How far in advance do you write? (Read 164 times)

[Kpatch]

Authors: Curious how far in advance you write before posting. What is your comfort level in terms of the amount of story you have in the hopper before posting?

Do you write the entire story before posting your first chapter?
Are you writing 20 chapters ahead, 10 chapters ahead, 5 chapters, 1 chapter? 
Do you sort of write as you go, meaning: Write chapter, post chapter.

I'd be interested to know your process.

Thanks!

[André DiMera]

I typically write about a week and a half to two weeks in advance (so for me that would be about 7 to 10 chapters ahead of the one I post on any given day). It's a nice way for me to take sure that what I'm writing is working the way I'd like it to, and to change them as and when I need to.

That being said, I usually have a basic outline for how I want a story to go well in advance, then I fill in the details as it gets closer. Depending on how big the storyline is, that could be months in advance. For example, I knew what I wanted Claire and Chase's wedding to generally look like back when I first announced it would be happening. Then, as the date I had set got closer, the ideas became less general and more specific, with more details added in. But that's only for big storylines. To contrast, smaller storylines I don't plan out as far in advance. For instance, Kinsey's slightly stalkerish behavior towards Philip only came to me a few weeks before it started showing up in the story (and she seems to be nowhere to be found at the moment, so I'll have to remember to pick that plot thread up again).

So really, for full storylines it all kind of depends on the length of the story, and how central I want the story to be. But for the actual chapter-to-chapter writing it out, I usually try to stay a good week and a half to two weeks ahead of what I post.

[Kpatch]

There was a time when I would not post the first chapter until I finished writing the entire story. Working that way gave me the opportunity to make sure all the loose ends were neatly tied and everything was logical and in order. Back in the day I often had several stories going at once. Ah the good old days. These days, it feels like time is more limited and I'm lucky to be a few chapters ahead.

André DiMera, I don't use an outline per se. I write notes and bits of dialogue, parts of chapters, separate files for different story arcs, and yes I always know where I want to end up before I start. Maybe that's essentially the same thing you are calling an outline.

[heroicmuse]

I write about a week ahead. When I first started, I had 2 - 3 months of material because I was afraid I would run out, but now I don't have time to write that far ahead.

I do have a general idea where things are going though.

[lumiforeverandalways]

Normally I don't write in advance I just ring it but now with my latest story and doing previews I have given my self outlines of what I have to write dialogue for