Oh this makes for a really interesting discussion! I think I lean toward the more intimate side of writing, and I don't use spreadsheets or anything like that, but I do work from an outline of sorts so I know where the story, the plot side of the story is headed.Sommer Leigh wrote:Writing isn't like that for me. It's not mystical or spiritual or anything like that. It's a job. I mean, it's a job I love, but it's a skill I do, if that makes any sense. I keep my writing life as organized as I do my regular every day job, otherwise I'd fear wandering aimlessly and wasting time on chapters and events that aren't meaningful. My biggest pet peeve in writing is actually getting off track and writing something I don't need.Mark.W.Carson wrote:I don't know. For me, writing is such a weird and intimate thing, that it would be like using a spreadsheet for sex.
On an ENTIRELY different note. Sommer, now that I see you have come back a bit, and don't seem underwater, did you have a chance to look over the PM I sent you outlining my story? I was wondering what you thought, and if you had a general idea about what genre it fell into.
I'm not really underwater, I've just reprioritized the end of my summer to not do online things and to do more writing things. So I've been MIA on Twitter and my blog and I have like three hundred e-mail I haven't answered yet. I will, I promise, I just haven't yet. The main reason I stop by here is because our spam problem is out of control these days.
To me there are the two main sides of the story: plot (the work part) and theme (the spiritual part). I am constantly thinking about the theme part, and that NEVER gets written into the outline or a spreadsheet or anything. It's ALWAYS on my mind, and I'm perpetually working to develop it, and it's the fun part, sometimes agonizing and mentally/emotionally draining, but still the fun part that pulls me back to the laptop to keep my fingers typing.
But the plot-side, like Sommer says, is the "job" part for me. It's the side that takes skill that must be honed, and it's hard too, and usually I really dread having to do it. You know, the actual writing part. I love outlining; it's totally fun to see where the story is heading, but the putting one word in front of the other part can be a painful task. That's the part of writing that I consider work... But the spiritual side that always there, while it can be mentally draining, is definitely the most fulfilling part for me. It makes me feel like I'm doing something important with my words and characters.