The Writing Process and Nancy Kress

Nancy Kress, one of my teachers from Taos Toolbox, has graciously taken the time out to answer some questions about the writing process.

Tamago: Do you have a regular drafting process, or does your drafting process vary from book to book. Can you describe it to us generally, or at least for one project?

Nancy: I do have a regular process. For the first draft, I write non-stop, ignoring mistakes and changes of heart and general inconsistencies, just trying to get the story down. The second draft is a major rewrite: moving, eliminating, or adding scenes. Fixing major inconsistencies. Sharpening the foreshadowing, since now that I have an ending, I know what it is I am trying to foreshadow. Draft three is a clean-up, addressing minor inconsistencies and fiddling with word choice. Then I give the ms. to my husband to read. If he has suggestions--and he usually has good ones--my fourth and final draft is to incorporate those. Then the story or novel gets sent off.

Tamago: I remember at Toolbox you suggested that you could see about two scenes ahead when you wrote. What sorts of methods do you use to plot a story?

Nancy: Two main methods. First, I try to become my characters, feeling my way from the inside about what they might do in the situations I've put them in. Second, I use two questions to create the incidents that make up a plot: What does my protagonist (and also all the other characters) want now, at this point in the story? What can go wrong now, at this point in the story?

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Mirrored from Writer Tamago.

Haunted Mansion

Setting: La Tavernita in Chicago in full tilt, Friday night. Our heroine is out to dinner with a variety of people from Paper Golem press, Taos Toolbox, and Codex. The din is deafening. The drinks are excellent. In a momentary lull in the conversation, our heroine checks her phone to see that she has missed a call from her husband.

Caveat: Husband swears that the call did not go like this. Heroine cannot hear very well, but what she heard does makes for a better story.

(ring, ring)

Bryon: Hello?
Cath: Hello? I'm sorry I missed your call. I'm out to dinner.
Bryon: That's okay. I'm with Mark and Michelle. (pause) Um...there's been a bit of a catastrophe.

***

At this moment, our heroine worries that there has been something terrible, like a house fire, or a car crash. Could something have happened to the hero's mother? Or one of our cats?

***

Cath: Okay. Let me go some place quieter so I can hear better. (Removes to slightly less noisy but still pretty damn noisy room.) Okay. Go ahead.
Bryon: Well, I got home yesterday after ticket taking, and UPS had been out, trying to deliver the package.
Cath: Right.
Bryon: So after school today, I went over there and picked up the box.
Cath: Good. Right.
Bryon: And I opened it. And Cath, THEY SENT THE WRONG HAUNTED MANSION!

***

Editor's Note: Bryon saw this beautiful Olzewski Collectible Haunted Mansion while we were at the Disney Parks, and would not buy it then. I persuaded him to buy it later, because I like to spoil him. It's going to be a while before he gets a Lost in Space robot, after all. Anyway, there are two Haunted Mansion collectibles: the Liberty Square version, which is the Disney World version and the New Orleans version, which is the Disneyland version. In order for this story to make any sense, you must know that.

***

Cath: What?
Bryon: It's the New Orleans Mansion, not the Liberty Square mansion! And they've charged us for the Liberty Square Mansion.

***

Our heroine is relieved and amused at what constitutes a catastrophe.

***

Cath: Don't worry about it. I'll get home on Tuesday and kick ass and take names. You will get the right mansion.

***

Various other pleasantries ensue.

Disney customer service is great to work with. They called me yesterday and let me know that the right mansion is on its way. It turns out that it was CHEAPER than the New Orleans version (which we think is wrong, but they assure me is right), so we should have it soon.

Otherwise, you will get a sequel entry.

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.