Writing Process & Goals

Let's talk process.

I'm more process-oriented than results-oriented so process looms large for me. But am I a plotter, pantser or hybrid? And, more importantly, does it fricking matter?

A few months back, one of my online writing friends who is published and writes chick lit told me that she writes the first three chapters or so to meet her characters and figure out what is going on, then writes up a detailed outline for the rest of the book-- but yes, she allows herself to veer off the outline, making note of it so she can change the following scenes as needed. I've been trying to follow her lead. Unfortunately, my bulletin board-- my so-called "plot board" -- is a total mess at the moment and it's getting under my skin, annoying the hell out of me.

The back story on the plotting, pantsing thing: I tried to plot upfront, then decided, Screw it, I'm a pantser. Then three chapters in , I felt the need to write a 1000-word synopsis. Well, actually, to be honest, I needed a synopsis for a Writers Digest class. Once it was written, I went back to pantsing it and veered off plan pretty quickly. However, when I hit the middle I suddenly felt the need for some plotting and deepening of the characters. I also started lamenting the whole real, true love thing -- I want my love story to ring true and I want my characters to be deep-- but, at the same time, I didn't want to get too caught up in the plotting and outlining and characterization and place all my energy there, so I went back to pantsing because I never follow my outlines anyway, then . . . well, enough. You get the picture. If you're confused, you're not alone. What the f&%k? Just get on with it, woman! Yes, I talk to myself like this off line, too. And yes, my writing group has heard me go back and forth ad nauseum. Yet, here I am thinking about it again . . .

I've realized that it's partly straight-up crazymaking on my part, partly that I really didn't know how to write a novel when I signed up for my online romance writing class-- didn't even know what I wanted to write or who my characters were going to be, or what type of story I wanted to write, or what kind of writer I was, or that I had a distinct "voice"-- AND it's partly that in my regular, everyday life I tend to be both a hanger onner--Is that a word? Just pretend it is for now-- and day dreamer.

My tendency is to hang onto things and rehash them and daydream about the future. I've tried really hard to break myself of this habit because it's highly related to being a drama junkie. BUT now, I'm doing it with my writing. Not being mindfully in the moment of where I'm actually at in the novel. I either look back or look forward-- in the story-- because that's my tendency in life, too. Yoga helps me control my monkey mind in real life. Meditation helps, too. So-- drum roll here-- I've decided I have to get back to my yoga, which I've been slacking off on, and that I need to meditate right before I write. Yesterday, I lit a candle before I started writing and that helped, too. I've decided to make my writing time more ritualistic so I can be in the moment -- in the moment in terms of getting into the writing/storytelling flow without wriggling around, but also in the moment of the story, not in the past and not in the future.

As an aside, I think a lot of writers use rituals.

For plotting, I finally found a plotting process that "speaks to me" -- the snowflake method-- so I've also decided I'm just going to do it. Stick with it. Commit to it. Be done with over thinking it. It may slow down the actual page cranking for a week or two-- I may have to write a scene to find out what's going to happen next-- but after that I won't have many excuses left in the old "excuse bag."

Now, I just have to figure out when to write and commit to that. Ha! I'll blog about that another day. I'm working on that for the Girls in the Basement class, too. It was comforting to find out this evening that a lot of parents with toddlers, boys in particular, have to do the same thing I do which is "catch the snippets here and there as you can." You really do have to just go with the flow.

Now, let's talk results.

I love Macy's goals. Wish I was goal-oriented, but my goals tend to be more process-oriented than results oriented. I've tried the daily word count thing and it really just isn't happening, but I'm not giving up. I am going to aim for 1,000 words per day once I get the plotting done. I'm giving myself till 1/31 to finish up the plotting. Ultimately, I have one big goal: finish my "final draft" of the novel in time to enter it into a big contest this year-- or, preferably, find an agent and get a contract with a publisher this year. I'd like a second draft to be done by the time I go to the RWA conference in July. However, if I start breaking those big goals down into daily and weekly mini-goals focusing on results, results, results, my inner rebel feels micro-managed and turns into Rambo, my inner artist feels caged in and my inner drama queen screams, "the horror, the horror!" And you know what? That's okay. I can work around them and make progress in a way that pleases us all-- and hopefully an agent and publisher as well.

Thank God I'm an optimist.

Happy writing and cheers! I'm off to meditate and light my candle--

Alyson

P.S. A quick shout out to Katrina , Jacqueline and Roxy-- Thanks Katrina for your awesome guest blog this week. Welcome Jacqueline, I'm looking forward to your blog tomorrow. Happy birthday, Roxy! (No, I didn't mean Samantha-- we actually have two sets of writers in our group with back to back birthdays. Isn't that odd?)