Writing what you want to read

[EMC]

How much control do y'all have over what you write? To explain - I write what comes into my head. I can usually get a good flow going, for a few minutes at a time - damn my internet trained easily distracted mind - I'm working on it. But essentially, I write what comes into my head. I do very little planning. Is this wrong? Is this right? Is there no answer to this interminable problem?!
I find short story writing easier than novel writing - because I can get the d--- thing finished within a reasonable time frame, I imagine, as opposed to my novel!!

What think ye?

[AMSchilling]

I think it depends on the writer. Some need to have detailed outlines of their story and worlds fully built before diving in. Some fly by the seat of their pants, starting with just an image of a character or a vision of a particular scene. I admit I've done both in my life, but for my novel I started by writing a scene in the middle. After I wrote that, I wrote everything else completely out of order as it came to my mind. I didn't plan. I didn't outline. I went back w/ my subsequent drafts and fixed any continuity issues, etc, and made sure it all made sense. I wove in additional secondary plot lines, etc, as needed. It worked for me. Might not work with the next book. *shrug*

You need to find the approach that works for you. It's just like editing IMO - some edit heavily as they write the first draft, other let the crap pour and worry about scooping the poop and improving later.

[Leonidas]

I think you could be helped by the book WRITE, by Karen E. Peterson. It's not only a book on writing, but Peterson is a shrink, so she explains how your right and left brains work together when you write. Basically, if you're right handed, you're left-brained. The left-brain is the more logical, "mature" side of the brain. The right-brain is the more creative, "childish" side of the brain. This is why it's so much easier for most writers to complete short stories than it is novel-length stories. To write a novel requires patience and planning, which is the left brain's forte. However, the right brain balks at the concept of planning out anything and being controlled.

So, instead of staying true to that rigorous schedule of I HAVE TO WRITE RIGHT NOW, OTHERWISE I'LL NEVER GET IT DONE, you check your email, make a phone call, go out for lunch. And then you feel terrible because you didn't get that writing done like you wanted to and the right side of the brain laughs at the left side of the brain. What you need to do is get them to work together. There's a lot of different methods that she goes over in the book, so I won't go over them all here, but one way is "color-coding" your time. You let the right-brain color in your days with different colors that you choose, depending on how much energy, productivity, and focus you feel at those times in the day. Then, at the times you feel most focused and productive, you let yourself write.

Both the left and right sides of the brain are happy, so you actually get writing done.

I don't plan too much beyond some basic points I want to get through in each chapter. I have three or four points that I want to reach in each chapter, but I don't outline how I want to get there. I complete a novel blueprint and a character profile for each main character. Other than that, I just start writing and outline as I go. With this novel, I'm just going to write it in a five-subject notebook and see where it takes me beyond the original planning process.

[dios4vida]

A bit down the forum is a topic called "Planner or Pantser" where we talked about the merits of outlines, etc. or just writing what comes to mind. It's a pretty interesting conversation, especially if you're afraid you're "doing it wrong."

P.S. There's no "wrong way" to write! Whatever works for you is the "right way" for you. :)