Meg Chittenden Waves
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The Writing

I realize now why none of the speakers covered this subject. It's almost impossible to describe the actual writing process. But I'm going to try.

The first thing to do is establish yourself in your "writing place," to put you in the mood for writing. So, sit in front of your computer or typewriter with your synopsis beside you. Before writing a particular chapter, read the corresponding section of your synopsis, sit back for a while and try to imagine the scene in your mind. Then begin to write.

Don't agonize over every word or sentence trying to get it right, don't worry about going too slow, or too fast, or that it isn't coming out right. Just do it. Write words down as they come to you, trying not to think too consciously, striving for that altered state of consciousness in which you can listen to and see the story as it unfolds in your mind's eye.

When I say that you should strive for an altered state of consciousness, I do not mean that you will write automatically as if some outside spirit is guiding your fingers, but that you must stay focused on this particular part of your story and on nothing else. Let your brain guide your fingers.

Stella Cameron, best-selling novelist, says the experience is like being an invisible participant in the scene, seeing your characters without them seeing you.

Kathleen Wolgemuth, prolific nonfiction author who also writes fiction, feels at this stage that she has slipped into another's skin and has become the character so completely she sees things differently from the way she normally would.

When working on a particularly tense scene, I often get so involved that I'm surprised by something I've written. Writing toward the end of a chapter in Dying to Sing, I had two men and two women looking down at a body. Quite suddenly, one of the men fainted. It was as much a surprise to me as it was to the characters in the scene.

Writers often talk about their characters taking over the story. Certainly, at times, it seems that they have done so. This is not some paranormal happening, however, it's the writer's subconscious kicking in.

I always try to write in scenes, presenting my story so that the reader will be with me in that place, watching and listening to what's going on. A scene is a complete unit. Characters come together, in conflict or desire or for mutual aid. They talk, they act, they react. The scene ends, there is a transition to the next scene.