Yeah. Like that.

[lizvogel]

My process is weird. I get that. (Okay, no, I don't; why wouldn't everybody write in this obviously superior way? ;-) But I acknowledge it.) Which means when I run across any other writer talking about their process, it's pretty well guaranteed to sound like a foreign language to me.

So I was all the more pleased to run across this post on Make Mine Mystery today. Which sounds so much like my process that I can just point and say "That! There! Like that!"

(Okay, not so much with the outlining. I don't outline, but that's not why.

And I don't usually have four projects on the burner at one time. Three, however, is not unheard of.)

But the bits where she's talking about characters, and about keeping the story straight -- yes, that. Exactly. How else would one do it?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I don't have any problem writing like that, I just have trouble finishing anything when I write like that. :)

[lavenderbard]

Oops, that was me. Didn't realize I wasn't logged in.

[lizvogel]

Well, finishing things has always been the challenge for me. But I don't think it's the process that's at fault. ;-)

[lavenderbard]

It probably isn't. You did say you never had more than three going at once, right?

Me, I got up to eight or nine. I still never mixed up the stories or characters (as was said -- how would that even be possible?), but once you've divided the total number of words written by that many projects, and take into account the fact that I was coming up with an average of 20 new story ideas a year... Um, yeah.

Even now, when I claim to only write on one story at a time, I still have six stories listed as being "In Progress" on my website. ::rueful::

[lizvogel]

Well, three on the front burner, anyway. Which was a rule I made for myself after way too many years of wandering around all the many things I had ideas for, and doing a few words here, and a sentence there, and maybe a line or two over there.... Um, yeah, indeed.

Not to mention that if you jump from one story to another every time the one gets hard, it means you never do the hard parts. Or at least it worked that way for me.

But the pick-three-and-focus approach keeps me honest. Sometimes it narrows down to one, when I get really obsessed about a particular piece. And if something else really bites into my brain, I'll stop and jot that bit down -- but I'm not allowed to put anything new on the front burner until I actually finish one of the things already there.

I'm impressed with how organized your queues are -- I blanch at the thought of even trying to list all my in-progress or to-write stuff.

[(Anonymous)]

"if you jump from one story to another every time the one gets hard, it means you never do the hard parts. Or at least it worked that way for me."

I'm not sure I know what a "hard part" looks like.

Patricia C. Wrede says hers are transitions and council scenes, but I've never experienced that "ooh, yuck, writing type x coming up," sensation that I recall.

I do get it with Black Flag, where I hate doing space battles, and I adore doing anything that involves two or more characters physically interacting (love scenes and fight scenes typically). But that's only when I'm making the computer art.

"I'm impressed with how organized your queues are -- I blanch at the thought of even trying to list all my in-progress or to-write stuff."

The lists are created automatically from a database. So all I have to do is update each story entry as something changes. :)

I'm really slow to add new story ideas to the database though. I think "Why bother? It's not like there isn't enough stuff already in there to keep me busy for a long, long time."

[(Anonymous)]

"but I've never experienced that "ooh, yuck, writing type x coming up," sensation that I recall."

Unless plot blurbs and other promotional/marketing type bits count?

[lizvogel]

I'm not sure I know what a "hard part" looks like.

I don't have a particular *type* of scene that I hate (well, maybe red herrings, aka stuff-the-hero-tries-that-doesn't-work, but I'm getting better at it), but there are certainly times when the words flow easily, and other times when every word is like pulling teeth. And times when pulling teeth would be easy and painless by comparison.

Unless plot blurbs and other promotional/marketing type bits count?

LOL yes.