We seem to have similar writing processes. I read each chapter as it's finished, printed out, in bed with minor markups or big red "FIX THIS" notations. Gives me a running start the next day.
I would be buried under paper if I printed, lol. I only print the manuscript when it's final, meaning in the best possible shape for my first reviewer/editor to mark it up...and then it's back to the keyboard, I also don't keep successive drafts, what's gone is gone :)
Ditto @Terry Odell: we have similar MOs. And I thank you for slapping down whiners who suffer from writing fiction, who are complaining about the process. It's a gift, a true gift, to pluck a vapor-thread of a story from thin air and turn it into a tumultuous emotional storm of meaning. Keep it up!
Yup. I totally get this! Well put, Martine! Sometimes the process is the product, other times the product dictates the process. Whatever method used, writing is a passion. I write because I cannot help but write.
Oh my, Marine, this post made me hungry, a really delicious, yummy, yearning kind of hungry, because I have felt exactly what you're talking about here, and it's pure joy. Thank you for the re-ignition ( ;
Nice description of your writing process. I saw an interesting video the other day where a writer was talking about using AI and he said that he questions wasn't how to use it, but, if you love writing, even though it's hard, WHY would you outsource the work you love. An interesting angle on the issue you started with. BTW... as another finalist for that award, I wish you good luck!!!!!
Good luck to you too, Ed! I was really surprised ... throwing your hat in the ring with only vague expectations, there is so much good stuff published out there year after year ... Thanks for reading the post! If I was writing a washing machine user manual, AI would come handy, but for creative work, where the whole point is using what your mind has in store, it's plain absurd.
I'm with you. I write because it's FUN! And if it wasn't fun, I wouldn't do it. It that means I'm not a tortured artist, well, I can live with that. I'll write anyway.
One of the trolls is based closely on an old friend of mine, now sadly departed. I'm not going to tell you which troll, though, although it might be pretty obvious.
Just the opposite--the crude and belligerent one. The conversation the trolls, Gordo, and Alex have in the car while on surveillance were pretty typical of the ones we my college buds and me would have back in the day.
I agree. Most days I can't wait to sit down at the computer and write, or to go for a walk and contemplate a plot hole. Sure, it's frustrating, at times, when continuity is off in a long story, or you can't seem to get a sentence right, but those moments are the exceptions, not the norm.
Love this passage from your post:
"Some writers enjoy wrestling a sentence to the ground, punching a recalcitrant paragraph into submission, mulling for hours over the right word. Others are breezy improvisers, letting inspiration and the flow of storytelling take them to unexpected places. There are puzzle builders and emotional spelunkers. Social observers and dreamers of otherworldly fantasies."
What always amazes me is how the story eventually finds a way. I have a book that is stuck, it's been sitting in limbo for a while, but I know why. Too many threads that pull the plot in too many directions. I know what I need to do: whack the weeds!
Oh, yes! People say, "how do you write so much?" to which I usually reply, "how do you not?" It's as simple as that. I do it because it brings me joy. It's not a chore. And, it sounds like we have a similar routine. I dabble in and out of smaller projects while the novel is ramping up!
Not me. I print on recycled paper and don't print revisions to chapters. I do a final printout for editing when the ms is done. I also save every day's work as a separate file so I never lose more than a day's work, although it's saved in Dropbox and Carbonite, so I could get any file back if needed.
The only thing I ever lost was an email from a mag editor with requested changes. I saw it in my box and then poof, it was gone. I emailed the person and asked for a resend... In the old days, I put stuff on diskettes, then on flash drive, then on a hard drive. I need to do a back up, it's been a year... Now, I email myself. Going to do hat right away, lol.
You can't be too careful. I was working on my manuscript a couple of years ago, and I hit Control-S to save. The whole manuscript turned to gibberish. I had to retrieve a copy from the external hard hard drive and save it to my computer file. I have no idea what happened, but if I hadn't saved a backup on an external device, I would have lost the entire manuscript.
Brrrr... I had that kind of file corruption happen i the office with work stuff. Blue screen of death ... One of the reasons why I won't give up my Mac.
I'm not sure what happens to me is a "lift-off" as you phrase it. Writing is the best high I've ever had. When I write, I go someplace else, visit the universal. Writing makes you immortal at least for a little while.
We seem to have similar writing processes. I read each chapter as it's finished, printed out, in bed with minor markups or big red "FIX THIS" notations. Gives me a running start the next day.
I would be buried under paper if I printed, lol. I only print the manuscript when it's final, meaning in the best possible shape for my first reviewer/editor to mark it up...and then it's back to the keyboard, I also don't keep successive drafts, what's gone is gone :)
I see different things on the screen vs. a printout. And yes, I'm buried in paper.
