Writing Process Blog Tour

I've shortened Writing Process Blog Tour to (WPBT). No I haven't. I'm tryng to make it longer and more interesting.

Writers always start off by saying it’s hard work. Maybe you’re in the wrong profession. Writing isn’t work. Writing is just messing about with words. The consolation is that most of the things you write will never be read. Let’s start with the blank page. Why is it blank when you’ve got all these thoughts pinging about your head? The answer is, and I’ll need some dun, dun, dun music here, there aren’t any answers. There are only questions. Start with a question and you’ll find there’s another within it.  What are those Russian dolls that fold up into each other called again?

    I don’t stare at the screen. I mess about. Reading is more important than writing. If I can’t be bothered writing something I read something. Usually that gets me thinking. I’m reading Death and the Penguin. For some reason I thought penguins were cold to the touch, like snakes. Neither are cold to the touch. Penguins are blubber in a skin-tight suit. Where did that thought come from?

    Sometimes I laugh out loud. I’m a weirdo. If you see someone chuckling to themselves in some far off bus station, please don’t introduce yourself, because I’m enjoying myself. But if I ask for a couple of bucks because I’m down on my luck, then give me it, and tell me not to worry, cause I’m your favourite author.

    In Death and the Penguin, Viktor is the narrator. Writers as narrators are boring. All they do is stare at a blank screen and moan about writer’s block. If you are going to have a narrator that is a writer, balance it out by having a penguin around. It’s ok to steal stuff like that. Viktor, for example, is told by his boss, it was best he was told nothing. So one of my characters will be told the same thing. Best you were told nothing, so at least you know something.

I don’t meticulously plot points and highs and lows in the structure of the story. That makes writing into hard work.  I’ve usually got some idea that needs fleshed out with characters and they just get on with it. I edit as I go. Then I edit when I re-read. For me editing is about cutting. How much can I take away and the bones of the story hang together?  

All writing is folly, but only if you’re doing it right. I made that up. Somebody more famous than me has probably already said something similar, but don’t worry about telling anyone cause nobody is listening or will read what you write. Writers write. That’s the secret.

Here’s the guy that invited me to blog about writing: http://www.iwriteyouread.co.uk/my-stop-on-the-writing-process-blogging-t…

Maybe that’s not a real person. I’m not real either, but you can find me here (sometimes): http://www.abctales.com/blogs/celticman