#arwa's writing process is a Whole Thing

[arwamachine]

For the ask: 6, 12, and 22! Love your work!

Thank you for the aaaaask!!

6. do you have any kind of consistent writing schedule or just hoping for the best?

I'm incredibly fortunate to have weekday evenings free, so I usually get my writing done then. I try to write some words in some project at least once a day

12. do you ever have trouble focusing on writing? how do you get around that? 

I've definitely had some days where my attention span really isn't playing along. I'll sometimes set one of those distraction timers that keeps me off certain website (hellsite included), and even though I've learned that listening to classical music shaves off the edge of the inattention, I rarely use it. I just try to tell myself that some days aren't as productive as others but it all balances out in the end ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I think the trick is to learn what works for you and your brain, but ultimately not to force it. Putting too much pressure on performance is a sure-fire way to get the yips

22. describe your writing process from scratch to finish.

Ohhhh boy...you asked for it. I'm going to put this below the cut, because it is involved 😅

(remember how I said I'm neurotic? Yeaaaahhh...)

1. Splat. I word-vomit an idea into my Notes app, usually in a single disjointed paragraph. Notes to myself, character descriptions, plot-points, and possible lines of prose are all muddled together, sometimes within the same sentence. Some ideas never make it past this stage, some hang out in this stage for months before getting picked up and transformed into a real boy, some get picked up immediately. You never know which it'll be. That's the beauty of the Splat

2. Murder board. I generate something that can be called an outline in the roughest of possible definitions. This has a general plot structure (although not necessarily in order) mixed in with character descriptions, any research I have done on the story (with reference links included...learned that the hard way), various ideas I have, and whole paragraphs of prose that get written out whenever they come to me. Picture the crazed Charlie Day string-and-pictures conspiracy meme, just with words. As soon as this document contains both a beginning and an ending to the story somewhere in its sprawling notes, I start writing.

3. Actual legible outline. Once my murder board exceeds 30 pages and is near impossible to wade through, I create an actual outline. Usually I have written like half of the story at this point. This outline is basically a distilled version of the murder board, with single-sentence bulletpoints of what happens in each scene. Everything is in order and nothing hurts. I rely heavily on both this outline and whatever hasn't been used from the murder board until the first-first draft is written.

4. First-first draft. The point of this draft is to get the general events of the story onto the page. The first-first draft is complete when I have something like a beginning, middle, and end written. I don't allow myself to get bogged down with research, naming characters, finding perfect sentences/words, connective tissue (I call this "A to B"), or any scenes that are throwing me for a loop. If I find myself getting stuck on something, I make myself a note and move on.

5. Second-first draft. Here, I go back through the first-first draft and curse myself for not writing all the parts that I didn't write. I do the research I ignored, write the difficult scenes that threw me for a loop, figure out all my A to Bs, and name the goddamn antagonist. The point of the second-first draft is to get 100% of the words on the page.

6. Set it and forget it. I do not touch the story for a specific length of time, which is determined by the length of the work. Shorter pieces have a set-and-forget of about two weeks. Longer works are set-and-forget for a month or more.

7. Come to Jesus. After the predetermined length of time, I pick the story back up and re-read it. Is it actually good? Does it make sense like I think it does? Did I use the word "whole" 17 times in one paragraph? And--more to the point--is it suitable for other people's eyeballs?

8. Other eyeballs. If this is fic, here is where I'll send to beta if I'm using one (I tend to only get longer fics beta'd). If this is professional writing, I send it out to folks in my life whose opinion I trust. I receive feedback and make additional edits accordingly.

9. Tinkering. I do another full review before step 10, usually with the help of a text-to-speech app so I can hear how it sounds (this also helps identify some typos). If this is a fic (single chapter), I do one final read-through before posting. If it is a multi-chapter fic, I do a read-through of each chapter the week before it posts.

10. Fly, my pretties! It this is a fic, it gets posted. If it is professional writing, it goes Out. Either way, may god have mercy on its soul.

11. Immediately discover a typo.

[lilunshao-blog]

Annotated bibliography

1. Arwas, Mucha, A.M., Arwas, V. & Art Services International 1998, Alphonse Mucha: the spirit of Art Nouveau, Yale University Press, London; New Haven.

 Alphonse Mucha, a talented Czech youth, first worked as an illustrator in Brno (now in the Czech Republic), later moved to Vienna and Munich, and finally to Paris. He had an accident at the age of 34, which changed his life.

 His first poster design broke the stereotypes, used the pastel tones in a narrow and long format, and displayed the sacred image of Bernhardt in equal proportions. Bernhardt loved this poster. By the beginning of 1895, this poster was spread all over Paris, transforming the art form of poster illustrations, becoming a collector's desired collection, and spreading the elusive aesthetic of the "Art Nouveau" design quickly.

