Re: The Wordcount Game 12 May 06

In article <6bbdb8245afb9824bd78f862990e2b1e.8364@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
nicky.matthews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx says...
"D Marshall" <diem@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:MPG.1ec978e7eaef16569896b1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In article <7f2bab4dbd4706f44a0177d2369e2b36.8364@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
nicky.matthews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx says...
"D Marshall" <diem@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:MPG.1ec973b047cdae049896b0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Do you find you can sit down no matter what and get on with a certain
amount of work a day? Or does it come in inspirational leaps?


No. I'm bone idle and don't work all the time. When I decide it is time
to get down to it then I usually work fairly steadily. I generally
hit my wordcount target because I change it to suit the book (unless
I get stuck.) It has less to do with inspiration than shame. My output
hasn't been particularly high recently and as I actually write
farily quickly this is something I need to change. Ever since I started
posting here I've talked about writing two books a year and I don't
think I ever have.

Someone suggested I try writing a detailed outline - something I don't
usually do. I'm still pondering on that. I remember writing a detailed
scene-by-scene once before, but that preparatory to sitting down and
writing a play. I don't think I'd know how to do it with a book. The
idea is a bit stifling so I may just carry on as usual and try to exert
a little self-discipline.
:)

I do outline but not in enormous detail - I usually have a line or
so per chapter and I do it in diagrammatic form. I did a brief
synopsis of my new book 500 words or so for an 80K book and I will
probably work out a chapter by chapter plan for it over the next
few days, but I have to get an idea of the pace of it by actually
writing a bit more first.I have got more relaxed about the idea of
reordering some stuff after the first draft, which I never
used to do. I used to have to get it right first time. I'd rather do
that obviously, because its more efficient but if it doesn't come out
right first time I'm less likely to freak than I once was.
( My entire working method is predicated on wasting as little time
as possible, which is a useful by product of being lazy)
I don't know that planning a book is hugely different from planning
a play, is it? but if you find the very idea stifling you probably
shouldn't do it.

I found writing a play - it was for radio - a very different experience.
I originally thought the idea was a book but it morphed into the play
idea and then I found that I had to know all about it before I could
write it, and so wrote everything down. I'm tempted to give it a try for
this book - allowing myself the luxury of abandoning it if it's
uncomfortable.

Pacing - that's someing I'm still having trouble with. I still try to
rush on to the next thing and leave too much unsaid, or unexplained. I
wonder if a detailed outline would help there. Hmm. Am going to go and
think about that for bit.
Thanks, you may have put my mind on a new track.

--
Diem
.

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