I had a lovely person ask me how I I wrote my books. I could sense in this person, someone who is clearly intelligent and sensible, a wonder at how it is done.
I gave the best answer I could and being a slow thinker and never having thought of this before I probably rambled. The real answer is for me it just happens.
I see nothing special in putting 20,000 words into a document.
Then I rambled on a bit about writing technique. I thought it might be worthwhile to do a post on this.
Plotter vs Pantster
For those not familiar these are delightfully simple terms for writing techniques I’ll give you an outline.
Plotter means someone who spends some time jotting down ideas and planning their work. It is an admirable and sensible way to work.
Pantster is the person who just writes. The words fall out the fingers onto the keyboard like a flood, often unstoppable. There be chaos in this technique.
Sadly I’m a ‘Pantster’ and I mean sadly as I feel the absence of discipline too often. I find myself going back and editing, oh so much editing, to beat something into shape.
What Is Best?
From any kind of engineering perspective a Plotter methodology just screams out common sense and I wish it worked for me.
I have written a lot of software and designed electronic hardware. The discipline of flow charting, value analysis, checking ratings and myriad other engineering processes are mandatory for this. So, I am used to ‘plotting’ and planning. It’s usually called design.
I find that for a creative process like writing, it is different. I find that when I do some Plotting, look for a ‘Cunning Plan,’ I end up with an unfinished book that I hate.
The discipline of putting things down in order is destructive to me. I could say that I’ve got the plot already in my mind, and as I write I’m running ahead with ideas and concepts that make up a plot. I might be right in saying that as I really do sound it out in my head. Sounds good to me!
It might also be right to say that my Plotting is imperfect, that I haven’t got the technique right yet. I’ve tried just putting down 10 word ideas and spacing them out to fill in the gaps. I’ve tried writing the start of chapters and jumping ahead. No matter what I do it ends up unfinished and disappointing.
Maybe if I said my Plotting is to have just a few sentences that summarize the whole plot in my head, then I fill it out, that is closet. Maybe if I wrote those few sentences down it would transition me to be a Plotter.
How Long Does It Take?
There are three parts to the way I work. I’m not saying ‘this is how you write a book’, just that this is what I’ve done. I don’t claim anything like mastery.
First is to get the dreams, the thoughts, the ideas out of my head and into a file. I use Libre Office now but have used Wordpad and MS Word. I type at about 1,000 words an hour tops. When it happens, it happens fast. On average I end up at about 500 an hour as I tend to go back and forward a bit, do research, do some jottings on paper etc.
Second is when I go into an editing phase and I spend probably as much time as writing in looking at what the drivel-faucet has forced out the fingers, and I sigh, and edit some more. Reading my own writing can be problematic. If I said that the writing focuses on the ideas, not structure or spelling and ‘voice’ then you might get the idea.
The third part is revising, coming back later. I realize an addition, an extra, something needs to be chopped out, and I have a little of step one above and a lot of step 2 above.
After this happens for a far too long while I end up with something approaching a ‘done.’
Writing Metrics?
Yes. I keep a spreadsheet. Each ‘sheet’ in the file has title, number of words, time spent on various parts of the title. The above numbers of about 500 words an hour is ball-park average for me.
What are the worst or hardest parts?
Oh dear. There are a few.
Reading my own writing after a sugar-surge of effort can be disheartening.
Achieving a ‘done’ is the hardest part. Write, revise, edit, update and the cycle continues. Trying to get a finished work that I feel publish-worthy is so difficult.
Maybe the worst, the absolute worst, is reading something that I was sure was ready to publish, and clearly is not. That has happened with ‘Jellz’ the 5th era novella. I was sure this was ready. Then speaking it through, that was dispelled.
A very good friend said I must be brave to publish, to put my work up to scrutiny and ridicule and crap-reviews. Yes I have an ego and don’t want to be told it’s ugly. Well, if it is, it is. Hey, J K Rowling got rejections so of course I put myself in her league (I wish!).
As was said to me in an SMS yesterday, ‘have a bliss filled day’