Yzabel / September 1, 2005

It’s always weird and somewhat thrilling to realize that some of my methods are close or even exactly similar to those of known fiction writers. Today, while going on reading How to Write Science-Fiction and Fantasy, this is exactly what happened to me.In the second chapter of his book, Card describes the genesis of Hart’s Hope, one of his rare forays into fantasy, that took years to develop. How it all started by the map of a town scribbled on a piece of paper. How the town had specific doors that made it so that a traveller entering through God’s Door could only have access to the Temple area, and not to the others. The many processes that made it develop into a town where the gods of old had been defeated by a mere mortal. How this mortal had been able to acquire such a power, through a blood magic to which only a crime could give so much strength and efficiency. I’m not telling more about it here, but do know that it was really fascinating, to see all of these elements gathered through the years combine to shape a whole world and, finally, the plot of the story.That’s when I realized that for the past ten years, I had been following the exact same process to develop my trilogy, and the rest just dawned on me: I hadn’t been wasting my time and going from failure to failute here. So many years were probably the time I needed for my story to get ripe, from my 16-years old self to the woman I now am, able to put into words the visions that have been drifting through my mind for so long.Many elements disappeared or were added or modified in the tapestry of my plot(s), and I now acknowledge the fact that taking so much time was for the best. I have matured, my ideas have matured, the complex organization of my world has grown into something believable, or so I like to think. Along the way, I’ve found myself performing changes I hadn’t envisioned, simply because other elements had put themselves into place, and were demanding a logical followup. I’m glad it happened. Nowadays, I have no problems writing scenes and chapters, since I know my world and characters well enough, and also know where I’m headed to.”You’ll probably have to wait months or years before writing good versions of story ideas you come up with now“: notice the emphasis that Card places on “good” here. We all conceive and perform our writing in different ways, but it’s interesting for me to see that this “method”, to which I had never given any name, that I hadn’t even envisioned as such, is actually endorsed by one of the great names of science-fiction. Does it mean that I can only do good by following it? I don’t think so. I’m proceeding this way because it’s always been mine no matter what, that’s all.Those among you who write fiction, do your works also get shaped in the same, or at least in a similar, way? Do you also need to gather various elements, for weeks, months or even years, before a story of yours can take a good turn and get developed properly?Perhaps I’m still not done with my novels here, but I can at least say that should they have been written a few years ago, in the rush of my early twenties, I very likely wouldn’t like them at all today.fiction, fantasy, science-fiction, writing