Jeff Nichols
asked
Eliot Peper:
Hi Eliot, really enjoy your books. Question is about writing process. Do you start with an outline or just let the story/idea take you where it will?
Eliot Peper
I change my creative process with every book.
When I began work on my first novel, I just opened up Word and started typing Chapter 1. I didn't have an outline, just an idea of where to begin and what might grow out of it. I wound up doing seven major revisions on that manuscript. For other books I've experimented with different approaches: mapping out major plot points, writing diary entries for major characters to get inside their heads, etc. Mixing up my creative process keeps me on my toes.
Over the course of writing ten novels, I've learned that certain things seem to work well for me. Every story needs a beginning, a middle, and an end. And having an idea of where I'm headed (the end) helps me find the right place to start (the beginning) and serves as a lodestone whenever I get lost on the way there (the middle).
The more writers I meet, the more diverse creative processes I glimpse, and the more I realize that there is not "right way" to write a novel, there is only the right way for you to write this particular novel.
When I began work on my first novel, I just opened up Word and started typing Chapter 1. I didn't have an outline, just an idea of where to begin and what might grow out of it. I wound up doing seven major revisions on that manuscript. For other books I've experimented with different approaches: mapping out major plot points, writing diary entries for major characters to get inside their heads, etc. Mixing up my creative process keeps me on my toes.
Over the course of writing ten novels, I've learned that certain things seem to work well for me. Every story needs a beginning, a middle, and an end. And having an idea of where I'm headed (the end) helps me find the right place to start (the beginning) and serves as a lodestone whenever I get lost on the way there (the middle).
The more writers I meet, the more diverse creative processes I glimpse, and the more I realize that there is not "right way" to write a novel, there is only the right way for you to write this particular novel.
More Answered Questions
Geo
asked
Eliot Peper:
I've really enjoyed your books so far, and I'm really looking forward to your future work. One aspect I really loved was the idea of the "feed-less bar" where they go to meet and hang out without the constant interruption of the electronic/network interruptions and surveillance. Curious where that idea came from. Also, what do you see gives you hope about the state of technology and its place in the world?
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