Writer's Update 2015

     I quit blogging, but I didn’t quit writing. For a couple of years I wrote and posted every week. I would ponder what to write about and every Monday I would compose and post a blog here. Usually the topic was just something I was thinking about. It was rarely poignant enough to share and sometimes quite dull. But I kept at it because it was part of my writing regimen. But around the middle of last year, I just stopped.

     I had to be truthful. I told myself I was blogging to stay in the habit of writing, but there was plenty I could do to maintain the habit other than the blog. I was really blogging for the attention. And once in a great while I would post a winning blog that people might read and comment on and that just fueled me. And I realized that if I was writing for attention, then I needed to change what I did.

     I kept writing. I spent a few months revising the hardcopy of Sidewinder. Then in October I participated in a challenge to write 500 words a day and post them on my blog, which I did. In November I wrote a first draft of a new novel for National Novel Writing Month. When that was done, I started into a 4^th draft of Sidewinder.

I wanted to finish it by the end of February, but it went a lot slower than I thought it would. But then finally I hit a pace and started writing every day. I only missed a couple of days and in the end had a 51 day writing streak. I finished the 4^th draft of my novel yesterday.

Now what? My biggest fear is that I will fall out of the habit of writing. This could be especially easy to do this week when I’m getting less sleep due to my busy work week, the week before Easter. So I managed to get up this morning with the thought that I would write a blog post. I thought it would recap everything so far about Sidewinder, instead it’s been a recap of my writing life of Sidewinder? I want to share about it. Maybe tomorrow. I have a lot to consider for it. I’m in uncharted waters. A 4^th draft of a novel, not ready for publication. So again, now what?

500 Words-Day 31 (Why I Write)

As part of my participation in My 500 words, I am posting what I write each day.

     Should writing be considered an art form or a source of income? I pondered that yesterday, stating that I believe there are some questions that are just unanswerable. Today is the last day of my 31 day writing challenge. I don’t know if I want to really go out with a bang, because I don’t think I want this to be the end. I don’t want to break my streak. What I think this is about involves another one of those types of questions.

     Do writers write for money, attention, to communicate an idea, or just to write? I suppose there’s a different answer for each writer, but can I answer that for myself?

     Of course I would like to earn a living at writing. But is that only so I wouldn’t have to work as much? Am I saying that I would want to quit my full-time job, which I love, to write full time instead? What would that mean for me? More time on my hands? What would I do with that?

     Why do I write? I like to say that this is the reason: I have an itch. There’s an itch that starts out like a hair touching one’s eyelid or inside of the ear. Quickly, it begins to increase to a peeling sunburn in the center of the spine. Soon a burlap shirt with dried straw and rock salt is slipped on over the sunburned back and then the itch becomes all you know. Now imagine that itch inside of the brainpan, deep in the mind and thoughts. The world continues to exist, but between me and the world is the sensation of this magnificent itch that begins to be the most important thing that can be perceived. The itch must be scratched, it must be before it intensifies even more. And of course, there is only one way to scratch it, and that’s to write.

     A good scratch after a long itch is like a long drink of cool water after a spell of angry shouting. Now imagine that scratch sustaining you through your day. Isn’t it a good way to start one’s day?

     I would like to say that’s the only reason I write. It provides relief. But other factors come in. So it’s confection time. I work as a custodian. No-one at my current job treats me with any condescension or disregard because of my position in the workplace and the world. But I’m still a freaking janitor while other people go to lunch, visit one another, plan big things in meetings and here am I trying not to disturb them, quietly emptying the trash from their take-out meal and picking up their half-empty coffee cups when they’re all gone.

     This is all on me, but sometimes I just feel a little low. Other things in my life frustrate me too. And here is the real confession that isn’t much of a secret, but the driving force behind why I write. I’ve struggled most of my life with things I can’t control. My kids are getting older and I don’t read to them at night anymore. My truck is leaking oil all over God’s creation. I don’t always get what I want anywhere and I just keep my mouth shut about it. But there is something I do about it.

