ABSTRACT
Chapter 9 presents Virginia Woolf’s process as she was creating To the Lighthouse. Beginning with wanting to deal fictionally with her childhood, her first intention was to write a short story, then a novel based on her father. An unexpected fiction world flow brought her the structure for the book. Woolf’s method for much of the book was one she had been developing, multiple streams of consciousness. As she wrote, she discovered that her mother’s avatar was to take center stage. The character of a painter was one of several avatars in the book for Woolf herself and allowed her to describe her own experience of the creative process. Though Woolf’s work was intermittently interrupted by physical and emotional illness, she persevered, and not only produced an important modernist novel but also brought relief from obsessions that had been haunting her for years. Her multiple stream of consciousness form was the key.
