Writing: Placeholders.

[caffienekitty]

Random question for writers out there.

When you're writing, do you have things you use as 'placeholders'? Like there's a phrase or scene or line that you haven't got yet, or something is needed to transition from one thing to another and you haven't got it yet, but the next section is jumping up and down for attention, or you're hitting a wall. What do you use in the spot where something is missing?

In the last few things I've worked on today (it's one of those days) I've had:

-Dean or Sam *reactioned* or *expressioned* or *bitchfaced*
-*emo!nutbar Hamlet is emo and nutbar*
-Rows of asterixes blocking out lines or sections that need serious work.
-([character] does [x], [y], and then [z])
-A row of 'ARG!' repeated. Also, one long Aaaaarg.

I noticed this the other day and thought it might be interesting to find out what other people's habits are. I also tend to type straight to text file these days when writing as well, so maybe handwriting the first draft doesn't lend itself to a need for placeholders?

So, what do you do?

Comments

[auriliawestlake.livejournal.com]

Considering the fact that I post my fics primarily over at fanfiction.net, I've taken to using a placeholder for the horizontal section break lines I can add in when I post over there (it's 123456789 if you're curious). As far as placeholders for stuff that's actually happening in my fic, I tend to leave notes within the body of the story in a different font color - red for something that really needs a lot of work or for scenes I need to add in, green for 'I like how this is phrased, but it doesn't sound right yet', and blue for 'Do I even know where I'm going with this???'

[caffienekitty]

Colours really are helpful. I don't use them inside the text file, but in the file window, because I have a Mac, I can color code files. Red for active, orange for semi-active, green for reference material, blue for non-fic.