Welcome back to Week 1 of the Process Project Blog series!
Today is a
continuation of yesterday’s interview with the lovely Amanda Pate. Click hereto catch up on the first half of our interview where we talked about why she
writes, what she writes, and how she writes. Today, we will find out a little
more about how she writes and revises!
J: When you are preparing
to write a new story, what kinds of techniques or methods do you use to
organize your ideas?
A: For the most part, it doesn't matter what genre I'm writing,
I generally tackle the brainstorms and preparation in the same way. I allot at
least a week for an idea to percolate. I make notes on my phone, in my journal,
or anywhere I can keep track of what I write, and save it for a later time.
During that week, I mull it over, think about it, try and discern the
characters, what their basic personalities will be, etc. And after a week, or
sometimes two, I can start my brainstorming process.
Brainstorming for me always starts off with the characters. I
figure out the top 2-3 characters and write down a very basic bio with a workable name (sometimes names change
through the course of brainstorming, other times they stick like glue and you
can't change them no matter how badly you want to). I normally brainstorm using
lists. I'm a very linear thinker and planner, so lists work well for me. I use
a program called Scapple--which is just $15 and has a
free 1-month trial you should check out--that helps me organize my thoughts and
allows me to work in a linear fashion. I go by chapter/scene and start from the
beginning and work all the way to the end with a few holes in the middle and a
number of holes in the end—enough to allow more creative license as I write.
Some people say that there are two different kinds of writers:
the architect and the gardener. I believe I'm a healthy mixture of both. I have
a rough idea what's going to happen from beginning to end in my novel, but I
strategically leave holes for the growth of other ideas, subplots, and extra
characters. And that has actually made all the difference in my writing.
There is however one rule I have in brainstorming: I never delete anything.
Deleting is a terrible idea when you're at this stage, because you never know
when something might spark a different idea. I can't tell you how many times I
get stuck in a novel and then go back to my brainstorms and suddenly get this
wave of inspiration.
J: When you’re on the road and ideas come to you, what do
you usually do?
A: When I'm on the road and don’t have two hands to type out a
quick note on my phone, I have the strongest feeling to pull over and write it
down, but let's be realistic. We don't have time for that. Instead, I will whip
out my phone and record a voice memo. Then I will go home and transcribe it in
my journal or on my computer.
J: While you are working on a piece, do you have any particular
way that you structure your work?
A: I use a program called Scrivener--by the same people who put out Scapple, and I swear
Scrivener is like GOLD to a writer, and it's only $45. Scrivener allows me to
keep absolutely everything on a single file, except for my brainstorms which I
keep on a Scapple file. So all of my research, character bios, setting
templates, chronological timelines, etc., are on the same project file, which
makes retrieving information extremely easy.
With it being so easy and having all of my information in a
single place, it makes it effortless for me to outline scenes. I always outline
a scene before I write, sometimes it's just your basic "this happens, then
this happens, then this..." and sometimes it includes outlines of conversations;
it just varies. Even though I work with an outline, I don't always stick to it.
If I feel like I need to add interaction with a particular character or a more
in-depth description than my outline said, I will add it in. I use my outline
as a guide, not a law.
J: When it's time to revise/edit your work, do you have any
particular methods that you use to help you through the process?
A: First off, revising is HARD... but in the end it is so very
worth it. I first like to sit down and look at my work as a whole. I evaluate
where my character holes were, my plot holes, my description holes, etc. I look
to see what doesn't make sense, what makes characters unrealistic. Once I
recognize my flaws, I try to figure out how to fix them—sometimes that takes separate
brainstorms, sometimes not—and then I sit down to write.
Taking my latest revision of my novel, By Order of the King, for
example, I added three extra chapters fleshing out characters that were flat. I
added a character that actually has quite a strong root in the story now, and
I've killed off or completely eradicated other characters. I've developed
relationships, I've made certain characters less weepy and more realistic. All
of these changes are difficult and take a lot of shaping and scraping away, but
in the long run will be great.
In my opinion, you just have to come to terms with the fact that
your first draft is always crap. But the essence of
your story is good. The heart of your story is worth redeeming, so you have to
go through the painful process of deleting, scrapping, and shaving away pieces
of your story in order to make it shine.
---
I want to thank Amanda so much for
taking her time to put so much thought and time into her answers, and to share
with us how and why she does some of the things she does throughout her writing
process! Thanks, Amanda!!
Want to read more by Amanda Pate? Amanda has been published the 2012 and
2013 issues of the Baylorian literary journal for photography and for poetry as well as the Oklahoma Baptist
University Literary Journal, Scriblerus. You can read her latest
project, By Order of the King, on Wattpad, which is updated on a bi-weekly basis!
Amanda earned a BA in English from a
small university in Texas. She is currently getting her MA in Creative Writing
in Oklahoma in hopes of going on to obtain her PhD. She dreams of becoming a
published author and writing of great adventures and daring sword fights. One
of her main goals in life is to own a library with a ladder and backpack across
Europe. Amanda also enjoys the smell of old books, wearing scarves, social
networking, glasses rather than contacts. She enjoys being a part of a bookish
community where she can fangirl over everything that is Young Adult lit.
Check her out on the web here!
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