 | 15 Sep 08 |
I’m deep into my book and living in a state of constant terror. I am always battling to keep one step ahead of the fear that I am one chapter, one page, one paragraph, one sentence, one word away from the dreaded Career Ending Bad Book.
I don’t know how I write books.
Allison knows exactly how she does it. Why can’t I be Allison?
But I’m not, I don’t know I do it and I’m afraid to figure it out. What if I try to streamline the process and leave out the one important ingredient? You know, like the time I was talking on the phone while making banana bread and left out the flour?
Banana Brick anyone? Seriously, I could have done some serious damage with that Banana Brick.
What if I do to my book? SHUDDER!!!
And yet, once I realized HOW I screwed up the banana bread (the fact that I was not covered in flour as I usually am when I bake was a clue), I made the bread over again and it came out perfect.
Hmm…perhaps I should figure this out? You’ll be proud to know that I got myself over to Google and I stared Googling (fine Natalie, you win. The noun Google can be used as a verb).
And then I found it! The magic quiz that told me just what kind of writer I am!
I’M A PLOT WRITER!
MWHAHAHAHA!!! NOT!
Actually what I do is write a story idea or synopsis with the well know SWAG method, (Scientific Wild Ass Guess). Then I start writing the scenes and realize my science sucks, my guessing sucks and I end up swinging wildly between writing chapters and stopping to plot, then rewriting, then plotting then trying to make everyone do what they are supposed to do and…it sure as heck doesn’t FEEL like I’m a plot writer!
Okay guys, go take the quiz and come back and tell me what kind of writer you are. Here’s the link one more time http://www.quizilla.com/quizzes/99775/what-kind-of-writer-are-you
© 2008 – 2009, Jennifer Lyon. All rights reserved.
Award winning author, Jennifer Lyon, always wanted to be a witch. Since her witch-powers never materialized, she went onto Plan B and now she creates magic in her books. In her new series, the author of the acclaimed Samantha Shaw Mystery Series (written as Jennifer Apodaca) introduces the Witch Hunters, legendary men who must overcome a curse to team up with witches and fight evil.
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I’m a dialogue/character writer. Cool!
by Christa M. Miller September 15th, 2008 at 5:51 amLOL, it says I’m a dialogue/character writer, too. I don’t know how right it is, but I do spend a lot of time writing dialogue on the first draft. (And a lot more time filling in afterwards.)
Cute quiz, Jen. Thanks.
by B.E. Sanderson September 15th, 2008 at 6:44 amChrista, excellent! Iwanted to be a dialogue/character writer.
B.E. Of coures you are! And I’m not! I’m a plot writer. How boring! By the way, I have a friend (she’s an excellent writer) who starts with dialogue like that. Her process amazes me.
by Jen September 15th, 2008 at 7:18 amHow dare the quiz say I’m a Plot Writer. I’ve managed to flunk a quiz about ME. I knew I should have studied. For me, the plot is important, but not when I’m writing. I mean, I let my characters talk and they explain the plot to me.
I’ve even been blogging about the writing process, and what I do. Things are getting a little synchronous, I’m thinking.
It sounds like we write in very much the same way. I love SWAG. Can I steal it?
by Terry Odell September 15th, 2008 at 9:00 amIt said I’m a ‘dialogue/character’ writer. I like that. Cool!!
by Amanda September 15th, 2008 at 9:44 amTerry, that’s exactly how I feel–I flunked a quiz about myself. So sad! SWAG has been around for a while, so have at it!
by Jen September 15th, 2008 at 10:33 amAmanda, dang it, you too? I swear I’m going to go back and cheat on that quiz so I can be a dialogue/character writer too!
by Jen September 15th, 2008 at 10:34 amWell, the quiz says I’m a plot writer. And while a story has to have a good plot to keep me interested and survive as an actual story, I consider myself more of a character-driven writer, and I usually get comments to that effect. I believe that the characters create, develop, and drive a plot, which is why you must have strong characters to start with.
by ALR September 15th, 2008 at 12:47 pmALR. I hear you. I feel the same. But you know, maybe it’s the character motivation thing–plot often motivates a character to go beyond their comfort zone. And that’s why we got tagged as plot writers? I dunno…
by Jen September 15th, 2008 at 2:10 pmA plot writer. Wow, I failed too. That’s so not me naturally. I mean, sure I TRY to plot but that always feels more like PLODDING and really, I’m all about the SWAG method.
by Kathleen September 15th, 2008 at 5:10 pmI’m a dialogue writer. No suprise there.
by Karin September 15th, 2008 at 5:59 pmWell, Karin — how did you ‘cheat’ so you got the right answers!
by Terry Odell September 15th, 2008 at 6:09 pmJen, I didn’t have time to take this quiz today, but I’m gonna do it tomorrow. Then I will email you, and make you come back and talk to me….
by Natalie September 15th, 2008 at 9:23 pmKathleen, that quiz was just messing wtih us, right??? We know we are SWAG plotters!
by Jen September 16th, 2008 at 8:53 amKarin, nope, I’m not surprised!
by Jen September 16th, 2008 at 8:55 amTerry, LOL! Karin didn’t cheat, the quiz was just afraid to mess with her!
by Jen September 16th, 2008 at 8:56 amNatalie, you’re going to have to report to detention.
by Jen September 16th, 2008 at 8:57 amWell, the quiz says I’m a mystery writer. LOL.
I don’t know how I do it, but I’m really glad that I’ve fooled everyone into thinking that I know how I do it!
Well, okay, I do know. 1) Sit down. 2) Launch Word. 3) Type. 4) Delete. 5) Type. 6) Delete . . . and so on.
by Allison Brennan September 16th, 2008 at 9:18 pmAllison, that’s almost my process, except that since I start by reading yesterday’s work, my ‘step 3′ from your list is Delete. I figure someday, I’ll actually look at what I wrote and say, “hmmm…. needs a bit more” but so far it’s always, “Why on earth did I put that in there?”
by Terry Odell September 17th, 2008 at 3:57 amAllison, don’t burst my bubble! I believe you just sit down and spill out these books while sipping lattes…LOLOL! But your actual process of type/delete/type/delete sounds suspiciously like mine…
by Jen September 17th, 2008 at 7:11 amTerry, we always believe that it’s going to get easier, don’t we?
by Jen September 17th, 2008 at 7:11 amJen, I keep trying to believe. But so far, it’s not happening. The more I learn, the more I see how much I don’t know. About the only think that truly DID get easier for me was the ‘automatic’ typing of dialogue punctuation. When I first tried to write something, I quit because it was just too much work to do all that ‘comma, quote,’ and ‘he said’ stuff. Now my fingers do it, no brain involved. Except question marks. They just refuse to go where they’re supposed to.
by Terry Odell September 17th, 2008 at 8:12 am