Journey of a Writer

     I have been observing writers lately at all stages of development, mostly through the Facebook posts of my fellow indies, and I've been relating some of their comments to where I was back in 1969 (wow -- 47 years ago!)  Shortly after I began to publish in 2011, somebody made a comment that I seemed so confident.  I guess that's because I already had over 40 years' experience thinking of myself as a writer and I really didn't feel insecure about the craft.

     I did go through some of the same stages, however, that neophytes experience.  I'll present them here, along with some advice for beginners.

1. Hey, I just discovered that I really can write a story!

      It's such a thrilling novelty to discover that you CAN construct a story and write it down. This happened to me in 1969, after I first read Tolkien. The idea that his elves were immortal struck a chord and I began to wonder what an immortal race would really be like -- how would it affect their view of life (you can see that the psychology of the human, or elvish, condition was already something I was interested in).  I became fixated on the idea of immortality and it dominated my writing all the way through two constructed worlds (see The Blessing of Krozem -- FREE on Smashwords).

2. Becoming obsessed with writing

     It's all you want to do, 24 hours a day if you could, and you resent anything that gets in the way, which can make life stressful for the people you live around.  Believe me, I've been there.

2. Dissatisfaction with the results

     My first efforts resulted in an endless and out-of-control plot.  I discovered that it's not enough to have a beginning and an end -- you've also got to have something decent to put in the middle.  I discovered what is my bane (maybe not other people's) -- the curse of improvisation:  too many subplots, too many fascinating new characters who just beg to be developed.  This leads to endless editing, frustration, and a final recognition that that first story can never reduced to anything publishable.  Unfortunately, that problem still persists for me, although not as uncontrollably.

3.  I see a lot of people who don't realize that this first effort isn't good enough to publish.

      There is no shame in abandoning your first piece.  A major piece of advice I would give the beginner is ... don't be in a rush to publish!  When I began, there wasn't any self-publishing except vanity presses and no real way to promote those boxes full of printed books.  Fortunately, I didn't make the expensive mistake of employing a vanity press -- I just kept sending out to regular publishers and collecting rejection slips.

    Anyway, my advice to the beginning writer (especially ones young enough to be able and willing to wait a few years) would be to let your book cook!  Don't just assume that this story you love so much is the great American novel or even a respectable piece of writing that will be enjoyed by a decent number of people.  It's fine to employ beta readers as long as you can keep the relationship friendly!  Or set the book aside -- write something else. Then go back to the first one.  Try editing it, changing some things (I rewrote the beginning of my first piece so many times that I now can't remember which version was supposed to be the finished one).  Try to look at it critically.  If it never really grabs you or moves you after a period away from it, it probably isn't as good as you thought it was.  Avoid those nasty one- and two-star reviews by being absolutely sure that what you've produced is worthy of critical analysis.

4.  Practice, practice, and then practice some more!

     It's not only musicians who need to pay attention to this advice.  It doesn't matter if you accumulate a drawer full of manuscripts, or I should say a computer full these days.  You might be able to go back and resurrect some of the earlier material after you've developed better technique or better insight.  In fact, I'm in the process of doing that right now.

5. So what kind of books should I write?

     This depends on what you want to achieve.  If you're looking to be wildly popular and make a decent amount of money, then write whatever is trending at the moment.  Vampires -- zombies -- dystopias -- space opera -- whatever.  Just be sure you have some kind of twist that sets your book apart, and don't forget the importance of characters who aren't cliched, because if a reader can't muster up some affection for that handsome space captain or that sexy blonde vampire, you'll get indifference or some of those one- and two-star reviews that stress writers out.

     But if you want to be different, then go for it.  You may never become widely popular, because you have to find other people who think like you do, and frankly that's not always easy.  But you will feel more satisfied with what you've achieved.

6.  Develop a routine and a methodology that works for you.  

     Find a routine that suits your lifestyle and leaves you time for the other people in your life.  Right now, I have nobody in my life and haven't had any since 1997, and frankly I don't think I could have written what I have (mainly the termite stories) if I had still had family responsibilities.  But if you do, just make sure you keep your priorities straight.  I think the hiatus I took from writing from 1983 to 1997 probably benefited my later efforts.  I certainly ended up with a more complex outlook.  I gave up on the immortality theme, for one thing (I discovered that Highlander: The Series had just about covered all bases on that subject).  And my termite series turned out to be a real joy to write, and (according to some reviewers) to read.

7. Finally, don't be a slave to the rules of writing.

     I was an English major, with considerable graduate work in the subject, but I never took a course in creative writing.  I never had any intention of becoming a writer until I was 29 years old.  I think the best background for a writer is familiarity with well-regarded books down through the ages, from Homer to the present day.  Also, knowledge of the English language (usage, grammar, punctuation, spelling -- the whole nine yards) is so important. Make the dictionary your best friend!  And utilize the internet!  A Google search of a grammar question usually will yield an answer.  Just yesterday I checked out the rules for how to form a possessive with proper names ending in "s" and I found that the jury was still out.  I decided in my case that "s's" was the way to go.

