Some quotes from Walter Mosley...

[fajrdrako]

The instinctive method of writing is random in appearance, but that is not to say it is less ordered. Discovering knowledge from your well of unconscious information looks sloppy, but we must always remember that there are no straight lines in the chaos of our hidden minds.

Stories are often lies. More often, they are only partial truths.

Perhaps you were looking for an epiphany, and all you found was a joke.

Poetry is the fount of all writing.

These are all from his book This Year You Write Your Novel. Don't get too excited by these good quotes; he is also capable of writing an abomination like He will have to overcome the terror wrought upon him by the land pirates who decimated so many lives. I can't even begin to guess what he thinks "decimated" means!

Comments

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I like the first quote, a lot, because it rings so true. My writing is usually plot driven, but I tend to find that I have to get halfway through before I know where the plot's actually going. I start with a line of dialogue or a snapshot scene and build from there.

The moment it comes together or the twist untangles or I know 'whodunnit' is such a wonderful moment that I always wonder how I didn't know it before. It's often when I'm walking too or from work and I'm sure there are lots of people who get to work, sit down and say "there was this strange girl on the way here, bouncing along the street talking to herself."

Of course, then I usually have to go back and re-write everything so it fits, but that's okay :)

Oh, and 'decimated so many lies'? He must be related to whoever wrote the management articles I'm reading at the moment...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I agree about the first quote - I find it's the most effective way to write. I generally know where I'm going, but - it's a question of how to get there.

It's often when I'm walking too or from work and I'm sure there are lots of people who get to work, sit down and say "there was this strange girl on the way here, bouncing along the street talking to herself."

Me too! And sometimes my friends see it and comment to me - "Saw you in the street the other day, you were grinning about something." I never explain!

Rewriting is the most important part of all. And then doing it again.

Somewhere in his odds and ends of writing advice, Mosley says that if you make a random mistake - whether it's English usage or something factual - it will taint the reading of the person who reads it for the rest of the book. Which makes every sentence important. Then he puts in a clunker like that as an example of good writing!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

It's like when you leave someone a post correcting their grammar and it's got a typo in the middle of it. These things are meant to keep us humble ;)

I'm rewriting (and rewriting and rewriting) at the moment, which I'm sure is because I know what's going on - I get much more excited about a story when I don't know the ending, but have a tendency to get bored when I do. Fortunately I have good betas to administer a kick in the right place at the right time. We all need it sometimes :)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It's like when you leave someone a post correcting their grammar and it's got a typo in the middle of it. These things are meant to keep us humble ;)

Exactly! So painful!

Good betas are the most valuable things in existence.