I'm pretty much exactly like you, except even though it's a freaking movie in my head I still have problems getting it on paper.
Oh I'm not saying it's easy. Well sometimes it is, but it is ridiculously frustrating to have these beautifully flowing scenes in my head that then turn all stilted and slow on paper.

I must, must, must try harder to accept that a lousy first draft is okay, great even, as long as I'm getting it out there. As the saying goes, the only you can't edit is a blank piece of paper.
Very very true. Like I said, this whole word-counting is working very well, because I have to stop myself from trying to re-think every sentence (or word, even) as I write and just go on to the next bit.

My daughter the artist's motto (literally - she used it on her coat of arms for Social class) is: I'll Fix it Later. LOL! And she does, too. I really have to make that the family motto.
That is a good motto. And considering how much I enjoy editing, it's bizarre that I STILL have such a problem with first drafts...

Nice to read about your writing exploits, because writing is a damn lonely business even with all those voices in your head. :0)
Thank you for commenting - as you say, it is a very lonely thing. (I bought 'The Writer's Tale' by Russel T. Davies recently and DEVOURED it. He used to be the head writer for Doctor Who, and the book is essentially e-mails between him and Benjamin Cook (a friend and journalist) about writing and ideas and the absolute AGONY it can be...)

Oh god yes, that bit. I wonder what I'd be like if I wrote professionally, because that is just such a pit of terror to fall into. (Although he of course also charts the positives. One of my favourite parts is where he gets an idea as he is writing (WHAT IF IT WAS WILF???) and the exhilaration just shines through wonderfully.)

Also, it amuses me that just around the same time - as the horrible trust part - Moffat sends him an e-mail saying something like 'Do you ever want to just open the window and shout 'I don't have a clue what I'm doing!'?')

Oh, dear god, I would be a wreck. And yet, I approach most things I do in much the same way, so if that's just how I'm going to be, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing to get the satisfaction of writing out of it.
And if you did it professionally you'd have an editor and so on... So, who knows? (I'd love to find out.)

LOL, so are you saying this doesn't happen to you?
OH IT DOES! It was the joy of recognition. There is nothing like it, although often it's not plot-stuff so much as seeing a connection (see why so much of my fic is full of meta? I use insight to fuel my stories. *g*). I could give you... many examples (just ask), but for now I shall just use my own fanwank of the Schism, and why the Timelords chose such a 'barbaric' rite of passage. Basically I think that looking into the Schism is what somehow 'kick-starts' a Timelord (or Lady's) mind. The Doctor repeatedly says that he can [always] see all of time (or at least the highlights), and I can't imagine being born knowing all that. So the Schism either helps them break through into that part of their mind, or they absorb the time vortex somehow, and that's where they get their knowledge. So it's barbaric, but also vital for making them what they are. It also explains the age thing, since at 8 years old they'd be old enough to understand the difference between reality and eternity.

Aaaanyway, the reason I worked this out, was because of my 'Not the Last' fic (wherein the Master has a son during The Year That Never Was, and doesn't die. It's all very AU.) and I was wondering what would happen when the boy turned eight, and whether the Doctor would choose the Schism or not... See? Fic and meta, wrapped up in each other. *g*

Yes! That was awesome. Something about Moffat just makes me feel better about life.
Oh yes. :)

Oh, that is an excellent fanwank; I think I shall adopt that.
:)

Perhaps around eight years old is the right window in more ways than one?
Exactly - I was thinking along those lines too. (I much prefer to work out logical explanations, rather than just complain about 'the Timelords being evil'!)

I love the back and forth between fic and meta, the way they interfuse each other. I feel like when I burn out on one I switch over to the other and the creativity starts flowing again and everything I discovered on one side of the equation transfers over to the other :-)
*nods vigorously* (And I'd add vids to that, since vids can often draw beautiful parallels or highlight things I'd never thought of.)

I'm putting together a fic right now that's like super-fused meta about River being . . . not superstitious, exactly, but ritualistic--needing her own personalized ceremonies and such to structure her life.
Ooooh, looking forward to it!

Can I tell you how ridiculously happy it makes me when people are actually willing to talk about how they write? Of course I can. And I probably have before. Still, it bears repeating.
I think it's one of the things we first bonded over. That and River-love. *g*

They all float around in my head and it's only when I start to write them that I suddenly find things happening . . .
I have no idea how you do that. I'd never get anything written I'm sure.

Or that's not quite right, really. Things don't happen in my fics. But I write down the whiffs and find the suggestion of happenings around them. Which is a pretentious way of saying I can't actually string actions together in a narrative-type way :-P
LOL! The thing about having little movies, is that they're generally just loosely connected scenes, and then most times I have to work out a plot that will ensure that the characters are where I need them for the scenes I already have.

Good luck with your story!
Thank you. :) (It's this HUGE crossover thing - Buffy/Jack, and keeping within canon 100% - or rather the sequel, so lots of people are all waiting anxiously and I can just cross my fingers and hope they'll like what I do.)

Ah, memories.
It's been... half a year? ;)

I've probably slightly exaggerated the sketchiness of what I start out with, but it's very true that huge amounts of what I write show up seemingly out of nowhere as I go along--like exploring the story space.
Oh I can understand that. Stories often end up in very different places to what I imagine when I start. (Unless I start from the end...)

Hee hee. That's where I give up and write vignette fics ;-) I admire the people who have the self-discipline to fill the rest in.
This is where my ridiculous sense of continuity and logic demands that I do things properly... (I am almost incapable of writing short fic.)

The concept sounds cool. Wish I could follow along, but having seen neither Buffy nor TW, I'm sure I'd be more than a little lost.
Yes, rather. *g* Also it is LOOOOONG (novel length, literally.) So enjoy all the time you've saved. :)

That's gotta get inconvenient sometimes ;-)
Rather. *looks at To Write list and tries not to scream*

Admittedly, I'm also kind of jealous--I really doubt I could sustain something longer. I do kind of figure that that parts that come to me must be the important ones, and everything else can't matter that much, so might as well leave it out.
Swings and roundabouts? *g*