Do you plan your story with pen and paper with a detailed outline of plot or a few notes on character?
Or do you use a nice white screen and type with black letters across the pages as the scene unfolds before your eyes?
I spent the week adrift with no access to a computer to keep my mother company for the last week of the school holidays, so had to use good ol' pen and paper for writing. This was not a problem. The words flowed beautifully (until the ink ran out!), the scenes are coming fast and my characters are really, really working well.
The problem i have now is that now i am home do i continue writing with pen and paper or on the computer? If on the computer i first have to type up what i have written last week - or do i? It will be a great chance to edit what i've written but that is slightly naughty as i'm not supposed to do this until i have finished the story in it's entirety.
And, if i use the computer i know i am going to be distracted by checking blogs and surfing the internet etc.
While adrift for the week i was writing approx. 1,200 words each sitting. I say approx. because there is no accurate way of counting each word except for actually counting them and i am so not going to do that.
(I do have a pen that has a battery and when you write it captures the writing and then uploads it later to the computer but the battery died and i haven't replaced it. It's one of those really small cell batteries.) No excuse and it is great, really need to replace it!
I think i liked being away from the internet. I don't have a laptop, am going to be saving so hard now - as well as for the landscaping for our new house (priorities though right!!! ;p) I really want to do my writing where i won't be distracted so i am going to have to be really strict with myself now that i know what i am capable of.
Also i have realised with this story that my writing style is a bit different. I am a plotter at heart. I thrive on a plan, have lists for everything. Detailed descriptions of my hero and heroine, their motivations and dreams. But for this story, this version at least, not the plot.
I am writing by the seat of my pants, GASP, for this story i am a pantser. The inner plotter in me is wanting me to stop and write a plan for what is happening next and what is going to go on from there etc etc etc, but the story is thriving! I am not feeling bored or getting stuck as i have found as soon i had written a detailed outline for all of my other stories.
I think i have to let myself go and let my characters drive the stories. I am excited about where they are taking me, so much so that the scenes are jumping out at me and i find myself having to jot down a note when they do out of sequence so i know what is coming up (i can't write out of sequence no matter how much that scene wants to be written!), but my characters know what is coming and they are driving it and it is so good. But the plotter in me is trying to put on the brakes i can feel her trying to stop. I hope she doesn't! I know, just know as soon as i write down the outline i won't have the passion, the drive for this story that is going. I am going to be strong. :)
So what is your writing style, your preference? What do you have to fight against to get your story written??
