Write Every Day: Day 18

[the_siobhan]

I'm not sure how much work I'm going to get done today - the temperature here dropped overnight and it snowed and my house is freezing. On the plus side our new furnace also arrived today so that is a problem that should be solved shortly. On the minus side, they are using some kind of strong-smelling glue that is giving me a headache.

Maybe I'll go for a walk once they're done and give the house and my head a chance to air out a bit.

Yesterday I went through all the scribbled notes from the previous weeks and organized them so they make some kind of sense. (Some of them I could not make head or tail out of. "Is this happen here or other time in house" - what?) I want do another quick re-read today and tomorrow and finish putting together a list of plot points that need to be filled in or added to.

So today's question is about plot. Do you have your plot completely mapped out before you start? Do you know everything that's going to happen or do you start from a premise and just see what comes up? I usually have a starting point and an ending point and try to figure out how to get there while I'm writing, which is... not always optimal, I have to admit. Whether you are writing fiction or non-fiction, how detailed is your initial outline?



Day 18 Tally:
china_shop, alexseanchai, badly_knitted, luzula, sylvanwitch, shadaras, brainwane, marvelouscity, nafs, lferion, cornerofmadness, yasaman, sakana17, sanguinity, phrenk, firecat, ysilme, silveradept, auroracloud, iberiandoctor

Day 17:
china_shop, badly_knitted, luzula, sylvanwitch, shadaras, alexseanchai, sanguinity, brainwane, nafs, cornerofmadness, sakana17, yasaman, lferion, marvelouscity, silveradept, phrenk, iberiandoctor, firecat, ysilme, auroracloud

Day 16:
china_shop, badly_knitted, luzula, sylvanwitch, sanguinity, yasaman, brainwane, firecat, nafs, cornerofmadness, lferion, sakana17, phrenk, silveradept, iberiandoctor, [Bad username or unknown identity: shadaras,], auroracloud

Day 15:
china_shop, alexseanchai, sylvanwitch, badly_knitted, trobadora, luzula, yasaman, sanguinity, shadaras, brainwane, nafs, sakana17, cornerofmadness, phrenk, lferion, silveradept, firecat, iberiandoctor, ysilme, auroracloud

Day 14:
china_shop, ysilme, sylvanwitch, trobadora, badly_knitted, luzula, alexseanchai, shadaras, sanguinity, nafs, brainwane, cornerofmadness, yasaman, lferion, sakana17, phrenk, shopfront,silveradept, firecat, ysilme, auroracloud

Day 13:
china_shop, shopfront, badly_knitted, luzula, shadaras, alexseanchai, sylvanwitch, nafs, cornerofmadness, lferion, yasaman, phrenk, sakana17, silveradept, ysilme, iberiandoctor, trobadora, sanguinity, auroracloud

Day 12:
china_shop, sylvanwitch, shadaras, brainwane, silveradept, alexseanchai, thevetia, yasaman, zulu, sakana17, sanguinity, cornerofmadness, lferion, phrenk, badly_knitted, saki101, ysilme, iberiandoctor, trobadora, luzula, auroracloud

Day 11:
china_shop, firecat, badly_knitted, luzula, sylvanwitch, shadaras, thevetia, sakana17, brainwane, sanguinity, yasaman, cornerofmadness, china_shop, nafs, lferion, saki101, alexseanchai, phrenk, firecat, shopfront, silveradept, zulu, trobadora, ysilme, iberiandoctor, auroracloud

Day 10:
china_shop, badly_knitted, luzula, sylvanwitch, alexseanchai, shadaras, sanguinity, brainwane, nafs, firecat, yasaman, cornerofmadness, sakana17, saki101, lferion, phrenk, auroracloud, iberiandoctor, silveradept, thevetia, trobadora, ysilme

Day 9:
china_shop, shadaras, sylvanwitch, alexseanchai, sanguinity, saki101, nafs, yasaman, cornerofmadness, lferion, sakana17, phrenk, badly_knitted, ysilme, silveradept, solo, carenejeans, auroracloud, iberiandoctor, luzula, brainwane, trobadora

