As sort of a companion to my blabbering about writing and other art forms, I wanted to point out one idea in particular. If writing is like drawing, then I believe it follows:
Editing is like inking.
I don't find myself drawing as much as I used to, but, for finished drawings, I basically go through three steps: sketching, inking, and colouring. I would usually have several sketches and ideas floating around at the same time, so I could either go sketch or ink when I felt like drawing. I inherently enjoyed making the sketches more, because it was undeniably a creative process.
At the same time, I didn't want to just keep a bunch of pencil sketches rotting in a drawer, so inking was still a necessary thing to do. Usually I would still put it off until I was in the right mood—usually a little less excited but still artistic enough to have an interest in the drawings. This was also when I wasn't terribly inspired to create anything new, so why not go over the old stuff?
Writing is the same way. The actual writing is the exciting and creative part, but I'm not always in the mood for that, and the first draft isn't complete (as much as I love posting serially). So I still have to go back over what I've made, strengthening the needed points and erasing the errors and irrelevant strokes. It's not as amusing, but it's a good pursuit for those times I'm not inspired enough to churn out new material, and it's a necessary step in creating a polished, finished project.
Does anyone else think the same? Are there any other comparisons you'd like to draw (haha) between the two forms?
Showing posts with label writing stories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing stories. Show all posts
Monday, February 3, 2014
Friday, September 20, 2013
O Thou Font of Every Blessing
While it seems most published stories need to meet certain font requirements, especially in digital publishing, I can't help but search for exactly the font in which I would like to read and write my stories.
A lot of my writing is done in 12-pt Verdana because that's what the FanFiction.Net Document Editor uses. That, of course, only applies to my fan fictions (although it should be noted that that's how I get to see the first and second drafts of The Long and Winding Road). I also use the plain horizontal lines for section breaks.
Along the Winding Road, however, currently appears in 13-pt Bell MT. I'm not sure exactly what about it seems just right for the story—as is the case for most of my fonts—but I do like the number styling in the chapter number-titles (which appear in centred 25-pt). Section breaks are currently formatted with a centred "~*~".
Mayflies is in 11-pt Georgia. This seems like a rather average font, but maybe I'd just like some tinge of normalcy in a story about ancient Mayan bird men and their sorcerer friend. Chapter headings are currently left-aligned, 12-pt, bolded letters (a "J" if Jonathan narrates, or an "M" if Matthew narrates).
Piracy Cruise Lines requires some pretty huge margins for some reason. Text is in 15-pt Garamond. Section breaks have yet to appear, but chapter number-titles are right-aligned, 18-pt, and formatted "---1---."
Dreadful Valley (my NaNoWriMo novel) was written in 12-pt Andalus, with section breaks formatted as plain horizontal lines. There were no chapter titles. I may have just needed a font that worked whether I was writing with my computer in Mac or Windows mode, although I still wouldn't put up with anything too typical, it seems.
Figments is in 12-pt Constantia with right-aligned chapter number-titles at the top of the page.
Chasers appears in 12-pt Candara. Section breaks (modelled somewhat after the Pac-Man dots) are a centred arrangement of three "◌"s. No chapter titles appear.
This blog (when it behaves) is in 12-px Copse, with the title "Novelling with Journey" in 60-px Consolas.
What kind of fonts do you like to us? Do they influence your writing at all?
A lot of my writing is done in 12-pt Verdana because that's what the FanFiction.Net Document Editor uses. That, of course, only applies to my fan fictions (although it should be noted that that's how I get to see the first and second drafts of The Long and Winding Road). I also use the plain horizontal lines for section breaks.
Along the Winding Road, however, currently appears in 13-pt Bell MT. I'm not sure exactly what about it seems just right for the story—as is the case for most of my fonts—but I do like the number styling in the chapter number-titles (which appear in centred 25-pt). Section breaks are currently formatted with a centred "~*~".
Mayflies is in 11-pt Georgia. This seems like a rather average font, but maybe I'd just like some tinge of normalcy in a story about ancient Mayan bird men and their sorcerer friend. Chapter headings are currently left-aligned, 12-pt, bolded letters (a "J" if Jonathan narrates, or an "M" if Matthew narrates).
Piracy Cruise Lines requires some pretty huge margins for some reason. Text is in 15-pt Garamond. Section breaks have yet to appear, but chapter number-titles are right-aligned, 18-pt, and formatted "---1---."
Dreadful Valley (my NaNoWriMo novel) was written in 12-pt Andalus, with section breaks formatted as plain horizontal lines. There were no chapter titles. I may have just needed a font that worked whether I was writing with my computer in Mac or Windows mode, although I still wouldn't put up with anything too typical, it seems.
