Comments on: On Writing the Novel, Part Two http://bordersblog.com/scifi/2009/09/24/kate-elliott-and-ken-scholes/on-writing-the-novel-part-two/ Just another Bordersblog.com weblog Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:46:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: kateelliott http://bordersblog.com/scifi/2009/09/24/kate-elliott-and-ken-scholes/on-writing-the-novel-part-two/comment-page-1/#comment-1654 kateelliott Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:08:43 +0000 http://bordersblog.com/scifi/?p=689#comment-1654 Michelle, wow. I'm going to have to think about that, because I don't usually analyze my revisions process, which has changed a lot over the years. If you keep an eye on my personal blog, http://kateelliott.livejournal.com/ I will try to draft a longer and more comprehensive answer but it will take me a while. A lot of it is, as Ken said in his previous post, instinct -- writing by ear -- a sense of what fits, what isn't working, and learning to trust when I know that it is working correctly. Also, understanding what doesn't work and why -- a sense of too much infodump, or when dialogue isn't flowing right, or in a conversation I need to rearrange to make the emotional conflict, say, line up so the final lines of the exchange have their maximum impact. Things like that. Michelle,
wow. I’m going to have to think about that, because I don’t usually analyze my revisions process, which has changed a lot over the years. If you keep an eye on my personal blog,
http://kateelliott.livejournal.com/
I will try to draft a longer and more comprehensive answer but it will take me a while.

A lot of it is, as Ken said in his previous post, instinct — writing by ear — a sense of what fits, what isn’t working, and learning to trust when I know that it is working correctly. Also, understanding what doesn’t work and why —
a sense of too much infodump, or when dialogue isn’t flowing right, or in a conversation I need to rearrange to make the emotional conflict, say, line up so the final lines of the exchange have their maximum impact. Things like that.

]]> By: Ken Scholes http://bordersblog.com/scifi/2009/09/24/kate-elliott-and-ken-scholes/on-writing-the-novel-part-two/comment-page-1/#comment-1653 Ken Scholes Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:40:47 +0000 http://bordersblog.com/scifi/?p=689#comment-1653 Hi Adam. I've done both. Some of my short stories were years in the making -- first drafts that I wasn't sure how to fix until later, ideas that took a while to take shape. And I've written some where a first line or a title sprung to mind and then I just wrote like the wind and let the story evolve organically. For me, if I get stuck I usually pause and think it through or verbally process potential work-arounds with one of my writing pals. But sometimes, I've found myself stuck for a long stretch. "The Man With Great Despair Behind his Eyes" takes the record. The first draft sat, unrevised, for four years before I knew how to end it. But most of the time, I write a short story pretty quickly. It's definitely gotten easier to know how to land them in the first draft over the years. Hi Adam. I’ve done both. Some of my short stories were years in the making — first drafts that I wasn’t sure how to fix until later, ideas that took a while to take shape. And I’ve written some where a first line or a title sprung to mind and then I just wrote like the wind and let the story evolve organically.

For me, if I get stuck I usually pause and think it through or verbally process potential work-arounds with one of my writing pals. But sometimes, I’ve found myself stuck for a long stretch. “The Man With Great Despair Behind his Eyes” takes the record. The first draft sat, unrevised, for four years before I knew how to end it. But most of the time, I write a short story pretty quickly. It’s definitely gotten easier to know how to land them in the first draft over the years.

]]> By: Michelle http://bordersblog.com/scifi/2009/09/24/kate-elliott-and-ken-scholes/on-writing-the-novel-part-two/comment-page-1/#comment-1651 Michelle Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:13:38 +0000 http://bordersblog.com/scifi/?p=689#comment-1651 "Now, I find writing first draft much more exhausting than I did then, but I love to revise because I get such pleasure from seeing the pieces smooth out and fit together to make the story I want to tell come alive." What is your revision process like? How do you know when the pieces "fit together"? “Now, I find writing first draft much more exhausting than I did then, but I love to revise because I get such pleasure from seeing the pieces smooth out and fit together to make the story I want to tell come alive.”

What is your revision process like? How do you know when the pieces “fit together”?

]]> By: Adam http://bordersblog.com/scifi/2009/09/24/kate-elliott-and-ken-scholes/on-writing-the-novel-part-two/comment-page-1/#comment-1650 Adam Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:05:51 +0000 http://bordersblog.com/scifi/?p=689#comment-1650 I do have a question for Ken, actually, about his short fiction. What's your process like for short fiction? Is it fast, like you get hit with an idea and run with it, or is it a slower, more methodical, research-heavy process? And what would you do if you've found you've hit a wall in one or tow, or all of your story ideas? I do have a question for Ken, actually, about his short fiction. What’s your process like for short fiction? Is it fast, like you get hit with an idea and run with it, or is it a slower, more methodical, research-heavy process? And what would you do if you’ve found you’ve hit a wall in one or tow, or all of your story ideas?

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