Do you write out of chronological order?

[CarburetorThompson]

Not asking if you write non-chronological stories. Do you ever write your chapters out of order?

Like you’re working on charter 1 but before you finish it your decide to do some work with chapter 2?

I’ll do it rarely, but only when I have a tight plan already laid out. Just curious about others

 

[Paul_Tromba]

I write time travel...

The world may bend to the wills of chronological order but my characters/plot beats do not.

So to answer your question, I write some chapters out of order but only if they are effected by something in time that I need to remember for later.

 

[greyliliy]

I'm a pantser so I tend to write in order, but every so often I'll write ahead if I think of something good I don't want to forget.

It's usually a scene though, not a full chapter.

Now, for my published work I have gone back and added chapters if I felt things needed more fleshing out or setup after I finished the first draft. Gotta love content editing.

 

[georgelee5786]

No, I'd lose my mind if I did

 

[DJ_Rhaposdy]

Not really. I know some authors that like to skip past the "boring parts" and fill them in later after the action scenes, but I know that if I don't write the transitions, I won't want to go back and edit. I do plan out certain parts and the story itself can be told out of chronological order, but I like to keep my chapter order intact as much as possible.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

I start at the end and work my way to the start.

 

[Terrate]

I wrote a full chapter that won't be used yet because it's far in a distant future, or even a story about the past. However, I haven't uploaded it yet because my current chapter isn't even there yet, and it's been sitting like that for... so long . Anyway, I'm finally close to utilizing it, since I've been progressing. Slowly, but surely.

 

[RedHunter2296]

Have several story arcs in my pocket ready to fire? yes, of course, a lot actually.

In fact I already have the idea for the sequel and some arcs for the same although I don't know in which order to put them yet.

To be writing chapter one, stop and start writing chapter 7 because that part is more interesting? No, that's a mistake.

Many things can happen as you write one chapter and move on to another, maybe a new idea popped up, a person met something that you were planning to know later, it's hard to predict the path of your own story many times, and having a chapter ahead of time without having the previous one set in stone is a danger to create plot holes easily.

As I once heard it is like selling a hen's eggs without knowing how many she will produce in the first place.

 

[K5Rakitan]

Yes.

 

[QuercusMalus]

Sometimes. If I have an event that I need to place that is critical for the story I will sometimes write that first and then go back and write the intervening chapters that are necessary for getting to that point from the current point. This is mainly on stories I am writing seat of the pants style vs with an outline.

I still will jump around a bit even when using an outline but that is more due to coming up with wording, dialogue or descriptions that I want to get down in paper right now. So it tends to be smaller sections-paragraphs vs chapters.

 

[2wordsperminute]

At most I'll jot down ideas I have for later plot points.

 

[J_Chemist]

No because each chapter leads into the next. I may know where the next chapter is gonna be after the current, but I still need to build the road to it.

 

[ElijahRyne]

Not asking if you write non-chronological stories. Do you ever write your chapters out of order?

Like you’re working on charter 1 but before you finish it your decide to do some work with chapter 2?

I’ll do it rarely, but only when I have a tight plan already laid out. Just curious about others

Only when I am brainstorming a new series, often times we all need some characterization before the inciting incident imo.

 

[Millenia_Limes]

As a pantser, I would lose my mind if I wrote out of order. I start a chapter, and I don't start a new one until I edit and then publish.

 

[LuoirM]

who the fuck

 

[Zagaroth]

No, I write my chapters in order. At least, as far as putting text to file goes.

The scene composition going on in my head? That's nonstop and jumps around all the time. But those are only ideas, and nothing is finalized until I make words appear in a medium that others can read.