Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related The Writing Process

In a post earlier this morning I mentioned that I was on Pass 1 of writing a story. It got me thinking about process and I was wondering what the rest of you do when you are creating a story. I took a few minutes and jotted down my process:

Bob’s approach to stories of consequence (25K words or more):
1. Step 0: Idea 1 – What is the concept?
2. Step 1: Idea 2 - Find the end of the story (sometimes this can be the hardest part)
3. Step 2: Outline - Define the places, characters involved, and POV for each scene for the whole story
4. Step 3: Write – Pass 1 => Story pass – just lay down the rough story
5. Step 4: Write – Pass 2 => Color (expressions, descriptions, environments)
6. Step 5: Write – Pass 3 => Technical (he said, she said, punctuation, fix passive voice,…)
• • • Note: Usually the story will grow about 20 to 25% during pass 2 and 3.
7. Step 6: Read/Write – Pass 4 => Verify overall story and tweak details.
8. Step 7: Beta - Apply corrections from beta
9. Step 8: Beta pass 2 - Optional (about ¼ of the time based on the extensiveness of the changes)

Does this look familiar? Or does my approach seem overly complicated -- or too simple?

Bob

Note: Revised because step 6 was used twice (6 & 7 were both marked as 6)

I kind of have
Step 1: Step 0 and 1 from Bob
Step 2: Step 2 from Bob
Edit: Step 2a: Procrastinate
Edit: Step 2b: Procrastinate some more
Step 3: Steps 3-6 from Bob (can only go top to bottom and it's got to hit on the first try)
Step 4: Steps 7 and 8

Michael

Step 1 - The idea. An idea comes, I scribble a few lines, a scene, a possible ending, and file it away on my hard drive.
Step 2 - Over time - usually while I'm writing something else - my thoughts may return to the story and I add more mini-ideas to the file.
Step 3 - I finish writing a story, check through my list of ideas, and choose one to work on.
Step 4 - write, usually a chapter at a time. I pay no regard to grammar, sentence structure, or repetition.
Step 5 - the main edit. This is the most time-consuming part. I have spent an hour on one paragraph - although 5-10 minutes is more normal. I work and rework sentences. Sometimes I realise the overall chapter is wrong and go back to writing to fix it.
Step 6 - Once each individual sentence and paragraph is in good condition, I re-read, stopping to edit whenever it's too rough to flow. I do this until I can read the entire chapter without stopping.
Step 7 - send to the BR/s.
Step 8 - Go over chapter again, noting BR's suggestion.
Step 9 - Go back to first unposted chapter and read from there, ensuring latest chapter 'fits' with whole story. Often, this is when I post a new part.
Step 10 - Start new chapter.

I rarely write out of sequence, although I did with my earlier stories.
I only write an outline when I'm struggling with a story. Mostly, I just write what's in my head, trying to ensure that I'm always heading for the planned ending.

Step 11 - A least a few months after entire story is posted, I edit for the archive. I think the break away is very beneficial and helps me see the story with 'new eyes'.

Hope this helps someone!

Corrina.

I'm not nearly as methodical as Bob (which I'm sure doesn't surprise him given that we have very different personalities, me being on the spontaneous end of the spectrum--seriously, I was tested). I start with an interesting situation plus an idea of where I want the story to end. I'm often stuck for weeks or months while I try to figure out whether there's an entertaining way to get from point A to point B. I could never outline every scene, because I seldom know what's going to happen until I start writing. My writing often goes out of order, with all-caps notes to myself stuck in between (LOIS BACKSTORY GOES HERE). For instance, my first story, Foreshadowing, started as the scene where Superman rescues Lois from the muggers. Then, at least for long stories, I often get bogged down partway through and have to start posting so that the feedback can give me ideas for the middle. For instance, it was the gentle readers who clamored for Lois and Martha to meet in The Man Under the Suit. I do always have a last scene in mind, and I won't start posting until I'm confident that I can finish the story. As far as editing, I do it as I go (thank goodness for word processors). I often reread what I've written before I start working on new parts, and I can't stand to leave a mistake sitting there. I have to correct it as soon as I see it. Of course, the last couple of steps are beta reading and correcting before posting to the boards. I also do a last read-through and sometimes some tweaking after a story has been posted to the boards before I send it to the archive.