I'm one of those weird writing people. I don't write story notes before I write. Instead I use sheets of old computer paper to jot things down kind of as a temporary chalk board, or print stuff off of the web when necessary. I just start out with a title (which gets written first) a starting point and a rough ending. The result of this is that writing for me tends to be "organic"; most of the time I just sit back and let the characters tell me where they'd like to go. Which can get really scary; especially when you have a house full of Vampires, ranging in age from just newly "minted" to a crack under 10,000 years old.
Introduce Yourself : Writing Without A Net by Kenneth David Swenson
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the arc previous to this one wound up by the end of it having several 2 inch binders for all the test photos, web page prints, and the tear sheets. The other thing that was important before I even started writing the first word about 9 years ago, was doing the research in the Gothic community to come up with a canon that would be plausible and acceptable. And yes when first signed on here 2 months plus ago; someone asked me if I had a lot of stuff parked; to which I replied yes. The last and most difficult thing is making sure that the story stays consistent through all the incarnations.
I use to write like that, but I'd always get myself in trouble. The ending would be too abrupt or I would just get stuck with writers block. I always hand write an outline and then go back and write dialogue. It helps me with structure and pacing.
See comment I wrote to Tarus above. Flow is important yes...which is why I try to write enough of an end point when it comes to me that it wont feel as if I've pulled the chicken switch on the story. And this may send you running away screaming, but I get around writers block by sometimes skipping past; and re-knitting it together if necessary in red pencil edit.
I wish I could write that way, and maybe someday I'll give it another shot. I know the Cohen brothers prefer that style. It brings them closer to their characters.
Nothing personal, but that's a horrible approach if you're looking for results in the current spec market. If not -- no worries. Happy Sunday
I think the take home in all of this is two-fold. First a writer writes in a style and circumstance that they feel comfortable in doing. Secondly writing depends on time frame. If you have several months to write something you will use an approach. If you are part of a writing team on a running series and have a week or less to produce a shooting script you would use a different one...
If you're an aspiring screenwriter there is way too much too learn to have some fictional character in your head telling you what to do. If you don't know the art of screenwriting and the art of storytelling, I doubt your character does.
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No negative energy here. Don't mean any harm, but screenwriting is a pro sport, and if we wanna go pro, we gotta train like the pros.
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thank you for all your comments Shawn. I do stand by my original comments, and I hope you can respect that. Everyone has their own method which either works or it doesn't. When it doesn't we learn and adapt...
I was just trying to save you some time, buddy!