Dream then Write #IWSG #amwriting #lostinthought
[I wrote this post as a member of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group where we share our worries and also offer support and encouragement to each other on the first Wednesday of every month. If you’re a writer like me and you’re looking for a bit of support, you can click the link and sign up here
Thank you to our awesome co-hosts this month: Susan Baury Rouchard, Nancy Gideon, Jennifer Lane, Jennifer Hawes, Chemist Ken, and Chrys Fey!
Check out our IWSG homepage for recent news and events. And as always, thank you to founder Alex J. Cavaugh 🙂
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Writing is a dream.
Have you ever seen a photograph or read an article or listened to song and instantly, pictured a world in your mind?
That’s how I write. First, I dream. I create a world and a problem. I drop a character into this new world who doesn’t seem to fit. The voice often comes to me first as I free write. Before I know it, I see the face, the family, the dilemma, and I keep flushing the rest of the world out.
This month’s question asks: “Although I have written a short story collection, the form found me and not the other way around. Don’t write short stories, novels or poems. Just write your truth and your stories will mold into the shapes they need to be.” Have you ever written a piece that became a form, or even a genre, you hadn’t planned on writing in? Or do you choose a form/genre in advance?
To answer the question, I’ve written stories both ways. The one I’m currently working on is an answer to a challenge and a genre I’d never choose on my own. It seems to work though, because I’m in love with so many of the characters who’ve resulted from my free write times.
What about you? Where do you start when you write something new? Have you ever birthed a book out of a challenge?
One last thought:
“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”
— Anne Frank
Posted on August 5, 2020, in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. 9 Comments.
Cloud Nine Girl 
Characters always come first for me and then I drop them into the appropriate setting.
I’ve listened to a song and pictured the whole story and characters in my mind. (And yes, that story became a published book.)
That’s awesome that you are writing in a different genre by taking a challenge. I’m not sure if I could do that. I wish I pictured a whole story like you. Mine come in bits and pieces.
I often start with some sort of dialog, voices appearing in my head out of nowhere. I might not know who my hero is or who he is talking to, but he’s usually in some sort of emotional upheaval and trying to find a way out.
I do have stories coming out in response to a challenge, but they are mostly flash fiction. I’ve participated in a flash fiction thematic bi-monthly blog hop WEP for several years now, and all the different stories I wrote for it all came in response to a specific theme.
I start imaging a campfire and I tell myself a story.
Anna from elements of emaginette
I tend to start off with story ideas, and characters organically evolve from there. Though I write family sagas and series following the same people over generations, new characters are introduced all the time. I get ideas about, e.g., someone’s love interest or new college friends, and begin painting pictures in my mind.
Sounds like you’re a visual person, Erika! I had fun writing a short story for an IWSG anthology, but typically I write novels.
Occasionally something will spark an idea for a short story, but it’s rare for me to deviate from fantasy or my own magical world.
With me, the characters always come first, then the world and the adventure. I have a fun group that I meet with (now meeting online) where we throw out a suggestion or a few random words and free write from it. I’ve gotten some interesting story starters from those exercises. Now if I just had time to develop them…