Hey, I know I don't really frequent the forum. Trying to change that.

I've been writing for something like 30 years, mostly poetry, stories a long time ago.  Its something I have wanted to do since the sixth grade. But I never really pursued it with any determination. I've decided that needs to change.

I've written and read enough, I feel I have developed my own style and voice. But what i have not done is  develop my craft. I have always had a  seat-of-my-pants  approach, and even though that didn't really work for me, I didn't know any other way. I'm cursing myself know for never pursuing avenues of  learning. But there is so much available now at my fingertips, I am trying to take advantage and make amends.

So,, having said all that: what's your paradigm? How do you approach crafting your story/novel/what-have-you?

Any resources, ideas, etc. that you care to share?

I am working through Fiction Writing for Dummies, and finding it quite helpful.  Say what you want about Dummies books, but some of them are quite good.

Writing with Emotion, Tension and Conflict by Cheryl St. John is also very good.

Looking at The Snowflake Method, thinking about buying the software.

It usually starts with a daydreamed scene, sometimes a sleeping dream.

Starts by writing a single chapter or two. 1st draft. never starts at the beginning :)

My starting outline is a template of like 10 chapters and writing bullet points in each chapter of events i need to hit. like 'crash ship' or 'run into old flame'.

1st draft is full of exposition.  2nd draft is usually a full rewrite.  3rd draft usually turns into the edit draft, molding of the chapter rather than rewrite.  Remove all the exposition, show don't tell.

You'd need to decide what tense you'll use, point of view - 1st person, 3rd person.

Most helpful reference book i ever bought was a Self Editing book. There's a few things in there to wit I disagree, but the mechanics are extremely, extremely helpful.  If you're interested, I'll find the isbn# when i get home.

The hardest thing for people who want to write is to finish a project.  I think it comes down to you have to want to write.  It's sitting alone, you have other choices of what to do with your time, and your first choice is writing.

Thanks for sharing Lara, I really appreciate it.

Interesting topic! 

I don't know if I have a paradigm, per se, but I do have a few habits that I've cultivated. 

One thing I noticed is that I actually avoid the How To books...I suspect this is largely due to the fact that I majored in English/Fiction Writing in college, and so take that aspect of things with a grain of salt.  I spent years at a time (cumulatively) doing writing exercises and stuff like that.  I still do them, and so the How To books are outside of my field of experience.  Having said that, I'll add that you should take ALL How To books with a grain of salt.  They're useful, but only up to a point. At times, they're likely to intimidate you OUT of writing rather than helping you to become a better writer: don't throw them out of the window, but if you're able, find other writers (especially published writers) that you can talk to and interact with.

The other thing is simple.  Read.  Read.  Read.  And when you're done reading, read some more.  The best way to learn HOW to write fiction is to read tons and tons of fiction.  The best way to learn how to write poetry is to read tons and tons of poetry.  Of course you need to learn forms, genres, and all of that good stuff, and this is where the How To books can help immensely, especially in terms of teaching you the necessities of grammar and syntax and how those effect style and type-of-story.  Ultimately though, half of writing is reading.  As for me, I with science fiction and fantasy, I found that the more of it I read, the more driven I am to interact with other writers, even the dead ones.  Some writers inspire me, others disgust me.  I find that the writers who disgust me are the more helpful ones in terms of pushing me to come up with ideas. I don't "rewrite" their stories, but I do rebut them.  I won't name names or point fingers, but find a genre that you like and then a writer within that genre that you hate.  Even if you don't read their full novel/story, etc...learn about it.  Dissect it.  Look at what it is that you absolutely loathe about it, and then figure out why you loathe it.  For me, it always boils down to ideology. I can point out a dozen (and more) ideologically-offensive stories within the science fiction and fantasy fields.  Because of this, I'm also aware of the more subtle things that I want to depict in my own fiction.  OR, conversely, I'm also aware of how I can actually play with those offensive things and offer a critique, even though I'm writing fiction.  And so I guess, in a nutshell, I'm saying that it probably helps you to find your passions in regular non-writing life, and import those into your writing, no matter what the genre is and use THOSE things as the fuel for your stories, and if not fuel, then at least spice.  Ultimately, however, read other writers (especially those who are doing what you want to do.)  That and interact with other writers.

