First, as a head’s up: I triumphantly declared Thursdays to be reserved for guest posts and interviews, and you’ll realize that, erm, this isn’t that. I’ve got some good guest posts and have some incoming interviews (and have to send more out — be advised that this baby we have is some kind of goddamnable time vampire the way he eats hours of our lives), so those will come.
But — but! — for those weeks when I don’t have something in the pipeline, I figure I’ll bounce the ball into your court. Ask you a question. See what you got going on.
Today’s question is about: you and your writing.
In case you’ve been locked in a steamer trunk deep down in the darkest cavern, here at terribleminds I talk a lot about writing and writers, and I like to think I’m talking about stuff people find useful, but fact is, I never really know. This is one way for me to know. So, I ask you here: tell me about your current projects and, specifically, any problems you’re having as a writer. Anything at all. Babble away. Read other comments, too — maybe what one person considers a problem is something you’ve already figured out. Help each other. And this helps me, too — it lets me know how to gear future writing posts.
Sit on my lap. Tug on my wizened beard.
And tell Old Man Wendig your problems.
… okay, that sounds weird.
BUT I LIKE IT WEIRD.
Ahem. Anyway. You know the drill.
You. Comments. Go. Deposit your think juice in my blog box.
obsidiantears83 says:
You have been doing a great job so far. I have to say TM is my favourite source for writing advice and rambling impressions. You throw in little pearls of wisdom, convince me am I not insane and make me laugh as well. I also seem to pass your link around to my writing friends a lot as well.
I am happy to take the back seat and see what advice other people wish gain from you!
June 23, 2011 — 12:43 AM
Marlan says:
I realized a while back that I need to basically tear out the entire middle section of the book I am working on. So, I am basically rewriting about 50k words from scratch now. It’s slow going but I think it will ultimately be good for me and the novel.
I still haven’t forgotten your advice on the query letter and I plan on redoing it after I have digested your feedback some… probably after I finish this draft of my current novel.
Also writing related, I am getting to write more video game content at my work, so that’s cool. If nothing else, it gets me one step further away from turning into a 45 year old game tester, so that’s always good news.
Aside from that, it’s just too goddamn hot in California now. Makes my brain hurt and hard to write. Words. Hard.
June 23, 2011 — 12:49 AM
Wes Robinson says:
My main issue is that I write for a while but eventually I find the story devolving into something less than the idea was. When that happens I find myself getting frustrated and so I spawn a new idea, write it for a bit, and then rewrite the old one until it starts to devolve…
June 23, 2011 — 1:04 AM
Stephany Simmons says:
My book is with my editor right now and I’m having random bouts of crazy, can’t be around people anxiety. I keep wondering if it’s going to disappear once the book is published or if it’s just going to get worse.
June 23, 2011 — 1:41 AM
Marlan says:
BTW – The 25 Things Your Should Know About Writing A Novel was very handy. It lives in my bookmarks folder now.
June 23, 2011 — 2:03 AM
EC Sheedy says:
I hear ya about time-sucking baby vampires–they’re almost as bad as teenagers who need rides–everywhere. All the time.
Writing? I’m revising/rewriting/editing and generally exorcising word sins from a book previously print published. It is my giddy hope I can make it good enough to pass muster with e-readers on Amazon et al. It’s killing me to think I actually wrote this ugly thing (lo those many years ago!) and it actually got published! Frickin’ scary. It’s a romance, so the story holds up, the characters hold up, but the writing? Blech! Love second chances, though.
June 23, 2011 — 2:10 AM
Andrew Macrae says:
I have a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel that is being stolen by AI trucks. They started out as a sideline but now they are eating up the pages. They are self-reproducing and self-repairing and they have awesome sound systems with which they battle each other with dub plates. also, they like having dangerous, violent, messy truck sex. Help, these things have stolen my tense psychological story about father-killing and sister-love and turned it into a schlocky farce!
June 23, 2011 — 6:20 AM
Tony Lane says:
I hear ya on the time vampires.
I’m currently planning my Masters dissertation. This may sound strange but a lot of the story writing advice is just as valid for technical writing.
1) Planning the fucker. Realised I was wasting my time after 4k words planning it. That saved 20k of pain and time I do not want to lose.
2) Start, middle, end. Best advice ever. Every paper, every chapter, every section. It turns out that if people can understand the structure they think the content is better. Resulting in 10% extra marks last semester.
3) Finish the bloody thing. OK this is more important. I wrote through the pain and trimmed the crap. MUCH quicker than faffing around as I write.
Now to get back to finding a decent topic…
June 23, 2011 — 6:20 AM
Eric Nieudan says:
Wes, maybe you’re just idealising your story? I think it’s the same with everything art – it’ll never be as good at what you pictured it in your head. I’d advise finishing the stories, sitting on them for a while, and then revising them to death. But event then they won’t be as good as the initial idea, I’m afraid.
Me ? It’s character motivation, but for bad guys. I can NEVER get it right. Be it a book or a short story, I always have to stop in the middle of writing to reconsider what the main villain needs to do or say.
I got feedback for a fantasy short story yesterday and guess what? The bad guy doesn’t make sense. I’m trying to fix that right now.
June 23, 2011 — 6:21 AM
Andrew Jack says:
IS it weird to say that COAFPM fixed the two biggest problems I was having?
Ah, I see you like it weird. OK, see above.
The remaining problem I have is one of pacing. Making sure the plot cracks along quickly but doesn’t descend into having a climactic battle on page thirty four. If you have any suggestions on that, I’d be all ears.
