Writing a novel – Page 29 – Marie Alice Writes & Reads

Diary of a writing project. Day 142: the brackets writing tip

How’s your writing mind?

Mine is very linear, always has been. From A to Z, there’s only one way in my brain: chronological, one letter after the other.

If I outlined, I then followed the outline.

One chapter after the other.
Writing the whole thing through.
Then moving on.

In other words, I more than less write the same way I read.

The many authors out there, sharing their work and their writing process, inspired me to upgrade the way I write.

Honest to the big G’s up there, I’ve never thought of using brackets or simply write (insert joke here!) or (this what the next two pages should be about in three sentences).
I cannot write in a none chronological order, but I’m allowing myself to write a resume or even a synopsis of a chapter I’d rather write later because of… many reasons like I want to flesh out a character ARC or get on with a cute scene.

In the same spirit, I will be moving from Word to Scrivener in a couple of weeks or so (the budget reality of a freelance writer; gotta wait to have money before spending money).

I’ll do a « test drive » first, but I’m ready for a software designed specifically to handle a big document like a novel, or a play, or a screen play.

I love Word, I’ll keep it. But when the manuscript reaches more than a 100 page, glitches and so much weird little things happen.

I’m almost ready to share the new word count for the YA WIP. I’m still in the process of getting the new outline all set up, adding the rough draft words worth keeping to what I’m ready to call the first draft.

And I will soon share some writing news concerning my writing quest. Stay tune!

Thanks for reading, and I wish you happy writings.

Writer Notebook: Rough outlines

Over time – no, let’s be real – after many failures, I settled to develop my story ideas in a more organized way.

To outline or to not outline a novel idea?

Outlining a novel is NOT something absolutely necessary.

When I develop an idea for a novel, I scribbled in a notebook. Even before I answer the big 5 W’s + H, I just have fun writing the inciting incident, what are the consequences for the main character and its world.

Even though I’ve been writing stories since… always I feel sometimes (!), I just started to outline a couple of years back.
Over time – no, let’s be real – after many failures, I settled to develop my story ideas in a more organized way.

I enjoy outlining a little more now, but I still struggle.
I outline nevertheless because it really helps me explore the possibilities within the story idea.

Now, about the outlining method.

Well…

Continuer la lecture

Diary of a writing project. Day 139: welcome back, ghost story

I’ve decided to go back to the WIP that started this all « Diary of a writing project » thing.

Is it the gloomy February? Or the gloomy Valentine day’s we’re having this year (funerals happening this week-end, not much in the mood to celebrate love, when actually, we should, even more so).

Taking a break from the project really help get some perspective on things.

I almost immediately deleted some words, and then, a whole chapter. I then went back to the drawing board, as I often do when I find I’m deleting too much of as been written already.

This time, I felt I needed to up my game and bring some changes to my writing process. I’ve grown very tired of the constant going back to the drawing board.

Yes, questions must be ask during the drafting process and tadilalala. But I really want to get to the point where I have a working outline.

I started to research and study more carefully different writing process, and watch some AuthorTubers writing process, and listen to more recorded write-in’s.
The MasterClass adds are still working their way to convince me to spend a fair amount of money on writing classes.

I’ve started a new blog post series, the Writer Notebook.

It’s not incredibly thorough. It’s no Writers Helping Writers kind of Writer Notebook, nor is it a « how to do » thing. It’s just something that may help fellow authors to find their own process.

There are so many techniques out there, I just thought I would put together the ones I referred to the most, and I’ve used to come up with my ever-evolving writing process. The goal is to have all my references in one stop. And why not share them with fellow writers at the same time!

Anyway, as always, I just hope some people find it useful.

Thanks again and again to have taken the time to read this post. Until next time !