Thanks for the clarification. I must be one of the few people who only 'write' when I'm actually writing, ie sitting down in front of a computer - at least as far as fiction is concerned. So for me it really doesn't exist until it's written down.

Sheila

Thanks for posting this Cornelia - an interesting article. It seems imbued with the same melancholy as her recent book, The Gathering - perhaps she's like that in real life? I'm not sure how useful these courses can be...although I have finally succumbed to signing up for a plotting course next year...I like the idea she expresses of being a writer from the inside and something you need to discover with time.

I reviewed a collection of her short stories, which was very melancholy, although I have geat respect for her writing abilities and range. I feel really sorry for these women in such backward societies. Maeve Binchy and Edna O'Brien seem to cope very well. It's when they can't go with the flow, be sex godesses or domestic godesses, that they have problems, it seems.

Sheila

and the importance of working more on the page than in your head

I wrote some stuff today, solely with the intention of being able to draw a line under one chapter. I know I'll want to change it around a lot, but it was almost like I was letting the keyboard operate itself rather than agonising over every word. Could that be what the quoted section means?

I then did the same thing with the initial notes on another chapter.

Then, by contrast, I did the slow, agonising bit on a short story I'm almost ready to send to Radio 4.


Andy

PS For each chapter file I do a speed-written Notes section, then I pick out what I like and put it in an Audition section and then gradually it gets moved into the actual chapter itself. Sometimes, like today, I blat loads of stuff (sorry for getting technical) from Audition into the chapter in an almost random way. Then I feel great for finishing a chapter, conveniently forgetting that I'll have to rework it. Then, sometimes, once in a blue moon, the slapdash approach produces something worth keeping.

Andy, your description seems much more what I was thinking she meant. What a marvellous system you describe, with its three stages of development. No, blat isn't too technical for me - it sounds about right.

Sheila