I have been a fan of reading and writing fiction for as long as I can remember. Quickly, writing became an enjoyable pastime for me if I wasn't reading or guessing the next move in a movie. For a long time, I bounced back and forth between excitedly sharing my writing with others to writing my stories for my eyes only. I was very sensitive about the potential misunderstanding or rejection of my stories. I had a lot of ambition that caused me to think of elaborate plots. Thinking that I would hear that my stories were unclear was terrifying for me; they always felt extremely well planned to me.
I didn't truly begin to conquer this internal struggle until I was in my second half of high school. Taking my AP English courses and my first Creative Writing course were major turning points in teaching me the value of criticism, talking through ideas and generating new ideas with writers of different styles. My five years in college taught me to embrace the whole writing process and learn how to refine both my creative and analytical writing techniques. I was able to reestablish the pleasure in creative writing through working in writer workshops and experimenting with my style. Now I'm not blocked by some of my past rigid restrictions. I can start writing before I've thought of every plotline. I can't promise that I won't spend ten minutes picking the "perfect" adjective or verb, but I'm a work in progress.
My Writing Process for Creative Writing
Some Ways I Generate Ideas
Sit in silence and think (This is not always easy to do)
Write down random thoughts that I'm having about any topic
Think about how I would continue a scene from a movie or a tv episode
Use a line from a movie or tv show that I love for inspiration
Listening to Music: Instrumental or Vocal
Start writing the opening of a story with no particular plot in mind
Pick a theme or topic
Develop the characterization of a character
Review old brainstorming notes (I love rereading old thoughts)
Google writer prompts
Weekly writer prompt that I'm subscribed to: reedsyprompts
It's very important that I get all of my thoughts down whether I'm writing on paper or typing. I keep very messy outlines/bullet points that track my thoughts.
How I Manage My Time
Sometimes I set a time limit
Sometimes I don't set a time limit
Challenge myself to think of an idea by the end of a bus ride
However long it takes to get all my initial thoughts out/to feel done for the moment
I will stop everything if I think of a plot twist or better sentence/description/
dialogue
It's important for me to pull myself away from my word document or I'll overthink every sentence (With that, I have to try and turn my brain off)
If I have a specific deadline, I try to start at least a week, sometimes two, ahead because I know I'll change any and every detail in my mind 100 times before I finish
I lose track of time too often. It really depends on how the writing is going and how I'm feeling. If I'm on a roll, everything else must wait. Unless it's a requirement for an assignment, I will rarely determine my writing time by page numbers or word count.
How I Edit
I target one element at a time. For example, I could start with grammar and then focus on dialogue, the amount and placement of speech tags, description, consider "show, not tell", etc.
I read my dialogue aloud to see if it sounds natural
I go back over my bullet points to see what smaller details I skipped and decide if adding them is elevating or just fluff
Take out any fluff
I try to become a first time reader and analyze if the overall plot or the plot progression is confusing
I try to read every single word so that I'm not reading what I thought I wrote/what I mean to write, but what's actually on the page
I'll repeat all of my steps all over again. I never feel completely done with editing a story
Normally, I try to give myself a couple of days in between finishing a first draft and editing a story. That helps me edit with fresh eyes and possibly think of anything else to add to the writing.
