WORD SOUP AND SALAD: SESSION 0 - CURATION AND CROCKPOTS
A guide to what comes before pre-writing
Every writer wants to talk you through how to write. But I’m terrible at doing what I’m told, and I think process is deeply personal.
But I also think most writers who try and sell their process as something deeply mystical sound like this guy:
Nevertheless, I read a lot of books about writing. Part of it feels like I have to, and sometimes it’s something I do to find my groove again. In the way that people talk about “body-doubling,” - the way work can be easier if you’re doing it alongside someone (or a video/podcast of someone) else doing the same thing, reading about writing is a form of that for me. When reading about writing I can practice making choices without making them, feel justified or terrified in my own personal approach, or quietly nudge my resistant brain toward active writing mode.
I’m currently reading a book about writing, and mostly find myself nodding along with the advice. Deep down, I already know most of the advice in this book, and yet, there’s something galvanizing (let’s come back to that word later, actually) about seeing someone else write it out. It’s like reading a self-help book that makes you think about your characters and their fake problems, instead of you and your real problem. “How to alleviate the co-dependent relationship between you and the fictional people in your head,” or something. And aren’t we all in search of that nodding along feeling, like a song with a great beat or a sermon that you can’t help but agree with (so I hear)?
When I like a writer, or find them interesting, I find their process interesting. My recent post, Causing Trouble in Eight Pages, did really, really well, so that tells me you want to hear more about my process.
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Before we start: I’m not the sort of person to claim a secret, or offer a rigid plan, especially not one you’re paying to read. That’s scummy. But if you’re not sure if you’d like to see my writing process, here are some reasons you might:
It enables me to be creative on a deadline.
I’m not perfect in my process by any means, but I have written a lot. In the past ten years I’ve written something approaching 200 issues of comics, as well as audio dramas, prose fiction, and articles. Despite my many different sources of work - some decided for me, some I’ve asked and pitched for, but most a combination of both - the process always shakes out more or less the same.
It’s loosey goosey.
If you’re someone like me who is a little bit…uh…naturally defiant, and you find yourself balking at the idea of sitting down to a routine every day, that’s fine. I don’t think that’s necessary, and it just makes people give up when they ‘miss a day’ or whatever. I give myself an end-date (or my editor gives me a deadline) and how I get there is up to me. Speaking of which -
It’s desire-driven.
I’ve got a lot of interests. I probably would have done great in Montessori School. I have a lot of passion for whatever’s interesting me at the moment, and almost none for anything else. You know how I get the boring grown up stuff done? Podcasts about my current interest playing in one ear at all times. If you’re like this too, it’s okay. This is not a Couch to 5K where I’m gonna give you a schedule and tell you how and when to write. There are a lot of books like that, and I hate them.
It requires work, but not regiment.
Writing is work, and work often sucks. Unless we’re in the zone, I feel that it’s some of the hardest mental work there is. The reason we would rather do dishes and go to the gym is because writing is a constant series of making choices. And making choices is exhausting. It’s the same reason why we want our partner to have a craving for dinner, so we don’t have to choose, and actually writing is just making that choice again and again with every word. So! It’s hard work as it is, and I’m not gonna make you do it when you don’t feel like it. I think you should write wherever and whenever you want. Here are some of my favorite writing times: 8PM-12AM, on a 2+ hour flight, on my phone while in a line. It doesn’t matter.
So this isn’t a program or a lesson, it's a walk through. There are a lot of ways to beat the game, but here’s how I do it.
And it starts before I even know it’s started.
I’m calling it Word Soup and Salad. It actually starts long before I even know what I’m doing, long before pre-writing, with something I call ‘crockpotting’ and we will all call Session 0.