process: writing backwards and forwards

[petron]

Sharing a recent development: I was making the mistake of thinking that each increment of the story, from intro thru next phase and on to the end, should be finished before I could move on. Example I once wrote 170 pages of a chapter one for a novel because of this desperation to get it "done" before I could move on. I should have accepted the chapter one I had and moved on. We write the thing forwards . . . and we write it backwards. What emerges along the way could affect what has come in the beginning. So, on writer's block, I'm now inclined to think keep moving, keep developing. Enhance instead of delete!

 

[steffee]

That's a great approach. I haven't considered it before, being one to think like you, that one chapter should be finished first, but what a great idea. I suppose it would get a little confusing if you did that with every chapter, and even whole books, but for genuine writer's block it's a fantastic idea!!

 

[petron]

a PS on writing backwards and forwards . . .

I realized y'day my comment was a little confusing. One more note on it from a specific example. I was saying in a letter to a friend yesterday . . .

There I was, suddenly, back at Chap 1 and saying Oh no! I don't like the entry to this chapter. I had thought this opening was good! I had done a lot of work on it previously. What had happened? My subsequent development thru the end of the story was having an impact on the beginning. Thus it was time to 'write backwards.' I had to go back to Chap 1 and do some more work to bring it in line with the quality and other perceptions of the story that had developed by the time I got to the end. Now, having to do this was bothersome. Should I just scrap the two page entry, I wondered? Then, no. If I do that I destroy tone and the beginnings of developing my character. So I set to work doing more writing on Chapter 1, and now I'm thinking that the new work on it will in turn somehow impact FORWARD ("writing forward").

Another way for what I'm trying to say is compare writing a long fiction to creating an oil painting in which layers are developed, sometimes the foundation or first layers leading on to follow-up details and developments, or refinements. We can't expect a story to emerge all at once and complete, as though the process were just two drafts: 1) the story line; 2) fixing spelling etc. A gradual emergence of the story is more like what happens. I feel this point is important so that we don't give up!

 

[ValkyrieRaven88]

Personally, I prefer writing things out of order. I outline the chapters, figure out what's going to happen in each chapter, and put that info on a document. Then when I feel like writing, I go back and look at that document and write whatever chapter I want. I might right 1-5, skip to 18, go back to 6, all the way up to 30, and so forth. It keeps me from feeling stuck.

 

[Vespertilio91]

I, personally, cannot do that Valkyrie. I've tried. I get confused and then end up totally deleting my work. That's another three months down the tubes. Also, in the way I write, I get ideas in the middle of the novel that I hadn't planned on. Often, I will incorporate those into the novel (not plagarizing of course) *inside joke* and change what happens later. This way, my writing is always changing and I write on impulse not forced.