David Allan Hamilton's Blog, page 8
March 22, 2021
Writing That First Draft In Four Weeks
I began writing the first draft of book 1 in a new series last Thursday. Over the years, I've learned that the best way for me to write is in sprints. Two x 15 minute sprints results in 1,000 words. The most I've written in a week (on my novel that becomes available in April) is about 12,000 words...
So I am challenging myself to write the first draft of this novel in 4 weeks... approximately 15k - 16k words per week for a total of 60k - 65k words. Once I revise it, the novel should come out around 65k - 70k based on how I revise and edit.
It's a do-able challenge.
As I started my day, I was just over 5,000 words.
I'll update my progress daily :)
Hey, any tips you can send me way, please do!
So I am challenging myself to write the first draft of this novel in 4 weeks... approximately 15k - 16k words per week for a total of 60k - 65k words. Once I revise it, the novel should come out around 65k - 70k based on how I revise and edit.
It's a do-able challenge.
As I started my day, I was just over 5,000 words.
I'll update my progress daily :)
Hey, any tips you can send me way, please do!
March 21, 2021
Publishing Is Not The Point
There are lots of reasons why you should write a book. Short story collections, poetry collections, recipes... all good. You get an idea you want to share with others, and you write that idea in a book.
Still, while writers coming through my workshops consistently tell me they want to write so they can finally feel that sense of accomplishment from writing their story, there remains an underlying, sometimes unsaid, goal of getting published.
There was a time not that long ago when if you got picked by a publisher, you could make a decent living as a writer. Back before word processors. It also gave you bragging rights. "Look, Ma, I'm a published author."
Today, publishing is easy. Anyone can publish. (Now, they are degrees of being published. Self-publishing is for losers and scum. Indie publishing is for government grant-supported companies i.e., legitimized welfare. Only the big publishers really matter).
But here's the thing: publishing is not the point of writing.
Getting picked or doing it yourself is not the point.
Sure, I encourage all my writers to publish what they create because it makes the process more real, more risky. Which means, in the end, we become better writers.
So if publishing is not the point, what is?
What you become by going through the writing process is.
Still, while writers coming through my workshops consistently tell me they want to write so they can finally feel that sense of accomplishment from writing their story, there remains an underlying, sometimes unsaid, goal of getting published.
There was a time not that long ago when if you got picked by a publisher, you could make a decent living as a writer. Back before word processors. It also gave you bragging rights. "Look, Ma, I'm a published author."
Today, publishing is easy. Anyone can publish. (Now, they are degrees of being published. Self-publishing is for losers and scum. Indie publishing is for government grant-supported companies i.e., legitimized welfare. Only the big publishers really matter).
But here's the thing: publishing is not the point of writing.
Getting picked or doing it yourself is not the point.
Sure, I encourage all my writers to publish what they create because it makes the process more real, more risky. Which means, in the end, we become better writers.
So if publishing is not the point, what is?
What you become by going through the writing process is.
March 18, 2021
Stop Caring So Much And Just Write
Some random thoughts I often find rattling around in my head go like this...
Loser.
Epic Failure.
#Stayinschool
What are you, stupid?
Me: Dang, I wish I could write better prose . . . this scene sucks.
Lizard Brain: Maybe if you had more talent, Loser. Hey, what makes you think you’re a writer anyway? No wonder you can’t get a date . . .
As you can tell, I’ve been thinking about Mindset lately and how to develop a healthy one for achieving my writing goals. Carol Dweck discusses the psychology of the Growth Mindset (healthy) versus the Fixed Mindset (unhealthy) in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, and I encourage you to give that a read or find a Ted talk on the subject. But what I’m most interested in is how to develop a successful writer’s mindset beyond the “set a schedule and stick to it” thing.
I started with what I wanted to achieve as a writer. Here’s my list:Write more words per day i.e., be an efficient writerWrite better words, i.e., become a more skilled wordsmithWrite more novels, i.e., be a more proficient writer
I don’t claim any of this as original thinking. I mean, look at those. That’s the Olympic tag of better, stronger, faster, isn’t it?
