jotting titles
notes - ideas
research & reading
ordering - outlining
writing or typing
writing
re-writing
reading
publishing
As I write non-fiction, I have done all the research before I start writing the book and so I have basically re-created the world about which I am writing and put the jigsaw puzzle together and made use of all the primary and secondary source evidence which I have. Since I was small, however, I have been used to living in an historical dimension as well as in the present: it's a facility which makes it easy to step into the time I'm writing about. If all the research is done adequately, and there is a plan for the chapters, then the book starts writing itself.
I like to create a few highlights before writing out a piece, then I add some more details. Sometimes, an idea or inspiration comes to me and I try to write it down as soon as possible, recapturing the feelings and the state as close as possible.
Writing my first book was much like riding a sale boat. The words took me there, and until I run out of words, there was no stopping and no rest and that happened with every chapter till I was done with the book and then it felt much better.
I do not know if with my next book I will feel the same, for my first one felt as a work of invisible spirit, that prompted me for a way out. It felt much better when I let my feelings and thoughts out.
Many times inspiration comes in the process of writing: I write a word or two and the rest spills out. Writers block? Yes, I have it too. We, writers, simply need to stop and rest.
If there is too long of a gap, I just feel a desire to write. Also, when I feel as if I have
collected enough research on a topic and want to put it all together or clarify an idea.
Usually, I get away from my computer, find a comfortable chair and take a pen and write
an outline first. Then I will write what I wnat to say after my information is clear in my
head.
Most commonly the idea for writing has come to me long before I actually sit down and write. Once I begin writing, the story often takes me to places I never suspected I'd be going. I've written a lot of family and childhood memories and in that case, it's more a matter of trying to capture the feeling of the moments recalled. My songwriting is much different. Most of my writing comes when I am driving or going for a walk and it is only after the song is well along that I sit down with an instrument and start to work out the accompaniment. Whether I am writing a story, an essay, or a song I like to live with early drafts, allowing the writing to work on me. This often leads to new insights and ideas.
I mull over things for quite some time before I write about them. They may concern some activity, such as swimming, or relate to moods, feelings, the atmosphere or something I feel particularly strongly about which may have been bugging me, and even the weirdness of dreams . . . relationships - anything! I begin by jotting down thoughts and ideas in short pithy sentences, then I try and make some sense out of them sequentially. Finally I begin typing onto my computer arranging and rearranging as I go. I eventually reach a stage when I am happy with the finished poem, usually minus a title - which invariably takes some to arrive at. Even with a satisfactory title and what seems at first to be a competent poem, I continue to revise, sometimes even after submitting a piece for publication.
It's actually quite simple. I head into my bathroom with a voice recorder, turn on the faucet (it begins to sound like a distant waterfall, very relaxing), and simply pace back and forth.
When an idea pops into my head, and they often do during that process, I simply record the stream of consciousness. Afterwards, I sort out which ideas I want to use and which I don't.
Also, I have an extremely overactive imagination. It's almost a challenge to discern what's real and what isn't. It's a creative person's dream; a practical man's nightmare.
I never know how to answer this question! I don't know that I have a "process," other than to figure out the nut of the story, working outward from there.
Most of my writing is intentional -- it is deliberately crafted to get a specific reaction or to influence behavior. It's a lot like acting. My client is the director, and it's my job to understand what my client wants readers to think/feel/do. I channel the right words to make that happen, whether it is to create empathy, get employees to follow a new work process or get people to buy something.
It is generally a burning issue in the contemporary society familiar or interesting to me. I am a dreamer and idealist. I expect everybody in this world to live sensibly, not hurting others. Unfortunately it is not happening. Ninety percent of innocent and good people are being disturbed by 10% bad and influential people in this world. Evil attracts many within seconds. It is the role of writers to educate and entertain people in a healthy and constructive way. When something irritates me a lot, and which can be changed by collective human endeavor for the happiness and benefit of all, I feel like writing on it intuitively. I can't write well when somebody asks me to write on a given theme or issue. I should like or dislike a subject and I must be inspired on my own to write something on it. I mostly write on human character, love, beauty, morals and the way of the world which we need to discuss and change to the better. Constant evolution from the bad to the good is important. It happens when the intellectuals, visionaries, social reformers and other great personalities in the world, known or unknown to others, come out and practice their arts of creative expression to change this world. I contribute to this end at my level because the change needs to start from me first.
I sit down to write without any preparation. I write about something good or bad that happened and why and how it should have been avoided or encouraged. It may run from one hour to 10 hours. The intensity of my feelings and suffering for the world outside decide how much and how fast I write on an issue or theme. Situation configures my output.   | | |
Whenever I can, I write immediately after I feel inspired, usually on paper when it comes to short stories and poetry. I write my larger works on a computer, but I always write their beginnings on paper. It isn't very difficult for me to start writing once I've sat down to write, so nothing unusual happens before the beginning of the writing process, with the exception of, perhaps, my listening to an inspiring song.
I start out deciding the tone; is it a romance? Horror? Fantasy? I type up a brief outline of the structure after deciding as well as developing main characters. I type a bio comprised of a few paragraphs on appearance, their background, their relationship(s), and their obstacle(s) for this novel.
The story is formed in my head before I write. I outline chapters and follow that formula at the beginning. My main characters have complete personalities before I put them in the stories. The hope is that even if I don’t reveal everything about them specifically in print, the reader has a feel for them being three dimensional, flawed human beings. After this beginning the story is added to or deleted from, depending on what makes it more interesting for readers (and me).
It's off-the-wall. Whether I have a notion, a few scribbled notes, or a blank computer screen, I just take something and run widdit.
Challenges
I have a little moleskine I carry with me at all times to jot down notes as I'm inspired. Being a college student definitely has its benefits. For example, we were learning of the history of written language, and
i was inspired to write about how furrs communicate on parchment and stone. More formal idea come from taking my notes and sitting down at the computer another morning. |
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