Storytellersunplugged

Welcome to the Machine.

In the last 120 days, I’ve written an 85,000 word novel, complete with rewrites, a 30,000 word novella also complete with rewrites and 79,000 words of the next novel, in addition to four essays for STORYTELLERS UNPLUGGED.

I have heard several people actually gasp at my output. My fastest single writing day was 11,700 words in eight hours. That was also with rewrites on the first draft. My fastest novel ever was BLOOD RED, written in three weeks. 128,000 words or thereabouts. I’ll say again that the novel would have never been finished in time without the help of my editor, who spent the same amount of time going over what I wrote to make sure the sentences were coherent and the ideas I was working with got through to the final product. Three different authors I know have referred to me as “A machine,” much to my perpetual amusement.

Did I mention that I work a fulltime job? Well, for part of that at least. I got laid off in January and found new employment in March. I have bills to pay and with both my wife and I having medical conditions to consider, I sure as hell am not going without insurance.

I’m actually getting something of a head start on this essay, because I need to think through the next part of the novel I’m currently working on.

I love writing. I feel better when I’m writing. That doesn’t always make it easy, but it’s part of what I am and what I do. I have a lot of hobbies on the side. For the last four and a half years, barring the times when I was out of town or incapacitated with knee surgery, I have gone every day to a local park to feed the ducks and geese that show up there. There’s a hill above their pond and if they don’t get food from an outside source, they go up the hill looking for food. Not really a problem except for the 35 MPH speed limit road where most of the drivers are doing 70 in an effort to get home in at a reasonable time. The roads in Atlanta and the surrounding area are completely inadequate for the rapidly growing traffic flow, which seems to be a perfectly good excuse for killing whatever happens to be in the road.

It takes a couple of hours from the day and I spend that time with my wife and enjoy it. Aside from watching a few hours of TV at night, it’s as close as I usually come to “down time.”

My job is in retail, because it’s what I can do with relative ease and it gives me the benefits I need and more importantly, it gives me the flexibility I need to work around my writing. Flexibility, not free time; please don’t confuse the two. That means I also work night shifts, weekends and holidays. I do not have a regulated business schedule, but I can ask for time off for doctors’ appointments and to handle things that simply have to be done. Added bonus: in the slow times, I can actually get a little thinking done on what I’m writing. Yes, contrary to the opinions of a few critics, there is thinking involved.

I like to read, I like to work on sculpture, and I like to spend as much time with my wife as I reasonably can. These are all things that I enjoy. I am an avid movie buff, but haven’t been to a theater since SPIDERMAN hit the silver screen, because, frankly, my schedule does not permit it. I also haven’t even attempted to sculpt anything, however poorly, for close to four years.

First I am a husband. Second I am a writer, third I handle the business of getting paid, both at my day job and for my writing. Everything else goes to the wayside when I have to write, and on a few occasions, like with BLOOD RED, I have even cut back on my time with my beloved.

That’s how I get the writing done. I have a lot of unopened DVDs sitting on my shelf, that I will get to when I have the time. I have a massive collection of CDs that I normally only listen to when either I’m writing, or when I’m driving somewhere.

Now, none of the aforementioned has anything to do with bragging or asking for pity: it’s all just facts. I want to be a writer and that means making certain sacrifices, most commonly, it’s a painful lack of sleep.

I’ve had countless people tell me that they’d be a writer if they could find the time, and my answer is always the same: Make the time. If you’re serious about it, you will. If not, have fun playing when you can get around to it.

Every writer is different. A good number of authors I know can’t really sit at the computer and write for more than half an hour before they have to take a break. As long as there isn’t too much noise going on around me, I can manage just fine for several hours at a span. My normal day I manage about three hours. On rare occasions I manage as much as ten.

There is no right or wrong to when you write. You handle it as best you can in the environment you’re dealing with. If there’s a road crew tearing up the street outside, I’m not going to get nearly as much done. The catch is, as far as I’m concerned, to try to be consistent about it. I made a deal with myself long ago that it would be at least two hours on the computer per day. Excepting only when I go to conventions or leave town for vacation, I’ve stuck with that rule.

On Building a Novel

Not really the best title for this part, but I’m lazy. So when it comes to writing a novel there are a lot of things to consider. Are you going to outline it? Are you going to wing it? I tend to wing it. The few times that I actually worked from an outline, it showed in the end result in ways that were not favorable. I prefer to go free form and have as much fun as possible. In this day and age, we have a distinct advantage over writers who were working in the field even 30 years ago. It’s called the personal computer. As an added bonus, it comes with word processing programs. What that means to me, is if I decide that I hate the way chapter 7 looks when I’m done, I can go back and make alterations as needed. I don’t have to worry about meticulously retyping every single page of a manuscript, which, believe me, is a huge bonus. I’m fast, but I’m also sloppy as hell when it comes to my typing. Just ask my editor. She’ll tell you.

It’s not about how I would do it; it’s about how YOU want to do it. Find the method that’s the most comfortable and stick with it.

I don’t write outlines, except in my head. I don’t normally sell a book until it’s written. That’s how I work; it may not work for you. There’s going to be a lot of trial and error. Hell, after fifteen plus years at this, I still have a lot of trial and error. Practice, practice, practice.

See what works for you and what doesn’t. All the rules in the world won’t make a bit of difference in the long run if you can’t work with them. There are a few exceptions, but not many.

Even if you don’t outline, take notes. That’s a big one. If your cast starts getting much larger than five characters, it can’t hurt to at least put down their names and their relations to others in the novel. SERENITY FALLS has something in the neighborhood of 180 characters. Some of them have the same names and are separate generations of the same family. Trust me on this: take notes.

Write for yourself before any others. Don’t try to keep up with the market. The fact that zombies are currently a hot commodity does not guarantee that you’ll be able to sell that zombie novel you’ve been toying with a year from now, especially if you aren’t doing something new and innovative with them. I’ll never be able to stress that enough.

Write it first. Edit it later. A lot of people tend to think I’ve lost my mind when I say that. Maybe I have, but I’ve also spoken with a lot of new writers who have never finished a novel or short story because they kept tweaking this sentence or that paragraph, or because they went back to chapter seven to make corrections, because they changed their minds on the flow of the novel around chapter twelve. Make a note and move on, or you risk losing the momentum you have going in the story.

Set realistic goals, and then try to break them. Once again, if you’re serious about the writing, it’s gong to require time. I don’t care if you aim for 500 words a night or if you prefer 2 hours of every given day: make a goal for yourself and do your best to at least meet that goal. If you can comfortably push past it, wonderful; if you can do it every day, give yourself a higher goal. Look at it like exercise: no one runs a marathon without working up to covering that sort of distance. Hell, if I tried to run a marathon today, I’d be dead by the time I reached the finish line. If I tried to write a novel in under a month, well, I’ve already done that on a few occasions. There’s no way I could have managed the sort of volume I do now when I was just starting out. My head would likely have exploded.

Next time around, I’ll try to explain my philosophy on actually putting an entire novel together. For now, contemplate the outline for a bit. Toy with it and see what works best for you. Remember, the outline is just meant to be a map. There’s no rule that says you can’t wander off the beaten path for a while.

And lastly, a brief sidenote: A very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister, Ro, who is also the person responsible for my website looking like I have a clue. Love ya, Sis!!!!