McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Author In Progress
The Deposed King:
Writing is a lot like stacking lumber off the green-chain in a saw/planner mill. Its hard work. Its unlike stacking lumber as you have to keep your brain functional during the whole thing and can't let your brain space off while your body goes on automatic but the hard work principle is the same.
We start writing because its fun and its something we look at and say hey! I could do that too! Or you've got this killer story circling around in your head that you just want to release. However we finish a book because we're able to look at writing like a job and keep writing even when its so awful, terrible and worst of all boring that we want to quit and do something else. When you still won't stop. When you can look at it like a job in the nursing home, where you had fun for a while helping out gramas and grandpas get out to breakfast, lunch or dinner but now fun time's over and its time to change some diapers and still keep going. Then and only then young padawan a Jedi/writer you will be.
The sad fact of things is that most people can't write a terrible 1st draft. Note I didn't say write a good book or write a good draft. Its worse than good or great or just okay.
Most people can't even write a terrible piece of garbage they'd like to wipe their hind quarters with after using the toilet. So when you've got a roll of already been used toilet paper that's already large enough to qualify for a novel, you know you've finally arrived. After getting a full length anything I guaran-blasted-tee you that it'll be a lot easier to go back and edit the bajeebeeze out of it and turn your skunk flower into an awful purdy flower. Sure its work to get help with your manuscript. But if you've got a 1st draft in hand, its a lot easier to say, I'll help you with yours if you help me with mine!
Writing a book is like that first week in college. The whole class room is full to bursting. by by the end of the week you've had a big turn over as people bail on the class and new people, the ones who really want a shot at the class, fill the newly opened spots.
Be the guy who wants it more and its like anything, you can do it. Writing doesn't take genius level intelligence. It takes a basic level of intelligence, imagination and so long as you've got that basic level, all you need after that is the work ethic.
It sucks but that's the way. Now lest you think I'm being unsympathetic, I spent about a decade funning around the slush pile over at Baen's Bar, reading free indie stuff and writing the occasional chapter when the urge was undeniable. Over there I (a one language, english speaking only, guy) got complimented on how well I was doing with english being my second language. A real ego deflating experience let me tell you. I didn't get much writing done for the year after that. But you know what. When I finally got serious and said this is do or die. I cranked out a novel in one month. I a guy who'd never written more than about 15k in my longest novel cranked out a 120k book in the month of january. Life was hell, I was about to have to leave my wife and kids and go back to the states and work for at least 6 months. I finally wanted it bad enough and so I just did it. Writing that book didn't save me. I wasn't able to stay, I had to still go back and work. In fact it took me about a year before I got enough fans to be able to earn enough selling my (by then two books) to be able to even dream of writing supporting me here with my wife and kids. But you know what? Right now I've got 5 novels and 2 novellas for sale on amazon and I'm 86k into my 6th novel (the 4th book this year alone!). If you're writing full time 4-5 books a year as your 8 hour 9-5 job is doable. Other guys (like I was last year) do one to two books a year and a full time job.
Like they sing on the Frog Prince cartoon, you've just got to dig a little deeper, and work a little harder. To me writing is like running your first mile. The first time it seems impossible. The second time is hard as hell. But if you keep after it before long its just a groaner when you start out, after the first belly aching complaints of the day, you settle down and pound out the distance. Pretty soon you're at the point you can do more than one mile. Whether or not you chose to do so.
Sadly I will say again that writing is work. You start writing for fun, you stop because its hard/boring/terrible and that instant of 'hard/terrible/boring' is what separates the men from the boys. It separates the athletes from everyone else. The c-squad from the varsity. When you reach that point and you push through it, not because its fun, because its the very opposite of fun, its hard work that you hate! that's the point that you've decided to become a writer. However let me say, you start writing the fun scene, you want to stop but don't and slog through this hard work terrible stuff you're forced to write because you're going to hit your word target for the day, that after a couple thousand words of drek you'll find yourself back to writing something fun! You just have to have that stick-to-it've-ness!
Go get'em tiger!
The Deposed King
King Shisa:
OK, so... this is me.
More than 10 years ago I wrote a novel-length horror manuscript. It sucked. I went back and did two rewrites before realizing the truism about polishing a turd, and moved on. I did a second novel, a paranormal mystery, and wasn't happy with it so I went and did a prequel to it (I loved the characters). I tried to hook an agent with it and came darn close (had a lot of exchanges with one who ultimately decided to pass because it "wasn't quite good enough" - words that have more or less become branded on my soul). Broken, I filed them all away and tried to forget about them for the last six years.
Late last year, upon urging from a friend, I gave the manuscript to him to review. I took his notes, did a quick edit, and gave it back for perusal. When I get it back I'm going to try to get it going again, hopefully with better results. In the meantime, I've dusted off an old idea and am about to embark on yet another round of tribulations. I don't know if my heart can take it, though, but a dream never chased is a dream never caught.
Thanks for hearing me out. I kinda DO feel like I've been to an AA meeting.
deindeverse:
I started writing a book 2&1/2 years ago. I got 70,000 words in to it, and wrote a very emotional chapter. So emotional, in fact, that I had to stop. I doubted my ability, and my right, to write something so emotional about something I have no experience with. Two months ago, I resumed, and finished the first draft with over 200,000 words. I'm halfway through second draft edits and additions.
For the 2+ years I spent not writing, I constantly thought of ideas, and I now have rough sketches for two sequels. But my intention is it write both sequels, each possibly exceeding 200,000 words each, before I even attempt to get published. As I write, the story changes, and I want the tale to complete. I don't want to change my mind about something, only for it to be too late to change. So I work at editing volume one, knowing that it will be ages before I finish.
I'm not writing to publish. I'm writing to get the story out of my head. But its addictive. Not only do I have the two sequels planned, but I've had rough ideas for three different prequel trilogies. That's nine more books, although each nowhere near the length of the primary books. And I've got a completely separate series in mind, which would span 5 stories.
I'm afraid that it will never end. Or worse, I'll finish, only to be told it's not good enough. I have no-one in my life that would be a beta reader for the story, so I have no concept of how others would feel about the work. I have friends and family that could read it, but the subject matter isn't something they'd be interested in. For all I know, I could write 600,000 words (mostly consisting of 'uh' and 'um') and finally send it off, only to be told that its not worthy.
So I'll write it for me, and take solace in the fact that it's good enough for its intended audience.
The Deposed King:
Personally I write in order to put it up on amazon and make money. Some books/series do good, others are more than a little flat. The important thing is to just keep going.
In fairness I would have put the first and the second book up regardless of whether I made any cash. But I might have stopped on 3 or 4 if that was the case. And just puttered around at one or two books a year and worked. I do like to write and have all sorts of stories bouncing around in the head. On the other hand I love to read and that's means that writing is really only about 1/30th as much fun as reading a book is. I can read a book a day but best pace I can only write one book a month.
That's not to say that I am writing a book a month but there you go.
The Deposed King
The Deposed King
ToniVA:
For me it started with my sixth grade teacher when she gave us a writing assignment. Afterward she pulled me aside once she'd graded them and told me I might want to look into being a writer. Those words have stayed with me over the years and I ended up writing a novel. As with many writers it was garbage, but it certainly gave me the drive to pursue writing courses and keep at it with a different concept.
Right now I have a novel idea I'm still working on the specifics for, and should be able to begin work on it soon. Until I get more of the details hammered out, I've been posting my short stories to a blog; because otherwise they might never see the light of day.
I believe links were okay'd for here:
http://lotwordsmiths.blogspot.com/
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