     I wake up in the morning before anyone else and switch on my laptop. I enter into worlds of my own creation and spin scenarios that I think should happen.

     Writing is an escape.

     There are other reasons too. I was going to write about my muse this morning but the words got away from me. But there it is for anyone to read. I don’t know if anyone actually reads my blogs of late. I just post it as part of my 500 words challenge, which I have now completed.

  

500 Words-Day 30 (Art or Income?)

As part of my participation in My 500 words, I am posting what I write each day.

     I’m not going to answer age-old questions here. But I can sure post them and then ponder on for 500 words to make my count, right? I mean, does it matter what I’m writing so long as I’m writing? Does the writing have to be good? And what is good writing anyway? Oh yes, that was the question I was wanting to consider.

     Yesterday I said what I think is the most important thing a writer can do to make their writing good. They must believe in what they write. Believe the events could actually happen, given the right circumstances. And most important, believe in their theme. Believe in the truth that their story proves. Then I went on to state that not all fiction has provable themes.

There is plenty of genre fiction today that is little more than adventure stories strung together to keep readers buying the next book in the series. Shelves are dripping with vampires, dystopia, zombies, and whatever else is popular in the media. I can’t judge them all because I can’t and won’t read them all, but I am assuming that a lot of those books are little more than stories cranked with little thought to what I consider writing to be, which is art.

And that’s okay. These authors are still working hard to produce printed works. They do what they do and make a living at it. Most of the best books are at the head of the market, setting the trend, being made into films and publishers are doing what they can to make money. Writing may be an art, but publishing is a business.

But here’s the thing. There are trends in writing today. They’ll change and those books will fade to the back. Used bookstores will begin to have boxes of those old books, but not for long as the quality of paper and binding wasn’t so good to begin with. New trends will form with books in the lead and authors chasing the market after. Some books will be well produced by writers who are trying to communicate a theme they believe is true. Other authors will be out to cash in on the latest thing.

And while this is all happening, there will be books in the public domain, some being printed and plenty available for free downloads. These are books like Jane Eyre, Moby Dick, books by Dickens, Austin, and other writers long gone while their books remain. These are books and authors who believed in what they wrote. These are universal themes that are timeless, lasting for centuries.

This is not to say that many of today’s books will disappear forever. The media is like nothing we’ve ever seen in the past. Hundreds of years from now, amidst the timeless classics we know today, there might be a resurgence of early 21^st century genre fiction. Old names will be remembered while new authors get on board to chase the market once more.

So is writing truly and art, or just a source of income? Like I said, I’m not up to answering a universal question like that. I can say for myself, that I write because I want to create something good. I want it to feel like art. If I earned money at it, that would be great, but I have a job already and don’t want to think of writing as my ticket out.

Which is where I was on day two of this 500 word challenge. One more day, then a break before I start NaNoWriMo. It’s been fun, which is what writing should be.

  

500 Words- Day 29 (Belief in Writing)

As part of my participation in My 500 words, I am posting what I write each day.

     National Novel Writing Month is almost on us. Like an approaching storm, it’s to where we smell the ground getting wet, hear the raindrops and see the roll of the wind closing in. It’s time to either get out of the way, or prepare to crouch at the starting block, ready for midnight of November 1^st.

     There is a lot of writing advice out there and if it works for even some writers, it’s good. Like I’ve mentioned, every writer is different and they need to take the time to discover what works for them. And this discovery is a process, sometimes life-long. Writing is a life journey of discovery.

     I’ve mentioned some techniques that I think are vital to all writers, and today I’m going to state the most important. I’ve mentioned that planning a time to write is important. Making it a habit conditions the brain to write, especially if it’s at the same time every day. I also said the finding one’s voice is essential to any writer. That can come with lots of writing practice and it helps the writer to be true to who they are. And that relates to what I think is the most important thing I writer must do.

