The dreaded organic writing disease

[pjthompson]

Outlines are good ideas, extremely good. They are far and away the most efficient way to write a story. Unfortunately, they don't work for me. When I write an outline, it kills my stories. I've already figured out what happens, so why repeat it all again? My psyche refuses the jumps when I try to take it around the course.

So for time, when I was trying to figure out my process, I'd get an idea and I'd just sit down and start writing, see where it led me. I wound up having many carcasses of half-finished stories laying around. Clearly, that wasn't working any better than outlining. Trial and error and a million bad words later, I started to get a clearer sense of my own process—and essential part of learning how to write, I think—and figured out that the gold standard for me was knowing the ending.

That may seem obvious, but not all organic writers of my acquaintance need to know the ending in order to produce a finished story. But I do, and it was an important chunk of understanding myself as a writer. Even if the ending changes along the way (which often happens), I have to have an ultimate target to aim towards. But, please! Don't ask me to figure out the middle before I get to it. I'll never get past it to the end if I know too much about how I am going to get there.

My non-organic writing friends, the outliners, get the willies when they hear me talk about how I write. I had one who insisted I needed to outline, although I explained patiently that I'd tried it on many occasions and it wound up killing my stories. "How can you not know where you're going?"

I know where I'm going, I just don't know how I'm getting there. Because it's not just about telling the story for me, it's the adventure of finding the story: into the forest dark and back out again, guided only by the flickering candle of my imagination.


Random quote of the day:

"Like the daimons who inhabit them, myths shape-shift, cutting their cloth to suit the times."

—Patrick Harpur, The Philosopher's Secret Fire

Comments

[rhonawestbrook.livejournal.com]

Your process amazes me. I'm one of those "outline people" and while outlining is by far the most challenging thing for me..if I don't do it first....I cannot write the story. I would be terrified of diving in without my outline!

At the same time..I agree with you about the importance of finding what works for you. It's not the process that counts in the end after all....it's the results.

Cool post!

[pjthompson]

Thanks. Figuring out your process is second only to finding your voice, I think. Although you have to figure out your process before you can find your voice, so maybe... Don't mind me. I'm figuring this out as I go along. :-)

[darkspires.livejournal.com]

I sometimes try with the outlines but it has never worked for me. It is not the outline that kills the story but the story that obliterates the outline.

[pjthompson]

That happens, too. Sometimes if I hit a point where I feel a little lost, I'll take a writing session to organize my thoughts--all those things that have been floating around in my brain that I think I might use--and write down where I think I'll go. I start off following that proto-outline, but inevitably the story moves away from it.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

I'm an outliner, but hey, if whatever works. I would never suppose that my way would be the ideal way to write. I, too, must know the ending or it won't work out at all, even with a short story.

[pjthompson]

It's whatever makes it work for you.

[cathemery.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[pjthompson]

:-)

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

I'd lean toward the adventure aspect more than the curse. ;-)

[pjthompson]

lol--you're an adventurin' kinda guy. :-)

[beth-bernobich.livejournal.com]

I write something like a messy outline/plot treatment/series of signposts first, with gaping holes in the middle section where I know I'll spend extra time figuring out how what really happens.

(Why, yes, I'm doing that now.)

[pjthompson]

Yes, in the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I do a copious amount of note-taking and "practice scenes" and dialogue runs (which almost never wind up in the finished product), and if there's a lot of worldbuilding involved I even start off making an "encyclopedia." Once the actual writing begins, I almost never refer to this stuff, it just seems to be the way my imagination gets charged up to do battle. (It's the fun part.)

[wldhrsjen3.livejournal.com]

I know just what you mean! I've tried outlining and somehow lost all interest in the story afterwards. I've also tried the "write as I go" method, but then I never seem to get to the end. Soooo... now I'm writing as I go, but I *do* have a few very general plot points, really just major ideas, jotted down in my notebook to sort of keep me on some sort of path. I still don't know exactly where I'm going or how I'm going to get there, but at least I have a direction! :) We'll see how it goes... I'm still finding my process, I guess.

[pjthompson]

Let's try this again with the proper coding...

