Thursday, December 25, 2008

Holiday Distraction

Hi all:

Wow, it's hard writing through the holidays.  With the shopping and the cooking and cleaning and relatives and the more relatives there are a LOT of distractions.   I don't know if other writers have this problem but the fact that I work at home means a lot of relatives figure I am always available to do this or that on demand.  I guess shouldn't complain about having a job that lets me be very flexible with my time.  It's just sometimes I do need to remind people that just because I home doesn't mean I am not working.

As for the writing I have no figured out I write in stages:

Stage 1: Thinking, thinking thinking: coming up with the plot and playing it out in my mind.

Stage 2: The outline this is a pretty complete start to finish of that plot.

Stage 3: Turning the outline into the story.   Here's where I add dialog and start to flesh things out.  Funny one things start to flesh out I realize the outline needs to change here and there.  I then cascade those changes throughout the outline. 

Stage 4: Detailed writing.   When I am writing the story out at first I need to do it fast.  I guess I want to put it on paper before I forget it.  After I have it all out though I go back and add details.  Then I add more details then more.

Stage 5: Editing.  This is a tricky stage.  I often read things the way they should be not the way they are.  I find having my computer read my text back to me really helps.

Stage 6: More editing.  This is the changing one or two words to find the best possible words to use in a given situation.  I find this stage lasts until I find myself switching between the same two choices over and over.  Once that happens it's time for others to see my work.

For now I am plugging away at Stage 3!


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