My Writing Cycle

This is about how I write! But first, a talk on reviews:

Another challenge with writing game reviews lies in the amount of boring game information that needs to be shared. [And yes, I did just actually say that] Game information can be (incredibly) boring. Especially the stuff about a game's mechanics. If you don't believe me, then consider this: most computer game mechanics these days involve cliches, like, "You shoot your M-4 at Russian Arab Terrorist non-Americans." Or the mechanics simply involve inherently boring things like, "Use sand to make a land bridge before the tsunami comes and kills the people." (Actually both of these sound interesting; but, pretend I'm right) The point is: when I feel bored writing about something -- like gameplay mechanics -- my audience will too. And it is a problem. But luckily I've stumbled upon a tool to make the boring interesting, the cliche novel, the shark purple, and I call it the Good-Show-Quality Interest Curve. And I'll discuss it later amid the oncoming chat about my writing cycle.

"Oh no! Not the writing cycle! I'm going to another website!" Okay, calm down, please. I promise to keep this short and that it is not "the writing cycle."

Because it is my writing cycle. And before you can complain I will get right into it.

In my writing cycle the first thing I work on is having an idea. This may sound like an obvious first step, because it is. There's a big catch in this first step, though. "Work" isn't the right adjective. For I find that ideas usually come from nowhere; work just gets in the way of ideas; I prefer to just feel the idea come onto me, from my dear subconscious.

After the idea comes, I do the following step: research. Research often means I'll need to do some sort of "investigative journalism." What is that exactly? you ask. Well for example, if I want to write an article about what it's like being in a sorority, I would do some investigative journalism by sneaking into a sorority during the night and watching them while they sleep. I'll also take a lot of their stuff, just in case. After I've collected a lot of info I reevaluate my idea, seeing if it needs to be changed or abandoned. If it gets changed than I might do more research.

After that stuff comes structuring. This means I actually map out, on a document, in what order I'm going to say things. And if I don't have a lot to say, I won't have to structure much (if at all).

Something that should go into the structuring of inherently boring material, like those two samples above (wink wink) is the Good-Show-Quality Interest Curve I mentioned, the one where the beginning of a show starts with a hook and leads up to a bang, and then eases, relaxing the now over-excited audience into the show, and then builds up again to something exciting, and then another relaxing part, followed by another buildup and climax, all ending with the dénouement. Things that are inherently entertaining normally do not need to be structured according to this curve, but things that aren't, like most gameplay mechanics, should be presented in the most interest-holding way possible.

Then writing takes place. Follow whatever the structure may be and write awesomeness.

After the first draft comes the first break. If it's a very short piece, maybe an hour-long break. If it's a longer piece, maybe a 12-hour one.

Then I begin re-writing (which comprises writing and omitting). From here I can spin off into two directions. The direction I usually spin off on is the one where I rewrite until the composition's good enough to publish. Usually I will take another day off between the 2nd and final drafts. The other direction I can spin off on is the one where there's no strict deadline, where I rewrite, and then reread and restructure (if needed) and rewrite some more. After these 2nd and 3rd drafts I take a week off, and then do more rereading and rewriting, after which I will take a break and then read the piece and decide again if it needs more restructuring or just more rewriting (or nothing). In short: I restructure and rewrite (and take potentially long breaks) until I can't make the piece better.

The final stage is editing, which for me is actually the publishing stage. I publish the thing and wait for readers (or myself) to notice things that don't work; then I fix whatever thing. Either way the composition is done at this point.