by Elaine Glimme » Wed Aug 24, 2016 10:09 pm
Here's what I think:
It's different for every writer, and it's different for every story - short or otherwise.
I start with an idea. It comes out of the newspaper or out of something that happened to me or something I read. Some writers write a synopsis first and then fill it in with description, building their characters, etc. I usually have some idea of where the story is going, but I might not know the ending until - well - the ending. And yes writers get into trouble when they get the whole book written and can't figure out how to end it. Writing involves a lot of rewriting and a LOT of deleting. My first drafts are terrible. If I can't figure out how something happens, I'll write something like THEY GET INTO A FIGHT AND JOE GETS KILLED. Then on the rewrite, I describe what led up to it, the details of the fight, etc. probably a few pages to replace THEY GET INTO A FIGHT AND JOE GETS KILLED.
In my writing group, someone leads and offers a prompt to a group. That's an idea - just to get us going. If you're told, "write about anything you like," it might work, but you might also just stare at the paper and not know where to start. But if you're told, "she poured the tea with a loving smile," you'll probably come up with something. Did she put arsenic in the tea? or was she smiling because she knew that her daughter had finally found true love? And so on.
Writing is therapy for me. I'll write about a problem I'm having, and let my characters solve it.
Writers' Block happens all the time. That's when you just can't think of anything to write. You have no idea what Weasel is going to do to Alex, or how Vivian and Austin will meet or how Alex will get out of jail. The cure for writers block is to write anything. Sometimes I go back and edit what I've written until a new idea pops into my head. Sometimes I write garbage like "this is total garbage but I can't think of anything, and the foil from the candy is lying on the table, and i wish I could come up with something." Of course that all gets deleted later on, but somehow it seems to budge the whole writing process. And sometimes the plot has to percolate in the back of my mind for a while, before a good idea pops up, and I figure out how to get Austin and Vivian together.
A novel takes a long time. For me, I have visions of whipping it out in a couple of months, but it takes me years. My friend Caroline puts out great prose and it seems to just happen. I do a heck of a lot of editing. I go through and rewrite everything about thirty times before I figure it's good enough. And after it's published, I find mistakes and things that could still be improved on. Some parts come out pretty good right away, most don't.
Writing classes help. You flesh out characters by describing their actions, and talk about their thoughts and feelings. Dialogue is a good way to build characters. Descriptions are hard for me. i usually describe something in a boring manner, and then cut and cut, until it's more enjoyable to read.
I hate to tell you how many times I've gone through "Stage Two" of the three stages of excitement (Everything is terrible, why did I ever decide to write this?). I usually get there when I read something I've written and decide it's terrible. I talk to myself and remind myself about other things I've written that started out terrible, and ended up as something I was happy with. When I get stuck "Writers' Block" I usually end up at stage two.
Having other people to read my work to and to share ideas with, is very helpful. (yes, i like to end sentences with a preposition.)
Elaine Glimme - author - "Temporary Address" and "The Molly Chronicles"