Yicky Pre-Writing

As Cynthia Voigit (I think) once said, you have to hold everything about your story in until it's about to burst. I think she wrote that she holds her characters and plots for a year before she commits pen to paper.


If you're like me, the waiting kills you. 


However, we have reached a compromise, pre-writing and I. While my preferred method of writing is to sit down and start typing, sometimes that just doesn't work, and so here are some of the things I do when the plot bunnies have scurried off:

1.     1.  I chose my characters. They are recycled from a project I started but never finished from last summer. For Day 2 I am going to write out character bios, which I will publish here on this blog.

2.    2.   I decorated a folder, so I can keep all items that remind me of my characters in one safe place. I started this practice when I wrote my first novel, because it helps with organization, and when I have a moment of inspiration but I can’t remember what I named my logic character’s second cousin’s aunt, I know where I can find it. It’s also nice because when the plot bunnies leave I can riffle through pictures of clothes I could picture my MC wearing and sketches of scenes that read a lot like this:

“MC standing in front of a grimy grocery store watching a man jog w/a cigarette in mouth is he going to die?”

Now that I have the character somewhat figured out in my head, and a place to keep all of my plot bunnies, I’m going to have to devise a plot. I have a few sketchy ones left over from my project last summer, but it’s time to really sit down and see if they’re going anywhere.

No matter if they do work out or not, though, I trust my characters, and I am excited to work with them again!