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Topic : Re: Is writing in fragments bad practice? Occasionally, it feels easier to write individual scenes of a prose and later connect them somehow. Does this method have any significant benefit and/or throwback - selfpublishingguru.com

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In any given plot, there are a number of scenes which are easier and more fun to write than most of the others. Which scenes those are will differ from writer to writer, because each of us has affinities to particular types of scenes. They may also differ within a single writer from day to day as our moods and interests change.

I personally refer to these scenes as "candy-bar" scenes and I turn to them when I am exhausted by the drudgery of fleshing out an outline in a linear fashion. They are the scenes which bring joy and excitement back into the daily discipline of writing. After "eating" through a candy-bar scene, I usually feel more focused and committed to the work. I then return to the earlier point where I left off in my linear writing, set my course towards the opening of the now written candy-bar scene, and get back to it.

Candy-bar scenes are my best defense against both writers block and new project infidelity. As long as I still have a few uneaten candy-bars waiting for me further along in the course I have plotted, I can usually get past writing obstacles which might otherwise derail me. Once I run out of those favored scenes, my chances for completing the work falls dramatically.

Every scene in your outline needs to either be written or discarded. If a story can survive without a scene, it should be dropped, but if not, you must eventually focus your attention and talent on getting it written (and written well).

Additionally, readers are fickle. Every scene should be your best work. If your standards change based on how much fun you are having during the writing, the quality of your finished work will suffer and your reader's attention may stray.

A hand full of beautifully written scenes strung together by apathetically written prose is tragic. It simultaneously testifies to its author's talent and to their lack of discipline; to their potential and to their lack of ability to reach that potential.

Does fragmented writing a bad practice?

Not on its own... But when mixed with...

a creative writing mind which hungers for new projects,
a fickle reading public with high standards and unlimited literary alternatives,
and the absence of the discipline needed to make every scene special

...yes, fragmented writing hurts your chances of completing your best works and of winning the audience which your talent deserves.


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