There's actually more that I could say, but I'm gonna shut up for now.  I hope this was at least partly coherent and partly helpful.

Thanks, Chipka.  That was an interesting read.

I majored in English, and I've been reading and writing for a long time. I just need to develop my craft more, the story telling part... I can write, and I believe I have a good command of language and grammar; I just  need to learn those essentials about crafting a story that people will want to read and identify with. And, of course, how to sustain the  story. I've got ideas, scenes, characters. But I so often fail at putting together a coherent narrative, and providing myself with enough structure and additional material to actually have a beginning, middle and end.

found the self-edit book i liked.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060545690

it's really for after you write your novel, but good tips to keep in mind as you're writing. Ideally, they tell you to write without thinking about the editing, but in reality, it's in the back of my mind.

 Love Chipka's post, always do. Anyway, I suppose it also depends on what you want to accomplish with your writing. I used to think the how to books could help. They don't for the most part, too much info too fast, I think. I used to want to publish a book, but meh, I've realized I am content writing short episodes and posting them. I've read that was very popular back in the mid-1800's when pamphlet publications were all the rage. Anyway, as for grammar and stuff, I use the web-site Grammerly, it's not perfect by any means, but it helps me get all the commas and other nicknacks in the right spot. And, there are these little cards that drop down when you have a 'mistake' and you can read about that particular rule and why you should do this or that. So, it's more like feeding me the rules a bit at a time instead of a big how to book shoving thousands of rules at once.

I think maybe the best way to learn to write is to write. Just do it. So what if there are mistakes. I think it's no different than visual arts. Folk post stuff with visual mistakes all the time; a leg not pointing quite the right way, an arm that just seems to be in an awkard postion, colors that only exist in the land of Oz, or my favoritie, poses that couldn't even be performed by a yoga master. I celebrate mistakes, yay for mistakes, it's the wonderful learning process to a craft. If I were instantly good at something, I wouldn't want to do it, no fun in that.

As for how I come up with story ideas. No clue. Just happens, but caffine and donuts help. Nothing like being tweaked out on a sugar and caffine high to come up with a story.

I am finding a lot of good stuff in the books I am reading, and they  are helping me. So I guess your mileage may vary. Reading William Berrhardt's Red Sneakers Writing Series right now. So far, a lot of the information is the same. But for someone who never did "study" creative writing (though I have read a lot, couldn't even hazard a guess at the number of books I have read), having some signposts along the way is proving beneficial. I'm thinking I might actually finish this one (the story) and might even have my first novel some 35 years after I first thought this was something I would like to do.

Anyone else do an outline like Lara? I'm no good with that, even having trouble with idea of a 3 Act Structure; though I am getting better with that.

At least I  am moving forward, in kind of an outline, gathering scenes and necessary plot points that I can order and or re-order as I see fit. And learning more about my  characters and how they relate to and reflect the story I am trying to tell.

 And that's awesome how everyone has a different approach. There is no wrong way. If you really want to see something cool, google image 'famous writers work areas' (tweak the search pattern to get best results for you) Anyway, it's really cool to see what different writers set up for themselves to write.

Yeah, wolfenshire hit the nail on the head; basically do what works for you, but also stay active.  The only problem I see with the How To books is not the books themselves, but a potential reader's approach to them.  You're already the expert on your own writing, and so no book is going to tell you anything useful.  You probably have more of an idea of what you want to accomplish or what you want to avoid, and so books on how to do it, will be redundant or unnecessarily intimidating.  And besides, most of the "great" writers probably had no clue what they were doing.  You can always look at those flow chart/story outline things, that DIY books love to throw at you but are all stories really like that?  And if you're writing post-modern fiction, then you can throw those "story structure" diagrams out of the window, or turn them over and scribble notes on them, since a lot of post-modern stories are non-linear with no rising action (and in some cases, no action at all...back in the 70s, in New Wave science fiction, there were whole 20-page stories written in which the characters never moved a muscle, not even to breathe) and in terms of flash-fiction or micro-fiction (really, really short stuff under 250 words) any story-movement is likely to be emotional or psychological rather than physical...and so...there's another story diagram out the window.  So in short, trust your gut.

