Thread: preparation overexertion

Hello there all -- new to the site. Nice to meet everyone.

I was wondering about what some others' thoughts would be on this subject... Sometimes I tend to get stuck in the preparation stage. I'm not a "new" writer- but I'm no Virginia Woolf either. Sometimes I can get a little obsessive-compulsive, but I don't think that's the problem here... I'm not sure what is exactly, but there is definitely an element of fear when it comes to moving onto the next stage of actually writing. Once I get going it usually goes away quite quickly but it's the "resistance" as it says in "The War of Art" that always stops me from being more consistent in writing. As I said, any and all thoughts would be great.

Thanks,
-Jen

I tell people they aren't putting it in gear: all the revving and racking in the world won't move you an inch if you haven't dropped it into first yet. I find myself doing the same thing, particularly in between scenes or even at what I perceive as breakpoints within a scene. What it boils down to for me is that I'm thinking about "what happens next," in broad terms, without thinking about what I actually *write* next.

There's a really fun physics-based explanation I like. But no one else gets it, I guess, so I'll skip it... It has to do with waves and amplitude. You'd like it, I'm sure. No? ...You sure? Dammit.

You are, of course, aware that a story is more than a recounting of events. A lot of the art (or the science! I might protest) lies in knowing what to tell more than in how to tell it. The key thing I look for in any paragraph is probably "compelling interest." If you're not sure where to start, skip ahead to that first spot in the story that you just know you can't possibly skip. That first moment that compels you to write it may well be the first part that will honestly compel your audience to read.

As for all the other stuff you agonize over, it probably isn't worth the effort.

Of course, having said all that, I have only just considered that your "preparation" process may be nothing like mine at all. In which case I'm sure all of that is quite useless.

I do very little preparation and simply start writing. I just go off the idea I am having and write it. So I am not sure I can help except to say stop preparing and start writing.

I don't think there is such a thing as "preparation overexertion." The more time you spend on your world and plot prior to writing, the more consistent and complete your story will ultimately be. Obviously you have to start sometime, but there's no such thing as too much planning.

Originally Posted by archer88iv

There's a really fun physics-based explanation I like.

Go on...

For Gamer_2k4:

Ok, you've heard of constructive and destructive interference? The idea is that no moment of characterization, plot point, or bit of scenery, in itself, is important enough to merit inclusion in a story. Events happen and people go about their lives and lots of places look really great in postcards, but you don't write about them until they come together. I visualize the whole idea as being a set of waves just like the ones on the diagram when my physics teacher was going over white noise and car mufflers and all that stuff back in high school.

Aren't you sad you asked?

Originally Posted by archer88iv

For Gamer_2k4:

Ok, you've heard of constructive and destructive interference? The idea is that no moment of characterization, plot point, or bit of scenery, in itself, is important enough to merit inclusion in a story. Events happen and people go about their lives and lots of places look really great in postcards, but you don't write about them until they come together. I visualize the whole idea as being a set of waves just like the ones on the diagram when my physics teacher was going over white noise and car mufflers and all that stuff back in high school.

Aren't you sad you asked?

My brain just exploded.

Originally Posted by archer88iv

For Gamer_2k4:

Ok, you've heard of constructive and destructive interference? The idea is that no moment of characterization, plot point, or bit of scenery, in itself, is important enough to merit inclusion in a story. Events happen and people go about their lives and lots of places look really great in postcards, but you don't write about them until they come together. I visualize the whole idea as being a set of waves just like the ones on the diagram when my physics teacher was going over white noise and car mufflers and all that stuff back in high school.

Errm. I think I'll be thinking about this one. I love physics stuff, so will try to grasp what you are saying here.

Preparation exertion = Procrastination

Originally Posted by archer88iv

For Gamer_2k4:

Ok, you've heard of constructive and destructive interference? The idea is that no moment of characterization, plot point, or bit of scenery, in itself, is important enough to merit inclusion in a story. Events happen and people go about their lives and lots of places look really great in postcards, but you don't write about them until they come together. I visualize the whole idea as being a set of waves just like the ones on the diagram when my physics teacher was going over white noise and car mufflers and all that stuff back in high school.

Aren't you sad you asked?

Not one bit; I like that explanation. (I'm an engineer.)

Originally Posted by jen2257

Hello there all -- new to the site. Nice to meet everyone.

I was wondering about what some others' thoughts would be on this subject... Sometimes I tend to get stuck in the preparation stage. I'm not a "new" writer- but I'm no Virginia Woolf either. Sometimes I can get a little obsessive-compulsive, but I don't think that's the problem here... I'm not sure what is exactly, but there is definitely an element of fear when it comes to moving onto the next stage of actually writing. Once I get going it usually goes away quite quickly but it's the "resistance" as it says in "The War of Art" that always stops me from being more consistent in writing. As I said, any and all thoughts would be great.

Thanks,
-Jen

I suffer from the same problem. On one hand it is quite helpful as it keeps me on track as I write the thing. I was reading some author's blog one day (can't remember which) and they were lamenting the same thing and said you just have to do it - start writing, but remember you can always go back and change the beginning later. So that's what I do now, just start writing! The other thing to remember is that your preparation/planning doesn't stop once you start writing, well it doesn't for me anyway. I will add to the outline of my plot, insert ideas for future events and change things as I write.

I started a thread here a while back about the whole notion of planning. I thought, mistakenly, that it was a given that all writers plan, turns out, some don't. This still baffles me. I just don't know how they can do it! I accept that they can do it, but it's still so ... Miraculous to me that people can create a novel from nothing.

Originally Posted by Aderyn

I started a thread here a while back about the whole notion of planning. I thought, mistakenly, that it was a given that all writers plan, turns out, some don't. This still baffles me. I just don't know how they can do it! I accept that they can do it, but it's still so ... Miraculous to me that people can create a novel from nothing.

You just wrote that entire post without planning, creating it from nothing. : )

That's the exact same process those "write by the seat of their pants" writers follow.

Originally Posted by KyleColorado

You just wrote that entire post without planning, creating it from nothing. : )

That's the exact same process those "write by the seat of their pants" writers follow.

You think a post and a novel are comparable?

Ideas happen whether you are planning or not. I find that most of my ideas come when I am writing. The only planning I do is between writing sessions I may write a few notes in a notebook about what I may need to re-examine in the plot, or what should happen next. Preparation has never been a strong point with me.

Originally Posted by Aderyn

You think a post and a novel are comparable?

: D

I think the process of writing one is the same, for those who do not plan. There's nothing miraculous about. It doesn't take divinity or a holy blast of light from God above.

It's just about putting one word in front of the other, and keep going, and going, and going.

The trick is accepting that not everything you write will be good. So you have to be willing to write past the fluff, and trust that you can trim it away and find the good material when rewriting your second draft.

I wrote my first novel in 6th grade, with zero planning. It turned out being like... 400,000 words long? Yeah, no comment. Obviously that method didn't work well for my twelve-ish self. Anyway...

My second serious attempt, when I started college, came out at 120k or so, which is more reasonable, and I very meticulously followed an outline I had written for it (on the back of an envelope one afternoon) without deviation up until I was about two chapters from the end. The thing was, I feel that the outline I produced limited me to an extent because if I felt that a new direction could be profitable, say, at the midpoint, I had to discard it, because it had the potential to make the rest of the outline useless.

So not being specific enough screwed me, and so did being too specific. The method I like best so far, for longer works, is to write a query letter for the work before starting and then use that query as a general guide.