Omnibus Post! · 12:58pm Jan 16th, 2013

So, this post is going to cover a whole bunch of things that I had planned to fit into a blog post at some point or another. In fact, I actually feel like this one might actually have some meat compared to the usual mini-updates that I spread around. If you're just looking for more important stuff, scroll past what's directly below.

The Writing Process

First things first, I thought I would share just how I start writing a story. I mean, I'm clearly nowhere near great when it comes down to it, but I find it really great for getting the ideas that stick around. In this little process, I get ideas. These tend to be little bits and pieces, kind of like blueberries in a muffin. I'll think up an interesting concept, like a sentient flower or maybe stargazing. Other times I may think of some kind of concept that has to do with a character, like Junebug acting in a play (coming soon... hopefully). I may end up with a complete deluge of ideas and thoughts before I get to the next stage. At this point, I write down each little snippet that I've had on one nice, full piece of paper (the idea sheet). Then, I wait for a while. This may be weeks or even a month. After I've gone through a period of time that I deem fit, I write down all of the ideas that I'm still thinking about and expanding upon. I compare the sheets, and anything that I haven't really thought of is immediately scrapped. I do keep the ideas that are left out, but it's highly unlikely that I'll ever write them. For example, one such idea is "Twilight starts an insurance company." (If anyone wants to do that, go ahead). I just simply didn't know enough about it or didn't find it pulling me in enough.

Either way, I get to a point where I have a few ideas that are really getting some meat to them. This is probably the most thought-intensive portion of writing my stories. I'll take the ideas and seriously consider a few things: Can I write this? Do I know enough about the things involved to write this? Will this make a good story? Can I enjoy writing this story and can other people enjoy reading it? If any of these things are too doubtful, I may decide to set it aside for later. After I've gone through the few ideas that made it to this step, I take the ones that I set aside and throw them into something akin to mince. It's basically a place where I keep concepts that would either not be compelling enough on their own or seemed more like interesting quirks or tidbits that would be fun to see in a larger story. Sometimes, I don't have any ideas that weren't set aside.

Here comes the actual writing bit. Prior to this point, the only thing I've done at all is perhaps riddle out some kind of basic outline or write down a few things that would be important to include in my story. I haven't made a document or a folder for it yet. Then, I simply do. I have enough ideas floating around that if I get into the mood to write something, then I can write about whichever of the stories I have in the works that fit best with my writing mood. Depending on how good or prevalent the idea is, I can write quite a bit in one sitting. Before editing and whatnot, I wrote Growth, in its entirety, in the span of a few hours. On the other hand, I wrote Where Does It Come From? over the span of a couple of days, and I'm still technically making edits here and there. It turns out that my writing is generally really slow for multiple reasons. The primary factor behind it is school itself, because that just eats 8 hours of the day before I even consider homework. Other than that, I tend to get the mood to write rather sporadically. It's a bit unfortunate, but I would rather write when I know I'm enjoying it than force myself to write because I have stories that I really should update. I just get higher quality material by waiting. After all of this writing business comes editing, but I usually am obsessive enough that very few simple errors actually slip through. Instead, I end up looking for the stylistic errors and some broader-scope grammatical or structural errors. I tell ya, those are a royal pain to track down.

Anyway, now that all of the writing and brainstorming spiel is out of the way,

The Important Update Bit

It's really rather frightening when you go and decide that you want to keep writing for a story and you realize that you have to go back through it and make sure that you have the details right before you actually start putting some effort into it again. So basically, I am writing again. It's just going to be a bit before I make progress.

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