Are You A Lazy Writer?

[unknown]

how do you guys write when you do write? do you plot it out and do everything that you're supposed to, or do you just start randomly punching keys and hope that something turns out? I've always done the second method, with a vague plotline in my head, but I'm thinking of trying out the first option the next time I get an idea in my head

[G. S. Carnivals]

Quote Originally Posted by unknown";p=&quot

how do you guys write when you do write? do you plot it out and do everything that you're supposed to, or do you just start randomly punching keys and hope that something turns out?

unknown,

In my case, either method may be productive, but I must admit that any conscious plotting or deep premeditation is usually counterproductive. If I dwell on something too much I tend to kill it in its tracks, because I have rendered it meaningless by chasing its figurative tail. I think that I do much better when I write spontaneously. A case in point is a post in another thread. On a Friday night recently (after a thoroughly exhausting week at work), I came up with three names for bands (if I had one) while driving home. My intent was to mention the band names; bam, bam, bam, and then go to sleep. However, when I had the opportunity to compose my post, it suddenly took on a life of its own. It became a little fairy tale which was written totally without effort somehow. I like the little piece, and am proud of it in a perverse way. I hereby make a case for spontaneous (or automatic) writing as a means to an end (even an unexpected one). If there is a patron saint of Serendipity, I thank him or her profusely. And more than once.

Phil

[Nemonymous]

I am in tune with GSC's reply.

Unknown,
I don't think I use either method but a blend of them both tinged with a spirituality or religion that makes me believe the blend will surely work for me. I'm lazy enough to believe that.

It happens like clockwork each time I'm in that mode of wanting to write fiction. Without fail. One day it might not.

Pretentious, or what??! :-)
des

[Mr. D.]

Dear Unknown,
I don't think that there is one way to write. Usually I start with some idea, title, phrase or image. When it bonds with some other image, word, etc, then i can start writing. Even though I have some idea of what I am going to start with the results always surprise me, and that is as it should be. I call this the infectous method of writing. The one idea infects another, and then another, etc.
The only trick, if that is what it is, that I have discovered is to schedule my writing. My work permitting, I set up a time each day at least 4 times a week. it doesn't have to be a long period of time, but I try to be consistent.
During that scheduled period I tell myself that I don't have to write, but I'm not allowed to do anything else. Eventually, I get so bored that I start writing something.
It doesn't matter if the whole first draft is worthless. The second draft will be better. I try not to be critical when I write and try to be harshly hypercritical when I revise.
If any of this helps you I will be pleased.

[unknown]

thanks for all the replies guys. What I've been doing lately is just writing little one page stories at least once a week and keeping them in the hopes that I might get inspired to continue with one of them. but yeah like a couple of you have said, I'll get a line or a title or a character in my head and I'll just go with it.

I guess the trick is to keep going to a reasonable length.

[Karnos]

I second GSC's process, for I do it myself. I finally got the time to finish the one piece I was writing and started a new one. I usually just have the idea, a few images and the general plot and start writing whatever that comes; usually (as with everything and, I think, everyone) the end product looks nothing like I originally intended, but the main idea remains there. I still have to heavily correct the product, but that's less of a trouble, and I constantly think of new revisions while writing the new one.

I usually write on notebooks, but the one I'm writing right now is being done with the computer, it really does depend on the type of story and the mood I am at the time. The more somber, horror-like stories are usually first conceived on my notebook, the less horror, but more bizarre on the computer.

On a side note, for those interested, I’m preparing a small collection of four stories and a fragment of an experimental piece (called “Primer reporte secreto”/First secret report) made with pictures, marketing ads, newspaper, barcode writing, internet stuff, etc. I’m going to put it on the internet for free. Two versions, the original Spanish language and an English translation made by yours truly…. When it will be done, that’s a different question, though.

[Karnos]

Quote Originally Posted by unknown";p=&quot

how do you guys write when you do write? do you plot it out and do everything that you're supposed to, or do you just start randomly punching keys and hope that something turns out? I've always done the second method, with a vague plotline in my head, but I'm thinking of trying out the first option the next time I get an idea in my head

Years ago, in high school, I had a creative writing class. I took that class mainly because of the super hot teacher who gave it (yes, I'm that basic) and there were perhaps just seven other people in the class. The one thing she always told us to do before writing anything, even a first draft, was to write down an outline of the story, for "it worked".

She would constantly check if we were writing our outlines for the stories, but in my case I was (and still am) unable to write down an outline of any shape; in a sense because I think it kills the spontaneity of the story, but more concretely because I am unable to perceive the full scale of the story at any given stage of the writing process. I cannot tell you with a straight face "this story begins like this and ends like that". I can only tell you what the story is going to be about, and perhaps hint at how it might probably end, but the rest is as nebulous to me as it is probably to you.

Because of this inability to write an outline I constantly got in heated arguments with the young teacher (24 at the time), something that I actually liked because I have a fetish for pissed of attractive women

[Druidic]

I think a lot of beginners make the mistake of choosing the type of story they want to write. L. Cohen once remarked that a songwriter writes the only possible song he can write at that particular time.
If you're trying to write a Lovecraftian story that comes out cliched and dead, maybe you shouldn't be trying to write a Lovecraftian story. Sometimes we fail to follow our inspiration because we shrug and say, "Well, that would be an interesting idea but I want to write a very specific type of story." Very often the things we spurn are the most valuable.
If something intriguing strikes me—a first line, an image, an idea—I’ll write it down. Then if I still find it interesting (even if its not what I want to write) I’ll wait to find out what the damn thing is about. Let the subconscious do the heavy lifting. Let the story write itself. If it works, you’ll end up with a story that will surprise its writer as much as any reader. And when you reach Durrenmatt’s “worst turn” you’ll know it.
Let the story write itself. Afterward you can tweak to your heart’s content with foreshadowing, structure, whatever. When I post a story it’s always a rough, written online. Some stories I rewrite considerably, adding parts, subtracting parts, and don’t consider finished until months after the initial posting. I do it for my own pleasure and, as Harlan says, just to pass the hours...

The Muse may never let you down. But don't expect her to bend in your direction. You bend to hers.

[Nemonymous]

Since I started this thread in 2006 by asking that question of my future self, I answer that I have actually become a lazy writer who messes about on the Internet instead of writing seriously during the few remaining years left to me.

[Druidic]

As the famous Rust said. "You're looking at it the wrong way, Nemonymous." You're just collecting information for your magnum opus.