My Short Fiction Writing Process // intuitive discovery writing

[@kimwicks5540]

I usually get my ideas in the form of vague aesthetics, snippets of dialogue and little to no plot

[@ShaelinWrites]

vague-aesthetic-idea squad unite!!!

[@billyb4790]

yeah the plot is often the last thing I have done....unless you count the beginning and the end, but everything in between is like "uhhhhh".

[@adamant5550]

Agreed. Get an idea, image, scene, dialogue, or character; then use that idea and follow it through to the end.

[@Man-ej6uv]

i just get a story beamed into my head

[@maliahjoy2959]

​@@ShaelinWritesall vibes!

[@In.Gy.]

"So what's your story called?" I will never tell you this. "Alright then, keep your secrets."

[@nabilamiah3814]

This is so clever

[@scullyboy2439]

"it's like I can sense the shadow of it but I can't see the body that is casting the shadow yet" WOW. I wish my writing was as good as your speaking!

[@RoseBookblood]

"If I let it sit for too long, I start overthinking it" is the most relatable sentence ever spoken. Was wondering if you have any tips on recognizing whether an idea is meant for short or flash fic? Like you, I start with a concept and develop the story as I write, but I always end up with flash fiction pieces. I don't know if I pick the wrong ideas or if I just can't help but shrink everything lol

[@KrisMF]

As someone who used to feel the need to outline HEAVILY, even for a short story, now that I'm slowly embracing discovery writing, my process and mood feels so much better/refreshed. Love hearing about your process!

[@shayzreads3250]

thank you for being so generous with your time/advice and opening up about your personal processes and experiences with strangers on the internet. i cannot imagine it's easy to be so giving, but it is so helpful and sooo appreciated!!

[@Gcherry64]

I love seeing how your process has changed! You were the person who helped me realize I didn't have to follow someone else's process and that I could make up my own. Thanks for that!

[@thewriteidea7193]

Honestly every time I plan a short story I end up wanting to turn it into a novel , I have a serious problem 😅🤣

[@rajeevsharma2582]

Same here😅

[@KhayrahAlli]

Sameee😭

[@DarwinRoger893]

I have the opposite problem, i keep trying to write novellas and it just spirals into a novel

[@lillybergstrom1767]

I can't believe you make these videos for free ...THANK UUUU

[@nitesky5815]

I'm seriously so glad i found you shaelin, before knowing you i used to think I'm just fooling around and calling myself a writer when i clearly don't have clear ideas and plans. Like i had no idea I've been an intuitive discovery writer all this time, got i spent too much time cursing myself to plan and get organised.

[@kulaniwarner2424]

I am an armature writer AT BEST but the way you explain your writing processes are extremely similar to mine. I can sit down and shit something out no problem but to write a story that has that something, that depth, that true connection and it just feels real, like you can feel the weight of truth, it kind of writes itself. I too get more abstract "ideas". I have to be patient as it unfolds through life experiences, research, and an obsession of stories constantly rotating in my mind like a cement mixer. Characters and places have to feel real to me before I can write it. I am one of those where "the story tells itself" rings true for me.

[@AJ_Dunn]

My ideas also always start with an image in my head. Then I just start writing from it until something comes into focus. It also takes me several sessions to get it together. I have notebooks everywhere, in my house, in the car because ideas come at the weirdest times. My stories are usually a combination of several ideas fitting together. I really believe that the stories that come to us have their own reasons for choosing us to tell them.

[@mathilde9144]

Loved this video! If your submission process has evolved as well since the last time you talked about it, I'd love to watch a revised video on how you submit, too! xx

[@ShaelinWrites]

It's pretty much the same!

[@justluc8556]

I was just screaming at my friend today that my current short story has no plot (but it's very gayTM, which probably explains the no plot part lol) and that I have no clue where I'm going with it, so this was very needed! ^^ Thank you!!!

