Thank you, It's great to see you Damon! One thing that's taken me years to learn and develop that's helped me in my projects and this is for Book sized manuscripts. Let me tell you what I used to do, I used to try and just remember everything, then I started to take notes, then I got a pretty substantial big note book with lots of pages, and in this note book was a 1-30 pages for one story the 31-40 pages for another and sometimes the story on 1-30 would need more room and it would continue on somewhere else in the notebook and I worked this way for YEARS AND YEARS, all the while I would see in the stationary and office supplies at Walmart for example and look at all the blank notebooks and thought man I could use another fresh new notebook and the out it back as I'd say to myself, nah I have enough. All the while I was working I kept feeling like I was being chocked or no room to breathe, my notebook started to become a problem, I hated how there was no organization to it, my stories were running together and getting lost, and then for my 3rd year Anniversary my Wife bought me this nice grey soft leather journal, as erd year is a gift of cotton or leather. I got her a shirt she got me a journal. Well I decided to try something I've never done before, I would dedicate this entire 300 or 400 pages journal to 1 story, this one journal would be used for this 1 story no others just this 1. And Damon I kid you not, it was and still is amazing a great feeling that has opened my imagination to really let the story have its room and room to grow, I have found the writing has gotten a heck of a lot better, the thing is organized and having one journal dedicated to 1 story has just helped so much I really think that why Everytime I saw notebooks at the story my mind was telling me what my stories want, their own space to grow! Well, that was in November, seeing how much I loved that for Christmas my Wife bought me 20 more of these journals and when I want to start a new story I grab a new journal and make it for that story only, writing in one journal for one story seems like something that should have been done on it's own just I come from the CA of the 1980s where we try to waste little and recycle EVERYTHING. my first step is work the story in the journal, and then when I have it down enough to where I can see and hear and even smell the cologne my characters wear the perfumes on the ladies, hearing their voices, smelling the foods to feeling their cars and houses the world is at least 75% there and the story outlined 100% I then start my first draft on Typewriter, 6 to 10 pages Mon - Sat, 10 is my goal single spaced pages, but the least I can do before walking away is 6 pages. If I stick to that in 1 month I have a rough 1st draft. That has taken me years to learn and it's only gotten better. 3 things that's taken years to learn through technique trial and error: 1st character and world construction story outline in a notebook all to itself. No more Notebook sharing. 2nd is to 1st draft on Typewriters to creatively write without any distractions. And finally set and keep a Goal of 10 single spaced pages, but no less than 6 pages; 6 days a week, in about a month I have a book. A bad 1st draft as all first drafts are, but a completed manuscript nonetheless. Then from there, the manuscript is 3 hole punched into a 3 ring binder, and then edited as it's transferred 10 pages at a time into what I call the editing machine...aka The Computer. Then the 3rd Draft is off to my Editor aka my Wife who is an Editor, she loves it, something I found out while we dated, I write fiction she says I can't write but I love to edit, was an editor for a paper in high school, was an editor for local paper, edits at work, even as she reads big name authors she says she edits their work. Well long enough, apologies for any typos written on my phone and YT doesn't give enough space to edit on a phone. Missed Damon, next month will probably be the month I scoop up your online workshop. Had some other expenses come up. Cheers
Sounds like you know what you’re up to @dadtype2339. Always a pleasure to hear from you and thanks as always for sharing your experiences with crafting a story. Excellent ideas!
so true, and very well put
Thank you for saying so, @allan2240. Much obliged for watching and checking in.
Thank you, It's great to see you Damon!
One thing that's taken me years to learn and develop that's helped me in my projects and this is for Book sized manuscripts.
Let me tell you what I used to do, I used to try and just remember everything, then I started to take notes, then I got a pretty substantial big note book with lots of pages, and in this note book was a 1-30 pages for one story the 31-40 pages for another and sometimes the story on 1-30 would need more room and it would continue on somewhere else in the notebook and I worked this way for YEARS AND YEARS, all the while I would see in the stationary and office supplies at Walmart for example and look at all the blank notebooks and thought man I could use another fresh new notebook and the out it back as I'd say to myself, nah I have enough.
All the while I was working I kept feeling like I was being chocked or no room to breathe, my notebook started to become a problem, I hated how there was no organization to it, my stories were running together and getting lost, and then for my 3rd year Anniversary my Wife bought me this nice grey soft leather journal, as erd year is a gift of cotton or leather. I got her a shirt she got me a journal.
Well I decided to try something I've never done before, I would dedicate this entire 300 or 400 pages journal to 1 story, this one journal would be used for this 1 story no others just this 1.
And Damon I kid you not, it was and still is amazing a great feeling that has opened my imagination to really let the story have its room and room to grow, I have found the writing has gotten a heck of a lot better, the thing is organized and having one journal dedicated to 1 story has just helped so much I really think that why Everytime I saw notebooks at the story my mind was telling me what my stories want, their own space to grow!
Well, that was in November, seeing how much I loved that for Christmas my Wife bought me 20 more of these journals and when I want to start a new story I grab a new journal and make it for that story only, writing in one journal for one story seems like something that should have been done on it's own just I come from the CA of the 1980s where we try to waste little and recycle EVERYTHING.
my first step is work the story in the journal, and then when I have it down enough to where I can see and hear and even smell the cologne my characters wear the perfumes on the ladies, hearing their voices, smelling the foods to feeling their cars and houses the world is at least 75% there and the story outlined 100% I then start my first draft on Typewriter, 6 to 10 pages Mon - Sat, 10 is my goal single spaced pages, but the least I can do before walking away is 6 pages.
If I stick to that in 1 month I have a rough 1st draft.
That has taken me years to learn and it's only gotten better.
3 things that's taken years to learn through technique trial and error:
1st character and world construction story outline in a notebook all to itself. No more Notebook sharing.
2nd is to 1st draft on Typewriters to creatively write without any distractions.
And finally set and keep a Goal of 10 single spaced pages, but no less than 6 pages; 6 days a week, in about a month I have a book. A bad 1st draft as all first drafts are, but a completed manuscript nonetheless.
Then from there, the manuscript is 3 hole punched into a 3 ring binder, and then edited as it's transferred 10 pages at a time into what I call the editing machine...aka The Computer.
Then the 3rd Draft is off to my Editor aka my Wife who is an Editor, she loves it, something I found out while we dated, I write fiction she says I can't write but I love to edit, was an editor for a paper in high school, was an editor for local paper, edits at work, even as she reads big name authors she says she edits their work.
Well long enough, apologies for any typos written on my phone and YT doesn't give enough space to edit on a phone.
Missed Damon, next month will probably be the month I scoop up your online workshop. Had some other expenses come up.
Cheers
Sounds like you know what you’re up to @dadtype2339. Always a pleasure to hear from you and thanks as always for sharing your experiences with crafting a story. Excellent ideas!