Isn't that how most people write?

Some people write in a torrent of sheer inspiration with no clue where they're coming from or where they're headed. This usually ends in crazy places are rarely turns out well (though there are a few writers who are fantastic at this). The ones that write from pure emotion always suck.

Others engineer a carefully crafted blueprint of plotlines and characters and details and whatnot, drawing maps and sketching diagrams and writing up notes before they even begin writing. This makes complicated ideas easier to handle, but also takes a lot of fun out of writing (and indeed, the people who are best at this method leave a little room for spur-of-the-moment creativity, so as not to kill the joy of storywriting completely). I'm not a fan of this style because it leads to laundry-list writing, in which you try to hit every point on your outline as soon as possible without regard for pace, timing, or dramatic control, but I can't imagine any other way to write some stories. Like enormous, Tolkeinesque fantasy epics.

But the way you describe is the best way, imm-hoe. Some writers take it a little further and write garbled streams of sentence fragments and not-quite-words, then craft the resulting schizophrenic babble into complete sentences and polish until it's shiny. I've tried that method with surprising results. Not good or bad, but surprising.

That's why I'm asking ^^;; I see some of the FMA-fandom people on my f-list writing tens or hundreds of thousands of words per fic, and I'm like, GAH. For me, my way is only good for less-than-1000-words one-shots. I'm one of the first sort you describe, really. ;_;

And if I tried writing garbled, I'd probably shoot myself. My internal spell-checker is a domineering bitch. >_>;;;

Most prolific fic writers are the bad category of the first kind. They are the reason I do not read fic.

And hey, you can improve your writing stamina quite a bit by planning ahead. You don't have to go far or deep--just have an ending in mind, or a single image, or whatever you want.

Writing with "a torrent of sheer inspiration" is good for getting the rough draft out, though.

I use the "OMFG IT'S AN IDEA" method (or the "Archimedes run out ass naked with an idea" method).


...Which is why I think due dates for essays are unrealistic.

Anarchist. XD

_{Ulmos and Tulkas, please get the image of Brian jumping out of a bathtub and streaking down the street yelling "eureka" out of my head.}

It used to be either "I'm so depressed get it out of my system" or a sudden brainwave in incredibly boring classes.

The first kind I try to avoid completely now, unless it's writing a journal entry. Every time I write from emotion it turns out to be crap, but there are about two exceptions.

The problem with the second kind is that nowadays I'm too exhausted during class, and there's not much of a chance of writing in class without someone bothering me or me falling asleep.

Sometimes I see a prompt and think about it as I'm doing something else, build upon it, then come back and write a short ficlet. A flaw with that is that I usually make up a longg-ass backstory that doesn't need to be in the story and the prompt gets obscured in the thought process. More ofthen than not I scrap the idea of even typing anything.

I never do the list everything out way, because the short stories we had to write for class in seventh and ninth grade turned out to be very sucky stories in terms of plot because I was forced to think of an ending than it coming to me.

So, in conclusion, I've pretty much given up on writing other than journalling or schoolwork.

Just reminded me of something.

The best writing I did at NEHS was not in class, not at home, not in the little blue notebook I always carried around with me and not on the paper towels I doodled on at Starbucks. It was on Mr. Morris's weekly vocab quizzes.

Yes, believe it or not, those condescending, useless wastes of time and energy bored and infuriated me so much that they put me into the Writing Madness every time. In that short fifty minutes each week I compressed years of repressed anger and hatred against the school, the students, and Morris's insultingly low expectations of us into one and a half sheets of lined notebook paper, using each vocab word in the most forced and convoluted way possible. I expected Morris to fail me for disobedience the first time I did it, but instead he broke into fits of uncontrollable laughter and read it to the class, and, well, I think I may be the only student who's ever gotten a 97 on a vocab story about Jane Fonda performing fellatio. To this day I still do my best humor/parody work when royally pissed off.

Ah, well, that explains why I can't get good scores on those vocab tests. I can't work up enough viciousness/anger/frustration to do proper satire. *grins ruefully* Dammit.