If I may ask, do you write stories in order, or do you have entire plots in mind and then add details?
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If I may ask, do you write stories in order, or do you have entire plots in mind and then add details?
I’m glad you asked! So, I usually get an idea and then I plot out that idea a bit, mind map the beginning, middle, and end. With the first draft of any project I’m not absolute on anything, I just have a general direction. Next, I get cracking, writing one scene at a time, letting the story flow out. I don’t edit as I go, and I usually brainstorm a scene or two ahead before I stop each writing sesh. I did make myself little scene charts that I pin on the wall for big projects that I pencil the scenes into as I go, it helps me keep a sense of the overall story as I create.
In that case, do you have any suggestions for someone who can usually write a short story, research paper, or editorial all at once, get it right the first time, without using an outline at all (research notes don't count), but ended up having to make one that's 40 pages long and contains over 24 000 words to organise an obscenely large literary project?
Ah, my friend, you are speaking to the choir in here, or at least a fellow soloist. I don't draft any of my short stories, blog posts, or papers at all either, just write them up, proof read, and go. Large projects though definitely require a bit of organization lest you lose your mind. Plus, it saves you a bit of work in the long run. The trick is finding your own way of building, and I don't know if there are any shortcuts. I do like Scrivener for massive projects because then you can leap around your 40 pages of outline without losing your mind, but I have a feeling that 24 thousand words of planning for a massive project makes sense to me in a way. I can say that I feel your frustration here maybe it's just cause you are used to formulating and finishing rather than taking the line it out scenic route. I know I am feeling a bit of that right now at times as I work on this novel.
Whatever you are working on sounds pretty intriguing though!