Whoa, sorry for getting back to you late on this--I turned the email notification off and missed some comments!
Anywho, I do get scenes writing themselves in my head that I need to write down RIGHT AWAY, but that's generally after I've thought about the scene for a while. I work in layers. First I get the idea of what's going to happen in a scene. Then I break the scene down into smaller parts, especially the beginning. Then I break the beginning down into smaller parts, usually with some dialogue and visuals. Then I write it word for word in my head, and that's the part where BAM, have to write it down. The thing is though, if I can't write it down just then, I can sometimes review it over and over until I remember it word for word. A while ago I was having computer trouble, and kept losing my work--had to write the same three pages over three times before I could back it up. What was freaky is I'm sure each of those three pages were exactly the same every single time--because I knew exactly the words I wanted. I guess it was freaky because verbatim memorization has always been hard for me, but not when I'm writing.
I tend to be not so concerned about the ideas not being mine. That is, it's very very important to me that I don't steal ideas, but I feel like once I get my hands on something, I have a natural tendency to twist and change until it becomes my own. Possible arrogance on my part; I should watch myself!
Me sans brain is dangerous.
And I agree that not every word and sentence in a story should be so polished,
I've said (ad naseum, I'm afraid) before that I kinda have two modes of writing: one I just spin out what's popping into my head, I write really fast, and they're long stories. The other is like pulling teeth, every word is agony, and they end up shorter. I'm writing this fic in the former mode, but sometimes I worry that what I'm doing is just splooging crap everywhere, if you know what I mean, and that people who expect good writing out of me will be disappointed. But the key is that I'm really having fun with it, and that's what matters most!
Particularly for plot-based story-telling, the simpler the wording in critical points of the action, the more the reader is sucked in.
The thing about that is simple wording is sometimes sparkly in itself. Hemmingway's stories, for a hoidy-toidy literary example, are written very simply, but it still feels like each word is extremely polished. I think a lot of people's natural mode of writing falls somewhere in between wordy convoluted beauty and that crystalline simplicity, and the result is that the prose of generic novels and stories, the mysteries and best-sellers and romance novels calls no attention to itself because it is utterly mundane. But I don't think that style of writing is bad, though I do believe it could be better. It just gets the story across, which is sometimes more than enough. Um, I have more thoughts on this subject, which I need to think about because I'm having trouble articulating, and I don't have a way to end this sentence, so I'll just thank you for making me think :o)
no subject
Anywho, I do get scenes writing themselves in my head that I need to write down RIGHT AWAY, but that's generally after I've thought about the scene for a while. I work in layers. First I get the idea of what's going to happen in a scene. Then I break the scene down into smaller parts, especially the beginning. Then I break the beginning down into smaller parts, usually with some dialogue and visuals. Then I write it word for word in my head, and that's the part where BAM, have to write it down. The thing is though, if I can't write it down just then, I can sometimes review it over and over until I remember it word for word. A while ago I was having computer trouble, and kept losing my work--had to write the same three pages over three times before I could back it up. What was freaky is I'm sure each of those three pages were exactly the same every single time--because I knew exactly the words I wanted. I guess it was freaky because verbatim memorization has always been hard for me, but not when I'm writing.
I tend to be not so concerned about the ideas not being mine. That is, it's very very important to me that I don't steal ideas, but I feel like once I get my hands on something, I have a natural tendency to twist and change until it becomes my own. Possible arrogance on my part; I should watch myself!
Me sans brain is dangerous.
And I agree that not every word and sentence in a story should be so polished,
I've said (ad naseum, I'm afraid) before that I kinda have two modes of writing: one I just spin out what's popping into my head, I write really fast, and they're long stories. The other is like pulling teeth, every word is agony, and they end up shorter. I'm writing this fic in the former mode, but sometimes I worry that what I'm doing is just splooging crap everywhere, if you know what I mean, and that people who expect good writing out of me will be disappointed. But the key is that I'm really having fun with it, and that's what matters most!
Particularly for plot-based story-telling, the simpler the wording in critical points of the action, the more the reader is sucked in.
The thing about that is simple wording is sometimes sparkly in itself. Hemmingway's stories, for a hoidy-toidy literary example, are written very simply, but it still feels like each word is extremely polished. I think a lot of people's natural mode of writing falls somewhere in between wordy convoluted beauty and that crystalline simplicity, and the result is that the prose of generic novels and stories, the mysteries and best-sellers and romance novels calls no attention to itself because it is utterly mundane. But I don't think that style of writing is bad, though I do believe it could be better. It just gets the story across, which is sometimes more than enough. Um, I have more thoughts on this subject, which I need to think about because I'm having trouble articulating, and I don't have a way to end this sentence, so I'll just thank you for making me think :o)