As I was telling Beth, I do something similar. Lots of notes and scenes and dialogue, most of which never makes it into the Official Record (i.e., the manuscript). The really irritating thing is that the process sometimes changes on you. The other irritating thing is that it sometimes takes some flailing around before you cand recognize the patterns and work with them rather than trying to reinvent the wheel every time. It would be so much easier if there was a One Size Fits All instruction manual. But I don't think it would be as rewarding, or any fun at all. ;-)

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

I never was much for outlines, never could make them work for me. Mostly for the same reason as you. Why write after you do the outline? But also because until I write the characters actually doing all that, there isn't a story and then they either won't follow the outline or if I force them, the thing is wrong/sucks.

I do, as I write, jot notes for upcoming scenes suggested by the ones I'm working on.

[pjthompson]

Why write after you do the outline? But also because until I write the characters actually doing all that, there isn't a story and then they either won't follow the outline or if I force them, the thing is wrong/sucks.

That's exactly it. Once the characters become sufficiently rounded they get rebellious. What can you do but follow along?

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Beautifully put, PJ, and the quote is lovely, too.
My process resembles yours, I would say, but I don't have enough projects under my belt to know. I do know that I started TTD with a snippet of an opening scene (no longer has anything to do with the book) and the character was at the end of her life. The rest was figuring out how she got there, and then my two nations and people with gemmïs were born. But I struggled, oh how I struggled, to get a complete draft I was happy with--almost six years.

So, I figured I would outline my next project, but I'm not big on outlines either--I was the student who finished the project, THEN wrote the assigned outline. What I ended up with is what I call my "events list," just big confrontations, etc. of what will happen. Again, I started with a character and a what-if? And then I had to create a world with rules that would allow the character to exist and would provide obstacles to her goal. Both times, this the ending has come to me rather quickly, so I too need that goal to aim towards. (I work completely differently with shorts.)

I am (was, really) having a hard time getting into the new story and feeling that passion that makes me think of it all the time, makes me cranky if I can't sit down at the keyboard. But then I figured out two key things: 1, I need to discuss my projects and hopes with someone. I need a bouncing board, a critic, and an encourager. 2, it isn't just telling a good story that interests me, it is the *puzzle* of putting a good, layered story together. Figuring out that puzzle is what excites me. Does that make me a craft whore and not a storyteller? Dunno. But I don't care. It's how I work.

[pjthompson]

It's amazing how projects start. CWF started out with just the image of an angel barfing light into a gutter as he was in the process of falling. That's largely how it remained for a year or more while I worked on other things. Then I had to find out what all that was about and started plumping it up. That's when the note-taking and worldbuilding encyclopedia got started, only to be abandoned once the novel was underway.

Figuring out that puzzle is what excites me. Does that make me a craft whore and not a storyteller? Dunno. But I don't care. It's how I work.

Heavens, no. Craft and storytelling are both vital parts of the process and in the end the only thing that matters is what helps you put words on paper.

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

*happy not to be a "only" a craft whore* *g*

Alas, I abandoned my encylopedia, too, a little too early on, though. Now I'm having to go back and fill in holes. Talk about a headache. But I have that first draft at least. It shows me where the encyclopedia needs a little more fleshing out. :P

[pjthompson]

Abandon the encyclopedia! That way lies madness! Seriously, it's a Virgo thing. We obsess. :-)

[makoiyi.livejournal.com]

If you read my blog, I had the same trouble. so now I just get in my head what I want to do for a particular chapter. I'm writing Broken Sword completely on the fly now that I've got past the opening chapters. You'd think continuing on a short story would be the easiest thing in the world. It isn't, because you have to cut threads in some cases and still have continuity and make sense. Oh, all the reasons are there. Yesterday I wrote 2500 words. Sometimes, even if it doesn't stay in the story, you have to write it. And these were brand new words. That was how I wrote Crystalia, and it worked. I give myself the novel-in-ninety goal of 750 words. If I go over that, great, if I don't, I'm fine with that, too. It's such a do-able number. But, after saying I should outline, I'm still not doing it. Can't, and that's all there is to it.

[pjthompson]

I give myself the novel-in-ninety goal of 750 words. If I go over that, great, if I don't, I'm fine with that, too.

I think it's a very reasonable, very productive number. Bear was absolutely right there.

But, after saying I should outline, I'm still not doing it. Can't, and that's all there is to it.

In this business, there aren't any shoulds. Well, just one: you should do whatever it takes to help you put words on the page in a consistent manner. :-)