About that Million Words . . .
Long-time blog readers may recall the death of my housekeeper's baby in December, and my involvement with the family. Since then, out of a horrific tragedy, I have a wonderful relationship with her, her husband, and their four children. I'm on the kids' school paperwork as emergency contact, they stay over at my house on occasion, and I am their "aunt"--except when my housekeeper teases me and insists they call me Grandma. I have since tried to teach the father to read and write in Spanish, and speak some English, and they are teaching me Spanish more fluently (I understand pretty well, I don't speak it much at all). When she brings over her friends for various things--either to help clean or for me to interpret English papers and documents, etc., for them--I always say to my dear Rocio, "What is she saying?" or "Tell me what she said again." And when Rocio's kids are here, I ask the oldest, when it's something important, to tell his mother what I am saying in Spanish. Yesterday, Rocio scolded me, as is her way, "EEEEEEEEEEEEERICA, no speaking the English. You speak Spanish to Delores."
And she's right. I won't learn (which she knows I want to) without practice. And every time I use her as my personal interpreter, I fall back on crutches.
Which brings me to that million words. Give or take, maybe it's two million. But you have go to get a significant number of words under your belt before you master writing. We bandied about the idea that just because today you CAN publish anything you write, doesn't mean you SHOULD. There's some process whereby no one can TEACH you, where you shed your crutches and finally have your "ah-ha" moments on the way to writing fluency.
I cannot TELL you, as in its truly not quantifiable, how many times I have turned over a manuscript to a client, filled with red, and watched their faces undergo some kind of change, or gotten a call or an email, wherein they say, "Ah-ha! NOW I get it." No shortcuts to fluency. You can have teachers . . . but there's no substitute for a million words. Give or take.
Thoughts?
21 comments:
I'm learning I'd rather be out in the yard or doing something else. I'm also wondering if I wouldn't be better at non-fiction writing. When I have research to back me up my writing is very confident and readable.
I now have 3 bags of clothes and children's sheets and I do envy you the chance to learn Spanish. I ended up volunteering for Haiti committee because I only spent 10 minutes traveling.
Hi Richmond:
My agent has said more than once that journalists have to work doubly-hard at fiction because they don't have the same imagination--too factual, it's a different ballgame. But some nonfiction today is SO creative, the voice so funny or dark or wonderful . . . And if you like research, then who knows? It might be something you very much enjoy. Me? I definitely prefer making up stuff, though I do write magazine articles and so on.
The more I write, the more proficient I become (I think). Doesn't mean everyone will like what I write, but I know everything from my sentence structure to subtext to dialogue to story arcs have improved with time, practice and forced patience.
I think it goes for everything. Practice might not make perfect, but no practice means you have no chance to improve.
Amy:
I've been published for 8 years or so now, maybe more. Maybe 10, 12 years if I include nonfiction. And if I go back to newspaper articles, 20 years. And so yes, I was a published author, but my current wip is so much more advanced in structure . . . you work at it, you have the chance to get better. :-)
I agree with the million words, although I can't help but think that it resembles the karate style I study. I'm a candidate for first-degree black belt, which has been described to me as being roughly equivalent to graduating from high school. After 5 or 6 years I've got the basics down.
That feels like those million words to me. Once you get that million under your fingers, the next million will take you to the next level... and then the next...
Mark:
Every karate or TKD or whatever master has said, "When you attain black belt, that's when the real learning begins." It's why a discussion with a newbie writer is always going to be different from one with someone at it a long while. I can tell you . . . when I was 22 and writing my first short stories? I had NO IDEA what a back story dump was.
A million words. Then another. Then another. :-)
How you holding up?
A million words - wow! But, I think there are people who feel that they've written a lot of words after completing a few manuscripts. These people write with a minimal word count in mind for a certain target market. They'll submit the manuscripts to contests and publishers, and while they await word, they either write nothing new or go back and polish one of the completed manuscripts.
I used to be in that category - completed three manuscripts. However, those manuscripts were well over 150,000 words each. (The first one was equivalent to War and Peace, I swear.) Yet, aside from those writing attempts, each day I'd write in my Morning Pages - three pages of stream-of-conscious gibberish per day, now I do my five-minute-sprint, just not every day, (an idea from Natasha Fondren that keeps me in the game).
Long story short (lol), some people limit their writing to JUST the WIP at hand. Writing is like any other exercise - stopping causes muscle atrophy. I've had manuscript slumps, but still managed to write SOMETHING else just because I could and can and SHOULD.
I feel it's important for writers to not limit their possibilities. A closed mind is a limiting thing, period.
I agree. And maybe we should add that writing prolifically doesn't necessarily mean writers will improve. They have to be open to learning. Otherwise, they'll probably continue to produce the same crap they did a million words ago.
kath:
Good point. I have known a few writers who keep re-polishing the same book, and that's fine, as long as it's not to the exclusion of flexing your muscles. I'm SHOCKED that I myself have abandoned 200+ page of two or three books because another one called, or I realized structural issues. I don't hold too much attachment to my words and word count. I will at some point, in my so-called free time (and HEY, Dynamo Boy starts kindergarten this year) go back to them.
Jude:
LOL! Yeah. But I'm always touting humility and openness. You need it all. :-)
I am a huge proponent of The Million Word theory, and the Ten Thousand Hour Theory and the Short Story a Week Theory, and so on...
The other thing a million words does for you is something you obliquely mentioned in comments: it gives you the confidence to throw out words. I wrote yesterday on SCAR (shocked to realize I haven't opened the mss for TWO months!) and I just wrote, knowing I might throw them out. Sometimes it takes writing to realize what you DON'T want to say and if you've written a million words you KNOW more will come.
So I have freedom of expression I certainly didn't have a million words ago.
Starbucks:
When I met JVZ, he was the first writer I knew to throw out SCADS of words. He will tell you that. TONS of them. Whole chapters. It freaked. Me. Out.
Now, I toss away tons. A LOT less attached to my pretty words if they DON'T BELONG.
I think I might be close to the million word mark. Nope, not published, but still sloughing away at it. I'm to the point where I will cut chapters out of a story because they aren't needed. It took me YEARS to realize not everything written is gold, but some of it must be written to delve deeper into the character's psyche and then cut and saved for reference only.
magolla:
I rarely save mine for that particular reason. I tend to discover it's a pacing issue (for me). It's that the chapter just isn't necessary or doesn't illuminate enough to keep it.
Must really suck to be a Picture Book auhtor. Imagine how many of those manuscripts it takes to reach a million words.
;-)
I once edited a short story for a successful journalist for my little pub, and it was cute: she reported the entire story. 80% of the story took place off-screen.
I'm not sure the million words gave me confidence. It's fleeting. You get better, and then you sit down and analyze your writing and... *sigh* Ya' got your work cut out for you all over again.
Lately, I'm seeing a need to read a lot. I write better if I'm reading a book every day.
(Hahahaha, Sarah!)
Sarah:
I think the same principles apply. You write a lot of picture books to get to one that is ready. One editor from Dutton I met for breakfast once said, "Picture books are like origami." Complicated, yet the finished result is deceptively pure and simple.
Natasha:
YEAH. I hear you, Babe!
My thoughts? I need a teacher. :)
Good luck with your Spanish. It can be daunting but at some point you just have to jump in.
Bienvenidos, y dime di necesitas ayuda. ;)
*si
Melanie:
Gracias!
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