How do you approach writing?

[Me-Ike]

For the last few months I have been working on my Magisterarbeit (roughly equivalent to a master thesis) and only in the last couple of weeks I actually got around to writing down first bits and pieces.

I will have to write between 90 and 100 pages and I noticed that I don't work, how shall I say, very orderly. What I mean is that I write a little here, a little there, and then I switch to a different aspect of the work altogether. A professor of mine once called this the onion approach (different layers which in the end make one onion) opposed to the carrot approach (when you start at the top and work your way through to the bottom).

I fear that this stupid onion approach will come back to haunt me the moment I'll be nearing the end of my work. It doesn't exactly scream 'good overview'.

What are you? Onion or carrot? Or do you have a quite different, radical method? How do you write your texts?

 

[Jadzia]

Top down, like with most things I do. I'm a coordinator, so I'm naturally inclined to consider tasks as a whole rather than in layers. I'll consider the goal, how to get there, and map out the breadth and depth of the task. Then gather up resources, construct a plan, prepare contingencies, and complete the task in one smoothly executed maneuver.

That's the idea anyhow. I have faith in the top down approach.

 

[Jim Gamma]

Depends on the piece of writing. Usually I use an iterative process - I'll write out the whole thing from start to finish, leaving out bits that I know I can't fill in yet, then go back through and put in bits once they're done. For most of my documentation work, the format is pretty well specified before I start by regulations.

 

[Me-Ike]

I have faith in the top down approach.

So do I! I just can't bring myself to using it. I get distracted too easily.

But come on! So far no one with a chaotic mind who can pat me on the shoulder, say 'there there', and then promise me that everything will be alright?
Shame on both of you.

 

[TheLonelySquire]

You're screwed. Good luck though!

 

[SmoothieX]

I usually sneak out from under my desk, ninja style, then attack the keyboard with swift, precise strokes. It doesn't see it coming...

OK seriously, when doing term papers, or in this case now a report for work, I tend to first organize the paper into into key topics and subtopics. Almost outline style. Then flesh out the outline into a paper.

 

[Australis]

Weeelll, I'd offer a simpler thought.

Writing is writing. Good writing is editing.

Put the thoughts down in any order, any old how, as the creative whim takes toy. If you can't think of something to write comprehensively, put a 'placeholder' in, a brief sentence that describes whgat has to go there. Then gradually fill it up, replace the placeholdrs with the real deal.

Then comes the real part. Edit it. Be tough, be precise, be harsh with your work. Be really tough on it. As Clive James once said, turn each word around until it catches the light. Chop away at it until it sings.

This method works for me in the scripts I'm writing right now because I'm having all sorts of problems doing the creative writng thing, writers block if you will. I write what I can, fill in the blanks and close as many loopholes as I can, THEN edit it until it gleams. In some ways editing is the fun part of the process.

That's my advice, which works for me, and you are quite welcome to take it or leave it.

 

[Me-Ike]

^

I like this. It allows my to be the quantum thinking writer that I naturally am. It's also my usual approach for term papers and the like, only that this time I will have to be even more tough on it, as you said.

I also should put more efforts into the place holders. Thanks for the advice!

You're screwed. Good luck though!

Pshaw! Never say die!

I usually sneak out from under my desk, ninja style, then attack the keyboard with swift, precise strokes. It doesn't see it coming...

OK seriously, when doing term papers, or in this case now a report for work, I tend to first organize the paper into into key topics and subtopics. Almost outline style. Then flesh out the outline into a paper.

That first apporach sounds frighteningly like mine, only without the hiding.

But yeah, you sound rather carrot-y to me. Sad.

 

[Count Zero]

I'm similar. I usually have a small outline, placeholders if you will, and just write the parts that I already can write.
If your approach has worked for you so far, you shouldn't worry too much. And don't try to change it significantly now. In the end, a Magisterarbeit is only a longer Hausarbeit. The only thing that's usually recommended is that you work regularly at it. Allocate a certain amount of time each day (or almost each day, recreation is important, too) to the work, even if you don't get much done every day.
And good luck! I'll have to write mine in the near future, too. I'm still struggling with finding a good topic for it at the moment.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Weeelll, I'd offer a simpler thought.

