Meandering On Monday with Janet Lane Walters

Been thinking a lot about the way I write and how I do draft after draft. Sometimes I enby those people who can sit down and write their story from start to finish and do their revisions as they write. But I've discovered I can't write this way. I have to get to the end before I can see what needs to be changed in the beginning , what needs to be added and what needs to be taken away. For me in the writing each new thing I discover about the characters means there is something about their early development I missed when first writing. As the drafts continue, the characters evolve. This evolution interests me greatly. I often feel like a mother watching a child grow. The stories I've written and the characters I've developed are the children of my mind and being such, they have to grow.  I also look at the way I write as being like a painter though I use words. Start with the base coat the idea and then continue to add the layers until the picture is complete. How do you write? Are you one who must go back and revise each scene before you start another or are you like me who must apply layer after layed one coat at a time?

That's the meander today. About my current writing. I'm typing in the chapters for Moonchild 1, and blocking out Moonchild 2. Plus doing some work in removing words from the Goddesses of Er, a book I now believe must be turned from one to two simply because of the complexity of the plot and the diversity of the characters. I've also found letting time for the draft to sit gives me a fresh look when I begin another. Sometimes I think I get drunk on words and that's a good thing for a writer. Perhaps a little sign on the bulletin board above my desk would be a good idea. "Drunk On Words." What do you think? It's a better idea than being drunk on alcohol for a writer.