What is your writing workflow / tools?

[CJS]

As times I've wondered if I'm way too slow in my writing and editing process, and maybe sometimes suck the life out of parts of my stories by overediting them. I'm curious how others write their stories, and thought it could be a source of inspiration to hear from others.

To get things going, here's a rough idea of my process and setup.

I generally get a random idea or two for the kernel of a story, and keep adding to it in a dedicated note that syncs between my devices. I can pick up my phone and quickly dictate a thought,.

From there, my methods vary from story to story. I've had stories that I've written without any outlining. I just have an idea in my head where it should go, and just keep writing. Much more frequently, though, I'll take my notes and structure out a more formal outline in an app called OmniOutliner.

All my actual writing takes place in Scrivener,. For my current story, the entire thing is complete and I've edited it a couple of times already. The idea that it is going to be seen by others is a big motivator in my final revision stage, though, and makes me see things I might otherwise overlook as I make final edits. I've also changed my ideas about a couple of scenes, and completely rewritten them in the final edit stage. As I complete a final edit of a couple of chapters, I then compile (export) it in Scrivener, and publish here on the site.

On a side note, for one of my stories, I wrote large parts of it via dictation while driving. I dictated, and later would use Dragon Dictate to transcribe it. That required extensive clean up, though.

Scrivener for Mac (not sure about the Windows version) has a nice "Compile" feature that formats and exports content based on specifications you can set up. I've set up a Compile preset to space my paragraphs to be more readable on a forum. It also converts italics and bold to bbcode italics and bold, so they show up properly in the forum.

Anyway, that may be too much information, but I would love to hear from some others how you write. I'm always looking for inspiration.

[DrDominator9]

Me just bang on keyboard 'tii am done.

[CJS]

Me just bang on keyboard 'tii am done.

Hah, I'm not prolific enough to do that too often.

[Damselbinder]

I plan in my head, but in a lot of detail. This can take anywhere from an hour to a month depending on how intricate the plot is and how many details I have to keep straight. Once that's done I... just bang on the keyboard until I'm finished. I find I write better late at night, so a lot of the time I do that.

[Bert]

That was an interesting look at your process. I've been impressed with the complexity of your story, and I've wondered how you kept it all straight.

In my case, I never wrote a story before the first little Supergirl tale I shared here. Whenever I tried, I got bogged down in trying to make it perfect. This winter I caught a nasty virus and ended up spending a couple weeks more or less bedridden. I decided to try writing and I vowed to myself not to worry about making it perfect. Since there had been ideas bouncing around in my head for years, the first two stories ended up pouring out without too much effort in plotting, although the actual writing doesn't go very quickly for me. I think my process is probably stupid and inefficient, because I don't do outlines, or even drafts, I just write and then edit for errors. It comes out slowly. Maybe if I was smart or had actual talent it would be easier! The story I'm working on now is bigger and more complex, but ultimately it's kind of a storyboard process for me. I have a series of scenes I want to include, all roughly planned in my head. When I start writing I work on the scene, and then once I have a bunch written I ponder on how to integrate it with the next scene I've planned in my head. It's all pretty chaotic!

[tallyho]

Like Doc I just write.
I have a concept usually centred around the showdown /ending - often the last line or paragraph I want to finish with and then work my way to get there in my head, then set to it.
Often bits are re-read, re-written and re-ordered, I usually have 2-3 chapters down before I start to post, (but when I started writing originally I had the story fully written before I posted. Now I am more happy for it to evolve as I post it)

The best tool out there is Google though - i use it to fact check and research places I have never been or validate scenarios or get names etc

I had no idea of any name of a womans prison in the states for one story. Research threw up Chowchilla - which is a great bad ass sounding name and the fact it is closed now suited the historical nature of how I was using it. Often the research stimulates scenes in a story. Particularly sciencey stuff like when I found out about Martensite, it wasnt much of a leap to come up with Chameleon ore that could copy the effects of Kryptonite and then give a means of escape for Sg in one particular story
So I would really place research via Google or whatever very high on any list of authors tools

[tallyho]

Bert I am very similar and it is whatever works for YOU, there is no right way or wrong way to do it really just some work better than others for different people

[DrDominator9]

So, in actuality, me not just bang on the keys when writing. I was just being snarky earlier. Here's my true process:

What gets my motor running
More often than not, my story ideas originate with a take-down concept for a specific superheroine. Sometimes it comes out of the blue, sometimes it stems from me trying to come up with a unique peril I've not seen before. Other times an idea is generated by seeing some picture that my imagination takes and runs with. But, ultimately, it's the take-down concept that forms the core of the idea around which I build a story: explaining how the heroine would get into that situation. New ideas keep creeping in though as I write and before I know it, my story is into it's 12th chapter or beyond.

