on an IBM Selectric. My typewriter through college was a Smith Corona with cartridges, so I could type away, and when I saw a typo, I'd switch to the FUJ cartridge to take care of that mistake. (FUJ - Fuck Up Juice - aka the White Out Cartridge.)

I know the 'kids' call it keyboarding today. 40 years ago, it was touch typing and I could do 60 wpm on an IBM Selectric. My typewriter through college was a Smith Corona with cartridges, so I could type away, and when I saw a typo, I'd switch to the FUJ cartridge to take care of that mistake. (FUJ - Fuck Up Juice - aka the White Out Cartridge.)

My brother, after being tossed out of the military, survived by working in Manhattan as a typist, typing 50 words a minute. I was impressed, despite working in Manhattan myself. Recently (about 20 years back) I was finally tested for my typing skills, and I type at over 200 wpm! And that's where they track and account of mistakes, reducing your score based on how many typos you make.

Apparently those 'touch typing' classes are better than the modern 'keyboarding' ones. 'D

I also studies speed reading, and could read at over 700 - 1,200 wpm, but since I started editing (and had to slow down when reading my own stories to catch my own mistakes) I'm MUCH slower reading now!

There are also times when I have had a future scene playing repeatedly in my head and I want to get it into words so I can clear out the mental space.

I often go to bed, and plot out the next chapter in my head for the next morning. However, I'll often get so excited about the prospects that I can't sleep. In those cases, I'll get up, write down just enough to satisfy myself, and then I can return to bed and sleep assuming I can finish off the rest in the morning. However, my muses are harsh task-masters, and sometimes they won't allow me to sleep at all!

I've never heard it called that before, usually it's referred to as a flow of consciousness writing.

I'd actually heard the term used before, but never remembered it, as most times, you hear an author talking about the importance of writing unimpeded by thinking about what proper, fitting or correct.

Still, it's nice using a name for it—mostly so those you talk to can look it up once you walk away.

I spent time developing the characters before the story started, and then I used each character's differing motivations as an underlying conflict between the protagonists.

It worked for me once; other times when I've tried it I get bored. The one time it worked I was stuck on the character so I decided to write her biography for her life after the events of the story. It worked to give me a sort of "what happened to her" closing.

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It worked for me once; other times when I've tried it I get bored. The one time it worked I was stuck on the character so I decided to write her biography for her life after the events of the story. It worked to give me a sort of "what happened to her" closing.

The times it didn't work for me (fleshing out everyone's competing motivations), the story essentially requires either than one person lead the others, or for everyone to have the same motivation. What's more, the time you spend developing the characters (before you get into the story itself), is likely to cost you readers who get bored with the lack of plot advancements, since they can't see the benefit in learning about secondary characters immediately.

What's more, the time you spend developing the characters (before you get into the story itself), is likely to cost you readers who get bored with the lack of plot advancements, since they can't see the benefit in learning about secondary characters immediately.

Right. I used it for my own notes, not in the story itself.

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