When writing a book...

do you THINK about it all the time? Or are you able to shut it on and off? Seems like I'm always thinking about it.

Sounds like you're writing a book, LC. Just don't be like me and bore your friends and family to death.

Ann

No, I just dash them off brainlessly, like everything else in life.

Seriously, what I find is there's a sort of wheel-spinning, wall-staring time, followed by some sort of click that ushers in a period I call "incoming", when I can't even step in the damn shower without dashing out to grab a digital recorder or pen or keyboard or oily rat or something to scribble it down with.

At that phase I fill up tons of paper and files with jumbles of STUFF. I've learned not to mess with it until it's ready.

Then comes the "sort phase", which overlaps. I start sorting files out, thinking of sections or chapters or whatever bins to toss stuff in for assembly. This triggers incoming aftershocks as well.

Eventually there's a period when all the revelations on the mount have chilled out and I'm just writing the book, same as if I'd been doing a bunch of research for an article and now have it in hand. From that point the creativity switches over to scene setting and word choice and the graph by graph dance.

Sometimes I can switch it off but then there are times when it just crowds in and won't be denied.

alj wrote:

Sounds like you're writing a book, LC. Just don't be like me and bore your friends and family to death.

My textbook manuscript is currently in review (five college profs are looking it over). If all goes well it will go into production. I also sent a proposal for a third text to PH, which is under review. I'm filling this lull time by outlining a novel. If the third text is accepted, fine, if not, that's fine too, because I'm having fun with the novel and really don't want to do another text, anyhow.

I know what you mean about boring friends and family. It's easy to get very self-absorbed when writing, and I did bore people when writing the first edition of my nonfic and later, my first textbook. Now I hardly even mention anything I'm working on to anyone outside a message board.

lin wrote:

without dashing out to grab a digital recorder or pen or keyboard or oily rat or something to scribble it down with.

Do you keep a digital recorder on hand all the time to record those fleeting thoughts? I should do that. I usually have pen and paper handy, but no recorder. How does that oily rat work? lol

Your process sounds like mine, actually. I feel like there's a big "cloud," for lack of a better word, swirling overhead at the beginning and I have to grab stuff out of it. Figuring out what to grab is a challenge.

Yeah, they're great. I got one the size of a candy bar for like twenty bucks and always have it near, keep it in a little waterproof dive box the size of a cigarette pack when I'm out of the house. Buzz out the stuff whil it's happening, can transcribe any time, even when uninspired.

One thing I find, things happen a lot better when I've figured out the ending.

Do people write books without knowing the ending? Just free-flow, sit at the computer and figure it out as they go? I've read where some people claim to do this, and how their characters "move on their own," but I can't imagine how. My characters don't move on their own. Wish they did, it would sure make things easier.

I'm reading Plot and Structure (Bell) right now, and he reduces everything to a formula. He says formulas are good and uses the omelette as an example. An omelette is a formula, but it can be good or terrible depending on the chef. Plus you can do all sorts of things with it via the ingredients used.

His formula is LOCK: Lead, Objective, Confrontation and Knockout. He shows how lots of popular novels follow that formula. He also has formulas for each of those areas. It's helping me. Maybe this is intuitive for some novelists, but laying it all out like that is useful for beginners.

Does anyone have a particular plot/structure book they like?

Nope. My feeling is novelists who make it figure it out on their own.

I totally agree that most of it is intrinsic and you either have it or you don't. But it helps me to read what others have to say on the subject.

I've never taken a writing class past high school. It probably wouldn't hurt, and might have actually helped with my first three books.

I mention the end because, in my experience, the ending has a way of drawing the story forward. I have come to see stories as being, not a piling up of steps from the beginning, but a reach towards an ending.

I get very involved in my mind when writing a book. And I do have the ending figured out very early. Right now I do not have access to a desk and live on my couch, but when we move to our new place in three weeks I will have an office complete with desk, files, closet, etc. The condo is half the size of our present house, but since there are stairs to my present desk, I cannot get there and writing is non-existent, except in my mind. Even keeping files in computers doesn't help. I have my laptop with me constantly, but I need papers, and a desk to put them on and a row of reference books, even if I have a dictionary on my laptop.

