Hey, I have a question for you novelists out there. Do you write your books scene-by-scene, in order, or do you jump around? I don’t seem to be able to jump around. I’ll have scenes in my mind that I know I will eventually get to, but I don’t write them until the story has progressed to them. A few times I’ve sat down to write a future scene because I’m stuck where I’m at, but then I find myself trudging through the muck of “the present.” On a few occasions I have written those future scenes, but by the time the story progresses to them, they no longer work.

What do other writers do?

School ended last week and so I’m back to writing every day. The first two days weren’t very good. I’m still having trouble with this new novel; it doesn’t seem to flow as easily as my others did. When I’m not writing, I don’t seem to think about it much.

Anyway, I think I’ve decided on a pattern that will help me continue to write daily. One day I spit out what I need to get out: describe a specific event, introduce a new character, etc. This can be done as well or as poorly as necessary just to keep the story moving. So far, my first day on a new scene has been miserable. I get out what I need, but the writing is clunky, the characters are flat, and I feel like a total failure. But then I find myself re-thinking the scene. Ah… I could have done this better, oh, this character should wait and appear after this… and so on. The next day is clean up day. I improve the scene and feel good about it: a scene well-written in two days. Then I’m back to a garbage day. Today is a garbage day for me. Knowing that really takes the pressure off. I’ll get out what needs to happen and then I can focus on improvement.