Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2015: Day 3

[hoursgoneby]

Day 3

In your own space, talk about your creative process - from what inspires you to what motivates you to how you manage to break through blocks. Does your process change depending on the type of creating you're doing? Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Usually when I'm creating something I get the idea first - sparked off a thought, or a dream, or a suggestion by someone - and work it through as I go. Sometimes I'll sit down and plan beforehand, but usually it's more stream-of-consciousness. I'll have a sequence of events, or a visual, in my head and I try to get that down. Sometimes this works very well, others...well my NaNo this year fell apart because I got partway through and my characters started arguing the flaws in the plot! But better to find the flaws before anyone sees it than after.

It also depends on what I'm doing; informal or creative writing, graphics, and posts are almost always stream-of-consciousness. If I'm writing something for work, such as a proposal or training document, I'll sit down and structure an outline first, even if it's just a few bullet points on a notepad. Even then, I may stray from the outline depending on how the doc in question works out as I go. If I'm worldbuilding ahead of time (which is rare) I'll try and write down backstory first, and/or call a friend and go "okay, so...!" and brainstorm with or bounce ideas off them. When I'm sharing a project (fan related or professional) I will always create an outline and make sure to confer with others before making changes to it, just to make sure everyone's on the same track.

When I'm stuck, I always go the stream-of-consciousness route. It may or may not be related to what I wanted to work on and I may not keep it, but the important thing about writing is to write.

Comments

[angrboda]

When I'm stuck, I always go the stream-of-consciousness route.
I do this too, particularly during NaNo when I can't afford to just put it away and try again later. For me it's usually a very detailed description of the surroundings and eventually I discover the character has done something or other and we can move on. :)

[hours-gone-by.livejournal.com]

The characters do such interesting things sometimes when you leave them on their own. :) Even if it does sometimes leave you going "wait, what?"

[angrboda]

Or occasionally, "Hey, he's gone!" and then you have to sort of rush after him. :p

[hours-gone-by.livejournal.com]

"Get back here!" "What makes you think you have any say in this?" Yup, familiar with that. XD