Nuclear Code
Oldest Daughter . . . if there is an EASY way to learn something and a hard one? She will always pick the latter. But then once it is learned, it's really learned. Hence, she seems a LOT older than she is. As a parent, having a child like this is sometimes heart-rending. And still, every once in a while, she will ask me, "WHY didn't you TELL me x or y?" And I say, "But I did!" "Yes, but you didn't INSIST." "Because I know better. You won't listen."
Oldest Son . . . he may be absent-minded . . . but generally, if I tell him something, he'll listen (usually). If there is an easy way, and a hard way, he will generally, in essence, say, "Save me the trouble, Mom. What should I do?"
So it is with writing. I have a writer friend whose drafts take years. I have a writer friend who generally does a dozen drafts. I have one who will deconstruct his entire novel multiple times (you know who you are). I have a friend who writes, I am fairly sure, for therapy. And there are times I would like to say to Dozen Draft Donna, "You know, couldn't you have figured most of this out by, say, Draft #4?"
Except I don't.
I am fairly certain that I know a tiny little bit about writing--whether that's novels, nonfiction, or synopses and queries. And yet all I can do on this blog is say, "This is what works for me." I presume, with time, Dozen Drafter will figure out a new process, a new path through the woods, that works more efficiently. If she ever sells a novel and has another under contract, guess what? She'll have to. With Deconstructing Harry . . . each time he does this, I see him move hugely forward in leaps and bounds in ways I am not sure I do.
Which is why I have only so much patience with the writers who tell you HOW to DO it FOR SURE. As if they have the nuclear code. Trust me, they don't. I don't. YOU don't.
Oldest is going to take a lesson this summer and get the exact bowings and finger instructions that Itzhak Perlman used for the concerto she is learning. (She is taking a lesson with his former student.) But I can guarantee you she'll have to work with it for a while to make the piece her own.
So goes it for writing advice. And don't let anyone convince you otherwise.
Thoughts?
33 comments:
Absolutely. Everyone's process is different. I do think, though, there are certain elements in fiction that are essential. Conflict, for example. Desire, motivation...
Every writer will tackle these critical elements in his or her own way, but when you get down to it they'll always be there in one form or another. So I suppose it could be argued that there is a nuclear code for fiction. Not for the process of creating it, but for the end result.
Hi Jude:
Yeah. I think you can read something and tell the other writer, "You don't have enough conflict"--but how they will arrive at discovering the conflict will be their own unique process.
E
I agree. Probably as many processes as there are writers.
My writing process parallels my skiing process.
I let the idea stew in my mind while I take the chair lift up the mountain.
I jump out, and start weaving down the mountain, maintaining good speed and control.
Then I think, what if? And I point my skis straight down the mountain and FLY.
And the flying is amazing.
Until I realize that I'm completely out of control. I freak out, scream down the rest of the slope, circle behind the weird red building at the bottom, and fall.
I lie in the snow, and consider why I (and my manuscript) wiped out.
And then I do it again.
Sometimes I choose to rewrite a draft (or chapter) entirely rather than try to force something to work through revision, probably because I need that feeling of flying...
As for your daughter who does everything the hard way, I'm inclined to believe I am also a member of that tribe.
Still, in writing, over the eons, er, years, my method has changed. One of my agents said: Think more, write less. That's been good advice for me, so I try to think about what I'm actually going to write next before I place my fingers on the keyboard. It helps for me.
Another agent, Scott Meredith, who never repped me, wrote a book on writing and in it he tells the reader (and presumably some of his clients at the time), that if you write first drafts without thought to quality, you're training your brain to write shit. Therefore, he concluded, you should try to train your brain to write high-quality first drafts.
Although I think sometimes you really need to turn off the editor in order to just get work done, I also think it's good advice, which I try to follow. I shudder at the thought of a dozen drafts now simply because once you submit to a publisher and they accept, you're probably looking at 3 or 4 more proofs and edits of one type or another. It's difficult enough to give a damn after a handful of drafts, let alone a dozen or more.
But that works for some people.
I am certain each of us works our way into the position of writer by finding the exact way that works for us. The only problem is that what works for us is constantly changing as we grow and mature as writers.
I truly believe it is s fluid process.
Hi Heather:
Wow . . . that is an awesome analogy!!!! I would never have thought of it--I don't ski, LOL!!! But I totally relate. Really awesome.
E
Mark:
I try to write a first draft that is as close to the end product as I can get. I don't allow myself a crappy first draft. I never thought about why, but that is probably it. Now . . . that's not to say the first draft resembles the final. The pacing may change, subplots may change. But the sentences . . . I don't feel like there's a lot of crap in there.
E
Allen:
Totally. My process now is NOTHING (in any way, shape or form) as my former processes.
E
OMG! LOL @ Heather!
On my blog yesterday I mentioned that the editing lessons I learned in my first wip are already showing themselves in my current one, and I'm still on the 1st/2nd draft. I'm all about making things more streamlined. I know I need to bumble through the first couple times, but I remember every step and use it to my advantage.
I HATE when people insist they know the best way. It often makes me want to do the exact opposite (but only if they're being pissy about it).
Melanie:
I am usually resistant when someone insists there is a "right" way to do something, too.
E
Sometimes you have to try different methods to figure out what works. I used to write, edit, rewrite, edit again before moving on.
But I found out that I can puke out a story if have a hard deadline (it was the Delacorte contest)--and it isn't totally crap. I knew I had to get the first draft finished one month before the deadline in order to have enough time to clean it up. I succeeded by beating the deadline by 5 hours.
