Swooper or Basher

[Sweetcherrie]

I found this on a different forum:

 

A basher is a writer who meticulously works out each line as she goes along, and supposedly ends with a perfect draft.

 

A swooper sits down and writes the story straight through, with little or no editing along the way, and has something that needs considerable rewriting at the end.

 

www.fmwriters.com

I think I'm mainly a swooper...

 

However, this was the next bit: (It's about rewriting after your first draft)

 

Both types have problems. Swoopers are apt not to want to rewrite as they leap into a new story. Bashers have two big problems, however. When they finish, they often really believe that they really have a perfect story, and will ignore editing. Or they never finish at all. From years of working with writers, I can tell you that bashers are less likely to complete their material, especially if they are new to writing.

I look forward normally to rewriting, and I don't always share first drafts. Hmm...now I think about it, I do share first drafts, but it depends on how dear a story is to me.

 

Sometimes I don't post until I have at least gone over the story or poem ten times to make sure it all makes sense (and still it has mistakes of course), and sometimes it's just needed to get it out and post it.

 

Oh well, in the end I was simply wondering how you write

[Zadown]

90% Basher, 10% Swooper here - I do tinker with my stories to some extent after I've first written them, but mostly I produce "perfect" text (ie. as good as it is going to be, anyways).

 

"Big part of why I write, however, is to find out what happens myself, set in stone all the whirling pieces of visions dancing around my head, mutating and changing. After I've found out which of the mutable realities floating inside my imagination was the one that survived to be the reality, my interest in working with that particular story wanes rapidly and steeply." -- Zadown, in a PM

 

In theory I can imagine rewriting stuff, but in practice I always prefer to write (and thus, read) another story instead. I want to know what'll happen, not a less blurred, enhanced version of what already happened.

[Katzaniel]

95% basher, in that I rework each and every sentence as it comes, and can't go on (I mean, don't) until I'm satisfied. But even so I'll re-read later and make minor edits. Even then, it doesn't mean I think it's perfect, because the longer the story, the more I second-guess the way I chose to tell it, thinking I should start again a different way.

 

I'm not sure if I agree that it's swooper versus basher and leading to different problems. I think it's more like a matrix, where you are mainly swooper or mainly basher, and then have either the too-little or too-much editting problem.

 

Despite what I said about all those little changes and all the reconsidering, I probably fall more under the category of not enough editting. I can't force my way through a story I've already written: If I see a mistake as I read, I'll fix it, but I can't read it in order to change it. If it needs major changing, I'm more apt to totally restart. I get very bored of writing things I've already written, otherwise.

Edited January 5, 2006 by Katzaniel

[reverie]

60/40 bash/swooper... in poetry and in term papers...

 

I generally edit on the fly, but also often write whole sections with little editting, once I get going... Swoopers more promenant when I'm in ramble or improv mode. Also in term papers I often like the make the biblography first, so i can just insert the citiations as needed mid stream...

 

Most work needs massive editing once complete and may need several drafts before i'm happy with it...

 

rev...

Edited January 5, 2006 by reverie

[Peredhil]

Swooper all the way. Which creates problems on re-writes in that I'm a different person and end up revising it until it is a different story. But 98% of everything you see here at the Pen from me was written in one pass and not reworked.

[WrenWind]

Swooper 98% of the time. If i don't write it all down at once i loose the thread of thought that started it.

[Wyvern]

Wyvern fiddles with the two words, poking at the swooping 'w' with a curious claw. He scratches his scaly chin, then attempts to balance the "swooper" vertically on top of the "basher," hoping to form a cross stick through an intersection of the final 'r's. The lizard curses as the 'swooper' topples over, narrowly missing reverie and shattering into a messy pile of letters. Wyvern taps his foot for moment and frowns at the mess, then brightens up and begins digging through a sack of items at his side. The lizard pauses, then lets out a triumphant laugh as he pulls out Ye Ole' Almost Dragonic Brand Poetry Blender™ from the depths of the half-cooked schemes within the bag. He crams "basher" into the blender, then gathers the letters of "swooper" and sprinkles them on top. The letter 'l' is added for a light flavor, and the "Generally Liquify" button is hit. The Cabaret Room crowds gape as Wyvern pulls out the resulting word and holds it up with a proud smirk.

 

Blooper

 

"What?" Wyvern grumbles at the blank stares of the audience. "Would you have prefered 'Slasher' or something?"

 

;-)

 

OOC: On a side note, I'd probably fall along the lines of 80 percent Swooper/20 percent Basher, though I bash by paragraph rather than sentence. Those interested in similar discussions on writing should be sure to check out reverie's "Not so random thoughts" thread and Zadown's "Writer's Diary" in the Courtyard.

[Mira]

99% Swooper.

[Patrick]

The way I had been writing so far was writing the whole story and then going over it to make corrections and add or take away a few parts, but with the story I am writing right now, I write the draft of one chapter, go over it several times and then go on to the next chapter. So I guess I have a bit of both swooper and basher in me.

