Big concepts vs Finer details

Before we begin, I'd like you all to take it easy. Let's not get into vitiriolic discussion again.

Which one do you find harder, coming up with a big idea or elaborating on finer details?

I believe that for the most writers, its the latter. It certainly is for me.

Concepts are a dime a dozen. Details require effort.

High concepts and details are both fairly easy, and characters are only moderately difficult. I have the hardest time with plots, honestly.

I quite like fine little details. You know, small gags, little easter eggs, things you have to hunt for or be hinted at.

For me, it's hard to piece it all together either into a coherent whole or to make it all flow.

I lean toward the the former, actually. I really love writing subtle character interaction, and am at the least serviceable with atmosphere and description, but plotting? With certain important exceptions, I tend to just let things play out as they would.

Theme is a more complicated matter, though.

Concepts are details. How else do you communicate them if you're not outright telling?

It's not concepts or details, it's stringing them together into a cohesive story that's difficult.

Like Schitzo said, fine little details are much more of a nuisance to write.

edited 22nd Dec '11 7:00:40 PM by YuriStrike

@Yuri - Uhm, no offense but s/he said s/he likes finer details.

Seconding Noir Grimoir. My stories are very logical—if this and this, then this—and my writing of them is equivalent to working out a logic problem. I often come up with results that weren't quite what I planned, necessitating either a change in my inputs, or a change in my plans.

You have to have a big concept before you can elaborate on smaller details. It's like this: Imagine your novel is a house you're building. You lay down the groundwork and build a foundation before you polish the doorknob. Otherwise, all you have is a shiny doorknob in a big pit.

I was going to compare it to an inverted pyramid.

As for difficulty...it takes me a long time to craft an idea or concept, so once I have some direction everything else feels much easier.

That's essentially a lot of what my writing is. Funny little gags that go on for like just 5 minutes. I really should fix that.

I'm not convinced of that. It's entirely possible to build a story organically rather than mechanically, feotakahari described the process reasonably well.

I fall somewhere between. There are things I intend to convey from the beginning and create details to match, and things that grow from the details used as well.

@ Betsy: Inverted pyramid works too. Broad to small.

What I previously said meant that I like details but find them a nuisance to write.

edited 22nd Dec '11 8:35:57 PM by YuriStrike

As a side note, that's the first time I've ever heard my method of writing described as more organic than less methodical styles.

Edit: Wait, I'm feotakahari again? I was Feo Takahari just a while ago. Give me a moment to figure out how to change it back.

edited 22nd Dec '11 9:01:00 PM by feotakahari

I'm not even sure I understand the question. I thought it was whether you preferred thinking "big-picture" or small-scale when writing a work, but the answers suggest otherwise.

Based on the answers, there are two schools of thought. One is to start with a broad concept and then zoom in focusing on the details, and the other is to start focusing on one detail, then zoom out, adding more detail until you end up with something big. Both seem perfectly valid depending on how the writer likes to think.

Personally, I start with a broad concept, then work out the details. Not sure which one I would consider harder. As someone pointed out, concepts happen all the time, but the details take effort. It's easier to say "What if a dog in a human world became a detective?", then it is to answer the question, "What breed of dog?" or "What's the dog's name?" or "What is the dog's motivation?" Details take actual thought and some consideration as to how the chosen details would affect the overall story. Sometimes these details can just flow out, especially when struck with inspiration, but it is always important to me that the details don't stray too far from the main concept, unless the details inspire an even better concept or story.

I started building the world of the story I'm focusing on right now when I sat down one day and decided that *somebody* out there should write a story where magic is NOT shiny and does NOT have any kind of firework-y special effects attached, so I suppose it started from a ridiculously irrelevant detail.

Actually, I often start off with a detail that eventually becomes completely irrelevant as the story grows.