Gauda

When I try to write, I attempt to visualize it in my mind like a movie. The reactions my characters have, the settings, the moments where the music crescendos....things like that. Is this helpful to you, or is it just a set up for a disaster? I'm having problems with execution and flow, so I try to use this method to correct it. However, I still find myself stuck at times. Any recommendations?

Thanks,

Gauda

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S1E9A8N5

I don't know what other people do. If visualizing it as a movie is a common thing or not but I do it as well. It helps me.

Sean

cbrmale

I hate posting this, but whatever works for you. Actually, I will give an idea, and it is borrowed from movies. Look up 'Plot Points', and when you are planning your story (and you do plan, I hope), you can map your story's plot points against what's recommended for a screenplay, and see if the story is travelling well.

This was suggested to me, and I ended up re-sequencing events on an otherwise finished work, and it came up much better. My current work under development had the plan put against plot points, and it seems to be working.

Beyond plot points, I sometimes 'see' key sequences in my head like a move playing, and I write what I see. They are so vivid I don't want to miss what I have seen so I write these scenes in advance of the main work, and slot them in later. Clearly my subconcious is working out the flow and pacing of these dramatic turning points, and I'm just tapping into internal thought processes.

Talia_Brie

This is definitely a good idea. That's what I do. I'll sometimes run over the scene about a hundred times before I start writing it. I just need to have a very clear image of the scene before I can write it properly.

As cliche as this sounds, it's also really good advice. But imagining movie scenes works for me. It's as good a method as any, and probably better than most.

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aspiring

I recommend writing whilst standing on your head if it helps you to produce good writing.

Talia_Brie

I used to do that, but the keyboard kept dropping on my face. Lifelong scars from that, thank's very much.

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mammamaia

i suspect that those who have to [or prefer to] write prose fiction by 'seeing' scenes a la the movies, before writing them, have done more movie-watching than book-reading...

and that those of us 'older folk' [and others] who have been reading books since we were old enough to hold one, probably have done the reverse... or both, with a preponderance of books over movies...

what say all o' yez--suspicion confirmed, or not?

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starslight

i'm a visualizer, too. since i grew up with television and film before i started reading, i guess it's just natural to me. so i tend to write out the scene as it plays out in my head, and then go back over it to polish up the language.

one bad habit i picked up from this method, though, was describing every little movement the characters made while they speaking. like replacing the word "said" with adverbs, i think this can become a crutch. it's fine in small doses, but the dialogue itself should be doing most of the work in construing to the reader how the characters are speaking.

just something people might want to watch out for.

imrhati

i visualize myself, but i read more than i see movies, but TV itself...

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Fantasy of You

Reading is far better than watching a movie. You can go deeper. If you think of it as a movie when you're writing, it won't go deeper, and it'll be just like all the other trash on the trash pile, labelled trash, next to the arrow that points to it with the words trash upon it.

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cbrmale

Maia,
Suspicion confirmed in my case, I have seen a lot of movies, although I have read a lot of books. But what happens in the subconcious is sometimes hard to fathom, like the character you can hear 'talking' to you, the dialogue that appears without any real thought process.

Getting back to movies, 'Swimming Pool' is a great example of the creative writing process and the impact the subconcious has on writers.

Pat

When I get an idea for a story, 99.9% of the time it starts with simply a character idea. I'll be sitting in class, daydreaming and in my mind, I'll come across a good idea for a character, then I'll think about a problem. Whatever problem that character is facing starts at a large scale, first thinking about the most profound conflict, from the basic list: Human v Human, Human v Self, Human v Supernatural, Human v Nature, Human v Tech/Science, Human v Human Nature, Human v Society. Once I have the main conflict, I ask what secondary conflicts, from the same list, are prevailent within the character and the problem. In that same process, other characters are envisioned to accomodate the structure of the conflicts, and often ARE the problem given to said main character. The key to my particular way of doing things is that I never envision an ending. Most people like to plan out their stories from beginning to end, which is a very sound structural way to do things, but my characters come alive in the key strokes. For that to happen, I have to let the story unfold AS it unfolds. I do my absolute best not to write my characters, but to let my characters write themselves, in a way. Then, once the first draft is completed, I go back, re-read it and THEN I look at plot structure and make sure that with the action given in impulse the theme stays in tact and the story flows and remains entertaining. The whole process takes a bit longer than simply planning the whole story, but I think it makes things more authentic in that the characters stick to the natural actions that character would do if the story were actually happening.

As for physical descriptions of what's going on, I like to mentally put myself at the shoulder of the character. In a way, my mind is like a camera on their shoulder, watching what they do in the third person, but at the same time offering mental insights as to what the character is thinking. That way, my descriptions remain (or I hope they do!) somewhat vivid and realistic, while staying within the grasp of what the character is experiencing.

Hope that answers your question!

Shall we make suggestive hand motions now?

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Anarkos

You know, you talk copious amounts of utter twaddle. Whether or not this technique works for you, others here certainly seem to find it useful. As far as I can see, you aren't an editor, agent or, well, anyone with much experience or knowledge of trash piles...so lay off the belittling tone...unless, of course, you can back what you say up.

I don't think this is a very useful technique. Novels don't have camera angles or orchestral soundtracks. The two forms of media are very different. What a narrative point of view can 'see' is very different to what a camera's lense can and will catch. You cannot really film a movie from a first-person perspective, for example. Films require much more detail in setting, costume etc, which could be tedious to read...whereas prose allows for some big voice' exposition disjointed from the actual narrative etc...not to mention wit, wordplay, narrative fallibility and voice, etc, etc.

That said, when writing a scene where stuff, y'know, happens....visualising what's going on is essential. If it helps to pretend you're watching a film, well, go for it...but remember you're not writing a film script.

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Spherical Time

I visualize as well, but instead of visualizing it as a movie, I try to visualize it from inside the body of the character that I'm writing about. I want to know what the person is feeling and smelling and seeing, and also what he can't see.

That's what I do, anyway.

Mike C

We all evolve our own tools and techniques for getting the job done.

Blanket dismissals, however, are counter-productive. To say 'reading is better than watching a movie' is like saying radio is better than a painting, or music is better than sculpture. They're different art forms, with different disciplines and different requirements.

Some movies are bad. Some are breathtaking. Just like any other art form. I'd rather watch a good movie than read a bad book, and vice versa.

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