It works astoundingly well to just improvise. Don’t underestimate the power of that. It’s always hard to just freewrite, because you feel it’s not gonna go anywhere. And because it’s messy and dependent upon the Underneath. But if you just let go, that’ll bring you to the next thing you need to write.

Some of its total bullshit, of course. But sometimes you accidentally hit gold and you don’t even realize until later. And if you hadn’t jumped into the swamp, you would never have found it.

Another thing is, a lot of times I write stuff, then I throw it away; then later, years later, I remember it and it fits perfectly into the new story.

The point is: write, write, write, whatever comes into your mind, try to flesh it out, even if you feel completely lost, floundering, nonsense sputtering from your lips—it’ll go somewhere, it’ll end up somewhere, if you just do it.