Counting Again

Remember my New Years goal? If not, I could make you go back and read it, but I'm nicer than that.  I'm also lazy enough not to go digging for the link, so this is a win-win for everybody.

6000 words a week.  Some marveled at the goal, others scoffed, and still others shrugged in indifference.  None of it mattered.  I had something measurable that held me accountable to the writing.  It was attainable, and challenging.

And I stopped counting.  A few things happened. Editing happened. Life did too.  I found myself surrounded by all these distractions.  Wonderful distractions.  Infuriating distractions.  One, in particular, spectacular distraction that I wouldn't trade for 60,000 words in a week.

What does a writer do though?  Among other things, a writer finds ways to write.  Allowing distractions to stop the work is for would-be writers.

Different writers use different techniques, routines and motivations to overcome the obstacles of life and time.  I count words.  If I'm shooting for 1000 words in a day, and I'm at 800, then I skip the Doctor Who episode and I write 200 more words.

(Side Note.  For years, I've tried to find a way to enjoy Doctor Who.  It's the kind of show I should love, but didn't. I finally figured out a way to like it.  It's called David Tennant. The best Doctor.)

This is what works for me.  So I'm counting again.

And no, this doesn't mean that I wasn't writing.  It means that, I'd work and feel like I was spinning my wheels. I let myself get bogged down too much in rewriting, and polishing the voice right out of my stories.  It means I'd be content with 100 words of variable quality, instead of 800 words of excellent quality.  (I write better when I write quickly.)

Started last night.  Got.. oh, somewhere before 400-500 words.  Call it 450.  I'm too lazy to fact check right now, and I haven't started the wordcount spreadsheet back up again anyway.  If I hadn't been counting, I probably wouldn't have cracked 100.

I'm back.

Hey, do blogs count?  If so, I have a good start on today's work.

5 Words On Writing (#5WordsOnWriting)

I can't believe it.  I created the hastag #5WordsOnWriting on Twitter yesterday and it's STILL not trending.

It's like everyone expects me to do all the work.  Fine.  But don't expect it to trend as quickly with me doing all the heavy lifting.

Does anybody else have writing tips or tidbits, in exactly 5 words?  If so, please share!  Here are the ones I tweeted yesterday:

• Give characters what they fear.
• Stop procrastinating and start writing.
• Love and embrace the craft.
• Conflict.  Then more conflict.  Repeat.
• Reserve time, relax, and write.
• Don't sacrifice story for prose.
• Make all your characters suffer.

Who has something else to share?

Does Writer's Block Exist?

No wait.  Will all the frustrated writers out there please put down the pitchforks and torches?  Don't lynch me just yet.

I'm not saying writer's block doesn't exist.  I'm asking a question, and thinking through the answer.  And then, maybe, I'm saying it.

Because I'm not convinced it does, even though I've struggled with it for about a week.  "Eh?" you say?

This past week, off and on mind you, I found it a struggle to work on the projects I wanted to work on.  In fact, the novel has been at a standstill for almost two weeks.  That's even after this excellent post where I described how writing out of sequence helped propel me forward.  It did for a few scenes, then... nothing.

Is that writer's block?  A ten second viewing of Wikipedia's entry tells me writer's block is an author being unable to produce new work.  It also says that F. Scott Fitzgerald struggled with it.  Who am I to argue with Fitzgerald?

Here's the thing.  I couldn't figure out what wasn't working with the novel.  So I worked on a short story project.  I mean, I'm a writer, right?  Right?

I structured a story, grew excited about the new world, and started typing it out.  I made it through about 200 words of ugh.  Then I stared at the screen.  I backed up and tried again.  Nothing.  Took a break, came back and sat down at my keyboard.

By this time my head ached, my eyes drooped and the bed called to me.  But, I hadn't written anything worth keeping, and hadn't for a few days.  My weekly 6000 word goal openly mocked me, but that's nothing new this month.

I figured something out.  This particular story involved two characters.  I was writing it third person limited perspective from the wrong character.  It occurred to me that as the lines and prose flowed through my head, I was hearing them as 1st person POV from the other character's perspective.

Hmm.  That information helped, but it still felt like I was in the wrong gear.  So, I wrote a scene from the middle in the new POV.  Magic.  Just like that.

I learned for myself what I've read from other authors.  Sometimes approaching the story the wrong way can keep it from working.

Back to the novel.  This is hard to admit, because it's a fantastic story.  But, I've figured out it's probably not a novel.  It's a novella.  I'm somewhere in the 20-25K word range, and it's already at the climax.  Instead of bloating the story, I'm going to finish it and see where I am.  The story only needs to be as long as the story needs to be.

So, back to writer's block.  I'm still not convinced that it exists to the point that a writer can not write something.  Even when I struggled with both projects mentioned above, I'm certain I could have started another story.  That's what writers do, and that's what I am.

But to the degree that it means a writer can be blocked from writing what he or she wants to write?  Yeah.  Sometimes the story stops you.  Usually, you can break through it by pushing ahead, or pulling back and analyzing what's not working.

Back to the original question.  Does writer's block exist?  Sort of. Kind of.  But not the way most people think.  If you want to be a writer, you have to find a way past this mostly imaginary condition.  That's what you do. It's your job.

Okay.  You can pick up the pitchforks and torches again.

Influences

Eric, a friend of mine from high school, left some thoughtful comments on one of my posts here.

We talked about our mutual love for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  I didn't tell him this, but back in high school, I wanted to be the next Douglas Adams.  I've since realized that I'm more likely to become the first Scott Hughey, and I'm fine with that.  Nobody else can be Douglas Adams.  I wouldn't want to anymore anyway, seeing as he's no longer around.  Hope that's not too soon.

