Writing
In the comments on Monday, snorkackcatcher made one of his typically perceptive comments which made me think about my process of writing. To summarise, I have two modes: 'editor on' produces slow, laborious and elegant pieces of short writing, like the Sirius piece posted below. That taken six weeks and four drafts, and I've probably not managed more than three new sentences a day. Often I get a whole paragraph ahead of myself, realise it's going wrong and axe right back to where it was last right.
By contrast, 'drivel on' is better for long fics. There is no quality control: the goal is to get to the end of the story and then see what I've got. Faster writing - I managed 4000 words of first draft in three days last weekend - but I shall post a bit to show you.
He racked his brain for something he could do. Drop a branch on the leading horse, perhaps, stir up a covey of game birds to startle the horses and - and then what? It was no good while he was still bound and he'd be even less use to Arthur if the chestnut horse bolted and took Merlin with it. He glanced again in Arthur's direction. He wasn't sure what he was hoping for - a wink, perhaps, or that expressionless arrogant look that somehow said trust me, I have this completely under control? With a start Merlin realised that he'd become far too used to waiting for Arthur to take command. No sign of that now. Arthur was motionless in the saddle, his back stiff, head still bowed. The only sign that he was alive were the tiny movements his feet made as he controlled the horse. That, Merlin reasoned, and the fact that he'd have fallen out of the saddle.
Lots of work to do here. I'm painting a scene as frantically as I can, more to embed the moment that I thought of in my memory than to use most of it later. There is hardly any description of the setting, which would be OK except that there isn't any earlier.
'That expressionless, arrogant look' is a clumsy phrase, and while I want to retain the bit in bold, because Arthur does do that quite often, the sentence can't stand in its current form. This may not even be the right story. [Ironically, by the time I'd got to the end of the first draft the one thing that didn't survive was the inciting idea!]
There is too much interior monologue from Merlin. I need to find a better way of showing his learned passivity, if indeed it's relevant at all. And the last sentence is almost funny but doesn't quite work. The whole paragraph is about twice as long as it needs to be for the work it does in the story. And there's more.
Also the brigands have mutated into bandits in my head and then, inevitably, into Band-Aids. This isn't helping.
So, lots of editing ahead, starting tonight with a scene-by-scene breakdown and then a total rewrite from the first word (the only way I can edit in 'drivel on' mode).
Completed since last week: the Sirius, (don't ask about the Peeves!), the first half of the first draft of springtime_gen, two Merlin drabbles which need editing, and I've had an idea for another Merlin story and another HP story. This is ridiculous. All I want to do is write. I'm bleeding words.
When I have the final version of that paragraph above I'll post the two together. I'm trying to learn how to articulate what I do when I write so that I can learn more about the process.
What do you do and why? Give examples!
By contrast, 'drivel on' is better for long fics. There is no quality control: the goal is to get to the end of the story and then see what I've got. Faster writing - I managed 4000 words of first draft in three days last weekend - but I shall post a bit to show you.
He racked his brain for something he could do. Drop a branch on the leading horse, perhaps, stir up a covey of game birds to startle the horses and - and then what? It was no good while he was still bound and he'd be even less use to Arthur if the chestnut horse bolted and took Merlin with it. He glanced again in Arthur's direction. He wasn't sure what he was hoping for - a wink, perhaps, or that expressionless arrogant look that somehow said trust me, I have this completely under control? With a start Merlin realised that he'd become far too used to waiting for Arthur to take command. No sign of that now. Arthur was motionless in the saddle, his back stiff, head still bowed. The only sign that he was alive were the tiny movements his feet made as he controlled the horse. That, Merlin reasoned, and the fact that he'd have fallen out of the saddle.
Lots of work to do here. I'm painting a scene as frantically as I can, more to embed the moment that I thought of in my memory than to use most of it later. There is hardly any description of the setting, which would be OK except that there isn't any earlier.
'That expressionless, arrogant look' is a clumsy phrase, and while I want to retain the bit in bold, because Arthur does do that quite often, the sentence can't stand in its current form. This may not even be the right story. [Ironically, by the time I'd got to the end of the first draft the one thing that didn't survive was the inciting idea!]
There is too much interior monologue from Merlin. I need to find a better way of showing his learned passivity, if indeed it's relevant at all. And the last sentence is almost funny but doesn't quite work. The whole paragraph is about twice as long as it needs to be for the work it does in the story. And there's more.
Also the brigands have mutated into bandits in my head and then, inevitably, into Band-Aids. This isn't helping.
So, lots of editing ahead, starting tonight with a scene-by-scene breakdown and then a total rewrite from the first word (the only way I can edit in 'drivel on' mode).
Completed since last week: the Sirius, (don't ask about the Peeves!), the first half of the first draft of springtime_gen, two Merlin drabbles which need editing, and I've had an idea for another Merlin story and another HP story. This is ridiculous. All I want to do is write. I'm bleeding words.
When I have the final version of that paragraph above I'll post the two together. I'm trying to learn how to articulate what I do when I write so that I can learn more about the process.
What do you do and why? Give examples!