I have at least a rough idea of my plot before I even start writing. At least, I know where I'm going to begin, and where I want to end up. In between, I have moments--scenes that come to me vividly--and transformations--changes in characters and their relationships I know must happen for me to get from Point A to Point B. And what seems to work best for me is to work on whatever moment or transformation is most vivid for me at any given time.

For example, I just finished a scene maybe a third of the way through my book. It's the one I hashed out on Natter, where Lucy, my heroine, and James, the hero, end up walking back alone from a picnic because her horse is lame. A lot is going on. I make use of future bits I've already written, having James hint at a backstory he'll describe in detail after they're married. I have him make a philosophical statement against hasty marriage when he's pumping her for information about her cousin who's courting his sister, because he's going to propose to Lucy, who he's known for all of three days, in about a week, in order to rescue her from financial ruin. I figure the fact that he offers to marry her out of a gallant impulse contrary to his stated principles is fodder for useful conflict, though I haven't decided how I'll make use of it yet. And I tried to show her sexual attraction to him in subtle ways, because she's nowhere near understanding or acknowledging it herself yet, but it needs to be clear to the reader.

So, with that done, I decide what to write next. The scene now stuck in my head is the big ball scene, perhaps the most plot-packed day in the entire story. It's a week after the scene I just finished, and I'll need at least a few small scenes to bridge the gap. I know the rough outline--snatches of conversation that need to happen, that sort of thing. But I can't visualize any of it yet. Instead, I'm visualizing Lucy coming down the stairs for the ball, all in virginal white trimmed in seductive crimson, and the look in James's eyes when he sees her. I've got dancers whirling in their Regency elegance in the gothic setting of a 14th century castle's great hall. I've got the worst of Lucy's cousins picking the worst of all possible times to tell her he's gambled away the family fortune and can't do anything more to help provide for her younger brothers and sisters, of which she has many. And I've got James coming to her rescue, and all the fallout that ensues.

It's so vivid in my mind I feel like I can touch it. So I'm going to write it while it's still so strong.

I know that feeling, Susan. Write! Write while the images are strong and almost tangible!

I know! I wish I could call in Mused tomorrow, but I'm coordinating a banquet, so it'll be a full day.

I have no time sense, as a person. I flash to moments, stuck in amber, connected by something I can't feel. It's the same when I write, you know? Moments, connected.

That's very much how I tend to think through my stories. I'll note down the visions, the moments, the emotions, key lines of dialogue, etc. in my outline (which changes constantly). These may change or be dropped if the story requires it, but the underlying feel or emotion is still important to the piece.

When I write, it's sort-of-kind of in sequence. If I have three scenes with Character A intercut with several scenes featuring Characters B & C, I may write the three character A scenes as a unit, especially if I feel that I've made myself at home in that character's head.

Deb, a Word document is just fine. You can send it either to my profile addy or my work addy (aweber AT bernan DOT com). Thanks!

I envy all you folks who know the way you like to write. I start writing one way, and change-- maybe I'll begin chronologically, get stuck with that, flip forward to ten years in the future and write that scene, get stuck again, try to fill in the gaps and fail, play around, re-write the beginning, try and work out what happens at the end... and in short, I never know what I'm going to be able to write next or where to go.

I've never finished a novel, possibly because of this.

Word docs sent to Nilly, Bev and Anne.

Plei, that analogy - the quilting - fascinates me. I have no eye for needlework, which along with the math lack, also explains it.

I'll go back and edit, mind you. If the character takes the bit between his or her teeth and runs off to develop other traits, I'll go back and arrange from consonance of self. But even when I see the scene three chapters ahead? I make it wait and build the lead-up.

Got it, Deb. Will the end of the week be soon enough for feedback?

Plei is me, at least in terms of construction techniques. I flip from scene to scene -- whichever is most strongly in my mind at the moment. I niggle at the tough parts while scribbling the easy ones. Back and forth, in and out, weaving in the plot strands at the beginning that I need to pick up at the end.

Then I go back and smooth transitions, and check to make sure I didn't drop something somewhere. Often I have, so I have to write something to slot in that spot.

I like writing that way, because I do think I would not finish anything long if I could only write chronologically. This way I can write the climax, realize that I need to set up the interpersonal dynamics in a certain way, and go back and do that.

It frees me from having figured everything out at once, before I even start. I can always go back and change it later. Yay for word-processors!

I like writing that way, because I do think I would not finish anything long if I could only write chronologically.

Hell, I wouldn't finish anything short if I could only write chronologically. When I try, I get to the first stuck place, and (all too literally) that's all she wrote. Writing out of order, I can leave it to simmer and come back, rather than losing the momentum altogether.

You people is all crazy and shit. At least, you writing-out-of-order people.

Not that I'm not, you understand.

I have to write chronologically, because once I know the ending my interest begins to wane. The last couple of chapters of a novel or the last few pages of a short story are always a struggle, because mentally I've moved on to other things. I've tried skipping a difficult scene to write the next one, but it doesn't work for me. I have to slog through and find out what's keeping me from writing that scene in order to keep going.

I think this is because the story always mutates into something else by the time it is all written, and any scene might inform that. Every scene I'm writing leads into the next scene, and if I go into it not knowing the subtleties of what happened in the previous one it doesn't feel right. Not that I'm always subtle, but I want to leave myself that room.