So I have submitted my first proposal and I've decided to hear back from them first before I submit any other proposals. Very good. Now what?
Well, I keep on keeping on, of course. I'm not just going to sit here idly while I wait, no sir! I have thousands upon thousands of snippets of stories barrelling through my head like a freight-train without breaks. These have to be written down.
I greatly suspect that I am not the kind of writer that needs to, or even can plan a story out very carefully beforehand. I've tried doing that, and it seemed my imagination didn't much care for my carefully laid plans and any attempt I made to keep to them resulted in long, agonising periods of stagnation - my imagination going on strike in protest.
When I finally abandoned my plans, what actually transpired was the slow conglomeration of story snippets around my characters that were then placed in chronological order. To put an image to the idea, it was much like watching mercury pull itself together after a thermometer had been smashed. All the little droplets coalesced into one great big one, and that is exactly what happened with my Great Man series.
The same sort of pattern seems to be happening with these other clips. Some are simply ideas that need to be written down and either kept and developed or placed on the back-burner.
In any case, I will not be idle while I wait. There is more story in me and I intend to let it out!
As for my blog, with very little in the way of real news for the next two to six months, I'll likely post nonsense not related to my book or writing, though I'll endeavour to find articles that do relate and are helpful.
4 comments:
Writers write, as the saying goes.
If you have a thought, write it down. If you have a line of dialogue, a snippet of plot, note it. You can only regret not doing so otherwise. Carry a notepad with you. Always.
I have ideas I've kept for 15 years. I'm still undecided whether they are good, bad or even useful, so classify them under "not yet". If I didn't have them, I'm sure I'd possibly regret their passing from memory.
Absolutely.
I always carry around a notepad. If it isn't handy then it goes on a napkin or any surface that can be written upon. I once walked home with dialogue scribbled all over my forearm.
Writers are a special bunch!
Hi Sonia,
Sounds like a good way to proceed - I mean letting the story work its way out of you organically - otherwise you would be cutting off the subconscious, which is so wise and connected.
Catherine in Kingston
Hi Catherine!
Thanks so much for stopping by! I think it's a great way to write, but a friend of mine thinks it's a stupid way to write. He's one of those "everything must be planned in detail" kind of writers (not that there's anything wrong with that, of course).
Please let me know when you're next in town! Big hugs!
Post a Comment