Outlining
Somewhere along the line during the writing of SG Captured by the Mob there were so many elements and scenes flying around that I decided I had to outline the endgame scenario so that it all worked out smoothly. Depending on the length of subsequent stories I have used outlines more often than not. I didn't have one for my story about Wonder Woman getting attacked in the dressing room at Harrod's department store. That was more of a one-off that is only moderately decent and barely a story at that, to be honest. I suspect nobody is yearning for a sequel to that. LOL. Wonder Woman and the Superheroine Serial Killer was outlined with some sections but not initially. SG and the Military Exercise was heavily outlined from the get-go.

The Value of Outlines
Outlines can be very helpful to writers. For one thing, it lays out a path to follow and can prompt you to write because you know where you're going and are keen to get there. Outlines also force you to do some smart thinking of where you want the overall arc to go. It helps keep you on track. It can be a place to try out ideas quickly and even discard them before you waste time churning out a scene that doesn't work.

Some writers don't like them because they want to be "in the flow" more and don't want to know ahead of time where the story is going, opting for spontaneity. Many writers say they enjoy the writing process more when they're not "chained' to an outline. To me, that can be a bit dangerous since it can lead to either rambling, unnecessary scenes, rewriting or poor execution. True, some writers can just keep the entire outline in their head without putting it all down on paper. I commend those who can. I just can't.

The Pitfalls of Outlines
There's a huge "But" for me here regarding outlines. Writers should not be chained to them! Outlines serve as a valuable guide but they're not carved in stone. I have gone off outline on several occasions when writing. I've been known to have a character of mine come out with dialogue I did not plan on and I'm suddenly swept off into a completely new approach to a scene. Every so often, my character refuses to behave as I expect her to in the middle of a writing session. Yes, I'm that deep into the character sometimes. Those are the moments in writing that can be magical. You follow the character's thinking and your fingers are flying across the keyboard and your muse is sitting on your shoulder sipping tea and nodding, "Nice work!" Those moments can happen with or without an outline by the way.

Other instances have occurred when I'm writing the planned scene and it feels forced somehow. I stop and rethink what's wrong about the scene and either remove it, move it to a different place in the outline, or fix it so it does work. One develops a sense of what's working and what isn't in a story. Sometimes it happens while writing a scene at the moment, other times it hits you on a second or third editing pass.

Editing passes
I can't overstate the importance of editing passes. This is usually the closest I get to a rewrite, since I detest rewriting entire scenes. But editing passes I love. That's my chance to reread, catch typos, check the flow of a scene, improve adjectives and adverbs for dramatic effect, punch up dialogue and tweak a moment with a writing trick that puts more oomph into a reveal, for example. I've been known to do five passes or more on a scene.

I would suggest separate passes geared to specific needs is a great way to work. A typo's only pass for example. Then maybe a dialogue pass. One for fixing passive tenses to active tenses. Well, you get the drift.

Tools
MS Word. That's it. When I finish a chapter, I copy the file and paste it into this Forum and generally have to go through it to add italics and fix paragraph spacing.

That's about all I can think of for now. Hope that gives people a sense of how I work. The most important thing I can say though is that what's right for me isn't necessarily right for you. Write in a way that works for you. That's what's most important. But what really shouldn't be negotiable is that you actually enjoy the process. If you don't, you have to examine the why of that!

Thanks for initiating this thread, CJS.

[Abductorenmadrid]

I tend to start out by setting the objectives for my stories, seeing as recently they have been episodic in nature. I need it clear in my head how all the pieces on the board should be by the end of the story. The end of one episode opens the door to the next and so my objective is to usually resolve the last episodes cliffhanger while setting up the next. In my head I try and imagine "set piece" moments that I want in the story, be it a peril, character confrontations and their interactions. All of that tends to have me go into "multiple personality mode" as I try and shape dialogue, actions and reactions among my characters. As my current "SG and The Broker" series has many sidekick characters I also try and put focus on a few of them to show their worth. This is useful because it is always a possibility that something bad may happen to one of them, and I need the reader to give a crap about them.
It's usually around this point I also start doing research so that I can try and make the story realistic.

The "set pieces" I come up with form waypoints for the tale which require other scenes around them to build the story. And so that's how I tend to sequence my story generally until it all falls together. For more complexity I like to have several seemingly unrelated strands slowly come together to reveal a twist or some sort of revelation and hopefully have it that that the reader and the characters figure it out together at the same time, to help create some sort feeling of being with them.

