I recently had company in town for a couple of pleasant days. We went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in downtown Cleveland, caught a movie at the old Apollo theatre, and got wet and cold at the beautiful Brandywine Falls, which was roaring big-time, due to our record-setting rains.While we were driving around, the topic spun around to my writing, as it always seems to do. A simple question of how I get my ideas turned into a description of how I put a story together. The approach varies from writer to writer, but my method is to do a vague outline, plotting turning points on a grid, then to write the book from start to finish in an abbreviated form. I want to make sure I have it starting in the right spot, the middle is solid and the end is complete before I go in and add details and polish it up. My friend's husband listened to what I was saying and said "It's kind of like building a house, isn't it? You start with a sound foundation, add studs and beams, put a roof on it to make sure it's water tight before you paint, wallpaper and add trim and light fixtures."
I'm surprised I'd never looked at it that way. After all, my dad was a builder and I spent the better part of my youth on one job site or another, learning how to operate tools and put things together. But my friend's husband's analogy is spot on for my style of writing. I'll worry over the details at some point, but I first want to make certain there's a story to be told, that it starts at the right place, and that the end is satisfying. It doesn't matter if the book is historic or contemporary, the procedure, at least for me, is the same each time. How about for you? What is your writing process like?