June 23, 2011 — 6:24 AM
Andrew Jack says:
@ericNieudan I had problems with antagonists as well, but I got a bit of advice that fixed it permanently.
All bad guys think they’re the good guys. The corporate mofo polluting the planet according to our eco friendly heroes thinks he’s creating jobs and solving an energy crisis.
I’m not saying they can’t be selfish, the above mofo probably enjoys his huge paycheck, but very very few people think they’re monsters.
You can get away with it more in fantasy, but even then I think the best way to look at any villain is to ask yourself: “What is it they want?” and “How do they justify the terrible things they do to get it.”
Once you know that the decisions they make should be much easier to imagine.
June 23, 2011 — 6:30 AM
Rebecca J Fleming says:
I struggle enough with time just with having a job and going to uni. Trying to do that with a kid as well… *shudders* lol
Writing wise, the biggest problem I have is that I have some innate inability to move on from a crap piece of writing and just write the next section. I try, and I might write another few sentences/paragraphs/pages, but in the end I end up returning to the offending section and picking at it like a vulture attacking a carcass… As a result I tend to have a few well-written chapters but never a finished draft.
I also have a problem with family members being dicks about my writing (so much so that I actually ranted about it: http://rebeccajfleming.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/sabotage/ hehe). Even though it’s just a hobby, they see it as a waste of time and some of them actively make demeaning remarks about it or deliberately distract me from writing. I kind of want to stand behind them while they’re watching a DVD and go “What are you doing? Stop sitting on your arse and do something productive!” See how they like it…
*end rant*
June 23, 2011 — 6:32 AM
Misa Buckley says:
Right now, I’m writing something that isn’t for publishing and also working on a series of podcasts. Taking things easy before the mayhem of the Clarion Write-a-Thon.
That’s going to be 50K in six weeks, finishing off two novellas.
June 23, 2011 — 6:43 AM
Kate Haggard says:
Right now I’m struggling with rewrite motivation. I held back during the first draft and the story suffers a bit for it. (A bit? No, no. There are huge, ugly tumors all over it that need attention fast.) Problem was I was afraid to let myself get “too ridiculous”. As a result I now have to go back and turn dials to 11. And, while I can envision all the ways big changes will make things more awesome, I can’t seem to do it with much momentum. I hate repeating myself (just ask my poor husband). I don’t know – maybe I need to (re)write it out of order. How, how, how do you get over your own neurosis?
Now, even though I’m not a qualified professional and all of my advice needs to be taken with a grain of margarita salt, I shall attempt to be helpful:
@ Marlan: It helps me to think of the middle as it’s own mini 3/5-act structure with climaxes and arcs.Good subplots help keep tension and interest up as long as they tie back into the main plot of the story. Lots of little victories, surges of action, mini resolutions – then pulling back and piling on the problems again.
@ Wes: It happens to all of us. Pantser, plotter, even people that have insane spreadsheets and charts and know every moment of their story before they ever write a word. At some point in the writing the idea diverges from the original concept because it feels better to go in another direction. Don’t marry the original idea because it will change, and that’s a good thing. Unless you’re speaking to not living up to how awesome you think the story can be. Again, don’t sweat it. We all go through it. First drafts are never perfect. Have a drink (or a candy bar) and work through it. It’s really the only way to get it done.
@ Eric: Ah villains. Remember that villains are people too, and as a person they’re likely to see themselves as the hero of their own story. A good villain isn’t caricature. Just like the hero, they have to want something so much to fight for it. And, like the hero, they should struggle with it (even if much of that struggle doesn’t make it to the page). For example – you have a head of a pharmaceutical company that, under his order, does pretty horrific human testing on illegal immigrants. This, naturally, is awful. However the drug he is testing is a potential cure for cancer. He’s convinced that the ends justify the means.
@ Andrew: Build up, pull back. Big action (and not necessarily of the explosion and gunfire sort), then time for the characters to reflect and catch their breath. Like I said before, I find that subplots help with pace without blowing the load on the main plot As you go along, make the breathing room tighter until their isn’t any. I don’t know if I’m putting it well enough.
Feel free to ignore me.
June 23, 2011 — 6:52 AM
Ben K. says:
Ah, jeez, this sucks. I’m like the kid with greasy hair, no chin, Buddy Holly glasses, and an acne problem complaining about how he can’t get a date. I sort of *know* what the deal is, but here I go, anyway.
Over at the Night Bazaar (great blog), my old high school classmate John Hornor Jacobs wrote a great post not long ago about conserving your creative energy for your writing project(s):
http://night-bazaar.com/the-conservation-of-energy.html
I wouldn’t suggest that my professional field — PR/marketing/communications — but it does have the added burden of being attached to a cause (government/non-profit children’s issues). Bringing your A-game every day is an unwritten prerequisite.
I’ve got a great family — a super hot, super supportive wife and one of those time vampires at sixteen months — and this is starting to read a lot like whining.
Soooo…. the point is, I’m out of gas when I want to sit down at night and write. I do have the political blog (http://thespencerian.com), but that feels so much different than the fiction I love working on so much. I’ve got ideas I’d love to turn into the word magic from my brainy parts, but I just can’t seem to get there from here.
So there you go. I shall await in the steamer trunk of shame until you and your dear readers deem me worthy of your good advice.
