Comments on: Chart Your WIPs (Creative Writing Exercise)

By: Aaron Pogue

Aaron Pogue — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:18:41 +0000

@Rebecca Campbell,
It’s worked for me! Obviously different writers have different styles, but it shows pretty clearly in the chart above that once I started taking prewriting seriously, I never looked back.

For me it works well to divide the parts of creating a novel into clear groups — coming up with a solid idea and cast of characters, writing the story, and then polishing it. When I’m having to make up major plot points or character details as I go, I just can’t put the same attention into my write.

I know writers who only do it for the thrill of discovery, though, so for them prewriting takes all the fun out of it.

Carlos,
Obviously you’re not going to put in twenty-five read-throughs on a thousand-word blog post, when you have another deadline looming late in the week, but I definitely think dividing it up could help — even if it’s just dedicating one revision to spelling and grammar, and another one to voice and style.

Definitely keep me posted. Let me know how that approach works for you.

By: Carlos Velez

Carlos Velez — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:37:18 +0000

I really enjoyed your “Reviews, Revisions, and Edits” section…It gives me a much better idea of how to go back through my blog posts before I publish. Emphasizing each of these foci on separate reads would make a big difference. I tend to space out a little when I re-read a blog post for editing purposes. I catch stuff, and revise, but not as well as I could. I think this will help a lot.

By: Rebecca Campbell

Rebecca Campbell — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:51:33 +0000

Thanks for the chart!

I know a lot more about prewriting now, so with the next novel I’m doing much more prep. For the last one the only thing I had done was defining characters, and it was only a few sentences each.