Wandered over here via metafandom and because writing process is one of the most fascinating things ever--I teach creative writing (and students write whatever they wish, including fanfiction, I teach process and workshopping not content genres or "literary style,"), and am fascinated by range of processes, how different things work for different people.
The equivalent terms I have for Method and British are from composition, Planning and Process. Some people don't write a draft until they have it all planned out. Others figure it out as they go along.
I am heavy process in all genres I work in (I write original poetry, fanfiction, academic scholarship).
For fanfiction, I tend to get a "flash" (I get a lot of flashes), and the sense of a shape, and then I start writing, and then the characters do what they do. I write LOTR FPS (and there steal the plot from the source, although I change it for AUs) and RPS (and that's a lot more open, driven by the characters). I sometimes makes notes for a scene which just means that the characters than have something *not* to do and they go off and do their own thing. I know I've read a lot of rants against people who talk about their writing this way, and I understand why (especially if this process is seen as better than others in some way). But I don't privilege it--it's not better or worse than any other process (and I'd defy most people to tell the process from the product), it's just the way I write and always have. And I don't always think it's the best--in academic work, it can take me seven drafts to figure out wtf I want to say. Poems and stories being less "thesis" driven are easier to work out through my process, though since I tend to write long WIP's, I don't have to "figure it all out" over and over again.
At times, whole scenes are dictated to me, literally in the persona of a voice telling me the story. Sometimes it's not that easy. But I never have that clear sense of control that comes from planning. Sometimes I'd like to, but it never happens, and since I keep writing, I figure, why worry too much.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-14 03:21 am (UTC)The equivalent terms I have for Method and British are from composition, Planning and Process. Some people don't write a draft until they have it all planned out. Others figure it out as they go along.
I am heavy process in all genres I work in (I write original poetry, fanfiction, academic scholarship).
For fanfiction, I tend to get a "flash" (I get a lot of flashes), and the sense of a shape, and then I start writing, and then the characters do what they do. I write LOTR FPS (and there steal the plot from the source, although I change it for AUs) and RPS (and that's a lot more open, driven by the characters). I sometimes makes notes for a scene which just means that the characters than have something *not* to do and they go off and do their own thing. I know I've read a lot of rants against people who talk about their writing this way, and I understand why (especially if this process is seen as better than others in some way). But I don't privilege it--it's not better or worse than any other process (and I'd defy most people to tell the process from the product), it's just the way I write and always have. And I don't always think it's the best--in academic work, it can take me seven drafts to figure out wtf I want to say. Poems and stories being less "thesis" driven are easier to work out through my process, though since I tend to write long WIP's, I don't have to "figure it all out" over and over again.
At times, whole scenes are dictated to me, literally in the persona of a voice telling me the story. Sometimes it's not that easy. But I never have that clear sense of control that comes from planning. Sometimes I'd like to, but it never happens, and since I keep writing, I figure, why worry too much.