June 23, 2011 — 6:54 AM
Aiwevanya says:
@Tony
Doesn’t seem all that odd to me, advice intended for one arena often applies to another, I follow someone on twitter who hands out tips intended for burlesque performers, but they work pretty well as writing advice as well (the day the tip was ‘always take a pen with you so you can jot down ideas’ I knew I was onto something). My feeling is that helpful advice is everywhere just as much as inspiration, you just have to know how to see it.
@Wes
I find it helps to realise that story ideas are often like potential dates, they look all bright and shiny and perfect until you get to know them and they turn out to snore or never listen to bloody word you say or have all the depth and intelligence of a stick of celery or… you get the picture, but unlike dates where your best bet is to keep trying until you find someone who’s flaws aren’t too annoying and learn to put up with the rest, as a writer your job is to be a mad frankensteinian experimenter,stitching together the most appealing bits of different ideas into one shambling whole and then going one better and finding a way to neaten up those stitches and give the creation elocution and deportment lessons until it looks like it was just born that way.
My personal writing project aka ‘that bloody novel’ is actually not going too badly at the moment, slower than I would like, and the way plotholes and subplots both appear to breed like rabbits whenever I’m not looking is a bit disconcerting, but progress is being made and that’s something at least. Now if I can just get my partner out of the house so he doesn’t distract me every five minutes, that would be great.
June 23, 2011 — 7:13 AM
Amber J Gardner says:
I just have the usual fear of failure, perfectionism and not following through problems. The usual ailments.
I did start my own blog and have gotten a new plan on tackling my current WIP.
Since I’ve burned down the ship, I really don’t have any other career I want to pursue. So it’s this or nothing else. It’s both amazing and terrifying at the same time.
June 23, 2011 — 7:33 AM
Jonathon Side says:
I’ve read a couple of your writerly posts, and yeah, they do seem pretty insightful. Must find time to read more.
As for the writing, I seem to have a few issues. One is procrastination, which I think comes from some kind of fear. Afraid to try, afraid to fail. Or something. So I end up putting it off for a bit. Then a bit more. And so on, until I start to question my commitment… but when I think about forgetting the whole thing, I just don’t want to.
Another issue is the urge to rewrite as I go. I get a few pages in, then I look back and think, ‘no, this isn’t what I wanted to say’, and I rewrite and rewrite until I’m fed up with the passage and it lays at my feet, mutilated beyond recognition. Or I have a brilliant idea for some other detail I want to put into a passage I did a little while ago… but trying to insert it ends in another gory mess. And a headache.
Strangely, this problem seems resolved by not working on the computer. Instead, I write into an exercise book. Which is then a problem because A) it feels cumbersome at times. and b) one day I’ll have to type it up anyways.
So. Yeah.
June 23, 2011 — 7:34 AM
Brian Buckley says:
Asking writers about their problems? Kinda like putting a “suggestions” box in Arkham Asylum, innit? Awfully brave of you, Chuck. 😀
Anyhow: my freshly-revised novel is making the rounds with beta readers, and I’m already getting feedback. Actually, if you can believe it, my friends have actually started a *book discussion group* about my novel. I know, right? I have the awesomest friends in the world.
While they’re tearing my book apart, I’m scrambling to write a short story for Machine of Death Volume 2. The July 15 deadline is swiftly approaching. Man, though, it’s fun to be working on something new.
http://machineofdeath.net/mod2
June 23, 2011 — 7:40 AM
BA Boucher says:
My main issue right now is time excuses. I have everything set up to jump into the freelancer polar bear club but I keep allowing myself to be distracted.
It’s too hot in the rental, wait until I move into the new house. I moved into the new house but still need to unpack. Etc, etc.
But I know the answer: shut up and do it.
June 23, 2011 — 7:59 AM
Kara says:
My main problem is carving out time for writing. After working, making dinner, spending time with family and putting my 6-year-old to bed, I’m usually exhausted. My job is moving offices soon, so I’ll be looking at 3 hours of commuting time. I’m hoping to use that for writing time, but I know I’ll be even more exhausted!
Lunch time would be an ideal time to write, but I’m a copywriter at a toy/game company so the company could technically “own” anything I produce while at work. Just shoot me now.
June 23, 2011 — 8:23 AM
Selena Fawkes says:
I’m quite happy with how you do things Chuck, keep it up! Right now I’m in the rewriting phase of edits: you could say I’m “tearing apart” my rough/first draft but really all I’m doing is using it as a reference, reordering scenes in my head and manually typing them again. I can quite confidently no sentence has yet made it’s way (in it’s virginal, pure form) from the rough draft to this second draft; EVERYTHING has gotten at least a minor tweak (and in most cases a major tweak). The hardest part at the moment isn’t so much the editing itself (although it’s proving to be more time-consuming than I originally thought; silly me, not realizing how much work I needed to do), but working through the writerly procrastinations: the dog always needs to be walked, laundry folded, Twitter refreshed (you’re very prolific lately!), etc. The bane of every writer’s existence no doubt, but I’m muddling through. 😉
June 23, 2011 — 8:32 AM
terribleminds says:
Nice. So, thus far, I’m seeing some talk about the rewrite process — I think next week I’ll have a “25 Things” post about rewrites, if that suits folks okay.
Definitely some issues of time management.
Keep talkin’, peeps.
— c.
June 23, 2011 — 8:36 AM
Brendan Gannon says:
@Brian: thanks for mentioning Machine of Death–I’ve been meaning to submit but not sure I bookmarked the site the first time around.
Right now I’m laboriously re-plotting portions of my WIP but enticing new projects are drawing my attention away. It’s hard to come up with brilliant edits when I’d rather be starting the new book.
