July 27, 2009
Hank,
Re: New writing method for the kid
Years ago I considered writing SciFi. Every time I came up with an idea I told this buddy of mine who was really big into this kind of stuff. He would laugh and tell me it had already been done. Whatever premise I came up with had already been done. I gave up on the idea.
A month or so ago my old editor at The Black Rock Gazette asked me for a piece for this year's Burning Man. BM's theme this year is evolution. I've thought about what to write and haven't liked any of the ideas I came up with. Yesterday, he asked again and told me the deadline was Saturday.
I decided to try a new technique in developing this story - outlining. Okay, the technique isn't new, but it's new to me in my writing. What I've done in the past is to write and see where it goes. Many authors do this in various ways, typically, they are strongly character driven stories with, usually, an odd, or unbelievable premise. If you can get past the premise the story is often pretty entertaining. Steven King does this a lot. He says he writes to see what his characters are going to do. I've done that kind of writing most of the time and it can be enjoyable but it can also lead to repetition and writing yourself into a corner.
J.K.Rowling said she outlined all the books in the Harry Potter series before she started writing them, at least at a macro level. She also did a more thorough outline for each book before she started writing each one. There was one exception and she said she had to go back an rewrite the last half of that book.
I had already written a small intro piece , but didn't like or know where to go with it. I began my outlining process by writing a one or two line description of each evolution themed idea I could think of. Then I took a second sheet of paper and expanded on each of these themes slightly. This led to a writing of another intro piece in rough form. I also then sketched boxes in horizontal form connected with lines; each box represented one of the pieces I needed to do: an intro independent web piece, 5 - 300 word articles, an ending independent web piece. I had seven boxes labeled. Now I had to figure out what went in each box.
I began writing from my intro thinking about what would come next. I wrote until I understood the guts of the scene and then I moved to the next scene. Interestingly, as I did this a new and unique concept emerged that I had never thought of and I believe (hope) nor has anyone else (Hence, slaying the old SciFi It's already been done dragon.)
If I am right, and no one has done this, then I will have started a new line of thought on the question of evolution and the ethics of some forms of reproduction.
More, later, once I write it all up...
Hank,
Re: New writing method for the kid
Years ago I considered writing SciFi. Every time I came up with an idea I told this buddy of mine who was really big into this kind of stuff. He would laugh and tell me it had already been done. Whatever premise I came up with had already been done. I gave up on the idea.
A month or so ago my old editor at The Black Rock Gazette asked me for a piece for this year's Burning Man. BM's theme this year is evolution. I've thought about what to write and haven't liked any of the ideas I came up with. Yesterday, he asked again and told me the deadline was Saturday.
I decided to try a new technique in developing this story - outlining. Okay, the technique isn't new, but it's new to me in my writing. What I've done in the past is to write and see where it goes. Many authors do this in various ways, typically, they are strongly character driven stories with, usually, an odd, or unbelievable premise. If you can get past the premise the story is often pretty entertaining. Steven King does this a lot. He says he writes to see what his characters are going to do. I've done that kind of writing most of the time and it can be enjoyable but it can also lead to repetition and writing yourself into a corner.
J.K.Rowling said she outlined all the books in the Harry Potter series before she started writing them, at least at a macro level. She also did a more thorough outline for each book before she started writing each one. There was one exception and she said she had to go back an rewrite the last half of that book.
I had already written a small intro piece , but didn't like or know where to go with it. I began my outlining process by writing a one or two line description of each evolution themed idea I could think of. Then I took a second sheet of paper and expanded on each of these themes slightly. This led to a writing of another intro piece in rough form. I also then sketched boxes in horizontal form connected with lines; each box represented one of the pieces I needed to do: an intro independent web piece, 5 - 300 word articles, an ending independent web piece. I had seven boxes labeled. Now I had to figure out what went in each box.
I began writing from my intro thinking about what would come next. I wrote until I understood the guts of the scene and then I moved to the next scene. Interestingly, as I did this a new and unique concept emerged that I had never thought of and I believe (hope) nor has anyone else (Hence, slaying the old SciFi It's already been done dragon.)
If I am right, and no one has done this, then I will have started a new line of thought on the question of evolution and the ethics of some forms of reproduction.
More, later, once I write it all up...
Labels: writing tip
posted by Rick Kinnaird at 9:42 AM
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