Okay, so I’ve been talking about how I’ve been writing these days by basically just showing up at the keyboard and starting to type, that I pick up the virtual phone and listen to the character, and let the thing happen however it happens. And, yes, I’ve been pretty happy with the results.
But…well…
This afternoon I spent lunch by myself thinking about the story that started revealing itself to me yesterday morning (and that I added some 700 words to this morning). I looked at each character, and developed the full story frame. Sure, there’s a little more to discover in the details, but I know what I’m going to write when I sit down tomorrow morning. It’s been awhile since I’ve felt that.
So here’s what I’ve come to think about myself–I think I’m putting in the time, but not putting in the work. And I think I’m doing that because it’s the easy way out. It’s “working” because I’m a good enough story teller to intuitively stay somewhat in the right ballpark. But I do a lot of backing up or re-writing right now, and it results in taking a lot longer to write stories than it used to.
Now, realize that I’m not trying to run myself down here. I’ve been doing a good job of putting in the time again–which is the biggest deal of all. As a result of this approach I would say I’ve been feeling much more free to let the story go outside the lines, so the writing itself has had more spark to it. But as I left lunch today I came to the conclusion that I need to find a way to get back into my previous mold again–but, of course, keep the sparky parts from my forays into free-form story generation.
We’ll see how things got tomorrow, eh?