iguanamountain blog

THE SECRET OF WRITING?

Blog City Prompt: I hear people talking about morning pages, or writing about the goals for the day. Then I hear other people talk about taking notes ahead of time for their writing. Do you do silly writing games like word clusters or word associations? Do you look at pictures? Listen to specific music. Or do you just force yourself and hope for the best.

My stories have large casts and multiple locations. I cannot even begin to write a word until I have created the location with hand-drawn maps, detailed cast lists and character notes (often tentative as the characters take on their own life). The inter-relationships between characters and locations I have learned to solve with very complete mind maps. In other words a diagram that covers every element of a kingdom, a company, a group of characters or centered around the principal one.

Of course I have a concept and a direction the story must go, but after having worked in movies, I tend to go with the pre-planning in great detail. Once I've done that, the images of the place and the characters are free to perform in the atmosphere I've created. If a character looks up across the room, I have to know what they are seeing.

Even a single dramatic moment has to be diagrammed with everyone and every element around the event. Then the story almost writes itself. I really love doing all this stuff! There are lots of different kinds of mind maps, some software. I use a large piece of paper and a pencil, starting in the middle and work out. Lots of boxes and arrows and notes.

I haven't tried world creation. It's been difficult enough with just a couple small countries or a large international corporation. But I love every moment of the process.

Write on...>>>iggy

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