This is aimed mainly at the plotters out there, but anyone can chime in on this.
So, plotters. You write your premise and your hook, build out your snowflakes, write character sketches and interviews, do research on settings, construct your timeline, build out your spreadsheet, identify your Inciting Incident, and no end of other planning steps.
At some point, you decide it's time to sit down and actually start writing prose. Chapter One.
It's not like the planning stuff stops, not really. You revise the premise (like a hundred times), throw out characters and bring in new ones, jigger the timeline around, and so on. But that stuff now is taking a back seat to the actual writing. You've moved from planning to writing.
Is there a particular point you can identify where that happens? Is there a list whose items absolutely, positively must be checked before you write that first paragraph? Any objective measure where you'll feel comfortable saying to friends or on your blog, yep I'm no longer planning, I'm writing?
I have my own tale to tell on this, but I wanted to hear from others first.
So, plotters. You write your premise and your hook, build out your snowflakes, write character sketches and interviews, do research on settings, construct your timeline, build out your spreadsheet, identify your Inciting Incident, and no end of other planning steps.
At some point, you decide it's time to sit down and actually start writing prose. Chapter One.
It's not like the planning stuff stops, not really. You revise the premise (like a hundred times), throw out characters and bring in new ones, jigger the timeline around, and so on. But that stuff now is taking a back seat to the actual writing. You've moved from planning to writing.
Is there a particular point you can identify where that happens? Is there a list whose items absolutely, positively must be checked before you write that first paragraph? Any objective measure where you'll feel comfortable saying to friends or on your blog, yep I'm no longer planning, I'm writing?
I have my own tale to tell on this, but I wanted to hear from others first.