I Want You SO Bad Right Now (plus, What I Do When I Do It Good)

I want you. I need you. I burn for that special something only you can give, the drug that dribbles in words from your fingertips... Feedback!

Episode Two of The Minus Faction is nearly to beta-draft, which means I am looking for beta-readers.

What are the requirements for beta-reading, you ask? I'm glad you asked. They're pretty simple. Be literate. Be interested. Be willing to read 25-26,000 words (roughly 100 standard pages) in the next couple weeks. Give feedback.

That last one always gets people, but it really shouldn't. Just tell me what stood out to you, what worked and what didn't. That's it. Obviously the more thought you can give, the better. But I have no grand expectations, and I am always so desperate for feedback that I am tickled breathless and purple to get anything you're able to share.

(Feedback is the only way I get better, so do me a favor and don't spare my feelings. That does me no favors.)

If interested, you can send me an email here. It is open to all, and there are no obligations for signing up, but if you do, you're welcome to an e-book copy of the finished product.

I had a request a loooooooong time ago to write about how I write. At the time it seemed pointlessly self-reflective, like a mirror looking into a mirror. But after a conversation this past week, I remembered how much I appreciated seeing how others do it -- the morbid fascination of someone else's open heart surgery.

So we'll keep this short and not very deep, because that's how I do it. Cue '70s porn guitar. 

I don't have a set process, which is good because it would be mind-blowingly boring to read a play-by-play of the making of a book. I'm going to tell you what I don't do in the hopes of bounding the space of all possible things I DO do.

Do-do do do-do.

I don't write a complete draft and then sit on it before going back and doing rewrites. I think that's an excellent way to develop an argument but a less-than-elegant way to develop a character. I also don't write in order. I often work backwards.

I don't use plot points or character interviews or any of that kind of stuff (although I don't think there's anything wrong with any of that). I don't use big words when small ones will do. I don't use expository passages to explain what my plot failed to show. I don't leave any sentence that doesn't advance the plot or develop a character -- preferably both at the same time -- or if not, that doesn't directly support another sentence that does.

I don't write every day. I don't write without knowing what's going to happen. Those two go together for me. I tried forcing myself to write every day. I spent the early months of FANTASMAGORIA with a daily word count goal. I learned two things: daily word goals only amplify guilt and frustration, and what comes out when I force it is generally crap. These days I don't write until I'm ready, until the story is baked. I don't have a schedule. It happens when it happens. (I still get frustrated with lack of progress, just less than before.)

I don't take notes, even though I often say I do. I have notes, pages and pages worth. They're just all in my head. I've learned as I've gotten older that I have a pretty good memory. (It's going to suck when it starts to go.) Not a Sherlockian mind palace, but pretty good all the same. I will occasionally leave a short prompt, just a phrase, if what I have to remember for that chapter is particularly nuanced, but that's usually the extent of it.

I don't live cleanly while in the throes of heavy composition. I smoke a lot of cigars (but never indoors). I drink a lot of coffee. I watch a lot of porn. I eat a lot of pie. I'm eating blueberry pie as I write this, my second piece, having already smoked before 9 a.m. Sherlock was right that nicotine does wonders for brain work. So does caffeine, sugar, and frequent masturbation.

Your mileage may vary because your goals may vary. I don't want to do anything but tell an entertaining story, something people are excited to read and, hopefully, have trouble putting down.

Episode Two of The Minus Faction has challenged me there, but then every project I've worked on has challenged me in different ways. I can't look back on a single one where I said, "I GOT this!" Never happens. And if it did, I'd suspect I was doing something wrong.

Finally, I don't like writing about writing, so I'm going to stop here and leave you with a fantastic piece by Trevor Brown that sums it all up. Werd to your mutha.

And for those who haven't seen, the cover to Episode Two: