Asking for a sequel

[Katie]

Treespeaker just had a lovely 4 star review from TC at Booked Up. She liked it enough to hope there's going to be a sequel. That has to be a good thing, doesn't it?

The review is also here on Goodreads, but hasn't filtered through to my book page yet. I guess it will in time.

http://tc-bookedup.blogspot.com/2011/...

[Andre Jute]

Nice, that, Katie. How is the sequel going?

[Katie]

Very slowly. I'm really good at letting other things become more important. I'm up to Ch.19 of about 30, so I really should just get on and finish it.

[Patricia]

I think that disease of putting other things in front of writing is called Authoritis. It's chronic for me, and I've yet to find an Rx to fix it.

[Andre Jute]

Personally -- and I'm not telling you this is a teacher of creative writing -- I've come to believe that procrastination is a necessary artistic process, like leaving yeast in dough do its work.

[Katie]

Andre Jute wrote: "Personally -- and I'm not telling you this is a teacher of creative writing -- I've come to believe that procrastination is a necessary artistic process, like leaving yeast in dough do its work."

Ha! I'm going to print that off and put it on my desk (attributed of course)!

[Andre Jute]

Problem is, I say that in any but reasonably experienced and mature company, it becomes an excuse for slacking off.

But I've definitely noticed that the moment when I should start writing the book, rather than just think about it, now arrives with a certainty that is much less wasteful in trashed material than when I was younger and felt an urgency to write so many words a day. There's not even a sense of occasion. My hands just fall on the keyboard and nothing more urgent to do appears in my mind, as it did on the previous day.

Of course, I don't even have a chair that belongs to me anywhere else in my house, except in my study at my desk.

[S.M.]

I think there is more than one kind of procrastination in writing. One is genuinely avoiding sitting down to face the page and do the work. For me this is when the muse has dropped her load on my head and raced off to excite someone else. The idea is good and sound, the characters are there, and the plot is available, but I feel like being lazy.

The other kind is when the story has not "simmered" enough to be written. All you'll get at that point is crap, because the plot isn't ready, the main story problem or climax point haven't been discovered, or the character hasn't revealed his "voice" - forcing out x number of words on this story on this day will give you drivel.

During the school year I have up to 5 projects in my "recent" folder - that helps keep me productive.

(I gave up writing for the summer - in hopes of retaining my sanity and not murdering the "Sprite of constant interruption" that plagues me when school is out.)

[Ardyth]

I know what you mean, SM, although sometimes it's hard to tell when it's the writing/idea needing more time and when it's real life or other things distracting me mentally and emotionally.

But one thing is for sure, force an idea before it's ready, and you're just going to have to rewrite again later in order to fix it.

[Amos]

We all want the damn sequel, so kick that muse up the behind. ;)

When I get stuck I do a number of things like writing out of order (and fix it in post) or give up and play sims (not effective) or drop those last three convoluted plots within a plot that you can't seem to get straight in your head (worked for the last thing I did, though that revelation took about 3 months to come to me while I was playing eve-online).

[Dave]

Katie wrote: "She liked it enough to hope there's going to be a sequel. That has to be a good thing, doesn't it?"
Don't jump to conclusions, Katie. There must be some hidden meaning here, I'm sure.

"Procrastination" would be my official middle name, but every time I was about to get it registered at the municipality I found something else to do.

[Andre Jute]

As long as you procrastinate with your hands on the keyboard...

[Ardyth]

Andre Jute wrote: "As long as you procrastinate with your hands on the keyboard..."

The trouble with that is I have um... something like a million words and counting of unpublishable non-book... O.o

I mean, it's fun and all... but isn't getting me anywhere.

[Andre Jute]

Two things to do with it.

My way is simply to bin it, call it a learning experience, and start from scratch. For years on end I threw out a million words a year, so you're not doing anything rare and wonderful.

John Braine used to write a fast draft, and then not rewrite but use it to plot a clear line for the characters from the beginning to the end of the story.

There is a third way, but you need quite a bit of experience to handle it. If there's a subplot, preferably a thriller, that is, or can be made self-standing, you can salvage something. But it takes quite a certain ruthlessness with yourself to throw the rest in the bin. It is somehow easier to bin the whole thing.