Allie
asked
Ilsa J. Bick:
Hi Ilsa! I'm a huge fan! I was just wondering if you have any advice for getting back into writing. I've always enjoyed writing, but as you probably know it can be your greatest friend and your worst enemy at the same time! I know a lot of it is just getting your butt up and doing it, but do you have any personal tips or advice that you find helpful to get back into the groove? Thanks!
Ilsa J. Bick
First off, thank you!
Second...oh, gosh, that’s a great question. In fact, I ask myself that all the time. If you read my blog about two years ago now, you’d see I was going through a horrible patch (don’t go read the entries; I keep thinking I should take them down, I’m so gloomy). There were and still are days when I think about just giving up and doing something—anything—else. I know artists who do that, too: take time off.
Having said that, I really haven’t. I just struggled through it, eventually. I think the best bit of advice I can offer is you setting aside a time to write that’s inviolate. I would start small—an hour, say—and that’s it. No email, no Facebook, no Twitter, no phone, no music. Just you and the screen. Even if you do nothing but your nails for an hour, that’s okay. The point is to train yourself to be in front of the computer ready to work. If that means you have to switch computers or rooms, do it. (Or just turn off your wi-fi.) I have a friend, very famous writer, who walked away from writing for a year and then got herself back into it doing just that. Eventually, you will be there for more than an hour and then it’s probably time to set another goal.
Whatever that goal is...it’s individual. I like to work from schedules and lists; I like to work from outlines. If you think of writing like flying a plane, it’s helpful to know where you take off and where you’re going. Sure, you can fly in the clouds, but I’ll bet you get there faster if you know the route.
Same thing with writing. This way, I’ve kind of told myself the story beforehand so I can see where the plot falls apart (the plot always falls apart) and where things work and which things don’t.
But back to the groove: start with time and then go for words, if you want. Start with an hour and then see if you get a page out of it. That’s about 250 words, you know. If you did a page a day, at the end of a year, you’d have a book. You will find that you do more than that, of course, but that’s an extreme example.
One thing that is also helpful to me is to be really excited about something in the book. Not just the story or the characters, but something kind of cool. For the ASHES trilogy, it was thinking through all the ramifications and what-ifs of an EMP pulse and then learning new stuff I didn’t know about Amish traditions, survivalism, even whether you really can blow up a pile of pine with a flare (you can). For SIN-EATER, it was reading about murders of kids who were thought to be gay. For the book I’m working on now, I’m all jazzed about this cool parasite I found, early 20th century attitudes about girls in medicine, residential Indian schools, enforced sterilization of Indian women and girls both here and in Canada, dog teams...the list goes on. Learning new stuff is exciting and stimulating (you just have to be careful not to overdo the research; you can spend the rest of your life learning stuff).
So, find something you are or become passionate about. Find a story you don’t think has been told and then it really is one step by one step. Just screw your butt to the chair for an hour and see what happens, and then do it again and again and again.
Speaking of which...
Second...oh, gosh, that’s a great question. In fact, I ask myself that all the time. If you read my blog about two years ago now, you’d see I was going through a horrible patch (don’t go read the entries; I keep thinking I should take them down, I’m so gloomy). There were and still are days when I think about just giving up and doing something—anything—else. I know artists who do that, too: take time off.
Having said that, I really haven’t. I just struggled through it, eventually. I think the best bit of advice I can offer is you setting aside a time to write that’s inviolate. I would start small—an hour, say—and that’s it. No email, no Facebook, no Twitter, no phone, no music. Just you and the screen. Even if you do nothing but your nails for an hour, that’s okay. The point is to train yourself to be in front of the computer ready to work. If that means you have to switch computers or rooms, do it. (Or just turn off your wi-fi.) I have a friend, very famous writer, who walked away from writing for a year and then got herself back into it doing just that. Eventually, you will be there for more than an hour and then it’s probably time to set another goal.
Whatever that goal is...it’s individual. I like to work from schedules and lists; I like to work from outlines. If you think of writing like flying a plane, it’s helpful to know where you take off and where you’re going. Sure, you can fly in the clouds, but I’ll bet you get there faster if you know the route.
Same thing with writing. This way, I’ve kind of told myself the story beforehand so I can see where the plot falls apart (the plot always falls apart) and where things work and which things don’t.
But back to the groove: start with time and then go for words, if you want. Start with an hour and then see if you get a page out of it. That’s about 250 words, you know. If you did a page a day, at the end of a year, you’d have a book. You will find that you do more than that, of course, but that’s an extreme example.
One thing that is also helpful to me is to be really excited about something in the book. Not just the story or the characters, but something kind of cool. For the ASHES trilogy, it was thinking through all the ramifications and what-ifs of an EMP pulse and then learning new stuff I didn’t know about Amish traditions, survivalism, even whether you really can blow up a pile of pine with a flare (you can). For SIN-EATER, it was reading about murders of kids who were thought to be gay. For the book I’m working on now, I’m all jazzed about this cool parasite I found, early 20th century attitudes about girls in medicine, residential Indian schools, enforced sterilization of Indian women and girls both here and in Canada, dog teams...the list goes on. Learning new stuff is exciting and stimulating (you just have to be careful not to overdo the research; you can spend the rest of your life learning stuff).
So, find something you are or become passionate about. Find a story you don’t think has been told and then it really is one step by one step. Just screw your butt to the chair for an hour and see what happens, and then do it again and again and again.
Speaking of which...
More Answered Questions
Jaydin
asked
Ilsa J. Bick:
Hi, my best friend is currently reading Ashes, while I have finished the series. I must say it is one of my favorite series! Anyways, I fell in love with Tom right away! My best friend likes Chris, though! I was really curious, who do you like more, and why? I would love to know the background on these two characters, and what made you choose to write these two into your books? Thanks!!!!!
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