Once I have a general pathway for the story set up I tend to write in a morning/day time/evening / night time cadence. I try to write "real world" and want to convey that things take some time to happen. Giving the sense of time passing, mentioning the rising sun, lunch, evening meals, the dark of night all present the idea of time moving as the various characters deal with their day. This semi real world pace may make things less insta-fun but I just can't feel comfortable not doing things at least a little bit realistically.

Tools - I tend to use MS Word to write with. MS Excel is good to help me line up multiple plot points and twists and sequence scenes. Google Maps and so on are great to help get for places I am writing about.

[girlofsteel]

Hard to add; a lot of great stuff has already been said.

And yet, I’ve had this very question on my mind lately.

Like others I do intricate outlines. I’m also a slow writer (crazy slow). I fixate on words. And, even worse, I overthink. Plus, I do an inordinate amount of research. Before typing a single word, I need all the pieces to fit.

The trick or hiccup is figuring out structure. While the ideas and scenes matter, I put a lot of work into the spine. Sorting out the plot points and beats that…well, make a story a story. Plus, if your spine is solid, your story won’t collapse when things change—and they will change.

A recent lesson – actually not so recent, I just can’t seem to learn it – is to finish a complete draft before publishing. Others may disagree, but I don’t think you can connect the dots, while still in the trees—finding your way. I mean you can, it just won’t’ be as good.

A story is a living thing. The initial spark of inspiration, regardless of where it comes from, is a launching pad, nothing more. From here things evolve, especially as you research and begin to outline your structure. But the writing process is another beast.

In a way, it's a different language. Somethings translate but many don't. Especially now that you’re working with tone and flow. You sort of end up blowing up your outline. It's maddening, but a good structure is what allows your story to take the hits.

My problem is that after 50,000 words or so I need feedback. Actually, I crave it. Maybe it’s ego…but after all the work, I need to hear someone else’s voice. So, I start to publish the parts of the story that I think are safe.

And, every time, I regret it.

Having said this, I still haven’t figured out how to avoid it. But if you do, let me know. The more I write, the more I’m convinced that mental strength is a big factor. I’m still developing mine. The forum has helped, but in some ways it hasn’t.

Anyways, that’s my two cents. In terms of tools, I don’t think they matter. The process is what's important. Find what works for you—that’s it. But finish your draft. And be kind to yourself. Your story is way better than you think. And eat vegetables—they’re good for you.

[Abductorenmadrid]

I've been known to have a character of mine come out with dialogue I did not plan on and I'm suddenly swept off into a completely new approach to a scene. Every so often, my character refuses to behave as I expect her to in the middle of a writing session. Yes, I'm that deep into the character sometimes. Those are the moments in writing that can be magical. You follow the character's thinking and your fingers are flying across the keyboard and your muse is sitting on your shoulder sipping tea and nodding, "Nice work!" Those moments can happen with or without an outline by the way.

Ah yes - I forgot to thank DrD for this. THIS is wonderful. "Being" the character as you write can lead to some amazing moments and many a time I have had to change a story or plot line because I could just not get a character to do what I want. It's nuts, you need character X to choose option B. Characters Y and Z just don't have the knowledge to help X choose B. They don't even have the motivation or words to convince X that option B is good either. It should be easy, I am the writer, all I have to do is type the words "I choose option B!" ... but GAH the character just won't do it!

So, now X chooses A instead... and it is incredibly inconvenient but, that's what they want, it's how they are. And you know that they would not do anything else... but ... now rather than having a problem you have an opportunity to create consequences and turmoil, and boy does that help get a superheroine into trouble!

And don't get me started on how it is when you have two characters who you need to get along ... and they start arguing within your dialogue. That's a whole other world of hurt!

[DonShip]

Let me see. I use MS Word. Laptop. And I research via google.

I get an idea, usually a title. That generally inspires scenes in my head that I put down in a story docx I create next. I arrange and add to those original ideas until I have an outline I like. I understand that in the writing process it is more likely than not to take the story in an unforeseen direction, but I can simply stop and rework the remaining outline.

Once I complete the story, I will go through it a time or two, before sending it off to be edited.

after it comes back from the editor, I scream and stomp and eat lots of ice cream, and then fix all the issues. LOL If it isn't a fanfic, I hopefully already have a cover, so I publish.

Sixty days later when Amazon pays, I spread all the nickels, dimes, and quarters I earned on the floor and roll around on them while giggling like a drunken super villain.

Works for me. YMMV