Process vs Product

[sarillia]

Do you tend to focus more on the process of writing or the product you are creating?

I was talking about this recently because I was reminded of some conversations I've seen in the knitting community about the difference in mindsets. People will say that they are a process knitter or a product knitter. I think I'm more of a product knitter. I want to be able to use what I'm making.

With writing, I focus more on the process. Writing a story is an experience for me, like watching a movie. It's a process of discovery, even when I have a detailed outline. There are still things that I didn't think of until the time comes to put the words down and ways that the story changes as I go along. The fact that this produces a tangible thing that I can enjoy later is more of a pleasant side effect than the main point of what I'm doing.

Or at least that's the way this comes naturally to me. A few months ago, I decided I would like to try to publish some of my writing, after years of telling myself that it was all for my eyes only. I'm finding the whole idea of showing my work to other people makes me feel very exposed and I haven't been doing as much writing as I used to ever since making this decision. I've been wondering if my approach has something to do with that.

But that's more of a side topic. So what do you focus on more?

Comments

[serria]

I've had pretty much the same experience - I wrote far more when it was only for me. Of course, I was younger at that time. Throughout gradeschool, I wrote a lot, but it never occurred to me to publish anything. Toward the end of high school, I started putting fanfics online, which was really scary at first, but I had so much fun that I still wrote an insane amount, and most of what I wrote never was published anyway. Now when I write, I definitely have the goal of getting published. One result is that I'm more critical of my writing because I take it more seriously. This might mean a better product (I'm not sure) but also means I write a lot more slowly and cautiously.

There's definitely more joy in writing for fun without a care for the product. I think with any hobby, from art to sports to whatever, once you try to make it professional, to some extent it feels like "work" rather than something you used to do for fun. Not that I don't enjoy writing still, because I certainly do. But now most of the real joy comes from finishing a scene or a story, and hopefully one day being published - that sense of accomplishment, and being able to read my own work from start to finish.

I do occasionally write things that are for me only. :P but there's a reason for that, haha.

[lunabee34]

I think I am product all the way with writing.

[siofrabunnies]

I'm definitely more focused on the final product. I usually write with an idea of the end or the mood and what it takes to get the end/mood that I want. I don't really enjoy writing just to write.

It follows into my other hobbies, as well. I make jewelry, and most everything I make is either something I would myself wear or a commission or gift, since playing around usually ends up with wasted materials. It's certainly not the same thing with writing, but I feel like I wasted time if I write without 'achieving a goal'.

I get the mood sometimes to write for writing's sake, but I use it to edit, because then I'm not distracted by what the plot, dialogue, etc are, so I can concentrate on making sure they're good.

[inkdust]

We talked about this a bit before, but I think I'm product-oriented in writing. I look forward to that finished piece and want to share it. However, I do write certain things sometimes with more of the process in mind and rarely any plan to show it to anyone else - the best way to describe those would be fanfiction of my own work, haha. Those usually start as scenes I play in my head without necessarily the intention of writing them down, and they feel process-oriented to me because I play them over and over, tweaking little things each time to get closer to how I want it to feel, and then sometimes it gets to the point where I want to actually write it out. Either scenes that won't make the cut, scenes from after the story ends, or AUs in some form. So now that I've given it more thought, I think do understand process-oriented writing, but my main work is product-oriented.

[agilebrit]

I'm definitely more of a product writer. I write everything with the goal of getting it published. I don't always attain that goal, of course.

I don't think about my process too much, other than "whose POV should this scene be in" or "I've got too much sequel here and not enough scene." I'm afraid that if I analyze it too much, it'll stop working. I am, however, more aware of structure than I used to be, and what should go where.

[ljwrites]

The two are inseparable to me. Sure I'd like to make a good product to share and maybe to publish, but that doesn't happen without good process. I always keep the end goal in mind and work to get there, but the process is the more immediate thing and the part I need to focus on in order to reach the end goal. Plus, the process itself changes my view of the product--I can get a few lines in and realize, whoops, this isn't the story I should be writing, or the character's motivation is wrong, or what I thought was the opening scene was actually the second from last and I have to figure out the story all over again.

So the easy answer te "process or product?" is "yes, please!" But if pressed I'd say it's more about the process because it's so fundamental--there can be process without product, but there's no product without process.