[Brooke]

So, I’m a beginner writer, which means I don’t know a whole lot about writing. And I had this question:

Do you have to write your book beginning at the beginning and ending at the end?

I get excited about certain parts that happen either in the middle, or at the end of my fantasy, and I want to write them immediately without having to wait till I get there. Would doing this mix up my characters’ development, my plot, and my story? Do y’all have any suggestions? Thanks a million! 😀

I light the arrow, pull the bow,
Shoot that fire right through my soul.

[Mischievous Thwapling]

@wingiby-iggiby

*offers hand for high-five* Hey, fellow beginner writer!  Like I just said, I’m in the same boat with you–I actually started writing books only this year!–but I believe that it would personally mess me up if I skipped around.  If I did it on a small scale, I’d probably/might be okay, but I think if I glazed over large chunks of my novel, I would definitely get mixed up.

But, that’s me.  My characters go through a lot change/potentially traumatizing experiences, so it’d be easy for me to mess up that way.

However, your story is no doubt very different and unique from mine.  All stories are different.  I would suggest not skipping large parts, but, again, I don’t have years of experience easily tucked under my belt, soooo…. Maybe wait for more wise people to answer who actually know what their talking about… XD

"I threw stones at the stars, but the whole sky fell."

[Beth Darlene]

I’m no expert or anything, but I think if you have a brief outline and you know how your cherries are gonna develop, you know what happens in the plot and stuff, then you can prob skip around. That’s what I’m doing with my current short story, I know how I want my characters to develop and I have a brief outline. Hope that helps!

Jominkreesa! For the weirdos who know what it means! 😉 I love you guys!

[The Fledgling Artist]

I’m not a very experienced writer myself, but I really think the answer to that question varies from writer to writer. You’ll just have to experiment and find out what works best for you. ^.^ If you want my personal opinion you could always write it now while you’re excited about it, and then rewrite it again later after writing the scenes that lead up to it if it feels too disjointed. –But again, you’ll just have to experiment and figure out what works best for you. 🙂 Everyone’s process is different. *shrugging noises*

"Though I'm not yet who I will be, I'm no longer who I was."

[Zee]

To tell the truth, I tend to start at the end (climax) of my stories, and work back from there.

If you have an outline or some kind of summary of how you want the whole story to go, I don’t think it would hurt to jump around a bit. Sometimes if you’re banging your head against the wall about one bit, it can really help to go work on another for a while.

[Brooke]

@mischievous-thwapling

*Takes high-five* I only started writing this year too, and it’s a lot more work than it looks, ha ha. Thanks for the advice! I definitely should be aware of that, and thinking it over, character development could be messed up that way. Hmmm…

I light the arrow, pull the bow,
Shoot that fire right through my soul.

[Brooke]

@beth20

That makes sense! I’ll have to develop a little bit more then to make sure I got it. Thank you! 😀

@the-fledgling-artist

Thank you! That is probably one of the things I’ll end up doing, because drafts are made to rewrite, right? 😀 It will be like connecting the dots 😉 I hope I can discover what my writing process is soon… thanks!

@zee

You start your stories from the climax? That is really cool! I’ve never heard of anyone doing that before. I do have a thin outline for the plot, but its not really filled in, so I’ll have to work on that. It does help if you are frustrated with something to go do something else. And, since it is not below me to bang my head on the wall, thank you 😛

Thanks y’all! This helped a bunch. I love hearing what other writers do, so this is great! 😀

I light the arrow, pull the bow,
Shoot that fire right through my soul.

[The Fledgling Artist]

@wingiby-iggiby *finger guns*

"Though I'm not yet who I will be, I'm no longer who I was."

[Mischievous Thwapling]

@the-fledgling-artist

The Fledgling Artist wrote:

*shrugging noises*

LOL XD And finger guns… You’re the best.

