by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I mentioned last week that I enjoy hearing other writers’ book-writing processes. I share a variety of writing-craft tips on Twitter because although something may not be useful for me, it might be useful for someone else.
But sometimes, I think, it’s helpful to hear how others write. Although I’m pretty set in my ways with my process, sometimes I need to try something new. And sometimes I think I need to try something new because I’m so set in my ways. It helps to keep my writing fresh, even though I may be working on book ten in a series.
I read a post from writer B.E. Sanderson’s Outside the Box blog on linear writing … working straight through scenes to reach the end of the story.
I’m a linear writer almost to a fault now, but B.E.’s post reminded me that I haven’t always written that way. There was one book that I wrote backward from the end to the middle (the middle was where I’d gotten stuck).
Another book I wrote completely out of order. I’d gotten ideas for different sections of the story at different times and had written whatever scene I’d gotten the inspiration for.
I don’t know how many of you are mystery readers, but I can say from experience that the second book was a disaster in edits. Mysteries follow a particular pattern and mystery writers must track clues, red herrings, suspects’ lies, and alibis. Hopping around through a mystery meant that it took me longer to edit the book than it did to write the first draft (where ordinarily I edit in about 3 or 4 days before sending the manuscript to a freelance or publisher’s editor).
Not only were the elements of the mystery in a mess, but the transitions between scenes were either extremely choppy or missing altogether. The book ended up becoming Progressive Dinner Deadly and worked out fine and dandy … but I would never try to write a book completely out of order again.
But I might try writing a book from the end to the middle again, if I were stuck. It worked last time.
As someone who has written both ways, here are my thoughts on both approaches:
Pros to Linear Writing:
You’re writing it as the reader will be reading it.
You have a better sense of where you are in the story.
Transitions are (usually) neater.
If you’re writing a complicated story (like a mystery), it can be less confusing for you to edit later.
Pros to Writing Scenes Out of Order:
It can be extremely useful to jumpstart a story when you’re stuck …particularly moving backward through the book.
Sometimes when you’re not in the mood to write a particular scene (you’re feeling down or discouraged and you need to write a lively scene, e.g.) it helps to write a scene that better matches your mood.
When you’re full of ideas and dialogue for a future scene, the draft of the scene can be more animated when you write the idea as you get it.
If you’ve written a lot of books and you’re getting tired of your approach (or it’s boring you), writing out of order can infuse your story with new life.
When I’m tempted to write out of order now:
I make a note…either on my outline or in Track Changes right there in the margin…mapping out the scene or noting the ideas I had for it. Then I continue with the story in my linear fashion. For the most part, I just don’t have the editing time to write a book out of order anymore.
Have you ever written a story out of order? How did it go?
Pros and Cons of Linear Writing: Share on X
Hi Elizabeth – I can see that writing in a haphazard style might suit a book which happens in chapters, with no particular link … but if you’re writing a story – definitely the author needs to be in charge of all aspects – therefore keeping a check on things as it is written – makes sense …
Out of order isn’t an option really … cheers Hilary
Hilary–It definitely makes me feel a lot more organized when I write the book straight through. And I really do write it straight through…not even stopping for chapter breaks. :)
Really interesting post (as ever!), Elizabeth. I tend to be a linear writer (must be my non-fiction background?). On the one hand, I find it has a lot of benefits, as you’ve pointed out. But on the other, it can be limiting. If you think of a fabulous scene/character/plot twist for Chapter Three, and you’re on Chapter Eight, it can be a bit awkward to go back and revise. Still, in general, I think linear writing works best for me.
Margot–I’m thinking your academic or nonfiction writing would definitely help make you a linear writer. You’re right about it being a bit limiting. The times I’ve thought of a cool twist in the material I’ve already written, I keep going as if I’d already written the twist, making a note in Track Changes to mark the point in the story when I changed the plot.
Great topic! I, too, like hearing about other author’s processes. I typically write linearly, because it just seem logical. However, twice I’ve written out of order and honestly it felt *easier.* (Note to self: reread that last sentence.) I’m a plotter, so I’m writing from a very detailed outline, which helps. I know exactly where I’m headed, while still being open to new ideas and changes. Also, I write a less than perfect first draft, then revise, so if the out-of-order results feel choppy/sloppy, it’s okay. My linear first drafts always feel that way. Likewise it helps that the non-sequential scenes are typically major scenes which helps me write tighter transition scenes to join them.
Kathy–You know, you bring up a great point. The times that I wrote out of order (with such messy results), I did not have an outline. I was a pantster for the first 5 or 6 books or so. It seems it really would be less choppy writing out of order with a finished outline.