       As for the rules of style, I break a lot of them.  Frankly, I had never heard of the "show, don't tell" thing that everyone is so hung up on these days.  I write in a manner that seems proper and necessary to the context and to what I'm trying to achieve.  If you become too self-conscious about what you're doing, it will probably make your work stiff, boring, and artificial, although you should be sensitive to anything that feels awkward.  I'm not going to apologize for including pieces of historical explanation when it's the only logical way to bring the reader up to speed about the past.  I also don't apologize for using lots of dialogue.  People communicate through dialogue and one thing I'm always interested in is communication.  As for POV, I agree that one should try to be consistent, but sometimes a shift is the most effective way to move the story along and reveal character.

       So those are some of my thoughts on the subject of becoming a writer.  Pontification over!

Some Thoughts Aimed at the Writer with Shaky Confidence

       I've been reading blog posts long enough now to have discovered certain things.  First, I find an amazing number of insecure writers out there.  Many of these are beginners and it's understandable that they would be a little daunted by the idea of writing a book, sharing it with others who might have negative opinions, and even actually publishing it.  When I started writing fiction, I did it because I discovered that I could, and because it was SO MUCH FUN!  I could be Tolkien's sub-creator -- I could make these characters do anything and suffer anything I wanted!  (I always loved to make my characters suffer!  I hesitate to speculate on what that says about my psyche!  Heh, heh!)

     And it never occurred to me that other people wouldn't want to read about my worlds and characters.  A couple of people outside my family read my big, long, first novel and one of those has always liked what I wrote.  The other one was someone I didn't know and she was lukewarm and didn't really peg properly what I was trying to do (I probably didn't get across).  She was quite picky about style and from her I mainly learned that I used the word "now" too much.  (I probably still do and I'm a bit sensitive about that, so I try to watch it.) 

       Anyway, it was a good six or seven years before I considered trying to publish.  This was in pre-internet days -- no email, etc.  I sent stuff out, I collected rejection slips.  I was just starting to get a little encouragement, like, "We don't need anything like this right now, but try us again later."  Or (in regard to my free novelette "The Blessing of Krozem" and the novel of which it was the Prologue), "I like this story, but it doesn't have enough magic in it."  (I've never been a big writer of magic -- I'm too scientifically oriented.  I need a rational explanation for everything that happens.  It's either science or some inexplicable, external god-force with me.  I feel uncomfortable with earthly magic -- wave a wand or utter your "abracadabra" and something happens for no discernible reason.) 

       About that time, I was forced to stop writing for some 17 years, so nothing ever came out of those early days.  But it certainly wasn't a waste of time -- I read somewhere way back that you need to write a million words before you can call yourself a writer.  I certainly did that because I'm nothing if not prolific.  And when I picked up writing again in 2000, I think I had improved 500% -- again, I don't know why.  Maybe it was just an increase in age and experience, and the fact that "now" I had plenty of free time with no interruptions.  I still write by instinct and you can quibble all you want about stylistic points, like too much reliance on dialogue or too much repetition in certain parts or too much explication and display of facts, but I stand by what I write.  I have never suffered from lack of confidence about the quality of my books.  I'm not saying they couldn't be improved -- I'm just saying that they do what I intended them to do.

      And that's what puzzles me a little about some insecure people who are fairly experienced writers; they've written non-fiction pieces and published them, they write terrific blogs that are sometimes hilariously funny (I'm no good at comedy writing) and sometimes insightful or downright poetic; they may even earn their living in an editorial capacity.  And yet the idea of writing an organized story with a plot that has a defined beginning, middle, and end; some complex and captivating characters; and a series of minor climaxes building to a major climax -- it just seems to petrify them. 

       My advice is -- don't be petrified!  Just let your imagination flow like a fountain of Irish creme!  Let it trickle out through your fingers on the keyboard!  You're a Creator!  Make those characters love and laugh, make mistakes and get into trouble, find relationships and have adventures!  Make them grow and change and reach a finality, be it sad or happy!  Make 'em suffer -- heh, heh!  It's so much fun!  If you really feel what you're writing, other people will, too.  Don't just write wooden, empty sentences like this --

       "He walked out the door and saw a man with a dog sitting on the curb.  He got into his car, but it wouldn't start, so he got out and said to the man, 'Can you help me here?' and then he walked over and touched the man's shoulder and the man fell over." 

       Instead, write --

       "Michael walked out the door with his car keys in his hand and looked around.  Something didn't feel right.  There was strange cast to the light, as if the sun were veiled, and yet the sky was clear.  There seemed to be a sound on the edge of Michael's hearing, but he couldn't define it or even tell where it was coming from.  Michael hesitated, then shook his head to clear it, and walked to his car.

       "It was then he noticed the man sitting on the curb, with a dog at his side.  The dog was resting its head on the man's knee and its muzzle was hidden.  Again Michael hesitated -- was the man all right?  But Michael was late, so he settled himself behind the wheel of his car -- and found the engine wouldn't turn over.  He swore.  Jumping out, he called to the man, 'Hey, can you help me here?  I need somebody to keep trying the engine while I tinker with the motor.'  The man made no answer, although the dog looked around and bared its teeth slightly.  The teeth seemed unusually red.

       "Uneasy, Michael nevertheless approached the man.  'Did you hear me?  Are you OK?'  He reached to touch the man's shoulder.  Instantly the man fell over and everything changed.  Lights flashed, a gong began to clang deafeningly, and Michael passed into another world."

 

       Hey, that's not so bad!  I just made it up on the spur of the moment and I have no idea what happens next.  If any of you people out there who are low on writing confidence would like to take this beginning and run with it, be my guest!  :-)