 2. Jenkyn Jones, S. (2011). Fashion design (3rd ed.). London: Laurence King Publishing. P46-70

 Some paragraphs in this book explain some factors that designers should pay attention to when designing, the reasons for design, and some trends about the market, fabrics and other details. Social issues, such as environmental issues, have been linked while considering future trends. To reduce the problem of environmental pollution, the production will tend to use healthy and environmentally friendly dyes and materials. It also analyzes that a large amount of washing and dry cleaning that people receive after purchasing clothing is more harmful to the environment than the production process. It also gives the reader some space to think while explaining the drawings. In the development of science and technology, people have also researched new technologies to support and make clothing.

 3. Markussen, T (2013) The Disruptive Aesthetics of Design Activism: Enacting Design Between Art and Politics. Design Issues, 29 (1) pp 38-50

 By examining previous practitioners such as Gaud-Luke and Thorpe, this article evaluates the current theoretical and knowledge frameworks that support design activism. It proposes that current theories are too vague and modeled on other disciplines, such as political and social theory. It then proposes and constructs a new framework for designing the aesthetic aspects of activism.

 This article has given me a more sophisticated understanding of design activism and its place in the different forms of activism matrix. I also have a different perspective on how to view and study cultural interference as a way to protest in public places.

 4. Monteiro, M (2019) Ruined by Design. How Designers Destroyed the World, and What We Can Do to Fix It

 It is good to call for ethics and social responsibility to reflect on the design, but the author completely ignores the positive aspects of contemporary products and repeats those extreme events. If the author can engage in two-sided argumentation of things and give more convincing arguments and constructive opinions, instead of repeating opinions and angry growls, perhaps this book can be more valuable.

 5. Norris, C. 1988, Deconstruction: theory and practice, Routledge, London.

 Most of the book is about understanding the theoretical origins of constructivism, and it involves less in practice. But one feeling is that if you deconstruct the text of deconstruction, you will find that deconstruction itself is not constant, indescribable, and transmissible. So if you understand the book now, it should not be understood.

 Deconstruction from a rhetorical perspective, with a focus on Derrida and later American schools. Not only is it a list of the main concepts of deconstruction (writing and metaphor are particularly deep), Norris also gives his own opinions in the book, for deconstruction and Saussure, Nietzsche and Marx and so on. Very good work.

 6. Poyner, R, (2003) Deconstruction: No More Rules. London. Laurence King Publishing

 Each of the main themes of this book-New Wave of America, Punk and its Consequences, Deconstructive Theory and Design, Digital Font Revolution, Typographic Trash, Graphic Authors and Graphic Incitement, Retro and Native and New Conceptual Design Methods-All in Justify: Breathtaking examples of work change the way designers and their audience think about graphic communication.

 7. RAND, P., (1985). A Designer’s Art. New Haven and London: Yale University Press

 There is a good and bad point in this book, which is that the illustrations in this book are too many and distracting because the reader has to spend a lot of time analyzing the author's project instead of focusing on understanding His written opinion; but it helps readers to understand the author's ideas. This is the only veto of the book, and viewers may misunderstand that this is a step-by-step guide rather than a thoughtful and suggestive book. This book points out some problems that any designer may encounter while practicing. Good designers need to have the courage to create excellent designs for customers with both aesthetic and functional goals and add new experience value to society. As a practitioner, what is relevant to my role is not only to make good designs but also to make good designs.

 8. Shinkle, E. (2010; 2008;). Fashion as Photograph: Viewing and reviewing images of fashion. London: I.B.Tauris.

 Postmodernism is the mainstream trend of thought in western society in the late 20th century. It is the most influential ideological and cultural movement in the 20th century. It is an aesthetic concept with critical thinking. Its development has impacted the western ideology, ideology, values, and lifestyle in all aspects, and has greatly influenced the development of philosophy, humanities, pedagogy, sociology, political science, and art. At present, postmodernism has been studied more in the fields of art design such as architecture, painting, photography, etc., and the research on postmodernist clothing design is still in its infancy. The limited research mainly focuses on the analysis of its aesthetic characteristics

 9. Yohji, Y (2010) My Dear Bomb. 

 The packaging of this book is like the style of Yamamoto's clothing design: black and white, minimalist. I chose this book with curiosity about fashion design and master figures in the Japanese fashion design industry. I was so moved after reading that I was looking forward to it.

 The book is divided into two parts as a whole:

 1. As a man, from birth to growing up, from a small family environment, the influence of people around him.

 2. As an art creator, he talks about the thoughts, feelings, hardships, and happiness in the process of fashion design.

 Although the whole is divided into two parts, the chapters are not like ordinary biographies based on chronicles or memorabilia, with clear logic and strict structure. It's like Yamamoto's permanent design concept of "breaking the ordinary".

 10. Yohji, Y (2002) Talking to myself. 

This is too rich a book, from text to pictures to design, there are too many things worth talking about.

 In the early 1980s, he left Japan with his comrade and girlfriend Kawahisa Rei, then went to Paris. I did not expect that they were called too Western and unacceptable designs in Japan, but the reason for sensation in the West was: very East, very Japanese. This experience has become a very interesting anecdotes. Interesting book, the pictures in it are very beautiful, I don’t want to say more, I just want to make everyone happy!