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Know thyself: Writing Process Edition
May 8th, 2013 09:09 amI have figured out A Thing!
I figured it out while using the trial version of scrivener, luckily, because it means I haven't dumped $40 on it yet.
I've figured out what I do better brainstorming and outlining on paper than on the computer.
Many people feel they write first drafts better on hardcopy, because it reduces the perfectionist urge to go back and edit, letting them get on with the actual writing. I don't seem to have that problem -- I do a fair amount of editing and rearranging as I go, but it's part-and-parcel with creating new content, and when I'm on a roll, I'm on a roll, whatever the medium.
I DO have that problem with outlines and brainstorming, though.
I downloaded Scrivener to get one of my bits-and-pieces documents in order -- I had 5,000 words of scene snippets, ranging in length from three lines to two pages, in no order whatsoever. Scrivener worked GREAT for that, because each snippet went in it's own doc/bucket/card, separating them all out and letting me order them.
Then I got stuck.
It took me weeks to realize I was stuck, and what made me realize it was one of Scrivener's stupid formatting errors (scrivener does NOT like copy-pasted text from gmail or google docs, except when it does -- it's very random, and it pisses me right off). I got so frustrated trying to fix a simple formatting error -- text showing up as a link, wrong font, etc -- that I hadn't done any of the writing I'd meant to do. ANd it hit me: That slight OCD tendency is what comes out when I try to use their folder/card method of outlining.
I have a thing for parallel lists. A Big Thing. It drives me BONKERS when someone publishes a list and doesn't stop to think about parallel terms. I like data organization*. When I try to outline on the computer, I get way too hung up on what exactly my buckets should be. "Act 1"? "Before shit hits the fan?" "Taking place on planet Earth?" Thing is, the bits and pieces I already have, my known quantities, are still too fluid to fit in a nice orderly scheme. I'm stumping myself because I get obsessed over figuring out bits of info that don't actually matter, because the end goal is a story, not a spreadsheet.
Funnily enough, I already knew that spreadsheets and charts killed my creativity when used in brainstorming -- all those character questionnaire charts and world building spreadsheets send me screaming the other way -- I just hadn't extended it to it's logical conclusion.
I suspect it would happen even with more freeform mind-map software. I do so much work with clear information presentation, where my color, font, and shape choices matter, that it's really hard to disengage that part of my brain. I end up shifting the bubbles by a few pixels, trying to make it look right. With pencil or scattered index cards I can be rough and tumble.
So.
Back to pen and paper for me, after I generate a text document with what I've already put in scrivener.
Now I just need to admit to myself that my precious sketchbook is really gone (*sobs*) and buy a new one, so I have paper always to hand. I've really, really been missing it.
*I just created a chart for six of my friend's thoroughbred horses so she can compare where they have common ancestors in the last five generations... for fun. And I wasn't sure whether it'd be more helpful to have 'percentage of genetic material' or 'number of times single horse shows up in one pedigree' so I... kind of did it twice.
I figured it out while using the trial version of scrivener, luckily, because it means I haven't dumped $40 on it yet.
I've figured out what I do better brainstorming and outlining on paper than on the computer.
Many people feel they write first drafts better on hardcopy, because it reduces the perfectionist urge to go back and edit, letting them get on with the actual writing. I don't seem to have that problem -- I do a fair amount of editing and rearranging as I go, but it's part-and-parcel with creating new content, and when I'm on a roll, I'm on a roll, whatever the medium.
I DO have that problem with outlines and brainstorming, though.
I downloaded Scrivener to get one of my bits-and-pieces documents in order -- I had 5,000 words of scene snippets, ranging in length from three lines to two pages, in no order whatsoever. Scrivener worked GREAT for that, because each snippet went in it's own doc/bucket/card, separating them all out and letting me order them.
Then I got stuck.
It took me weeks to realize I was stuck, and what made me realize it was one of Scrivener's stupid formatting errors (scrivener does NOT like copy-pasted text from gmail or google docs, except when it does -- it's very random, and it pisses me right off). I got so frustrated trying to fix a simple formatting error -- text showing up as a link, wrong font, etc -- that I hadn't done any of the writing I'd meant to do. ANd it hit me: That slight OCD tendency is what comes out when I try to use their folder/card method of outlining.
I have a thing for parallel lists. A Big Thing. It drives me BONKERS when someone publishes a list and doesn't stop to think about parallel terms. I like data organization*. When I try to outline on the computer, I get way too hung up on what exactly my buckets should be. "Act 1"? "Before shit hits the fan?" "Taking place on planet Earth?" Thing is, the bits and pieces I already have, my known quantities, are still too fluid to fit in a nice orderly scheme. I'm stumping myself because I get obsessed over figuring out bits of info that don't actually matter, because the end goal is a story, not a spreadsheet.
Funnily enough, I already knew that spreadsheets and charts killed my creativity when used in brainstorming -- all those character questionnaire charts and world building spreadsheets send me screaming the other way -- I just hadn't extended it to it's logical conclusion.
I suspect it would happen even with more freeform mind-map software. I do so much work with clear information presentation, where my color, font, and shape choices matter, that it's really hard to disengage that part of my brain. I end up shifting the bubbles by a few pixels, trying to make it look right. With pencil or scattered index cards I can be rough and tumble.
So.
Back to pen and paper for me, after I generate a text document with what I've already put in scrivener.
Now I just need to admit to myself that my precious sketchbook is really gone (*sobs*) and buy a new one, so I have paper always to hand. I've really, really been missing it.
*I just created a chart for six of my friend's thoroughbred horses so she can compare where they have common ancestors in the last five generations... for fun. And I wasn't sure whether it'd be more helpful to have 'percentage of genetic material' or 'number of times single horse shows up in one pedigree' so I... kind of did it twice.
