Whatever Works For You - Writing Habits

My Broom Closet, is a place for serious business. Don't let the word "serious" put you off. I mean, that's where magic happens. It's my little space of creative wilderness, a room where joyful, organized mess comes alive. Thick, white papers turn into water colors and words get together and form stories and made-up happenings, sometimes informative articles.

I have so much fun in there. Getting ideas into working order and seeing an actual result of the ramblings of words and sceneries in my head, is a life that is good for me.

But how to go about doing it?  How does a blank piece of water color paper become a painting that will touch someone else's heart strings, or how does one go about creating a story that someone else will enjoy reading?

How to approach creative flows? The answer is, whatever way is best for you.
Some just start writing. Page one, flip the page, page two . . . and so on. Others have outlines, the plot, the whole shebang prepared and mapped out. Some plot as they go and make sure everything makes sense when they come to the second draft. A list of future scenes and notes with ideas is also a way to go. There are programs for keeping these notes also, for those who do not want to fill a whole bulletin board with post-its.

When I write, I find pictures that I feel resemble the characters, I have photographs of churches and areas, places I have been in my mind, personality traits of people I know, and I use these as I form my protagonist's personality and looks and also the people surrounding the main character. And pieces of papers written on walks with the dog, in church, on the train, as I run around the house - lots of notes. My stories often come jumping into my head as random sentences and it is often a challenge to get them in the right order. So it's a learning process, always a learning process.

You just need a system that works for you - and with you. Time writing is not always writing. It may be spent researching and organizing ideas.




Photo today: My Broom Closet at the Duck and Cherry.