How Do You Do The Thing You Do? Cate Tells All

The estimable Cate Sweeney, author of Selfish Jean (which is the cleverest title around, though I have verified that 9 of 10 Americans don't get it [google Richard Dawkins, you slowboats]) has dropped a note in the comment trail about her own working methods. It, or some version of it, will probably appear on her own blog, but in the meantime, enjoy this and pay close attention to Cate's First Rule of Writing:

Hi David. I just spent ages writing about how I write and then went to publish it and it didn't save. Bugger! First rule of writing, make sure you have a copy of your work somewhere. So I'll try again, but I'm sure it won't be so good this time (oh we always say that!)

Anyway, I'll cut and paste this to your blog too, but basically I do a bit of both planning and flying without a plane. I'll do a basic plan of the story (arc if you wanna be posh) roughly where I think it's gonna go and the main characters, but then I just plunge in and bash my way through, like Bam-bam in The Flintstones, without going back over it that much till I finish a whole draft, or a least get over half way through, because the problem with this method is, you often realise there was something you should have put in earlier to make the plot work better, or as you found, the need to delay information a bit.

I think stage plays and screenplays have to be much more tightly structured (hence McKee's apoplexy!) and I studied playwriting, but think I prefer novel writing because we can wander off for a bit, as long as it's not too far or for too long.

I think the plan/no plan thing is something to do with (I say in my usual know-all way) right brain/leftbrain conscious/subconscious or something like that... so we need to be logical and contolling to work out a plan, but we shouldn't do it too much and should let the wild creative unconscious stuff take over sometimes (in writing and in life!) because that's where the magic happens, when we start making themes and links and images that all connect somehow and we had no idea at the time, or when we find just the perfect phrase without thinking...

...the downside of not much plan is I think there is a lot more rewriting to do, as I'm finding at the moment. Such as me wanting to hang onto my first two chapters because I'd just been writing my way into the characters and didn't want to let them go! Whatever way we choose, none of it is easy, but it is (mostly) enjoyable.