Never mind, those goals will get me closer to my million words and ten novels, at which point I'll have developed a few skills.
Now, a fixed or limited mindset – expressed so well by the Lizard Brain – would say we’re born with only so much creative talent and you get what you get. A growth mindset says nuts to that, and views every project, every writing task as a critical step in the process of becoming the writer you want to be.
A writer with a fixed mindset will tell herself “My first draft sucks. I can’t write. Better take up yoga or something.”
A writer with a growth mindset will tell herself, “My first draft sucks. But the last part of my novel flows way better than the first, and I learned a lot about the importance of planning and plotting my scenes. So sure, it sucks, but I’ve got something to work with and learn from.”
Which one are you?
Loser.
Epic Failure.
#Stayinschool
What are you, stupid?
Me: Dang, I wish I could write better prose . . . this scene sucks.
Lizard Brain: Maybe if you had more talent, Loser. Hey, what makes you think you’re a writer anyway? No wonder you can’t get a date . . .
As you can tell, I’ve been thinking about Mindset lately and how to develop a healthy one for achieving my writing goals. Carol Dweck discusses the psychology of the Growth Mindset (healthy) versus the Fixed Mindset (unhealthy) in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, and I encourage you to give that a read or find a Ted talk on the subject. But what I’m most interested in is how to develop a successful writer’s mindset beyond the “set a schedule and stick to it” thing.
I started with what I wanted to achieve as a writer. Here’s my list:Write more words per day i.e., be an efficient writerWrite better words, i.e., become a more skilled wordsmithWrite more novels, i.e., be a more proficient writer
I don’t claim any of this as original thinking. I mean, look at those. That’s the Olympic tag of better, stronger, faster, isn’t it?
Never mind, those goals will get me closer to my million words and ten novels, at which point I'll have developed a few skills.
Now, a fixed or limited mindset – expressed so well by the Lizard Brain – would say we’re born with only so much creative talent and you get what you get. A growth mindset says nuts to that, and views every project, every writing task as a critical step in the process of becoming the writer you want to be.
A writer with a fixed mindset will tell herself “My first draft sucks. I can’t write. Better take up yoga or something.”
A writer with a growth mindset will tell herself, “My first draft sucks. But the last part of my novel flows way better than the first, and I learned a lot about the importance of planning and plotting my scenes. So sure, it sucks, but I’ve got something to work with and learn from.”
Which one are you?
March 17, 2021
A Dog Returns To Its Vomit
We are creatures of habit.
When changes are necessary, we can live with them for a while, but then we drift back to "normal". Our normal. I can go on a health kick, ease up on the carbs, lose some weight. But then, you know, whatever, and before I know it, I'm back where I was.
I meet all kinds of writers in my workshops. The advice I consistently give them is to get into a regular writing habit, and that more than anything else, the way to write a novel is plant your rump in a chair and write. No short cuts.
But for some, that's a habit that never really develops. We go back to "normal"... thinking about writing instead of actually writing.
It takes at least 30 days - some say 6 weeks - to form a new habit or break an old one. Take the 30 day challenge of writing for at least 10 minutes every day. Be consistent. Show up. Do it even if you don't feel like it.
Let me know how much you've written.
When changes are necessary, we can live with them for a while, but then we drift back to "normal". Our normal. I can go on a health kick, ease up on the carbs, lose some weight. But then, you know, whatever, and before I know it, I'm back where I was.
I meet all kinds of writers in my workshops. The advice I consistently give them is to get into a regular writing habit, and that more than anything else, the way to write a novel is plant your rump in a chair and write. No short cuts.
But for some, that's a habit that never really develops. We go back to "normal"... thinking about writing instead of actually writing.
It takes at least 30 days - some say 6 weeks - to form a new habit or break an old one. Take the 30 day challenge of writing for at least 10 minutes every day. Be consistent. Show up. Do it even if you don't feel like it.
Let me know how much you've written.
March 15, 2021
My Story Idea Is So Awesome I Can't Share It
I've been guilty of saying that each and every one of us has a story to tell.
