So, I've been thinking about how writers write. A colleague who just published his first novel said that he planned it out in detail. Each chapter was driven by what would have to happen in the next chapter to reach his final resolution. The final result was a fun read.
Some famous writers, I've been told, write by the seat of their metaphorical pants. They sit down and begin to write with a vague idea of where the story should go. They, like many of us, discover their characters have minds of their own. Hopes, dreams, and plans that conflict with those of the author.
I often write in snippets. Great phrases come to me and I think, "that would make a good story." I write them down. A notebook is never more than a few inches from me at all times. I used to have a waterproof note board in the shower. Some of the best ideas come when I'm driving.
When I can catch these snippets, I write them down. My digital file, when I have time to update it, is over forty pages long. It's filled with ideas—concepts and dreams that I want to write someday. Someday.
Like many struggling writers, I have a time-consuming job. I spend every spare minute writing, and yet the rejection letters I receive back seem so cold. As if to say, "you've wasted our time." The implication being, "and yours." I can't help it, I'm a writer.
My stories don't fall into easy genre classifications, and I suspect that makes editors nervous. They are extensions of my mind. There's no write way to right. My snippet-story method isn't efficient, but still I have some fifty stories sitting on my laptop right now than only some disgruntled editor and I have ever seen.
How do writers write? For this writer it involves one simple think: being conscious. When not distracted by life, I'm writing. It may come out piecemeal, but then again, so does life itself. Write on.
Some famous writers, I've been told, write by the seat of their metaphorical pants. They sit down and begin to write with a vague idea of where the story should go. They, like many of us, discover their characters have minds of their own. Hopes, dreams, and plans that conflict with those of the author.
I often write in snippets. Great phrases come to me and I think, "that would make a good story." I write them down. A notebook is never more than a few inches from me at all times. I used to have a waterproof note board in the shower. Some of the best ideas come when I'm driving.
When I can catch these snippets, I write them down. My digital file, when I have time to update it, is over forty pages long. It's filled with ideas—concepts and dreams that I want to write someday. Someday.
Like many struggling writers, I have a time-consuming job. I spend every spare minute writing, and yet the rejection letters I receive back seem so cold. As if to say, "you've wasted our time." The implication being, "and yours." I can't help it, I'm a writer.
My stories don't fall into easy genre classifications, and I suspect that makes editors nervous. They are extensions of my mind. There's no write way to right. My snippet-story method isn't efficient, but still I have some fifty stories sitting on my laptop right now than only some disgruntled editor and I have ever seen.
How do writers write? For this writer it involves one simple think: being conscious. When not distracted by life, I'm writing. It may come out piecemeal, but then again, so does life itself. Write on.
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