Deborah joins the Luna Novella series with The Carrying Capacity of Paradise, an SF story set off-world. You can order it here. After Deborah's interview last month, here is how she approaches her own writing process - her 10 Things about writing!
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1. In the Eternal Conflict between Plotter and Pantser, I am on neither side. I like a loose outline, but write to signpost scenes, and if something in between Point A and Point Z turns out to be a better idea than whatever Point M was, and doesn’t really change the signpost at Point Z? Then the better idea wins!
2. When getting started writing on any given day, I like to re-read what I wrote the previous day to get back in the flow of the ideas. A lot of people don’t like to do this. Your mileage may vary. But this is how I do it.
3. A lot of people like to say “don’t edit as you write.” I disagree with this advice. I edit freely. Again, that’s me, and it may not work for you.
4. An introduction is a promise. The rest of the story has to bear out that promise, or subvert it satisfactorily on some level. Whether that promise is conveyed in tone or plot or character or all three, my introduction is my compact with the reader.
5. A conclusion is my gift to the reader, the point I wanted to make, and the tone I wanted to leave them with. I generally try to make it a good one. Whether or not I succeed is firmly in the mind of the reader!
6. Once the story is out in the wild, you can’t control what people think of it or believe that it means. As someone who was a technical writer for seventeen years, clarity of meaning is the most important thing I can give an audience. I don’t generally go in for ambiguous endings or cloaking meaning in hints and veils. Even when I’m as clear as I can be, people can and will still misunderstand, so it’s on me to remove barriers to meaning wherever possible.
7. Read constantly, and always be learning. Whatever you learn will find a way out into your writing, often in the most unexpected ways.
8. Listen to your characters. If they wouldn’t do something just because you plotted it out, then maybe that was a dumb plot point that should be revised. (See point 1.)
9. When I was just starting out, people were really free with the advice that I should pay to go to a writing workshop, taking time off of work that I couldn’t afford to do, finding someone to care for my kid to do so, etc. I quickly realized that no, I didn’t need to do that. Those workshops might help some people, but I remain leery of them, on the basis that money should flow to the writer, and that there’s no guarantee that the story labored over and lauded at a workshop will actually sell in the real world any more than something written at home.
10. I go out of my way to avoid reading reviews. Not because I don’t appreciate positive ones, but because negative ones get in my headspace in the worst possible way. If someone brings a positive or neutral one to my attention, great, I’ll go read that one. Anything else is just asking for trouble, lol.
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You can order The Carrying Capacity of Paradise here. Discover the full series!
About Deborah:
Deborah L. Davitt was raised in Nevada, but lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and son. She’s known for her prize-winning poetry and acclaimed short stories and novels. Her work has appeared in F&SF, Analog, and Asimov’s. For more about her work, including her Elgin-nominated poetry collections, The Gates of Never and Bounded by Eternity, please see https://www.deborahldavitt.com/ . For information about her podcast, please see www.youtube.com/@ShiningMoonSpeculativeFiction.
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