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| Writing in Sequence |
| Saturday, 29 January 2011 00:00 |
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There are some people who are able to write their stories in whatever order they pop up in their heads. For some of them, that's just how it works - one scene comes to them, they write it down, another appears, they write that down - and they put them all together in the right order at the end. Andrea Eames (whose debut novel is out in February! Yay!) describes her process as rather like putting together a jigsaw, "uncovering it bit by bit, scene by scene, in no particular order, until the whole thing is revealed". For me, alas, that just doesn't work. I have to be able to track the story properly - I have to follow the characters step by step, whether I know where they're heading or not. I can't just skip ahead and then fill in the blanks. (The only exception to this rule is in the editing stages. I'll sometimes realise that something else needs to happen in between some of the existing scenes, or that a few scenes need to be moved around. But that's editing, when the bulk of the story is already down on paper, and so not the same at all.) I envy that freedom, that ability to just write whatever springs to mind. Even if I have a full scene by scene outline, I have to write it in order. I think it's partly a character thing - I write my characters onto the page, and as the story progresses I watch them change and grow. I might know more or less how I want them to be by the end, but I can't forecast the incremental changes, the little things I hardly even notice at first, but that slowly become clearer as I write my way through the story. Occasionally, I'll get stuck and can't seem to move forward. For some writers, that's an indication that they need to write a different scene, that they're not quite ready for the one in front of them. For me, getting stuck just means there's something wrong with the story - maybe the scene before, maybe the one I'm about to write. But until I work out what the problem is, there'll be no writing whatsoever. I'm currently re-reading The Writer's Tale by Russell T Davies (writer and executive producer of Doctor Who) and he's exactly the same: "If I get stuck, I just sit there, stuck, until it's resolved, because the scenes that come later can't exist if they aren't informed by where they came from." So I'm in good company. And incidentally, it's an amazing book, especially for fans, but really for anyone who wants to write. To be honest, although I love the idea, actually thinking about skipping ahead like that almost gives me chills. It's too free, too impulsive. I think I need the structure of a timeline - not necessarily noted down, but definitely in my head - to guide me through the writing process. How about you? Do you write in order, or do you write what you feel best able to deliver at the time? |
Comments
When I get stuck, it is usually because I need to write a scene that needs to happen but I just dread writing. Especially when one of my characters dies... I need to be in a fitting mood in order to write those...
Good luck with writing and editing!
Interestingly, that doesn't often happen with me. If the scene isn't right, if I've got something in mind that won't work but don't know it yet, then I can't write it until I've worked it out. But I rarely find a scene that I'm just not ready to write. Odd :)
Quoting Pamela Cayne:
I used to be entirely pantser, but now find myself planning every scene. Not in detail, just the main plot points. As a result, though, I don't often have new scenes just pop into my head. I kind of miss that. :-/