started from teh bottom now we here

What is your writing process, from idea to posting?

Fully depends on whatever story I'm writing. If the story is really just about character interaction, and short, I completely wing it. For plot-based writing, I like to put some more thought into it, figure out how all the pieces fit together. In my two bigger projects, I'm first fleshing out the characters and the world in short stories, and plotting the main story on the side in a document.

I have a huge focus on characterization. I get a basic idea of what I want to go down, and I kind of wing of it by imagining what the characters would do/feel say. Rather than having character X destroy the enemy by doing it way of Y, I lIke to pretend I am character X and imagine how I would do it

I start off by thinking of the idea that I want to see, then just start writing it. I don't plan anything out, leaving everything from characterization to the plot a complete surprise. About halfway through, I realize that everything is a giant mess, and then I spend about five years planning things out and rewriting the exact same story over and over.

I guess I come up with a basic premise, develop the premise further/come up with key characters and plot points and from there I mostly improvise.

very hard to put it into words but basically worldbuilding first, character development second, and execution last.

Ice said:

Fully depends on whatever story I'm writing. If the story is really just about character interaction, and short, I completely wing it. For plot-based writing, I like to put some more thought into it, figure out how all the pieces fit together. In my two bigger projects, I'm first fleshing out the characters and the world in short stories, and plotting the main story on the side in a document.

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Same here. My shorter stories I tend to just go at it, though if it'll have several scenes/parts then I do mull over the story a little more. Sometimes though as I was writing I would come up with a better idea and might have to change some things around if that's the case.

Simply put: I get the idea and write the title out for later. I think about it until I get to the chapter, then I write it out. I sit on it for a few days, to refine it if I need to, or change it too. If it checks out, I post it here. I got a lot of titles under my belt, so I can go rapid-fire with them. They usually take a half-hour, maybe less, to write them due to the nature of my work and how I can just tackle it head-on.

I'm fickle in this regard. I get flooded by so many ideas and stuff that I "think" could be good, and it drives me mad to narrow down. Editing and stuff is my main issue, however it actually does very well in the creativity department. Instead of scraping a plot, I try to see if it can be recycled or possibly applied in a different work. Also, I try to incorporate details I take from things around me. Put in stuff like science, math, etc. into my work to give it a more realistic feel, whiles still keeping its overall fiction.

When it comes to actually writing it.......I tend to actually be okay in some regards. Normally I know what I want to do in a chapter and can write it out usually over the course of two hours to two days (At least for not as complicated or in depth chapters). Occasionally I go over them for grammatical errors, plot issues, or "meh" moments. if it passes then I post it. Of course Having a stupidly overactive mind that can't sit still on a specific work for a week, it's difficult to stay on a certain topic. I get impatient and want to write on arcs that are wayyyyy in the future. Guess for me, my writing process is in the following list:

1) Inspiration/creative ideas
2) Contemplate it's affect on an arc
3) Start writing, play with vocab and grammar, build a chapter
4) Think where I could go from said chapter or its intended purpose
5) Tear my soul out for seeing how far I am from arcs I want in the future
6) Reality slap
7) Preview and make comment box
8) Get some pics or stuff for enhancement (optional)
9) Post and move on with my day
10) Freak out and check every ten minutes to see how it is going (Paranoia joy)

Winter said:

very hard to put it into words but basically worldbuilding first, character development second, and execution last.

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More or less like this for me.

I start with an idea, which I then build into a premise. If I'm able to, I bounce it back and forth with other people to solidify it. Then I start taking a look at the worldbuilding and making sure that the setting allows the story to function. I sometimes lose myself at that part tho. :3c After that there's planning of characters and scenes, and tests of loose scene writing (sometimes script-like, sometimes random scene picks that I write to see if I can get a hang on how the story will look like). After that, I work on the characters and the plot, then I draft and write, both stages usually working with another person where I'm able.

here is how i usualy go about it

start from a basic idea (sci fi? fantasy?)
create the lore
create a timeline (beggining - end, have plot points in the timeline, explinations included)
make the characters + abilities (if aplicable)
make the world/s
write down the major details (characters, actions, places and dialouge)
have multiple passes by adding secondary details (enviromental details, more dialouge stuff)
immediete area details (battle damage? characters looks?)
characters personality: intrests, morals, stance on story, actions (VERY IMPORTANT)


im sure of many other things, but its all i have on mind so far X3

Personally, whenever I write a fanfiction, I only ever come up with an idea. I never write an ending until I reach that point in the narrative. Some people may dislike this, as it hinders building the tension up to a climax. However, I purposely write this way because it allows me to go back and edit parts with new ideas, as well as leaving the big surprise a shock to me, as well. This tends to make the writing process a lot more fun!

