I gave a little teaser yesterday about my new writing technique - one that allows me to tap back into the joy of writing I haven't really felt since my teenage years. Here it is:
Plan every chapter beforehand - at least within each major part in your story - and then execute according to temporal schedule.
There are some writers (Stephen King) who can write their entire stories by just improvising. They begin with one sentence that sets the scene and then simply let their imagination run wild until the story comes to a conclusion.
I am obviously not one of those writers, and trying to be one has made me miserable in the past.
I and other highly neurotic writers need to know beforehand that their improvised writing won't lead them down a dead end. Luckily the solution is simple: don't improvise in the writing phase. You can improvise in the brainstorming phase, even in the planning phase, but never in the writing phase.
In the writing phase, all you should be doing is the thing you told yourself to do: follow orders. (The orders being the structure/plot/events you planned ahead of time.)
Success, joy, and productivity ensues.
RK
