The Place For My Writers Notes

Original posting 30 April 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:

"Every writer works differently. I know some writers who know exactly what happens from start to finish in a very short space of time and are able to write a very quick draft. Then they'll spend a long time polishing and filling out characters. But I don't like to work like that. I would rather not know what happens next or how it ends. I think it keeps it more interesting for me. And I think if I don't know what's going to happen at the end, then, hopefully, the readers won't know either." Marian Keyes

Writing by the seat of your pants? Or plotting, planning, and character sheets? How do you start, how do you get to the end, and how do you revise and rewrite? Some people prefer dashing off into the wilderness, and then figuring out how to guide the reader into that heart of darkness. Others like to lay out the plans and itinerary first, and then fill in the missing parts.

And there are those who change their methods as they go. Some do their first work relying on inspiration and muse and all that stuff, but then start a more craft approach as they get into doing further work. Others may lay out plans and plots, and then set them aside in the blaze of writing. Or there are those such as Lois McMaster Bujold who do both -- writing the story on one hand, but also writing a journal/plan/superstructure alongside with the other hand. According to her own estimation, that hidden book weighs in at least as heavy as the one that gets published.

How do you handle the ideas and the writing? Why?

(considering the cautionary tale of the centipede who was asked which foot he started walking with, and in contemplation of an answer to this vexation, discovered that he could no longer walk...)