I think I’m a patchwork writer.
A scene writer, if you will.
As I’ve come to know myself as a writer, I’ve come to understand how I work (or don’t, as the case maybe).
I’ll get an idea for a story, doesn’t matter if it’s the one I’m working on or not – then feel an overwhelming urge to write it all down.
Twenty thousand words later and I have written… stuff. It’s a moment, a bit of a story… something happening to someone, somewhere.
Then I’ll feel able to focus on whatever it was I was trying to focus on in the first place.
These epiphany-like moments are most definitely cathartic. I enjoy the mad rush of writing all this weird stuff down, even if it just sits there in its own right, no beginning or end.
As the late, great Maeve Binchy once said “my head is full of stories”. So is mine. Not full stories usually, not every graphic, key moment – just scenes.
I’ll sometimes work out the bare bones of a plot: boy meets girl or alien spaceship crashes, etc, then work at fleshing it out. That is when the scenes or moments that I have written previously come into play. I will raid them, like filling up my plate at a buffet. I’ll tweak these patches and pieces of other stories until I have a complete story.
Working on one little bit of a tale and then storing it away is such a valuable thing for me as a writer. I can develop it in its own right or add it to my main body of work. It’s my idea, I suppose, of quilting with stories.
Make sure you write everything down as you never know when it will be useful to you again further down the road. Keep a note book – laptops, mobile/cell phones and tablets are great, but the fluidity and freedom of pen and parchment is so much easier. The little doodles and drawings you get to do too – brilliant fun and all part of the process.
I have a folder where I keep all my little pieces of writing ideas and half-baked stories. I’ll go through it and occasionally gasp with wonder. I’ll have no recollection of ever thinking these things up or writing them down, but they are brilliant to rediscover. Coming back to an idea with a fresh head and fresh eyes can make such a difference to your work.
So, when I’ve hit a brick wall, I look up the past bits of ideas I’ve had and draw from them. It’s almost like having a literary larder. I can’t say it works every time either, but it is worth any writer of any level giving it a go. Just write whatever drops out of your head, via your hands and fingers.
Perhaps you already do this and I am preaching to the converted, but I think it is always good to know that you’re not alone with something and that other people who write also do the same.
LimebirdCat x
Limebird Writers 