There was an interesting thread on the SMFS list about whether or not readers want to know about a writer's process. I believe that most newbie writers enjoy reading about how other writers work but I doubt that many readers do unless they, too, are aspiring writers.
The thing with a writer's process, as near as I can tell, is that every story is different. Some are inspired by overheard conversations, some a sentence we might read, others a news story, and even some drift into our dreams. And that's just the idea.
After that comes the actually writing where sometimes a story leaks from our brain like a broken water pipe, coming faster than we can type and other times it feels like a dozen monkeys are tap dancing on the keyboard. Sometimes the story we're writing takes a turn into territory we never expected, other times we can follow a train of thought straight through to the end without ever veering off course.
In the end writing isn't actually a process where you can go from A to B to C and you wind up with a perfect story. It's a melding together of an idea, the spilling of words, and whole of lot of editing and rewriting until you've got something that's polished and ready to hit the market place.
Reading about someone else's process is fine, just know that what works for one writer won't necessarily work for another because everyone's imagination and work ethic is different. Each story will have it's own road to travel, and the writer will have follow that road to find the story. What the writer brings to a story is their own unique view of the world and that's why no two stories about, say a father and son, will ever be the same. They'll be similar in that they're a father and son story, but different because of what the writer knows about that relationship from their perspective.
So, what has all this prattling been about? Write your own stories and don't worry about how the other guy writes. Just be yourself.
8 comments:
I find it interesting to read about other writers and how they go about it. It's sort of like Am I doing the right (write) thing? But then you see you just have to do it your way and see what transpires.
I enjoy hearing how a writer goes about the process. But I do get tired of all the sites that discuss writing in excruciating detail.
I, too, enjoy reading how other writers go about the task of writing, but I've learned that not everything they do works for me, Oscar.
I agree, David, there's only so much you can say about writing, most of the learning comes from just sitting down and writing.
I love what you said about the leaking pipe and the tap dancing monkeys - can I "borrow" that (with attribution)? When I wrote "Revenge...", it started like the leaking pipe, and then toward the end, it looked like someone turned the monkeys loose.
I do enjoy reading about other writer's processes... they can be a "springboard" for my own... trying different ideas, experimenting... finding my own process. Which, I might note, may require some adaptation, depending on the type of story... flash fiction for example.
I merrily sat down to write my first entry for Patti Abbott's Flash Fiction Challenge (800 word max), and a couple of hours later, had almost 2500 words... oops! Much tweaking later, some rather painful, I had it down to 812 words. It was an interesting experience, and I did learn something from it, so it was worth the blood, sweat, and tears.
I like this article very much, Sandra... interesting observations and some very sound advice. Thank you!
You've discovered one of the tricks of writing flash, Veronica! Cutting, cutting, cutting. :)
Hi I'm a student of criminal psycology. As an assignment we were given some information on bizarre cases. My assignment was to gather information on the pantyhose murders.
I understand that this occured in the early 1970's. The victims were all university girls wearing short mini-skirts and pantyhose.
The killer would hide inside their apartment. As soon as the girl would step inside the door, he would grab them and place them on the bed. He would put a pillow over their face and began suffocating them. He would revive them and smother them three or four times over.
After smothering the life out of his victims he would remove their pantyhose and keep them for a sick trophy. The girls were not raped. They were found fully clothed with the exception of their missing pantyhose. The pantyhose were never removed until after he killed his victim.
I was wondering if anyone knows more information on this weird case?
@oldfashionedlady - I recall reading soemthing about this a while back...sorry, can't remember where. You might want to check out the newspaper archives of the Orlando Sentinel, for that period.
Yes, Sandra... a valuable little trick! I'll be sure to keep the mental "scissors" sharpened! :)
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