I'm a planner in every part of my life save writing. With my stories, while I may have a vague idea of an opening scene or the synopsis, I honestly have no idea what I'm going to write when I sit down to start a new story. Or a new scene, for that matter. A friend asked today for "insider information" on one of my serials, and I couldn't have given it to her even if I wanted to, because I haven't written that part yet. All I could give her were guesses...the rest is still locked up in my subconscious somewhere, and odds are good I won't see it until I'm typing it out. 

Last week when I sat down to start a new story, the only things I knew were the title and that one of the characters needed an Irish heritage (far removed, because I'm too lazy to research how to write an authentic Irish accent). I had no character names, no back story, nothing. Just the title and a wee bit o' info to go on (I'd apologize, but ya'll should be used to that by now).

A lot of writers would be a quivering mass of anxiety about now, curled up in a corner in the fetal position, repulsed by the nice, crisp-white screen staring them down.

Me...not so much. I welcome the blank page with open arms (or fingers...you know what I mean). When I get ready to write a new scene, I re-read the last section I wrote, and then just pick it up from there. It doesn't matter if I don't know what to write...I just start writing right where I left off. It's not nearly as mystical as it sounds though - it's just that in reading what I've already written, I tap back into the story my subconscious mind was telling me when I quit writing last time, and the story starts going again. If it doesn't start playing again in my head, that means my conscious mind is still in control - which is almost never a good thing. Normally it means I'm fighting the direction my subconscious wants to go. There is no way to win that fight, by the way. Either I give up and just go with it (which is the right answer 99% of the time), or I fight it and struggle with the whole scene to make it fit the direction my conscious mind thinks it should take. I rarely regret listening to my subconscious, even if it takes a ginormous leap of faith at the outset. I often regret listening to my conscious mind regarding a story. My subconscious nearly always is better at storytelling.

Yeah, I know some people call that a "muse"...for me, it's just that area of my brain I can't consciously control. I can't bring myself to give it anymore power by naming it.

When I'm starting a new story, my conscious brain likes to screw around...organizing a new file, creating new chapters/scenes (structurally speaking), pretending I'm actually going to plan the story...

But when I'm actually ready to write, the only thing I can do is just relax and start typing whatever comes to me within the very few confines I've given myself. In most cases, my subconscious has had the title and either a character or scene to ruminate on, and while I have no conscious idea where the story will go, if I just trust myself and start typing, the story will come out. Sometimes I'm even lucky enough to get a glimpse of things to come while I'm writing.

Not to brag or anything, but my subconscious is much smarter/better at being creative than my conscious self. As long as I let the sub. lead (which puts a new spin on things, doesn't it now?), it's all good. Fight the sub, things get ugly.

That story I started last week? Just three hundred words in, I knew the main character's name, what she looks like, her basic back story, and what her character arc would be (roughly). I also knew what the hero looks like, and what his role will be in moving the heroine along the arc she needs to travel. And I know the basics of what types of conflict is in store for them. I even checked Google to see if her name needed to be changed for an Irish heritage - nope. Turns out Breanna is an Americanized version of an Irish name (Brianna/Brian/Brenna) - so it's perfect to denote a far off Irish ancestry along with her red hair/green eyes.

To access all that, I needed to start writing. It's like turning on a tap - and after it starts flowing nicely, I can more or less turn it on or off at will until the story is done.

People ask me all the time how I work on so many different projects at once...and that's how. I simply turn on the tap for whatever story I'm currently working on by re-reading the last bits I wrote, and when I'm done for the night, I turn that tap back off.

You know what that means? Apparently, my brain is a bar, with all sorts of different liquors ready to serve up, depending on my mood.