William Amerman's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"
Milestones on your finger
Writing used to be a journey of mystery, self-discipline, even greater self-importance and hubris, all covered by a skin so think you could see through it if you held me up between two branches of a tree in winter.
Because it was so damned hard, completing a page was a milestone to be celebrated. Completing a chapter was cause to drink heavily and shout with fevered anticipation at the wonders in store for my dear readers. And finishing an entire book? I carried that warm nugget of self-congratulation deep in my belly for months.
Thankfully, whether it was through the patient tough love of my editors, or some greater plain of maturity I achieved, it is no longer most of those things. Or, perhaps the change is due to a deeper understanding of the mechanics of architecting and constructing a novel? Knowing where I need to hew to the tried and true methods of telling a story (I'm a shameless three act man, now), and where I can safely veer off the road to let my inner literary fireGod rampage through the ditches.
Yes. I've finished another book. Well, finished the mind-boggling editing journey that began in freaking June of last year. Hmmm, let me ponder that for a second. It's my own damned fault, actually. See, halfway through Sky2 my word count sat at about 80,000 and I felt only halfway through. Instead of putting out a 160,000 word book (sorry, Ayn), I made what I thought was a brilliant decision. "hey, if I cut this sucker in two, I'll have TWO books to put out." Holy shit what a bad idea. See, without understanding framework, these are the types of decisions I made.
However, Sky3 is back from the second proofreader and sits on my hard drive. Cover complete (soooo many revisions). All that's left is creating front-matter, converting to Amazon and Smashword friendly formats and publishing. And then the incredibly trite task of marketing. Which seems doubly painful because Sky4 is roaring along like a rocket sled through the russian forest. 3,000 words yesterday and yes, you've guessed it, the blog entries are back as a diversion from writing. Ha. Happy Saturday.
Because it was so damned hard, completing a page was a milestone to be celebrated. Completing a chapter was cause to drink heavily and shout with fevered anticipation at the wonders in store for my dear readers. And finishing an entire book? I carried that warm nugget of self-congratulation deep in my belly for months.
Thankfully, whether it was through the patient tough love of my editors, or some greater plain of maturity I achieved, it is no longer most of those things. Or, perhaps the change is due to a deeper understanding of the mechanics of architecting and constructing a novel? Knowing where I need to hew to the tried and true methods of telling a story (I'm a shameless three act man, now), and where I can safely veer off the road to let my inner literary fireGod rampage through the ditches.
Yes. I've finished another book. Well, finished the mind-boggling editing journey that began in freaking June of last year. Hmmm, let me ponder that for a second. It's my own damned fault, actually. See, halfway through Sky2 my word count sat at about 80,000 and I felt only halfway through. Instead of putting out a 160,000 word book (sorry, Ayn), I made what I thought was a brilliant decision. "hey, if I cut this sucker in two, I'll have TWO books to put out." Holy shit what a bad idea. See, without understanding framework, these are the types of decisions I made.
However, Sky3 is back from the second proofreader and sits on my hard drive. Cover complete (soooo many revisions). All that's left is creating front-matter, converting to Amazon and Smashword friendly formats and publishing. And then the incredibly trite task of marketing. Which seems doubly painful because Sky4 is roaring along like a rocket sled through the russian forest. 3,000 words yesterday and yes, you've guessed it, the blog entries are back as a diversion from writing. Ha. Happy Saturday.
Sale results as motivation?
World record (for me, anyplace I've lived in the world) writing quantity today - 3,723 words. Written across multiple chapters. Mostly sex scenes, funny enough, and the new book Sky4 would possible qualify for an NC17 rating if it were a movie. First time writing sex scenes from a woman's point of view, though. It was uncomfortable, at first. When I write in the 3rd person, I always adopt the mindset of the point of view character. Having this be a woman has never been a problem. Until the sex scenes. And then, well, it got harder and harder to write as the scenes progressed. Looking down (virtually) and seeing a man on the other side of my character's eyes was just, um, not working. There was no problem describing the female characters feelings, desires, and thoughts. It was just whenever she looked at him, trying to describe what turned her on about him, that the block set in. The trick turned out to be.....
No. Maybe some other time. I'm already dashing this off in a rush in order to watch at least a few holes of the Honda Classic and workout. No need to type even more words that could be read as offensive.
Oh, as the title alludes, perhaps it's the wonderful way the .99 promotion of Sky1 has taken off that's provided impetus behind the record word count? Validation can come oh so cheaply (but dearly appreciated).
No. Maybe some other time. I'm already dashing this off in a rush in order to watch at least a few holes of the Honda Classic and workout. No need to type even more words that could be read as offensive.
Oh, as the title alludes, perhaps it's the wonderful way the .99 promotion of Sky1 has taken off that's provided impetus behind the record word count? Validation can come oh so cheaply (but dearly appreciated).
Monday rain
It's Monday, first day of two weeks off from work, and the words are flowing for the fourth book. No, I'm not pretending that they are particularly inspired or beautifully wrought. No, some days writing is just laying one brick on top of the other. Knowing that I'll come back and tidy up the mortar, level things up and get it nice and neat.
One of the things I'm most thankful for as a writer is a reckoning and understanding about the writing process. Knowing where the story is going is paramount. Then having a high level outline. Then blocking out each scene. Then actually writing each scene. Then going back over each newly written scene the day after writing it and shoring it up a bit. Then once a week or so going back over the previous week's writing and shoring up even more. And that pretty much gets a book's first draft completed. After that, the rewrite process kicks in, which is where all those days of writing without inspiration are paid for, massaged, pruned, shaped into cohesion.
The reason this process works for me is I've finally realized each day's writing doesn't have to be inspired, just functional. Plenty of time to go back over it.
Unlike blog entries. Which I push out using pretty much a stream of consciousness method. Apologies for today!
One of the things I'm most thankful for as a writer is a reckoning and understanding about the writing process. Knowing where the story is going is paramount. Then having a high level outline. Then blocking out each scene. Then actually writing each scene. Then going back over each newly written scene the day after writing it and shoring it up a bit. Then once a week or so going back over the previous week's writing and shoring up even more. And that pretty much gets a book's first draft completed. After that, the rewrite process kicks in, which is where all those days of writing without inspiration are paid for, massaged, pruned, shaped into cohesion.
The reason this process works for me is I've finally realized each day's writing doesn't have to be inspired, just functional. Plenty of time to go back over it.
Unlike blog entries. Which I push out using pretty much a stream of consciousness method. Apologies for today!
