Processes of Reading and Writing

I received something in the mail this morning that brightened my entire day: a book. It was a thank-you gift from Kristine Kathryn Rusch. It has gone into my reading queue, and hopefully it won’t be too long before I get it read.

I read books in an odd way (well, odd according to most people I know, maybe some of you share my eccentricity). I don’t wait to finish one book before moving onto the next. On average, I read three books at the same time. Usually I read two fiction books and one non-fiction. I do this because I read according to mood. I don’t just feel like reading, I feel like reading something in particular.


For example, here’s my current batch:

Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson

Writers of the Future, Volume XX

Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Second Edition, edited by Douglas C. Giancoli

Normally the non-fiction book is for my own general edification, but seeing as I’m neither a scientist nor an engineer, it’s probably obvious that I’m doing some technical research for a specific, work-related reason. It’s actually one of my fiancé’s old textbooks (I’m guessing from his undergrad studies).

Sometimes my fiction books are separated thematically, but this time they’re separated by story length: a novel and a baker’s dozen short stories or so.

I also write like I read, which can be a major problem some times. I don’t read cover-to-cover before starting something else, and I don’t write from concept-to-polish before beginning a new project. And again, it all has to do with mood. I fall in and out of love with themes, and stories, and worlds and have to have somewhere else to vacation to for a while. This means I’ve got probably a half a dozen stories sitting between the writing and editing stages, and at least two dozen that have been temporarily abandoned at the outline stage.

Now, luckily this doesn’t translate into me not finishing things. I do. However, this can create inconstancies in voice and style in manuscripts I leave half finished and then come back to. Also, if I don’t have a complete vision for the story and I move away from it, I have a harder time taking up the reigns again.

So, I’ve been really fighting against my natural tendencies lately. I’ve been trying to force myself to work on one thing at a time, only letting myself get distracted enough to make notes on new ideas. I wrote my WotF finalist story in three straight days (editing took waaaaaay longer), and I had the entire story crystal clear in my mind before I wrote the first word. Both of my first readers said they could see a big, positive difference, and apparently so could KD Wentworth. I’m doing my best to stick to this new process, but I’m still fighting with it. Some stories are working with me, and some insist on kicking and screaming.

Hopefully one day my process and I will become one.

~Marina