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Originally Posted by j. d. worthington  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.
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. |
This sounds a lot like what I do. Sometimes, if an idea comes to me away from my computer, I'll write it down on a notebook and then use that to write off of at the keyboard. But I'll usually write at the keyboard. And the same problem for me was stopping at night because I'd keep having all these ideas, but then I'd have to wake up at 7 or 8am.
When I first started out my novel, I just wrote out all these scenes that were loosely connected--kind of along a story line, but not necessarily. Sometimes scenes came to me that sounded pretty good, so I just wrote it out whether or not it had much to do with what I had previously written. So then once I had written quite a lot, I started at the beginning and had these goals throughout the book that I'd have to write up to (kind of like connect-the-dots but with words instead of a line). If some of the scenes I had written didn't fit, I'd cut and paste it in an "edits" document.
I'll also use a chapter or so that I had previously written as a way of warming up and getting into my novel before I'd write that day. I'll use that as an opportunity to edit that part of the story. Sometimes, before I go to bed I'll reread part of what I had written and use that as an editing opportunity as well. But I don't get dragged into editing mode that much. I will wait until I'm done with the novel (I hope!).
Years ago, I used to have these ideas floating around, and I'd write maybe a page or two (I think 20 pages was the most I've ever written--I don't even know how many words it was; back then I wasn't counting). Now, with this novel, it seems like I just can't stop coming up with ideas for it. I hope it lasts because I just love writing it!!