I have an extra busy day today so I bring you a quote and a pretty picture:)
Just because things hadn’t gone the way I had planned didn’t necessarily mean they had gone wrong.
― Ann Patchett
Posts Tagged ‘writing’
Things Going Right
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged Ann Patchett, inspiration, quotes, work, Writers, writing on December 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »
We All Start Somewhere
Posted in Writing, tagged arts, books, creativity, Fiction, finishing, funny, genre fiction, Jim C. Hines, john scalzi, Motivation, nanowrimo, persistence, sff, speculative fiction, work, Writers, writing on December 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »
In the wake of NaNoWriMo, I thought it instructive to point out Jim C. Hines’s new book, Rise of the Spider Goddess. This is an annotated version of a novel he wrote in his formative years. In other words, it is a bad book. And he’s sharing it, on purpose, for entertainment, for edification, and to help other writers recognize that we all start somewhere.
So, fair NaNo’ers (and others), as you review your 50,000+ word opus, do not despair if you realize that the draft over which you slaved is actually really very awfully bad;) And as Jim says in his introduction to the book on John Scalzi’s Whatever:
Writing a bad book is nothing to be ashamed of, because dammit, I still wrote a book. Then I wrote more of them. And with each one, I got better.
Seeing Daylight
Posted in Writing, tagged awesome, Fiction, finishing, genre fiction, nanowrimo, persistence, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, work, Writers, writing, yay on November 25, 2014| 2 Comments »
Hey, I hit 50,194 words for NaNoWriMo today! The novel still needs work, of course, but I’ve reached my November target. Now I can concentrate on shaping the story… after a little break to celebrate:)
For those of you still at it, keep going!
Shake Hands with the Unknown
Posted in Writing, tagged artists, books, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, The Atlantic, Thoughts, William Gibson, Writers, writing on November 24, 2014| 1 Comment »
What draws a reader into a book? What breaks their connection with the material world and plugs the brain into an alternative dimension? Sure, cover design, a known author and positive publicity blurbs all have something to do with it, but as speculative fictioneer William Gibson argues in The Atlantic, the first sentence is what invites you in.
The First Sentence Is a Handshake – The Atlantic
For William Gibson, author of The Peripheral, a kind of invitation is extended—and readers will or won’t feel what he calls “the click.” But it’s not just about connecting with an audience. In a conversation for this series, Gibson explained how first sentences invite the writer, too: they contain a blueprint for the book that will be written.
I don’t write the way Gibson does, laboring over the first line until it is worthy of the effort the rest of the book will take, but I do go back to it and rewrite. Ahem. A lot.
The article is full of interesting thoughts from the man who coined the term “cyberspace.” For more on Gibson’s method, his views on the proper balance between mystery and clarity, and a discussion of his newest book, The Peripheral, check out the full article at The Atlantic.
More Thoughts on Creativity, from Twyla Tharp
Posted in Writing, tagged artists, arts, choreography, creativity, dancing, ideas, inspiration, that pesky muse, Thoughts, Twyla Tharp, work, writing on November 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »
After my post last week about Isaac Asimov’s ideas on, well, ideas, a friend sent me a great link on creativity. It’s over at Kim Manley Ort’s blog and is a nice introduction to Twyla Tharp’s 2006 book, The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life.
As one of America’s preeminent choreographers with more than half a century of creative experience, Tharp has a handle on how to channel the muse. The post introduces Tharp’s thoughts on creativity, how to call it, how to harness it and where to ride it when you do. Not all of her lessons may apply to you but most of it can be translated from person to person, and discipline to discipline. The fact that her chosen form of communication is dance does not mean that her advice is necessarily less relevant for those of us who write.
I found her thoughts insightful; I hope you do too.
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Ursula Le Guin Steals The Show
Posted in Writing, tagged amazon, arts, books, fantasy and science fiction, genre fiction, Hachette, literature, National Book Awards, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin, Writers, writing on November 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »
At the National Book Awards yesterday, our Lady Le Guin accepted an award for distinguished contribution to American letters. In her acceptance speech she went to bat for speculative fiction writers in particular. See this link from Parker Higgins for the full text of the speech.
As NPR reports:
“I rejoice in accepting [this prize] for, and sharing it with, all the writers who were excluded from literature for so long: my fellow authors of fantasy and science fiction,” Le Guin said.
She also had some choice words on the recent Amazon-Hachette battle over pricing:
“We just saw a profiteer try to punish a publisher for disobedience, and writers threatened by corporate fatwa,” she said. “And I see a lot of us, the producers, accepting this — letting commodity profiteers sell us like deodorant!”
It just goes to show that writers tend to be anything but boring. Especially writers of science fiction and fantasy.
[Edited to add speech text and video links.]
Bad Writing Advice Explained
Posted in Writing, tagged creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, Martian Ballet, Mary Robinette Kowal, pithy advice, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on November 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Mary Robinette Kowal, that font of wisdom and Regency fashion tips, has a nice column on bad writing advice.
There’s a bunch of aphorisms about writing that started as good, pithy advice in part of someone’s lecture. Then they got pulled out of context and then misapplied.
Mary breaks down the standards that every beginning writer hears and talks about what they really mean, and when they are useful (spoiler: not always!). Write what you know, show don’t tell, raise the stakes, and kill your darlings, all so often repeated as gospel.
If you’ve ever tried to merge the advice to “write what you know” with the burning desire to write about Martian ballerinas and the prospectors who love them, well, fellow speculators, this is for you.
/totally going off to write a story about Martian ballet… right after I finish my novel!
Goodbye, Fall
Posted in Writing, tagged Fiction, home, John Steinbeck, nanowrimo, quotes, snow, winter, Writers, writing on November 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »
I’ve got inches of thick wet snow on my porch and the last of the red maple leaves have finally fallen. It is officially winter.
What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.
― John Steinbeck
And really, what better weather for novel writing? Time to get back to it!
How Do People Get New Ideas?
Posted in Writing, tagged arts, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, Isaac Asimov, literature, MIT’s Technology Review, nanowrimo, science, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on November 14, 2014| 2 Comments »
Like many of you I’m doing NaNoWriMo and as such I am more than usually interested in questions of creativity and how to help it along. The following is from an essay in MIT’s Technology Review by Isaac Asimov, in which he asks that most fundamental of questions, “How Do People Get New Ideas?”
… what is needed is not only people with a good background in a particular field, but also people capable of making a connection between item 1 and item 2 which might not ordinarily seem connected… Making the cross-connection requires a certain daring.
And so to you I say (with a nod to Theodore Roosevelt), dare greatly!
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