How do you write? (and can I post your response up on the Thursday Prompt site?)

V.

Are you asking us how someone goes about writing, or how we go about writing? Elaborate.

how you go about writing...

V.

The way I go about writing my prose and my poetry is a whole lot different from the way I go about writing my stories. Since I write predominantly stories I'll discuss those.

I begin a story in a googledoc. I begin a story with a very vague idea and no premise. If I'm writing a story it's because I came up with a catchy opening sentence or because there's one single character, scenario, or idea I'd like to explore further. At this time in the process their functions and anatomies are unknown to me. Phillip Pullman says first thing in the preface for His Dark Materials,

"I began to write this novel with little sense of the plot . . . I'm convinced that's the way to do it. I tried to work out the plan of a novel once, when I was young . . . and in the end I was so fed up with the damn thing I threw it away and started a quite different novel with no preparation at all . . ."

Which is basically how I work.

Foremost I wanna have fun. I find that while planning out what is to happen next helps keep me on track, it also strips the story of its spirit (for me). Simply writing, re-writing when necessary (and in many times it is necessary), and re-writing my re-writes ends up putting me where I want to be. Sometimes, like in the first 2 chapters of my w.i.p. novel, things happen right away. Boom! 25 pages in a week. Perfect. Everything is as I envisioned it and flows cohesively. Other times, like when I get farther into the story, revisiting story is needed.

Now, not everyone is as clueless as I am. People have blueprints they chalk up and have at the ready before they even dive into chapter 1. That's cool. That's not me. But I follow the same dogmas as everyone else: I, like everyone else, have to balance "diving into my story" and "designing my story". Even Phillip Pullman, who was so clueless when he began, when the wheels began to churn steered His Dark Materials in a direction which emphasized the certain themes and message most predominantly in His Dark Materials. He surfed off that wave.

Don't reject the leisurely stroll down the winding trail. But don't stray aimlessly in the woods so long, either. Balance is the key!!!

Thank you... may I post it up in the Thursday Prompt pages?

V.

Sure =)

Favorite book of all time?

Hmmm, it would have to be "Master and Margarita" by "Mikhail Bulgakov.

It is a book I really recommend. Russians really have a unique grasp of literature, one that you cannot see anywhere else.

Is anyone here published?

Yes, I am.

Have any of you ever met any famous authors in person? If so, were they stuck-up egotistical jerks or pretty humbled and down-to-earth people?

No. But I would love to. Authors I would like to meet in person are J. R. R. Tolkien (were that he were alive) and Stephen King. Stephen would be the most liable to be a jerk, but he seems like a pretty down-to-earth guy in his book intros.

LOL! That's great! I concur - Stephen King is often-times rather introverted, not apt to be swarmed with fanfare and uber-attention, but definitely somebody to be acknowledged lightly with a pat to the back or a handshake and a kind word or two. I suppose it all depends on what's going on at the time, if he isn't too pre-occupied with other thoughtful endeavors. ;)
And Tolkien would be one interesting meet-and-greet, for sure! God rest his soul. :'3

"Have any of you ever met any famous authors in person?"

Well, I see myself in the mirror every morning. Those that count?

Seriously now, unfortunately, most of the writers I would like to meet are now long dead.

I tend not to reread books many times; it takes me long enough to read a book at all. That just has to do with my own personal reading habbits: reading something slow and steady the first time then saying, "I'm done" with it. Though I have gone back to peek @ The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman. Love those books.

The genre you most refuse to read.

A crime novel? A mystery novel? They tend to set themselves in the real world, and as far as who dunnit I'm not so concerned.