So a guy I work with, someone I've been sharing pieces of my book with since I started writing, tells me about this little technique called "the flow." Apparently, this happens randomly and when it does, you sit for 30-45 minutes and spill words onto paper until it's "done". (which usually takes the 30-45 minutes I mentioned) Now, I've experienced something like this, but I'm a smoker so I gotta stop in between bursts of writing for some nicotine. He tells me that this is about the only time 'good' writing happens. I disagree though, sometimes I can sit and just type for about three hours. Not constantly, but as things come to me. Could anyone comfirm this? Alot of my writing comes from either dreams, things that randomly pop into my head or just simple brainstorming and/or influences from things that I enjoy. Hope I'm doin' it right.
I think everyone has those moments where writing feels easy and fluent and the words just spill on the page, but I don't think those moments are the only ones that produce good writing. Personally, I usually get this way when writing dialogue; I start to feel the characters and words just come flowing out; the keyboard becomes an extension of my own body and things just happen. But when I review the things I've written in that state of mind, I usually see a lot of rambling, and off-topic stuff. It's good because I can get a lot of writing done in a short time and it produces this euphoric feeling that's kind of hard to explain. But, for me, it's just that: a feeling. It doesn't make the writing better or worse. I'm sure opinons on this will vary greatly.
Mine just appear randomly, but it's always after I've put an idea down. I had one particular idea a few weeks ago, and decided to only put the basic plot down. But something happened; I couldn't just finish at the basic plot... I wrote something like 1,000 words in a sitting. I do agree with AnonyMouse that it produces a euphoric feeling and that only spurs a writer on. But the quality of the writing? In that particular sitting the writing was far from polished, just a bunch of ideas which I began to polish. I'm positive that this varies from person to person though.
I've had those moments of flow, when I am focused and jazzed up in giving words to a short story I have in my mind. But I had to be ready to be at that point. I don't mean I had the whole story worked out in my mind, but I had a good enough sense of it that it was a matter of me telling the fulness of the story once I sat down. I can't just sit at my laptop and start writing a story. Well, I can, but it'd be utter crap.
I agree with Marina... Sometimes when i am writing a story I will have scenes of it already played out in my mind as clear as you watch TV, and when i get to those scenes i start writing great because i have "seen" that so many times in my mind and altered so much that what is left is perfection. That all being said, someone once said to me that there is no one way to write, some people do it one way others do it completely different... all that matters is that what you are doing works for you.
I get it when I have a scene in my head which I been seeing for days then finally get to the point where I can start writing. Then I'm totally into just seeing, hearing, and writing it. By the Way: The term came from this book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0060920432/?tag=postedlinks04-20 Before that it was usually called: being in the zone.
If someone says there's only one "true" or "right" way to write things well then he's a liar or just plain wrong. Everyone has their ways. I, for one, really can't sit there and just spill stuff out. I have to think it out ahead of time, and even though I don't outline, there's a lot of stopping and thinking things over before I put words to page. If I didn't do this, then I'd write total drek. Some people are blessed with being able to just sit and write and write without thinking much. Some people have to think about it. Some people have to think about it a LOT and outline things in advance. And some people who say all they have to do is sit and spill out good writing, are just sitting and spilling out a bunch of total junk. As long as you understand spelling and grammar and are actually writing something, don't worry about whether you're doing the process "right" or not. We all do it differently, and to claim that there's only one proper way is very narrowminded. I'm willing to bet most published stuff, both the commercial bestseller type and the literary type, wasn't just "spilled out" in one stretch.
