[j. d. worthington]

It's been a while since I've written fiction beyond vignettes, but:

For fiction, I used to use the typewriter, then the computer keyboard. My problem wasn't in going back in to edit... it was in getting any sleep once I started; I'd usually go until I practically keeled over. The problem with that is burn-out, after a while (and my tales kept getting longer, as they required more room for what they had to say). Occasionally, I'd do some editing along the way; usually when I was having a bit of trouble getting started that day, I'd go back and reread the prior section and see what needed alterations, etc. -- and this also worked to "prime the engine", as it were, and get me going. But editing never particularly interfered with me getting the original writing done.

Non-fiction -- analyses, etc. -- I tend to do pen-and-paper, as it requires frequent stops to look up further information, citations, etc., and allows me to "see how it looks on paper", if you will, so that I can edit a fair amount as I go along -- largely to improve the flow of the text, enhance those sections which do have more sparkle, etc. It's a slower process because I'm largely editing as I go along, but I've so many ideas on where I want to go with this further down the line, that I've always got that siren-song calling me forward -- in this case, avoiding being wrecked on the rocks, as it were.

While I don't suggest mapping everything out, I do think it helps to have something from further on in your story that you're itching to get to as a goal... and when you reach that point, have something further ahead, and then something further, etc. Not that these should be more important than what you're working on currently, but as a goal/reward, something to keep you excited about the actual storytelling as you move along. Therefore, at least a generally worked-out plotline with some very vivid moments already in mind is a good thing to have when writing a story, I think; it both helps to keep you moving forward, and gives you a better feel for how everything up to those points plays into their development not only incidentally, but in emotional resonance and inner meaning, so that in turn helps you to develop the earlier sections at a higher level as you go along, in order to capture all those nuanced relationships you already have in mind (at least to some degree) with the later scenes.