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I’m doing an essay on the creative writing process. My own process, which thus far has been limited to novel writing attempts, is very simple:
First I flesh out a world with a critical situation, find the most disadvantaged (and usually important) people in that world and ask them what they’re going to do about it. Somehow (subconsciously?) this lets me get in my own characters heads enough to know if they don’t have a good motivation to do anything about it. Then I look for things that will stand in their way, and the people connected with those things become other characters. Once I have no more obstacles I find what’s most important to each character- and this usually changes- as I write. So I just write as I go.
Sounds simple, but I’m yet to finish a single novel, despite having a go at 8 different worlds that meant a lot to me.
Problem is, for an essay it’s best to get a broad idea of a subject, and I know different writers have different writing processes, so I want to know how other writers (you don’t have to be published) here go about the process of writing. Not sure if I should limit this to novel writing since Creative Writing covers Poetry, Drama, Biography, as well as all forms of fiction.
I might go to the library today as well to get another genre of sources, but I don’t know if books are the best place to go for this. And no doubt real life writers like yourselves are the ones I can learn the most from.
Posts: 1138 | Registered: Nov 2005
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"On Fairy Stories" by JRR Tolkien "Dreams and Wishes: Essays on Writing for Children" by Susan Cooper and there's an essay in "The Seeing Eye" by CS Lewis that deals with literature and the creative process
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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OSC wrote a pretty good book on the subject, which has the advantage of being thin, so you can read it quick-like. It's called "How to write science fiction and fantasy". And, of course, I would think you can quote any of the writing tips on this website, if you attribute properly.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Wow, where to start? Much of what comes to mind deals with poetry, since that's (usually) my genre of focus.
If the morality of art interests you, Ezra Pound had some interesting ideas on the subject.
Eliot's "Tradition and the Individual Talent" is a touchstone.
One of my favorite quotes on writing is from e.e. cummings (who isn't, oddly, one of my favorite poets):
quote:"A lot of people think or believe or know they feel—-but that’s thinking or believing or knowing; not feeling. And poetry is feeling—-not knowing or believing or thinking. Almost anybody can learn to think or believe or know, but not a single human being can be taught to feel. Why? Because whenever you think or you believe or you know, you’re a lot of other people: but the moment you feel, you’re nobody-but-yourself."
An interesting quote from Auden:
quote:Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about. There is a certain kind of person who is so dominated by the desire to be loved for himself alone that he has constantly to test those around him by tiresome behavior; what he says and does must be admired, not because it is intrinsically admirable, but because it is his remark, his act. Does not this explain a good deal of avant-garde art?
If, as it seems, you're interested in prose, especially science fiction/fantasy, these two collections (culled from my thesis bibliography) might be helpful:
The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction, edited by Susan Wood--the LeGuin essays are particularly good.
Gates of Excellence: On Reading and Writing Books for Children, Katherine Paterson.
Also, there are great ol' venerable articles like Virginia Woolf's "Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Brown," Henry James' "The Art of Fiction," etc.
Posts: 1068 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Try "Advice to Writers", by Jon Winokur. It's a compilation of quotes by different writers (some famous, some not). Clocks in at around 200 pages; should be some useful material there for you.
I've read this book, and I've finished two novels. Not that I'm saying one caused the other, but I do find this book helpful. And if not that, at least amusing.
Oh, and W. Somerset Maugham's "The Summing Up", a philosophical piece on life as a writer. Try that too.
Posts: 44 | Registered: Dec 2005
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My writing experience is very limited and I’ve done only short stuff, but I have read five pieces of advice that worked for me.
1. Rewrite 2. Rewrite 3. Rewrite 4. Don’t get so in love with anything you’ve written that you won’t be willing to edit it out if need be. 5. (and this is the best one) Dig in and get it written and then just walk away and leave it alone for several days. The longer the better. Then come back to it and start editing and rewriting.
I would also add that Orson Scott Card wrote two excellent books about writing. “How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy” and “Character and Viewpoint.”
Also Judson Jerome has written a couple of excellent books on poetry writing.
Posts: 631 | Registered: Oct 1999
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quote: Sounds simple, but I’m yet to finish a single novel, despite having a go at 8 different worlds that meant a lot to me
Well, a novel needs a plot, and worlds don't inherently have plots. If you were mainly interested in describing a world, then a poem, picture, or collection of short pieces might be a better medium.
When I start writing any novel or short story, I always begin with premise or character (and whichever one I start with, the other quickly follows). The plot forms naturally as the interaction between characters and their premise. The world is added to as neccessary... Which I'm guessing is the exact opposite of your process.
Also, I tend to visualize my stories like movies and dwell on the characters as if they were my imaginary friends. Have you tried this?
If you have trouble figuring out what your characters should do, maim or kill one of them. It'll punch up the action, though I'll admit it sets a difficult pace to maintain. And if you don't know how to start a story or have come to a lull in it, throw in a sex scene; you can always delete it later, but it will keep up your pace of writing.
By the way, you can find a lot of my writing here: www.slashqueen.co.nr . Mostly older stuff (so it needs polish), but it does show you this advice in action.
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