This idea that there's only one idea is just plain wrong. I admit that. I wasn't thinking.
If you only have one great story idea, bordering on the awesome, then of course you won't want to share it with anyone. I mean, what if someone - heaven forbid - steals it?
Worse, if it's the only story idea you have, and it doesn't work i.e., no one buys your book, then what?
The truth is, you have lots of stories to tell. Dozens, if not hundreds. If not thousands. Go write those. Some will fail miserably, and others will be awesome. The challenge is, we don't know which story will resonate. Writing, or any creative process, comes with no guarantees. The only way to know if something resonates with readers is to write it, publish it, and learn from the feedback.
This idea that there's only one idea is just plain wrong. I admit that. I wasn't thinking.
If you only have one great story idea, bordering on the awesome, then of course you won't want to share it with anyone. I mean, what if someone - heaven forbid - steals it?
Worse, if it's the only story idea you have, and it doesn't work i.e., no one buys your book, then what?
The truth is, you have lots of stories to tell. Dozens, if not hundreds. If not thousands. Go write those. Some will fail miserably, and others will be awesome. The challenge is, we don't know which story will resonate. Writing, or any creative process, comes with no guarantees. The only way to know if something resonates with readers is to write it, publish it, and learn from the feedback.
March 13, 2021
The Masses And The Niches
"My novel is for everyone."
There was a time, pre-internet, where the mass market made sense. We all watched the same TV programs, saw the same commercials, bought the same stuff. K-Tel, Ronco, Happy Days and Gilligan's Island. To increase sales, marketers and advertisers focused on finding that bulging middle ground of consumers. And if you were a writer back then, you had no choice but to do the same because the publishing world was similar.
Today is very different. If you write your novel "for everyone", you are doomed.
Instead, because we can find tiny, niche communities for just about any interest these days, our task as writers now is to find that one community that resonates with our story. We cannot be all things to all people.
Once you've found that niche community, find out what they do. What they like. What they want. And what you can give them. Write that story for them, no one else.
There was a time, pre-internet, where the mass market made sense. We all watched the same TV programs, saw the same commercials, bought the same stuff. K-Tel, Ronco, Happy Days and Gilligan's Island. To increase sales, marketers and advertisers focused on finding that bulging middle ground of consumers. And if you were a writer back then, you had no choice but to do the same because the publishing world was similar.
Today is very different. If you write your novel "for everyone", you are doomed.
Instead, because we can find tiny, niche communities for just about any interest these days, our task as writers now is to find that one community that resonates with our story. We cannot be all things to all people.
Once you've found that niche community, find out what they do. What they like. What they want. And what you can give them. Write that story for them, no one else.
March 11, 2021
The Story And The Execution
Within the myriad items and activities we writers worry about when crafting a story are these two major points: Developing the story itself, and, executing the writing. Let's have a quick look.
1. Developing the story
If your story idea doesn't excite your readers in your genre, then you need to improve it or find a more appropriate audience. I could write an awesome science fiction tale, for example, but if I'm soliciting feedback from western romance reader, I can fully expect a big bag of yawns no matter how amazing the story idea is.
Alternatively, if I pitch my science fiction story to science fiction readers and their response is "meh", then my story needs work.
It behooves you, therefore, to pitch your story idea to the appropriate audience early in the game. Take your major plot points and story premise, and talk to others about it. Gauge their response. Listen to their feedback, and adjust your story outline accordingly until the response is a resounding "Yes!". When you hear that, you'll know that your story idea resonates with the right audience.
2. Executing the writing
The only (haha) thing left to do is write that story.
Yes, it's a lot harder than the writers on TV make it out to be. If this is the first story you're writing, it won't be a best-seller. It likely won't be that well-written because you're still learning the craft. Listen. It takes years and hundreds of thousands of words before your writing becomes effective. You can have the best story idea in the world, but in the hands of someone who hasn't written before, don't expect wonders.
I say this respectfully. There are no short cuts to execution. You need to write, write a lot, and share your work with others in order to improve. So even if you're just starting out, write that great story idea. Put it out in the world. Gather feedback from readers and other writers. Then write the next one. And the next one.
