on writing: nobody said process had to be logical, just that it should work for you

[lagilman]

Been a busy few days, yes. Last night, I broke from my desk and watched "Mega-shark vs Giant Octopus." Yes, I did. And I shared the experience with people all over the country on IM, and via Facebook, and on Twitter. Just another Saturday night in the 21st century... [windrose I think that Skype is the answer, yes. Go thou and install!]

Today, I am back to work. And I am loving it, and I am hating it, and I am loving that I am hating it.

The thing about the Vineart books is they're kind of sprawling. And complicated. And have three -- no, four different motivational layers going at all times. And outlining them requires not paper and pencil but foam core and x-acto blades and transparency paper and clear glue (and the meerkat has a flashback to her one required art course, Historical Design, which was far more fun than Drawing 101 for Non-Artists)

So. When writing (novel, short story, doesn't matter) I do the once-through to set the events in sand, prep the pacing, get all the marks lined up and the basic dialogue in. And then I red-line the sucker, marking off every line, every scene that doesn't quite work, either suggesting a change or making a note to myself to rethink something, or to move something, or to rewrite something entire -- not stopping to do any of that, but rolling through the first 2/3 (or 3/4) of the book, leaving the ending alone because of how much things will change anyway when I do the second pass. Also, if I polish the final bit before the first bits are done? Chaos and Bad Book)

And then there's the second pass, where I come to bits of red-lined page and stop and stare and get up and wander around and swear and then rewrite, and basically manage about three-five pages an hour of work, which is just.. sad. Not writing pages, mind you -- just rewriting. And thinking. And did I mention the swearing and the desk-avoidance?

And with every page I rework, there's another layer of foam core and transparency paper set down, varying the thickness and color of the narrative, adding weight and thought to the sand until it's not sand but (hopefully) concrete.

And now that is done -- yes, it is DONE! -- for Vineart #2, I can read through once more, all the way through to the last 1/3 (or 1/4) and see if the threads and the levels and the foam-core corridors all lead out to the place I wanted them to. If yes, continue on. If no... rinse and repeat.

This is no job for wimps.

Comments

[filamena.livejournal.com]

Is that metaphorical foam-core and transparency paper? Or for real? If real, I'd love to see photos of what that actually looks like. (I'm fascinated by the processes every writer has.)

[lagilman]

For a previous book, I did actually make a 3-dimensional construct of two aspects of the plot, so I could be sure to keep it clear how and where they intersected. But the felines thought it was Their Toy, so I tend to stick to visualization now.

I'm not crafty in that sense, so it wasn't pretty. But it was useful.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I actually created a flow chart using the shapes on the old plastic template to be character points, plot points, intersections. Two huge sheets of newsprint. Worked well for that book. May try it again.

[ex-fashioni.livejournal.com]

This is no job for wimps.

Amen, sister.

And the way I've always thought of it is that a writer's process is as individual as a writer himself is. Which is why I've never been able to get into the craft and/or revision workshops at conferences that come at the room full of writers with "You must." Because, you know, there is no universal "must." What works for one writer is not necessarily going to even come close to working for another writer.

Frex, I've noticed that for you, you like printing out a hard copy and going at it with your trusty red pen-- I don't know that I've ever done that with more than a few pages here and there, unless it's a hard copy that came from an editor. It's something I've actually been thinking of trying with the current WIP because it has been such a long time in the works and so much has changed and I've just been mulling over yet another big change. I'm wondering if seeing the work via a hard copy might help me identify the pacing issues I'm sure are in there. Or at the very least, give me a different perspective, since I feel like I know every damned word that's currently in the file Entirely Too Well.

And walk around and curse and avoid the desk.

[lagilman]

I strongly suspect my time as an editor trained me to the hardcopy thing. And I use red pen because it's RED and makes me pay attention -- when I edit someone else's work, I use an erasable graphite pencil. It's less, um, rude. *grin*

Changing format does help you to 'hear' the book differently. Reading it out loud helps too, but my voice won't hold up for more than a short story -- the thought of reading FLESH AND FIRE out loud, all 120,000 words of it... my voice just fled down into my lower intestines at the thought of it.

[(Anonymous)]

I have to have hard copy for my manuscripts, I can compose on screen and do some rewrites, but at some stage it is essential that I have a hard copy in front of me, along with a pen.

Sue and I also watched Godzilla vs some other monster...excuse me I mean "Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus". My dad ran a drive-in theatre for almost forty years so I ended up growing up around it. So I grade these kind of movies on a scale of where they would have shown on a late night triple feature at the drive in. This one would have come in third on a triple feature.