2 posts tagged “writing”
I have written three novels and participated in NaNoWriMo in 2001, 2002 and 2003. No, I don't think this makes me
anything even vaguely approaching an expert. None of my novels have been
published and I haven't made a dime. That said, I have learned a lot.
I'm also an avid reader, and I think the first requirement for being a
writer is that you have to love writing. The process, and the end
product.
So- out of the times I have done NaNoWriMo in the past, what have I learned?
The first thing I've learned is that writing a first draft is an
intensely selfish thing. You go into the writing process not knowing
if what you write will be anything approaching readable. You go into
it knowing that you will be sacrificing a great deal of time, and all
of that only because you want to. I've also learned that it's okay to
be selfish. Every book ever written started out with an idea, and
someone taking the time to see if that idea would work. Without the
selfishness of authors the world would be bereft of literature. So, go
with the selfishness. Do the deed.
All first drafts have
problems. While there may be a few authors out there that get away
with a minimum of editing, the vast majority of first drafts have huge
errors. The process of writing means re-writing. That's a good
thing. Your first draft does not need to be anywhere close to the
final product. It must have the skeletal structure of the finished
thing, but the meat of the story goes on in the finishing touches.
You have your skeleton, you have your meat. The third thing I've
learned is that 1 must, always, come before 2. Finish the first draft
before editing. You can re-read your work, sure, but the best way (for
me) to go about finishing the first draft is to separate the two things
in my mind. I tell myself to lay out the bones before even thinking about putting any meat on it.
Plot holes? Don't sweat it. The beauty of life isn't the planned, but
the unplanned. You go out to buy milk and see an old friend. You plan
a honeymoon only to get rained in and spend the whole time eating room
service in a house robe. The beauty of life is also the beauty of
writing. Often we find what we planned falls through once encountered
with the reality of characters and the strictures of making a story
believable. Don't get so attached to your plot that you miss the real
story.
Write regardless of your personal feelings or mood.
Learn to put the words on the page even if the "spirit" isn't with
you. If you only write when the spirit takes you, you will never
finish. Writing is work, just like everything else in life. It is a
craft as well as an art. If you can't learn the craft, you will never
be good at the art. Talent only takes you so far. People born with a
talent for basketball still have to perform rote drills. People with a
talent for business still need to crunch numbers and people with a gift
for words still need to practice their craft even when it doesn't feel
like art.
The beauty of NaNoWriMo is that it forces all of us to
practice our drills, so to speak. We learn a familiarity with our
craft that we would never have without accountability.
My
advice? For what it's worth, my advice is to look at your NaNoWriMo
writing as just the first draft, just the bones. No one is expecting a
work of art out of you. All of us who have been there and done that
have had a love/hate relationship with our NaNo work. That's fine, and
expected. So throw yourself in to it, selfish as that may be, and
learn to love the craft!
A few survival tips:
- Treat yourself. If a double mocha with caramel drizzle will keep you at your desk, do it.
- Choose now what you will sacrifice later. You will HAVE to give up a few TV shows, some dinners out, some time with friends. If you make the decision now to just record Grey's Anatomy and catch up later, it will be easier than hating the fact that you are missing it when you realize then that you won't have time.
- Accept the fact that the house may be dirtier.
- Tell your family and friends ahead of time that you will be incommunicado and may not return every call. Ask them to give you space. Don't let it blindside anyone.
- Keep a notebook to write down word and
page counts for each writing session, and to write reminders for the
next. For example, if you are writing a scene where one character
gives another a blue shirt, and in the next scene the blue shirt will
play a role, write "blue shirt, character A, needs to say "blah blah
blah, etc." That way you'll ward off plot inconsistencies.
- Work ahead, don't catch up. If you know you can't miss this or that event, work ahead. You will feel better knowing that you're 5000 words past your goal than worrying about the 2000 you will have to make up.
- Treat yourself. I cannot stress this enough. Make the writing a pleasure. Fill thoughts of your desk with thoughts of chocolates and nachos, and it will make the time you spend there that much sweeter.
I know I need to get back on the craft bandwagon.
I will.
I promise.
For the time being, all this week the Vox hunts have been about things like "where do you write?", "show us some writing," and, "show us something printed on an HP printer!" (Okay, so the last one isn't true.)
I thought that it might be fun to play along- at least a little. If you haven't already noticed, I tend to be extremely self critical- especially when it comes to my writing. I do like to have other people read and leave editorial comments, but I am also an extremely thorough (and pretty mean) self editor. Here is proof: (yes, all of the pink is me on myself)
The novel pictured in the above pages is Chase. I love that novel dearly and had posted a few excerpts from it in my private blog in the past. I'm thinking of posting a few excerpts here in the future. I don't know if I will or not. I love Chase too much to publicize her that much. At some point, when I finish the edit I'm currently on, I'll either go about trying to find an agent again or I'll just Lulu it. Getting an agent is arduous and right now I just don't have the emotional reserves to deal with more rejection.
I've made a decision, though. I think I want to finish In the Company of Ravens first, and just go ahead and self publish. Just to see what the experience feels like, if I'm able to find an audience and if I feel accomplished. If it's a positive experience, I would feel a lot less guilty about publishing Chase myself. I just have way too much emotional investment in Chase (as a character, a book and a phase of my life) to just throw in the towel not knowing what I'll get.
And, just because, here is my desk:
In any case, I often marvel at the fact that I was who I was, I am who I am, and I write what I write. Chase, being primarily about a girl who was raped, gets pregnant, and has to struggle with what to make of her life, seems like it does come purely from me. People who read it see Chase as me, in another life. The Ravens, on the other hand, would be something that people might have a hard time rationalizing with who I am.
Life is strange.
