The Discovery Method
Original Post: 23 April 2012
Posted Here: 4 December 2017
The method that I’ve used for writing much of my science fiction is what I refer to as “The Discovery Method.”
I start with some idea and then it’s as if I’m peering into another time or place, watching the story as it unfolds, or as if someone is whispering what happens into my ear. I just try to write down everything that happens as it happens. Perhaps the human mind can look through a knot hole somewhere to see one of that infinity of alternate universes that are proposed now and then.
The problem with the Discovery Method is that the story sometimes becomes rather long and rambling. It is not always internally consistent and may sometimes lead to a dead end. Things that made sense while writing them down may not make sense later—something like you see in dreams.
I run into a lot of “How could that happen?” situations. The answer is, “That’s what the characters did.” Of course, you and I know that can’t happen, don’t we? But writers who use something like The Discovery Method often make statements like that. And what the characters do is often more interesting that what I had in mind.
Revision is a part of writing any story, especially when using the Discovery Method. That rambling needs to be eliminated. Those inconsistencies need to be resolved or eliminated. But wait—this is what happened! How can I eliminate things that happened? The answer is simple—They didn’t happen. I just made them up. Let’s not lose sight of reality just because we’re having fun writing a fascinating science fiction story. It is, after all, just fiction. And as the writer, we have the ultimate responsibility to make sure that we not only get it all down, but that what we got down is right. As Herbert “Truly” Truelove, from one of my favorite PBS Britcoms, “Last of the Summer Wine,” often points out, we are not always “reliable witnesses.” So I recognize that the three most important parts of writing are Edit, Edit, and Edit.
Keep reading/keep writing – Jack