June 23, 2011 — 8:38 AM
Alex says:
I DON’T HAVE A PLOT!
*weeps*
June 23, 2011 — 9:05 AM
Darlene Underdahl says:
I’m reluctant to post this, because it seems like a type of bragging, but I don’t mean it that way. I’m a “can do” person just like my father. I rarely ask for assistance. That means I attract the “You’ve got to HELP me” people like a healthy virgin attracts vampires.
It’s my instinct to want to assist a person in a bad situation, and the “You’ve got to HELP me” folks smell that like blood. They could survive on their own, but at a lower level, and rather than “up their game” they look for a jump start. They will smother “can do” people out of existence if they get the chance. This goes on in families, friendships, clubs and work. It’s been my biggest time-eater.
A new neighbor is a “can do” person, and the “You’ve got to HELP me” folks are after him to the point that his wife is very angry. His speciality is auto repair. The “You’ve got to HELP me” people are bringing adult children and friends to his door; he’s leaking more blood than oil.
We have to turn a bloodless shoulder; we know that. We’re both getting better at it as we get older. But it’s hard to be productive while surrounded by “You’ve got to HELP me” time vampires.
June 23, 2011 — 9:05 AM
Josh says:
Oh, thank God. I have the perfect lament.
I’ve been querying my fantasy manuscript hard. I mean HARD. Harder than Chinese algebra. Harder than Hugh Hefner at a pool party in his mansion after swallowing a couple of those little blue pills.
I’ve been getting some requests for the full manuscript but it all ends in form rejection. I thought getting a personal one would hurt less, but boy was I wrong.
I got a personal rejection yesterday. There’s a real feeling of disappointment from the agent. Her words were, and I quote:
“I’m afraid the material didn’t draw me in as much as I had hoped.”
Ouch.
So I went back and looked at the manuscript again, particularly the first chapter. I’ve recently rewritten it and I feel compelled to do so again. Or maybe write a prologue. Or start it in a different place or a different time…
I feel like I’m flailing around a bit in the dark, here. I thought I got my work off to a decent start with a slow build to a sudden reveal. Apparently that isn’t the case. Or is it?
Are my fears justified? Do I need to make a sharper, more obvious hook? Or is this business truly that subjective?
I may just keep working on the noir/urban fantasy manuscript for now and stop querying the fantasy for the time being. Until I can go back and look at it when I’m not so hurt. Or so tired.
June 23, 2011 — 9:07 AM
terribleminds says:
@Josh:
The business isn’t that subjective. I mean, it is individually, but in the overall, good material will live given an insane level of perseverance.
A few things could be going on, here.
One, you just haven’t found the right agent yet. If you’re getting requests for full, that’s a good sign that the idea is sound and the query is satisfactory.
That said, and here’s the second possibility, the deeper result could mean that the quality of the novel doesn’t yet match the quality or promise of the idea. That’s not ideal, but it’s also not a terrible place to be.
Three, the novel’s just not that good. That sounds harsh, but you need to understand the scope of this career: I sent out my novel DOG DAYS (a kind of WATERSHIP DOWN, but, er, featuring dogs) a few years back to a lot of agents, got a few requests for full, but ultimately nothing beyond that. And now I look at the novel and it’s really just not that good. BLACKBIRDS, I’m happy with, but DOG DAYS just wasn’t where it needed to be. Hell, I wasn’t where I needed to be when I wrote it.
So, you eventually need to make a decision.
That decision is:
Keep sending it out.
Or:
Stop sending it out, queue up a good editor to give the book a good looky-loo to get it in order, do a rewrite, and re-query.
Or:
Say, fuck it, and reserve the novel for a later day and start working on something newer, bigger, better.
There’s no right answer, I can’t predict what’s going on.
The real thing is, though, you can’t be hurt by this kind of stuff. I don’t mean to say it’s weird to feel that sting, but the thing that’s going to separate you from less successful writers is the ability to not take stuff personally and keep on writing.
A secret not-so-secret fourth option exists, of course: self-publish. I don’t recommend it at this stage necessarily, but it remains a real option.
— c.
June 23, 2011 — 9:15 AM
James Knevitt says:
I’m churning through the opening of a first draft of a first novel with no outline. Yes, I am certifiably insane.
My brain wants to write badass cyberpunk science fiction. My heart wants to write some heavy treatise on the nature of identity in our modern technological age, and my hands want to write Tom Clancy. I have no idea what my stomach wants, other than bacon.
June 23, 2011 — 9:09 AM
Corey Redekop says:
My second novel has been accepted for publication (whoo!), but I’m stuck in editing mode with an ending that meanders, so I’m trying to tighten it up, yet still resolve all the loose strands. I have until the end of August, so it’s crunch time.
BTW, love the ‘penmonkey’ moniker. I’ve always considered myself a Shelf Monkey (indeed, named the first book that), but pen monkey is a better fit for what I do now.
June 23, 2011 — 9:14 AM
Rachel says:
I have a novel out on query right now. That’s not the problem. Well, it is a problem in that I check my e-mail every 30 minutes and wait by the door for the mail at 4pm. Our Mailman is wily though, he always gets by me. It’s not the problem that I was going to talk about.
In the wake of query letters, I’ve been working on short stories. Brief things to get some of the mind clutter cleared out. I have a lot of mind clutter, or maybe just more ideas than time. That might be it. Anyway, I noticed yesterday that the main character from my novel (who isn’t even in the story) was trying to take over.
