So I was cruising through all the fabulous blogs I follow and came upon a post at The Writing Room (by Catherine A. Winn) that has had me thinking for days. Her post Working on WIP or Goofing Off truly struck a cord with me - her essential idea being that so long as you are thinking about your project, you are still working on it.
I love that! It explains so much about why I feel unproductive some days simply because I haven't gotten my page quota finished, yet I feel like I've spent the whole day thinking about this character or that scene. It explains how the characters that begin in my head suddenly become friends and house guests that I don't want to leave. If we as writers spend so much time getting to know our characters (while we cook, while we drive errands, while we fall asleep at night...) then of course they become more well rounded, more present to us and then their story simply falls onto the page (okay more or less...) At least that's how I see it.
It seems to take me AGES to finish the first 50 pages of a new book. Painful almost. But then suddenly I'm in too deep and the story just takes over...the characters do what they were meant to do, no matter how much I might disagree or warn against it. They have a mind of their own.
So I'm curious, do you spend alot of time thinking and "living" your characters before putting them on paper? How do you find your stories unfolding? And if you have a moment, take a stroll over to The Writing Room at www.catherineawinn.blogspot.com!
I find that I do this TOO much. I feel that I know my characters so well in my head. When I'm really bored I make up conversations and scenes in my head...I just am then not able to actually get very much down on paper... :(
ReplyDeleteI'm a dumb procrastinator and don't like typing!
I probably spend as much time thinking as writing, maybe more. It's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Catherine. I need to think scenes through before trying to write them. Sometimes I have to let a scene develop in my head for a few days before I can write it, especially transitions. I don't think the only way to write a book is to just crank it out and then edit. I guess I do much of my editing in the thought process before the actual writing.
ReplyDeleteHi,Johanna, thanks for mentioning my blog. I'm still spending time thinking and it is paying off. I've added 4000 words since I last posted and each morning I sit down at the computer ready to go.
ReplyDeleteMe again, there's something for you over at my blog! Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteCatherine's blog is awesome! That's where I found you btw. And YES when I am "into" a book, I am constantly thinking about it whether I'm typing or not. I like to say that's why I'm so ditzy. Half my brain is forever occupied with my stories.
ReplyDeleteGlad I'm not the only "ditzy" one out there! Sometimes another mom will be chatting about something and I feel like screaming "I can't think about soccer snacks for tomorrow, don't you know *insert MC" is on the verge of a breakthrough!" Needless to say, the soccer snacks will arrive, though we may forget the cleats or something else along the way...
ReplyDeleteI came over here from The Writing Room. It's one of my favorite blots.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I've seen your smiling face (I'd smile a lot too if I lived in San Diego; I love that place). This is a thought-provoking post. I guess I'm in a different category with "characters" since my book about to be published is a memoir. But beyond the fact that the characters are "real," I did still think about them a lot before I got deeply into the writing, and wrote three different memoirs before pulling the bits and pieces into this current one.
Ann