We’ve been discussing my writing process over on Facebook, but I thought I’d move the discussion over here to the website.
These space opera books are going together differently then my other novels. I plot very carefully, I know all the big “tent pole” scenes that need to be in a novel. I know the little fiddly bit will occur to me as a write, but on these books I finish a chapter and have often moved several chapters beyond it when a scene will occur to me that needs to be added back into that earlier section. So I go back and add and then adjust by moving scenes forward so the chapters don’t get to long. By the way, this is very easy to do in Scrivener as is adding in a new scene.
I’m not a writer who can jump forward to scenes that will come later in the book even if I know what they are. I have to experience the journey with my characters. Otherwise I won’t know where they are emotionally and then the writing seems forced. But I do seem to be able to go back and flesh out earlier chapters. It’s often not something that I need to add to a scene, but an entire new scene that I realize has to be there. So I go back and write it.
These mad insights usually occur when I’m working out, taking a hike, riding. Physical activity really does help power the brain. It’s also one of the reasons that writing is so exhausting. You never stop working as long as you’re conscious. And even in my sleep I often dream about the characters I’m writing about.
