The forward and backward writing process

Sometimes, I don't begin writing because I don't known where my story starts--or where its going--or exactly what threads of plot, character, setting, and theme I want to weave in along the way. Or what form to use. See, I like plans. I like to know my story's every detail before I actually sit down to write.

(This would explain why I consider two hours spent daydreaming in my big green chair today as work.)

And yet--at the same time--sometimes I can't know everything about my stories until I've written the first draft. The more I plan, the better that first draft will be; but sometimes I can't proceed with planning until I've started to write.

That's the case with the project I'm working on for the next two weeks. I know the main character, I know she deals with an eating disorder, but that's obviously not the whole story. People and their problems don't exist in a vacuum. They have lives, friends, families, circumstances that help and hinder their journeys.

I have the bare bones of a plot, but so far it feels...flat. I want to outline a better story before starting to write, but I might not discover the tale's flashier counterpart until AFTER I write.

I guess that's why writing--any writing--isn't a waste of time. Writing is thinking, processing, dreaming, and discovery. And that's what I need to do. On paper, as well as in my big green chair.

:) Cheryl