I’m concerned I might have tipped from a tolerable level of insane to needing medication. I guess what I want to know, is has that ever happened to anyone else?
June 23, 2011 — 9:15 AM
Justin Holley says:
My younger cousins, and there’s enough of them to count as a small damn city, are little softball and volleyball heathens. The little ingrates don’t take no for an answer, and so, every fucking weekend I’m out there breaking myself on the wheel of athletics. They don’t give a shit if I got something to write or not. They say mean shit too, like: “You’ve written enough crap all damn ready–shit you haven’t even sold yet, so get your old ass out here…and you better not pop out either!”
It’s because of them little bastards that I’ll never get a novel written between the months of May and August! It’s worse than having kids!
June 23, 2011 — 9:22 AM
Ben K. says:
As an addendum to my previous comment, here’s the kind of day I’m about to have:
I write comment on a top-shelf writer’s blog about my troubles writing… and promptly submit a sentence which doesn’t even make any sense at all (“I wouldn’t suggest that my professional field — PR/marketing/communications — but it does have the added burden of being attached to a cause.” What I meant, obviously, was that I wouldn’t suggest my field is more creative than John’s. Sorry. ).
I then kiss my daughter goodbye, wave to her through our window, get in my car, fire it up, take a sip of coffee, flip the radio to NPR, and look in the rearview mirror to see that someone had written, in blue whatever-that-shit-is-that-kids-use-to-write-on-cars:
eat pickles bitch
Let me tell you, that stuff doesn’t wash off as easy as it should.
Also, pickles? Really? This is the best we can expect from the vandalizing youth of America? It is a nation in decline, people.
Finally, let me say that no father should ever have to suffer the great indignity of having to wash the words “eat pickles bitch” off the back of his car with his daughter watching him through the window.
Maybe the steamer trunk’s not such a bad idea after all…
June 23, 2011 — 9:26 AM
terribleminds says:
@Ben K:
“Eat pickles bitch” sounds like something out of Search Term Bingo.
I want to inscribe that on all kinds of things, now.
Nice.
— c.
June 23, 2011 — 9:31 AM
Rosie says:
I SUCK, is what ails me at the moment. I am the queen of procrastination. My specialist subject is laziness-as-cover-for-insecurity. I have the absurd good fortune to be in the middle of a paid writing gig and I am throwing away my free time staring into space, sometimes literally, sometimes through the medium of Twitter, and thinking about what a failure of a human being I am.
I will get over it, particularly as my deadline looms a little larger. I always do. But I wish I knew how to get over it FASTER and with the minimum of pointless angst.
June 23, 2011 — 9:36 AM
RR Kovar says:
I despise my query letter. Oh, it meets all the technical requirements put down in lo, those many “writer do this” blogs and books. It is easily tailored to the quirks and proclivities of individual agents. It is a reasonable representation of the book, without giving too much away. And the process of revision, coupled with a few unsuccessful test runs, has made me loathe opening that document.
So, do I ditch the entire letter and start anew, or suck it up and continue my love/hate relationship with the only part of writing I can’t stand?
June 23, 2011 — 9:53 AM
Tim Dedopulos says:
Apart from Vampires and Monkeys, my biggest problem has always been feeling confident that my plot worked and made sense. I don’t mean the character motivations, I mean the whole “Act 2 is where the crunchy stuff happens” thing. What does that mean? What should be happening? GODS I SUCK! I can’t count how many cool ideas I had, worked up thoughts and characters for, got enthusiastic about, then got plot-fizzles for and crashed on. (112. I have them all in a file. I lied about the counting.)
That is now fixed, thanks to Robert McKee’s book “Story”. I now _understand_. It is SO simple, and like all simple things, takes a master to explain, so I’m not going to try to sum up. I’m just going to say that if you ever feel wibbly about your plot, get hold of Story and read the beard out of it. Really. It’s the best writing investment I ever made.
Well, apart from Pen-Monkey, of course!
June 23, 2011 — 10:02 AM
Comfy Denim says:
I’ve got the same problems Josh does.
So finding the right agent become daunting. He’s right about the form rejections… “just not excited about the concept” was the one that stung for me.
there’s nothing about the story to change to make it more – It’s just not what they’re looking for. In a world of sparkling vampires, my bounty hunter probably is a bit too normal.
So I continue with my query and I continue to wonder if maybe under it all, they’re right. How long can I continue until I quit?? I don’t know. It’s still a good story – at least that’s what my readers tell me.
*shrug*
June 23, 2011 — 10:04 AM
James Knevitt says:
Okay, an actual question:
What’s the easiest and/or best way to kill the voice in your head that says “You’re writing the wrong novel. Stop and start fresh.”?
June 23, 2011 — 10:11 AM
Stephen Blackmoore says:
Uh… I took these pills that said if the… uh… “effects” lasted for more than 4 hours I should go see a doctor and-
Oh. You’re not asking about that sort of thing.
Right. Okay. Let me just put my pants back on.
At the moment, I’m trying to figure out what the hell to write next. In the meantime I’ve realized I need a world bible for my series… provided they want more books for it to actually be “a series” instead of just the two.
Anyway, not a story bible per se, because there aren’t necessarily interconnecting plots in each book, but something that I can look back on to pull in details about the people and things in it as I write the other novels.
Which has been making me want to claw my eyes out. My natural inclination is to write dull, boring descriptions of things and events like you’d find in the most badly written RPG supplements.
And attach stats to them.