Day 8:
china_shop, sylvanwitch, badly_knitted, luzula, saki101, silveradept, sanguinity, shadaras, thevetia, brainwane, nafs, cornerofmadness, lferion, sakana17, yasaman, phrenk, alexseanchai, firecat, auroracloud, ysilme, solo, carenejeans, iberiandoctor, trobadora

Day 7:
china_shop, shopfront, falkner, badly_knitted, luzula, trobadora, sylvanwitch, shadaras, nafs, brainwane, sanguinity, lferion, yasaman, sakana17, phrenk, carenejeans, cornerofmadness, firecat, saki101, silveradept, auroracloud, ysilme, iberiandoctor

Day 6:
china_shop, ysilme, trobadora, luzula, badly_knitted, sylvanwitch, saki101, sanguinity, shadaras, brainwane, nafs, alexseanchai, cornerofmadness, yasaman, lferion, sakana17, phrenk, shopfront, silveradept, iberiandoctor, firecat, solo, carenejeans, auroracloud

Day 5:
china_shop, badly_knitted, luzula, shadaras, sylvanwitch, nafs, sakana17, sanguinity, cornerofmadness, lferion, brainwane, saki101, phrenk, firecat, ysilme, shopfront, yasaman, carenejeans, houseof9cats, thevetia, robadora, silveradept, auroracloud, trobadora

Day 4:
china_shop, shopfront, luzula, alexseanchai, shadaras, badly_knitted, sylvanwitch, ysilme, sanguinity, saki101, silveradept, nafs, yasaman, thevetia, sakana17, cornerofmadness, lferion, phrenk, solo, iberiandoctor, firecat, brainwane, carenejeans, auroracloud, trobadora

Day 3:
china_shop, alexseanchai, alexcat, sylvanwitch, sakana17, thevetia, nafs, lferion, cornerofmadness, phrenk, solo, badly_knitted, luzula, shadaras, yasaman, brainwane, trobadora, ysilme, sanguinity, silveradept, iberiandoctor, firecat, carenejeans, auroracloud

Day 2:
china_shop, shadaras, falkner, luzula, badly_knitted, alexseanchai, trobadora, saki101, sylvanwitch, brainwane, thevetia, lferion, cornerofmadness, nafs, sakana17, yasaman, solo, phrenk, auroracloud, ysilme, sanguinity, silveradept, alexcat, iberiandoctor, firecat, carenejeans

Day 1:
china_shop, sylvanwitch, luzula, badly_knitted, trobadora, falkner, alexseanchai, silveradept, shadaras, sanguinity, thevetia, nafs, cornerofmadness, lferion, sakana17, alexcat, marvelouscity, saki101, yasaman, solo, auroracloud, phrenk, shopfront, brainwane, dreamwriteremmy, ysilme, , iberiandoctor, firecat, carenejeans

Let me know if I missed your name at any point. And participation is always open, so jump in with a comment any time.

Comments

[alexseanchai]

it was three in the morning when I posted that thing so that counts for today

I don't have so much maps as destinations and waypoints. if I try to map it out, I always go off-course. still sometimes helps to, so I don't miss any waypoints.

[the_siobhan]

Yeah, I don't know how much a map would help me. My characters seem to do what they want.

I added you to the 18th - did you want me to take you off the tally for the 17th?

[alexseanchai]

no those were different things

[the_siobhan]

Gotcha.

[badly_knitted]

I'm a pantser, no clue what I'm going to write until I'm writing it, and sometimes I still don't know until it's finished. Planning? What's that? *grins*

Nov 18th - 1200 words, one challenge fic. *ticks it off the list*

[the_siobhan]

Hey, whatever works!

Well done on words and on finishing one of your projects!

[badly_knitted]

Thanks!

I think my brain likes to be spontaneous.

[luzula]

For my current story, I have a list of things I want to have happen, in a rough order. I guess that's a plot, kind of, though it's very bare bones?

Wordcount for 18th of November: 700
Total wordcount on poly fic: 40,700

Finished chapter 8! Also I did beta-reading on a friend's story.

