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We're all mad here--writers take heart 9/19/2013 3:32:25 AM
Writers are all mad, or we wouldn't do what we do. “Writing a full length novel is like running a marathon...without water...being chased by wolverines...while juggling... “ So saith Andrew Buckley, a fellow writer. If Mr. Buckley doesn’t mind, or even if he does, I’m going to plagiarize his blog’s aphorism about writing today and expand on a few of the various reasons writing is so damnably hard work, and why so many people do it— so poorly. (And if you know me at all, the last sentence reveals a clue— I really, truly, viciously, perplexidely (?) hate adverbs, (especially adverbs that writers make up on the fly, like perplexidely). First of all, what exactly is a ‘full length novel’ as Mr. B puts it? What’s a novella? A short story? Something midgets write? Last year I entered the infamous 3 Day Novel Contest, and while I didn’t win, I managed to plunk and scratch and scribble out 30,000 words between 5 am Saturday and 10 am Monday, and yes, I stayed married, amazing! Notice I didn’t say 30,000 good, or usable, or publishable words. The working title was A Meeting in Waterloo, a kind of mashup of travelogue, political rant and culture-clash narrative. If anyone reading this would like to have the manuscript and make sense of it, please let me know and I’ll be happy to send it along so you can make it your own. It could be a good story in the ‘write’ hands. The point is, I called it a novel at 30,000 words. Now, the quasi-official definition of ‘novel’ (from the Latin Nova, for new) puts these works at around 50,000 words more or less. Fewer than that and we have a novella, (from the Latin little new, I guess). Whew, I’m glad we cleared that up. It was starting to look like a short story there. (Beginning, middle and end--a short story. Flash Fiction, 1,000 words or fewer). Next I culled (plagiarized?) the G+ writing group for those topics giving the writers therein the heebie-jeebies today and came up with a useful mix. Amanda Marlowe writes: “Do you ever use non-writing skills to enhance your writing skills?” My response: “If I had any other skills I’d use them, yes, since I do not…" No actually this is a very good question, thank you Amanda. The responses to her query were insightful and good, I thought. Jackie said “walk outside.” I’ve done this many times to kick-start the old literary muscle. Matthew, a computer guy, says “debugging.” Take your true profession and use the crossover, in other words, thanks Matthew. Laura, an artist, says (plagiarizing again) “When you draw, you sketch the general outline lightly, then press harder and more defined as you add details, erasing mistakes...the general idea is very much like drafting and editing a manuscript.” I think Laura’s suggestion is very helpful, the old muscle-memory thing etc. Jacob is a history buff, and the helpful benefits there are obvious. Much of fiction writing is just redoing history anyway. Even a lot of memoir writing involves redoing our history so it’s less messy, let’s face it.
My colleague Buzz Malone, author of Silence of Centerville, The Ghosts of Melrose and The Lynching of Hiram Wilson Chariton, Iowa 1870 uses a common device, the history surrounding him, in Malone's case the story of Iowa, its rich human interest and nativist lore that is very often true and out there to be tapped. Sometimes it's the obscure but fascinating that leaps off the page. Other writing-when-it’s-impossible tips? From using outside and/or professional sources to stimulate the writing, let’s turn to aesthetic sources. J.B. Wise posts this: “I'm trying to find my atmosphere where I can be the most creative…” Some 'Wise' insights, I thought, concern music as writing muse. Some must have it; many must have its absence. John says he has to have music, but only instrumental. Amy needs silence so much she gets up early to write, a common practice for busy folks. Always the wag, Taylor writes: “Quieter is better. Alcohol seems to help.” My own somewhat snarky response was that I don my headset and pretend to be listening, with nothing coming through. Considering how deaf I’m getting to be there’s not much difference, but it appears that I’m listening and people leave me alone. What's that, dear? Oh, just blogging, be down in a minute! Additional writing tips for today come from the work of Giovanni Russano, aka Todd Grundle (The House That Smelled Like Urine) from which we can only surmise that no topic is off limits, no title too (perplexidely?) risque’ (it’s all about marketing) and no whodunit wouldn’t benefit from a few let us say exotic twists and turns. In other words, kudos to Mr. Grundle for thinking outside the heavy paper and/or wooden container. And finally, in the form of a question, the technical writing tip for today. Just a personal quirk of my own, one about which I open the floor to discussion. ‘Backwards, towards, inwards’, are any of those ‘S’s necessary? And in closing, a last bit of plagiarizing, from one Louis Carroll who was likely addressing fellow writers: "We're all mad here.” Cheshire Cat- Alice in Wonderland
