Tuesday, March 12, 2024

The Absolute Best Way To Fail At Writing A Novel

 

THE ABSOLUTE BEST WAY TO FAIL AT WRITING A NOVEL

Let me begin with the #1MOST MOST EFFECTIVE WAY YOU CAN USE TO FAIL AT WRITING YOUR NOVEL. There are other important ones. This is #1 though. Others will only hamper you from completing your novel unless there are too many of them, in which case they will sink you faster than a tsunami. It’s like fighting pygmies. Sure, you can probably take on one or two, but you get a dozen of the little buggers attacking you and you’re dead meat. So a lot of bad habits will, I have to say, make it difficult for you to be successful.

However, for now, we’ll focus on the number 1 way to fail at writing a novel. What is it? First, a few examples of someone using this method to fail effectively: Say you are a would-be writer. You’re at a party. You have a job, but it’s not something you’re excited about. What you’re excited about is writing. You confess, more than once, that you’ve always wanted to write a novel. But there’s a problem. Things keep getting in the way. You don’t have time. Not enough hours in a day, weeks in a year, that sort of thing. Some people you say this to are sympathetic. Some are understanding. Maybe one or two give you judgey looks, but that’s just one or two.

At first.

You go on to tell the people at this party that the distractions are too numerous. Your fantasy football teams, your Facebook page, your house cleaning, your trips, your new passion for cooking, your old passion for surfing the net, your Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, subscriptions, your friends, your enemies. Who has time to write?

Not you.

Then there is the more sympathetic case. You work 50 hours a week at a taxing job; you have a family, a spouse, kids, parents. You are tired when you get home from work and just want to veg out in front of the TV. There really is no time. You certainly have good reasons not to write. That’s pretty much all that can be said to someone in this position. It’s really not your fault. You have to really want to write to use the tiny amount of free time you have on writing. So that’s what it comes down to. If you really want to write, then you will need to use that tiny amount of free time to write. If you do, you will make progress. It will be slow, but slow still gets you there, eventually. Nothing gets you nowhere.

The number one way to fail at writing a novel is not to write. Sometimes we overlook the obvious. If you want to fail at writing, don’t write. If you want to give yourself a chance, you know what you have to do.

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

WRITERS, Knowing When Something Is Wrong Actually Means You're Doing Something Right

 

Knowing When Something Is Wrong Actually Means You’re Doing Something Right

We all want our writing to be great and we all think at one time or another it is. We’re positive it’s destined for the bestseller list or a literary award and a call from movie people wanting to turn it into a blockbuster film after paying us a small fortune for the opportunity.

Alas, if it’s a first draft and if you’re a new writer, you’re suffering from a common writer affliction, “manuscript hallucination”. Rarely does any writer write something really good on the first draft, let alone someone who is new to writing. The new writer suffering from manuscript hallucination often doesn’t know he or she or they are not seeing clearly. That’s because the new writer can’t tell the difference between good and bad writing.

And this is one of the keys. Good writers still write a lot of crap. But they are good writers because they can see the difference between their good writing and their crap writing and they revise in a way that improves the writing. I’m not just talking about prose here, but also characterization, setting, and plot.

If you are a new writer, just being aware of this common writer pitfall will help you move on to the next stage of your development. Every writer who admits having this hallucination and gives themselves a bit of time and several revisions will improve their writing, regardless of where they start. A lot of writing is a skill, which means it can be learned. Sure, talent and luck play into it, but those are mostly out of our control. Work to discover what you do well and what you do poorly and learn the difference and you will be on your way.

Friday, January 12, 2024

Where Do You Get Your Ideas? If you write it they (words) will come...

 What’s the most frequently asked questions of writers by would-be writers? Ready? Here it is. Where do you get your ideas? I’ve been on a lot of writer panels at book festivals and conferences and when writers are talking craft, it’s the one that comes up again and again.

I get it. You sit down to write and nothing comes to mind and you sit and sit and stare out the window and decide the house needs to be cleaned (which can be a plus in terms of housekeeping but not helpful with writing). You can’t get started. You just don’t seem to have anything to write about. You become discouraged.

You’ll hear smart answers from writers about where they get their ideas—like “I go to the idea store” or “I’m a member of the idea of the month club and they send me an idea each month”. That kind of thing. And the reason for these ridiculous answers is, as I’ve said many times, writers have no idea where their ideas come from.

So let’s just get that out there. WE DO NOT KNOW.

So how can we help you who think you have no ideas? One way is to tell you we are all in the same scary boat. At first it might seem impossible it is going to take us anywhere at all. We are going to sink to the bottom of the sea. We are doomed.

Here is my advice. Put marks on a page. The only way to get it moving is to get it moving. Easy for you to say, you say. Right. Easy to say. Hard to do. You have to allow yourself and expect that some of what you write will be pure crap (that you will make less and less crappy as you revise until it is not crap).

I learn what I’m writing by writing. It’s the only way I know how to do it. I might begin with an idea or a character or simply a line of prose. There are many ways to begin. Just get some words on the page and then try to build on those words. Push forward. Write ten or fifteen pages. Keep writing if it seems you might have something that you can keep pushing forward. If you can’t, maybe set it aside and try writing something else. HOWEVER, be aware this is a first draft and so by nature probably, for most of us, pretty bad with a few shining moments.

If you write it, they will come. MORE WORDS and MORE WORDS… Maybe it will be a character or maybe you’ll have an interaction between characters or some cool setting detail or an interesting story idea. Something will click in those pages. Keep writing and pushing forward using whatever is clicking to keep you going.

You figure out what your story is, who your characters are, what the setting is, as you go along.

And then, when it’s time, you revise, and that’s when it all starts to come together. Most often, when would-be writers want to know about ideas, what they really mean is where does the writer get the STORY that will be told? For most writers, the story has to be built brick by brick, whether the writer does this in outline or rough draft.

