How do you start a novel? Do you plan out the story first? Write an outline? Go by the seat of your pants? Make charts and arrows punctuated with head-banging?
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Writers: How do you begin?
I'm working on a proposal for a new novel. That means writing the opening chapters and an outline for the rest of the book. For me, this is the hardest and most frustrating part--figuring out the story. Here's a glimpse of how it starts to take shape for me. This is months and months worth of work ...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I start writing what I think will be a story, then when I'm about 20 pages in it takes off on its own and I don't know where it's going but I keep following it. When I do figure it out, I write a list of scenes that I need and where I think it will end. Then I write scene by scene, not necessarily in chronological order. Then I throw out the first 20 pages and revise. I think I'm a pantser, or just disorganized. Either way, it's scary. :)
I sort of start like this but not nearly as neat. I also use a notebook for each chapter. I almost always write the end first, I have always needed to know where I was going which is strange because I write true stories.
Post a Comment