Finally....!

I've finally got to the third of my four stages of writing a book.

1. Idea:
This for me is a rather frantic set of affairs, wherein my mind sparks and shoots and cobbles together fragments of a story into a generalized tale. I concatenate these segments into something coherent and begin plotting scenes, characters and getting an overall idea of the major plot points. This whole stage, though necessary is largely eradicated by steps 2 and 3...

2. Getting it down:
Somebody once said: "Don't get it right, get it written", which is what I do next. From about 500 to 3000 words a day comes out in brain-dumping, verbal vomitting. This, for me, is the long slog of the entire process and the hardest to stay motivated for. This is mainly because my ideas move too fast for my hands and I am often more concerned about what is going to happen in the next few thousand words than with what the next one word should be. I write the entire story from start to just before the climax....

3. Getting it right:
Because of the evolution of the story as I write it, a lot of the earlier sections do not necessarily fit in or make sense anymore. This is the part of the process when the writer has to abandon the artistic flourishes temporarily and sacrifice a lot of the earlier work for the greater good of the story as a whole. Whole chapters can be cut, witty lines can be stripped because they do not fit a character's developing identity. This stage requires a lot of analysis and I thoroughly enjoy it as it allows me to even out the bumps and create a smoother overall experience. It also helps me more effectively lay the clues for...

4. The Climax:
I've heard it said that some authors prefer to write this earlier, but I like to keep it as a general idea in my head. This seems logical in my mind as everything else in the story thus far has been building towards this defining moment, so the events of the rest of the story will shape how it unfolds. I suppose it depends on an author's priorities. I value the journey of a story over its destination and therefore insist my climax must be a result of the action rather than the action being a precursor to the climax.

So anyway, I am now on the anally-retentive stage three, which means I am closing in on the whole thing being finished.

Stay tuned for "A Horse Named Morbid" early next year.