In today’s Journal
* Quote of the Day
* Welcome, and on Writing Scenes Out of Sequence
* Of Interest
* The Numbers
Quote of the Day
“If criticism from outside proves devastating, it is because it so readily joins forces with an infinitely more strident and more aggressive form of criticism that has long existed inside of us.” The School of Life via Farnam Street blog
In other words, external criticism only serves to reinforce one’s lack of trust in one’s own abilities.
Welcome to Norbert W of Innsbruck, Austria. Norbert knows the freedom of writing into the dark, but he emailed to ask whether writing scenes out of sequence and fitting them together later is a valid process. I thought I’d answer here to share it with everyone else.
First, a disclaimer: This is about writing into the dark. If you are still so frightened and untrusting of your own abilities that you resort to outlining or “signposts” or other ways of consciously thinking your way through the story, this is not for you.
But if you write into the dark (or want to learn how), the short answer is, Yes, of course writing scenes out of sequence is a valid process. If you need an example from among the ranks of professional fiction writers, it’s my understanding that Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes that way most of the time.
The longer answer is still yes. Your process is your process. If you write scenes as they occur to you and then intuit how they fit together later, that’s fine. For me, the bottom line is the characters. If out-of-sequence scenes are what the characters are giving you, I wouldn’t question them. Just go with it. The whole key to writing into the dark is to let the characters tell the story that they, not you, are living.
Here’s the difference: In YOUR story, you’re sitting alone in a room banging away at a keyboard. But in THEIR story, which is appearing word by word on the screen before you, they’re on a spaceship, or committing or investigating a murder, or riding wild on a good horse in a just cause. Or whatever. The point is, as a writer (as a recorder) you’re channeling your characters. It’s THEIR story, so let them tell it.
My own list of best practices for writing fiction would begin and end with that: Remember that the characters, not you, are actually living the story. It’s their story, so trust them to tell it. And don’t second-guess them with your critical, conscious mind.
Full disclosure: The above is not how I write personally. I do write into the dark and let the characters tell the story, but with very few exceptions, the characters in the stories I record tell their stories sequentially, from beginning to end.
I usually write 800 to 1500 words (a scene, which is also a chapter) and then take a short break. When I come back, I read back over what I wrote (for pleasure, with my creative mind) and allow my characters to touch the story as I go. I call that process “cycling.” Then I write the next chapter/scene, etc.
But how about it? Do any of you who are reading this write non-sequential scenes and then put them in place later? If so, extend this discussion and let me hear from you. You can email me at harveystanbrough@gmail.com or you can leave a comment at https://hestanbrough.com/the-journal-on-writing-scenes-out-of-sequence/.
Talk with you again later.
Of Interest
See “The Wet Blanket Reality– Chapter Three” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/the-wet-blanket-reality-chapter-three/. If you’re still looking for an agent, be sure to read this.
See “Spider Writers” at https://killzoneblog.com/2021/11/spider-writers.html.
The Numbers
The Journal…………………………………… 600 words
Writing of WCGN 5: Tentative Title (novel)
Day 1…… XXXX words. Total words to date…… XXXXX
Total fiction words for November……… XXXX
Total fiction words for the year………… 623282
Total nonfiction words for November… 4210
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 182700
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 805982
Calendar Year 2021 Novels to Date…………………… 13
Calendar Year 2021 Novellas to Date……………… 1
Calendar Year 2021 Short Stories to Date… 3
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 66
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 217
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31
Disclaimer: In this blog, I provide advice on writing fiction. I advocate a technique called Writing Into the Dark. To be crystal clear, WITD is not “the only way” to write, nor will I ever say it is. However, as I am the only writer who advocates WITD both publicly and regularly, I will continue to do so, among myriad other topics.