[@ShaelinWrites]

this is how every short story should be

[@billyalarie929]

@@ShaelinWrites I HAVE A CRUSH ON EVERY STORY [/teen girl squad reference]

[@mollyowens4174]

Thank you for this. It’s helpful to know that there are real writers out there who think in fragments like I do. As a child I enjoyed writing poems and stories. However as an adult I never felt like my work would be good enough so I quite writing. I’ve come back to the idea again and was pondering writing a book. Then I came across a video of Jerry Jenkins on short stories. The idea struck a chord with me as being a much easier way to immerse myself in the writing world without getting overwhelmed. I’m so glad I found your channel because I needed the encouragement that my fragmented ideas can turn into great stories! Thank you

[@imaginativebibliophile549]

Shaelin, I have the same writing process as you for short stories. I start with an image an an idea of what I want to explore and slowly move the story to a plot. I have to title a story before I begin the writing process or while I am writing the first paragraph. The stories that I have not title before starting are ones that I have struggled most with. The poems I write often inspire my short stories and novels. I hope to find a group of supportive friends to form a workshop for us to improve the stories we write. I love you

[@kristofferlone6099]

Wow, thanks for articulating that your writing often comes from mental images with an "inspired feeling" connected to them! This is exactly what my ideas (or the ones I like the most) feel like too! Btw, i just read your short story about Cherry and Jane in the garden of Eden. I thought the scenes were great, and the language was very fresh and charged me up! So thanks for that too!

[@kimberbites]

One of the things I appreciate about your videos the most (and why I recommend them a lot) is that you make it very clear these are your processes, and not all may work for others. Not all may work the same. These are ideas that might help someone else, or spur an idea in them for coming up with their own. It's such an important thing to include. Small, but powerful. Far too many think we all work the same and if we don't = the others suck. We're all different. Even Stephen King makes clear he's slowed down with age. If we're getting the work done and it works for us? It's right for the story, and at that phase of life we're in. We all change with every book and every month of work.

[@AdamFishkin]

Thank you Shaelin for this particular video. I mean that with sincerity because tomorrow I start the drafting of a novel where I'll be pursuing the sensation of discovery. With every chapter I hope I can say "... what the hell did I just type on these pages? This trips balls." (Long story as to why this is desirable.) Bits and pieces of the process techniques described here can be factored in. With things like themes and philosophy I have the opposite problem: elements I believe are nuanced or stealthy turn out to be hammer-fisted on a Chris Nolan level, and a lot of it has to do with prose and how exact every sentence has to be. Anonymous characters is what I did with plays after a while because I've literally created thousands of characters and eventually ran out of names. It also takes practice to match a character's personality/age/etc. with an appropriate name. (Especially because in my local community theatre, the pool of talent consisted entirely of white actors. I miss Toronto.) Silent cinema is strangely helpful: the stories back then had a way with archetypes and namelessness that still holds up extremely well. F.W. Murnau's "Sunrise" is the ultimate example. Literature is a very welcome change from theatre. The journey of creation will for sure be more personal and have more room to flesh out a system for everything i.e. themes and character names.

[@ShaelinWrites]

"What the hell did I just type on these pages? This trips balls."

[@anna-sleeps]

have i ever mentioned that i *love* that shirt and the shirt-necklace combo

[@TessTing-i9y]

Loved this very honest video I've written a lot of short stories but don't publish them. I'd like some ideas on where to submit.

[@jenniferchen5351]

Such a useful video, thanks Shaolin. I find I write intuitively also but I stress myself out over the chaos it can create, then I get stuck on how to edit it. Your process has given me some ideas on how to evolve my process.

[@nocturnus009]

YES 👍 👏 🙌 👏, here for 01:36 !!! I’m a fan of playing with a mix of techniques & seeing all there is in storycraft. I inhaled Jessica Brody’s Save The Cat Writes a Novel, then jumped into Jeff Vandermeer’s Wonderbook & I think what we are missing around here is StoryStudy, like film study but for storycraft. I love how in addition to the 15 beats we have those 10 “genres” & between them we can develop what cubby hole our story is out there in the aether. With some play with different methods (I like to throw in And But Therefore to find 3 acts & nesting doll my way through 9 & eventually 27 chapters. 🪆)

[@caitlinsmith8702]

how come you always post the exact thing I need to watch???? it's like you know.....

