Whispers

You probably know from my writing that I'm always erring on the side of too much detail. On the one hand I think that comes from years of roleplay where everything had to be spelled out. But honestly, I'd rather cut things (or be told to cut things from a story) than to have to go back and add them in after the fact. It's a curious phenomenon, but when I'm done with a thing, I'm done with it and I don't want to go back and revisit it too much; I lack the motivation for that so often because my brain says "done" and that's that.

I think you would do well to work on something longer with a collaborator. Someone who's new and fresh and can pick your brain for ideas -- see what's in your thoughts -- and do the nasty-for-you business of fleshing things out. Of course, egos being what they are, then you'd have to share the bounty, but imagine the stories that could come of it.

I write long, and I like to write sequentially because going back and filling in the middle later on rarely works for me. I can know how a story ends, but I don't want to write that ending until the rest of it has taken shape. For me it's an organic process; I don't use outlines and I don't like to plan things. I'm one of those people who likes the characters to fill me in as I go along. I don't get flashes of a complete thing and say "aha, steps a-b-c." I usually just get flashes of a character and have no idea what to do with them until I sit down and write. Or, as people like to say, sit down and let them dictate.