Richard Stephenson's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing-process"
The Journey to the End
Anyone that knows me is very aware that I am a huge fan of the TV show "Lost". I devoured every episode and obsessed on every tiny detail. Every single thing about the show was so impressive to me. The production value, the acting, and most of all, the writing. How they managed to keep so many threads weaving in and out of the characters and the plot always blew me away.
I recall that throughout the show, critics often stated that the showrunners had no idea what was going on with the show, they had nothing planned out and they just made it up as they went along. I just couldn't believe something like that. I still don't believe it to this day.
I remember listening to a podcast from the showrunners, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelhof. In the podcast they addressed the claim that they were making it up as they went along. They stated something that I think holds true to any writer. Allow me to paraphrase, "We definitely have the story planned out from start to finish. We know how it all ends, we know what the island is and why these people were brought to the island and what they are supposed to do. The story is like a journey that starts in LA and ends in New York City. We know why they are going to New York and what they will do when they arrive. What we don't know are the finer details of the journey. How will they get there? Will they stop in St. Louis on the way? Will they hop on a train for part of the trip? Who makes it to the end and who doesn't? Those kinds of details are something you can't really plan, the story determines those details. The story shapes and molds the details as you go."
That stuck with me when I started writing "Collapse". Before I began the first chapter, I spent about a week charting a chapter outline, detailed character bios, and how the plot would carry the characters to the end. When the chapters began to add up, I always kept that thought in the back of my mind. Sometimes great ideas from the outline seemed really cool but slowed down the pace of the story. I even had a few chapters planned out that were essential to the plot, but didn't warrant an entire chapter. Those chapters ended being whittled down into a story one character told to another character. Along the journey to the end of the book, many details have ended up changing because the story demanded it.
When the novel is complete and the readers embark on the journey to the end of the novel, I suppose I will dust off my notes and see how different the end product turned out. Might even be fun to tell the readers some of my original ideas and give them a peek behind the scenes.
I recall that throughout the show, critics often stated that the showrunners had no idea what was going on with the show, they had nothing planned out and they just made it up as they went along. I just couldn't believe something like that. I still don't believe it to this day.
I remember listening to a podcast from the showrunners, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelhof. In the podcast they addressed the claim that they were making it up as they went along. They stated something that I think holds true to any writer. Allow me to paraphrase, "We definitely have the story planned out from start to finish. We know how it all ends, we know what the island is and why these people were brought to the island and what they are supposed to do. The story is like a journey that starts in LA and ends in New York City. We know why they are going to New York and what they will do when they arrive. What we don't know are the finer details of the journey. How will they get there? Will they stop in St. Louis on the way? Will they hop on a train for part of the trip? Who makes it to the end and who doesn't? Those kinds of details are something you can't really plan, the story determines those details. The story shapes and molds the details as you go."
That stuck with me when I started writing "Collapse". Before I began the first chapter, I spent about a week charting a chapter outline, detailed character bios, and how the plot would carry the characters to the end. When the chapters began to add up, I always kept that thought in the back of my mind. Sometimes great ideas from the outline seemed really cool but slowed down the pace of the story. I even had a few chapters planned out that were essential to the plot, but didn't warrant an entire chapter. Those chapters ended being whittled down into a story one character told to another character. Along the journey to the end of the book, many details have ended up changing because the story demanded it.
When the novel is complete and the readers embark on the journey to the end of the novel, I suppose I will dust off my notes and see how different the end product turned out. Might even be fun to tell the readers some of my original ideas and give them a peek behind the scenes.
