What and How I Write

A meme for today, and perhaps particularly apropos during National Novel Writing Month:

1. Do you write fiction or non-fiction? Or both?

I write both, since I write non-fiction primarily for The Scriptorium and fiction for...um...everything else. Fiction is my favorite, although there's a certain satisfaction in a good non-fiction piece as well.

2. Do you keep a journal or a writing notebook?

I'd like to keep a journal. I really, really would. I have, in fact, started keeping a journal many, many times. I just can't ever seem to stick with it for more than a few days. I have no idea why.

3. If you write fiction, do you know your characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts before you start writing or is that something you discover only after you start writing? Do you find books on plotting useful or harmful?

It depends on the story. Some of my favorite things have come about by just making it up as I go, very little figured out beforehand. Others, I fail to plot at my peril, and end up mired in quicksand and directionless. I love to read books on plotting, and then decide whether or not the various suggestions might work for me.

4. Are you a procrastinator or does the itch to write keep at you until you sit down and work?

Champion procrastinator.

5. Do you write in short bursts of creative energy, or can you sit down and write for hours at a time?

I did a lot of writing when my children were very young, so I think I trained myself to write when the opportunity presented itself, instead of waiting to be inspired or for that perfect block of writing time. So either way works for me.

6. Are you a morning or afternoon writer?

Morning and nighttime are actually my most productive times. Afternoons, I feel lazy and my brain doesn't cooperate so well.


7. Do you write with music/the noise of children/in a cafe or other public setting, or do you need complete silence to concentrate?

I'm flexible. I can write through distractions, I can write with music (as long as it has no lyrics to distract me), and I can write in complete silence.

8. Computer or longhand? (or typewriter?)

Usually, longhand notes and computer for the actual writing.

9. Do you know the ending before you type Chapter One? Or do you let the story evolve as you write?

It all depends on the story.

10. Does what’s selling in the market influence how and what you write?

Not really--I don't write quickly enough to cash in on what's hot at any given moment, so I think it's better to write what I want/need to write and hope it will find a home when the time is right.

11. Editing/Revision - love it or hate it?

Sometimes it's hard work, and sometimes it's nice to sit down to some good right-brain application. I do love the results of an editing job well-done, and it's part of the package, so I try not to complain about it too much.