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Do you write chronologically or do you jump around?
I always jump around, but from talking to other people, it seems like that might not be as common, so I was curious if there were other non-chronological writers here as well. Which way works best for you? What are your best tips for writing chronologically or non-chronologically?




I... feel like I should jump around more. I never do it. I think sometimes -- like in the project I'm working on now -- I feel the need to figure things out along the way so I'll know what to do later on.
I do both. Generally I write in reading order, but if I ever get stuck I always go back and read what I have. When I do this I sometime end up adding whole chapters along the story to flush out weak parts.
Yeah, I normally write in order, but sometimes you just need to write down that thought or you'll lose it. Also, sometimes things just end up needing to be moved around. In a sense it wasn't written in it's finished order, but that's because this scene jumped up to happen a couple scenes prior than it was original intended.
Sharing my own thoughts in the comments:
Pros of skipping around
No writer's block! Whenever I get "stuck" in one place I move on but I keep the juices flowing and eventually something else I write will strike an idea for that stuck part and I'll come back to that spot and write that scene effortlessly. Otherwise you just end up staring at a blank page forever until your creativity kind of shrivels up. It tends to keep me at peak excitement about the story and keeps inspiration flowing, and even small scenes end up becoming interesting and meaningful at some point as you get to know your characters more and see how that can impact things later on.
Tips for skipping around in your writing
OUTLINE!! Before I ever start writing, I start making bullet points of all my ideas and organizing them into some kind of plot order and making notes about characters, settings, etc.
Then the majority of any "rewriting" I need to do often only comes from adding/fleshing out/rearranging my outline. Which definitely does happen as new ideas strike, but it's super easy to do since it's just a few bullet points and not an entire chapter or something. It may sound tedious keeping track of an outline like that, but for the most part it's just bullet lists, so it's not really that difficult. And since it allows me to write faster and better and enjoy it more and I need to do less actual rewriting since most if it is just fixing in the outline, it makes it WAY easier overall for me to write that way.
Also, Scrivener is basically the best thing in the world if you write like this, because you can keep everything all nicely organized and add what you've written into your outline until pieces just come together, without having to keep track of an outline and a word doc separately and figure out what goes where.
I have to write in order, but OUTLINING helps so freaking much when I want to skip around but know that I shouldn't. My "rough" outline is like ten pages because whenever i have an idea for a future scene, I can just go and mark it down, scribble the thought or line that came into my head, assign it to a scene or segment, then boom. Notes! So many notes.
Haha! Yup, that's how I was. And then my notes ended up being "I'll just write these few lines of dialogue that I have in my head" or whatever and slowly became so detailed that I ended up writing the full scenes.
I write in order from start to finish. I've tried jumping around but then I discovered that I'd write all the fun and easy scenes and then lack motivation for the scenes that would take more work. If I write in order, I have to force myself to work through the hard scenes in order to get to the fun ones.
Seriously wish I could jump around, though! I imagine you discover things about your story that you might not if you went in a sequential order.
Chronologically, typically. I'll make notes in my outline skipping around, but when I'm writing my piece, it's front to back.
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How do you make those decisions? And how often is that a problem for you? I tend to write primarily from a single narrator's perspective, even if I'm writing in third person, so I don't generally run into those issues. I'd never really thought about it!
I write mostly chronologically. I'm kind of compelled to. When I get stuck, my first instinct is not to just go write some other part of the story, but rather to just sit there trying to write through the block, knowing full well that I'd get more done if I just set that part aside and went and wrote another scene. I hate loose ends, even though I know that a first draft is going to be nothing but loose ends for quite a while.
Totally understandable!
I think that's a personal choice--there's no right or wrong. I'm a chronological writer, can't do it any other way. But many great writers work on their pieces in chunks.
I've never managed to jump around, even when I tell myself it's okay to do so. I think I'm too dependent on inter-scene chemistry; little things said in one moment tint and flavor the atmosphere of the next. Jumping around means I'm less able to develop the prose that way.
Yeah, I tend to jump around but in groups. I'll write a whole bunch of scenes all together that are more connected and affect each other, and then I'll go write somewhere completely different. Or I'll write two scenes that affect each other but are really far apart, and I'll write them both at the same time. Usually I see a whole chunk in my head that all flows together, so that's when I jump to wherever that is, and then I drop off and switch sections at the more natural section breaks.
That's a nice little gambit! I might give it a go. I still worry I may be a little too married to the structural aspect of the outlining process to be a good hop-skip-jumper :( Plodders must plod.
Haha! The outlining is actually what makes it possible for me. I already know how everything connects together, so that's why I'm able to jump around and have things work. Otherwise it would be a MESS!
I wonder if we use outlines somewhat differently--mine just aren't that clean or signposty, now that I think about it. I can get kind of circuitous and word-vomity; I'm often hashing out the story, arguing plot points with myself, searching for logic and hidden connections. The actual prose is where everything actually tightens up into a readable progression.
Oh, interesting! Mine tends to be just a suuuuuper long bullet point list with lots of nested bullets to give additional details (which are sometimes several paragraphs of notes, but usually just a line or two).
Then I go write scenes and then just dump them into where they go in the outline. Then eventually I get two sections closer together, so I write the bridges that connect them more seamlessly as needed. But since I usually write in clumps that tend to have more natural breaks anyways, it doesn't end up being too big of an issue usually.