Figments is in 12-pt Constantia with right-aligned chapter number-titles at the top of the page.
Chasers appears in 12-pt Candara. Section breaks (modelled somewhat after the Pac-Man dots) are a centred arrangement of three "◌"s. No chapter titles appear.
This blog (when it behaves) is in 12-px Copse, with the title "Novelling with Journey" in 60-px Consolas.
What kind of fonts do you like to us? Do they influence your writing at all?
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Order Chronological Writing In
You know how they always told you to do all of the hard problems on a test first and then go back to the easy stuff? Apparently it's supposed to be exactly the opposite of that when it comes to writing. Write every scene that comes easily, that you see in your head, in whatever order you feel like writing them, and then go back and put in connecting writing later.
It seems I'm just too "OCD" to do either.
Maybe it's just because I'm used to publishing chapter by chapter, and usually at a pace that wouldn't allow me to jump around if I wanted to. Maybe it's my need for a sense of completions—I'd rather write a finished chapter than a disembodied scene.
In any case, other authors advise working like this, and it does seem like a good idea to churn out what wants churning out. Just the other night, I was held hostage (i.e. awake) by a variation of a future scene in The Long and Winding Road. Is that when I'm supposed to cast away the bedsheets, run for the computer, and write it? I think that would have been possible, but I'm already wary of editing a normal amount—having to go back through the earlier scenes that I would write later to go back to the future scene and adjust some mindsets, wounds, etc. would not be a lot of fun. And it would probably be as confusing as it sounds. I don't mind challenging myself, but... shall I mention again that I am "OCD" about these things?
I'll never know how much this kind of technique would benefit my writing until I try it, though, so I may experiment with one of my less serious New Fiction Ideas. If it turns out to be too conducive to writer's block, I can always scrap the idea and start at the very beginning (a very good place to start, might I add).
How do you do your writing? Follow the inspiration? Take it chapter by chapter? Utilise some other odd technique that works for you?
It seems I'm just too "OCD" to do either.
Maybe it's just because I'm used to publishing chapter by chapter, and usually at a pace that wouldn't allow me to jump around if I wanted to. Maybe it's my need for a sense of completions—I'd rather write a finished chapter than a disembodied scene.
In any case, other authors advise working like this, and it does seem like a good idea to churn out what wants churning out. Just the other night, I was held hostage (i.e. awake) by a variation of a future scene in The Long and Winding Road. Is that when I'm supposed to cast away the bedsheets, run for the computer, and write it? I think that would have been possible, but I'm already wary of editing a normal amount—having to go back through the earlier scenes that I would write later to go back to the future scene and adjust some mindsets, wounds, etc. would not be a lot of fun. And it would probably be as confusing as it sounds. I don't mind challenging myself, but... shall I mention again that I am "OCD" about these things?
I'll never know how much this kind of technique would benefit my writing until I try it, though, so I may experiment with one of my less serious New Fiction Ideas. If it turns out to be too conducive to writer's block, I can always scrap the idea and start at the very beginning (a very good place to start, might I add).
How do you do your writing? Follow the inspiration? Take it chapter by chapter? Utilise some other odd technique that works for you?
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Thou Shalt Not Judge (Except When it Makes for a Good Story)
Usually, it's not nice to pass judgment on people. You could always be right, of course, but that little bit of victory doesn't warrant jumping to conclusions and probably hurting the one judged.
However.
If you can jump to conclusions without actually jumping to conclusions—form hypotheses without assuming they actually apply—you can end up with some good story material. And the farther you go (or the more ridiculous, depending on your writing specialty), the better.
Let's say you're on your way to work/school, and as you pass the local running track, you catch a glance of a young woman. She's suitably fit and in what you consider to be normal morning running clothes, but she is currently sitting on a bench at the side of the track, sipping from a Starbucks cup. The first assumption you have is that she has either been out running or is getting ready to run. That doesn't explain the whole situation, though.
First, let's say it would be no one would go running with a full cup of hot coffee/whatever on earth else she's drinking from Starbucks. From there, we can take two basic routes.
One, she has not been running with a full cup of Starbucks and is drinking it before she hits the track. Makes sense—but why is she having her morning caffeine on an otherwise empty park bench? Maybe she's just enjoying the morning. Maybe she's pretending to just enjoy the morning. Maybe that other space on the bench had been taken up by her boyfriend, who then left her in both senses of the word. In fact, she doesn't have a habit of drinking coffee—she just left the bench to grab something bready and something sweet to drink to calm her buzzing mind, and she couldn't stand to stay around all of the people in that Starbucks when she's barely able to keep herself from crying. There aren't too many people that pass this way, certainly not many that would pay any attention, so she came back here, to a spot that she can no longer say is her favourite place to run.
