How do I organize my writing process?
Let's say there are elements of good writing such as:
Characters, Conflict, Dialogue, Ideas, Mood, Plot, Scene, Style and World
You want to start focusing on one of them. Which do you think is the most effective order? Do you invent a universe to place the character in, or do you just invent a character and follow his journey? What is the right way to organize all these elements to serve a great story?
Do you start with setting, characters or plotting? What kind of instruments (such as generators, note-taking applications) do you use?
It's hard for me to organize my own planning process...it's like trying to tidy a very cluttered room: you don't know where to start, and where are you going...I believe I need to make a sort of a skeleton for the work and then work on it, for I am very prolific when there are a clear plan and message.
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1 answer
There is no One True Way. Every writer is different. Even the same writer may have two different approaches to two different books (or series).
JK Rowling plotted out the entire seven-book Harry Potter series in her head on a train ride before writing them, but is still working on the Robert Galbraith books (which, so far as I know, do not encompass a single arc). JRR Tolkien created his Elven languages and then made up the LOTR universe to have people to speak them, but then separately created The Hobbit as a bedtime story for his children.
Some writers must do a lot of background work (universe, character, plot) before writing. Some must jump in and see where the story goes organically. Neither is wrong; neither is right. You have to do what works for you and the story you're telling right now.
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