The only way I know how to write my story is to write my story. Write it and more words will come.

Thursday, December 7, 2023

How do you write a lot? Here’s the secret: you write a lot. I know. Insightful. If you spend more time writing, more words find their way to the page. But here’s the tricky part. You probably think you spend more time writing than you do because you find distractions. I know. I do it too. But if you say you write two hours every day but what you really do is write for thirty minutes and then do some research, have a snack, surf some sites because you need to know everything about Easter Island after seeing some pictures on another site, for thirty minutes and then write a little more and have some ideas that drive you back to the internet to search for... well... you’re not sure. Then the phone rings. Then you check your email. 

You tell yourself you wrote over two hours and only got 1000 words done, but really you wrote about 45 minutes. A thousand words in 45 minutes is pretty good. 1000 words for two hours isn’t horrible, but it’s not great. Honestly, if I write for two hours, really write, my word count always makes a significant jump sometime in the second hour when I get the FLOW. When you get the FLOW, you know it. You are lost in the scene. You are living it. Words are jumping from your fingers onto the page so fast your fingers don’t even touch the keyboard. 

So here’s my advice. Write down how much you write WHEN YOU WRITE. If for any reason, good or bad, you STOP, you don’t count that time. Just record the actual time you’re putting words on paper. If nothing else, you’ll realize you probably write faster than you think. Maybe, though, it will help you really focus. An hour of real writing is worth several hours of writing a little here and there. And I’ll say, for me, sprints don’t work. They do get you to focus on writing (that part is good) so if that’s what you need to get there, do what you need to do. But the problem is that it’s hard to get to into the FLOW in fifteen minutes. Then you break it to take a break. So when you come back, you’re starting over. It works too much against reaching the state of FLOW 

Write when you write. Try to work your way into the flow. That’s how you get a lot of words on a page.

Or so I think today.

Brian


Monday, October 30, 2023

Do This If You Struggle When You’re a Discovery Writer (Panser)

 Do This If You Struggle When You’re a Discovery Writer (Panser) 

 

It’s scary writing a first draft. You don’t know where you’re going. How can you keep going? What happens if you can’t come up with anything? What happens if you wonder so far off from where you should go you become lost, too lost to ever recover? What happens if you write yourself into a corner? 

 

Here’s what you do. I’ve read many authors who do various versions of this. You can’t outline the whole novel. You just don’t work that way. But can you outline a scene? Think only of scenes; often scenes are whole chapters, but sometimes they might just be part of a chapter. Doesn’t matter.

 

I can’t outline, but I can outline a scene that builds on a previous scene. What I try to do in the outline is to number the main points of a scene, whether this has to do with action or conversation or reflection. Whatever the main points are. Then I write that scene. I can write it because I’ve already seen it in my mind through the outline. It’s made all the difference. How does the scene begin? How does it end? What are a few points in-between? This will allow for spontaneity and inspiration while at the same time helping you plan in a way that will make you more confident.

This outlining, scene by scene, gives you a roadmap, allowing you to stay on track and not get lost or stalled. And you can always go back and add more detailed notes or expand the outline later when the story is further along and you realize you need more to your paragraph-outline.

So, if you're a panser who wants to bring more structure and planning to your literary efforts, try outlining a scene. You'll still maintain the freedom to discover the story as you write, while having a sense of what’s just ahead. 

Friday, October 6, 2023

Plot and Language. Do They Come From Different Parts of the Brain?

 Fiction writing is complex. There’s a lot that goes into it. Here’s a point to consider: your ability to plot and tell a story come from a different place than language usage—style, voice, insight, interior life of a character.

 This was a huge revelation for me. THEY COME FROM DIFFERENT PLACES IN YOUR MIND and you can’t do both at the same time. At least not as well as you can when you separate the actions.

In practical terms, I think this means that you should try to separate them when you go through whatever your writing process is. Work on story and use that part of your brain. Write out some sentences telling yourself what you want to happen in the scene, what your goals are, and how it moves the big story forward. 

If you’re a discovery writer like me, a panser, you’re not going to be able to outline the whole story, so the way that you do this is by focusing on a single scene or chapter. Think just about the story, the bones of it, the plot of the scene. 

Then, when you’re writing the chapter, focus on language. Having already plotted out the scene, you can try to make the language express the inner conflict of the character. Your style. Your personality. Write sentences that clearly show what you’re trying to make the reader think or feel or that describe the setting or whatever you’re trying to describe. 

Separating the creation of your plot points from your use of language and all the things that go into writing your sentences will, I think, help you be better at both.

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

DON'T PANIC: Discovery Writing Means Discovering Your Story As You Write

 As a discovery writer, the most important thing is being open to discovering your story as you write. The first draft is just the beginning - you may find you need to change your story extensively in subsequent drafts before it fully takes shape. Do not panic. This is normal for a discovery writer. Just relax. Do the writer meditation. Stare out the window for fifteen minutes and daydream. Take a nap on the sofa. Have a drink if necessary—whatever you need to relax. You will go the wrong way many times in your first draft.

 

Trust that the act of writing itself will help you find the heart of your story. Don't feel discouraged if you need to rework plot points, add or cut characters, or even take the story in a new direction in later drafts. Every word you put down brings you one step closer to knowing the story you want to tell.

 

The key is not to get too attached to any one version. Be flexible and willing to make major changes if needed. Adhere to the philosophy that you can't fully know what you mean until you see what you've written. Let the story emerge organically through revision after revision. Eventually it will come into focus.

 

So keep an open mind as you write that first draft. Don't worry about getting it perfect. Just get the basics down. There will be time later to shape it into the story you envision in your revision. Trust the process of discovery through writing. Your story is in there waiting to be found.