CAROL BURNSIDE / ANNIE RAYBURN

>Okay, so . . . Linda and I were e-mailing back and forth about the creative process and she says, “isn’t it weird how the creative brain works sometimes?” I’m thinking how weird it is that she’s said this right on the heels of my last post. But as I’m fond of reminding people, great minds think alike and as CP’s, our brains seem to be eerily in sync at times.

Authors all have their own creative processes. Linda says she gets the bulk of her books in movie form. The story plays out in her head just like watching a movie. (Don’t I wish!) There are blanks in the movie sometimes. Frustrating blanks that only reveal themselves when they’re needed.

My process is . . . spastic? Sporadic? In any case, I seem to get story ideas at random. I write them down. Later, some of them seem very…meh. Others, gems to be polished. Then at some point, I’ll be reading through these notes and BAM! a scene comes to me – usually the first scene in the book. Maybe not the perfect opening line, but the beginning. It goes onto paper and sometimes that’s all I get for awhile. Sometimes I’m brainstorming like crazy, then off and running with the story. (As you might have noticed from all the WIP’s in the sidebar.)

Stop snickering. I’ll get them done.

Right now I’m only working on RHR#2 & NB. HUF is now complete and awaiting edits, which probably won’t happen until after the first of the year. RHR#2’s submission deadline is in early January. It takes priority.

The cool thing about NB is that I’ve taken a departure from my usual process of simply letting the story unfold organically as I write. This time I’ve written the synopsis. Now I have an overview even if I don’t have all the scenes in my head yet. That’s a new one for me. Ordinarily, I have a really tough time writing a synopsis before the book is finished. So this is good. Better than good actually, because after a writer sells, they write proposals (a synopsis and 3 chapters) for their editor to consider. At least now I know I can do it. Yay! Another milestone in my developing process.

Next is the brainstorming scenes part, which is fun, especially since I’m really excited about the premise of this story. The conflicts are strong. With the synopsis done, some of the scenes are obvious, so I’m expecting/hoping the writing will go faster than usual. Time will tell.

Since this blog is mostly read by writers, would you like to share your writing process? Do you have one yet? Still working out the kinks, or did it just fall into place? I’d love to hear what works and doesn’t for you. Care to share?