lovemyluggage replied to your post “I made a HUGE chunk of writing progress on the current fic...

lovemyluggage
replied to your post “I made a HUGE chunk of writing progress on the current fic today!! I…”

So…how do you do this?

The million-dollar question of every writer! I feel like everyone’s process is completely subjective and personal, but for me, specifically, the factors that have to be in place for a massive writing spurt like this are: 

1. Time. Free time has been extremely limited in my life of late, burning the candle at both ends and averaging around 4-5 hours of sleep. It’s been ridiculous. I’m just a bit overworked these days with too many things going on. Yesterday, I actually had a big chunk of time and it was amazing!

2. I need to already know what’s coming next in my fic. Most of my “drafting” process happens on a strictly mental level. I have to have already imagined out the scene, down to particular tones of voice, the specific features of a conversation or kiss or chase. I need to have seen it all play out like a movie in my head. Then the writing of it is more of a transcription job than a creation-from-nothing one. Writing like that never works for me - when it just feels like the gears are all grinding against each other and I’m trying so hard to just create from nothing. The creation part has to have already happened in my head in advance. It often happens while I’m lying in bed, waiting to fall asleep. Sometimes I’ll jot down a note or two on my phone’s notepad, just as a reminder of the thing I was thinking about. But yeah: pre-writing in my imagination is a huge factor here. That said, I would also say that (and I’m just speaking for myself again; lots of other writers don’t do this and it works out just fine for them!) it’s a mistake to go into a story without knowing at least a few of the major details, namely: how it starts, how it ends, and at least a point or two on the way from the one to the other. I also don’t believe in over-planning; the story has to have room to grow. But as it’s spinning out in my hands, I need to pre-imagine the next scene or two in detail. 

3. I need to be sufficiently not distracted by other shit. I’ve had some major other shit going on lately and it’s SUCKED. But things seem to be moving on, so now I can focus again. 

I would say that for me, those are my three main things: having time, having pre-written the stuff I need to write, and being in the right head space to write. I don’t know if any of that will be helpful to anyone, but here’s hoping! :P