Writing Styles and Road Maps
Motivational guru Tony Robbins believes anyone can be successful in a given area by duplicating the steps and behavior of those who already enjoy success. If Robbins' premise is correct, a successful writer could be "made" by faithfully following the steps outlined in Walter Mosley's book This is the Year You Write Your Novel. Mosley describes precisely how he produces a manuscript, when he does revisions and research, and all other steps leading up to publication.
Mosley identifies two different approaches to writing: the structured and intuitive styles. The structured writer has an overall idea of plot, characters and scenes before they start writing and may create detailed outlines, character and scene studies prior to beginning their book. This style of writer will know most of the main characters, how the book will end, and turning points before typing out the opening sentence. The intuitive writer starts with a first line and as he writes, the book unfolds. The intuitive's book emerges from a dimension deep within the author. As writing proceeds, the author travels into a creative zone, an almost trance-like state where characters and dialogs are born from within the author's subconscious.
Leonard Elmore, Walter Mosley, and Stephen King are intuitive style writers. In an interview popular Detroit area writer Leonard says he makes up the story as he goes along and doesn't know how his book will end. Leonard's characters themselves often provide ideas. While writing a novel Leonard prefers to read only nonfiction, usually related to aspects of the book underway.
Once Mosley's written the first sentence, he doesn't worry about it how the book will unfold, but lets the momentum building upon those first words carry him forward. If it doesn't seem to click for him, he writes another first sentence and goes from there. Mosley believes the book lies within that first sentence, and prefers to focus on generating the entire first draft before doing rewrites and fact checking that might otherwise interfere with the energy and flow of his initial draft.
Intuitive Stephen King doesn't believe a good story can be plotted out ahead of time as a product of conscious thought. Believing his best stories began without knowing what the end would be, his story "seed" grows itself as he freely writes. Once he generates a first draft, he likes to set it aside and think about it a while, letting ideas incubate and gaining perspective. https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5653/the-art-of-fiction-no-189-stephen-king
Writers at the structured end of the continuum include Mary Higgins Clark, Debbie Macomber, and John Lutz.
Mary Higgins Clark likes to have the big picture ahead of time, mapping out characters, locations, and researching background material. She creates detailed character bios and revises as she writes the first draft, sending 25 or 30 pages at a time to her editor. https://www.writerswrite.com/journal/mary-higgins-clark-5001
Debbie Macomber plots the whole book, writing a paragraph on each scene ahead of time because, as she says, "I don't like surprises." Before writing her first book, Macomber took four of her favorite novels and broke them down looking for patterns she could use to recreate their success in her own works. https://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/28-FE3-DebbieMacomber.html
John Lutz likes to synopsize his book beforehand; he knows the ending and major turning points, but his road map is vague enough that he can take advantage of opportunities that arise while writing. In an interview Lutz indicated his belief that writers who simply sit down at a keyboard as the novel generates itself are few and far between. https://www.authorpetergreen.com/blog/pub-1-1-john-lutz-tips-on-writing/
The common thread for all these authors is that writing must be done daily in order to realistically finish a first draft in a timely manner. Stephen King recommends that if you want to become a good writer, you should write four hours a day and read four hours a day. Walter Mosley writes three hours a day, virtually every day of the year. When Leonard Elmore is working on a project, he writes daily from 9:30am-6pm, skipping lunch 9 out of 10 times. Mary Higgins Clark writes about 6 hours a day, or 17 hours if she is nearing the end of a book. Debbie Macomber is in her office 8-9 hours and writes 4 days a week (to publish 3 books a year). When asked in an interview how many hours a day he wrote, John Lutz answered "24." https://www.gwern.net/Morning-writing
Mosley identifies two different approaches to writing: the structured and intuitive styles. The structured writer has an overall idea of plot, characters and scenes before they start writing and may create detailed outlines, character and scene studies prior to beginning their book. This style of writer will know most of the main characters, how the book will end, and turning points before typing out the opening sentence. The intuitive writer starts with a first line and as he writes, the book unfolds. The intuitive's book emerges from a dimension deep within the author. As writing proceeds, the author travels into a creative zone, an almost trance-like state where characters and dialogs are born from within the author's subconscious.
Leonard Elmore, Walter Mosley, and Stephen King are intuitive style writers. In an interview popular Detroit area writer Leonard says he makes up the story as he goes along and doesn't know how his book will end. Leonard's characters themselves often provide ideas. While writing a novel Leonard prefers to read only nonfiction, usually related to aspects of the book underway.
Once Mosley's written the first sentence, he doesn't worry about it how the book will unfold, but lets the momentum building upon those first words carry him forward. If it doesn't seem to click for him, he writes another first sentence and goes from there. Mosley believes the book lies within that first sentence, and prefers to focus on generating the entire first draft before doing rewrites and fact checking that might otherwise interfere with the energy and flow of his initial draft.
Intuitive Stephen King doesn't believe a good story can be plotted out ahead of time as a product of conscious thought. Believing his best stories began without knowing what the end would be, his story "seed" grows itself as he freely writes. Once he generates a first draft, he likes to set it aside and think about it a while, letting ideas incubate and gaining perspective. https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5653/the-art-of-fiction-no-189-stephen-king
Writers at the structured end of the continuum include Mary Higgins Clark, Debbie Macomber, and John Lutz.
Mary Higgins Clark likes to have the big picture ahead of time, mapping out characters, locations, and researching background material. She creates detailed character bios and revises as she writes the first draft, sending 25 or 30 pages at a time to her editor. https://www.writerswrite.com/journal/mary-higgins-clark-5001
Debbie Macomber plots the whole book, writing a paragraph on each scene ahead of time because, as she says, "I don't like surprises." Before writing her first book, Macomber took four of her favorite novels and broke them down looking for patterns she could use to recreate their success in her own works. https://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/28-FE3-DebbieMacomber.html
John Lutz likes to synopsize his book beforehand; he knows the ending and major turning points, but his road map is vague enough that he can take advantage of opportunities that arise while writing. In an interview Lutz indicated his belief that writers who simply sit down at a keyboard as the novel generates itself are few and far between. https://www.authorpetergreen.com/blog/pub-1-1-john-lutz-tips-on-writing/
The common thread for all these authors is that writing must be done daily in order to realistically finish a first draft in a timely manner. Stephen King recommends that if you want to become a good writer, you should write four hours a day and read four hours a day. Walter Mosley writes three hours a day, virtually every day of the year. When Leonard Elmore is working on a project, he writes daily from 9:30am-6pm, skipping lunch 9 out of 10 times. Mary Higgins Clark writes about 6 hours a day, or 17 hours if she is nearing the end of a book. Debbie Macomber is in her office 8-9 hours and writes 4 days a week (to publish 3 books a year). When asked in an interview how many hours a day he wrote, John Lutz answered "24." https://www.gwern.net/Morning-writing
Great post, DEBBIE. Now I don't feels so anal, lol, in how I like to have all this stuff fleshed out before I start writing. I don't like surprises either! When I told my agent that I always do chapter synopses anyways and did she want to submit them with the proposal she laughed at me--but said yes. Thanks, Debbie!
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