Your writing process?

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As the title says really. When you're writing, chiefly lyrics, poetry and prose in this case I guess, what's your general approach?

Other people's poetry. Yes, I know. I wouldn't advise it, but I'd like to try my hand at it again.

I always have words going around in my head but no cogent ideas to put to paper. Plus, they tend to work out terribly in the morning if I do get lines worth putting down.

Mark E. Smith provides a proven methodology in this audio video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD6Msphh_Mw

I've written lyrics in the past, and I'll even post some if you ask!, but it feels like an unfortunate one-off now. Would love to come back with some more words that I can continue to be proud of over the years.

the one-in-a-blue-moon times that I am driven to wax poetic, are strictly an ungraceful mechanical process involving my reluctant frontal lobes and a book of rhyming words, all in service of describing a pressing issue in my mind.

I think in words and I think a lot. Sometimes, my thoughts will simply take a poetic/philosophical turn; I'll hear a phrase, then try to think of a phrase that rhymes with it, think of a third phrase that is topically related, think of something that rhymes with that, and so on until I've said all that I can think of to say about the topic.

Whether or not it is a work of fiction, I try to outline the specific (plot) points I'm trying to make, and then fill in the gaps between them.

Fictional characters each get a 'biography' that states their basic attributes, their hopes, their fear, their talents, and their quirks. There is also a short medical, educational, and professional history for each.

Other than that, nothing specific.

My imagination begins to fill up too much, I write it down. Now I have half a dozen beginnings of stories lying around. XD

Yeah, I work with outlines, too. If I know a story will be relatively short, say, around 2,000 words then I'll work without one. For my novel and novellas I did use outlines otherwise they would've just been ideas scattered all over without a cohesive point.

Prose depends upon whether or not I am trying to right fiction or non-fiction. Fiction tends to take the the longest because I find starting a tale extremely difficult so I will often jump to the middle and write that first. Non-fiction is generally in an argumentative and high minded form and comes typically from my own research but I try to be funny about it so I will typically write out how I would tell this to someone outside my field and then edit it as I go.

Poetry tends to only get written in when I find myself...well broken. I find it strangely soothing to give voice to anguish from a shattered source. It is typically written with one stanza complete and then usually I am drained and wont touch it again until the mood strikes me once more. It makes me very slow at writing poetry.

When I write, I try to paint the picture in my head with words. Other times, I create the images or conversations in my head by working them out on the computer screen. I have never used an outline, but write from story lines in my head.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

I don't really have a process. I just get stuff stuck in my head, write it down, then look it over to see if it's any good and needs any tweaking or not.

To sum up my writing process for stories usually goes:

1) I get an idea.
2) I write the premise of the story in a text file on my computer somewhere. It may see the light of day again, it may not.
3) If the story sticks with me, I expand on it. I flesh it out, figuring out a few more details, such as time period, setting, type, characters etc...
4) If I'm still interested in the story, I then outline/rough draft it. Mostly an outline. It reads like a wiki synopsi. I work on other aspects, such as world-building, characterization, and setting among others as I make my way through the outline.
5) When I have time, I rough draft it/revise it.
6) Edit for mistakes. This is both for grammar, and for story flow & structure. It may go back to 5.
7) Finish with minor formatting so it can be published.

I have one work that's made it up to 6. It's an RPG campagin. I need to finish it and get it through 7 and make it available. Most of my writing is in 4 and 5 with some still in 2.

Depends on what I'm writing. If it's a poem, I literally just sit down and start writing, no prep and, often, no editing later. Right now, I'm working on a memoir that will probably never to be shown to anyone, though, and it's really been a slow go. Over a month and a half of thinking through things, looking at patterns and pathologies and prewriting and I'm still struggling to get into the actual memoir itself. It's okay, though, I'm really just writing it to have the experience of writing it.