Tag Archives: creativeprocess

My writing process

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Since returning from Mick & Sue’s Aussie Adventure last year, I have been writing. And I have been able to ascertain my own process.

Writing desk and equipment

Here is the outline of that process:

  • I can hold the idea in my head for many years before I set pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard.
  • Once I do though I can be driven each day, focused and intent on getting the words down.
  • I break it down into chunks, or scenes, or chapters.
  • I list these on PowerPoint slides, and in an Excel list, and also scribbled onto post-it notes that I stick onto a poster on the wall near my desk. These can be easily juggled.
  • I am a visual person by nature, so I find relevant images to enhance my creative flow. These could be from my own collection of photographs or found on the World Wide Web. These act as prompts.
  • I try to apply myself to writing out each chapter as best I can and work my way methodically through my list of scenes/chapters.
  • I save all of my work as I go onto a hard drive and an USB.
  • Once this is done, I save these into a PDF format and copy the files onto my iPad using the Bluefire Reader app. This keeps my work “clean” and I can see and read it through properly.
  • I edit by reading and rereading these chapters day after day. Depending on where I am reading, I will note any changes onto my smartphone or in a notebook.
  • I can’t put it aside until I am happy with what I have written.
  • Each time I make changes I have to update all of my files and the PDFs on my iPad to ensure I have the latest version. This can be time-consuming.
  • Perhaps a software program such as Scrivener would handle all of this process for me, but I’m still learning, finding my way and what suits me. Also, what is inherent to my nature and how I engage with the creative flow.
  • I find it hard to do anything else while I am held in the throes of this story that is calling to be told. I can spend all day at my desk at this task, even foregoing my daily walk. I will need to remedy this though.
  • I usually work in silence. Music and podcasts can be distracting. Sometimes I will play some classical music. When updating though I can play some more upbeat tunes.
  • I don’t like to talk about my work while it is in process. I’m not sure why this is. Do I feel it is not good enough? Am I embarrassed? Will it kill the magic? Perhaps there is still the option to bin the whole lot?

I have just finished the zero draft of a new project. I am still not prolific with my word count. I am in the process of rereading and editing and soon I will let it sit. I’m not sure about it yet. Will I bin it? But I felt I needed to write this particular work to get it out of the way. I want to move on. I want to try my hand at something else. At the moment I’m waiting for the next idea to take hold. I know it will come.

Catching butterflies

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“Catching butterflies” is a poetic notion offered by author Jock Serong at a recent workshop at the Peninsula Writers Club, that I attended recently.

Jock Serong presenting at the Peninsula Writers Club

It refers to one of the ways writers engage with the creative process. The butterflies are the ideas that flit around in our heads, or out in the ether. As writers (or artists) we get a glimpse of the colour, a shimmer of light reflected from their wings, and then it is gone. Maybe to return.

How quick do we respond? Can we catch it, study it, pin it down, find the words to describe it accurately? Or will it dart away to another creative soul who will be ready? Elizabeth Gilbert, in her book Big Magic, expresses the idea that ideas have their own life that is independent of the writer. If one creative person will not express it, the idea will find another willing creative.

The topic of the workshop with Jock Serong was Plotting and Structure. He paced us through his ideas, giving examples from his books, and others. I liked his presentation style and the easy logic of his process. His description of his own novels inspired me to want to read them, as I haven’t yet. The Settlement is his most recent and the third of a trilogy.

We did a few exercises that he set for us. One was to put a character into a stressful situation and see how they react. A method often used by Stephen King.

We wrote for ten minutes. Others read out what they had written, and they were great. How quickly they put themselves into this character and the situation. Meanwhile I was still imagining my hero in her setting. Obviously, we have different approaches, but it illustrates my beginner’s ability, compared to the seasoned writers in the club

I was not disheartened though and left with a new ‘to-do’ list and fresh ideas. I made a structure table for my story and will have a look at the Scrivener software. I am now reading On Writing by Stephen King as this seems to always crop up as a ‘must read’ book for writers.

My own story has a new thread and I have plotted out the scenes, ready to start writing.

Finishing the Zero Draft

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With reluctance and humility, I set down the zero draft of my story.

It is the story about a teenage girl growing up in Portland and Cape Bridgewater during the years of drought and World War 1. It is a family story about hardship and poverty. At this stage I have just over 21,000 words in 21 chapters and 65 pages. So, it is short; too short?!

I have enjoyed the creative process of letting the story unfold. I have felt the emotions of my hero, lived in the era, understood the hardship, and asked the questions as they arose in my hero’s mind.

The story still needs: time to sit and set, to be fully edited, more emotion, more detail, more prose, more relationship, more revelations, more words, more wordsmithing.

Of course, it falls short of my high expectations, trying to follow in the footsteps of classic Australian novelists. But despite years of writing this and that, it is my first real attempt at writing a “book”.

While I wait for my story to cook, I will study the works of other authors and see what devices they use to embellish, evoke, and portray.