@wingiby-iggiby

I really like the answers these people gave.  I would recommend taking their advice instead of mine… After all, last night, when I was watching a movie by myself, I found myself giving advice to the characters on how to stay alive in the situation…. And I didn’t even realize it!! *face palms* So I was just talking to the characters BY NAME, basically, in an empty room… *contemplates sanity*

Partly the reason I’m more prone to not skipping around is, ’cause if I’m honest, I don’t exactly have a full skeleton, like we were talking about.  Often times, as I’m writing a new detail/idea pops into my head and I weave it into the plot. I bet it will work out great for you, though. 😀 I’m just a little tiny-bit…. unorganized XD

 

"I threw stones at the stars, but the whole sky fell."

[Mischievous Thwapling]

*I mean that I bet skipping around will work great for you, btw.

"I threw stones at the stars, but the whole sky fell."

[Crazywriter]

Hey Wing! Similar to Natalie, (Thwap) i personally cannot go out of order, because i’ve tried, and well….we’ll just leave it at that.

However, my sister, also a writer, does that all the time. It works for her. So, like posts above, it depends on the writer.

Probably (if you’re like me) what you will run into if you do do it, is once you finish writing the cool exciting parts, you get stuck with the fluff. And the fluff ain’t fun. So thats one downside.

However if you do it in order, it could take you months if not years, of slogging through literary trench warfare trying to find fluff enough to get to that one part that makes it all worth it. Exhausting.

 

XD

Sorry, this was long, and prolly unhelpful. But thats my twopence 🙂

[Joelle Stone]

@wingiby-iggiby,

Hi! By now you’ve probably had so much advice you’re melting into a pile of ecstasy, and no doubt mine will just annoy you. But I will say what I was going to anyway. *clears throat*

I struggle with this a lot (especially after starting to RP). I tend to think about scenes I want WAY in the future of my book, plan out every word, and get super excited about it. So, instead of sticking it in my book, I made a separate document for scenes I want later. That way I could write it down, preserve the idea, but not have to rush through the preceding parts to get to where I wanted to put it. Also, that makes it easier to work over the scene by itself before putting it into the book.

Just an idea. 🙂

[The Fledgling Artist]

Mischievous Thwapling wrote:

@the-fledgling-artist

LOL XD And finger guns… You’re the best.

😂😂😅😅😅

"Though I'm not yet who I will be, I'm no longer who I was."

[Brooke]

@the-fledgling-artist

Finger guns, you are awesome 😛

@mischievous-thwapling

Ha ha! 😛 Yeah, sometimes when I’m watching something I’ll be like “dude! That is the dumbest thing you could ever do! DON’T DO IT!” Also, I’ll say “ouch” for characters when they’re in physical pain, he he. And I’m thankful for your advice and time! I’m not very good at advice either 😉

I totally get that! My skeleton is very basic (like one sentence for five main parts, lol). I love being surprised as I go along, too, so that’s why I don’t stress a whole lot about the plot.

@crazywriter

Don’t think your advice is unhelpful!! It’s a very important point! I don’t really like dull stuff either. Maybe getting the fun parts down, and a feel for the world and characters, can help with all those less exciting parts bc you have a better idea of what you’re doing and how you can make those parts more enjoyable. And, if I had to actually write about trench warfare, I would probably condense it all into one sentence and leave it at that 😛

@joelle-stone

I AM melting in a pile of ecstasy; all this advice is awesome! Yours will totally not be annoying. 😉

I struggle with this a lot (especially after starting to RP). I tend to think about scenes I want WAY in the future of my book, plan out every word, and get super excited about it.

EXACTLY WHAT I DO! And that is an awesome idea! I tend to fill up one doc with all sorts of stuff — and it gets very confusing, lol. I don’t want to rush through things, so this is a win-win. 😀

I light the arrow, pull the bow,
Shoot that fire right through my soul.

[Mischievous Thwapling]

@wingiby-iggiby

Lol, same!! Those characters stress me out with their foolish decisions…

I know!! I get that 😉

"I threw stones at the stars, but the whole sky fell."

[Author]

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