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Wherein I ramble about books, movies,
music, TV shows, my life, and occasionally, hot emo boys.
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Wednesday, August 29, 2007
My way is not your way
Yesterday I had a great telephone conversation with Eileen Wilks, wherein we made some good progress in planning our workshop for RWA 2008.
One thing we touched on (and I think is worthy of its own blog post because we're not covering it as part of our panel) is how writers can sometimes fixate on process. So-and-so does this, and she sells a bazillion books a year, therefore I should do it too.
Personally, I think that's bollocks.
Truly I think each author needs to find his or her own method and go with it. Same with subject matter, same with stories. I don't think it's possible to maximize your own potential if you're emulating someone else. This is a helpful tool to learn how to write, but after a while, it becomes imperative to develop your own style.
That goes for process, routine, and voice. I've attended seminars where the speaker talked as if her method was the only one and if you don't follow her steps, then you're doing it wrong. That drives me crazy because it's so patently not true. Don't panic if you don't outline. Don't panic if you do.
Some writers use outlines, character cards, storyboards, and a whole lot of tools that seem impossibly complicated to me. I have a friend who was flabbergasted to find out I don't plot anything.
She said, "Do you not outline ahead of time? Are you one of them lucky folks who can just sit down and write? Not me. I need the whole thing, chapter by chapter outlined and plotted. Otherwise, mermaids and shit start popping up all over the place and it's a straight contemporary."
Shit, sometimes I don't even have character names, basic story, nothing. It just comes while I write. I know the important components of a story and how they are constructed (exposition, rising action, etc), but I don't break it down or deconstruct what I'm doing to see how my work fits the four act dramatic structure. I just write.
For other people, that would not work at all. They would find it impossible to keep track of various plot threads without having it all diagrammed. I would suppose that's because they're more visual than I am, and they need to see their scenes laid out to get a feeling for the flow of the book. Both ways are good. Both ways work.
So don't let anyone convince you that they've worked out a foolproof way of doing this or that. Your system is fine. Don't let anyone tell you you're doing it wrong. There's no one right way to do this job. Paraphrasing Nora Roberts, whose Q&A was the best I attended at RWA this year: whatever way works for you is the best way.
One thing we touched on (and I think is worthy of its own blog post because we're not covering it as part of our panel) is how writers can sometimes fixate on process. So-and-so does this, and she sells a bazillion books a year, therefore I should do it too.
Personally, I think that's bollocks.
Truly I think each author needs to find his or her own method and go with it. Same with subject matter, same with stories. I don't think it's possible to maximize your own potential if you're emulating someone else. This is a helpful tool to learn how to write, but after a while, it becomes imperative to develop your own style.
That goes for process, routine, and voice. I've attended seminars where the speaker talked as if her method was the only one and if you don't follow her steps, then you're doing it wrong. That drives me crazy because it's so patently not true. Don't panic if you don't outline. Don't panic if you do.
Some writers use outlines, character cards, storyboards, and a whole lot of tools that seem impossibly complicated to me. I have a friend who was flabbergasted to find out I don't plot anything.
She said, "Do you not outline ahead of time? Are you one of them lucky folks who can just sit down and write? Not me. I need the whole thing, chapter by chapter outlined and plotted. Otherwise, mermaids and shit start popping up all over the place and it's a straight contemporary."
Shit, sometimes I don't even have character names, basic story, nothing. It just comes while I write. I know the important components of a story and how they are constructed (exposition, rising action, etc), but I don't break it down or deconstruct what I'm doing to see how my work fits the four act dramatic structure. I just write.
For other people, that would not work at all. They would find it impossible to keep track of various plot threads without having it all diagrammed. I would suppose that's because they're more visual than I am, and they need to see their scenes laid out to get a feeling for the flow of the book. Both ways are good. Both ways work.
So don't let anyone convince you that they've worked out a foolproof way of doing this or that. Your system is fine. Don't let anyone tell you you're doing it wrong. There's no one right way to do this job. Paraphrasing Nora Roberts, whose Q&A was the best I attended at RWA this year: whatever way works for you is the best way.
