I did this with When Stars Die. I had about seven chapters left to write in the draft and just decided to stop to get revising. But it worked. I got to revisions and was able to complete the entire thing. I had to concentrate more on the last chapters during a third read through, but, nonetheless, I got the book complete.
I can’t tell you why I do this. I can only guess. I assume I do this because I hate drafting. I get to a certain point where I’m tired of drafting and decide it’s time to get to the revisions, even though I have those final chapters roughly outlined. This seems counterproductive because how am I supposed to work on the ending if I don’t have it? Well, I do a detailed outline of it, and it does take me longer to write, but I’m more fired up about it because I have my mind trained to realize what I’m doing is revising since I love revising–even if it’s technically not.
I want to be fired up when I write, not disengaged and apathetic. So I do whatever I can to fire me up. If I have to quit a draft 7/10ths of the way through to do it, so be it.
But it works for me. I get it done.
Do you have any strange writing quirks, like writing out of order, starting a later scene first, things of that nature?
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I try not to start a project till I know the ending. Not always, mind you. I’m working on one now that is going swimmingly that doesn’t have an ending yet, but usually stories without an ending die on the vine.
Needless to say, I try to be open. Sometimes the ending changes, but I rarely start without one these days.
Same here. I know the ending of my book–I just don’t want to draft it. I have rough outlines, but I’m the world’s worst drafter, so I’m going to change things in the revisions to help strengthen the ending to make it more…epic.
Never getting past chapter 1. One time I tried to work and outlined the whole story and started writing the ending first. I never got past the last chapter. Now I just write short stories, lol.
I did the same with my internet weekly serial-turned-fantasy novel. It still doesn’t have the last chapter, but I feel like it has plot holes and lacks details, and that I need to go back and add more scenes. I figured that the new scenes (I’ve added a significant amount actually, and it’s become a new story entirely) would probably change the end of the book and I would have to rewrite it anyway.
That’s pretty much it for me as well. There are things I have decided to change, and so there is no sense in my writing the ending when I’d have to do a complete overhaul of it anyway–like I created two characters I’m going to get rid of in the revisions. If I were to do my final chapters, I would practically have to include them. I’m glad I’m not the only one who does this sort of thing. ^_^
I start wherever I have inspiration. Some scenes spring to mind that aren’t exactly in order. I jot them down to see where they’ll take me, then keep them in a separate file until I can plug them into the narrative.
Sometimes I just write out a really big scene I have in my head, even though I don’t know what the build-up is or what the stakes are. I usually end up changing most of it, but it’s still helpful to get it all out on paper. 🙂
I tend to write the first draft to figure out what exactly I want to write, and then re-write most of it to reflect my new understanding of the story 😀