My Writing Process
Writing is part of who I am. It’s not something I can separate into blocks of time or levels of concentration. When I’m writing, that’s who and what I am. It makes for some interesting (for me) social interactions.
I’m essentially anti-social, yet I love learning about other people. I read biographies and have continuous email conversations with friends. I’m so interested in people I have to make up people and lives and explore their journeys in my stories.
Spending time in face-to-face conversations is difficult for me because my mind wanders. It’s not that what we’re talking about is boring or the person doesn’t interest me: on the contrary, other people are often so interesting my imagination takes flight. One thing they say will trigger something in my head and suddenly I’m creating a new story in my head. Once I have a few pictures in my head, I bombard people with often intrusive questions that help me understand one particularly part of their life better, and I totally forget to relax and simply enjoy being with them. I imagine there are some people out there who run the other way when they see me coming because I’m so scarily interested in what they say!
There are some days I don’t talk to people. I love watching how people move, what mannerisms they have and how they interact with others. I forget that I’m supposed to be part of the conversation too. I can go to a party and stand in the corner for hours and happily watch other people. I’m the quintessential ‘nigel’ or ‘wallflower’ and I love every minute of it—as long as people don’t mind me staring at them while I learn their body language.
Other times, I can’t be with people because my head is already too full of stories that I don’t have enough room to focus on what they’re saying. If I’m in the middle of writing a book I’m completely absorbed in that story and find it difficult to respond to the real world in a way that isn’t automatic. When I was writing The Courage to Love, every conversation I had with my family and friends eventually came around to the time just after the First World War and where their family was at that time and how they lived. Every contact became a research opportunity.
When I finished The Courage to Love and decided to write something short and light for a change, I listened to Katy Perry’s The One That Got Away over and over and over for four days solid and then at least a dozen times a day for the duration of the writing. People close to me never want to hear that song again.
I find any story I write that hasn’t gone through some sort of obsessive process isn’t as good as others. I need to totally immerse myself in the story so I can tease out all the emotion and the conflict and the growth and make sure I don’t miss bits. That isn’t always possible because writing isn’t the only thing I do in my life, but I still need to write something, no matter what is going on. I have a lot of stories that are waiting for significant editing before they'll be submissable.
I’m essentially anti-social, yet I love learning about other people. I read biographies and have continuous email conversations with friends. I’m so interested in people I have to make up people and lives and explore their journeys in my stories.
Spending time in face-to-face conversations is difficult for me because my mind wanders. It’s not that what we’re talking about is boring or the person doesn’t interest me: on the contrary, other people are often so interesting my imagination takes flight. One thing they say will trigger something in my head and suddenly I’m creating a new story in my head. Once I have a few pictures in my head, I bombard people with often intrusive questions that help me understand one particularly part of their life better, and I totally forget to relax and simply enjoy being with them. I imagine there are some people out there who run the other way when they see me coming because I’m so scarily interested in what they say!
There are some days I don’t talk to people. I love watching how people move, what mannerisms they have and how they interact with others. I forget that I’m supposed to be part of the conversation too. I can go to a party and stand in the corner for hours and happily watch other people. I’m the quintessential ‘nigel’ or ‘wallflower’ and I love every minute of it—as long as people don’t mind me staring at them while I learn their body language.
Other times, I can’t be with people because my head is already too full of stories that I don’t have enough room to focus on what they’re saying. If I’m in the middle of writing a book I’m completely absorbed in that story and find it difficult to respond to the real world in a way that isn’t automatic. When I was writing The Courage to Love, every conversation I had with my family and friends eventually came around to the time just after the First World War and where their family was at that time and how they lived. Every contact became a research opportunity.
When I finished The Courage to Love and decided to write something short and light for a change, I listened to Katy Perry’s The One That Got Away over and over and over for four days solid and then at least a dozen times a day for the duration of the writing. People close to me never want to hear that song again.
I find any story I write that hasn’t gone through some sort of obsessive process isn’t as good as others. I need to totally immerse myself in the story so I can tease out all the emotion and the conflict and the growth and make sure I don’t miss bits. That isn’t always possible because writing isn’t the only thing I do in my life, but I still need to write something, no matter what is going on. I have a lot of stories that are waiting for significant editing before they'll be submissable.
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