So I've continued to free-write, as I described the other day. It's interesting to watch how my subconscious is responding; I've also started getting flashes of inspiration—single sentences, or even whole paragraphs of story-like stuff. Nothing worth sharing with anyone yet, I don't think, but interestingly more ripe than the totally raw stuff that comes out when I free-write.
Right now I'm just finding it a bit difficult to see how I go from where I am to the stories I like, or any story at all, really. I can churn out random sound-poetry and prose acrobatics quite handily for a long time without growing tired; but where do plot and character come from? The clichés about writing say "write what you know," and "use your own life as your source, it's a deep well." I guess I'm confused as to exactly how I go from there to a complete, bona fide story, and how the free-writing spew gets mixed in. I feel like I have no shortage of raw ingredients, but no clue how to cook; not that I think any art form has tried and true recipes that will always work (at least, not if you want to produce anything interesting). But in music there were really good exercises for getting some decently structured material "on the boil," as it were. I just don't know what those are in writing. Maybe I need to seek out a basic cookbook, to continue the metaphor; I wouldn't share peanut butter and jam or mac'n'cheese with the rest of the world as something of my own creating, but it would sure be nice to know how to make it, if only for my own consumption.