Do you understand what you're writing?

[EJDeBrun]

I always write with a theme. It helps ground me and allows me to make certain shortcut decisions while I'm working. It also helps me a lot in editing. I use the theme as a rubric to determine what I will cut and what I will keep and I admit it makes it a lot easier for me to make wholesale changes, like getting rid of characters or scenes etc etc.

Having said that, I don't think this is a method for everyone. And really the question comes down to the same kind of pants or plot debate. For me, I think the only critical thing is that EVENTUALLY the writer tries to figure out exactly what they're saying and work towards that. It can happen at any time in the process so long as it actually happens.

Though I suppose that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with knowing what you're writing. I think no matter how well anyone plans or plots or outlines, characters and scenarios will always kind of surprise and that's important. If it surprises the writer it's certainly going to surprise the reader who doesn't have everything on hand to know what's going to happen next. So I think intrinsically, there's no way to know everything about the work while you're working. That would assume that there would be no edits, and we all know how that goes.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I think it's hard to force themes into a piece of writing. It's better to write a good story and let the reader figure out their own themes, just like different people will take different things away after studying a painting or work of art.

To paraphrase Tolkein , it's a dangerous business writing a book. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet there's no knowing where you might be swept off to. My advice is not to keep your feet - let them wander where they will.

 

[Susan Boulton]

No I don't. Things trickle out, thoughts on subjects, opinions, often I find myself seeing the opposite of what I personally believe and use that. Sometimes my writing reflects what is happening in the general world, or personal experience.

Also I have found that readers often see other things, and I find I am surprised that my writing has caused their chain of thought or those ideas.

 

[Lumens]

What I see around me comes out in my writing. It's a way of processing it. I hardly need to understand it, as long as it makes sense on some level.

Understanding often comes after the fact, sometimes years later, and it can suddenly change as well, radically. The need for understanding the world does not drive me to write, because I do not believe that it is possible to conquer the truth, ultimately. Understanding as such is overrated.

I do hope it's possible to conquer the mind though.