Post by account_disabled on Dec 27, 2023 6:42:24 GMT 2
When we talk about how to learn to write , we always rely on knowledge of grammar and writing exercises – with all that this may mean. Grammar is obviously important, but I like to think that anyone who wants to pursue a career in writing or "simply" wants to dedicate themselves to writing a few books knows enough grammar. Even if, in reality, we cannot take it for granted. Over time I began to distrust writing exercises. How many writers have become famous thanks to writing exercises? Nobody. Their exercises were the first books they wrote. That's the greatest writing exercise you can do. What should be explained instead is the method .
Those who have been following me for a long time know how I started writing my first novels, which I never finished: taking a sheet of paper and starting to write, with the idea of producing a fantasy novel like Terry Brooks or even Tolkien. I lacked the method, which I later learned by making mistakes, that is, by starting novels without finishing them. One Special Datamethod that works is to divide the writing process into 3 phases : Prescription Free writing Revision Prescription I talked about it a few years ago, explaining 10 ways of this phase of writing. Obviously not all 10 should be used, in fact their use depends in my opinion on the type of book we are writing. Summarizing them in a list, they are: Brainstorming Mind maps Journalism technique Organization of ideas Questions and answers Taglines and loglines 3 perspective technique List method Sequence of events Storyboards For my political essay I used brainstorming, mind maps, the list method and finally the hierarchical succession of events. 4 ways only.
For my science fiction novel I instead used brainstorming, the journalism technique, the sequence of questions and answers, taglines and loglines, in some situations the 3 perspectives technique, the list method (indeed used to better define the story) , the succession of events (which helped me to give the right temporal positioning of each of the 6 stories) and finally the storyboard. 8 ways of prescribing out of 10. Free writing Otherwise called jet writing. For many, writing in one go means creating a file on the computer and starting to write. The exact opposite of those who plan a story. In my opinion there is some confusion about both free writing and planning. The science fiction novel I'm writing had to have some sort of planning, because there are 6 stories connected to each other. Each event (read: each chapter of the novel) is therefore dependent on the previous one. And since the structure includes 39 chapters in total, I couldn't start writing freely from the first chapter without knowing what would happen in the next one.
Those who have been following me for a long time know how I started writing my first novels, which I never finished: taking a sheet of paper and starting to write, with the idea of producing a fantasy novel like Terry Brooks or even Tolkien. I lacked the method, which I later learned by making mistakes, that is, by starting novels without finishing them. One Special Datamethod that works is to divide the writing process into 3 phases : Prescription Free writing Revision Prescription I talked about it a few years ago, explaining 10 ways of this phase of writing. Obviously not all 10 should be used, in fact their use depends in my opinion on the type of book we are writing. Summarizing them in a list, they are: Brainstorming Mind maps Journalism technique Organization of ideas Questions and answers Taglines and loglines 3 perspective technique List method Sequence of events Storyboards For my political essay I used brainstorming, mind maps, the list method and finally the hierarchical succession of events. 4 ways only.
For my science fiction novel I instead used brainstorming, the journalism technique, the sequence of questions and answers, taglines and loglines, in some situations the 3 perspectives technique, the list method (indeed used to better define the story) , the succession of events (which helped me to give the right temporal positioning of each of the 6 stories) and finally the storyboard. 8 ways of prescribing out of 10. Free writing Otherwise called jet writing. For many, writing in one go means creating a file on the computer and starting to write. The exact opposite of those who plan a story. In my opinion there is some confusion about both free writing and planning. The science fiction novel I'm writing had to have some sort of planning, because there are 6 stories connected to each other. Each event (read: each chapter of the novel) is therefore dependent on the previous one. And since the structure includes 39 chapters in total, I couldn't start writing freely from the first chapter without knowing what would happen in the next one.