User blog comment:Grizzly Bear/Writing A Story Takes Time/@comment-24918243-20140613024427

I go about it somewhat differently.

 Basically I let the idea bonce around in my head some. Let it germinate. By then I usually have an ending. A one-two punch if you will.  I then start to really thing about the characters, what their motivations are. By then I sit down and write. Most of the time, the characters surprise me and take the story in directions I did not even conceive of in the beginning, even if the final destination is still the same. I then proofread and try to remove all the words that are not necessary in the story. It's my trim down phase. Then proofread again, post in in WW. Make the corrections people point out and consider the suggestions that were made. Make changes. Proofread again. Then I kind of let it sit in WW, until I come up with an illustration for the story.</li> If there are no suggestions or corrections to be made by the time the artwork is done, I publish it.</li> </ol> The funny part is that what I consider my strongest stories were the ones that took me the least time to write. And the longest part really starts after I finish the first draft.