Write first, topic come later

I’ve come to think that I haven’t written about my working flow. The Troubles and tribulations of being a writer and artist (and teaching, cause I still have bills to pay).

Not going to say that my input is huge. Of course I’ve read books and sites about how to write. I come to them recurrently and yet, I don’t follow their instructions step by step. Thing is, I find them a bit naive and constricted.

When you check the manuals, the most common instruction is to write the synopsis, or a topic you would like to talk about. Use about 20 words or one line. I find this very useful with essays, since it works like the Scientific method: outline your areas of interest and stick to them.

Creative writing works slightly different. Most of mine, at least, are dreams or scattered ideas and seem to be abstract or undefined. That is, just the opposite of what it should be.

My solution? I write down everything. Some time they’re only fanfiction, some horrible ones without a plot or well developed characters. But it helps me analyze them. I can freely move around, thinking if a certain fanfiction could become an original story, and then plot, subplots and possible themes pop out. Of course, they’re still rough sketches, but they become something I can work with.

One of the stories I’m outlining right now started as a fanfiction from some Rowdy Ruff Boys doujinshi I came across. As I carelessly build the fiction, I noticed that I could inquire about how naturally evil the boys where, and what would happen if they were actually so powerful that not all the heroes together would be able to take them down, putting them against the corner about the possibility of re-educated them or kill them. That become the storyline for Rooted project (I may rename it later): track the events that may turn to an end, another or even a totally different one.

Right now I have outlined some other characters that would trigger the question about if “evil” is learned or natural and what kind of events would be decisive to make a person choose wrong over good. Knowing how lazy I am, it’ll come out in like 20 years, unless I have a crisis for finishing all my projects, in which case I’ll just start publishing things as I came to ideas. Really need to work on my discipline.