Cj asked Jo Walton:

Hello! I was wondering about your writing process. Once you have your character, idea, or any sort of inspiration on the type of story you want to tell: where do you start the actual writing? Do you write multiple drafts, start with an outline, simply write one draft and edit along the way?

Jo Walton The thing I need is what I call mode -- the way the story is told. If I don't have that I can have all the characters and ideas in the world and I don't have anything I can write. Once I have the mode, I just write it. I think about where I am going, and sometimes I have an end in mind, but I do not outline. Nor do I write multiple drafts -- I write it, and I revise as I go, and I fix it afterwards, but it's all tweaking and fiddling, it's rare for the changes to be significant.

This is one of the things where there's a huge range of what's normal.

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