Everyone writes differently. Everyone’s mind works in its own way. From plotting to pantsing…from an extensive series of notes to a scribbled mess on napkins…from writing scenes in order to jumping around the timeline…from writing a bare bones first draft to a more detailed version…writing is as individual as each individual.
I find the ways everyone writes fascinating and, at times, helpful when I am finding that my “way” isn’t working. I have ten manuscripts in various stages of draft-y drafts and so many short stories here and there, so I might know enough to share. Though I don’t know enough…
So here’s how I…Kathy The Weird and Creepy Free-Spirit…write a book. May it intrigue, give insight into the odd goings on in my head, and entertain.
Let’s start at the very beginning…
The idea.
Before there is a story, there is the first thought, the thing that drives the author to write.
This idea can come from an image, a name, a character, a sentence, a question. I wrote a story inspired by: a tree in my in-laws’ front yard, the thought that what if a door could access anywhere in the universe, the question of what if fate messed up, the name Ember, the sentence “who enters the trees never returns”, a character who turns into a faerie, a world dying and needs to be saved, a girl who wants friends, the question what happens to those who have faith in a faithless world…and so many more.
Seriously. Inspiration is everywhere, in the smallest of things, the strangest of moments, or the sparks of emotion.
Think of a huge snowy hill. Each time I have an idea for a book or short story, that tiny bit of information forms a snowball at the top. I keep the little frozen ball safe in my mind. Then I wait. I let my creative brain listen to it, think about it. I talk to the characters, if any have come forward. I dream of the world, if it has shown itself yet. I wonder about themes, about emotions that go with the characters and ideas.
Some of those snowballs roll down the hill, gathering mass. Some roll fast, others slow, and a few not at all.
Those that roll the fastest get my attention.
At some point that attention focuses and that idea turns into my work in progress.
To be continued…
I’m always interested in how you work. We go about it so differently, that your process fascinates me.
It is an adventure for sure.
Awesome…just a.w.e.s.o.m.e!!!