The Process

Even though it doesn't really feel like it, it's been a productive week. I mapped out most of the first book, wrote up a majority of the note cards, and organized all my other notes. I didn't get the bulletin boards up, mainly because my boyfriend works a lot during the week, and tool have never been a great friend of mine. If it's anything more complicated than a push pin in the wall, I have to wait for someone with coordination to help out. Also, straight lines. Forget about those. I wouldn't know a straight line if it smacked me in the head.

Let's start at the beginning, I guess: notes.

When I start writing a story, it usually begins as a random idea that I write down in one of my dozens of notebooks I have littered around my place. If it stays in my head for more than a week or two, then I start developing it. At first, it's nothing more than scenes in my head. For example, the first scene I wrote for Amory in 2007 was her losing her wings. Since that was my end, I worked backward from there, figuring out why that would happen, who was involved, what she was doing. My first attempt at Amory was a mess, but I still have it somewhere in my office. Like, there's about a thousand romances in it and a fake marriage and a million characters that came out of nowhere. Anyway. I usually write out random scenes that hit me at particular moments, even if I'm at work. That photo I shared last time of all those sheets of paper? 

Those are scenes. I keep them all in their temporary home until I can get to Office Depot to find a proper folder.

That's a handing folder from my file box.

Once I get those organized and have a basic understanding of what the story is about, I start on the note cards. One year when I won NaNo, a prize was a discounted subscription to Scrivener (www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php). It took awhile to get used to, but I ended up falling in love with the software. One of the aspects of it that I loved most was the bulletin board where you could set up your story. You'd write the chapter title or description on note cards and it would be pinned to your bulletin board. As you wrote, you could refer back to it. That was awesome, but I'm of the mind that if I can't see it, it's dead to me. Not a good thing. So I started writing out note cards for myself that could be placed next to me while I wrote.

Usually, I keep them in a little stack and then flip to the next one once that chapter is done. But now that I have my own bulletin boards, they're going to look a little more like how they're set up above. Basically, I write the main idea of the chapter on the front, then details on the back. The blue note cards are what's going to happen throughout the novel, because sometimes I have a terrible habit of forgetting that such-and-such is supposed to be angry at so-and-so, and that doesn't come back until the last chapter. So now the blue cards will remind me to sprinkle little tidbits about a certain character throughout the entire story.

Those are not all the note cards I'll end up writing. Those are just the basics, and I wanted to have something done before today so I could show everyone that I'm not as lazy as we all think I am. Hopefully, by the time I finally get around to getting the bulletin boards up, I'll have the first story done and then the second one ready to go. I'm hoping to get all three mapped out by the end of May, and then I can start writing by June. It might not seem like it according to my calendar, but May calms down a lot, so I'll have plenty of time to get through it. Then (SO FAR) June is clear, and work will slow down for a few weeks, and then I'll be back on summer school schedule (HOORAY!!), and that's going to be all kinds of wonderful. I'll get to write outside in the lovely sunshine and not have to worry about work later in the day. 

I know, why don't I just get a real job? I know.

But that's it for today! I just thought it would be fun to share my process since so many writers out there have shared theirs, and I love seeing the different creative processes. Not just for writers, either, but anyone from the artistic community. It's so cool to see this tiny weird blob turn into a book or painting or whatever else. 

Come back Monday, because I'm going to have a super awesome review post for Without Mercy. I'm currently racing through it, and I curse work and Coheed because I have to take a break from the book due to those things. 

Maybe I don't curse Coheed. I do appreciate them.