     I read a quote by author Madeline L’Engel, who is probably best known for writing A Wrinkle in Time and the two books following. She told how a boy once asked her if she believed in the things she wrote. Ms. L’Engle said yes she did. The boy was astounded and questioned further. Did she really believe in a tesseract, the way space was folded in her book? Ms. L’Engle told the boy of course she did.

     The next book of hers I read, I saw it. This author believes that what she writes is true. These things could really happen. To a science fiction author, there might not be faster than light travel, not yet. But they can believe it’s possible. And that will show in their writing. In a literary fiction story with everything normal, does the writer believe their character’s motivations? Could these situations really happen? The writer must believe that. If they don’t, neither will the readers.

     What’s more the author of the story must believe in the theme. The theme of the story is the truth that the story proves. The conflict of the story will present a question and the resolution will be an answer. That answer is what the writer should believe is true. It may be a theme as simple as good versus evil. If the writer believes that good could and should triumph, then that’s what the story’s theme can show.

     These are high ideals I’m stating here. In today’s world of media there are plenty of stories being told in film and books that don’t have a solid theme at their core. The writer’s purpose in composing the story may not to be their desire to communicate who they are to the world. They might only be writing for fame and money. And there the books are, covering the shelves in major bookstores.

     What do you say to that, David?

     Tell you tomorrow.  

  

500 Words- Day 19 (Keeping a Theme)

As part of my participation in My 500 words, I am posting what I write each day.

     I get asked questions like this sometimes: What makes a book great? What’s the most important thing for a fiction book to have?

     I will see plenty of answers, some are obvious, like a good plot. Other answers say good characters. I try to always answer the same thing. What makes a story great is when the author believes in their theme. The theme is the truth that’s proved by the story. To me, the writer has to passionately believe in that truth. If they do, everything else should follow. They will take the time and make the effort to develop life-like characters and an engaging conflict to drive the plot. How this conflict is resolved says everything about who the writer is.

     The best stories that I have written are the ones that have a theme I believe in. I don’t always start with the theme, but I keep it in mind when I’m plotting. Whenever I am faced with a choice of how the story will go, I refer to the story’s theme for direction.

     I have a story idea for my November novel. A little girl is left at a mountain fortress to be raised by holograms. Okay, I had a premise and a title, The Snowdrop Princess. But what was actually going to happen in the story? How much of this was going to be based on the story I told my kids years ago? I needed a theme.

     I had some ideas for what would happen in the story. God forgive me for jumping on the dystopian genre bandwagon, but the story is in a future where the government is rebuilding after a collapse of civilization. This government wants to create a prison that’s humane, but safe. Why not have it guarded by holograms? In fact, history shows that there is a mountain fortress populated by nothing but holograms.

     I can see a complicated conflict here. It needs a lot of development still. And my theme, what truth do I believe in that I want this story to prove? What will be the DNA of this story’s structure?

     It’s times like this I wish I could take a sabbatical like last year, where I went out to the desert, scores of miles away from another human being. I had notebooks and pens and I sat and worked on Sidewinder. That turned into a pretty good first draft and it’s on its way to becoming a good novel. Is there magic in a sabbatical?

     Well, yes. But it’s just not possible this year. And while there is mojo in a sabbatical, I can dig it up elsewhere. And I did. I know my theme.

Like I mentioned at the end of yesterday’s writing, I had a story opening in mind that led me to want to write The Snowdrop Princess as my November novel. Then, two nights ago, something came to me, and now I’ve got a choice to make. I thought of a story opening I wrote a few years ago, not knowing where to take it. I thought someday I would use it for a November novel. And the other night I realized it keeps with my theme more than the other idea I had.

On a different note to anyone who reads this: Thank you for indulging me these “cliffhangers” as I end uncertainly like this so often. It’s not to draw readers back. It’s to draw me back to writing tomorrow. And thank you, too, for reading. Your support is encouraging.