Blogging Insights # 43 —A Writer’s Intuition

“Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.” — Ray Bradbury

I hate to always be the one who says “both” to yes/no questions, but writing isn’t an “either/or” process. It’s never “yes” or “no.” Intuition gets you started and maybe gives you the outline of a plot. After that, the real work starts.

All writing of more than a few thousand words needs a story, even non-fiction. You need to know where the tale will take you. Where you are starting physically (the place, street, house, language, etc.) and emotionally. You need at least a sketchy plot and something a backstory. If you don’t know the exact ending, you should at least have a mental snapshot of where you expect to end.

If you’re setting a story in a real-world city, you need to do enough research to describe the place. Even if you are setting it in a place that doesn’t exist, you need to do some world-building so it feels real to readers.

Writing is communication. It’s not about you. It’s about your readers and their imagination. It’s drawing your readers into your tale. Writing is communication. Your writing involve readers in your story. Your intuition may tell you to write, but your brain needs to engage too. Every writer I follow who has offered a view of their “process” does a huge amount of planning before they start writing. The concept may be intuitive, but process is work.

Writing — other than short blogs — needs a plot. A beginning, middle, and end. Intuition will get you started, but the rest is determination, patience, editing, re-editing, then doing it again until you get it right.

Categories: #Writing, Anecdote, Literature, perspective, story, Words

Tags: #Blogging, Blogging Insights, Marilyn Armstrong, plot, script, story