[the_siobhan]

That's more of an outline than I usually have!

Well done on your words and on your beta!

[sylvanwitch]

For short fiction, I can sometimes work without an outline, building on an image that pops into my head or an idea or line of dialogue, but for longer works, I need an outline.

In the case of the novel I'm writing, I have both a structural outline (this happens here, this other thing happens there) and a narrative outline, where I identify and describe characters, important institutions and social constructs, figure out the geography and topography, the magic system, etc.

And even with all of that (MANY, MANY words of outline), I'm way off script at the moment, but it's all good. ;-)

ETA: Forgot to say that I wrote 574 words today.

[the_siobhan]

Characters will do what they wanna do. :-)

Well done on your words!

[shadaras]

How long my outline is depends on how much I care and how complex the plot is to begin with. xD; For one-shots I almost never have an outline more complex than a sentence or two about the core idea of the fic. For longfic, each chapter tends to get a quick summary-paragraph, and then I expand those paragraphs into more helpful scene notes when I reach the chapter in question and need to write them.

Today I wrote a couple hundred words!

[the_siobhan]

The chapter summary sounds like a good idea - I might steal that.

Well done on words!

[brainwane]

I hope the new furnace goes great!

November 18th words: 419, all written from scratch.

For this nonfiction book I have an outline with approximately two levels of heading. I have four major sections: Settling in, Taking charge, Making change, and Passing the baton. Within those sections the outline has one sentence fragment per chapter to write, such as "Understanding conversation platforms and expectations".

I threw this outline together in, like, January. Early this year I was talking with someone about it and she suggested I might want to rearrange my outline to make it more topic-based. I got utterly stuck and averse to even thinking about it, and it blocked me from working further on the book. Then, on October 31st, I sat down with my spouse, who said: NO, don't fuss with the outline, just start writing from it and you can rearrange later! And I developed a little outline that I can reuse for each chapter, like a writing prompt or template, and it's really helpful:

* PROBLEM that comes up
* REASON for problem
* SKILL you need in order to solve it
* EXAMPLES
* HOW TO DEVELOP this skill (exercises, principles)
* SUMANA'S PHILOSOPHICAL RANTS ON THIS SKILL AND PROBLEM
* KEY TAKEAWAYS
* REFERENCES

I think at the end of this month -- and I am so grateful to you for hosting this, it's been so superlatively helpful to get me to write some substantive chunk every day! -- I will likely revisit my outline and expand it (add more chapters and add a bit more detail per chapter) and maybe rearrange some stuff based on what emerged as I wrote. Once I do that and polish a few sample chapters, I'll feel ready to write a book proposal!

[the_siobhan]

That sounds like a really useful structure. And I'm glad the daily check-ins are working for you.

Well done on new words!

[marvelouscity]

Day 18 - wrote about a third of a page? idk, just eyeballing it

For screenwriting I always outline because I was taught to (/forced to) in classes, lol. It's been a few years since I've done any non-screenwriting writing but I think at this point if I went back to it I would definitely outline. Unless it was like, 2k or under - I feel like before I was actually taught how to outline I always really struggled with anything longer than that. That being said, I listened to an interview the other day with Eric Roth who's a very successful feature screenwriter, and he was like "yeah I don't really outline" which I was very surprised by.

[the_siobhan]

That's interesting. I have to admit I know absolutely nothing about screenwriting.

Well done on words!

[nafs]

I'm very much a pantser. I've been outlining bits here and there as I try to steer this behemoth on track, especially when I encounter the large gaps I left for myself and I need at least a guide of the beats I *think* I need to hit (I've been referring to notes about this section all month and it's mostly helping me write things that are at least somewhat related to the section I want to work on). But I've never started out with an outline and trying to outline always frustrates me more than just writing and rewriting until I get there.

Two alibi sentences for the 18th

[the_siobhan]

I love the word "pantser".

Well done on getting those alibi sentances down!

[lferion]

Day 18 - 102 words on a drabble (plus title) inspired by the picture in today's mini-wrimo prompt/reporting post.

