Author interview: Writing Habits & Other Structure - Wk 6

Overcoming Writers Block and Writing Habits - Wk 6 - Heather Ingemar

Category: Writing and Poetry

I'm excited to have Heather Ingemar, author of Darkness Cornered, as a guest on my blog this week.  I asked her about her writing habits, something all writers and authors need to consider.  She has some interesting thoughts to share.  Enjoy!

Tell us about your writing habits.  Do you know your story or concepts ahead of time, or do they just develop and evolve as you write?  Do you wait for the muse to strike or do you set a regular appointment with your self to write?  If the latter, how do you make sure you keep the appointment?  Do you structure the book ahead of time and fill in the blanks, or free-write and put it together later, or use some othe method?  Do you ever get writers block?  If so, what do you do to get through it?  How long does it take you to write a book, on average?  What else what you like us to know about your writing habits?  

Humans are creatures of habit, they say, and habit is exactly the question that is frequently asked of authors.  

Let me tell you about mine.  

Every person drafts or conceives a tale different ways.  With me, my initial drafting really depends on the story.  Sometimes, the entire story comes to me in a flash; I see all the characters, everything that happens to each of them, the scenery, how different things/events/details/stimuli come into play.  Everything.  That's really cool, but really rare.  Usually, I see a character first, in a scene, and it won't leave me alone until I write it down.  Then, the story develops around everything I've written, as I go along.  It's pretty fun for me that way; I like being on the edge of my seat, right there with them, as they tackle the obstacles set for them to overcome and not knowing if they'll make it.  A real rush.  

As for my writing time, I don't do the whole appointment thing.  My personality type forbids it.  (laughs)  I guess you could say I'm like that line from Tolkien: "A wizard is never late.  Nor is he early.  He arrives precisely when he means to."  Not to mention my line of work.  As a rancher's wife, I am at the mercy of nature.  I don't have the luxury of being able to write "whenever the mood strikes."  And nature also has a way of showing you exactly who is boss when you decide to compartmentalize.  I learned this from a very early age; hence why I tend to write (or pursue my other hobbies) when I have the time.  If an opportunity presents itself, I jump on it.  This is made easier by the fact that I carry a notebook with me everywhere.  If no opportunity shows, well, I wait.  Simple.  And TONS nicer than sitting around worrying about whether or not I'll get time to write or not.  

On the craft of writing, let me say this:  I do not believe in writer's block.  To echo my creative writing professor, I do believe there are times when the water doesn't come easily from the well, however, that does not mean the well has run dry.  There's always something to write.  And some days, I don't feel like writing.  I feel like ruminating.  Some days, every word I put on that page is wrong.  They're still words, and I can work on it later.  Some days, I feel like writing ahead, other days, not.  See what I mean?  The well is never completely dry.  

Amazingly, despite what I just said, my writing habit is fairly structured.  I like to write my stories from beginning to end with little skipping around.  It's easier that way for me to keep things straight in my head, although on the re-writes/edits, I have been known to jump if something grabs me.  In the act of writing itself, the edits generally dictate how long I stay working on a piece.  I can usually whip out a first draft in a fairly quick amount of time -- some of my short stories only took me three days, short novels a couple months -- but since I'm such a stickler for pretty, correct prose and perfect continuity, the edits take far longer. 

The work-in-progress I'm doing now, I wrote the main plot in its entirety in about two and a half months.  It's pushing five months (total) now, and I'm still working on edits.  It may be longer by the time I'm satisfied.  

In short, every writer is different, and as I am often in the habit of saying to my husband, "whatever works!"

Check this out!

Heather S. Ingemar: Author of Speculative Fiction http://catharsys.wordpress.com/  

"Darkness Cornered" available now from Echelon Press!  

Echelon titles coming soon: "A Slip of Wormwood" and "Prophet's Choice"!