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Updated Site, Updated Column |
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Written by Jeffery Stevenson
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Wednesday, 12 January 2005 |
Greetings once again, fellow warriors of the word. As you can see, there are some changes here at the Scryptic Studios site. As I kick this column into gear again, I wanted to take a moment to discuss some things I'll be doing here at the site and mention some changes to "The Art of Words" itself.
First off, I'm now managing the Resource links database here at Scryptic. What does that mean? Each week, I'll be adding new links to our database for helping with research and helping learn the craft of writing. I'll also be reminding people that they can contribute to this wonderful resource here... by adding links to the database whenever they find a really helpful resource (that isn't already in our database). As part of this, I'll also be rolling some research topics into this column, and I can use your help with that. Got a subject you're having trouble digging up info on? Stumped trying to find the history behind something? Well, go to the contact page and send those questions my way (or for those guest readers that don't feel like registering but want to send a question in anyways, you can go to my personal contact page). I won't be able to answer all of them, but some of them just might appear in future articles of this column with some tips on tracking down information on those topics.
Next, we have the Scryptic Projects (in our message boards). These will be exercises to help people get some practice in the art of writing. Mostly, they'll be for short comic scripts, but I'll mix in some creativity drills and activities dealing with pitches, outlines, character building, etc. Give them a try... for practice... for a break from the status quo... and for fun.
Finally, we have this column, The Art of Words. I already mentioned the addition of research-related topics to the column, but more than the content will change. Because of my current schedule, I'll be putting out new articles every other week. I have a few projects that are eating up a lot of my spare time right now, but once a couple of those finish up (in the next few months), I should be able to switch to weekly. We'll see how it goes.
Now, you've read this far, and I can't let you walk away from here without some discussion on the fine art of writing. I recently had someone ask me about my process for writing, and I thought that would make a great topic. How do I get from idea to story? Well, here's the basics of how I do it...
- It's all about the characters. After I get that fun/neat/weird/psychotic/brilliant/silly idea for a story, the first thing I ask myself is, "What kind of character(s) could really bring that idea to life?" I write up a quick description of some characters, and I start to play around with them. I'll write out quick stream-of-consciousness short stories with the characters in various situations to get a feel for them... to work out their quirks, personalities, skills, and such. Since I usually pick a few different kinds of characters for an idea, I'll sometimes wind up moving traits from one character to another until I get comfortable with a character that's right for the story.
But, what if I already have a character to start with and need to make the idea work with them? Well, I'll still go about some of the same process if I'm not too familiar with the character. I'll write the situational short stories to get comfortable with the character, but this time instead of molding the character for the idea, I'll look for the existing aspects of this character that could help bring the idea to life. Then I'll rough out the story
- Find out where I'm going. Next, I'll use the idea and the character(s) to work out a basic structure to the story. I'll think about events and situations that could get the most out of this idea. I'll think about how the character would respond to those. I'll think about how I want the story to end... and how it should begin. Once I get those rough ideas of beginning, ending, and events that need to take place, I'll need to get more familiar with the topic.
- Initial research. This is not in-depth, "find every scrap of information on the topic" type of research. This is a quick skim through information dealing with the settings, events, characters, etc. Just enough to develop a little familiarity with the subject. Just enough to be able to leave quick notes in areas of my story where I know I'll need to expand out my research. Now, once all this initial data is gathered up, it's time to map the story out.
- Break it on down. With shorter stories, I usually dive right into writing as soon as I get done with the previous step, but with longer stories, I work on developing an outline. I will break it down into sequences of events, and then I'll map those to the physical breaks of the story (issues, pages, chapters, etc). I keep the description of what happens in each breaking point loose to give me just enough to remind me where I'm headed with the story (and not so much as to make me think about it too much). With all this written down, I jump into the next phase.
- Don't think... write! What's this? You're not going to make every sentence logically sound when you first write it out? Nope. I'm just gonna write and let the creative side of my brain take control. Get it all down first because you know you'll have to come back to tighten it up later anyways, so let that creative side of your brain take the keyboard for a spin. At this point, I just keep writing. If I get stuck and start to think about what's happening too much, I'll drop a really quick description about what my thoughts/concerns are with that part of the story and move on.
- Set it aside. Got that rough draft done... now what? I print it out, put it in a folder, and put it away while I work on other projects. How long do I put it aside for? It really depends on the deadline for that project. I like to give it a week or two, but a half day can sometimes be enough in a pinch. The goal is to get the story out of my mind, so that I can get a fresh perspective on it when I read it again.
- Revise. Now I can take the baseline for my story, and figure out exactly what needs to be researched. I go through and put together notes on things to double-check and verify, and then make the changes. I also make sure the characters act the way they're supposed to act, make sure everything moves the story forward, and make sure every part of the story is clear to the reader. Then I'll set it aside again (deadline permitting) and then revise it again... and repeat this a few times.
- Celebrate! I'll treat myself to dinner out and maybe spend a night vegging out with a bunch of good movies. I've earned it.
And that's my rough process for writing. It's not set in stone... writing is always filled with things like short notice deadlines to adapt a story to a new editorial direction like an all ninja zombie llama cast, reworking a story after a very similar story gets released, and other crazy things like that. You always have to be flexible and ready to adjust your process as necessary.
So, what's your writing process like? Take some time one day to think it through and see what you're actually doing when you get to writing. Maybe there are things you could do to work on that process. Things that could speed up your writing or things that could make writing a little easier for you. But you'll never know until you take a look.
... Feel free to discuss this article in the Scryptic forum for The Art of Words.
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