Comments on: How do you write?

By: Samantha Clark

Samantha Clark — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:45:36 +0000

I’m like you in that when an idea is flowing, all I want to do is write. That’s how I am now. I’m a couple chapters away from finishing my current novel, and I feel as though the best part of my day are those couple hours first thing in the morning that are mine to write. I even got about three hours of sleep last night and still got up at 5 to write.

I’m writing this novel much faster than my last, and I do find that I’m skipping over some of the details to just get the story down. After I’ve finished writing, I think of these details I can go and add in, so I make notes and add them the next day.

Three drafts in a year! Wow! I’m impressed.

By: Don Carey

Don Carey — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:03:57 +0000

The sensory stuff usually gets left out of my early drafts. My goal is just to get the story out. And if it becomes obvious that something about the character isn’t working, I’ll change it midstream (twelve-year-olds become sixteen-year-olds halfway through – that kind of thing) and then fix it up in the rewrites.

Good job on your writing. It’s always so satisfying to get the words OUT!

By: Jordan

Jordan — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:32:03 +0000

@Ali—thanks! For some reason I felt like I wasn’t prolific enough because I waited for inspiration to strike (and have been slaving over edits for so long!).

By: ali

ali — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:22:27 +0000

I’m excited for you!

When I’m drafting, I don’t worry about leaving stuff out or in. I just plain write. Write, write, write. If the scene comes alive with all its delicious details, I write them. But if it doesn’t, I don’t spend precious brain cells trying to create the scene. I just dash it down and move on. Sometimes an idea for fleshing out a previous scene will strike me and I’ll go back to fill it in, but that’s rare. Usually when I’m in first-draft-mode, it’s onward, ever onward.

I LOVE drafting. It’s exhilarating. And three times in one year? Joyful!

By: Jordan

Jordan — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:44:45 +0000

@Iapetus—No fair peeking!

@Lori—I end up cutting scenes, but adding detail. My word count tends to grow during editing, then once I’ve tried just about everything, I’ll cut some more stuff out and trim the words. (I went up 12,000 words in the edits, and I’ve lost 3000 of those now.)

@Trisha—Jealous! I’d love to write through the night, but probably wouldn’t make my family very happy with a grumpy mom. Can’t convince the kids to sleep in just because I had to get that scene down (though I’m trying!).