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Jennifer answers Debra's question from last week...
I’m a list maker, even though I hate lists. I find them
stressful and they cause me anxiety when I think of everything I have to get
done.
However, as a writer, I find them essential. Last week,
Debra talked about needing to find a new way of keeping track of her
character’s traits. Lists are how I keep track.
As a “pantser,” I write whatever comes into my head, as my
characters dictate it to me. I don’t plot ahead of time and I don’t work off an
outline. As a mom, I have to find time to write when I can, which often means I
can go a day or so in between spurts of writing. That means I forget what I’ve
written previously. Sure, I go back and reread what I wrote yesterday, but with
a limited amount of time to write, I don’t usually go back to the beginning of
the story until I’m editing.
Therefore, it’s quite common for me to forget my character’s
hair color, eye color or other identifying features. It sounds weird—if I see
the character vividly in my mind, why don’t I remember these things? I have no
idea. But I don’t. So I keep a list.
My character lists have important information about each
character—physical features, likes, dislikes, history…anything that comes up
while writing that helps to describe them and flesh them out. With manuscripts
that run around 250-300 pages, it’s much easier to go back to my list, rather
than page through the words I’ve written. Ideally, I add to it as I write, but
worst case, I finish it when I make my first pass-through while editing.
The system works well for me. And then I started working
with my agent, and realized I had nothing on her! Her Character List is what
mine wishes it could be. First of all, it’s in a table format, while mine is,
well, a list. Second, it includes many things other than just physical
descriptions and obviously is meant to help someone who hasn’t read the entire
manuscript to get a handle on who is in the story and why.
So I’ll be adapting my character list next time around. Not
only will it’s function be to help me as a writer, but also it will make it
easier for me to fill my agent’s requirements if I’ve done it as I go along.
What lists do you keep?
I love crossing lines off my lists. It let me know I'f making progress and sticking to "the plan."
ReplyDeleteInteresting about your agent, Jen. Not having one, I had no idea.
My answers keep disappearing. That's just my agent. I don't know about others, Ana. I like crossing things off too, but I always end up adding more.
DeleteI don't make lists, I scribble notes. I guess I'm very disorganised. If I took a photograph of my desk right now you'd be horrified. But I do know where everything is. Actually I did tidy it up a little this morning, but there are still lots of papers with hastily scribbled notes on them. Let's hope I don't lose them.
ReplyDeleteI have a very unorganized-looking method to my desk, actually. I know where things are, but no one else does!
DeleteI'm like Margaret! I don't make lists (except -occasionally- shopping lists!). I do scribble notes though, and have a spiral bound notebook for each novel, in which I scribble research info, sometimes an invented family tree, and reminders to myself about something to add to an earlier chapter.
ReplyDeleteI like that method. I just type faster than I write.
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