Advice and the giving of it

Eden — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:28:31 +0000

I’ve been writing a novel for almost three months now, so I think it’s safe to say that I’m an expert at novel writing. In other words — you can pretty much take my words as the gold standard on this particular endeavor and success, women, and riches will inevitably be showered upon your person.

Wouldn’t that be nice to hear? I’d love some definitive advice on novel writing. But it isn’t to be. Each novel, they say, is different. Each writer is different. Each writer is different while writing each different novel. How irritating is that? So I found when I turned to Twitter for advice on whether or not to start editing my novel from the beginning before finishing the first draft. The resounding answer? Yes! And also: No!

What’s a girl to do? I decided to do both. When I feel inspired to write new stuff, I plow ahead in the rough draft. I’m not much of an outliner, not yet anyway, so I usually set my sights on a distant plot point and try to swim steadily toward it. When I’m feeling more analytical, I take a look at my first chapter, ripping it up, writing new stuff, taking notes, thinking about character. And you know, this method has been working really well for me. It satisfies both my need to create new stuff and to feel like I’m making progress toward a story that actually makes sense and that I wouldn’t be upset about the world seeing if I got run over by a bus.

I’ve also been steering clear of buses, just in case.

But of course, if there’s any advice to be given about writing, it’s that no one way works for everybody. And I’m always open to new ideas… so does anyone have new ideas to share? What writing/editing combo works for you in shorts or long stuff? How much has the advice of others worked for you?

New-fangled time management skills

Eden — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:59:45 +0000

So I’ve been trying this new thing called “time management” recently. It’s kind of a new idea so I don’t know if any of you have heard of it. It involves scheduling the things you want and/or need to do, and then doing those things within an allotted time slot. This is complicated, I know, so here’s an example. I go into work at 11:45am every day (I know, lucky me, right?), so I have my mornings free to write, piddle around, make coffee, what have you. Previous to my “time management” plan, I would sort of vaguely assert that I wanted to “write” in the mornings, but what this usually entailed was opening a file at 9am, staring at it for 5 minutes, going to make coffee, staring at the file and/or writing 2 sentences, piddling around on the internet, watching cars get towed on my street, tending to my plants, making gluten-free frozen waffles… you get the idea.

NOW, however, I am a model of efficiency. I have decided that from 10-11, I will write, and that is all I will do. The compromise is that from 9-10 and from 11 until I bike to work, I can fritter away the precious moments of my life however I choose. This technique works surprisingly well. Now, two-plus hours is not a terribly long period of time to manage, and I have a whole day off coming up soon, which I usually spend roaming around the city, drinking too much coffee and “trying to write.” Can I manage a whole day? Can I actually save some of that day for doing OTHER things I enjoy? I shiver with excitement at the prospect.

Here’s an unrelated question (does anybody actually read this thing, or am I just talking to myself?) I was thinking of documenting the weird things that happen at the sex shop, both for my own enjoyment and possible future mining of ideas… but y’know, if there’s an audience to consider, I’m happy to consider their preferences. The stories are funny, usually, but can involve some naughty language and salacious content.

Also, today is the last day of Clarion West. I can’t quite believe it, and I’m not even there this year.

Eden M Robins » Writing

Advice and the giving of it

New-fangled time management skills