*shudder*
I can’t do that. I’ll kill myself. If not writing it then sure as shit reading it.
Instead I’m short stories set in the world with each one focusing on a different piece. And hey, maybe I can use them to spark the next novel. Or sell them later. Or print them up, dip them in wax and use them to light my dank hovel when none of my books sell and I’m forced to hide from my failed dreams in the wilds of Fresno…
What was I saying?
Oh, right. So, here’s my question for all you have put together story / world / Dagon Cult bibles, how have you approached it?
June 23, 2011 — 10:56 AM
Elizabeth Poole says:
My biggest issue right now is the rewrite too.
I’ve had a bumpy road with this book. I started it over four different times, finished a crappy first draft, wrote a marginally better second draft, and now I am on draft three and rewriting the entire thing. The book looks nothing like it was when I first started, but this is also the most developed and layered book I’ve ever written. I feel like the characters are real people, even more so than when I wrote the first draft.
This baby is fleshed out.
Problem is, I’ve worked on it for so long, my brain longs for something new and shiny. Getting up the motivation to work on the book is hard. I am tired and just don’t feel like it. It’s not like I want to work on something else, or watch TV, or read, it’s just a feeling of blah. I have your desktop wallpaper of the Penmonkey’s Paen, and sometimes I just look at it and keep repeating, “I WILL finish this shit I started.” Because I will. I love this book with all my heart.
It’s just hard to find the motivation after I’ve already worked so hard.
I guess it’s just because I know even after I rewrite this entire novel, it’s still not going to be close to done. There’s going to be enough new material in this rewrite that I am going to have to treat it like a rough draft. Let the material breathe for a little while, and then go back and check all of the scenes again to make sure there aren’t plot holes.
On one hand, it’s really rewarding to work so hard on a book to make it as good as I know it can be. On the other hand, it’s really depressing. Especially since I don’t have an agent, and I know there’s a chance that I’ll query this book and it will never see the light of day.
*headdesk*
I blame the pregnancy hormones for my emotional rollercoaster.
@Andrew: I’ve had several problems where a subplot swallowed the main plot like a black hole. I’ve got to warn you. I wrote a book last year that did that, and I couldn’t fix it. There was a subplot that didn’t fit the book AT ALL but a few characters came from that subplot, so I couldn’t just rip the whole thing out without changing a lot of the book.
So before you finish the book and the AI trucks get so entwined with your plot that ripping it out would kill the root system of your book, just take it out now. I love both ideas you have, but the trucks sound like they don’t belong. Just take the AI trucks out of your current book, and promise them their own full length novel. 😀
@Eric: I read on someone’s blog somewhere (wish I could remember) to think of your antagonist as a mirror image of the main character. Your antagonist actually has a lot in common with the main character, it’s just that he’s further down the moral spectrum than your MC. Another way to phrase it is your antagonist is your main character, a few years after he’s failed to do whatever his story goal is.
Look at Star Wars. Darth Vader versus. Luke. If Luke gives into the dark side, he’s going to become Darth Vader. The really awesome thing is when you look at it like that, then you realize that your MC is essentially fighting his OWN dark side. Cool, huh?
Of course, not every antagonist will be a mirror image of the main character, but I’ve had a lot of fun watching movies and reading books and trying to figure out all the stuff the main character has in common with the antagonist.
@Rebecca: That really sucks your family is so rude and unhelpful. Is there any way you can write without them around? Like, take a laptop to the library or something? You could also try telling them off and locking yourself in your room. Maybe you should also get even and sabotage their efforts in watching a movie. You could also withheld your IT advice until after you’ve have your writing time.
June 23, 2011 — 11:07 AM
Marlan says:
@Kate Thanks for the reminder. I am sort of seeing that as I perform my novel vivisection.
I think it doesn’t help that I am getting distracted a lot with papercraft projects:
http://marlanesque.wordpress.com/2011/06/06/been-busy-also-papercraft/
It’s not so much that I am not making time for writing, it’s more that my mind is elsewhere lately, making it hard to keep the story alive in my brain.
June 23, 2011 — 11:21 AM
Brian Buckley says:
@Brendan Gannon: You’re doing MoD too? Awesome! I’m actually reading my way through Volume 1 for the first time right now.
@RR Kovar: If you don’t love your query letter, you can’t expect anyone else to love it either. Following the “rules” is a good start, but you have to be passionate about what you’re trying to sell. I say rewrite. (Disclaimer: Blind leading the blind.)
June 23, 2011 — 11:27 AM
Garner Davis says:
Sadly, I only recently discovered Chuck’s blog, and I haven’t yet read any of his writing advice. So, while I’m sure his advice is nice, I can’t actually comment on it. I will, however, second @Aiwevanya’s tip about bringing a pen along wherever you go. I usually get my ideas while walking my dog, and forget half of them by the time I reach home. Yet when I remember to bring along a pen and a scrap of paper, I retain ’em all.
My current project and issue are one and the same: my blog. It’s meant as pure humor (slightly perverse, and sometimes “R” rated, but comedy, all the same), and the people who read it seem to think its funny. But unlike Chuck, I don’t yet have people knocking down my door to read it. So, Chuck, if you haven’t yet posted the “how to” by which you accumulated (deservedly) your impressive audience, I for one would love to see that subject in a future entry.
