Thursday, September 09, 2004
How I write
A while back, I threatened to tap out a blog entry on the writing process. Each writer writes differently from another. What follows is a short discussion about how I write.
Like everyone else who puts fingers to keyboard, I start off with an idea. Harlan Ellison jokes that he get his from an idea factory in Poughkeepsie. If only it were that simple. My ideas come from numerous sources: things I've seen, things I've read, things I've heard people say. Some just bubble up from the dark recesses of my warped imagination.
Once I have an idea, I prepare an outline. Yep, I'm going to talk about that yet again. The outline helps me define the structure and flow of what I'm writing. It takes a little time to do, but it's time well spent. As I recently re-learned.
Next up, research. Hey, no matter what I say, I don't know everything. So I hit the books, the Web, or my own file of clippings for background information. I do interviews over the phone or by e-mail, even face-to-face. During my research, I find one or two new tangents to go off on and adjust my outline accordingly. Remember that outlines can be fluid.
Once that's all taken care of, I start writing. In many cases, I don't write from beginning to end. Instead, I do a couple of introductory paragraphs and a closing paragraph or two. As for the stuff in between, it's modular. Sometimes I write a few sections consecutively. Usually, though, I jump around between different sections -- mainly because they're better formed than others. Before I'm done, I've usually gone through between two and three drafts. Information is added or removed, paragraphs rearranged (I love word processors), and linking material added.
Now it's time to do the editing. I go through the piece a couple of times looking for blatant grammatical and punctuation errors. I also look for confusing or badly worded passages. If, at the end of editing, I'm still not completely confident with what I've written and edited, I ask my wife to take a look at it. Contrary to what she believes, my wife is actually a very good writer. She can point out where I've gone wrong and suggest fixes.
From there, I send the piece off to an editor, wait for any questions the editor might have, and answer said questions. After that, I wait until the thing is published and for the cheque.
Like everyone else who puts fingers to keyboard, I start off with an idea. Harlan Ellison jokes that he get his from an idea factory in Poughkeepsie. If only it were that simple. My ideas come from numerous sources: things I've seen, things I've read, things I've heard people say. Some just bubble up from the dark recesses of my warped imagination.
Once I have an idea, I prepare an outline. Yep, I'm going to talk about that yet again. The outline helps me define the structure and flow of what I'm writing. It takes a little time to do, but it's time well spent. As I recently re-learned.
Next up, research. Hey, no matter what I say, I don't know everything. So I hit the books, the Web, or my own file of clippings for background information. I do interviews over the phone or by e-mail, even face-to-face. During my research, I find one or two new tangents to go off on and adjust my outline accordingly. Remember that outlines can be fluid.
Once that's all taken care of, I start writing. In many cases, I don't write from beginning to end. Instead, I do a couple of introductory paragraphs and a closing paragraph or two. As for the stuff in between, it's modular. Sometimes I write a few sections consecutively. Usually, though, I jump around between different sections -- mainly because they're better formed than others. Before I'm done, I've usually gone through between two and three drafts. Information is added or removed, paragraphs rearranged (I love word processors), and linking material added.
Now it's time to do the editing. I go through the piece a couple of times looking for blatant grammatical and punctuation errors. I also look for confusing or badly worded passages. If, at the end of editing, I'm still not completely confident with what I've written and edited, I ask my wife to take a look at it. Contrary to what she believes, my wife is actually a very good writer. She can point out where I've gone wrong and suggest fixes.
From there, I send the piece off to an editor, wait for any questions the editor might have, and answer said questions. After that, I wait until the thing is published and for the cheque.
