Crafting Fiction
I have a relationship with writing, and it’s mostly good. Sometimes, I am consistent about creating chapters, and sometimes… I am not. Like all relationships, writing takes time, dedication, reflection, and care to stay healthy.
I admire writers who have found systems that work for their writing processes. Personally, I try new strategies all the time. I particularly like dedicating a daily time, a weekly word count, and a scheduled one-day session.
While I do seem to favor longer writing sessions, I hit a road bump with my last six-hour Saturday. Thankfully, my fiancé was there to guide me through:
The Results of My Writing Process
On December 23rd, I wrote the latest installment of The Staghorn Crown, a monthly serial novel that I release for Patreon. Last night, I posted it on Patreon in PDF and eBook formats. Each installment is one or two chapters long, usually 2,000-3,000 words in length per installment. You can read the opening chapters here.
For Installment Three, I drafted scenes during a six-hour Saturday session. The results were interesting, leading me to this insight about the writing process.
My “Rough Batch” of Words
My six-hour writing session initially produced four “chapter starters” which needed heavy revision. Unfortunately, I clumsily tried to revise too many chapters at once, neglecting my usual practice of working chapter by chapter, scene by scene.
This was a “rough batch” of writing. Laura helped me re-organize the chapters scene by scene for clarity and continuity. Installment Three includes two of these revised chapters. Through redrafting scenes, editing, revising, and polishing the writing, I was reminded of how the entire process is like growing and tending to plants.
4 Plant-Based Stages of Writing: Planting Seeds, Watering, Pruning, and Thriving
Stage One – Planting: With plants, we plant seeds and water the initial sprout. Likewise, in writing, we first plant the seeds of our ideas through the prewriting and initial drafting process.
Stage Two – Watering: We then water the seeds and sprouts of our ideas by adding new material, revising, or complementing the writing with additional structures.
Stage Three – Pruning: When the plant begins to mature, we prune away the pieces that make the plant unhealthy or inhibit it from growing into something more magnificent.
In writing, we do the same with edits, cuts, and rearrangement. It’s reminiscent of bonzai at some stages – we have to be delicate, and deliberate. Sometimes, no pruning is necessary. How lucky!
Stage Four – Thriving: Lastly, we let the plant thrive. Our initial work is finished. Although, sometimes you have to repeat stages for your work to stay alive.
It’s not a perfect metaphor, but it reminded me of the steps I had missed. I usually spend more time “watering the plants,” and as I know well, skipping this stage could really do some damage.
Is your process similar? Or, do you have a different metaphor?
-Curtis
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