By the Way

Evil Editor did a basic critique on some dialogue scenes. Check it out.

My Scientific Method

I’m fascinated by how other people find their stories. Do they come up with an “if/then” situation first? Do they start with a “what if”? Do they have a character pop up that demands a story? Do they base a plot on a dream? Do they use way too many rhetorical questions?

And then, because that’s not enough for me, I want to know how that story evolves, what changes are made along the way and how writers decide to make those changes. (See–no rhetorical questions. I’m evolving already.) Since I want to know all this, I figure everyone else wants to as well. Because, naturally, what I want to know, other people do, too. I’m psychic like that.

So here’s the way I write:

♣ Character comes along and conks me on the head.
(Where they come from, I don’t know. Is there a land of impatient fictional characters waiting to flit into a writer’s imagination? It’d be one helluva interesting world. Imagine the variety! Vampire doctors rubbing elbows with inspirational romance heroines; alpha heroes pacing restlessly, while kickass chicklit ladies roll their eyes and organize the paranormal faerie freedom coalition or give you-don’t-have-to-take-that! speeches to the debutante virgins in historicals. And I’m totally digressing here.)

♣ Caveat to the above conking-on-the-head scenario, I dream something intriguing and actually remember it in the morning. Hooray for readymade stories! The subconscious rocks!

♣ Dialogue ensues whereby I determine at least one other character. (At this point, I’m already typing.)

♣ Hmm… It might help if I know how this is going to end.

♣ Ending is determined. It’s romance or romance-inclined, thus my choices are “Happily Ever After” or “Hopefully Ever After”. I pick column A or column B. Ending decided! I keep typing.

♣ Of course, something more specific might be necessary. I keep writing while I detemined how the ending happens.

♣ By this time, I’m coming up to the first turning point. How do I know it’s a turning point? I’m getting bored. Something needs to happen. Insert Event because my schizo mind needs something new to feed on, and my characters need a bit of shaking up.

♣ Laugh Evilly.

♣ Okay, now I decide one problem’s not enough. Begin the pile-up!

♣ Continue writing.

♣ Crapola. I realize that I’m going to have to sort out all the problems I introduced. Damn my gung-ho-edness!

♣ Resolve, resolve, resolve.

♣ Get excited about nearing the finish and hurry to wrap everything up.

♣ Bask in euphoria.

♣ Realize I rushed the ending, curse rather emphatically, and go back in to tweak and extend.

♣ Bask in more euphoria.

♣ Move on to the next story and work on that for a while before finally going back to begin first revisions.

Revisions suck. The part I dislike the most about the whole writing process is the editing. But no job comes with perks only, so I try very hard to view it subjectively and then force enlist browbeat request the opinions from trusted sources. (Y’all know who you are. You hear me complain bitch whine discuss my stories often enough!)

Yes, my method is pure genius! A testament to the will of logic, science, and natural law!

*Snort* Yeah, I’m not buying it either, but hey–it works for me.