Author Notes · 9:27pm Sep 1st, 2015
Yup. I did that durn trope that is either poison or poultice. It was the idea I wanted to take the story through so I carried on with it even if everyone hates it.
I may have mentioned before, but the way I write a story is complicated. I have notebooks and re-fill paper packed folders, thumb drives and computer files crammed with "sketch" or "doodle" writing that I have gathered in the roughly ten years I have been writing for fun, not just for school. Any story I create starts with what is not often the actual beginning of a story. I will be inspired to write something. Sometimes there is little context and it is simply a turn of phrase I like, or even just a descriptive piece some music or view has brought out of me.
If enough of these match to one story setting, or spark off a plot-line, one shot or story arc, then I start to gather them into a document with some sort of working title that reflects the story content. Then I have what amounts to some "flags" in the middle of a story that mark a scene or happenstance I want to present to people. Sometimes even an ending or resolution I am trying to reach.
Then, after a lot of frustration / manic creative run, I have enough of a chapter buffer to start publishing a multi-chapter story or I have a one-shot to offer up. The multi-chapter story might not be anywhere near complete, with flags waiting to be linked into the story. Then the work of linking them in a manner that feels natural and un-rushed, not yanking everyone around from one context to another, begins.
This can be hard and slow going, especially with my capricious muse. I can be happily writing a story that my head hopes will be finished by the holidays ("Especially if I write it at this pace!") will suddenly drop dead. I have found something new and shiny, or hit a wall and found something else to focus on.
It is also affected by my emotional state. When I started the story I was in a job that wasn't the mentally healthiest environment, lets just say some of the ways I decided to resolve or reach plot-points were a lot darker than they turned out. For that I am happy, as when I look back on the documents I dropped those scraps (always save work so pleasing parts can be lifted elsewhere) I cringe at it.
Anyway, Blah Blah. I write like a Mad Hatter at a Tea Party convention.
End.
*sips tea*
Indeed
I can see why your stories are so well done. That's a lot of work and planning!