Two, the cup is empty. She drank it before she started running, and there aren't any convenient disposal spots along the track, so she had yet to get rid of it when she caught a glance of her best, best friend from high school who stole her boyfriend and, just a few months ago, her job. Said best, best friend is leaving the tennis court in the middle of the running track, and the jogger was on route to run into her. Instead she decided to park it on a bench, pretending to drink some coffee so no one passing by suspects anything, until the best, best friend was gone. If they ran into each other again, the jogger would probably end up beating the crap out of her. That would not be a good thing to repeat.
But perhaps we're not interested in writing high school dramas. Luckily, as you pass the track and turn a corner, you see two men putting up a section of fence: one, who doesn't particularly stand out, squatting to hold the bottom down as another, topless and wearing bright orange pants, drives in some nails. It looks like something a prisoner would wear. But what is he doing in the street, if he is indeed an escaped prisoner? Did he have help? Did one of his helpers sustain a wound that required a little cloth to bind? How did he get out of that one?
Any normal human being would take note of such things, maybe find it odd, but shrug it off and keep moving. Writers, on the other hand, can keep chasing the most insignificant character on the side of the road—not with the car, hopefully, but with crazy trains of thought veering off to wild conclusions worth reading. Just try not to get anybody hurt.
However.
If you can jump to conclusions without actually jumping to conclusions—form hypotheses without assuming they actually apply—you can end up with some good story material. And the farther you go (or the more ridiculous, depending on your writing specialty), the better.
Let's say you're on your way to work/school, and as you pass the local running track, you catch a glance of a young woman. She's suitably fit and in what you consider to be normal morning running clothes, but she is currently sitting on a bench at the side of the track, sipping from a Starbucks cup. The first assumption you have is that she has either been out running or is getting ready to run. That doesn't explain the whole situation, though.
First, let's say it would be no one would go running with a full cup of hot coffee/whatever on earth else she's drinking from Starbucks. From there, we can take two basic routes.
One, she has not been running with a full cup of Starbucks and is drinking it before she hits the track. Makes sense—but why is she having her morning caffeine on an otherwise empty park bench? Maybe she's just enjoying the morning. Maybe she's pretending to just enjoy the morning. Maybe that other space on the bench had been taken up by her boyfriend, who then left her in both senses of the word. In fact, she doesn't have a habit of drinking coffee—she just left the bench to grab something bready and something sweet to drink to calm her buzzing mind, and she couldn't stand to stay around all of the people in that Starbucks when she's barely able to keep herself from crying. There aren't too many people that pass this way, certainly not many that would pay any attention, so she came back here, to a spot that she can no longer say is her favourite place to run.
Two, the cup is empty. She drank it before she started running, and there aren't any convenient disposal spots along the track, so she had yet to get rid of it when she caught a glance of her best, best friend from high school who stole her boyfriend and, just a few months ago, her job. Said best, best friend is leaving the tennis court in the middle of the running track, and the jogger was on route to run into her. Instead she decided to park it on a bench, pretending to drink some coffee so no one passing by suspects anything, until the best, best friend was gone. If they ran into each other again, the jogger would probably end up beating the crap out of her. That would not be a good thing to repeat.
But perhaps we're not interested in writing high school dramas. Luckily, as you pass the track and turn a corner, you see two men putting up a section of fence: one, who doesn't particularly stand out, squatting to hold the bottom down as another, topless and wearing bright orange pants, drives in some nails. It looks like something a prisoner would wear. But what is he doing in the street, if he is indeed an escaped prisoner? Did he have help? Did one of his helpers sustain a wound that required a little cloth to bind? How did he get out of that one?
Any normal human being would take note of such things, maybe find it odd, but shrug it off and keep moving. Writers, on the other hand, can keep chasing the most insignificant character on the side of the road—not with the car, hopefully, but with crazy trains of thought veering off to wild conclusions worth reading. Just try not to get anybody hurt.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Draft Dodging
Overall I'm quite new to the editing process. I've certainly had rought drafts, etc. for school papers (ten pages over historical reasons for the theory of the humours... ugh), but I've rarely done such things for my fictional works. Usually I just churn out a chapter of fan fiction, fix any of those pesky squiggly red lines, and post it.
