Today during Shavasana (the bit at the end of yoga where you get to lie on the floor and recover) it dawned on me that using my current writing process, I could never serialise a story on the fly. My stories grow like mould, spreading slowly across the surface of the page until it is covered.
So often I am surprised by a character who just wanders in and says something, or does something. Is this a lack of discipline, I wonder.
Some established, successful writers would agree but then others would say that they experience a similar phenomenon.
JK Rowling has said that her famous wizard, Harry Potter, wandered into her head ‘fully formed’, but the books were written over an almost 17 year period. Can you imagine how different the story would have been if she had drafted those 7 books out in a year or two rather than the story unfolding over time?
Stories sometimes bubble out of us, but others need time to steep. During Nanowrimo, participants were reporting that they had finished their 50K manuscript in as little as 4 days. I can’t even imagine doing that. Maybe one day I will experience the joy of writing 50,000 (usable) words in a week. Perhaps it comes with experience. Maybe I need to learn to plot. Maybe I need to buy an expensive writing programme…
My writing process as a mathematical equation.
17 + 2 + 8 – 23 + (9 x 0 x 1000) / wait a week * +19 + 44 – 7 + 3 + 6 apples x a train running at 120 mph = how many lollies does Joanie have.
Yes that’s about right…
This also occurred to me during shavasana which is a little concerning.
I totes am cereals