aruna said:
I'm replying to this because I'm just like this writer. I never know the ending when I start, and often this is depicted as a great problem. It isn't;
After giving this some thought, I think we all do the exact same thing. We have a story idea pop in our head. Immediately we set to work. Now, the work we do may be quite different. The two processes may, in fact, take the same amount of time.
Take a planner:
He has the idea.
Hmm, that's interesting, he says.
Who are my characters? he asks himself. He thinks of the protagonist first; begins to form an idea of what he/she does. He grabs a pen and starts sketching out the character. Possible experiences that lead to others that generate conflict. Out of this grow other characters: antagonist, love interest, sidekick, etc. He thinks of names.
The planer sketches out the story in an organic fashion, whether he puts in a lot of details or few. As he thinks through the story, it plays out perhaps like a film. He sees the main points, the best images, the conflict, and the resolution. He writes this all down somewhere, somehow, for reference. Once the bones are on the skeleton, then he goes back and starts to flesh things out, and really work the dang thing.
Now the organist (ha! That's funny!)
Okay, the non-planner:
He has the idea.
Hmm, that's interesting, she says.
Where do I start? He puts his pen to paper (fingers to keys) and begins to write the first scene. He's describing it in the best prose he can write, and throwing himself into the scene. Once the first five pages are done, he begins to see another scene or character that can grow out of that. He lives in the moment. He lets the big picture come later.
As he writes the story he sees the nuance, the conflict, the little quirks that make a character who he/she is. He lives in his story as if it is life itself, not a movie. He's building his body a finger at a time. once the bone, flesh, capillaries, cartilage, and blood are in that finger, he makes the next finger, and the next, and the next. Soon he's working on the rest of the hand, making it the best hand he can do for now in a first draft. Later, he'll add color, repair the white blood cells that are weak, put hair on the knuckles, design the fingernails, clip off the hangnails, etc.
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For the planner and the non-planner both, the story comes in an organic fashion. The characters intrigue us the same, the surprises affect us the same, the conflict and theme drive us the same. The difference is in vision and approach. Some must see the whole thing--the big picture. Some live in the moment and breathe in the nuance with every scene. Some want to smell the flowers from the beginning, as they write them in. Some want to build the park first, then go back and smell the flowers later.
! Since I am usually in my vehicle when away from the computer, the purchase of the recorder has been an idea-saver of paramount importance. I don't even want to contemplate the number of brilliant visions I lost prior to having it (sort of like the fish that got away - the lost ones are always the biggest and best, wouldn't you say?!).
