Writer’s Quote Wednesday – E.L. Doctorow

Writer’s Quote Wednesday is organised by Colleen from Silver Threading, and is a wonderful weekly series in which bloggers share the quotes which inspire them. I highly recommend checking them out.

This week my quote comes from E.L. Doctorow, an American author, known for his works of historical fiction.

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Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as  your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way. E. L. Doctorow.

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This probably relates to pantsers more than plotters, and it’s certainly something I can relate to. It got me thinking about the journey, about the approaches we take and how we get there.

Jane Graves, a romance author, has talked about how this process works for her. She has a general idea of where the story will take her, but nothing comes to life until the words are on the page. She described it like this – ‘For me, it’s kind of like remembering the words to an old song. If you ask me the words, I can’t tell you. but if the song comes on the radio and I’m in the middle of listening to it, I can tell you what comes next.’

I experience a similar thing. It isn’t until I’m midway through a novel that I begin to realise what’s going to happen – that I can see further down the road.

Similarly, Nora Roberts has said that she never knows where her story is going – she sits down at her computer to find out!

On the flip side, Katherine Anne Porter said ‘If I didn’t know the ending to a story, I wouldn’t begin. I always write my last line, my last paragraph, my last page first.’

I understand this process, and some of my friends work this way. But for me, I like to be surprised – I like to meet new characters and give them the drivers seat for a while.

How about you? Do you have the entire route mapped out? Do you enjoy to take a few detours to see where the road will lead? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mel