1. Get an idea
2. Flesh out idea into something I can work with
3. Build the world, plan the characters, plan locations and any spells and abilities both sides have (if magic/superpowers are relevant)
4. Build the world's culture
5. Make a guide as to when who learns what spell/move (if needed)
6. Write a basic outline of the story
7. Decide when to release episodes of story
8. Write the story!

start with a concept or feeling. create a world based around that concept or feeling. splash some more colors into that world so it's not just that one thing. populate it. choose one thing in that world about which to write. figure out how that thing fits in to the larger picture of this concept or feeling. write until i've fully expressed this thing's relation to the concept or feeling.

I can't plan. I don't like it. I wing pretty much everything I write. I get an idea and I think about it for a while until I get super motivated to write it. Sometimes I'll drop ideas entirely. I had four ideas for this year and all of them are on hiatus until I can work out which ones I still want to continue. I get very into my writing and I love to think about it as I'm writing it. If I know everything and have it all mapped out, I can tell you now it would bore me senseless. I like to be surprised by plot turns and character development as I go along, like watching a movie unfold in my mind. I like to be excited about future outcomes, events and plot twists that sometimes won't even happen when I get there (The End did that a couple of times. It would have felt forced to keep them. If I'd had them written down in a plan, I would have had to restructure those parts of the story and figure out where to go next!)

I know planning works for some people, but it doesn't for me. I'm a pantser, through and through! I make some character and world building notes to give me a better idea of what I'm working with, but sometimes I don't even do that. I didn't make any character notes for The End until I was well into writing it and I don't think I did an ounce of world building except from what I had in my mind. It's a lot of fun for me to work this way, and it's why I won't start posting straight away when I've finished the first chapter - or first few. I like to have a good chunk written so the flow of the story is underway and there's a much smaller chance I'd have to change anything to keep continuity throughout the story. I jump back and forth making sure things fit, tweaking events, locations, characters. To use The End as an example, since it's the longest story I've ever written, Tinker's false eye and everstone didn't exist originally. I got the ideas and went back to add them in later. The story was originally set in a post apocalyptic world where the humans had been wiped out by the use of mega evolution. I scrapped that idea while writing it and made it completely PMD centric with no humans at all while also keeping a majority of the original ideas I'd had, such as the ruin but giving it a different purpose. I had to edit some of those human-inspired elements out while I was proof reading, such as neglected and cracked paving flags overgrown with weeds. As a result, the overall plot was massively transformed and I am incredibly happy with how it turned out. I actually miss writing it XD

It would be interesting to learn if anyone else works in a similar way. I'll have to go back and read over people's replies in this thread as I just kinda jumped in!

I kinda work similarly. While I do have an overall objective that is usually the endgame/big arc areas. I have to come up with filler/concepts before I get to those, and while it can get tiring I've written some of my best chapters (in my opinion) in one sitting. I mean, I'm more in the middle per say, but I would say I'm more at the part where you are Delirious Absol. Though, I will say that winging it has it's disadvantages, so I try to keep an open mind of things, but yeah, I sometimes wind up changing the ending as I write along. It's kinda fun, in a way.

For my short stories, I tend to just wing it, and then refine and rewrite them until I'm happy with the result. My novels, however, have a much different approach.

Since it's a much bigger story, I start with the initial idea, and sculpt it out a little in my head before thinking about any of the specifics. Once I have a rough idea of the characters, plot, setting, and everything, I tend to work on the characters first. After that, it's the setting, then the story, and then I keep refining and adjusting everything how I see fit. I like to have everything thought out and organized before I start writing. It helps with my motivation and thought process, plus I think the story turns out better because of it.

Original idea: I like Mewtwo and Eevee, so why not have a few scenes where they're interacting?

Step two: They play off each other rather well, with the Eevee gently coaxing out Mewtwo's more whimsical side, causing him to open up

Step three: What happened to close Mewtwo off from socializing? How did he meet the Eevee? What's her story?

Step four: Create backstories; what happened? Why? Who was involved? When and where did it happen?

Step five: Create an apocalypse-level event that tore reality apart, destroying several universes and they then had to be merged together to prevent total existential failure

Step six: Jump ahead a decade and slowly reveal how everyone is handling the changes that have happened since then, with the legendary pok?mon slowly putting things back together, which results in some odd divergences, such as game canon overwriting anime canon (for example, Ash isn't involved with stopping Team Magma/Aqua and the events of ORAS take place)

Step seven: Fall victim to ADHD and write events in anachronistic order that muddies the water even more - kinda fitting for a fic that has a massive Time Crash being the backstory

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That's basically what happened to my story and I'm kinda baffled how it got to that point.
Funny how an idea grows wildly beyond your initial vision as you expand the world it's set in.