The Word Cloud

8 Comments

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  by Chanty 2 years ago

  Not sure if I'm the best to help here. I wrote my last 4 chapters of my manuscript first - knowing how and where I wanted my first book to finish. It was also because those chapters were most alive in my mind at the time and therefore had to write them.
  
  Now that I know where I was going it was getting there - so I decided to map out chapters and give them names, also as a guide to what was going to possibly happen or take place in those chapters.
  
  Then I went to my first chapter and wrote onwards, until half way through my seventh. I then had to stop, because I was then ready mentally to write my prologue. I could not continue writing until I'd writing the prologue - after that, I continued with chapter seven on to the chapters at the end of my book.
  
  We all have our own style of writing and do what is best for us...
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  by Chanty 2 years ago

  Gosh, I can't spell this afternoon.... tired and need to go pack..
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  by Weens 2 years ago

  I'm told the technical way is to plan the whole thing. I knew the first three chapters and the end when I started. Luckily as I was writing the structure came to me and with each chapter I knew what I wanted from the next chapter, and so on till the end.I'm sure that's not the professional way of doing it, but it worked for me. If you have a system that works, why reinvent the wheel.
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  by Rebecca Holmes 2 years ago

  Everyone has their own way. I'm stuck on a story at the moment but I;pm about to go away for a few days so maybe a break might help. I don't think trying to force the next stage helps, because you end up with something too contrived.
  Another method that sometimes helps is making a mind map, plotting out possible different directions from a circle in the middle, jotting down thoughts/ideas that go further and further out on the line, them following which one seems to flow best. You need a biot piece of paper, though.
  good luck
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  by Barb 2 years ago

  I can tell you my evil mathematical approach if you want, but I don't think that's the way you're meant to go about it.
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  by Peppermint_Junkie 2 years ago

  I dread to think what that's all about Barb but am nevertheless intrigued!
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  by Miss Croft 2 years ago

  Nothing wrong with letting your characters take over and write their own ending. I personally could not plan an entire book. I can think of pivotal events that occur in the story, the ones that get things from point A to point B, I can plan the gist of it and the plot. But the ending? No, I couldn't do that because characters are unpredictable and sometimes, do not behave in the way you expect them to. Personally, I find it very exciting when you don't know exactly how something is going to end. You might find that the ending you end up with, is actually more meaningful than the one you thought you'd have. That's exactly what happened to me. Don't worry too much about how things are going to end, just go with the flow and see what happens. Good luck with it.
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  by Jak 2 years ago

  I've tried to plan scene by scene and chapter by chapter, but when my hands hit the keyboard anything can happen, I find myself deveolping stories I don't want or need. do i run with it and see where I end up? or do I cut back and stick to the plan?
  Answer: it changes, dependant on what I've written and how i feel at the time.