Writer's Fallout Shelter

Hi, Louise,

think part of the problem might be that I'm tryign to work to too many deadlines at once, and not giving myself enough time to let a story sink in before I start writing it. I've also discovered that I don't know what works for me, i.e., whether I find it easier to write if I've planned everything first, or whether I'm better off just writing it and seeing what happens. I don't have a system and I feel like I need one, because I feel like my writing's gone very hit and miss.


It looks like you already know what your solution is. I understand and have also experienced the problems of trying to write with little or no advance planning. My harddrive is littered with unfinished novels. After a few years of this frustration, I decided that the fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants method just doesn't work for me, and that it was time to get off the mouse wheel. Going into a mental laboratory, I dissected the craft of writing itself, and split the little creature into three overlapping but distinct parts that can be focussed on and studied independenly. The three parts are (remember, this is just what works for me...I'm not saying this is a universal that will work for everyone): content, style, and grammar. These three elements can be individually studied. For content, I read widely, and use magazines as my main study material, from "Women's Day" to "Guns & Ammo" and everything in between. Aside from the articles, the photos serendipitously provide a fantastic source for visualizing characters and thinking up interesting metaphors and similies. I study style by reading novels, paying very close attention to the structure of the sentences, the presentation, the logical coherence, etc. For the grammar, I use a modern book that teaches grammar based on the revolutionary ideas that began with Chomsky and have since been modified to its present form, in which grammar is taught from a basis that relies more on structure and form than on function.

To put all this into effect, I write short stories. I really don't want to write short stories. However, short stories by their very nature are usually focussed on one specific thing. There is no necessity to plan out days, months, and years of plot events. Everything is tightly encapsulated in a story that is only 2000 - 5000 words or so. Although my intention is to write novels, right now short stories are providing an invaluable service for me - enabling me to take what I'm learning and put it to the test, without, and let me repeat, without having to worry about the major type of planning and organization that goes into writing a novel.

As far as the novels go, I won't even attempt to write one again until I plan it out in outline.Here's an idea that you might find useful. I'm envisioning a very simple outline structure, starting first with one simple sentence that describes the overall theme of the story, followed by a series of plot points which act out the theme. For example, using your "monster" story idea, the theme might be:

A woman's failed struggle to keep her friends, family, and society from turning her into a person that she loathes.

Now you have to come up with plot events that act out this main theme:

1. Her mother comes to visit, and criticizes everything in sight.
2. She visits a friend, whose boyfriend is a disgusting pig, but only she seems to think so.

And you keep going until you've reached the end of the plot events, that point where the overall theme has been adequately presented. You'll then have the barebones of the story from start to finish. You could then beef up each plot event with another sentence or two, including character names or just adding slightly to the specificty of the scene (still not worrying about grammar or style). Then when you've done this, you can confidently start the writing, knowing that you will end up with a completed novel. This method should eliminate the hit and miss problem.

Ed