Sure, there are some days where the words pour from your fingertips in a waterfall of creativity and prose, but those days are exceedingly rare. As Holly Lisle, one of my favorite writers (especially when she writes about writing), says in one of her helpful articles: novelists are the long-distance runners of the writing world. Unlike sprinters or milers, long distance runners have to have a lot of endurance. Speed isn't necessarily the most important skill. It's all about pacing yourself. It doesn't matter how fast you go, only that you reach the finish line.
Every writer works at their own speed. My personal writing speed is completely erratic. Sometimes I can barely get down a couple hundred words, and other times I glance down at the word count and realize I've done five thousand in only a couple of hours. Being a fast writer is definitely nice, but not necessary. In the end, it isn't important whether you write faster than a Harlequinn romance novelist with two books out every year or spend what seems like forever on the same gigantic fantasy novel.
Right now, I am not very inspired to finish The Witch's Daughter, maybe because of the rejection from Bold Strokes, and I really want to work on my newest project, which is about an FBI agent and a closeted politician (I posted an excerpt already). However, I'm not giving up.
In order to inspire myself, I posted the first two parts on the websites I submit to for some comments and feedback. That always makes me write faster. My fanfiction is proof of that. The more reviews I get, the faster I write. If you are ever stuck on a project (make sure it is one that you really DO enjoy and want to finish), I suggest posting it half-finished instead of waiting. Although many people hate being left at a cliffhanger, myself included, it can be a personal motivator. (If you are one of those people who can NEVER seem finish a project, however, don't heed that advice and wait until you finish, or you might end up with a lot of disappointed fans.)
Dividing my attention between multiple projects also seems to be an effective way to unclog the writing tubes when I feel like I will never finish my novel. Again, this technique is not the best one to use for beginners that have trouble finishing what they start. If you fall in to this category, the only advice I can offer is to slug through the mud until you get to the finish line. There's no shortcuts, no easy way around it. You just have to finish. The more projects you complete, the easier it gets.
Being a writer is a lot harder than most people think. It requires a lot of stamina, a lot of determination, and a thick hide. But it is also very rewarding to sit and stare at a full word document that means something to you... and will, hopefully, mean something to others.
On another note, Rome cannot be built without help. Today (or tomorrow, since it's late tonight), take the time to thank all the wonderful people in your life that read your work and help you while you're running the novel race. It will make both of you feel good, and maybe it will also garner you some extra support and inspiration.
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Monday, August 23, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Draw Inspiration From Your Life
Really good writers make you feel something. Somehow, they use their mystical writing powers to tap into your deepest, most primal emotions and draw them out. They do this by using echos of their own experiences - their own frustrations, their own troubles, their own joys - and inserting them into their writing.
This can be very frightening. Sharing your most intimate thoughts and feelings with a bunch of strangers is difficult. But your most powerful emotional ideas are probably also your most interesting ones. Although your internal censor is important for keeping a conversation on friendly, neutral territory, you do not need to keep your guard up when you are writing. In fact, it is important to knock that wall down.
Remember a time when you were totally happy. It could have been yesterday, or it could have been decades ago when you were much younger. Remember a time when you were consumed by guilt. How would you put those emotions on paper? Use experiences from your own life to put emotion into your writing. You do not need to keep the circumstances identical, just the emotions. It is a writer's job to be every character, to feel every emotion, to experience everything so that they can retell the experience.
There is a place where you need to draw the line. If you have a killer in your novel, no one expects you to go out and murder someone so that you know what it feels like. But reading autobiographies about murderers, imagining how someone might feel after committing a murder, and drawing upon your own experiences and amplifying them (were you ever angry enough that you wished someone were dead, even though you would never actually hurt them?) can create a startlingly accurate picture.
Personally, to express feelings of grief, guilt, self-hatred, and betrayal, I draw on my own experiences with my mother. Coming out to her was very painful and difficult. Although I certainly do not wish to repeat the experience, it is somewhat therapeutic to inject those experiences into my writing. It leaves more room inside of me for new feelings, better feelings. It's a little like sucking poison out of a wound.
Conveying the human experience, its pleasures and joys as well as its faults and limitations, is every writer's job.
This can be very frightening. Sharing your most intimate thoughts and feelings with a bunch of strangers is difficult. But your most powerful emotional ideas are probably also your most interesting ones. Although your internal censor is important for keeping a conversation on friendly, neutral territory, you do not need to keep your guard up when you are writing. In fact, it is important to knock that wall down.
Remember a time when you were totally happy. It could have been yesterday, or it could have been decades ago when you were much younger. Remember a time when you were consumed by guilt. How would you put those emotions on paper? Use experiences from your own life to put emotion into your writing. You do not need to keep the circumstances identical, just the emotions. It is a writer's job to be every character, to feel every emotion, to experience everything so that they can retell the experience.
There is a place where you need to draw the line. If you have a killer in your novel, no one expects you to go out and murder someone so that you know what it feels like. But reading autobiographies about murderers, imagining how someone might feel after committing a murder, and drawing upon your own experiences and amplifying them (were you ever angry enough that you wished someone were dead, even though you would never actually hurt them?) can create a startlingly accurate picture.
Personally, to express feelings of grief, guilt, self-hatred, and betrayal, I draw on my own experiences with my mother. Coming out to her was very painful and difficult. Although I certainly do not wish to repeat the experience, it is somewhat therapeutic to inject those experiences into my writing. It leaves more room inside of me for new feelings, better feelings. It's a little like sucking poison out of a wound.
Conveying the human experience, its pleasures and joys as well as its faults and limitations, is every writer's job.