Becoming an effective writer takes time and effort. You have to wade through a lot of crap before you find the gold. But it's worth it.
1. Developing the story
If your story idea doesn't excite your readers in your genre, then you need to improve it or find a more appropriate audience. I could write an awesome science fiction tale, for example, but if I'm soliciting feedback from western romance reader, I can fully expect a big bag of yawns no matter how amazing the story idea is.
Alternatively, if I pitch my science fiction story to science fiction readers and their response is "meh", then my story needs work.
It behooves you, therefore, to pitch your story idea to the appropriate audience early in the game. Take your major plot points and story premise, and talk to others about it. Gauge their response. Listen to their feedback, and adjust your story outline accordingly until the response is a resounding "Yes!". When you hear that, you'll know that your story idea resonates with the right audience.
2. Executing the writing
The only (haha) thing left to do is write that story.
Yes, it's a lot harder than the writers on TV make it out to be. If this is the first story you're writing, it won't be a best-seller. It likely won't be that well-written because you're still learning the craft. Listen. It takes years and hundreds of thousands of words before your writing becomes effective. You can have the best story idea in the world, but in the hands of someone who hasn't written before, don't expect wonders.
I say this respectfully. There are no short cuts to execution. You need to write, write a lot, and share your work with others in order to improve. So even if you're just starting out, write that great story idea. Put it out in the world. Gather feedback from readers and other writers. Then write the next one. And the next one.
Becoming an effective writer takes time and effort. You have to wade through a lot of crap before you find the gold. But it's worth it.
March 10, 2021
Writing Poetry To Improve Your Prose
In yesterday's poetry workshop that I instruct, Margaret said that one of the benefits of writing poetry was how it influenced her prose (Margaret is a short story writer and novelist).
How true. Listening to, reading and writing poetry taps into a different subset of the creative brain. Poets, for example, often play with rhythm and alliteration, juicy words and sound echoes. When you play with poetry, building little glimpses of life in the word sandbox, you will find that some of the creative elements translate well into your prose, turning boring material into stories that pop.
Are you struggling with making your prose more interesting? Take a few minutes from your day and compose a purple prose poem and then have a look at your work in progress.
How true. Listening to, reading and writing poetry taps into a different subset of the creative brain. Poets, for example, often play with rhythm and alliteration, juicy words and sound echoes. When you play with poetry, building little glimpses of life in the word sandbox, you will find that some of the creative elements translate well into your prose, turning boring material into stories that pop.
Are you struggling with making your prose more interesting? Take a few minutes from your day and compose a purple prose poem and then have a look at your work in progress.
March 9, 2021
Writing For You Versus Writing For Sales
Empathy is at the heart of writing.
By all means, write the story you are called to write. But if you don't get any sales or interest in it from non-family and non-friends, perhaps something else is at play. Not an issue if you don't care about sales, but...
“If you build it they will come” doesn’t work.
If you're looking for sales and building a tribe of supportive readers, ask yourself this: What do readers in your target audience want to read? What do they need? What can you give them?
Write that.
By all means, write the story you are called to write. But if you don't get any sales or interest in it from non-family and non-friends, perhaps something else is at play. Not an issue if you don't care about sales, but...
“If you build it they will come” doesn’t work.
If you're looking for sales and building a tribe of supportive readers, ask yourself this: What do readers in your target audience want to read? What do they need? What can you give them?
Write that.
March 8, 2021
Testing... Testing...
We are constantly testing things to find what works.Want to play catch or watch some netflix?Come here often?May I interest you in financing your new purchase?Is this book cover more compelling than the other?If you're wondering whether your new story idea will have an audience, you test your idea(s) with actual readers before you write it.
If you're wondering how to increase sales of your book, you test book covers, headlines, back cover blurbs, images.
"If you build it, they will come" is a myth of biblical proportions. If you write your book and publish it on Amazon without testing dozens of variables to see which ones turn to sales, you will hear crickets.