I combine techniques. Some stories are 100% linear. Some are mostly linear, with me going back and sticking some scenes in. I commonly have a few scenes that drafted that are a book or two ahead. (In an in-progress novella series, these future scenes are so far proving to end up the openings.)
And some… Well, the core plot or simple outline might be jotted down in a linear fashion, but I then end up expanding and hopping around in as I feel like it.
This happens with both fiction and nonfiction, for me.
Carradee–So your ideas/scenes for future books, are those projects for a continuing storyline? I write series that function as standalones and rarely seem to think about them now while I’m writing something else (which I’m actually very relieved about since those shiny new ideas would distract me!)
I’m actually writing my first out of order book right now. And I’m loving it! I’m even kind of looking forward to the puzzle of placing all the scenes in the right place. I do think it’ll make edits more uh…interesting…though. =)
Leandra–It *is* sort of fun! And if you have the time for the edits, it’s not a bad thing. :)
I write mostly in a linear way now, especially since I started outlining. Start at the beginning of the story and progress through it. There may be flashbacks and backstory, but mostly things move forward sequentially.
Back when I was pantsing, I generally wrote sequentially, but then if I became enamoured with a backstory, I might dart off down a rabbit-trail, ending up developing a whole different element of the story than I had begun with, which meant that on rewrite (and it would have to be rewrite, not just edit) I would have to refocus and develop that subplot (or new plot) throughout the story.
But I did write some stuff out of order. I killed off a favourite character, and still wanted to write more about her, so I went deeply into backstory, writing as much prequel as I could to satisfy the urge. That was the first time I realized that I could write when I already knew the ending, something that always stymied the creative flow before that.
When I started writing for Nanowrimo, I wrote a couple of books that were completely out of order. It was the first time that I had forced myself to write a certain amount every day, and I was frantic to get the words down, no matter where they fell in the story. One of the books involved a lot of flashbacks, two different characters’ backstories, and it took a long time to get them assembled in an order that worked after I was done the first draft. I had to read through a dozen times to make sure that secrets were revealed in a logical order. The other book was seven different stories that intertwined. I wrote each of the seven stories linearly, jumping from one to the other as I got bored or stuck. Then when it was done, I had to break down and reassemble the seven stories so that they all intertwined and were revealed in the right order.
Then I started to outline so that I would be able to write for Nano without being so haphazard about it. I would know what was coming next and wouldn’t lose the threads, and could push through from one scene to the next. Since then, I have continued to write mostly linearly. I may make note of a scene I want to develop later, or a backstory I want to write, or I may go back and insert a scene, but on the whole it is linear.
I did give myself a break from outlining for one book in the past year, one in a series our character-based stories where none of the previous books had been plotted. It jumped around quite a bit in the timeline, and although it was fun to write, I did find myself having to go back to ‘smooth things over’ frequently, and I’m still not sure I have all of the reveals in order yet.
Plotting and working sequentially is what works best for me right now. But methods do grow and change over time!
P.D. You’re the second writer to mention outlining in conjunction with linear approach. I’m wondering if pantsing actually sort of sets up a non-linear approach in some way. When I wrote out of order, I wasn’t using an outline. Interesting! I hadn’t thought about it from that aspect before.
You’re so right about methods changing over time!
Wow. Thanks for stopping by the blog and mentioning it here. =o)
I still haven’t gotten to the ideas I mentioned that are totally out of order with where I’m at in the writing, but I have notes. I just have them the old fashioned way – on paper, staring at me every day while I write so I don’t forget them.
B.E.–It was a great post and a thought-provoking one!
Keeping notes…handwritten or otherwise…is the perfect way to jot down ideas while avoiding being sidetracked.
Hi Elizabeth–I read B.E.’s post, too, and another by Laura Spinella at Writers in the Storm http://writersinthestormblog.com/2016/07/fog-and-headlights-and-process/ , and now yours–just can’t get away from taking a look at my own process now!
I tried to speed up the process by having a solid outline, then each day sitting down and banging out 2K words, just letting it flow, prompted by each scene/element in the outline. The idea was to go back and edit.
It turned into a hot mess. I really had to rewrite–twice. I think I need to edit as I go, because the more I write, the more I understand motivations, possibilities, etc. I improve on the outline, essentially. So I’m still learning, still developing my own writing process. I just wish I could do it faster!
Meg–I know some writers who swear by editing as you go…Terry Odell is one of them.
I always say that I *never* edit as I go. Like most absolute statements, it’s something of a lie. I *do* go back and read from the beginning when I feel a little stuck during the first draft. I might not edit the text I’m reading, but I use it for additional subplots or plot twists, moving forward. It’s content editing and I definitely do it…if not every story, then during many of them.