Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 173
November 2, 2018
The Butt-in-the-Chair Rule
You know how some brisk how-to-write books tell you that the most important rule in writing is the Butt-in-the-Chair, aka Just Do It? Yeah, I have problems with that theory.
Yesterday, I wrote a scene I’d been avoiding, and after I wrote it, I knew why I’d been ducking it. It sucked. It began as a conversation that went on and on and was pretty much infodump, and ended in action that I cut off because I really did not want to write the emotion it required which seemed banal. The entire time I was thinking, “This is going to kneecap my story,” which was not a help. The info is necessary to the plot of the book, but it’s not fun or interesting. So why did I write it?
Because of the butt-in-the-chair rule, of course. I’d been stalled on some parts of the book and decided to put my butt in the chair (which in this case was my bed, propped up by pillows) and Just Do It. The experience reminded me of why rules about butts and where to put them are worthless for me: I really need that stretch of time where I stare into space and imagine the scene, listen to the voices, find out what they’re saying. I need to fantasize it through before I make it concrete because if I don’t, if I just start out with an outline of what needs to be in the scene, I end up with concrete: flat, gray prose that has cracks in it.
What I’m after is more of a mosaic of voices and attitudes and relationships and action (I can already tell this concrete/mosaic metaphor is going to get away from me) that hopefully makes a pattern that’s colorful and interesting and moving and exciting and all that good non-concrete stuff. The key is that I can fix a mosaic but I can’t fix concrete, that stuff just has to be jackhammered out. But to get the mosaic, I have to get out of the chair, walk around, drive to the grocery, or my fave, go to bed with the covers over my head and make believe. Yes, I am a professional writer.
Of course, imagining it through means that the scene goes everywhere because those people in my head have no concept that they’re part of a well-organized book and they’ll talk about damn near anything if I let them go their own ways. Those are my options: concrete or a crazy mosaic of chat and angst. Of course, I’m going for the mosaic.
And people wonder why it takes me years to write a book.
All of that means that the conventional wisdom of the chair thing is extremely bad advice for me. I don’t have contrasting advice–“Crawl under a comforter, curl into the fetal position, fantasize” just doesn’t have the bracing, authoritative ring that “Put your butt in the chair” does–I just know that the briskness of the conventional wisdom was not made for such as I. If you’re about to argue that imagining your scene is part of the “butt in the chair” bit, I will counter with the argument that the implication is that after putting your butt in the chair, you will hit those keys. Or to put it another way, “Just write it, you dumbass.” No.
Conventional wisdom should get its hands off my butt, is what I’m saying.
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November 1, 2018
This is a Good Book Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018
This week I read recipes, including all of Ina Garten’s first cookbook. There are many turned-down corners on pages and Big Plans. I’m still celebrating Sloth Day here, so after that, not much, which means I’m relying on all of you. What are you reading?
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October 31, 2018
Working Wednesday, October 31, 2018
Happy Halloween! Also, good-bye October. Good time to finish outdoor stuff if you’re in the Northern hemi and probably get started in the Southern. (My grasp on the Southern hemi is loose, to say the least.) Also, the end of the year approaches, if that’s a deadline for anybody. And tomorrow Novel Writing Month starts. And then there’s holiday presents, if anybody out there is making theirs. So what have you been making this week?
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October 27, 2018
Food for Thought
Pleasure may not be the same as happiness (we talked about that a while back), but pleasure can certainly lead to happiness, and one of the greatest pleasures in life is good food. The happiness in eating may be tied to great taste or to great memories (Proust and his madeleines come to mind). I love the taste of vinegar, especially vinegar on French fries because some of my happiest memories are of the county fair and my dad buying me paper cones of fries drenched in vinegar. Plus we have to eat to live, so tying happiness to food, just makes sense.
So how did you consume happiness this week?
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Cherry Saturday, October 27, 2018
October has been Pizza Month.
I waited until now to tell you so you wouldn’t hurt yourselves. Although pizza can be healthy, so never mind, go head first into one.
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October 26, 2018
Argh Author: Nan Reinhardt’s A Small Town Christmas
Nan Reinhardt writes romance from the viewpoint of an older, wiser, slightly rumpled woman who believes that women only grow more interesting with age. She’s been an antiques dealer, a bank teller, a stay-at-home mom, a secretary, and a freelance copyeditor and proofreader. But Nan’s first love is writing–she wrote her first romance novel at the age of ten–and now she’s a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance.
Nan’s latest book, out on Oct. 29, is A Small Town Christmas. Winemaker and single father Conor Flaherty is determined to make this Christmas holiday special for his daughter even though his family’s historic winery, Four Irish Brothers, is facing some challenges. High-octane Chicago attorney Samantha Hayes is looking forward to a break from her hectic big city life when she agrees to help her boss’s younger brother with a lawsuit in the small town of River’s Edge. Sam falls hard for Conor, his daughter, and the friendly town, but can she risk her heart? Sam hasn’t seen a lot of happy-ever-afters in her life, but Conor and the magic of Christmas make her want to believe.
Check the book out on Nan’s website; buy Nan’s book here or on Amazon.
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October 24, 2018
This Is a Good Book Thursday, October 25, 2018
We’ve got a nor’easter headed our way so I have big book plans, possibly by flashlight if we lose power again. (If you don’t hear from me for a while, assume loss of power, not loss of life.)
So tell us about some good books, please . . .
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Working Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Today, I am going to work on my internet which is, uh, intermittent. Also cleaning up outside because we have another mega-storm heading our way on the weekend. One damn thing after another. Then I’m going to make a fire in the fireplace and bake some pumpkin cupcakes.
What’s on your Make-It List? Better yet, what did you make this week?
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October 21, 2018
The Happiness of Change
I love fall and spring. They’re my faves because everything changes: the air gets brisk after mugginess or warm after chill, there’s a whole new season ahead which, thanks to where I live, means a whole new view of beauty. Most of all there’s potential in the air. Something new is coming.
Of course, that could be disaster, but it can also be wonderful. I went outside today, and it was chilly and I thought, “Fire in the fireplace, soup and pumpkin pie for lunch, and late this afternoon a book and cocoa.” Autumn happiness.
How did find autumn happiness this week?
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October 20, 2018
Cherry Saturday, October 19, 2018
Today is International Sloth Day.
Sloth is the fourth deadly sin or a fuzzy little animal that lives in trees and spends most of its life hanging upside down when it’s not working at the DMV (Zootopia joke). “Sloth” is derived from “slow” (because the sloth moves at about 50% the power of other animals its size) but then some Type A religious nuts decided it meant “lazy” and made it a sin, which is just ridiculous. They probably all died of heart attacks from moving too fast.
This means that on International Sloth Day, you should think kindly of these laidback little tree dwellers and move slower in their honor. Or maybe not move at all once you’ve found a good book and a nice cuppa.
Go ahead, sloth about.
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