Heid

I'm in the process of drafting ideas for a novel that I want to start writing. The basis comes from a short story I did for one of my writing classes so I just fleshed that out. So with a protagonist and storyline already in place I feel I will be ready to begin work on this lengthy project pretty soon.

So I was wondering, how do you begin writing your novel/s? Do you simply writer "Chapter One" at the top of the page and go from there? Or do you draft one scene in particilar and see where it fits? Do you scribble notes on paper and then bulk them out on-screen?

What's your method?

The reason I ask is whenever I've started previous works I've always gone "Chapter One" and begun from there, writing each chapter that follows. But even with a full plan I've always lost steam and never seem to return to my projects. So basically, I'm looking for any alternative angles.

Or should I just pull my finger out and stop procrastinating?

CroZ

Plans are pretty redundant. Dive in and let the drivel be your outline.

Heid

I tried that with my second attempt. It turned into jelly with poo.

For this go I'm aiming for at least the beginning and end. What comes in the middle will no doubt be written whilst in a drunken stupor.

jon_snow

I start out with a vague concept. I start to flesh out the world after that, and then make some characters I've been wanting to write about. Then I figure out what the conflict is, and then some semblance of a plot. I tend to plan out the first couple scenes, and then let the story write itself.

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I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men.

Gilles

My method actually varies.
"Once in a blue moon, a Gilles will awaken from it's slumber, sit in front of its Laptop, and write."
One repeated method of mine is to write down all the primary and secondary characters, important places, and other things I made up and write, from one sentence for a place up to dozens for the main for main. This writing summarizes each of these story peices. After that I write from chapter one.
Once I wrote from chapter one, but had another chapter in my head I wanted to write since I had writers block for the current chapter. So I skipped to it, leaving it for later.
In the current one I'm writing, I wrote whatever excerpts I wanted to get out my head the most. After that I started writing from chapter one.

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"Of a truth, if God does not protect me from it, I would not know how to protect myself." -- Jehanne la Pucelle

Heid

At the moment I'm writing out one scene (which I am aiming to use as an opening chapter). This one scene should be a piece of cake because it's basically a rework of the short story I did in terms of the main character and the setting.

Once I've done that I will let it simmer for a while whilst I work on some more ideas such as other characters and other scenarios etc.

Cheers for the help.

Keep them coming.

lin

Sounds like a plan, Heid. Probably the way the majority of writers do this, I'd say.

Having an outline and character sheets and beat charts and all that stuff is one end of a spectrum. The other end would be like, Harold Robbins just sitting down and starting to type and stopping when the novel's done.

Your best approach will be somewhere in between and vary from book to book. Sometimes completely extraneous things help organize. I wrote a novel that was separated into the days of the week of Carnival...BIG help in structuring, actually.
I did another one that (hard to explain) moved from ultraviolet to infrared through the color spectrum.

As you get material, you can start making cubbyholes to toss it in, and a layout for the cubbyholes.

Good luck

__________________

Swamp Thing

I listened to the voices inside my head and one day I heard them . . . .

__________________
To identify the elements of style, perhaps we should begin by eliminating the idea of correctness.

- Mario Vargas Llosa

lin

ONE DAY without the tinfoil hat and see what happens?

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Swamp Thing

It's amazing, when I stuck the pointy end of the tinfoil hat in my ear, it made a great hearing aid. So I made another for the other ear. Kind of hard to walk around like that on blustery days, though.

__________________
To identify the elements of style, perhaps we should begin by eliminating the idea of correctness.

- Mario Vargas Llosa

SAHMAuthor

I've had this story idea since I was a teen. I just never got organized enough to write.

I got started by going to the library and taking out some books on how to write a novel. I skimmed through a bunch of them and, piece by piece, I put together a schedule that works and keeps me on track.

Basically, I write three pages a day, minmum. Whether that's before I do some research or using stuff from the day before. I am at my desk for at least an hour a day and if the three pages come fast, I have lots of time left for outlining what's to come.

I think everyone is different, but if you set an achievable daily page goal, I find it makes it flow much more easily.

Best of luck with it!