Jumping into writing the story I’m presently working on, turned out to be informative! (Maybe I am a “pantser”?)

I learned a number of things, among which: it is nicer to pull a fresh story out of the air, than it is to recount old ones, or things that may have actually happened, that have rolled over in one’s mind, for 25 years. There are a number of things that I just don’t yet know about the project I’m working on, now.

It’s funny that you really don’t realize what you don’t know, until you’re writing…and then the special rules of the world you’re creating, the scope of the narrator’s awareness, what he ever did for a job, did he go to college, what are his life experiences, how long ago did event N happen, how old are these people now, how close were they, what is the surrounding political climate; get called into question.

We know the initial meeting of the two “main” characters happens at X place; but what brought Character C there in the first place? What is this person seeking? Why should Character B take any special interest?

The really positive thing about creative writing, is that most of it is rewriting. There are statements the author can make in the first line of the first draft that can (and maybe should) be expanded into full scenes. Offhand comments made by the narrator can be edited out, if they impede flow. Their subjects can be inserted later as their own topics (and/or scenes).

What I majorly found out, on trying to get this story out of my head and onto the page, is the extent to which this story is an internal one. It’s well-suited to be literature, that is, because all the thinking and questions and internal experience gone through by the characters doesn’t lend itself well to a Graphic format. That’s not to say that it can’t be adapted to a Graphic format, but — well — one step at a time!