November 7, 2011
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Writing Fiction and Associated Writing
I like to measure as I write. It comes perhaps from being an engineer. But whereas pieces of steel can be measured to an inch’s thousandth, measuring the dimensions of writing is a much more floppy process. However, I feel that the process of writing a lengthy piece of fiction can be divided into three parts.
Writing the original text is an obvious must, but it is only one third of the process, even though it is the first laying out of the story and plot. Yet even that third is not pure, being rapidly altered in the form of changes of words, of word order within sentences, of sentence order within paragraphs, and paragraphs within the whole page, scenario, or whatever I’m trying to achieve within one session.
Rewriting the original text into the final, more finished version takes just as much time, but again the case isn’t pure, as rewriting in reality consists not so much of actual writing as of reading, as altering as little as one word in a sentence must be considered not only in its effects on the immediate sentence, but usually of the whole paragraph. Changing a sentence or paragraph may mean reading – yet again – an entire section of the chapter, or all the chapter. This latter form of rewriting is often accompanied by sighs of “oh balls, am I going to have to ditch the whole bloody chapter?”
Lastly, there’s a major task that I rarely find mentioned. In fiction writing, it’s necessary to do a stack of writing that is never intended to form part of the novel. I call this associated writing, and I lump it together with any needed research (which usually consists of studying anything from coral growth to VR games) and call it – grandiosely, but rather obviously – “Research and Associated Writing.”
I consider them together as one like this because Associated Writing (there, I’ve given it the grand title again) is in fact a form of research: I’m researching the story that I’m going to write by writing about it, often as though it already existed. I’m also researching the nature of the situation, society or world that I’m going to set my story in by creating it, step by step on paper, usually the electronic kind. While doing that, I’m free of the fearful challenge of actually producing the precise words that will one day be eternally fixed as part of the final story, hard black upon white paper, clutched in the eager hand of someone who yearns to learn of worlds unknown.
I find that with my mind relaxed in this fashion, standing back from the action of the final text, I can produce an area of prepared soil to plant actual, intended-for-publication text into. A major bonus of this is that often a part of this speculative rambling and defining turns, as if by its own will, into part of the actual novel. Associated Writing is a necessity, a useful way to chew on the task of writing that’s not a waste of time, as it makes possibilities and limitations obvious, and causes much of the novel to write itself.
I wrote these two making heavy use of associated writing (link) 
Comments (15)
A well researched story is a good story. Drafts are needed and often ideas are reworked. I am so glad to see you write a new blog. Now I can enjoy this new entry over and over again each time I visit perhaps for the next 3 weeks.
@WondersCafe - three weeks? Yes, it’ll probably be that long before I update.
@darkoozeripple - Indeed…I do pay detail attention to your recent blogging habits.
I just call it “back story”. I like your “grandiose title” better.
I suck at writing blogs and fiction. I admire your attention to detail.
@SamsPeeps - by “back story” I guess you mean the story that lies behind the story that’s finally told, as in the case of a minor character, normally-thoughtful Stephen, acting with uncharacteristic meanness by telling Robert what he knew about Jane’s dark past, whereas he ought to have kept it to himself, as it was just gossip that might not be true. In the text, the author could simply say “but Stephen had had a bad day, and angrily blurted out ‘she’s such a slut, I heard she once…’ etc.” But if the author suspects that he may need to use Stephen repeatedly, he may have a few notes about a girl (Sheila) who is currently breaking Stephen’s heart. If Stephen is not advanced into a more major role, his problems remain unimportant, and Sheila remains just a few notes on the back story. Back story of that kind is a major part of never-will-be-seen Associated Writing, but I also use this term as a catch-all for anything I do that takes time, but is in support of the manuscript, and not part of it. Like if I feel confused, and spend some of my tap tap tap time reading and – making notes on – an author whose style reminds me that there are other ways to tell a story. My God am I wordy this evening. BBut
@Xcite_Me - that’s what a novel is really. If there’s 100,000 words (about 300 pages of text) that’s 100,000 details, and possibly 1,000 hours needed to work it all out. One flash of inspiration, one massive task in turning it into a living story.
I’m going to try to apply all this to my thesis.
@FoliageDecay - a thesis! Holy shit, that’s heavy duty, and with serious consequences. Be careful; I think the method I’ve laid out is good, and it is based on my learn-it-as-you-go approach, but still, it’s only my personal findings and developed methodology. another writer might have a different approach, and assigning different proportions of time. Remember, this I use for fiction, although I do shoot for realistic fiction. In any case, it’s not holy writ.
Epic profile pic. You look cooler than james bpnd.
This is interesting to read! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. (I can’t write, but I do anyway. It is good “therapy” for me…especially writing poems.) HUGS!
@AdamsWomanFell - thanks, I’m glad you found it interesting. It’s not that I’ve any genius, but having written a couple of novels, and having had them fairly well received by the few who’ve read them, I realised that I’d gained some insight – the hard way – into how to write a novel. In fact, I was so amazed that I’d managed to write the first that I wrote another just to make sure the first wasn’t just a fluke. And HUGS to you too. = )
@darkoozeripple - Ha! I like that about you writing your second novel and why! Well, you have learned a lot and it’s very nice of you to share what you’ve learned and your experience. I’ve written 3 “books”…one a children’s book and then two others. They were ways for me to “get out” a few stories I had in me. No one else will ever read them, though.
What thingy?
@WondersCafe - you know, the thingy, the thingy. The embarrasing rash you told me about. Or was that someone else? I get confused about these things.