I've been a bit better on The Long and Winding Road. I've still done little editing, but I at least reread the chapter and edit for flow issues, misincorporated words, etc. I haven't read up on any "official" terms for editing techniques, but I would consider this something like fine-level editing.
So, if the raw writing is my first draft, the published fan fiction would be my second draft. After that, some major editing needs to be done in accordance with the original characters in the alternate version of the story. Once that third draft is done, another fine, readability edit is a good option so I'm not distracted by small errors, and that gives me my fourth draft.
My fifth draft, then, would be the result of larger-scale editing: seeing if individual scenes or even chapters are necessary to the storyline and such. I'm still only vaguely sure about how this whole process works, so I really can't be sure about anything past that. I'll need to make sure things are consistent with each other and with the real world (or the post-apocalyptic real world, at any rate). Extra revisions may be needed after giving that draft to a test audience, and then I guess at some point I'll come to my nth, final draft and hit Smashwords.
I'm sure my 2YN class is going to cover editing quite well, so I'm not too worried about my inexperience just yet. Still, it all seems quite daunting, especially when my previous editing experiences weren't for anything I really enjoyed.
How many levels of editing do you aim for? Any tips for me?
I've been a bit better on The Long and Winding Road. I've still done little editing, but I at least reread the chapter and edit for flow issues, misincorporated words, etc. I haven't read up on any "official" terms for editing techniques, but I would consider this something like fine-level editing.
So, if the raw writing is my first draft, the published fan fiction would be my second draft. After that, some major editing needs to be done in accordance with the original characters in the alternate version of the story. Once that third draft is done, another fine, readability edit is a good option so I'm not distracted by small errors, and that gives me my fourth draft.
My fifth draft, then, would be the result of larger-scale editing: seeing if individual scenes or even chapters are necessary to the storyline and such. I'm still only vaguely sure about how this whole process works, so I really can't be sure about anything past that. I'll need to make sure things are consistent with each other and with the real world (or the post-apocalyptic real world, at any rate). Extra revisions may be needed after giving that draft to a test audience, and then I guess at some point I'll come to my nth, final draft and hit Smashwords.
I'm sure my 2YN class is going to cover editing quite well, so I'm not too worried about my inexperience just yet. Still, it all seems quite daunting, especially when my previous editing experiences weren't for anything I really enjoyed.
How many levels of editing do you aim for? Any tips for me?
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Writing Tools
What do you use to write?
I've never really been one for writing on paper. I do exchange letters with a friend--who gave me a fancy pen and ink!--but my handwriting is too junky and slow for writing my stories that way to appeal to me. Also, marking out ink annoys me. I have done some writing with pencil in journal, though only out of necessity. I jotted down sections of my NaNo novel whenever I could, which usually wasn't near a computer. I've also written pieces of What If in a drawing journal because I was at church camp with no computer access. Basically, I don't like writing in hand in general, but if I need to write enough, I'll do it.
On the other hand, I've never tried any fancy writing software. There were all of these discounts offered to NaNoWriMo winners, and I've heard people singing the praises of Scrivener and some other things in the NaNo forums. I've never tried any, because they all tend to cost money, but I don't know it would be worth it. I've made it this far on Microsoft Word and the fanfiction.net Document Editor. Then again, I'm not quite published, am I? I may look more into these things, though I seriously doubt I would ever spend money on it, because I'm just terribly cheap.
Does anyone have experience with writing software, or detailed recommendations? Coupons? Tips on improving handwriting?
I've never really been one for writing on paper. I do exchange letters with a friend--who gave me a fancy pen and ink!--but my handwriting is too junky and slow for writing my stories that way to appeal to me. Also, marking out ink annoys me. I have done some writing with pencil in journal, though only out of necessity. I jotted down sections of my NaNo novel whenever I could, which usually wasn't near a computer. I've also written pieces of What If in a drawing journal because I was at church camp with no computer access. Basically, I don't like writing in hand in general, but if I need to write enough, I'll do it.
On the other hand, I've never tried any fancy writing software. There were all of these discounts offered to NaNoWriMo winners, and I've heard people singing the praises of Scrivener and some other things in the NaNo forums. I've never tried any, because they all tend to cost money, but I don't know it would be worth it. I've made it this far on Microsoft Word and the fanfiction.net Document Editor. Then again, I'm not quite published, am I? I may look more into these things, though I seriously doubt I would ever spend money on it, because I'm just terribly cheap.
Does anyone have experience with writing software, or detailed recommendations? Coupons? Tips on improving handwriting?
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