Thaddeus Nowak's Blog: Thoughts and Observations, page 29

Finding Time To Write

This is part of the discussion I had with the students at Patton and I thought I would share some of theme here.

One item I mentioned to them is that with my busy life, I find it hard to always find time in front of the keyboard (and I really don't write long handed these days) so I tend to "write" in my head when I have the free time.

Now before people start wondering about what's going on in my head (and you may not want to know), by "writing" in my head, I mean I work out the scenes, think out the consequences of plot twists, consider dialogue for the characters, etc. If I can make use of the time standing in queue to check out at the store or when stuck waiting for the car to be services, so much the better. And working on my book, even if only through a thought experiment is personally rewarding.

When I do get time in front of the computer, all I really need to do is replay the scene I devised in my head and type it out. I don't have to spend the time for typing working out those details. It allows me to make more progress than if I had simply stared at the people ahead of me and wondered "why are they buying those things?"

One of my favorite times to work on my writing in this fashion is when I am out hiking. Today I spent the morning in the woods, along a dirt trail, rain threatening at any moment (and me wishing it would come to clear out some of the humidity). It was early enough that we were the first ones out there this morning and the squirrels scattered through the leaves and branches as we made our way along the twisting path. We chased a couple of toads off, hoping they won't come back to the path to get stepped on, and I knocked down spider webs, sometimes with my face. In all, it was a great morning.

For me, hiking in the woods (and mountains when I get the chance) really sets the mood in my head for writing. Of course, I tend to write fantasy with outdoor scenes, so it is natural that my surroundings echo their way into the backdrop of the story I am working on.

Hopefully other people who like to write can find similar places and uses for time away from the computer that allow them to keep working on their story.

When I finish reading a book

I find that when I finish reading a book I tend to be lost for something to do and end up still stuck in the story. Normally I can burn through reading a novel in a day or two (provided I have the time.) But once I am done, I tend to dwell in the story for a while, analyzing bits and pieces of the plot and the character actions.

I can pick up another book and distract myself, but I will still come back to do a mental recap and think about the what-ifs the story left for me.

The side effect is, I can definitely have one impression of a store when I just finish it, and then over time, thinking back about it, the impression of story changes. Sometimes growing on me, sometimes not.

I just finished reading the Hunger Game trilogy and when I was done, I wasn't sure about the ending (or a number of things in the third book). However, after a few days, I wonder if perhaps I was a little too judgmental about it. I nitpick sometimes (underlying perfectionist tendencies) and that can make me focus on a few specific things instead of the overall story.

In this case, I'm not sure time has made any overall change in my opinion, but it has mellowed it somewhat. Perhaps in reviews I should start including a factor in how much time a book kept me thinking after I was done reading it. Aside from the enjoyment factor, how engaged I am with a story, even one I might not like, is part of the art of story telling.

Speaking to student

I am honored to have been asked to come to Patton Jr. High on the 10th and speak with the students about writing. They plan to give me a tour of the school and have even setup a poster and asked for essays to be written for why they should be able to meet me in person. I'm definitely excited and I'm looking forward to it, but it is also quite different to be on the other side of the table.

This opportunity has meant that I needed to dust off my public speaking hat, something I have done a few times, but not on a regular basis. I may be speaking to as many as 200 students, which is definitely a thrill and so I have been working on my speech and getting ready for the event.

In writing the speech, I realized I was just a touch older than these students when I first got the bug to be a writer. It is a good, but somewhat startling feeling, to realize that I might actually be able to influence the next generation of writers. I had never really considered that when I started writing. Primarily I had been thinking about what I needed to do to make my book a success, not so much the impact of it. Now chance and timing might make this a much more rewarding endeavor than I had originally envisioned.

World Facts and History

The world in Mother's Curse was developed over many years. In fact, I started developing the world for an earlier novel that I wrote, but never felt was "right".

This long term development of the world has left me with mountains of history and details. Some days I wish I had the time to act as historian and simply record the events that occurred across all of the world. To some degree, that is what my novels do, provide glimpses into the world.

However, there is a lot of back story as well and some things will never end up in a novel, just left idling in the back of my mind, setting the mood for what I write. Others facts and events could make more of an appearance, showing up in references and character and place history mentioned in one of the novels.

Some of the more general bits of history, that someone living in the world might be expected to know, I am recording on my website's History page. Hopefully these bits and pieces might interest you and if there are things people are really interested in knowing more about, I might just decide to add those details to a later novel.

Starting off ...

I wanted to start of my blog with just a general observation. Nothing too heavy or deep.

Personally, I love hiking and doing things outdoors. I enjoy exploring and traveling, turning off the main roads and onto small side roads, simply because they look more interesting.

I've done that every, even in the Rocky Mountains, finding some very narrow (and sometimes dangerous) side roads that run up the side of a mountain, not knowing where I am going, just waiting to see what's around the next bend.

However, I am most happy when I am creating something. I've always been extremely creative, even as a small child, and I find writing to be one of the best forms of creativity. In my fantasy novels, I have created whole worlds and societies and beliefs and people. It is definitely a wonderful feeling to see it come alive.