Our condo will have stairs to the basement where there is a bathroom and guest room. Upstairs is barrier free with no stairs, even to get inside. and it will be excellent. It is taking a lot of planning and going through boxes, but worth it all. We will be staying there June 6th, but get the keys this Friday.

I have my office all worked out on paper.


Carol

To qualify this answer as being non-expert: I'm working now on my second novel and it is 80% complete. I did not try to publish the first one. I've written lots of fiction in the past, however. Short stories, scripts, and essays.

Think about it all day? When I'm trying to work out a plot direction, I think about it a lot, trying different twists and outcomes.

When driving I run dialogue through my mind. (I've missed exits that way.) That's also how I write comedy and song lyrics. I keep a small voice recorder handy.

Once I was driving along and thought of a funny joke. My recorder was in the other car. It is a fact that if you don't capture it now, you will likely forget it. I grabbed my cell phone, called myself, and left a message.

Bore my friends? I don't discuss plot details with anyone except my wife. When they ask what my book is about, I provide only a broad subject. Sometimes I'll ask someone about a detail that I don't recall and cannot find on the Internet. That usually doesn't bore them.

The ending? I don't know the ending until I get there. I know the premise when I start the project and the main characters. Then, as the story evolves and the readers need information, I let it happen.

I usually allow the protagonist to live. The publisher might want a sequel. That's the only rule I observe about endings.

I don't believe in using canned formulae for any kind of writing. But everyone is different. What works for one is not for everyone.

Carol -I know what you mean by needing to have a permanent space to write, one with paper and books handy. Your condo sounds great. I look forward to downsizing out of this big house one day, myself. I envision a place that will be small, but where the location will be fabulous, and for once, totally of my own choosing.

Al -hello, and great to have you here. Funny about leaving yourself a phone message. Me, I can't figure out how to retrieve VMs from my cell. I get bored or lost at the third button I have to push.

Like you, I've only done nonfic (one is in its 6th edition, the others are textbooks). I'm learning what a different process writing a novel is.

I've been looking at online syllabi for creative writing classes, noting the texts used and the content covered. Learning what "static," "dynamic," "round" and "flat" characters are. While I feel I inherently already know a lot of that stuff, it's interesting to see it codified and labeled.
I also just finished reading an interview with the author of "Towelhead" at about.com. It's instructive to see how novelists approach things.

Most days I get so tired my speech slurs. I end up feeling I’m just pith and rind as all the creative juice has been squeezed out. If I was writing something worthy or romantic I guess I would feel the same. My work is nearly always on my mind. The worst time in the process is towards the end of a project when I’m pulling the thing together. Then the book is always in my thoughts. I often wake up realising a new connection or small improvement. I become distracted to the point where my wife and kids complain. I find it embarrassing to discuss my work in person (nose to nose so to speak) and always decline if someone asks to see one of my books.

I’ve thought I should study massage as a hobby because having written all day I’ve had it with words/concepts but think that a non-verbal form of communication would help out.

Welcome to the forum Al.

This thread is timely. Last night I dreamed about my plot and characters. All night. That has never happened. I used to dream about computer programs, but never prose.

The dreams flipped between me being a novel-writer to being in the story. Several plot twists happened in the dreams. I got up at 6:30 (unheard of for me). made coffee, and pounded on the netbook for a while so I could get down some notes about the dreams.

I'm getting bogged down in subplots. I wonder if there is a number of subplots past which a writer should not go. Arthur Hailey builds books full of subplots in which all the characters and crises converge at the climax. My story won't work that way, but I've got several characters independently messing with the protagonist's agenda. And they will interfere with the outcome. I think. I'm having trouble keeping it all straight in my head.

Funny. My characters aren't developed enough for me to dream about. You must be making good progress!

I've HAVE sometimes dreamt of message board characters. How whacked is that?

Extremely disturbed.



So, how did I look?

Like you ran out of "Just for Men."

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Christ, YOU'RE dreaming about me, too?

This is getting a little creepy.

wacked, creepy (more than a little) sums it up.

lin wrote:

Christ, YOU'RE dreaming about me, too?

You can call me Al when others are around.

I find that when I start to fall asleep is when I get my ideas. Then, I have to get up and write something about it so I won't forget it. I don't think I think about writing all the time.