Incanus
Auror
We often hear about and discuss how many words per day, or per hour, tracking word counts, daily or weekly progress in terms of words on paper or into word docs. Obviously, writing is a large part of the writing process—after all, it’s right there in the name: writing.
But how about the time spent brainstorming, daydreaming, pondering and comparing ideas, imagining future parts of the story, and planning? It seems like we don’t hear about or discuss this part of the process very much.
A while ago, I came across an interesting little fact about one particular author’s writing method. This writer has been publishing large, epic fantasy and sci-fi books for decades now. He said he spends 3 hours before EVERY writing session just thinking.
Now that’s something you rarely hear about. He didn’t mention anything about notetaking during that time, but I have to assume something like that occurs.
Sometimes, especially during the work week, I only have 2-3 hours available to write, so I can’t do anything like this; and I probably wouldn’t even if I could. On the other hand, I sometimes spend several days or longer thinking through the next parts before tackling them. This means some of my ‘writing’ days are just ‘thinking’ days. The writing doesn’t happen without the thinking ahead of time. Thus, my daily word counts are sometimes zero.
So, how much time do you devote to thinking? When do you do it? How often? Is it a regular part of your process, or only on an ‘as needed’ basis?
But how about the time spent brainstorming, daydreaming, pondering and comparing ideas, imagining future parts of the story, and planning? It seems like we don’t hear about or discuss this part of the process very much.
A while ago, I came across an interesting little fact about one particular author’s writing method. This writer has been publishing large, epic fantasy and sci-fi books for decades now. He said he spends 3 hours before EVERY writing session just thinking.
Now that’s something you rarely hear about. He didn’t mention anything about notetaking during that time, but I have to assume something like that occurs.
Sometimes, especially during the work week, I only have 2-3 hours available to write, so I can’t do anything like this; and I probably wouldn’t even if I could. On the other hand, I sometimes spend several days or longer thinking through the next parts before tackling them. This means some of my ‘writing’ days are just ‘thinking’ days. The writing doesn’t happen without the thinking ahead of time. Thus, my daily word counts are sometimes zero.
So, how much time do you devote to thinking? When do you do it? How often? Is it a regular part of your process, or only on an ‘as needed’ basis?