Actually, it is.  Obviously, I didn't know him, but boy do I miss a new book coming out from him every several years or so.  Better than prolific, he was good.

But I digress.

Eric said this in the comments, "Someday I'd love to hear what other writers have affected you like that."  I answered, and because the answer took much longer than I expected, I decided to turn it into a blog post.  That way it feels productive.

My influences:

---

First off, I'm not suggesting your wife is wrong, but how does she know I have a 12 year old's mindset?  What have you told her?

And thank your sister for me.  There is no set of books, or at least fiction books, that I've reread more than the five book trilogy.  Also read the spinoff, "Starship Titanic" which wasn't nearly as good.  And Douglas' other fiction books.  Just recently learned there is an authorized sixth book written by an author who I can't bother myself to look up right now.  It's on my reading list.

I still read what's considered more literary fiction, usually when I'm in the mood for a good classic.  Frankly, if it's a good story, I'll read it regardless, but I still tend more towards genre.  You're absolutely correct- there's a ton of bad genre fiction out there.  One of my hopes is that I don't add to the pile of bad.

I've been fortunate to find a good deal of the good.  I've been chewing on your question for a few days, about what other authors have have affected me the same way as Douglas Adams.  The quick, unthoughtful answer is none.  I wouldn't do that to you though.

There's one author that I had the privilege of conversing with through email and online groups sometime back.  Peter David.  He's one of those multi medium writers.  In fact, I first discovered him through comic books.  Yeah.  I said comic books.

One day I discovered he wrote novels too.  For a while, I devoured his Star Trek novels before finding he had plenty of books completely of his own making (ie- not playing in someone else's universe.)  I'd highly recommend "Q-Squared," if you're into Trek at all.  I'd also suggest his "Sir Apropos of Nothing."  It's a fantasy story with a twist.  The Main Character is a side character who supplants himself as the main character.

Peter's writing is almost always funny, thought provoking, and a great ride.  He's not as funny as Douglas Adams, but comparing any writer to that standard is like comparing a fire to the sun.

Lately, more so than his work, I've been influenced by Neil Gaiman.  Neil is great because... he is.  I hope you've heard of him.  He's another writer who has written comics, but he's also written children's books, screenplays, Dr. Who episodes, novels, short stories, poems, and the world's best Christmas card ever.  Seriously.  Look it up.

One great thing about him is he is undefined by genre.  The newest book of his that I've read, "The Ocean At The End of the Lane," could be described as fantasy.  Or science fiction.   Or modern myth.  I've even seen it hailed as literary fiction.  I love stories that are hard to define like that, because you don't know what conventions are being used.

It'd be hard to suggest a starting point.  If you want something hilarious, read "Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch" which he co-authored with Terry Pratchett.  This comes closest in style, by the way, to a Douglas Adams story.  If you want something deep and thick, try "American Gods."

Weird thing about "American Gods."  Picked it up at a library years ago, and forced my way through about 150 pages before giving up.  Hated it.  Loved nearly everything else by Neil, but not this book.  Recently, I decided to give it a second chance, and I've found it to be marvelous.  Guess I changed.

There's others that have been influential, or at least highly entertaining.  Terry Goodkind.  Matt Forbeck.  Margaret Weis.  Hmm, there's Lee Goldberg, but he's strictly a mystery/detective writer.

And if you just want a good read, I've yet to be disappointed by a book published by Angry Robot.  They're not paying me to say that.  Wish they would though.

Starting at the End

Wow.  It's been a busy week or so.  My poor blog feels neglected.

The writing continues, if not as smoothly as before.  I may blog about the life difficulties, and how I'm overcoming them in terms of writing later.  Let's talk about the actual writing itself.

The novel smacked me in the brain so hard it left a mark.  I started with an outline.  Less than three chapters in, I couldn't even see the original story.  This one is much better, but it means I didn't know where to go.  I knew an upcoming scene, but couldn't figure out how to get there.

What to do?  Take advice from this very blog!  That's what!

Some of you may remember a guest blog by C.C. Dowling.  If you haven't read it, do so now.  Seriously.  I'll wait.  It's right here: Three Lessons.

Her third lesson?  Social Networking.  Stick with me here, this is important.
Here's how she put it.

There's an amazing community of writers/editors/agents/publishers all available in one hundred forty characters or less.  What I've learned is that almost everyone is supportive and wants to help you succeed.

Here's the good part.  I've already networked with C.C.  I got to use more than 140 characters!  And she's an amazing writer, who's being published soon too, so there.

We're in a critiquing group together, so I told her my novel's issues.  She suggested, if I knew where things were going, I write that and then fill in the details.

See, when you read, you read in sequence.  Unless you're one of those people who skips to the end first, and if you are I'm shunning you for the rest of this post.

Writers are not constrained by this.  They don't have to start at the beginning and move chronologically through the piece until the end.  Want to write the middle first?  Write it.  I've heard this advice before, but it scared me.  Writing out of sequence?  Isn't that how madness starts?  Or the zombie apocalypse?

The novel had stalled though, and the short stories I kept writing became distractions from the larger work.  So I took her advice.

And it's like the writing world doubled in size.  It worked marvelously.  I knew what had to happen.  Suddenly, I just had to connect the pieces.  AND THEY FIT!

I've recently done the same thing when another short story stalled.  And frankly, I may write like this from now on.

Oh.  And the novel?  It still feels like it stalls after most of the scenes.  That needs to be fixed, but the good news is, I have a new technique to help fix it when that happens.

Thanks C.C.