A New Mantra

Okay, not new, but more like... an addendum. In an old post (I think. Somewhere around here, I've rambled a lot), I mentioned that my mantra when I'm writing is 'Say It Better.' I don't share Stephen King's utter aversion to adverbs, but I do try to avoid them. (They have their purpose, just like telling instead of showing does sometimes. Also, that's exactly what adverbs are: telling not showing.)

'Say It Better' to me just means being more creative with language, painting a picture, putting the reader in the character's head, finding ways to symbolize action without just describing it. An example of one of my favorite bits of 'Say it Better' ever is from Terry Pratchett: 'The storm stomped around the mountain on legs of lightning.'

That's perfect. I aspire to that in my writing all the time, which is why I drink so much take my time and do so many rewrites, even with an outline.

Which brings me to the new mantra I'm adding to 'Say It Better': 'Give Yourself Something to Fix'.

Even with the context of the rest of the story, and even with an outline (or both), sometimes it's hard to sit down and start a new scene. It's just... blank. Where are the characters? What were they doing right before this? How does it connect to the scene before? How much time has passed? etc. Or, as has been vexing me lately: how do I 'Say It Better'? I have a line in Hall of Mirrors that says:

"Katya watched as Vita did just that, her eyes working at her memories, stitching them together into a tapestry that unfolded across her face."

I love that line, and am quite proud of it. The problem is, every time I sit down to write, I want that to come out of my fingers with every keystroke. It will never happen, but I still sit there hoping it will. In the meantime, nothing else is getting done.

So. 'Give Yourself Something to Fix' means getting down the basics, and then going back to make it pretty later. Even though I'm currently writing my fifth novel, all I have in my head are the finished versions of the previous four. I simply can't remember the entire process I went through writing them, so naturally my dumb brain thinks that I only wrote the final draft (I didn't), and expects that level of quality with every new word I put down.

But that's completely unrealistic, and I have to fight through all the self doubt and remember that writing is 1% inspired genius and 99% turd polishing, and that's optimistic. I've been trying to keep this actively (adverbs!) in mind, and I'm making better progress in the additional work on Book IV now. I got a bit stuck for a little bit, and had to work out why.

I think I did, and I hope sharing it can help you, too.