Writing is writing. Good writing is editing.

Put the thoughts down in any order, any old how, as the creative whim takes toy. If you can't think of something to write comprehensively, put a 'placeholder' in, a brief sentence that describes whgat has to go there. Then gradually fill it up, replace the placeholdrs with the real deal.

Then comes the real part. Edit it. Be tough, be precise, be harsh with your work. Be really tough on it. As Clive James once said, turn each word around until it catches the light. Chop away at it until it sings.

This method works for me in the scripts I'm writing right now because I'm having all sorts of problems doing the creative writng thing, writers block if you will. I write what I can, fill in the blanks and close as many loopholes as I can, THEN edit it until it gleams. In some ways editing is the fun part of the process.

That's my advice, which works for me, and you are quite welcome to take it or leave it.

That's actually not too far away from my approach to writing a story that has no story at first - similar to what I'm doing at the moment. I started off by taking several concepts (characters, settings, events, plot landmarks etc.) and try and outline them in full, creating layers that are highly elaborate and detailed for that particular concept - sort of like an onion. Many of them may contradict the others in some areas, others complement them.

At some point, though, I develop a "carrot" - an exact plot from A to B to whatever. This is the structure from which I see everything happen - from beginning to middle to end, and sometimes beyond and before. Developing the carrot, I usually start from the end and work backwards, or start with a beginning, then work from the middle or end until a full carrot is made, and eventually discard the beginning again.

Around this, I envelop it with the onion leaves, trimming and editing as I go, discarding incompatible ideas and setting them aside for another tale, and sometimes introducing brand new concepts that neatly tie in with everything created so far.

In fact, I have several carrots, each depicting a separate strand or thread. Some are bigger than others of course, while others tend to snap in the middle. There is, of course, one BIG carrot in the middle of it all, one which is present but not always visible. This "elephant carrot in the room" is the main thread of things - the definitive beginning, middle, and end - and is in fact not usually the first thing that is devised when writing a story.

The final editing process involves writing the prose and dialogue itself. That is the hardest bit. See Australis for details.

 

[Jadzia]

I have faith in the top down approach.

So do I! I just can't bring myself to using it. I get distracted too easily.

But come on! So far no one with a chaotic mind who can pat me on the shoulder, say 'there there', and then promise me that everything will be alright?
Shame on both of you.

I think that top down just takes practice. And a chaotic mind isn't a bad thing as it can help you to brainstorm ideas and adapt more easily if things don't go as intended.

The idea of top down methods is that Form always comes first. In a story, Feeling and Mood would come second. Structure comes third. And Details are considered arbitrary and the least important. You would fill those in last. It's all about bringing an overarching vision into increasingly sharper focus.

A bottom up method would be to start with a character, design his/her personality, appearance, and background in detail, and deciding what experiences to give to him/her. It's about extending a tightly written story with a consistent level of detail in everything subsequent. But the story has no true direction. It only achieves Form when you've completed it.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

To use your terminology, that's where my bottom-up-then-top-down approach would then be used. Create the Universe first, then create the apple pie within to guide things along. Somewhere, the two will meet, mingle, then hopefully get along.

Of course, I sometimes seed the Universe with spare strands that will hopefully be picked up upon once the top-down approach begins. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they don't. But that's the nature of combining chaotic and rigid elements to things.

 

[Kestra]

I have faith in the top down approach.

So do I! I just can't bring myself to using it. I get distracted too easily.

But come on! So far no one with a chaotic mind who can pat me on the shoulder, say 'there there', and then promise me that everything will be alright?
Shame on both of you.