[The Portrait of Zool]

My own writing style is a study in haphazardness. A lot depends on the inspiration. I may have a scene, or a phrase, or some sort of overall message I already have in mind to start with, but no more. I've written stories from the end, or fleshed out from the middle, or from beginning to end based on an opening situation.

 

I neither swoop nor bash. I often rewrite heavily as I go. Occasionally I will write the key scenes quickly, then go back and fill in the detail, transitions, or any introduction or resolution that is needed. After I have all the pieces of a story, I will then go back again and heavily re-write. On the old AM boards if I would let the edit tags pile up (I usually erased them) I would often have a string of over a dozen. Finally the tweaks would slow until I was satisfied.

[Gyrfalcon]

80% Swooper, 20% Basher.

 

In my case, my first draft is to get all the ideas on paper, get them down and let the creativity flow. If I'm working in sections (IE, long story or post), I'll go back and read over what I wrote before to remind myself of anything new I brought up, and I'll edit as I go along... making things a bit neater, making sure tenses line up, maybe adding a bit of detail if something before or after needs it.

 

Once I'm done with the story or post, then I'll go through and edit the entire thing in one go to try to tighten everything up and make sure that something that happens later in the post doesn't conflict with something I wrote earlier... but I'm always very sure that there's room for improvement... though unlike Zool, after the first or second edit, I'll call it good enough and let it go.

[The Portrait of Zool]

One reason I tweak so much is because I am very sensitive (probably too sensitive) to the syntax and rythms of what I am writing. I try to edit to shorten and clarify, because 'Brevity is Beautiful' - and focusing the writing is always good. Shortening a sentence or even changing one word can completely change the rythm of a paragraph, which then can affect the whole section, so I tend to edit the rest of the section to keep the proper tone and meter.

 

Also, I tend to have problems with verb-tense, so when I re-read I'll find that I screwed it up and have to fix it, which then causes a lot of other edits as per the above.

 

Revising my earlier description, I guess I'd have to say I'm 50% Basher and 50% Swooper.

[Zadown]

One reason I tweak so much is because I am very sensitive (probably too sensitive) to the syntax and rythms of what I am writing. I try to edit to shorten and clarify, because 'Brevity is Beautiful' - and focusing the writing is always good. Shortening a sentence or even changing one word can completely change the rythm of a paragraph, which then can affect the whole section, so I tend to edit the rest of the section to keep the proper tone and meter.

 

Also, I tend to have problems with verb-tense, so when I re-read I'll find that I screwed it up and have to fix it, which then causes a lot of other edits as per the above.

Heh, it's always somewhat relieving to hear others have the same sort of problems sometimes. I tend to add more and more description to already bloated sentences (you know what sort of multi-comma -monsters I write), realizing at some point that enough's enough. Then when I chop that sentence to half, a domino-effect cascades forward and I end up altering sometimes almost every sentence in a paragraph.

 

My verb-tense problems are kinda rare, but I've had those and they are irritating, especially if I happen to notice it way too late. Sometimes I also notice that I've referred to a he as it or it as he or he as she or whatever, a fault that comes from the fact it'd be something that would work in Finnish. In Finnish spoken language (at least in my dialect area), referring to people as "it" is far more common than using the Finnish "he/she" word.

 

The more I write, the more common the former problems are (as I pay more attention to the rhyme of the sentences) and the rarer the latter problems are. I sorta know how to write english, these days.

[Regel]

 

That's me 100 % peregrine falcon. I get an idea and almost always go from start to finish.

 

Once completed I do some serious editing for spelling and grammar trying desparately to make it readable.

[The Portrait of Zool]

I don't have a problem at all with long sentences. I am reading a book right now called 'The Speed of Dark' by Elizabeth Moon, about an autistic person who speaks in a lot of short sentences. I don't mind because it is appropriate to the character. It is a very noticable device. The lead character works with other autistics, and when they are together the dialog reads almost like a text book.

 

It all comes down to what is appropriate to the story, the characterization, the setting, the mood, etc.. A long sentence can be a wonderful thing. A short sentence can be just as beautifully crafted as a long sentence, personal taste obviously carrying great weight, but sentence length to me is really a function of how it works together with all the other elements.

 

Zadown your works have the very classical feel of raw mana, leather and steel, ectoplasm and corrupted flesh. The rythm of the words often flows like glyphs prysed from an ancient stone wall, which only adds to the flavor.

[Ayshela]

I'd say i'm about 85% Basher in serious writing. "Meaning is everything" is closer to true than not, for me, so using the right word in the right way is important and i've been known to stop and drift from dictionary to thesaurus, back and forth, while i track down the word floating tantalizingly out of reach. There are times, though, where it's more important to snag a thought before it escapes, or where the words drop into place and it's more like a frenzied note-taking.