Hunter asked David Wong:

I love the honesty of your prose. Your first novel honestly made me feel less alone at a lonely time. How does your writing process go? Do you use an outline?

David Wong I get nervous answering these questions about process, because I worry that people will interpret it as a "writing tip" (as in, "This is how you will succeed at writing") and I hate when writers do that. There is no one right way, no two authors I know do it the same. So in my case I outline very carefully, and also I don't make myself write the book in order - if I find a later scene interesting on a particular day I'll skip ahead and write it (which you can do in an outline, since you know what's coming) but lots of authors would say that's impossible and ruins the organic flow of the story or whatever. It just comes down to how your brain works. And even among writers who outline, there is huge variation when it comes to how closely they stick with it (I tend to change it a lot on the fly). Other writers will only progress after they page they've written is perfect, rewriting it over and over before moving on. I'm happy to write a very rough page/chapter and then move on, knowing I'll come back and fix it later.

In terms of honesty, I guess this IS a writing tip: Writers get obsessed with being original or clever or cute in their writing, but simple blunt honesty will blow the readers' mind more than any of that. If you are able to understand and express the blunt, honest truth about yourself and the world, you'll write the most original thing they've ever read. That's how hard honesty is to come by in this world.

flag