Progress?
December 31, 2001
11:38 a.m.
In a serendipitous juxtaposition, we find ourselves at the end of the year with the question of writer's block on the table. For historical purposes, let me start by saying that in my last post, I discussed an answer to the age-old question of what I do to avoid writer's block. This left my good friend Catherine to comment on the sidebar that it's always interesting to see writers who say there is no such thing as writer's block struggle with what she would define as writer's block. This is serendipitous because this is the time that I usually stop to take a look back on the year to judge my output. So, let's do that. The year 2001 has seen me accomplish work as follows: 6 new short stories, 2 new novelettes, rewrites on two older stories, two drafts of what will eventually be two separate novels--the first was 110,000+ words, the second closer to 150,000, three-quarters of a third draft of the first chunk of this, currently residing at roughly 88,000 words. This means that I've managed to create some 300,000 words (not counting the multiple drafts of the shorter work, which I'm guessing would put me up to some 400,000 words total) in 2001. Given that a year is 365 days, this works out to something between 820-1,100 words a day. That's counting days I don't work on anything writing related, and that's counting days that I 'write' by working on storylines or character development without creating words. That's not counting the couple hundred to a thousand I put up here every other day or three. Add these in there and I'm certain to be over a half-million words for the year. In tandem with this output, I've managed to sell 5 stories. Yet, still, I've left a reader of this site with the impression that I'm working through writer's block. Interesting. I'll say it again. I do not believe in writer's block. What I do believe is that writing good fiction is among the hardest things I've ever done. This is what makes it so glorious when it works well. The more I see other writers talk about writer's block, the more I realize that some folks use the term to represent anything that's making them feel bad about their writing--especially if they are using that as a reason for not actually writing. I suppose this is fine. Who am I to argue about it, anyway? If you're creating a thousand words a day, but you don't like those words, and you want to say you've got writer's block ... well, okay. But I would look at you and suggest that the problem is not that you are creatively blocked but that you're just doing what writers do. No offense. The same thought applies directly to me. When I am struggling, it is not that I am creatively blocked. When I'm struggling, I've still got a thousand ideas, and I still work hard to get those ideas on paper. When I'm struggling it's because I am not yet a skilled enough or practiced enough writer to put my ideas on paper is such a way as I think the work is good. I am no Ernest Hemingway, yet. Or, then again, maybe I am--at least in the sense that he was reported to work and work and work on drafts and drafts and drafts until he got something that he liked. Still, I'm not and never will be in the class of Ernest Hemingway. I have no false visions in that area. At this point of my career, I am a capable, if not always spectacular writer. A year or two ago, Mike Resnick was talking about a new writer he had met, and he said (in a matter of fact fashion that somehow managed not to rankle) that this writer was a more naturally gifted writer than I was. I smiled and said "Welcome to the club." But inside I steeled myself and thought. Yes, Mr. Newbie may very well be more talented than me, but I will work harder him. This is true--at least in my mind. I work hard, and I keep working until my fiction says what I want it to say. I'll admit to getting frustrated when it takes several drafts to make this happen, and if this is having writer's block, then I guess I'm infected. But I do not think this is writer's block. This is merely my process. This is a person working within the boundaries of his talent to find the truth of his thought. Science fiction, after all, is not really about beautiful words. Science fiction is about elegant thought patterns. Beautiful words serve to make the thoughts more easily received, but some of the most cherished writers in the SF community are merely adequate prose masters. So don't get me wrong in my self-assessment. There is nothing ignoble about being a merely capable writer. A merely capable writer can still throw stories at people that will make them go "wow." And I'm still growing. Five years ago I was not really a capable writer. Five years ago I was a writer who wrote so often I got lucky every now and again. Today I am better, and five years from now I will be better still. Unless, of course, I get writer's block and find myself unable to put words on the page. This is my definition of writer's block, by the way--the inability to put creative thoughts on paper, or maybe better yet, the inability to develop creative thoughts. Writer's block is the inability to be creative. Simple as that. Given that, I guess I actually do believe it can happen. It's just that I can't imagine actually being infected because it seems so easy to get rid of--I mean, you just sit down at the keyboard and begin putting words on the page and this odd disease goes away. So, anyway. There's my overview for 2001. Maybe a half-million words created. Five stories sold. A pair of novels in very active development. Was it everything I wanted? Well, no. Of course not. No matter what I accomplish, I will always think I should have accomplished more. But I've done my best--and I'm proud of that. So bring on 2002. Blocked or not, I'm ready.  Daily Persistence is © Ron Collins |
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