The Writing Process and Elizabeth Bear

[cathschaffstump]

Elizabeth Bear was kind enough to share her insights and wit in talking about the writing process. Any interview that quotes Kurt Vonnegut is worth the read. Enjoy.

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Tamago: Do you have a regular drafting process, or does your drafting process vary from book to book? (If it varies, please keep one project in mind as you answer these questions.)

Elizabeth: It does vary.

A couple of things are consistent--when I'm a third of the way done, I have to stop and go back and rejig everything in the first third so it will support the rest of the book. And when I've gotten to the buildup to the climax, I always have to go back and find all the dangling plot threads and write them down so I can figure out what happens and in which order.

Tamago: Which part of writing--drafting, revising, critique from others--do you enjoy the most? Why? The least? Why?

Elizabeth: The part I enjoy the most is finishing. Finishing things is good. Delivering them is even better!

But really, all of it is fun. Hard work, sometimes frustrating--but I try to hold on to the knowledge that at the baseline, I get paid to tell people stories. And that's kind of cool.

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Mirrored from Writer Tamago.