Oh don't worry, I'm much more like you. I write in bits and pieces and look for ways to connect them later. Then I'll end up writing a conclusion and realizing that it changes my paper, and I'll go back and delete huge parts and rewrite them. It's all very scattered and there's a lot of deleting and rewriting, and wouldn't make sense to anyone but myself. But it all comes together in the end.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

This thread reminds me of Robert McKee's "Ten Commandments of Writing":

ONE: Thou shalt not take the crisis/climax out of the protagonists' hands. The anti-deus ex machina commandment. No surprises!

TWO: Thou shalt not make life easy for the protagonist. Nothing progresses in a story, except through conflict. And not just physical conflict.

THREE: Thou shalt not give exposition for strictly exposition's sake. Dramatize it. Convert exposition to ammunition. Use it to turn the ending of a scene, to further the conflict.

FOUR: Thou shalt not use false mystery or cheap surprise. Don't conceal anything important that the protagonist knows. Keep us in step with him/ her.We know what s/he knows.

FIVE: Thou shalt respect your audience. The anti-hack commandment. Not all readers know your character. Very important.

SIX: Thou shalt know your world as God knows this one.The pro- research commandment.

SEVEN: Thou shalt not complicate when complexity is better. Don't multiply the complications on one level. Use all three: Intra-Personal, Inter-Personal, Extra-Personal

EIGHT: Thou shalt seek the end of the line, the negation of the negation, taking characters to the farthest reaches and depth of conflict imaginable within the story's own realm of probability.

NINE: Thou shalt not write on the nose. Put a sub text under every text.

TEN: Thou shalt rewrite.

 

[Jadzia]

To use your terminology, that's where my bottom-up-then-top-down approach would then be used. Create the Universe first, then create the apple pie within to guide things along. Somewhere, the two will meet, mingle, then hopefully get along.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-down_and_bottom-up_design

A lovely read. I'm not sure why I enjoyed it so much but I did.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

To use your terminology, that's where my bottom-up-then-top-down approach would then be used. Create the Universe first, then create the apple pie within to guide things along. Somewhere, the two will meet, mingle, then hopefully get along.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-down_and_bottom-up_design

A lovely read. I'm not sure why I enjoyed it so much but I did.

Is it the innuendo in the article title?

 

[Holdfast]

The only things I write these days are reports and letters. For these, one has the advantage of a generally accepted structure that can be held in the back of the mind, slotting in information and thoughts as needed.

What I found that greatly improved my ability to do this was composing everything on a dictaphone. At first, it took me a long time to dictate letters and reports, esp. multipage ones. I'd constantly be rewinding and re-recording. Nowadays, I can knock out a 4 page assessment report in about 10 minutes, dictating it rapidly with only occasional few word rewinds. I can do this because I'm very familiar with the format, know how to slot acquired information into that format, and most of all because I have a clear personal style in terms of how I write.

Funny story regarding unique writing styles: a few months ago I moved into a new department. One of the first clients I needed to see was a fresh assessment but she had previously been seen by that team some years previously so I pulled up the old notes and flicked through some of the old letters in order to quickly bring myself up to speed with the case. I was reading one of the letters and couldn't help thinking "what an excellent letter; all the information I need; very logical". It wasn't until I got to the bottom of the letter that I saw my own signature and I realised I had seen the client myself five years ago.

(I hasten to add that it wasn't so much that my letters are brilliant (though of course they are... ). It's more that the style of the letter in terms of the format and how the facts were marshalled and presented fitted exactly with how I do things - obviously! - and so it all seemed easily accessible.)

 

[tharpdevenport]

On a paper, my approach is entirely different than story writing.

First you got to open with what you are writing about, is about -- summerize.

Then you need to understand why you chose it, once you have that you them make a list of important bullet points of that topic, and then write abotu each one.

Dependong on how well versed you are with your chosen subject, you should be able to tie this alltogether in a paragraph at the end, then have a final closing paragraph on the future of said topic and why people should care enough to look into it themselves.

 

[Capn Flukie]

How do I approach writing? Slowly, and from behind. Then I pounce!

 

[ITL]

How do I approach writing? Slowly, and from behind. Then I pounce!

I go with obliquely and fearfully. Keep one eye on the sneaky bugger or it'll get ye...