From beginning to end or all over the place??

datco2014

Just wanted to gauge how people write - I tend to plot out a basic premise then I do an introduction - after that I'm all over the place - writing bits and pieces out of sequence/order in fact I usually write the ending way before I get there it works for me because it gives me little milestones to aim for as I go along and usually means I never get 'blocked' because I can jump around - it does bring some continuity issues in now and then but I'm getting better at dealing with them - my biggest problem is when I randomly decide to change a characters name 3/4 of the way through and even on my 3rd edit I still come across the old name lol - if some of you do suffer from writers block and you don't do this - might be worth a try or maybe everybody works like this and everyone is bonkers lol

Mrs Bear

I know the sequence in my head when I start, datco. Then the characters decide they don't like it and send me off all over the place. I've woken up a couple of mornings this week with Very Important Scenes in my head, so have to write them down or never see them again. I write in Scrivener, which makes all this really easy and readily accessible.
I'm currently re-working a novel from ten years ago - it was supposed to be a quick edit, but then I realised how much work needed to be done - and even that wasn't as much as it turns out to be. Still, the end is in sight.

Nefertari

I am the same datco I write all over the place, sometimes writing the ending before I have done the middle as I then know where I am headed.
Use find and replace to change names then it won't turn up again.

Carol

I have a general plan, write sequentially, though if I come to a point where I know I need a certain scene but I've not got it in my mind, then I just go to the scene beyond that and carry on.

I know the end, I may just get there in a slightly different way than I first thought- a slight diversion you could say.

Abster

If I have a scene I'm worried about 'losing' (you know the kind you've just mentally written during a shower, and don't want to forget before bed) I might write it down, but I'd probably rewrite it when I came to the place it slotted into, so that it fits what has gone before. But almost all the time I write from beginning to end. I like knowing that the bits I'm looking forward to/are easier are ahead, so that if I'm slogging along, there's a reward at the end (I never eat dessert first, either ). I'm using Scrivener for the first time too, and it's definitely helping me to write in the short bursts I do, as I can see my overview so easily.

Stan2

I am into non-fiction writing. I too write chapters out of the sequence in which they will finally appear. I have to check that there is no repetition.

Lou Treleaven

I have a rough idea in my head and might write a few notes, but not much. Then I'll write from beginning to end. I find it hard to write out of sequence because I'm making it up as I go, so characters and events will come in unexpectedly!

Tiny Nell

I'm a beginning-to-end sorta gal. I do jot down ideas for what will come in later, but they are not written as scenes. I would find it all too difficult to seamlessly amalgamate.

Stan2

We have to find the method that works best for us.

SilverLinings

Outline-first draft-second draft. All beginning to end. Third Draft. Slightly randomised. Beta. Rewrite. And.. who knows what next..I'll let you know when it happens