Carla's Prompt

How do you determine what to write?

I don't; the words just flow into my mind and I write them.
If it is dialogue, I hear it and write what I hear.
The scenes roll through my mind like a movie and I write what I see.
Occasionally in editing I will decide on a 'better' ie stronger word.....working on Wordsworth's theory of
'Passion recollected in tranquility' - change the word to change the intensity, not the meaning...

My volunteer readers sometimes suggest a change in order/structure and a Canadian editor made some suggestions about how to blend some relevant info naturally into the opening scenes...which I really need to get on and do.

I do rewrite. Chapter one has had 17 rewrites so far....but I feel once I have underpinned that securely the rest will be easier to build. And I think I can reach that by rewrite 20.

Also, in this case I know the start to the end of the story, but sometimes I am surprised when a new character arrives on the scene demanding attention. They always are have a critical part to play albeit brief...and I am used to the introductions now.

When it happens (an arrival) I think of Tolstoy.