I’ve noticed that my short stories tend to be very character-centered, but with my novel it’s all about the plot, that marvelous and surprising unfolding of events.

Of course I want both of these to be fully developed – it’s only that my focus seems to shift according to the length of the work. I wonder if it’s like this for other writers.

I began writing Beamstar without having a plot or an end in mind, and with the world-building only partially complete. I just thought the story would work itself out in the writing. In fact, it did. So now I know that I can trust the creative process. That’s a good thing to know.

Here’s what I tried so far, and what I want to try:

1. My first attempt at novel-writing was based on the plot-point method. This produced 40,000 words of disconnected “key scenes” and fizzled out.

2. My second try was the make-it-up-as-you-go-along method. It worked, but it was hard, and yes, I did feel lost at places along the way. In the end, I managed to produce a completed and coherent 102,000 draft soon to be revised.

3. For my third novel, I will try the “snowflake method,” invented by Randy Ingermanson, and which I first read about on Mary Garcia’s weblog. However, I won’t be starting this new novel until after I have revised Beamstar. This next novel will be fantasy, and the preliminary ideas are already beginning to come together. I’m looking forward to it.

But not yet.

For now, I’m resting. I went back to full-time work today   so I have a bit of adjusting to do this week. Also, I think I’d like to write a couple of short stories before revising my current draft. So it may be several months before I’m ready to write this next book.

I’d be interested in hearing what methods other writers use.