As a science fiction series author, writing without a plan and plot is impossible for me. Currently 76 individual German-language novels, with a plot and synopsis for 100+ novels, would quickly and inevitably become entangled in contradictions. I am therefore an advocate of planning all writing activities in as much detail as possible. For this reason, I found your new video very interesting. Thank you for that.
William Goldman -- best known for films but also a very good thriller novelist - said that he just writes on, never looking back until the night before he meets with his agent to discuss the book. And only then because he'd look foolish not being familiar with what he'd written. There's a lot to admire in Goldman, but not this: that lack of attention means things like characters' eye colour changes though a novel. So I can't be completely against planning. But I can also run away from the very idea of a hundred novels, all interlinked. I feel pale.
This year I am going to spend more time writing for myself outside of work. This can be difficult since there's always more work to do, but I feel that if I don't dedicate time to exploring my love for writing, the quality of my work will suffer.
That's a good point. I believe all of my writing is improved by all of the rest of my writing. But don't beat yourself up if you sometimes just can't write after finishing work; it's so easy to be drained by anything and particularly jobs.
A novel about Time....this comes as no surprise to me. I have a nonplan, which is the best kind of planning for me, for 2024 writing that I believe is actionable, yes I think that is a word.
@@WilliamGallagher No, that is not what I mean. I am in the position that none of my writing has to make money. I must admit I have been extremely successful there for years. What I am after is eyeballs, and actually I have been successful there. So, what gets eyeballs? I have found that first I have to get friends/family involved in the process and then their eyeballs get more eyeballs. I'll not say more here, but let's just say I am getting others involved in current writing projects, and their eyeballs are getting other eyeballs. That is a part of my nonplan for 2024. It is as much relationship as it is writing.
I'm on a journey of writing over here, and it has always been a struggle for me to direct myself and produce valuable writing. Thanks for providing guidance and information from your journey, it is inspiring me to improve my self and my writing. I appreciate you!
For a while I was definitely a Ulysses fan but wandered away. Currently I write articles in Drafts 5, fiction in Scrivener or Pages - I can’t tell you why I don’t just stick with one or the other - and a huge amount of things on OmniOutliner. I also use Final Draft for scripts but haven’t written many of those for a while. May I ask what you’re writing?
@@WilliamGallagher Thank you for responding; I know how busy you are! BTW, I love your videos and listening to you on Podcasts. I'm working on a large complex non-fiction book. In addition, I write a lot of presentations, blog articles, and position papers. I like Ulysses, but I really don't like the idea of a "permanent" subscription to do my work. I find Scrivener on the Mac to be better for complex work. However, Scrivener's iPad app lacks parity with its Mac cousin whereas Ulysses has near feature parity between the Mac and iPad. I do ~ 50% of my writing work on both devices. I'm learning toward Scrivener for long, complex work and everything else in Pages. I highly respect and value your perspective given your expertise as a writing and Apple fan. 🙂