[@obsessedwithart231]

I plan excessively but eventually I just end up adding, making and remaking it all until it’s barely recognize-able as the same story.

[@candyvanschalkwyk9450]

I normally start with a scene. The pivotal scene. Then work forward and backwards.

[@Диана-я5э1к]

This!.... but with novels. And also, yeah, I feel the story coming like my period, I just know, somehow, that they are close.

[@wrigleyextra11]

hi shaelin, how many short stories have you abandoned or walked away from? What is the rate of retention of your initial drafts? When do you walk away from them?

[@ShaelinWrites]

There are only a couple stories where I never finished a first draft, and around ten that I wrote but decided at some point (after the first draft or even after several rounds of editing) to put aside and not try to publish. But, I'd say that most of my stories, probably around 3/4, I see through to the submitting stage! If I walk away from a story, it's probably because I just don't really have the passion for it to keep trying to make it work.

[@wrigleyextra11]

@@ShaelinWrites thanks Shaelin. Appreciate the quick response and appreciate your channel and tumblr.

[@bookishwriter9460]

I actually used to write like this when I was a kid and now that I'm an adult I kinda forced myself to at least plot losely because I would very rarely finish stuff through pantsing because I would always write myself into a corner I couldn't get out of. Writing is actually less fun now because it's not that much of a adventure anymore. I'm thinking about going back. At least for short stories.

[@MrEarlander]

Try a combined approach. Work from an outline, but allow yourself to go with the flow if you're writing and things naturally go in a different direction.

[@Arinrine]

i have aphantasia, so for me its the emotion linked with something, some concept or event, and then i need to google images or draw it, thats the only way i can imagine something. proccess is really something unique for each person.

[@michellepepin6411]

Thank you, your information is extremely helpful for me.

[@fredlifsitz7411]

Terrific! Fascinating process.

[@sumayyahkhan8897]

I wrote my first short story at 12 this march. So far if sent to 4 publishers. One of them wanted to publish it but that company did not publish short fiction. And the rest I got rejected from. Sad, so so sad😔😪

[@ShaelinWrites]

If you keep submitting, you'll get there! It's very normal to get 4 or more rejections on a story, it just takes patience!

[@sumayyahkhan8897]

@@ShaelinWrites okay. I'll take that into account I know how much you got rejected. Yet look at you. almost perfect.

[@ShaelinWrites]

I literally have one story that's been rejected 30 times lol. It can suck but a couple rejections definitely don't mean the story is bad or that it won't be accepted eventually!

[@carsonallen4719]

I'll be 44 years old next month kid. Stephen King was submitting stories at your age, and so was George RR Martin. Brandon Sanderson started at 14. If you stick with writing, I can almost guarantee by the time you're 20-22, you will be selling thousands of stories. I gave up on my dream, I didn't start again for 30 years later. Whatever you do in life, if at all possible. Never give up your dream of writing if that's what you want to do.

[@sumayyahkhan8897]

@@carsonallen4719 thanks for that I needed it. writing is really all I want to do and who knows maybe you'll come to know me in real life when I'm on THE FRONT PAGE😂✌🏼hah peace out

[@paveltc]

I have a question regarding your workshop. How did you meet the people that you workshop your stories with? Did you meet them through your university or some other way?

[@Physics_Dude]

Shaelin, have you ever thought of turning your short stories into short films? I did this with a winning short story in the NYC Flash Fiction contest and it was fun seeing it come to life. Just curious if you have considered... or have even done this. Peace.

[@ooi97]

Title: I always have one when I start writing, even if it's bland like "superhero" so that I know it was that superhero story or "tent" if it begins in a tent. Later I replace the title with something important within the story, a character name, an event or object or idea. Sometimes I mash two words together like "Zombiecrush" for a zombie apocalypse romance story.

[@dixie7927]

I'm writing my first short story in English, I like Shaelin!

[@thewriteidea7193]

I want to write a short story now

[@marywong9976]

This is such a good advice! I keep procrastinating with editing *stares at pile of abandoned first drafts* How do you get your workshop?? Is there a platform where i can source for them?

