"I'll often make some notes, mainly so that I don't forget key points while a story is percolating in the back-brain until it's ready to write"
That's what I meant by "outline"! Gosh, I'm sorry I didn't make that clear, because I totally confused you.
I write stories in my head first, unless I get so excited that I sit down at the computer and start typing away furiously. But usually, scenes are in my head for a while before they get typed up, and usually they're all over the place in terms of the total storyline. That being the case, I often jot down brief summaries (e.g., "Background") to remind myself of which scenes I've written in my head. And by typing up these summaries in their proper order, I can more easily see where I need to come up with more scenes.
So the two outlines I showed you were my story gradually expanding as I came up with more and more scenes in my head, and as I realized things like, "Oh. I don't actually have a scene where I reveal this information that the protagonist knows at the end of the novel. Maybe I'd better have him find that out at some point." Then I'd draft another scene in my head.
"Because that's how I get story ideas: as words. I get the literal actual words I will use in the text first, not last."
We are so alike! But I'll confess that, while I can draft dialogue and expository passages in my head easily, description is dead hard for me. So I often leave descriptions out till I type up the scene. And sometimes I actually have to insert more descriptions into the revision, because I got so excited doing the easy stuff that I forgot to include the descriptions. Gah.
"I don't plot a novel at all. I just type along as words come to me, and hopefully those words have some plot progression incorporated in them."
When you get to the point of reading the - *ahem* - overly lengthy file I just sent you, you'll see I do exactly the same. :) Except that I rarely type up scenes cold; usually I draft them first in my head. But once I type them up, more material comes along, or things change from the way I drafted them in my head. (I couldn't actually recreate that in the file I sent you, so I pretended that what I typed up was my very first draft, rather than being my first typed draft. And in fact, my opening scenes of a novel usually do get onto the computer quite quickly, because I'm hot to go.)
Judging from what you've just said, I think I probably do a bit more guiding of my Muse than you do. I presented it in a very binary fashion in my file - my Muse does this, I do this - but actually, I think it's more of a spectrum, with totally subconscious processes on one end of the spectrum, totally conscious processes on the other end, and a lot of sort-of-subconscious-and-sort-of-conscious processes in the middle. So I'll be simultaneously flagging down my Muse when something happens that needs to be remembered for a later scene, taking note of a developing theme, reminding myself to research a historical fact, grabbing my Muse and saying, "There! There! You need to have him make his move now!" . . . and all the while, the main part of me will simply be enjoying the show. I don't know how to describe it, except that it's like being in a movie theater, where you're fully absorbed in the movie, but part of you is also aware of the person beside you, and part of you is grabbing popcorn, and part of you is trying to calculate whether you can make it to the end of the movie without a bathroom break. (Okay, maybe that last bit just happens to me.)
"proper mystery writers doubtless are much more organized"
I really have no idea how mystery writers come up with their stories! I've just assumed they started with the end of the story, but for all I know, many of them do it the way you do.
"I need a better way to generate ideas for actions/events that will fit the parameters I know the story needs."
(*Looks at my Muse.*) "Can you help her? You're the one in charge of such matters."
I think I'm going to let you look first at what I sent you and see whether that's in any way helpful.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2020-Jul-23, Thursday 05:19 am (UTC)That's what I meant by "outline"! Gosh, I'm sorry I didn't make that clear, because I totally confused you.
I write stories in my head first, unless I get so excited that I sit down at the computer and start typing away furiously. But usually, scenes are in my head for a while before they get typed up, and usually they're all over the place in terms of the total storyline. That being the case, I often jot down brief summaries (e.g., "Background") to remind myself of which scenes I've written in my head. And by typing up these summaries in their proper order, I can more easily see where I need to come up with more scenes.
So the two outlines I showed you were my story gradually expanding as I came up with more and more scenes in my head, and as I realized things like, "Oh. I don't actually have a scene where I reveal this information that the protagonist knows at the end of the novel. Maybe I'd better have him find that out at some point." Then I'd draft another scene in my head.
"Because that's how I get story ideas: as words. I get the literal actual words I will use in the text first, not last."
We are so alike! But I'll confess that, while I can draft dialogue and expository passages in my head easily, description is dead hard for me. So I often leave descriptions out till I type up the scene. And sometimes I actually have to insert more descriptions into the revision, because I got so excited doing the easy stuff that I forgot to include the descriptions. Gah.
"I don't plot a novel at all. I just type along as words come to me, and hopefully those words have some plot progression incorporated in them."
When you get to the point of reading the - *ahem* - overly lengthy file I just sent you, you'll see I do exactly the same. :) Except that I rarely type up scenes cold; usually I draft them first in my head. But once I type them up, more material comes along, or things change from the way I drafted them in my head. (I couldn't actually recreate that in the file I sent you, so I pretended that what I typed up was my very first draft, rather than being my first typed draft. And in fact, my opening scenes of a novel usually do get onto the computer quite quickly, because I'm hot to go.)
Judging from what you've just said, I think I probably do a bit more guiding of my Muse than you do. I presented it in a very binary fashion in my file - my Muse does this, I do this - but actually, I think it's more of a spectrum, with totally subconscious processes on one end of the spectrum, totally conscious processes on the other end, and a lot of sort-of-subconscious-and-sort-of-conscious processes in the middle. So I'll be simultaneously flagging down my Muse when something happens that needs to be remembered for a later scene, taking note of a developing theme, reminding myself to research a historical fact, grabbing my Muse and saying, "There! There! You need to have him make his move now!" . . . and all the while, the main part of me will simply be enjoying the show. I don't know how to describe it, except that it's like being in a movie theater, where you're fully absorbed in the movie, but part of you is also aware of the person beside you, and part of you is grabbing popcorn, and part of you is trying to calculate whether you can make it to the end of the movie without a bathroom break. (Okay, maybe that last bit just happens to me.)
"proper mystery writers doubtless are much more organized"
I really have no idea how mystery writers come up with their stories! I've just assumed they started with the end of the story, but for all I know, many of them do it the way you do.
"I need a better way to generate ideas for actions/events that will fit the parameters I know the story needs."
(*Looks at my Muse.*) "Can you help her? You're the one in charge of such matters."
I think I'm going to let you look first at what I sent you and see whether that's in any way helpful.