Jonathon Grant over at Oberon pointed me to a Joss Whedon interview.

I haven’t gotten sucked into Firefly or Serenity yet, but I’m already a fan based on what he says about his writing process:

“The way I work, I’m like a vulture. I circle and circle and then I dive. I usually don’t actually write anything until I know exactly how it’s going to turn out. I don’t “let the computer take me away.” I’m an absolute Nazi about structure. I make outlines. I make charts and graphs with colors.”

YES! I am not alone. I have done quite a bit of writing on Quantum already, but I’m still circling like a vulture, as he puts it.

He goes on in response to a question about Wonder Woman:

“Not for “Wonder Woman,” because I’m still working out the plot. But I’m finding the moments that matter; I’m finding the things that make the story really resonate; the things that I just can’t wait to film. I have great big questions to answer, but I’m in that beautiful, free-form poetical place where you just get to think up moments and see if they fit in your movie. And that’s almost more fun than anything. And that work, which is a vital part of what got me interested in doing the job in the first place, is being done.”

Being a Nazi about structure. Finding the things that make the story really resonate.

“I’m in that beautiful, free-form poetical place”

I think it makes a bit more sense if you reverse that to FORM-FREE.

THAT is Story DNA.