Writing style

So I've said before that I'm reading Das Sporking a lot lately, I've read fifty shades Sporking and the first twilight one, and at the end Mervin, Sands, Ket and Gehayi have included outtake scenes, spitefics and FAQs and it's inspired me (and I can't remember my very old live journal password, so you all get to hear my rant).

One of the FAQs includes fans asking Stephanie Meyer about her writing style and her blabbing about her wonderful approach to prose. And something jumped out at me. She said she wrote the scenes she had in mind and cobbled the independent scenes together with filler (I paraphrase, heavily).

I know that can work. I've written scenes for future books of mine, some of them the same incident in a myriad of different ways (but all with similar outcomes) but the above process? I wouldn't recommend it. You're never going to understand character growth in that way. Those are the chapters to reference when the correct time comes, but you have to trust in your characters enough to know that they're still on that path but the now is important. It's why my writing has languished a little lately, because Lamb and Carter are trying to race ahead of where they are at the moment, but they'll get back on track.

Anyway, you know what? Unless a writer is really skilled, you can tell when they've done this patchwork method. By all means patchwork, but then sit back and write in a linear way and include elements of the scenes as and when they're relevant. There's such a difference.

And now I'm going back to laugh at Meyer and her amazing writing abilities which include ignoring your editor and naming one of the self-insert's love interests after your brother. Sexy times.