As for what books tell you: if they make writing easier, they're working, and by "easier" I mean, less of an odious chore.  Writing is never "easy" but it shouldn't be impossible either.

Heh, I just saw your question about outlines and 3 act stories...

I think outlines are unavoidable, but my approach is usually to just write myself out of a pickle.  I never come up with stories in a liner fashion: I often know the middle of a story before I know the beginning, and so I simply ask myself a series of questions and outline in my head...it's kinda like doing algebra and finding "x" or some boring thing like that, only algebra in real life is far more fun than in some stiff clasroom.  I'm more like Ursula K. LeGuin and Harlan Ellison (in terms of short fiction) in that I often just look around and listen for inspiration, which usually comes if I hear something wrong, or don't see something correctly.  Ursula K. LeGuin came up with the idea for her story: "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" simply by seeing a highway sight for Salem Oregon in a rear-view mirror.  "regon" was cut off, and so all she saw was O melaS...and because of a rear view mirror speeding away from a highway sign, a great story was written, sans outline.  The same happened with Harlan Ellison's famous "Jefty is Five" which came from him mis-hearing a conversation.  Two people were talking about some guy named Jeffrey and one asked, "How's Jeffrey?"  the other person responded: "Oh, Jeffrey's fine...he's always fine."  Only Mr. Ellison mis-heard it as: "Oh, Jefty is five...he's always five..." and thus we have another brilliant story.  I suspect outlines really come in handy in terms of longer works.  Short works are often their own outlines.

Reading this, I think maybe I write weird. But I don't think that will change. I don't use an outline or notes. Sometimes I don't even have a full plot in mind when I start. I usually start with when my main characters are like, though that can change some during the course of the story and then the setting. I write the first draft by hand on paper and the second, with plenty of revisions, goes on the computer. The stories can take a mind of their own and end up quite different from where I originally thought they'd go. I finished 3 stories that way. (By finished I mean I've got to the end of the first draft. They still need plenty of polish.) I have probably another dozen I'm working on.

My inspiration comes from all over, books that I think should have been done differently, or what would happen if the characters were put in this scenario. Of course I make up my own characters for these stories. I've gotten inspiration from dreams too and even things in real life.

Heh, I just saw your question about outlines and 3 act stories...

I think outlines are unavoidable, but my approach is usually to just write myself out of a pickle.  I never come up with stories in a liner fashion: I often know the middle of a story before I know the beginning, and so I simply ask myself a series of questions and outline in my head...it's kinda like doing algebra and finding "x" or some boring thing like that, only algebra in real life is far more fun than in some stiff clasroom.  I'm more like Ursula K. LeGuin and Harlan Ellison (in terms of short fiction) in that I often just look around and listen for inspiration, which usually comes if I hear something wrong, or don't see something correctly.  Ursula K. LeGuin came up with the idea for her story: "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" simply by seeing a highway sight for Salem Oregon in a rear-view mirror.  "regon" was cut off, and so all she saw was O melaS...and because of a rear view mirror speeding away from a highway sign, a great story was written, sans outline.  The same happened with Harlan Ellison's famous "Jefty is Five" which came from him mis-hearing a conversation.  Two people were talking about some guy named Jeffrey and one asked, "How's Jeffrey?"  the other person responded: "Oh, Jeffrey's fine...he's always fine."  Only Mr. Ellison mis-heard it as: "Oh, Jefty is five...he's always five..." and thus we have another brilliant story.  I suspect outlines really come in handy in terms of longer works.  Short works are often their own outlines.

Two of my most favorite writers in one post. Man I haven't read "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" in decades. I'm going to have to pull that out of somewhere and read it again.

"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" is one of my all-time favorites, too...I have so many all-time favorites, but that's way the heck up there on the top of my list.  I've recently discovered a new writer...well...new for me: Aleksandar Hemon.  He writes non-genre fiction, but he's brilliant.  I think I have to now rank him up there with LeGuin.  And his work is extremely inventive (and quite literary in that the manner of its presentation is as important as the story itself).  Hemon is probably a good writer to look at if you're interested in seeing how the short story (or novel) form can be played around with.