Off and running…

Well, that didn’t take long.  In the three days since last post, I have gotten reengaged with my writing compulsion.  This gives opportunity to tell how I work in case it may be instructive for other tyro writers if only as a point of departure.  Other writers have their methods.  This is just what I have found works best for me.

First, of course, comes the concept, the story line or subject that bubbles up from within.  It may come from observations or Walter Mitty fantasies or ‘what if’ games we play with ourselves.  That germinal event has been well discussed elsewhere.  But, it is, for sure, the genesis of all subsequent action.

My next step is to open my notebook – yes, actual paper and a ball point pen – and start making a listing of what steps or scenes it would take to tell the story and where it might end.  It is basically a bullet point list with a line or less than a line for each point.  This exercise is revised, redone or restarted until it looks like there might be a coherent story possibility.  At some point I may put it into my computer as a Word listing so I can insert and delete more readily.  This is the large scale road map. 

Then I look at my list and see if any of the plot points might benefit from some Google/Wikipedia back grounding and begin pulling up, reading and, perhaps, printing out articles about places and events that will be referred to.

Then, I open a fresh page and give it an arbitrary name with ‘notes’ attached, i.e., ‘The Voyage: Notes’.

Now comes my peculiar way.  By impulse only, I either begin interpreting the material from the research to fit my plot line or I simply take one of my plot points and begin writing dialog or exposition…in no particular order.  I may select an opening scene as it is asserting itself to me or it may be an ending or it may be from the middle.  It doesn’t matter.  They are simply stacked within my ‘notes’ document as they catch my fancy and are written.  They will be put in order later.  The ‘notes’ document grows with each new addition until it has absorbed all my scenes and dialogs and plot points and there is nothing left to add to make the story complete.  Then and only then do I begin the cut-and-paste process of making them flow together.

Once all the notes are logically arranged and read through, omissions and awkward transitions reveal themselves and are written or modified and are plugged in.

At this point, I will print the draft out and hand it to my in-house editor/muse/wife for her critical review.  If you are not blessed with an in-house editor, you may need to hire out the service.  Freelance editors are abundantly available but only referral or trial-and-error will tell you if you have found one congruent with your vision and temperament.  I am, as mentioned, blessed with one.  She is reliably 95% true and unassailable in her suggestions.  The remaining 5% involve some push-and-pull over points I mostly lose. 

Creation is over and the project moves into the publishing and marketing phases, subjects for  other writings, other times.