Hello everyone, sorry for the unexpected wait however as promised I am here today to discuss phases of writing and inspiration.
The Phases of Writing
The first phase of writing is the brainstorming process where you generate as many ideas as possible without discrimination. This is best accompanied by music or an inspirational background film. This is the longest but one of the most interesting phases of writing.
The second phase is story selection. This usually entails picking one specific idea to go with and filtering any relevant ideas into sub-ideas under the main idea.
Third, you create a believable, engaging plot based on that one idea. This is easier than you would think. Especially when you implement the inspiration technique I will be sharing later.
Finally, they get to outlining. This can be as extensive or as menial a process as any writer prefers. However, I have discovered through this latest novel the best plotlines, characters, and twists are generated through careful and considerate outlining.
However, it depends on your genre. Writing a murder mystery like me? Outline it. Writing a complex bank heist thriller? Outline it. It all depends on the complexity of your story.
The final (more or less) phase of writing is the actual process of writing. This can be the most daunting phase to most so you should prepare yourself with extensive outlining and character sheets.
The most essential phase that follows writing is the editing process. Which involves line edits which I can discuss in a post tomorrow. Rearranging scenes and moments. Adjusting characters and seeing if every POV matters push the story forward. Finally, reading it out loud to get a feel for the tone and word choice.
Inspiration:
What I discovered through this hiatus is that hiatuses can be productive. For example, I was experiencing life, good and bad every day I didn’t write. I also experienced love, loss, and strength in ways I could not imagine. It also helped inspire me to change my writing scheme since I hit a wall at the start of act 3. Therefore, I implemented innovative inspiration techniques.
The first of these techniques is taking a step back and working on a completely different portion of the novel. Or you could work on an alternate ending as I did. While unintentional, I plotted to the end of my novel and added another layer of mystery. So I took that into account with my second technique. Which in fact, implements this.
The next technique is making your environment prime for inspiration. The way you do this is also according to your genre. Murder mystery? Create a string chart with pictures that inspire you on photo applications like Pinterest. Or you could embrace yourself in the head of your character and dress according to that.
What I mean to put yourself in the shoes of your character is that. Rearrange your room to be your character's ideal room with things that reflect their personality. For example, a coming-of-age story based on a teenage girl. Make your room look like a teenage girl's with every square inch covered in posters and polaroids. Or if you are making a horror novel make your room look like the protagonists.
Other forms of inspiration for me came through Pinterest. The reason being is I was able to compose a mood board according to what jumped out to me. This is easily also accomplished by searching, for a relevant term to your novel, aesthetic. Simply adding aesthetics opens doors for you. Yes, I am a dude that is proficient in Pinterest, get over it...
Nonetheless Pinterest and mood boards and getting into the head of your character with your room. As well as just how impactful the environment can be and the phases of writing. We discussed a lot this morning. So farewell for now writers. I look forward to another great writing day with you all.
Till next time.
- Matt Gorrell (creator of mattgorrell.com)
Comments