June 23, 2011 — 11:34 AM
Thomas Pluck says:
Hey, Chuck, tommy Salami here. (Still going to write a pulp western starring Buck Wendigo, the backwoods shaman)
I’m working on my first novel. I wrote a 110k first draft for NanoWriMo mostly pantsing it- it’s an idea I’d worked on in my head for a year or two. But it just didn’t work for me. It was a rather obvious thriller with an everyman protagonist whose buddy gets out of prison and wants revenge against those who coerced him into taking the fall… you know, the guy who actually has a story to tell, and is interesting?
The problem for me is patience.
I’m relatively new as a writer- I wrote stories and was published about ten years ago, then quit. That worked, because I have ten years of ideas bubbling in my brain, but concentrating on the one at hand is the hard part.
I believe in the novel I’m working on. It’s a bit complex as a thriller, and tough for me as a first novel. I have three solid, straightforward ideas I have 75% outlined and am confident I could hammer out more quickly. I keep wondering if I should take these less personal ideas and work on one of them, as practice for writing the more complex novel… or stick to writing the novel I want to read the most. Is it just another form of procrastination, letting these ideas distract me?
June 23, 2011 — 11:53 AM
terribleminds says:
@Tommy (and others):
I am a horribly impatient person. And so I behoove you to turn to patience’s dark and surly cousin, STUBBORNNESS, to get you through.
On the subject of the novel, just finish what you started. You’ve got the others outlined, so that means you can finish Novel A, then while it cools off and prepares for revisions, you can attack Novel B, C, or D.
No one novel is going to be better than the other. Just write what you’re writing, finish what you started. It’s the best and strongest way through. IMHO. YMMV. etc.
— c.
June 23, 2011 — 3:25 PM
Athena McCormick says:
I’ve always done my best writing while, if not depressed, at least malcontent. Now I’m at a place in my life where I spend most of it being extremely happy (I know, poor me, right?) and the compulsion to write has been replaced with severe, oppressive writer’s block. I know I should just keep writing and force my way through it, but I’ve always had trouble focusing on just one project, and I have roughly 50 that I could and should be working on – so how do I a) choose one and b) write despite my intense – at times overwhelming – joy?
June 23, 2011 — 12:34 PM
terribleminds says:
@Athena:
It’s going to be a hard row to hoe, but you have to transition that mental state from wanting/needing to write when angry/sad to wanting/needing to write whenever you can. There’s no good way to tell you how to do this: you just have to decide if you’re going to or not, and find a way into that headspace. While writing is ultimately a far more creative and complex endeavor than digging a ditch, that action is still meaningful in that, a ditch won’t dig itself, and a book won’t write itself.
— c.
June 23, 2011 — 3:27 PM
Ryan Jassil says:
I have a good many woes, without even going into my dubious talent and questionable perseverance. Here are the ones that keep me up at night. Remember Chuck…you asked for this!
First and foremost, damn you! Damn you and your brilliant COAFPM. Were it not for that, I’d still be content to muddle about with a comfortably unread blog and continue pushing paper until they put me in the ground. Now you’ve reawakened the beast in my mind that pitches me idea after idea, and it demands to be heard by more than an audience of one. It cracks the whip and demands word count, and I am compelled to obey. I’m no longer comfortable with giving up my real writing and resigning to a mediocre life. Damn you! (Read: thanks for that).
Second, idea after idea equates to the common theme of “chasing the latest shiny.” Fighting that urge is HARD, especially since some of it is a natural side effect of my current project concept; one big story that is told across a short story collection and a novel. I’m only on the short story phase…if the other comments here are to be believed (and there’s no reason they shouldn’t be), I could pull something when I have to stay on one project for the length of a novel.
Third, I lack a basic understanding of the fundamentals. Any formal training in creative writing stopped in high school for me. Your “25 Things” series and COAFPM has been great in helping to remind and/or teach me some of this stuff, but there is a gap in my creative writing education that I’m trying to fill with experience. It feels very “square peg, round hole” sometimes.
Fourth, I struggle mightily with not rewriting as I type. I could get so much further each day if I wasn’t a perfectionist. I’ve gotten better over the last few weeks, but still have a long way to go. Case in point; I’m participating in the “Must Love Robots” challenge, and it’s taken me forever to get my piece squared up, because I’ve been editing the whole time. All of a sudden I’m feeling pressed for time, and now I think the middle act (which I wrote last) is sorely lacking. It’s out for peer review (perfectionist!) and I’m still tweaking and poking around with it. Seems like I may have missed the point of “flash fiction.”
Fifth, and final for now, is that I’m very, very nervous about what happens when I actually have something I want to put out into the world. I don’t feel prepared in the slightest. I’m still a new fairly new terribleminds reader, so maybe I’m missing some past guidance on the topic (COAFPM dealt with it to some extent with the discussion of self-publishing, etc).
I’m gobbling down a lunch right now, so I can’t comment on everyone’s great input here, but it’s been good to see the kind of pitfalls that can spring up once I’m really get down in the weeds, that most of these struggles are common and surmountable. Helps me to start preparing for them ahead of time. The other thought I can’t help but have is “damn there’s a lot of competition out there.” 🙂 Good luck everyone!
Also, I’ve got this funny looking mole…
June 23, 2011 — 12:34 PM
terribleminds says:
@Ryan:
Well, first, knowing the fundamentals helps — buy a book on essential composition? Too many writers go into writing, I think, without a understanding of the elements of writing. They may get “storytelling,” but not writing.
