Often, when talking to people
about my fiction writing, they will ask me how I do it? They want to know my process. I realize that there are lots of different
ways to write, and lots of authors have written about their process, and there
are many places where aspiring authors can go to learn how to develop the
“right” process. However, in my opinion,
we are all unique. We don’t all thrive
on the same diet, respond the same to medications, have the same reactions to
spiders, public speaking, and clowns, and we don’t all have the same creative
skills either. Thankfully, we have many
differences and our unique abilities help make the world a more wonderful
place. The “right” process for you, may
be very different from my own, or very similar, in any case I’m happy to share
in hopes that it will inspire!
When writing a story, first I have
an idea of the kind of story I would like to hear. This can be inspiration from many different
sources such as another story that makes me question, “what if.” It may come from a life event, a scientific
theory, or an everyday experience.
Wherever you get your story inspiration from, let it come! I then write down the idea I have, and
usually a story starts to just come out.
Before I know it I’ll have 3-12 pages of plot, character, and “world”
ideas.
Once I’ve written down my ideas, I
start to flesh out the “world” I want to create. I play god, and literally create a planet (or
alternative to this one), with all it’s physical laws, and geography. Once I have the world, I create a place in
that world (where the story will start), a time (the age that my characters
will live in, i.e. caveman, or high tech), and the creatures that live there
(the basic wild-life, environment, plants, etc.). This whole process can take quite a while,
and stacks up pages, and pages of information – sometimes I even build a data
base for the planet, and often even get a large ball to turn into a globe so
that I can see the world I’ve created.
After the world is created, I
begin to create the characters that I will put into that world. I create each “person” individually. I make a bio for them which includes: what
they look like, their age, past experiences, parents, education, likes,
dislikes, abilities, and an in-depth personality.
When I have my basic story
outline, the world, and all my characters, I start writing. At this point I simply insert my characters
into the situation/story that I’ve chosen and I see what happens. For me this experience is what makes it all
worthwhile. I’m not telling the story;
I’m watching it unfold. I let the
characters behavior dictate how the story moves forward, and I can tell you
they often end up in places I never thought they would go. My story almost never looks like I think it’s
going to, and I never experience writer’s block.
When I wrote DNA, my original idea was that it would be broken down into two
books, but my characters moved faster through the story than I thought they
would, and we ended up on an amazing adventure!
Whenever I require a new
character, I stop writing, design that character, and then insert them into
their role. I think this is why one of
the compliments I hear most is about how amazingly realistic my characters are. I NEVER sacrifice a character’s personality
to move the story forward. That’s not
how real life works, and in real life the story keeps moving forward. It may not go where I intended, but where it
goes is always wonderful.
I hope this helps you, and that
you enjoy the journey of watching your life unfold, whether in reality or
fiction.
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