Writing Question

[kriadydragon]

How long do you usually work on a story idea (original story, that is, not fanfic) before writing it? Do you usually work on an idea as soon as you get it (world build, teak notes, etc) and write as soon as you feel it's ready or take as much time with the idea as possible? I'm in the "take my sweet time with an idea" category myself. But my rule of thumb is usually to wait a year before committing the idea to actual words, which is all fine and well except for those times I need something to write, but the things I want to write aren't ready and the ideas that are ready I don't want to write :/ So I'm kind of wondering if some ideas I should work on as soon as they come to me rather than let them percolate for a bit (which didn't work with one story, but most likely because that story's to be a trilogy).

Comments

[sholio]

For me, it completely depends on the story. I wrote one in August that just fell out of my brain, the same way fanfic often does -- I had the idea, came up with the characters, and basically wrote it (a 25,000-word novella) in a couple of weeks. That rarely happens, though. Usually what seems to happen is that I write little bits when I'm in the initial noodling stage, then let it sit for awhile, then end up changing everything. *g* Trying to write a story too early seems to usually end in it grinding to a screeching halt, or else changing things around so much that the part I've written no longer works. But sometimes I can just plunge right in, and it works that way. I suppose for me it's a matter of going with what feels right for each different idea.

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

Depends...if I have an idea which really grips me and I have the time, I start with the world building immediatly. If I don't (which is especially true for ideas which require looooong stories), I just make a note...I always make notes to the ideas I have somewhere, you never know when it becomes useful. Sometimes I have a basic idea and suddenly realize that it fits into another story I'm just writing. But I always have done a lot of world building for stories I doubt I will ever write.

[bratfarrar]

This is exactly how it works for me, as well. Depends entirely on the story, but I find that the main thing is not to try forcing it--that's a sure way to wind up with nothing usable. If I start writing it down and things just keep coming (even if they're not consecutive or contiguous), I just keep writing. If nothing comes, nothing comes.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've learned the hard away the mistake that is jumping into a story when it's not ready. It took forever to finish, I ended up rewriting several massive chunks during the editing process, and lately I've been contemplating rewriting the entire thing! But the story I took my time with was easy to write and I was happy with the result.

If only original fic came as easily as fanfic, then I would have so much done. But part of my problem is that I have a bad habit of being really ambitious and coming up with these massive stories that need months to years to develop. I really need to stop doing that.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to get into the habit of making notes rather than waiting a year to let the idea sit and grow. There have probably been a few ideas I could have started writing sooner had I started making notes sooner. Some ideas - well, most ideas, really - need time but some come to me fully-formed and ready to go, and I probably could have had them written by now if I'd started working on them sooner rather than later.