Today, I'm delighted to hand over my blog to Jade Varden, a YA author who has published two novels in her Deck of Lies series, to explain how she gets the most out of her writing time.
Take it away Jade...
Take it away Jade...
Every Great
Book Begins with Pre-Writing
By Jade
Varden
Every book
begins with an idea. Writers might ask themselves a question one day, and
suddenly an entire book series is born. A dream, a line in a song, a TV
commercial, a news report -- they’re all capable of inspiring great literary
works. Before you ever write a word, you’ve already got the makings for a
fantastic book. But too many writers skip a necessary step between idea and
book-writing: pre-writing. The idea is just the beginning of the pre-writing
process. Before you sit down to type, you’ve got to stop and think.
Pre-Writing:
A Secret Writing Technique
Would you sit
down to make a dress without a pattern? Cook dinner without at least some sense
of a recipe? You can’t sit down to write a book with only a few random,
scattered ideas in your head. Writing will go much smoother if you have a plan
to follow, if your thoughts are organized, if know where you’re going
with the story. That’s where pre-writing becomes so important.
Every book begins
with an opening scene. Think about the characters you need to introduce, what
you want to say about them, how you want the reader to perceive them.
Pre-writing is all about imagining. Imagine that opening scene like it’s
playing out before you. See the setting and the characters interacting within
it inside your mind. If you can see the scene in your head, it’ll be much
easier to write later. Take note of how the characters are moving around in the
space, what they’re saying to each other. When you can hear your
characters talking to each other, you can make a lot of little tweaks to your
dialogue so it sounds more real. Once you sit to write the scene, you only have
to access the memory.
Imagining the
scene makes it much easier to add vivid details to your writing, and helps you
stay on track plot-wise. You know what needs to happen, and instead of
re-writing and struggling through a scene several times on paper you can face
the keyboard with a few solid ideas of how you need to get there.
I pre-write just
about every scene I’ve ever put into my books; otherwise, I find myself going
back and changing everything several times before I can move on to something
else. Every time I find myself feeling stuck, or if I’m confused about where I
need to go next, I immediately stop typing and stand up. Instead of trying to
write my way through the scene, I pace around and I think it out. Instead of
wrestling with the scene on the computer screen, I subdue it on my own private
movie screen inside my head. Ideas are much easier to move around and edit than
printed words, no matter how fast you type.
About Jade:
Jade Varden writes young adult novels for
teen readers. When she’s not working on her books, Jade contributes freelance
fashion articles to VAR magazine, and blogs practical writing tips for authors
who self-publish.
Follow her on Twitter @JadeVarden.
You can also find Jade, here:
Jade's blog
Jade on Amazon
Jade at B&N
Jade on Smashwords
Follow her on Twitter @JadeVarden.
You can also find Jade, here:
Jade's blog
Jade on Amazon
Jade at B&N
Jade on Smashwords
Great advice for plotters! :D
ReplyDeleteOops, missed this comment. Sorry Kyra, I wasn't ignoring you!
DeleteFirst book I ever wrote, I did the "pantster" way. It's a mess. I will always have the plan in place now...it just saves time and head ache!
ReplyDeleteI planned once, but it felt so wrong!
DeleteI'm a plotter in my head but a pantser in my heart! I try so hard to pre-write and do manage it most of the time but once I start writing down ideas, I find it hard to stop myself writing the whole darned thing! It's a bit of deep-rooted concern in my sub-conscious that if I don't write it all down now, I'll forget. I actually think that it works ok if you like re-writing and editing as I do. However, I do think that plotting makes for a much calmer experience! Thanks for the post, Jade (and for hosting, Annalisa).
ReplyDeleteI do so many re-writes that the original story is always improved and expanded. Perhaps if I plotted I wouldn't need to do so many re-writes...?
DeleteThese are really great tips. Thanks!
ReplyDeletePre-writing seems like a solid concept, thank you!
ReplyDeleteHave a beautiful weekend, Annalisa.
Thanks Suze, and you!
DeleteI find that i see a scene in my head first but the finished version of what i write rarely ends up exactly how I had it planned out ... things change and develop as u sit down and start writing
ReplyDeleteI love it when the characters and events in a scene take over!
DeleteI'm not a good pre-writer. I tend to be a pantser. I sit down and I type. When I come across an issue, then I sit down, wrack my brains, something might fall out and I scribble for England on bits of paper until I feel I can sit back down and start typing again. Plotters are amazing people. I envy such organisation.
ReplyDeleteSome of my best ideas come from trying to solve a problem, it makes you think past the obvious.
DeleteI'm also a total pantser, but certain scenes pre-write themselves whether I want them to or not. :-D
ReplyDeleteI write scenes out of order because they just happen to pop into my head too. Then I spend time sorting them into order.
DeleteGood post and excellent advice that I don't know if I'll ever do. I'm an organized person in every aspect of life except writing. I may have to try pre-writing and better plans. It's good to have a goal or try something different.
ReplyDeletethanks. Have a good weekend
How odd that your writing is totally different to the rest of your life! I'm just disorganised all over the place :-)
DeleteHaving an idea of what the scene needs to achieve is sensible - otherwise it's easy to have a few pages of nothing happening.
ReplyDeleteYes, the pacing can go horribly wrong if you're not careful!
DeleteAwesome post! Jade's meathods are always quite usefull. I think I might just aswell use thsi for book reviews. I have a hard time just writing what I fealt for a certain novel. Then a stop and play around with an objext on my desk. Too distracted too easily :(
ReplyDeleteHi Nic, thanks for visiting. Too distracted too easily sums me up too :-)
DeleteAwesome interview! Thanks for your knowledge, Jade!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting Charlie!
DeleteI like Jade's post a lot. I often let characters and ideas float around in my head for six months to a year. I'm not so much a pacer, but a lot of my prewriting happens when I drive.
ReplyDelete6 months? You must have a really good idea of the story by the time you come to write!
DeleteI do a lot of mental pre-writing before sitting down to write. I found I could make so much more progress that way, both while writing and figuring out the storyline. As at least one other person said, a lot of it happens while driving or while walking. Great advice, thanks!
ReplyDeleteIt has a lot to do with not being in a rush to start writing, I think.
DeleteThis is great advice. I can't write without a plan, I think because of all the essay writing I'm used to doing. If I don't have a plan my mind is just blank. Sometimes even my day needs a plan hehe :)
ReplyDeleteI find it very easy to waste a day, if I don't have a plan. Essay writing is a great skill to transfer to fiction though.
DeleteI do a lot of pre-writing too. I'm not a pantser in anyway and delving into a new story without an outline will definitely throw me off schedule. :)
ReplyDeleteNutschell
www.thewritingnut.com
I run through scenes in my head before I write them, so I kind of take Jade's advice - just not in order or to a plan!
DeleteI like this idea of prewriting. I think I've done it without really realizing it before. As I write I try to picture the sotry like a movie in my head.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I've given you the Open Horizons Award 'cuz you have such a cool blog. Just follow the link to my blog for more info.
Thank you Alice :-)
DeleteInteresting idea, Jade. I do some pre-writing with a scant outline and writing out my main characters' lives before the story opens. Helps me see new things. I always have to know how I plan to end before I can start.
ReplyDeleteHi Annalisa.
Hi Mary.
Delete