My process changed, but I think it works for me at this point in my career.
magolla:
I've done that sort of thing too. The first time I had a request for a full short story, it wasn't quite done. LOL! It got done fast.
;-)
E
That's why I love being involved in something like James River Writers. You get to meet lots of writing people who have lots of different ways to do it. So if one person says, "I get up at 4 am and write for two hours before my family wakes up," and the mere thought of that makes you (ok, me) hyperventilate and run screaming from the room, then you just wait to meet the person who says, "I write between midnight and 2 on alternate days of the week unless there's a full moon." Then you feel better.
From what friends of mine with kids tell me, that might be a girl vs boy thing.
But yes, everyone learns things in his or her own way. I enjoy learning from learning experiences so typically I do it the hard way.
So, so true ... great post.
I think being open to process is maybe the best piece of writing advice I've ever gotten. But I still love reading about other writers' processes, because I pick up tips and insights. I think two years ago I much more wedded to a "process" than I am now. Now, my process is to use whatever works to get the words down right.
Its actually a bit of a relief to read this. Thanks for reminding me to go with MY flow. :)
I agree with Scott Merideth and the agent who says Think more, write less.
I'm thinking a lot a lot a lot about this book. I fiddle with it and then put it aside and write myself character studies and read bad info on Wikipedia and think and think. It's not wasted. I'm very close now to being able to finish this first draft with a solid direction. But giving yourself time to think is really tough!! It feels...like qualified progress over quantified progress. And that sucks cuz quantified means the book's done.
In defense of writer know-it-alls, I think some of them have found a way to solve their own process ills and they're so eager to share it because it elates them. At least, I like to think that not all of us are obnoxious blowhards!
I just read something Gaiman said about a book writing itself with considerable help from me. I love that quote, though I'm not sure what it has to do with this discussion here. Maybe it's about trusting your story and your own process?
Trust your story. Trust your process. I think if we can do that, that'll shut down the internal editor.
Happy weekend, everybody!
KathArine:
Oh, no, I would hyperventilate at that, too. ;-)
E
Lauren:
I don't know. I have a friend with a son who learns EVERYTHING the hard way--arrests and all.
;-)
E
Lurker:
Funny . . . I have definitely seen you embrace that philosophy over the last year especially.
E
JLC:
Embrace your flow. :-)
E
Starbucks:
You know, I hate to say it . . . but . . . .
I have found the writers who have been around a long time have a tendency to have gone through so many different processes that they play it loose when they give advice. And I find the person with their first sale, very often, suddenly pontificating as if they have found the Golden Ticket in a Wonka bar. They get a little blow-hardy . . . and it's sort of interesting to see them a couple of years later settle into a "whatever works for the book" thing.
E
I think I'm finding my process, maybe I'll figure it out today or tomorrow, but I doubt it'll show up anytime soon.
I've been writing for about two years now and I still don"t know what works for me. My first two books were disasters and I got sick of Nameless after I worked for six months on it only to see that it didn't make sense to begin with.
Now here I am, two years after starting to write books and I've finally found something that brings out the best in my stories. I've tried to write everything in order since the beginning - I just thought that woould be the best way to keep track of things.
Too bad I shine brightest when I'm doing something hard. So I tried writing a random scene last night, and SHAZAM I have my final chapter and I magically know what my middle is going to be as well as Oliver's relationship with his mother.
Kinda feels like getting hit by a train...
My least favorite writing advice? Write every day.
It's not my style and it doesn't work well for me with my schedule nor with how my creative process functions.
And yet, I hear this is the one unbreakable rule about beign a great writer.
My writing suffers when I try to write every day.
Yeah, it was just me trying to be optimistic about the human condition. (My antagonist has me down.)
I think people WANT a solution besides "write a million words and then maybe feel like you're making headway but then your options become: "Do Not Pass Go" or "Stop and Collect 200 Rejections."
I've realized that when I give advice, I'm usually more talking to myself! That experience you report is helpful, too! (trying to fall into 2nd kid's learning camp.) :)
Hey JT,
I know an extremely successful award winning novelist who writes totally out of sequence and then ties it all together later. Works for her!
The most destructive thing I can do, the thing that kills my writing quickest, is to overwrite.
Most of the time (not always), I'm better to write it, edit it, use it or throw it away.
That's not to say I don't believe in revision once the whole thing is done, but even then, if I overwrite, it is dead.
They get a little blow-hardy
Yeah, I agree. Blow-hards suck.
ahahah! Sorry, I couldn't resist.
I think really good writing cannot be taught. I was halfway through my MA in Creative Writing and I realized that. I finished the degree, but without much enthusiasm, after that. Also, the thundering silences when my work was read in class, the complete lack of any feedback, was discouraging.
I've also read many books about writing, by Rita Mae Brown, Stephen King, etc. They are interesting but not helpful, in my experience. I keep plugging away, though. That's really all you can do. We each invent our own wheel, so to speak.
JT:
I think process really evolves. I have two unfinished novels from when I first tried my hand at novel writing that went nowhere. Or, more precisly . . . had the climax by about page 80. LOL!
E
Joe:
I tend to agree with you about my process. If I write too slowly, and not from my gut, I tend to overwrite.
E
Chris:
LOL! ;-) Yes. Agreed.
E
Dee:
There are endless debates on this blog, Lurker Monkey's, and elsewhere about talent versus perseverence . . . and what you have to discover for yourself. I think craft can be taught, but there are some things you have to muddle through on your own until you have your "ah ha" moment.
E
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