Posts Tagged ‘Motivational’

I was reading an article the other day on the most common questions writers get asked when they are interviewed.  (Getting prepped, though a bit premature, for all of the coverage my next book is going to get when I finally finish it and get requests for interviews!)  One of the most popular questions is How Do You Write or more specifically How Do You Organize Yourself when you are creating a novel.

I love this question because the more I read the wide variety of answers, the more I am convinced there is no one right way to write.  Two different highly, successful authors discussed their writing styles in a recent issue of Romance Writers Report.  One author was being interviewed, the other simply sharing his experience, philosophy and wisdom.  Their answers were wildly different and one of them even said she doesn’t always write all of her books the same way.  Though she prefers writing chapter by chapter sequentially, when the muse is cooperative, sometimes writing the beginning and then the end and then the middle works for her.  The guy liked to outline all of his scenes on a spreadsheet on Excel before beginning his novels.  He admitted that the woman he co-authors with does not use Excel. 

Charlie Rose did a wonderful interview with John Grisham last year.  John is big into outlining.  Said it saved him a lot of heart ache because he writes thrillers and there is always the challenge of painting yourself into a corner if you don’t have all the plot twists and turns worked out.  A USA Today interview with James Patterson also revealed that he is an outliner.  But, this is partly because he farms out chapters to his co-authors and needs to keep the process on track. 

Me, I’m what they call a pantser, as in seat of my pants.  I do start with a basic outline and spend time on plotting.  I also create a separate working document where I capture important information that I know I am going to use or refer to later and some of the research that has led me to the plot and the characters that I may or may not include in the final product.  But, then I tend to write and let my characters take over and write some more.  And, that, is what I’ve also discovered.  While there are a million ways to write, there is only one way not to write.  Don’t sit down every day and type – something.  That said, I must get back to my characters currently stuck on a raft in the middle of an ocean.  I’m dying to know how I get them rescued…