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Monday, February 22, 2010

How Do You Write?

Back in the day I often wondered how those dudes write books actually write them? I didn't mean by that whether they use a pen or a pencil, or a computer if you're a techie type. What I meant is, how do they come up with these stories? Do they write them based on their personal experience? Maybe some do, but surely not all. Ask J.K. Rowling if you don't know what I mean. But the point is, does those stories appear in their heads somehow all of a sudden, or do they build up in their minds over time? Even more importantly, do you develop the plot along the way with only a brief theme in hand? Or do you have the skeleton, if you will, in your head first up and just use the events to dress up the story? Those are but a mere snippet of the thoughts galore that was over pouring my brain after reading a book back in the day.

Then I got into blogging, which means writing, and I was surprised.

Bar incidents that happen to me or the occasional well-researched topic, I hardly know what I'll be writing when I start a post. If it is an incident that happened, then I know the beginning, flow and the end, so I dress up the story with words and maybe throw in a couple of imaginary incidents just for the effect. Or if I research on something before I write, then I know what I'm gonna write about and how I'm gonna write that. Sometimes, while I'm on the train, having lunch or even reading something a thought may pop up in my head. Then I think about it, and perhaps try to develop a post in my mind; something like this should be the opening para, I shall write about this, this and this. And if I conclude it this way, it'll have a nice feel to it. By the time I sit down to write, I have this sort of skeleton in mind, and turn it to words. But other than that, most of the time I just open a notepad (Bill's notepad that is - I have only two handwritten blog posts to my credit, ever) and start typing. Just whatever comes to my mind, they will be transformed to words and typed. I add things along the way, and sometimes posts turn out to be something completely different to what I intended at the start. For instance, this post. I was feeling homesick, and had nothing better to do at that time so just started typing whatever comes to my mind and it ended up being a post. Funniest thing is, there have been times that when I had absolutely nothing to write about so opened up the notepad, typed a random key without looking, and then continued from there. Like this one.

So, how do you write?


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9 comments:

  1. I generally write whatever comes to mind. It has to just come to you. Sometimes I get into the mood to write, but nothing good enough comes out of it. The good stuff ids generally the spontaneous ones.

    Nevertheless, there are the occasional posts tht I plan out and write about.

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  2. My thought process is very random so clearly my blog posts are all over the place as well.
    If I am out and I get a brainwave, I write it down somewhere but obviously by the time I get home, I had forgotten all about it =/

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  3. totally random. sit at the comp, write. see a good movie. write. talk to a bestie. write. feel a tinge of heartache. write. random. =) heheh
    Have a great day aney!!! *hugs*
    K.

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  4. Talking about JKR - Can't be just random thoughts that made her richer than Elizabeth II..:)

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  5. @Cadence
    Seems we both write without a plan pretty much.

    @Sabby
    But why don't you bring back with you whatever it is you write on?

    @Kaiser
    So you write about anything and everything?

    @Kirigalpoththa
    I heard that she got the idea for first four books while she was on a train, and by the time the ride was finished, she had the whole story formed in her head. Maybe she IS a wizard. You never know!
    :D

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  6. Well we at flyslip (love to talk about ourselves in the plural in the 3rd person), are somewhat different. Writing about cricket can get tedious, so we look at the not so obvious things and try to put a spin on it.

    If I get an idea which is funny I try to put it on a notepad and save it on a special folder

    But often, I log on and write something in 10-15 mins and they end up being the best.

    I have ADD, therefore I blog.

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  7. Yeah most of my best posts too are written spontaneously; the more I ponder over something the more I tend to fuck it up.

    But one thing that I forgot to mention in the post is that I never really keep drafts. For almost one and a half years, there was only one draft that I think I had.

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  8. Hmmm, I like the spontaneous ones too. Quick and painless. The more I keep thinking about a post, the more likely I am to censor myself, a bad habit that I've developed... :/

    I don't like leaving posts in drafts too. Out of the many posts I've put in there, I have only published a few. I usually delete the others to keep things tidy! lol :D

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