[@ericfischer1560]

Hi Shaelin, hope things are well? I watch your videos both here and on Reedsy. I have a request. Could you maybe do a video (a series?) on ways to promote a book using immediate network of friends, covering aspects like apprehension. Would really appreciate it, especially as you have a great and easy to understand way of explaining things. Thank you in advance, if you do go ahead with it. :)

[@jftierdor4605]

this is a really good video :)

[@ella-sk6vm]

you always post whilst im writing what is this wizardry

[@7own878]

Maybe you two live in the same time zone.

[@ella-sk6vm]

@@7own878 no haha I live in England and they’re in Canada :))

[@krishnarchanakg6984]

Your process is exactly like mine, I think, so I can relate..

[@ELTABULLO]

Lmao Cobain can't keep getting away with it!!

[@EarthenDemon126]

Of the entire process, from start to finish, what percentage of time do you spend on the first draft?

[@yonasjonah641]

Am just here b/c i love her i can't help it

[@rajashekharnarayan4717]

Hi Shaelin , A Very Good Morning 😊

[@septuater]

11:02 I felt that

[@carlottamelfi]

This comment could not be more unrelated, but does she remind anyone else of Kayla, aka Lilsimsie??

[@Its_me229]

Her: Talking Me: Ma'am I'm gonna need you to speak english please

[@VideoNash]

thanks

[@yonathanasefaw9001]

Shaelin I have to ask: can I join your writing group? I am in several myself but we only meet in like two weeks.

[@ShaelinWrites]

Sorry, we don't really take new members! We're a very close friend group who met in university, not really an open writing community.

[@yonathanasefaw9001]

@@ShaelinWrites I see, that's a shame.

[@iamhumanbeing3]

hey what should I do I hook the reader at first and then their attention to the story drops? can you help me with that?

[@iamhumanbeing3]

@Дима Пашукевич thats what i think..but i made my friend read my writing she told my mistake of hooking a reader first but then i lost their attention..

[@zetjet9901]

5:50

[@macflod]

Cool videos

[@iamhumanbeing3]

shaelin, I want to send you my story it's just 4 pages can you help me?

[@saikrishnanep2591]

11:20

[@cinemaking9887]

She sounds like timothee chalamet

[@yonathanasefaw9001]

Do you also write poetry? I never hear you talk much about it.

[@rajashekharnarayan4717]

Hi Shaelin 😊

[@rev6215]

Hi!😃

[@sumayyahkhan8897]

NOOOOOOOO, JUST NOOOOOO. I HATE IT WHY? IH WHY OH WHY OH WHY???

[@rev6215]

@@sumayyahkhan8897 😁😃

[@PedroRodriguez-dl5yt]

Tan bonita mi novia y tan inteligente.

[@ottooldenhardt]

just let them flow out of the ouija board

[@reginediannevalenzuela1126]

I can relate. Hahahahaha!

[@rajashekharnarayan4717]

Hi Shaelin

[@granitfog]

Does the title mean "My Short-fiction Writing Process" or My Short Fiction-writing Process?" ;-)

[@johnsavage6628]

Ok! Writing short stories has been like throwing a rock into the ocean. Bye! Bye! Lots of luck. I have to wonder why all these people are over here on youtube telling me how to write and publish? Clearly at 73, my ideas seem so yesterday. I keep forgetting that it's the end justifies the means. And people don't want to hear the truth of things. Sheesh! You either submit or you crash and burn. Live on this planet is so predatory these days. Frankly I see little hope for humanity. Everyone seems to be so self evolved and aren't willing to do what's right. What a disgusting place this planet has become. I've lived too long clearly. I wrote and published a short story correcting the untruths about George Custer, and zip in sales. Thanks people. Face it you're a mess. We can't do what's right for everyone on this planet. We're a total waste of skin. Scotty, where are you? Beam me up please. It's a system of either you submit, or you crash and burn. Well, I'm crashing and burning clearly.

[@jermainerucker2027]

Sorry but not very helpful this time around

[@miiixxx]

I've never been this early omg