[the_siobhan]

Well done on words!

[cornerofmadness]

good luck with it. I had no heat/power last night

I got 2374 words tonight just 89 shy of winning nano. I feel pretty confident I can do that in the remaining time. ha.

[the_siobhan]

So I saw. I'm glad that's sorted today.

Well done on words and on your Nano win!

[cornerofmadness]

thanks

[yasaman]

Day 18: 404 words for me tonight!

[the_siobhan]

Well done on words!

[sakana17]

Day 18: More edits.

[the_siobhan]

Well done on your progress!

[sanguinity]

I usually have an idea of what work the resolution needs to do, and likewise what might accomplish that work. If the thing has a proper plot, then sure, I often know a number of the waypoints I need to hit, but not everything has a plot.

And then there are the pieces where I'm totally winging it. *shrug*

And for extra fun, I can start out in either mode and end in the other.


Check-in for today: More story notes.

[the_siobhan]

Well done on your progress!

[satoyan]

Day 18: 1,839 nano words. Still feeling a little stalled (in feelings if not words) but I'm hoping to make a push in the next two days and get to the new POV.

[the_siobhan]

Well done on your words!

[china_shop]

19th: I added some unknown number of words to my WIP and finished my weekly update post. :-)

[the_siobhan]

Well done on your unknown words! :-)

[firecat]

Day 18: 1375 words

If it's more than 5K words or so then I usually have to write out a list of scenes at some point. But if I start out with an endpoint in mind and try to write toward it, the story will usually veer in another direction and I'll realize I like it better.

[the_siobhan]

I get the "veering" part. Not always the liking part. :-)

Well done on your words!

[ysilme]

I usually only have a rough plotline, or some central ideas. But even in the rare cases when I managed something more detailed right from the start, there's always something happening which adds or subtracts from the plotline. My characters keep having their own mind!

[the_siobhan]

Mine too. How dare they!

[silveradept]

I tend not to have a detailed outline for my works and much more a set of pictures or points or lines that I want to get to or I think are good and then I just have to be able to string the connections between them. Sometimes, if a picture feels like it's pretty far away, I'll write it into the narrative document so I don't forget it, but I also tend to write somewhat linearly, from word one to the end, even if that means time travel shenanigans or anachronic narration. My writing progress often depends on how many pictures I have and how well the connecting parts are working with me. And this process seems to work well enough whether the finished part is 2k or 20k. When we hit the end, it's usually pretty well signaled enough that I don't have to do more or feel like I'm cutting it off prematurely. Or it's a spot that's an end, even if I had infinite time, I might do more.

Day 18 meant turning three of my outstanding assignments to green status, having checked their wordcount and made sure they look and feel like a complete story. Still plenty of projects to work on, even so, which is good for keeping me moving in the direction of writing every day.

[the_siobhan]

It sounds like you have something similar to me in that you are writing from Point A to Point B, but that you have lots of intermediary points that I lack.

When you use the word "picture" do you actually have a visual component in your mind's eye? (I sometimes do, but not always.)

Well done on all your progress! Sounds like you have already accomplished a lot this month.

[silveradept]

Sometimes it's an actual picture or video sequence, sometimes it's a line of dialogue I'm writing toward. It can either be an action sequence or a joke, and usually it's the pictures for a particular scene that I'm working with at the time.

[greylock]

What kind of furnace? (Serious question)

I have a vague knowledge that it's some kind of central heating (maybe powered by coal or diesel in the old days, maybe gas or electric these days) that blows heat through the house?

I'm sure there's a reason you use a furnace as compared to whatever the fuck the English for with their vile central heating (or our ducted reverse cycle aircon), but I can't figure it out, and the Mando calls.

[the_siobhan]

Forced air powered by natural gas.

I don't know what the English system is, but I suspect it's not designed to deal with Canadian temperature drops.

[greylock]

The UK uses heating panels in rooms, which, IME, are always set too high, and dry everything out.

But, yes, I expect they are designed for a slow-and-steady heat, not the kind of rapid-warming gas would enable.