Dunzo

Ninety-nine thousand words on the page, Ninety-nine thousand words!  Take one down pass it around. Ninety-eight thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine words on the page.

I'm finished!  My first novel is written.  In the books, on the record, memorialized in history, at a cool near one hundred thousand words.

Now it's time for the editing and rewrite.

Bean Counters

Mmmm.  Beans.

I like beans.  Baked beans, refried beans, bean bags.  But that's not what I'm referring to here.  I'm talking about words.  Word count in a book can make the difference between short story and novel, novel and unbearable tome by a pretentious author.  So of course, I am very self-conscious of how many words I have written or am writing in any particular story.

As of yesterday, I had written 75,000 word in my current work.  Not a bad pile of beans.  Put them in a stuffed animal, and you'd have a good sized Beanie Baby.  What I've realized, however, is that word count only matters in college.  Yes.  It will help you judge where you are in a novel but only insofar as how many pages are behind you in an invisible book with an unknowable number of pages until the end.

All that matters is, how is your story?  Is it a good one?  Is it well told?  Is it well written?  Would you want to read it?  If the answer to these questions is yes, then the amount of words is irrelevant.  Before starting your project you likely know how many pages/words the final product will be and will only be distracted if you pay much attention to how many words you wrote in the past and how many you think you will write in the future.  Such thoughts can hinder the flow of your writing by making you think you should write more or less when what you would write under no restraints or word count demands would be exactly the perfect number of words.

I Hit the Wall and the Wall Won

Well, not literally, but yesterday, midway through writing, I just got stuck.  Suddenly, I was second guessing every word I wrote.  It was like I was unable to make a decision about anything without first second guessing it, then changing my mind and writing something else.  After a while, I got to where I wouldn't like that word or sentence either until I didn't even like the direction the story was going.

I stuck it out and put in the 1,000 words for the day quota that I have set for myself (a thousand words of shit but a thousand words nonetheless).  Still uncertain about what I had written, I saved it and waited on the next day to come.

It came, and oddly enough, I carried this indecision into the workplace.  Hell, I'm still doing it now!

It's really pissing me off.  Grow some balls.  Get some confidence.  How bad can it be?

I can't imagine what I could be afraid of.  Failure?

Yeah that's probably it.  Even now these one line paragraphs are killing me.

But seriously, am I that afraid of failure that I would let it stop me from succeeding?

In the words of many great Oklahomans who dare not swear but would rather keep their souls clean by only hinting at it, "F that."

Literary Defecation

Is it better to put words out onto the page without a thought to what you are saying other than you are telling a story about X, or is it better to think about the words you use?  I'd be curious to see what other writers think of the subject.  My gut tells me that about half would say that you should just write whatever shit comes into your head and then fix on rewrite, and the others would say you still have to put some thought into the words or you'll end up trying to wrap a bow on the terd you spent half of the year squeezing out.

Today, I'd say I'm in the former group, squeezing out nuggets to polish in the future. 

Writer's Sludge

I noticed tonight that like some other times, probably when I'm not too into writing at the moment (possibly also a moment when I'm less than confident about the writing or story), I have a hard time getting the words to flow.  The ideas seem to flow right out of my head and into space as I talk out the next paragraph or two in my head instead of writing themdown, but when I come back to reality and try to write it down, I inevitable stumble around and write something somewhat different.

It's what I would like to call Writer's Sludge.  It's not writers block in the sense that you can keep writing when you have it.  The problem with the sludge is that while you continue to write the words (and/or sentences) they come unnaturaly and in a stuttering fashion.  It's as if you are walking through some kind of slimy swamp to get to the next page, the end of the chapter, or even the end of the story.

This experience is in stark contrast to those times when the words are flowing beautifully.  During those moments, it seems like the writing is perfect.  On rewrites and edits, those sections tend to need the least overhauling.  The words tend to be spelled right, the best words are used, the sentences flow, and the ideas are superb.

But what is it about this sludge that seems to keep me from the beautifull prairie full of flowers and butterflies that results in "perfect" writing?  I have to wonder if other writers experience the same slow downs, what they do to avoid or get out of the sludg, and what they think causes it.

Introductions

So, I am not a writer, but I like writing.  Go figure.  Who doesn't?  Well a lot of people I suspect, but I suspect a great deal of others like to write or would like to write, talent aside.  So what do I "do"?  That's a good question and one that'll get answered at a later date.  For tonight, I am blogging to start what will hopefully become a widely succesfull blog, only riveled by those of the most famous celebrities.

I originally started a blog earlier this year ( a different blog and not the trash you are now reading) for the purpose of forcing (ie giving my self a reason) to write.  I was going to post short stories there in different genres.  I assumed I could easily write one and jump strait to the next, nothing over 7,000 words, and it worked, right?  Wrong.  I began with a "short"  story that soon became a long short story, and now, just to answer all of the questions that come up in my head and tie up all of the lose ends (read "finish"), I am now writing a novel.  Two in fact, or at least a think.  That all depends on how long each would actually be and if they make any sense at all being one story even though they are basically related and just different points in a timeline at the same location, basically.  Only time will tell.

For now, I'm going to go pick up a novel written by someone much more famous and published (likely Steven King, as I just like the way he writes regardless of what he is talking about this time).  Maybe I'll have to time to edit the first 40 of the nov, but I doubt it.  It's getting on to 11, and I don't have much energy after getting up at 8:30 this morning and running around all day to put together a birthday party with my wife for our twin niece/nefew combo.

So well met, nice to meet you, and possibly good seeing you again (I said this a lot today).  More to come...