Second, chasing the latest shiny is hard, and I’ve done the same myself. But you have to stop banging the slutty “other woman” manuscript behind the barn. Pick one and stick with it. Like any relationship worth its salt, you have to know when to stop sticking your (er, figurative, here) dick in other knotholes. Best way through this is to take those other projects and mark them in place and time by taking some quick notes or doing some outlining but then sticking with the current work.
— c.
June 23, 2011 — 3:31 PM
Marlan says:
@Athena – I tend to be the same way much of the time. I do my most energetic writing when I feel threatened at work, or if something really gets in my craw. Lately, I have had a lot of projects going to keep me busy and am pretty content. Downside is that it makes me feel less like I HAVE to write, lest I pop a blood vessel.
It also doesn’t help that we live more an more inside a bubble with customizable news feeds and circles of friends. It makes it a lot easier to avoid the things that piss us off.
As far as solutions go, I tend to dink a bit, then look at images that trigger an idea, or seek out news articles that bring up issue which piss me off.
June 23, 2011 — 12:53 PM
Kara says:
My main hurdle when I write is just getting the words down and not editing as I go. Writing is a painful process for me because writing each sentence is like birthing a 20 lb. porcupine. My brain won’t let me move forward until I’ve gotten the previous part right.
* repeatedly punches self in the head *
June 23, 2011 — 1:23 PM
Lesann says:
I hear you Thomas. I keep hammering away at novel that has been rewritten more times than I can remember. Literally. Every “draft” has encompassed enough pass-throughs, jigs, zags, reviews, and turn-outs to qualify for multiple-draft-status. I’ve been so fed up at times that I go and write something else, like everyone suggests, but the story keeps pulling me back because I like it. I enjoy the characters, the setting, the ideas. And it’s improved immeasurably, but it still isn’t there.
In the process of completing the writing, revising and editing loop I’ve added and subtracted over 150K words on a book that was originally 90K. Now it’s hovering at 112K and is firm in places I’ve never been.
Now the problem is I’m back at oversaturation stage – too much time tearing the story apart, twisting the bits and piecing it back together. Most of the Frankenstein has been smoothed out, the scars nice and small and tight, but something is still not working.
In the meantime I’ve written other novels (remember the chestnut: write that bastard, write it now…) that languish in first and second draft states while I bludgeon the Rewrite Champion. It’s not even my first novel – that one is tucked away in a box where it waits to jump out and sink sharp little teeth into my gnarly ankle when I feel too good about my progress as a writer.
I’ve tried to quit but it’s like I sucked on the glass pipe when it comes to this story and I can’t put it down. Writing is like working with oil paints. The words are fresh and vivid and rich on the canvas, remain pliable for smearing and moving around for too long, and at as some point you have to lay the brush down and back away. It’s finished when you decide it is – and for some reason I can’t decide to be done.
Now I’m depressed. Thanks Chuck.
June 23, 2011 — 1:36 PM
Dana Alyce-Schwarz says:
I’ll throw in with the conversation.
One issue I have is not so much time or fighting the distractions (videogames mainly, though I do love me some Saturday morning cartoons), but that by the time I get home to write it’s time for bed. I get up early to go to work, and after work I go to my martial arts class. In between times like during lunch (when I’m not reading Terrible Minds) I can write bits and pieces on notepads, but nothing major. The difficulty with that being that I work in the State Call Center so I may have ten minutes between calls, or I may have negative time between.
That will all be changing soon as I’m being forced into a different shift at work, so I’ll have more time in the morning, and my martial arts class changed hours so I get out earlier as well. Summer, go figure.
My real biggest problem? I have not yet stepped up to the plate and taken a swing at writing original ficion. Oh sure I wrote some short stories in my fiction classes in college, but aside from that I’ve only ever written fanfiction.
That’s right, fanfiction. The bastard child of desperate losers and amatuer authors across the interent.
And I love it! I love reading it and I love writing it. I’m the guy who sits in the theater and not only comments “Saw that coming” throughout the film but also asks “What if this happened instead?” I do the same with books, TV, video games, etc. But obviously, that’s something that will never be published. Harry Potter already exists, if I try to sell Parry Hotter I’ll get the magic sued right out of my stories.
I suppose my primary concern really boils down to creating the story. I can do it fine when I’m the Dungeon Master for my D&D group. But when I try to do it flying solo I can’t seem to pull it off.
That’s all I’ve got…Good Lord I really am a nerd aren’t I?
June 23, 2011 — 1:56 PM
terribleminds says:
Lemme add to everybody here something that may really help:
Find third party readers.
You need from time to time outside perspective. NEED it. It’s why a paradigm without editors is a troubling one: we need to have people to provide clarity where our own brain has none — we have a hard time seeing the forest for the trees, and that’s what other people are really good for.
— c.
June 23, 2011 — 3:32 PM
JWCM says:
Waiting. Waiting for reads and reaction. For notes or editorial decisions. Waiting for the words to come. All of the waiting really weights me down. As a writer I enjoy the creativity but some of the joy had been eliminated when it became a profession. Especially in the ‘shallow money trench’ of Hollywood.
Also, too many projects competing for attention.
June 23, 2011 — 4:26 PM
Selena Fawkes says:
I’d totally dig a 25-list thingamabob on rewrites. Because, yeah, these buggers are a BITCH.
Also: “eat pickles bitch” is my new phrase for the day. I will somehow, somewhere, use it in a conversation today. AWESOME.
Ah well, work is over so I go home to more edits. Or, maybe I’ll go shopping first. Or walk the dog, or go mess around at the gym or… Yeah. I really should change my middle name to Procrastination.
June 23, 2011 — 4:30 PM