I was doing a little research the other day and discovered this 2012 interview in the Guardian with Anne Tyler, who is, and has been, one of my favorite authors. It’s a good read, and I was caught by the description of her process:
For a writer who is so protective of her privacy, she is unusually open about her routine, which is so exacting that it might have been devised by one of her characters. A “very mechanical process”, it involves revising tiny sections in “quite small and distinct handwriting—it is almost like knitting a novel” (she insists on white paper, no lines, and swears by “the miraculous Pilot P500 gel pen”). When she is happy with each section she types it up, then writes the whole manuscript out in longhand again. She then reads it into a tape-recorder to listen out for false notes or clumsiness. “You think a character would never say that, but you only know it when you speak it out loud.” To avoid typing it all out again, she ingeniously plays it back to herself on a stenographer’s machine with a pedal to pause so she can put that comma exactly where she wants it.
Did you catch that? You only know when you read it aloud. I’ve been telling you this, haven’t I?
Yes, I have. Take it under consideration.
There’s a lot more here I think you’ll enjoy.
Tweet: A description of Anne Tyler’s writing process.
Tweet: Everyone has a writing process. What’s yours?
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Great stuff, Jamie. And you just keep on keepin’ on with your blog and the posts YOU decide to share. I learn something from everything you offer…and in the process, insights mixed with a smile or chuckle. Thank you!
Thank you, Micky!
Amazing process – scary, actually! But the read aloud bit?? Oh, yeah. Ask any preacher. You don’t know what you’re saying in a sermon until you hear it.
I would never survive her process. 🙂
For someone who has nothing that could remotely be called a process…method in the madness or madness in the method is more apt, probably the latter…this is fascinating. Thanks. Jamie!
I totally get it. A lot of folks are seat-of-the-pantsers. Even me sometimes. But generally I have a process. I wrote about it last year, here: http://jamiechavez.com/blog/2015/01/the-waiting-is-the-hardest-part/