Rudy tells us how it's done

Over on the Edge, their annual World Question asks great and the good "how is the internet changing the way you think?" Rudy Rucker's response provides an interesting commentary on novel writing:

I am a novelist, and the task of creating a coherent and fresh novel always seems in some sense impossible. What I've learned over the course of my career is that I need to trust in emergence also known as the muse. I assemble a notes document filled with speculations, overheard conversations, story ideas, and flashy phrases. Day after day, I comb through my material, integrating it into my mental Net, forging links and ranks. And, fairly reliably, the scenes and chapters of my novel emerge. It's how my creative process works.

That first sentence seems particularly comforting. I'm struggling with something new at the moment, and that sense of impossibility is extrememly disheartening.

I read his brilliant novel Postsingular a couple of years back, and he made his notes document for that available on his website. They give an amazing insight into this process. Both the novel and the notes are highly recommended!