Someone said if it's hard to write it'll be even harder to read : )
Ah, I love that!
Ditto @Terry Odell: we have similar MOs. And I thank you for slapping down whiners who suffer from writing fiction, who are complaining about the process. It's a gift, a true gift, to pluck a vapor-thread of a story from thin air and turn it into a tumultuous emotional storm of meaning. Keep it up!
Yup. I totally get this! Well put, Martine! Sometimes the process is the product, other times the product dictates the process. Whatever method used, writing is a passion. I write because I cannot help but write.
Oh my, Marine, this post made me hungry, a really delicious, yummy, yearning kind of hungry, because I have felt exactly what you're talking about here, and it's pure joy. Thank you for the re-ignition ( ;
Happy that I could help, lol!
Nice description of your writing process. I saw an interesting video the other day where a writer was talking about using AI and he said that he questions wasn't how to use it, but, if you love writing, even though it's hard, WHY would you outsource the work you love. An interesting angle on the issue you started with. BTW... as another finalist for that award, I wish you good luck!!!!!
Good luck to you too, Ed! I was really surprised ... throwing your hat in the ring with only vague expectations, there is so much good stuff published out there year after year ... Thanks for reading the post! If I was writing a washing machine user manual, AI would come handy, but for creative work, where the whole point is using what your mind has in store, it's plain absurd.
But... but.... Artists must SUFFER!
I'm with you. I write because it's FUN! And if it wasn't fun, I wouldn't do it. It that means I'm not a tortured artist, well, I can live with that. I'll write anyway.
Cheers! I'm almost done with The Hag... fun story. I'm surprised how much I like the trolls, lol.
One of the trolls is based closely on an old friend of mine, now sadly departed. I'm not going to tell you which troll, though, although it might be pretty obvious.
They all have funky names that I can't recall but I'll guess it's the silent type one...
Just the opposite--the crude and belligerent one. The conversation the trolls, Gordo, and Alex have in the car while on surveillance were pretty typical of the ones we my college buds and me would have back in the day.
I agree. Most days I can't wait to sit down at the computer and write, or to go for a walk and contemplate a plot hole. Sure, it's frustrating, at times, when continuity is off in a long story, or you can't seem to get a sentence right, but those moments are the exceptions, not the norm.
Love this passage from your post:
"Some writers enjoy wrestling a sentence to the ground, punching a recalcitrant paragraph into submission, mulling for hours over the right word. Others are breezy improvisers, letting inspiration and the flow of storytelling take them to unexpected places. There are puzzle builders and emotional spelunkers. Social observers and dreamers of otherworldly fantasies."
What always amazes me is how the story eventually finds a way. I have a book that is stuck, it's been sitting in limbo for a while, but I know why. Too many threads that pull the plot in too many directions. I know what I need to do: whack the weeds!
Cutting 20% of a short story sounds like "unwriting" to me. Congrats on the award nomination. Fingers crossed!!
That kind of cutting stretches the meaning of fluff, that's for sure...
Oh, yes! People say, "how do you write so much?" to which I usually reply, "how do you not?" It's as simple as that. I do it because it brings me joy. It's not a chore. And, it sounds like we have a similar routine. I dabble in and out of smaller projects while the novel is ramping up!
Birds of a feather...
Not me. I print on recycled paper and don't print revisions to chapters. I do a final printout for editing when the ms is done. I also save every day's work as a separate file so I never lose more than a day's work, although it's saved in Dropbox and Carbonite, so I could get any file back if needed.
Now you're making me nervous :) - I trust iCloud.... but when I travel, I will email the last version of the manuscript to myself.
I always, always, ALWAYS copy to a portable external file. I don't trust any cloud server at all.
The only thing I ever lost was an email from a mag editor with requested changes. I saw it in my box and then poof, it was gone. I emailed the person and asked for a resend... In the old days, I put stuff on diskettes, then on flash drive, then on a hard drive. I need to do a back up, it's been a year... Now, I email myself. Going to do hat right away, lol.
You can't be too careful. I was working on my manuscript a couple of years ago, and I hit Control-S to save. The whole manuscript turned to gibberish. I had to retrieve a copy from the external hard hard drive and save it to my computer file. I have no idea what happened, but if I hadn't saved a backup on an external device, I would have lost the entire manuscript.
Brrrr... I had that kind of file corruption happen i the office with work stuff. Blue screen of death ... One of the reasons why I won't give up my Mac.
I'm not sure what happens to me is a "lift-off" as you phrase it. Writing is the best high I've ever had. When I write, I go someplace else, visit the universal. Writing makes you immortal at least for a little while.