the Unseen

This is a site for an author, someone who writes–and writes a lot. Probably not as much as they could, but certainly more than the average.

But sometimes–a lot of times–writing isn’t always the physical, actual act of writing a story’s narrative. There are plenty of times when “writing” means brainstorming. When it means making notes, backstory that will never be seen on page, possible plot points that may or may not be ever used. Sometimes it means not writing anything at all–notes or otherwise–and instead rolling ideas around in one’s head.

It’s difficult for an onlooker, especially someone who doesn’t write or doesn’t write very often, to watch a writer work and understand that it may not always seem as if we’re doing anything. There are days where I stare at the page and maybe write two sentences of narrative, if I’m lucky. There are days where all I can do is collate and gather ideas and jot them down or think about them.

But then there are days when I write five, seven, ten pages all at once.

It’s tricky being the writer, too, when half the work isn’t physically writing. You feel as if you should be writing all the time. All the time. Except sometimes writing means reading. Good writers are good readers, good observers, good listeners. A writer doesn’t just write, a writer tells a story. And that, I think, is the important thing to remember. For those looking in and not seeing much narrative story progress, remember that there is so much behind-the-scenes work being done, even when there is no pen touching paper.

(And it’s important for me to remember, as well, that I don’t have to be writing narrative all my waking hours, every day of the week, month, year. Thinking about ideas is okay and part of writing, too.)

I am always writing, be it by ideas whirling around in my head, or when I am scratching away in a notebook. Be it when I am drawing up character backgrounds or bulleted plot points or drawing maps.