The Secret to Writing

There is none.

Ha.

That subject line was a wee bit misleading, eh? There are no secrets to writing. There is no one ‘ingredient’ that works for all authors.

Whenever I post my writing stats, I get asked how do I write so fast and so much. I actually get asked this question quite a bit. I’m not the only one. Last night, I finished writing my 33rd book (that I count) and my 4th book I’d written this year.  I wrote 105,000 words in 38 days. During those 38 days, I had the RWA conference and a couple of signings.

How do I do it?

I wish I had something interesting to tell you about my writing style, because in all honesty, the truth behind how I write is boring. No radioactive spiders, no speedy happy little fingers. I don’t do anything extraordinary.  And I’m not trying to downplay what I do, because that’s something I do have a tendency of doing. I don’t even know why. I do work hard. I’ve written until my neck and shoulders ache so bad I feel like a ninety-year-old woman. The only time I’ve taken a vacation in the last three years was to move into my new house. I’ve written on Christmas, on my birthday and on my anniversary. I’ve gone weeks without seeing my friends or family members. Seriously. My sister-in-law has to text me and be like, are you working on a book or can we talk?

Unless I’m traveling, I write 7 days a week for about 10 hours a day. There you have it. Boring, right?

I write full time. I don’t have kids. My husband is a cop so he works weird hours that gives me a lot of writing time with no interruption. There you have it. I’m totally not a special snowflake. There are many, many others who write faster and more than me, who actually have these little things they are responsible for watering and feeding.  They are freaking special, because I’m all like my dog needs water in his bowl AGAIN?

Anyway, I write like this because it is what works for me. Me. Me. Me. Me. Me.

Yesterday, I got asked an awesome question that pertains to writing in general, and this is the real point of this post. The question was:

“… but don’t you think one of the most important ingredients of a good book is time?“

And this was me:

and

And here’s why this is such an important question (and kudos to her for asking) to be asked and answered:

Firstly, as a writer you must accept there is no such thing as a universally good or universally bad book. Just get that crap right out of your head. There’s no such thing. I mean, people give 5 stars to dino-porn books. I’ve seen it. With my own eyes. And you can’t unsee that shit. People have given 1 star reviews of some of my favorite, cherished and much loved books.

Quality of writing, of storytelling and of craft are TOTALLY SUBJECTIVE. What one person loves, another hates, and so forth. There are people out there who don’t mind a book where it looks like the English language threw up comma splices all over it. There are people who see ‘there’ versus ‘their’ misused and lose their ever loving mind. A good book is subjective. As a writer, you’ve got to write what you want to read, what you are passionate about, and what you think is good.

Secondly and probably most importantly, there is no one ingredient in the book-baby-making-process that works for every writer. That if every writer out there used this one ingredient, they would turn into book ninjas.

For example, for me, the longer I take on a book… the worse it gets. I’m not kidding. If I stressed over every little word, it would be one big steaming pile of crap.

Time does not work for me. It is not on my side.

For others, they need that time. They have to stress over every little world. That works for them. That is how they write.  And you’re know what? That is…

It’s the same as some writers plotting out books while other writers don’t. It’s the same as some writers using prose while others adopt a more simple style. I’m the simple style writer. I used to get so offended when people were like “YOU’RE WRITING IS SO SIMPLE.” and it was so bad that one of my editors LOL’d every time she saw that, because she knew I was all like that doesn’t sound like a compliment.

It took me a while to realize that it was just a different style of writing.  Like, I write everyday speak. That’s the best way for me to sum it up. How I think people think and talk goes onto the page. Then there are writers who gush out some prose that makes me want to go hide in my cave of-not-good-enough because their prose is just beautiful. Then there is the style where I’m all like WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME IN THIS PARAGRAPH ABOUT SITTING IN A CHAIR?!? But you know what? Prose isn’t better than simple. Simple isn’t cooler than prose. Purple pose has it’s time and place.

It’s all just different styles.

Whatever floats your writer boat, ya’ll.

The absolute worse thing as a writer that you could do is try to adopt something someone tells you is the correct way.  To be the writer that you’re not.  If you can’t write a 105k word book in a month, you are not lacking.  If you write a 105k book in a month, you are not writing crap. You need to find what works for you.

And then, as cheesy as this sounds, you’re going to be the best writer that you can be.