I do both. I'm usually a skip around writer when I do things like fanfiction because I have the outline, canon scenes, and somethings that are pretty much already written if I'm sticking canon.
But when I'm writing my original work, that is up in the air. I always start chronologically. I have an outline, and I usually try to write front to back and just go for it. But sometimes, especially if I'm writing the script for a graphic novel, I do skip around if I have more inspiration or if I'm really hung up with one scene and I want to fully flesh it out right in that moment before I loose the spark. I try to keep it as streamline as possible but also not have everything nailed down in an outline. So its a little bit of an organized chaos.
Hmm, interesting. Can you tell me more about what makes fanfiction vs original content different for you that you skip with one but not the other?
Well really, the difference comes down to how much is set in stone.
For me, I like to write fanfics that follow the canon as possible. So I have more freedom to jump around. I think this is mostly due to the fact that I have "checkpoints" of a sorts. I have canon scenes that can only be altered slightly so I end up with a lot of set facts, moments, scenes, or even chapters. So I can write linearly, I could write the end and then the beginning, or I can play popcorn and jump from the first chapter to say what would be chapter 20, because I have a scene that is already written, one that leads up to a scene that I want to be filled with heavy emotion or one thats going to be light hearted and I'm a writer who has an easier time making a chapter with high impact if I'm in a similar mind frame. Canon fanfiction allows me that luxury, the ability to jump around and have at least 90% of what I write stay in the story because of these "checkpoints".
It's a completely different story when I write something like an au fanfiction. Those, I have a little less freedom depending on the story plot or what inspired it. I end up using the same process for my original work with those.
So with the mention of that, for my original stories, depending on if I build a new world or keep it more or less based on reality, I have few "check points". So I try to write linearly, so I can establish facts, explore the character and set up for the vague ending I have outlined. But if I jump around, I'm more prone to coming up with content that may not be used later. So while I can suddenly have a really awesome scene that is full of emotion, reveals a lot of the character, and that I have become attached with, that doesn't mean it's going to work within the story. The story might make more sense without it, so I end up keep it in a folder for later, hoping, that it may work somewhere else or end up keeping it as bonus content or a little fun thing to look back on. But I found that when I jump around with less established "checkpoints" I end up with more content that can't be used then what I end up finalizing. But while I won't use those pieces, they do help me as the writer discover the character to a deeper depth. It just leads to what is a weeks worth of work being used out of a months worth of work.
If that doesn't make sense please tell me where I can clarify more, I know I'm not always the best at explaining what's running around my brain.
I know some people are able to jump around in their writing, but I've never tried it and really can't put my mind around it. I may actually attempt it sometime, put it just sounds weird.
Don't you ever have ideas or thoughts about stuff further down in your story? It started for me because I would have a scene in my head that was further down the road, but I didn't want to forget it, so I would write it down. Then I just kept doing that, and kept doing that.
I do. It's when I actually write things out that I go in order. I may jot down a few notes, but mostly I remember it well enough.
It does require you to be more of a planner than a panster. You kind of have to know what all the scenes you plan on writing are to write them out of order.
I always jump around, especially when I'm working on a rough draft. Then, I'll refine my outline and keep working from there.
I write whatever comes to my mind first and I put things in order later during the editing process.
Whoa, so you don't even have an outline? I feel like I would get completely lost if I did that!
No. No outline.
I tend to experience what I'm going to write almost like a dream or a movie. I normally get the defining or pivotal scene first, so I write that. Sometimes that's the beginning of the story, so it depends I guess.
Then the rest of the story comes sort of like a flashback to how the character got to that moment.
Or a flash forward to the consequences.
Later I move scenes around or add description as needed.
Interesting. So after writing that initial scene, wherever it is, do you then end up writing everything else chronologically? Do you only ever have that one pivotal scene that you have to write first, or do you have more than one?
On a side note, I heard that's how Stephanie Meyers wrote Twilight. She had a dream where she saw Bella and Edward lying in a field and he was a sparkly vampire, and so she started there, wrote to the end, and then went back and started from the beginning to get back to that scene. At least, I think that's what it was. It's been a long time since anyone talked about Twilight, haha.
That's pretty cool, and yes I'll then write chronologically or reverse-chronologically. Just as often I put all the scenes I have in several docs and move them around.
I usually decide on order around editing,
Plus I like revealing clues in conversation rather than flashback whenever practical.
Neat about Twilight. I broke down and watched them all. Or should I say my sister broke me down. Never will again. But didn't totally suck.
Haha, I read all the books back in college and actually enjoyed them alright for what they were. The movies were horrible though. The actress had zero emotion or facial expressions or anything. I watched the first, tried to give it one more chance with the second, and then didn't bother with the rest.
"Chronological" is the closest, but it's more accurate to say I write in reading order. Flashbacks are a thing, after all! in longer stuff I will also occasionally write short prequel kinds of things, which isn't exactly chronological. So, reading order.
Yeah, I guess that's what I meant by chronological. "Start to finish" I guess is more accurate. Basically starting at word one and ending at "The end" and writing everything in order along the way. I guess "linearly" would be the right word, maybe?
I generally write beginning -> middle -> end. But when I'm not sure how a scene fits together, I may just leave a note for myself saying, "A battle happens here. For some reason, Steve loses a hand."
Then in the next draft, I cuss Past Bryce out, but I'm probably in a better position to write it.