this is my journal ... i write it as i go ... it has typos ... it's not perfect ... but then ... neither am i


So, I've Been Thinking
October 4, 2000
7:31 a.m.
 
 
     I consider myself to be writing twenty-four hours a day.

     I cannot help it.

     I understand this is a bit metaphysical/transcendental/pop philosophical/whatever.

     But I do.

     Due in part to the conversation on this site, and to the "Artist's Way" thing I'm doing, I've been looking at the process of writing fairly closely recently. And the more I think about it, the more I fall into the mindset that I'm writing 100% of the time. Sometimes it's more obvious than others--this morning I got through fifteen or twenty pages of what I hope will be the "last" draft of the story I'm working on. That's pretty obviously "writing." Other times, say at work, I take twenty minutes of my lunch break to think through story issues. That's obvious, too.

     But I think eventually a writer looks at everything that happens in his or her life and thinks "there's an interesting story idea." I don't mean this in the silly playful way of a convention discussion, wherein a collection of friends trade barbs or quips and eventually end with the standard "there's a story for ya!" I mean this in the real, solid way where events happen and you process them and seriously think, "I can use this."

     Stories come from how the writer thinks.

     Stories come from what the writer sees in events, and how he puts those things on the page.

     Sometimes, maybe all the time--I don't know, a writer cannot stop thinking through these things. Bruce Holland Rogers has the first in a series of articles about taking breaks in this month's Speculations. But I find it interesting that he basically goes from "it's nice to take a break" into how to do a writer's retreat, and how refreshed he is to come back from a weekend of writing someplace else.

     Writing may be the one chore where doing it can actually serve to "refresh" you to do it some more.

     On the other hand, he also talks about taking his research with him on his honeymoon. Nope. We're not going there.

     The bottom line is that writing is about paying attention. Writing is about being able to put details together that make sense at the most basic level of another human being's perception. And every minute of every day I'm capturing details. I'm seeing how "this person" reacts to a situation of stress, I'm wondering why they did what they did--not to critique it, but to possibly understand how to capture it and present it later...or at least to map these responses into my characters whenever they might need them. I'm looking at the sky, at buildings, at room layout...what do I notice first, and why? How would I describe it in five words? Do the people in the room make it feel different? Why? What if there were two less people in it.

What if the people were different people?

     I think this plays into immersion, which I've talked about here before.

     And some of this plays into the question of fast writing. Not to beat a dying horse, but I'm concerned. I can write fast, though if I'm writing 24 hours a day, one could say my total output is something under 50 words an hour, not so fast at all. But that's something different, of course [grin]. I wasn't always able to write quickly, though.

     So I've been asking myself, why can I write quickly today when I couldn't in the past. Immersion and details are part of it. I see detail as I go. I understand story better than I did. If I understand the characters from the beginning, their dialog can carry a scene quickly. I mean, when I really understand the characters, and they are talking away, I find myself acting as their scribe.

     So if immersion is a key to being able to create moderately decent words quickly (where "moderately decent" is defined as "fitting the story I'm trying to tell"), where does the ability to immerse happen? I think this ability is teachable. I think it comes from compartmentalization. It comes from constancy. It comes from paying attention. It comes from knowing what you want, and just doing it.

     It comes from "writing" 24 hours a day.

     So, today, I think I actually did work that most people would call writing. I was putting my analytical side into the work. I was judging, and striking sentences. I was puking over dialog. I was smoothing a word here or a thought there. I was striking expository stuff and little notes I left myself in the first and second drafts.

     This is where people struggle, I think. They're trying to get it "right" the first time. So they struggle to write a hundred words in an hour.

     To me, though, this is the easy stuff. My "story" is already done. Now I'm just fiddling, making it work, making every part point in the right direction, ensuring the details are right.

     Writing quickly can be taught, I think. But it really has nothing to do with creating words.

     I don't know if this entry makes sense to anyone but me. Sorry if it doesn't. But this is the way of being a writer, I think. You chose what works for you. You do your best to understand it.

     And you leave the weird stuff to the higher powers to sort out.


        


     Have a great day.


This entry is 900 words.
I wrote it in 17 minutes.
It is first draft.
Sorry for any typos.



Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins

MORE ENTRIES


Mail's still quiet ...





BACK TO