Comments on: Finding Your Writing Rhythm

By: Raina Nightingale

Raina Nightingale — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 16:54:13 +0000

Ah-ha! I am a fiction writer who started writing as soon as I could read, filling pages and pages with stories. Yet, I would say that I think through writing, especially through my stories. I do not write everyday. I wait until I have what I need, until the story is ready in my head, and I produce very clean "first drafts" ... which I do edit as I go in as much as if anything catches my eye as in need of a change, I change it. If a sentence feels awkward, I'll re-work it (though sometimes I'm in too much of a hurry to finish my scene, and I'll leave it for later, if I can't figure it out quickly. But I wouldn't call myself a plotter or a pantser. Or a planner. My writing process doesn't feel like anything else I've ever heard described to me before. I think of it more like being a seer. I see the stories in visions, and either as I write the visions become more clear, or I wait until I have the clarity I need... and sometimes I see visions way ahead of where I'm writing with more or less clarity and details, some of them occasionally only possibilities, but some of them scenes I know for sure, some of them of utmost importance to the story, others of lesser in-and-of-themselves standalone significance. Thanks for sharing about your process!

By: mbyrnes2013

mbyrnes2013 — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 17:18:00 +0000

I'm late to the party as usual and left my rhythm back in the '60s. But now that I'm here I'll do my best. Thanks for hosting this event. There's no time like the present to begin searching for some old tunes to help me get my motor running. I can feel it already. Cool!

By: Bridgitte Rodguez

Bridgitte Rodguez — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 12:26:46 +0000

Great article! I loved how you laid out your specific writing routine/rhythms. A lot of what you do is also what I do.

By: Confessions of a Devoted Scene Writer | Writers In The Storm

Confessions of a Devoted Scene Writer | Writers In The Storm — Fri, 09 Jul 2021 15:15:54 +0000

[…] this week, Karen DeBonis did a post here at WITS about finding your writing process. In the comments, I confessed that finding mine to a long (LONG) time. I’ve tried a gajillion […]

By: Jacquolyn McMurray

Jacquolyn McMurray — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 17:32:52 +0000

Like Jenny, I think and write in scenes. It is a chunking technique that helps me think about how emotions should change over the course of a scene. I'm a slow writer, but have come to terms with my process. And I do not expect myself to write every day. I schedule time at my writing desk at the beginning of the week and track word count.

By: Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 04:51:08 +0000

In reply to goldy4348. RAWR, Goldy! ROOOAAAAAARRRRR!!!

By: goldy4348

goldy4348 — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 03:24:03 +0000

A much needed boost by WITS strong women. I’m with Alicia, crippling PAIN and brain fogs a part of life, but the writing and producing the multiple stories that are partially finished are on the table - and the Discovery tour of the amazing life that has made me realize that stopping now isn’t a choice. I must go as far as I can to complete my works. Every day is a gift-that’s why we call it the Present.

By: Bryan D Denson

Bryan D Denson — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 03:00:55 +0000

Many thanks, Karen, for sharing your excellent words on the pathos of the craft. Please allow me to add one thing: Every writer puts down crappy first drafts. The successful ones pore through those drafts relentlessly to mine the gold, shine it up pretty, and make the words break out in three-part harmony.

By: Dorothy Smith Stewart

Dorothy Smith Stewart — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 21:58:40 +0000

In reply to Jenny Hansen. Jenny, I would love to know more about your process.

By: Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 19:09:11 +0000

In reply to Dorothy Smith Stewart. You are very welcome, Dorothy. It literally saved my writing. I used to get so frustrated!