Absolutely. Thanks for analyzing my comment (I'm not being ironic). Generation of material, followed by reshaping the material is a good way to look at the creative process. But I'll add that even in that analytical reshaping, the intuitive voice comes into play. When I tell a friend to incorporate their passion for what they want to say…
Absolutely. Thanks for analyzing my comment (I'm not being ironic). Generation of material, followed by reshaping the material is a good way to look at the creative process. But I'll add that even in that analytical reshaping, the intuitive voice comes into play. When I tell a friend to incorporate their passion for what they want to say, I leave it to them to break it into dialogue, action, descriptive gestures, character's thoughts, etc. Even in that reshaping we can listen for guidance from the imagination, the subconscious. And then, there may be more reshaping....and so the circle goes round and round.
What is my process? Funny you should ask. Every time I read a good book, I want to ask the author, what’s your process? I even want to ask my 16 year old granddaughter who is a terrific writer. Sometimes it just pours out. I tell myself, first you write a sentence, and the scene may unfold. After that, of course, it needs extensive revision. Once I wrote a story in which my character was drowning. A friend told me she once had almost drowned, so I asked her to tell me about it, as I took notes, and then worked that description into the writing. Right now though, its more complicated. I want my characters to discuss how some stories are forgotten (theirs) and others are remembered (the victors), so I’m culling thoughts from my journal that I’d had written on storytelling, and am copying them into some kind of sequence (that must be the analytical part), and the characters will discuss forgetting and remembering (I’m sorry but do get a bit pedantic at times) in another chapter. After I get most of those ideas onto the ‘page’ then I’ll let the more intuitive part of me play with the pieces until they sing. I’ll change words, sentence construction, move them around, cut, paste, add bits and pieces here and there.
My process of revision is pretty much the same as Mr. Saunders describes. Where I differ from his process is that I like to write to the end to get the feeling for the story and then revise. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve revised these chapters. I simply don’t know. When I’m revising sentences, though that may be more analytic, I like my text to flow smoothly from one sentence to another, and that also informs the process. So, yes, Yin and Yang flowing into one another. Well, that was fun. Thanks for asking.
Absolutely. Thanks for analyzing my comment (I'm not being ironic). Generation of material, followed by reshaping the material is a good way to look at the creative process. But I'll add that even in that analytical reshaping, the intuitive voice comes into play. When I tell a friend to incorporate their passion for what they want to say, I leave it to them to break it into dialogue, action, descriptive gestures, character's thoughts, etc. Even in that reshaping we can listen for guidance from the imagination, the subconscious. And then, there may be more reshaping....and so the circle goes round and round.
A very important point! Yin growing in the yang, and vice versa . . .
In fact, I'm in that process right now, trying to make sense of my notes, and clean up the mess. It will take some time.
Do you have a process for doing this, or is it more instinctive?
What is my process? Funny you should ask. Every time I read a good book, I want to ask the author, what’s your process? I even want to ask my 16 year old granddaughter who is a terrific writer. Sometimes it just pours out. I tell myself, first you write a sentence, and the scene may unfold. After that, of course, it needs extensive revision. Once I wrote a story in which my character was drowning. A friend told me she once had almost drowned, so I asked her to tell me about it, as I took notes, and then worked that description into the writing. Right now though, its more complicated. I want my characters to discuss how some stories are forgotten (theirs) and others are remembered (the victors), so I’m culling thoughts from my journal that I’d had written on storytelling, and am copying them into some kind of sequence (that must be the analytical part), and the characters will discuss forgetting and remembering (I’m sorry but do get a bit pedantic at times) in another chapter. After I get most of those ideas onto the ‘page’ then I’ll let the more intuitive part of me play with the pieces until they sing. I’ll change words, sentence construction, move them around, cut, paste, add bits and pieces here and there.
My process of revision is pretty much the same as Mr. Saunders describes. Where I differ from his process is that I like to write to the end to get the feeling for the story and then revise. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve revised these chapters. I simply don’t know. When I’m revising sentences, though that may be more analytic, I like my text to flow smoothly from one sentence to another, and that also informs the process. So, yes, Yin and Yang flowing into one another. Well, that was fun. Thanks for asking.