So today i started writing chapter 6 of 'The Orion Directive' [TOD] which was supposed to be different, but i realised that the sixth chapter as i'd set it out wasn't needed so i just replaced it with seven.
It started out okay, not particularly quick, but i was moving forward, then after a few pages things kind staled on me, and i came to a complete halt, not writers block, i just could move forward, so i basically stopped dead and saved my work and turned off the word processor, so i could jus think about it for a bit. About an hour later i opened it up again and continued to write, but again it was slow moving, and i also came to the realisation that i didn't really like what i was writing.
Of course i know that a first draft is supposed to be shit, you can't write a master piece first time, and with my experience with chapter one, which i've already rewritten twice, i know that once i revisit chapter six i can make it better. Right now i'm kind of plotting my route through the haze of a yet to be discovered story, of which i do have a basic idea of, but the real meet comes out as i'm writing it, so i don't actually know what i'm doing until i'm doing it, which i guess is how many, if not all, writes do it, right?
The idea being that, once i have the chapter written and have an idea of what's in this chapter, the people the places the things that happen i can then think more about it and when i revisit it later, i'll have a better idea of what's going to happen and can rewrite it all knowing where i'm heading. It's like walking in a forest with a bucket over your head, you can only see the ground that's directly beneath your feet, you have no idea where you are or where your going, or what's to come. But once you've made that journey and have a basic idea of what to expect, you can take off the bucket and walk the route again with all your senses firing, being able to see not only the route you took earlier, but move, and now you know the route you can think more about being descriptive and extending that attention to detail that you missed the first time. And the more you walk that route, the more you learn about it and the more you see.
Rewrite, Rewrite, Rewrite, Rewrite, Rewrite, as they say is how books are written.
What i tend to do and what i expect to do with chapter six at some point, is day dream about it, i put myself in the shoes of the main character and imagine everything, every detail, the sights, the amount of day light or lack there of, the smells the sounds, the hotel room, the stairs, the hotel lobby the street outside the cab what it looks like and how it smells inside, the route taken what he sees and hears, the street he's dropped off on the walk to the next location etc etc etc, i'll do this, usually before i go to bed, as my pre-sleep routine is relaxing to me.
Computer off, Tele off, make bed, have a pee, turn on fan (I need the noise of the fan, white noise, to filter out all others noises, or i find it hard to sleep) so hearing the fan noise relaxes me, it's like my brain hears the fan and thinks that i'm now going to bed, so it prepares for that. I remember once i was on a plane, sitting right over a wing, and the noise of the engine put me to sleep, best flight ever. But what always happens, and i'm sure it'll happen tonight, is that my brain goes into overdrive, i'm relaxed left to my thoughts with zero distractions, i start to think about my story, especially parts i've already written, and i start to visualise it. That's when i start to get a real feel for the environment the character is in and that helps me write more descriptive.
I love the creative process, it's not something that just happens once you sitting in front of your computer, but rather it's always happening, while your eating breakfast, waiting for a bus, sitting on that bus, it's always happening, it starts when you wake up and stops once you've passed out, the really lucky once continue in their sleep.
I love it.
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