From notes to novel

[sartorias]

All this month Justine Larbalestier has been answering questions about the process of writing from her readers. It's so interesting reading about others' processes: sometimes it's a relief when someone has as one-legged-rooster-riding-a-rocking-chair messy an approach as I have; other times it's fascinating when someone has a process that

Comments

[sartorias]

Soundtracks--very important.

[kalimac]

From a non-fiction writer's perspective ...

I was told in school that if you put your notes on index cards and arrange them in a good order, the paper will virtually write itself. I never found that to be so.

I've also been offered Anne Lamott's advice to stuck writers: if your subject is birds, then just proceed "bird by bird." Doesn't work. I don't want to write a paragraph on this bird and then a paragraph on that bird, I want to write about Birds.

So none of that helps. One piece of advice I have found helpful, when I can wrap my mind around it: dive straight into the meat, and write the introduction last.

When I'm writing classical concert reviews, I'm in journalistic feature writer mode. I sit there and wait for a lead paragraph to hit me in the head. The rest flows logically, either performer by performer (soloist, conductor, orchestra) or work by work.

[dpeterfreund]

I'm a big index card girl. That non-fiction method worked like a dream for me every time I had to write a research paper. I used it for my college theses as well and I was shocked at how many of my classmates didn't know how to use it and were tearing themselves into bits over their citations.

I use a variation of that (post its, stick to the wall, but no muss no fuss, or you can use a posterboard!) while editing my fiction. But for the first draft, I keep the stuff in my head and let it access itself at will.

[sartorias]

Seat of the pants flying for the first draft? I love those...when they don't dump me on my tuckus.

[dpeterfreund]

Gosh, not even a little bit! I have to plot it all out before I write, either in my head or on the paper (usually the latter). I write a synopsis, and then I never look at it again while drafting, unless i get stuck and can't remember what I'm supposed to do. But I do keep my mind open for changes and often there are many!

[klwilliams]

I'm a software engineer by training, and I write long things the same way I write software. I know what it's supposed to do, and I know where it begins and where it ends, and what the major points along the way should be. Then I start, and figure out the details as I go along. The way my mind works, rough spots and things that don't fit usually stick out in my mind and bug me until I do something about them. With longer works, I'm more likely to miss some of these, but I also get bugs in my software. That's why I rely on first readers and QA. :-)

[sartorias]

Sounds like your hindbrain is pretty reliable for doing groundwork!

[klwilliams]

It really is. However, I think the result of that is that I can get stuck in one direction and not find a way out of it for a while.

[heleninwales]

That's very much my approach. Before I'll even start writinga novel, I need a Beginning, and End and a few key points long the way.

I do find diagrammatic methods of planning useful though as a way of filling out the gaps between the known points.

[david_de_beer]

ghh, where is the post with that question? I think I've browsed like a month of blog posts on her blog and I can't find it!
an interesting question, but I want to go read there before commenting here.

[sartorias]

I think it will be today's post--will go up midnight california time. (She does these posts once a day.)

[mrissa]

Yay word processing

[sartorias]

That makes sense . . . though how would you do it if you see scenes but you are not yet certain of their sequence?

[mrissa]

I write them down when I have them. I let it percolate in the back of my head and move them around when I think I know where they go. Sometimes I am wrong. It's okay to be wrong.

[sartorias]

Totally makes sense.