The Writing Process...or at least My Writing Process
Hi all (or any at all) readers! My name is Leonard Foster, and I'm a beginning author trying to self-publish my first short story, Indigo. I've been working on it for only about a month, and I have completed the initial draft and am currently enduring the editing process...which is terrible, but that's for another post.
This post is about the elusive "Writing Process" or actually my own since elements of the process are different for each author. Hopefully this post will be thoughtful, hopefully you can relate, and hopefully it won't be a waste of your time. But if it is, I appreciate you wasting your valuable time with me. So here it goes...
When I began teasing ideas of what my first short story (or any published work) would be about, I came up with an idea about a man (nameless) from the city of Everyday who, one night, visits a bizarre night club called The Velvet Underground. (That name comes from the Fleetwood Mac song, Gypsy, since this story idea was partially inspired by the song.) The story would take place during that one night and follow the protagonist's emotional/psychological/spiritual change that occurs throughout the night. My idea was that the story would detail the several conversations that said protagonist has with various strangers and all around strange ones. He would meet a woman of every nationality, a magician who has accidentally killed every assistant he's ever had on stage mid-performance, a corpse, and a talking mirror among others. My plan was for each conversation held with these strangers to reflect a characteristic or a change in the protagonist, and at the end of the night, he would emerge from The Velvet Underground with a new outlook on life...That might make it sound as though the story has a happy ending, but I'm not sure that it does or will.
Anyway, that idea, which I thought was pretty well fleshed out, (I even had an outline for it.) was quickly discarded to a pile of stories for the future because I simply couldn't write it. I tried to write anything beyond a first paragraph and got nowhere. After days of continually returning to the story to try and compose at least a page of usable prose, I gave up. I opened a new Word document and began typing a new story.
The idea for this new story came while I was at work. (I work in IT.) For whatever reason, I was pestered by a creative itch to write a story about a mother on a quest to revive her deceased son. So, once home from work, I simply typed this new story from beginning to end in one sitting; it's around 3,000 words. I was immensely excited! (I had just written my first complete rough draft for a story that others would eventually read and, hopefully, enjoy.) I didn't even have an outline this time, but the plot, characters, diction, and imagery just came so naturally that I didn't need one. I had an idea in my head, and I let it evolve as I put it to paper. It came about mostly effortlessly; the only part I had some trouble with was the ending. I couldn't decide how light or dark I wanted to end the story; I knew it would be somewhere in between happy and sad. Did I want to make the reader think, did I want to scare them, did I want to make them cry, or did I even want to supply any closure? I decided on a combination of thinking and crying. However, in my editing of the story, I'm considering altering the ending a bit to include some horror. But again, that's for another post.
That's how my first short story, Indigo, came about. I found that I write best when I'm hit by a bolt of creativity and do no prep work at all. I just put ideas from my head and my heart to paper and worry about plot development as I go. Now, this works great for me for short stories; however, novels are another beast altogether. If I ever write a novel (which I have considered), I'm assuming much more planning would be needed for me to create something remotely readable.
Anyway, thank you for reading! I hope I kept your interest, and please return for more posts in the future. Thanks again!
This post is about the elusive "Writing Process" or actually my own since elements of the process are different for each author. Hopefully this post will be thoughtful, hopefully you can relate, and hopefully it won't be a waste of your time. But if it is, I appreciate you wasting your valuable time with me. So here it goes...
When I began teasing ideas of what my first short story (or any published work) would be about, I came up with an idea about a man (nameless) from the city of Everyday who, one night, visits a bizarre night club called The Velvet Underground. (That name comes from the Fleetwood Mac song, Gypsy, since this story idea was partially inspired by the song.) The story would take place during that one night and follow the protagonist's emotional/psychological/spiritual change that occurs throughout the night. My idea was that the story would detail the several conversations that said protagonist has with various strangers and all around strange ones. He would meet a woman of every nationality, a magician who has accidentally killed every assistant he's ever had on stage mid-performance, a corpse, and a talking mirror among others. My plan was for each conversation held with these strangers to reflect a characteristic or a change in the protagonist, and at the end of the night, he would emerge from The Velvet Underground with a new outlook on life...That might make it sound as though the story has a happy ending, but I'm not sure that it does or will.
Anyway, that idea, which I thought was pretty well fleshed out, (I even had an outline for it.) was quickly discarded to a pile of stories for the future because I simply couldn't write it. I tried to write anything beyond a first paragraph and got nowhere. After days of continually returning to the story to try and compose at least a page of usable prose, I gave up. I opened a new Word document and began typing a new story.
The idea for this new story came while I was at work. (I work in IT.) For whatever reason, I was pestered by a creative itch to write a story about a mother on a quest to revive her deceased son. So, once home from work, I simply typed this new story from beginning to end in one sitting; it's around 3,000 words. I was immensely excited! (I had just written my first complete rough draft for a story that others would eventually read and, hopefully, enjoy.) I didn't even have an outline this time, but the plot, characters, diction, and imagery just came so naturally that I didn't need one. I had an idea in my head, and I let it evolve as I put it to paper. It came about mostly effortlessly; the only part I had some trouble with was the ending. I couldn't decide how light or dark I wanted to end the story; I knew it would be somewhere in between happy and sad. Did I want to make the reader think, did I want to scare them, did I want to make them cry, or did I even want to supply any closure? I decided on a combination of thinking and crying. However, in my editing of the story, I'm considering altering the ending a bit to include some horror. But again, that's for another post.
That's how my first short story, Indigo, came about. I found that I write best when I'm hit by a bolt of creativity and do no prep work at all. I just put ideas from my head and my heart to paper and worry about plot development as I go. Now, this works great for me for short stories; however, novels are another beast altogether. If I ever write a novel (which I have considered), I'm assuming much more planning would be needed for me to create something remotely readable.
Anyway, thank you for reading! I hope I kept your interest, and please return for more posts in the future. Thanks again!
Thanks for sharing Leonard:-). I identify strongly with your experience... when I write, it starts with an idea and as I write the story unfolds. I know this will sound strange, but I basically go on a journey with my characters. I don't feel as though I create them, or their story, I feel as though they share their stories with me. As the stories unfold, and I get to know my characters better, I record their stories. I write from the beginning to the end, and was shocked to discover that many authors do not write their novels in a sequential order. I just go with it, and get such a buzz from the immersion in the story:-). I look forward to seeing your first novel in the future! Happy writing~
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