I’m taking a little break. I just worked out about six hundred words that aren’t horrible and I felt like telling someone. Of course I’m assuming that someone might actually be reading these posts. I’m all about the fantasy.
I’ve read a number of places (Steven King’s On Writing and Orson Scott Card’s How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy immediately come to mind) that writing is a lonely job.
I am committed to having my first draft by the end of August. I am committing to increasing my actual writing time each day. I thought I would originally be shooting for 100k words, but it looks like I may have to eclipse that a bit to tie everything up. I’m okay with that (at least now. I’ll probably be despairing sometime later this week on my rollycoaster ride that is writing).
I would love to get published on my first effort (not first draft, first effort), but I understand it is a long shot. I consider my current work to be, at the very least, an awesome learning experience. It’s a great way to let me know what works for me (scheduled writing time) and what doesn’t (totally winging the story). It also helps me wrangle my inner critic enough that I enjoy even the clunkers and the hard days.
Jack Black once said in Tenacious D, The Search for Inspirado (HBO TV), “I could manufacture Inspirado, but that would be false.” Of course he’s dead wrong, but still funny. The best way to manufacture Inspirado is to sit down and write. I’d love to hear any anecdotes of your search for Inspirado and enjoy this little Tenacious D video. ***Coarse language warning and irrevocable loss of the next 9 minutes and 10 seconds of your life.***
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_Z2wNjY0Zk]
Writing is lonely, but only in that no one can explain my characters or their motives to me. I love working with a critique group, and while my first novel failed for structural reasons, my second almost failed for being over-written and vague. I love the way it is turning out through the help of my critique group, and the more I learn, the fewer mistakes I make.
To answer your question, Jonathan, it is the characters that insipire me to write. I love watching people and seeing how a simple misundertanding can get blown out of the sky; how some people wrestle with the ramifications of their past actions; how all of us interact with one another. When I write, I feel like I’m studying human nature, and that is what inspires me. Great article!
Teresa
I enjoy the character development and relationship angles of writing, too. I get excited wondering what is going to happen next and how my characters will react. And to think, all this is running around in our minds! Great stuff.
“On writing” is on my reading list 🙂
I have to say that “On Writing” is the book that got me into this mess to begin with. I love King’s easy, accessible style and his no-nonsense approach to the whole thing. I can’t recommend that book enough. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I refer to it periodically for a little jolt of inspiration or for a good laugh. Any man who can put the line, “Oh man — who farted, right?” when talking about circuitous, torturous writing is A-OK in my book.
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I am also shooting for having a first draft by end August. Means I need to write about 1400 words/five time per week. did so last week. So far so good this week…ahhh. I have never given myself deadlines before. When I sit I need to forget about them, otherwise not a single word comes 🙂
Lots of first novels do not get published, yet many do!
Nothing is in vain, whatever the case may be!
I hear you. I definitely try not to focus on the number, but I think I do need something to shoot for. Since I changed from 1000 to 2000 a day, things seemed to have opened up for me. Also, it forces me to be less meticulous with the minutiae and allows me to move deeper into the structure of the story faster. Hopefully that winds up being a good thing and I’m not banging my head into the keyboard come revision time.
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