Hi-diddle-de-de, a writer's life for me

[rolanni]

In what may be the fastest flip in my own personal history, yesterday I wrote a story.

No, actually, that's not true.

On. . .what was yesterday, Tuesday?

Right.

So. . .On Sunday, a story idea surfaced; nothing particularly new; I'd been meaning to get to a story kinda, sorta like it for a while now, but. . .press of other bidness, plus -- no brain.  This time surfacing, the idea had more grit to it, which they do accumulate down there in writer's stewpot.  I talked the new wrinkles over with Steve, and we brainstormed a little, mostly around the idea of how a certain thing could come into the hands of the main character -- in fact, would it come into the hands of the main character -- and in the course of that discussion, Steve came up with the shadow of a new character.  We proceeded to kick the new character around some, as we do; then went to bed.

At this point, I was still intending to write the story that had surfaced, oh, sometime in the next week.  Maybe working on the story in the morning, and the book in the evening.

But! On. . .Monday, it would be, as I was running errands, I bethought myself that the new character had quite the story, and! that this story and the surfaced story and, possibly, one more story that's still hanging around at the edge of things, pretending like it doesn't really want to be written, all hook together.  So, now instead of one story that I'm gonna get to realsoonnow, I have a triptych, the first section of which wants to be written right now.

After I'd finished up with the scene for the novel that I'd been working on, I outlined the first short story -- thinking to buy some time, see?  Sometimes, if you give them an outline, they'll hold off with the write me now!

Well, I found out that wasn't going to work when, immediately upon finishing the outline, I opened a file and wrote the first 830 words.

And, yesterday, I wrote the other 5,167, which brings the entire first draft in at just a smidge under 6,000 words.

This is not a personal best, that remains the day I sat down and typed 25 pages -- call it 6,250 words -- of Agent of Change at one go.  Still, for me, it's pretty quick.

So!  What happens now with the story is that it gets to rest until Saturday, when I'll give it a cold read and  in the process find out what it's about.  Steve and I will talk about it, and one of us will doubtless revise it.  Eventually -- next week, or the week after -- it will appear on Splinter Universe.

And this, boys and girls, is how stories are made.

Sometimes.

When you're lucky.

Comments

[doccolt.livejournal.com]

I can hardly wait!!

[amm-me.livejournal.com]

Wonderful! Eagerly anticipating it (them).

writing

[nocal-kathyf.livejournal.com]

Wow! Very excited about the new story, and thank you for sharing the process. It is fascinating.

[ohlibn.livejournal.com]

Wheeeeee! Glad to see the train is back on the rails and you are feeling better. Looking forward to the new Splinter.

Flipping amazing

[gareth griffiths (from livejournal.com)]

So glad you have found some renewed energy and the creative juices running again. Long may it continue.

[catherine kelleher (from livejournal.com)]

Do you find that stories that write themselves or stories that you struggle with are better stories?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

First, we need to establish a definition for "struggle." Then we have to define "better."

It's not actually easy to write an Attack Story; it's physically challenging in a way a Discovery Story isn't. Attack Stories are hard on every inch of your mundane life, because It's All About Me with an Attack Story; nothing else can get done ahead of the story. A Discovery Story will let you noodle around the internet, do the dishes, talk to your sister on the phone, read a book. . . It is true that a Discovery Story will sometimes be coy, and make you chase it through three or four drafts, but if you have time, and you learn something new in each draft, so what? It's only when deadlines enter into the equation that writing a Discovery Story becomes fraught.

"Better. . ." The stories that I think are representative of our "better" work are stories that are largely ignored by the majority of readers, each of whom has their own "better" and "best" stories. I'm very fond of "Tinsori Light," for instance, which seemed like an Attack Story, but which was actually a story Discovered over the course of a couple years. I'm also very fond of Mouse and Dragon, which, once Discovered, practically wrote itself. I also very much like "Eleutherios," which made me wait around and wait around for the protagonist until I was ready to throw it under a truck. So, yanno. . .

[catherine kelleher (from livejournal.com)]

Thanks for the thoughtful answer. I paint, and I tend to like to work quickly from a life model, and then noodle around afterward with a photo reference to fix problems or add things I didn't notice in the moment. I find there are things that come out of working rapidly that have an authority I really like....I also get a lot of crappy stuff working that way. So being in the creative moment is it's own medition-like reward, but the quality for me is variable. It is very interesting to me to hear about other peoples creative process and craft but it all boils down to whatever works for you. And it is also seems common that the creator's personal favorite isn't everyone's favorite creation.

[margotinez.livejournal.com]

I'm so delighted to hear that you've been stewing the creative juices. Isn't it great when the stuff flows?

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

Yes!!!!*dances with delight*

New Story

[catherine ives (from livejournal.com)]

Awaiting new story with anticipation. Thanks,