Today was yet another snow day in New York, so I took advantage of being trapped in my home by working on my own writing. I may have mentioned this to you all before, but sometimes I find it’s hard to “get going” when I sit down to write. I don’t mean that I have writer’s block. To me, writer’s block is the absence of an idea, as opposed to the absence of words.
Anyway, my lack of coherent thoughts can sometimes lead me to write rather sporadically. If a scene enters my head, or even just one line of dialogue, I write it down and I find the process of building around it is much, much easier. This, of course, leads to having pages and pages of disconnected scenes.
This got me wondering what your individual writing styles are. Do you also dip from scene to scene, hoping that everything will organically work itself out? Do you have an ending in mind first and then write to get there? Or, are you a traditionalist and start at the beginning?
There really is no “right” answer because there can be no right or wrong way to create something you’re proud of. There are probably writing styles that people have that I hadn’t even thought of…. writing upside down with an astronaut pen? using a quill and pretending you’re Shakespeare? dictating your novel to a subordinate?
Enjoy your snowy weekend, everyone! It’s the perfect stay-in-and-write weather. But if you’re one of those lucky few who live in NON-snowy places, there’s no better place to write, in my opinion, than at your favorite bookstore or cafe 🙂
Sarah LaPolla 
I live in one of those non-snowy places…Fort Lauderdale, FL. However, for us Floridians it is pretty cold outside this week (50's!) I'm shivering in horror at the ides of stepping outside later today. Thank goodness I don't have to leave till 11 am.
On to the main question: I use the snowflake method. I find it helps me get my mind around the story and plot first. Then I develop my characters until they are so alive they take over and create the scenes. I also enjoy working from Starbucks where both the atmosphere and heavy doses of caffeine get my mind buzzing with ideas.
I also find it helpful to not write on Sundays. One day of rest for my brain helps tremendously 🙂
Have a happy snow day 🙂
LikeLike