by Jason Fischer | Nov 28, 2011 | Meaningful Post, Uncategorized, Writing
With November all but gone, the final days of my writing sabbatical slip away like greased ferrets on meth. I’m pleased to say I achieved everything I set out to do. Now I have a little window of time to relax, work on a couple of other short projects, start to noodle around with the edits for “Papa Lucy and the Boneman” and generally pat myself on the back.
With November’s end, it also brings to a close NaNoWriMo, the annual scribble-fest that consistently generates universal love or hate. A lot of folks I admire do this every year, vomiting 50,000 words onto the screen in rapid-fire style. Participants include everyone from newbies to established authors, and by all accounts most folks get something out of it. Be it the community, the challenge, or the solid kick up the bum, something works for the participants.
I understand why folks do it, but I decline every year, even when buddies get all excited and revved up. To save time, I’ll point you to this post by the eloquent author-bot known as Alan Baxter, who says it far better than I can. For the record, I agree with pretty much all of his points (especially the, “if you do get something out of NaNoWriMo, hey, that’s just dandy” vibe): http://www.alanbaxteronline.com/2011/11/01/nanowrimo.html
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a NaNoWriMo bash. Swift writing has its place. I think it’s absolutely useful (nay, essential) that anyone who wants to write professionally can pick up this skill. If an opportunity lands on your desk with a heavy thud and a ticking deadline, you need to be able to come up with the goods. Particularly when doing write-for-hire work (inc. the lucky sods who get involved with media tie-in work) excuses just don’t cut it. If you can’t produce good copy by the time it’s needed, future work will go to someone who *can* crank out work quickly. That’s just how it is.
At this point in my own writing trajectory, I’m lucky enough to have some perspective on this issue. For the purpose of this post, I’ll simplify the NaNoers and the NaNoNoters into two camps: those who Flash-Fry their writing, and those who get out the greasy old contraption from the bottom cupboard, the devotees of the Slowcook.
Sometimes, you absolutely have to fry the shit out of something. I’ve written several novellas and short stories to deadline, and have twice completed a Three-Day Novel race (30,000 words in a weekend!!). Typically much more editing is required on the back-end, but it can be done. If you’re organised and systematic about it, it’s not impossible, and you can still walk away with a quality product. The Flashfry is a completely different discipline to the Slowcook, and every writer needs to be able to do this when the chips are down. These are the dudes who have groaning brag-shelves, when many the thwarted Slowcooker is still waiting for the stars to align properly, or “when I just have the *time*” etc).
Some examples of folks who’ve managed this successfully are Sean Williams (who famously wrote three or four books in one manic stretch) and Steve Savile. Steve can consistently turn out polished writing on any topic, and recently wrote a tie-in product in 19 days. 100,000 words in just under three weeks!!! An absolutely staggering output. And these aren’t sloppy products by any means, these are polished pieces completed by professionals, at a professional level. So it *can* be done, especially if that’s your job.
Then, there’s the Slowcook approach. You frequently hear of people who have taken *years* to write a single book. By all accounts, it took Jeff Vandermeer several years to work on his various Ambergris books (Finch etc). Ted Chiang has written a mere handful of short works over the last twenty years, and they’re all beautiful. These are all speculative fiction writers of course, I’m sure there’s a tonne of other writers wiser folks than me could point to and say “Slowcookers”. Often, new writers will take their first book and polish it down to bone, over several years and drafts. Then, joy of joys, new writer sells said book, with the proviso that book #2 is due in a scarily short time-window. So, you honestly have to be able to work to both of these methods.
So what’s the point of this ramble? Anyone who’s ever seen me eat can verify I love to fry me some food. But geez, it sure is nice to tuck into a slow-cooked casserole on a cold winter’s day. It’s been bubbling in the pot all day, and the meat virtually dissolves on your tongue. Heavenly! It sure is a beautiful thing to see a story where every word belongs, where the writer has the comfort of playing at artisanship, giving many slow hours to the work at hand. These are often the works of great resonance, that you can read over and over. By all means works written under pressure can *also* pull this off, don’t get me wrong. Some of my favourite books are masterpieces of the Flashfry method, and typically have a rattling pace, great opening hooks, and are leaner than whippets.
So fret not, ye of the Flashfry and folk of the Slowcook! For your methods are not mutually exclusive! NaNo if you must, but do yourself a favour and try your hand at a good old Slowcook once in a while, and for heaven’s sake just keep at it, no matter which method you pick. Had a 500 word day? Awesome, long as the words rock. 5K? Kick-arse! Word-counts can often be a false economy, so don’t let the figures rob you of the joy of creation.
Good writing is all, so aspire to it, no matter how you run your kitchen 🙂
by Jason Fischer | Nov 19, 2011 | Uncategorized
May I always stay hungry.
May I always realise that this is as legitimate a career as any.
May I never be content with what I’ve achieved.
May I remember that this is meant to be fun.
May I never EVER step on the dreams of a newbie.
May I never lose the unbridled joy of creation, even in the face of a punishing schedule.
May I never fall into the twin pits of conceit and envy.
May I keep my pride in a match-box and my hubris locked up under the stairs.
May I be just organised enough to run a small business, chaotic enough to enjoy it 🙂
May I never overlook the positive power of sleep, productive routines, and eating properly.
May I remember to occasionally peel away from the keyboard and mingle with other humans.
May I succeed at this mad enterprise, so I can repay every single ounce of faith placed in me by my loved ones!
Amen!
by Jason Fischer | Nov 11, 2011 | Writing
Once more, apologies for the extended blog silencio. While I’ve been on this writing sabbatical, I’ve done my best to cut out the typical faffing around online that I’ve often passed off as “writing” and occasionally “research”. Bullshit, all of it 🙂 Seeing as Arts SA did the right thing by me, I have tried to do the right thing by them. Which has meant head down, bum up, and cranking out the words. Everything else is procrastination and best avoided if you’re serious about becoming a word-warrior 🙂
So, after three and a bit months down in the word-mines, I emerge triumphant. The first draft of “Papa Lucy and the Boneman” is now complete. I stand with one foot planted on the defeated Project Lucy, wiping off sweat and the occasional adjective.
What happens next, you may ask? Well, there’s about 100,000 words that need to be taken to with a cricket bat. I’m in the process of enlisting a handful of trusted friends to help with beta-reading. Once comments come back, well me and that novel are going to have a little chat. In a room with no windows. I might be taking in a phone book. Don’t make me spell it out.
In all seriousness, there’s still plenty of work to be done. One of the best pieces of writing advice I ever received was from the legendary Cat Sparks. She said that far too often, writing is rushed out half-cooked, and not allowed enough time to ferment. So yes, the work continues, as I do my very best to craft resonance and beauty into this story. With each pass I hope to pick up inconsistencies, continuity errors, and somehow work up the courage to kill my darlings. But it’s probably a little too soon to jump back in just yet. Couple weeks at least, I’m sick of the sight of that bloody thing!
But the good news is, I’m a couple of months ahead of schedule. There’s a semi-embargoed project that I’m about to start, and I hope to drop some juicy details soon. Have also put some feelers out for a couple of things, and hopefully I’ll land a bit of write-for-hire work in the window of time that has just opened. But overall, I’m relieved that I can cross this one off the list. There was a time when I thought I’d lost my novel-writing mojo and would be cranking out weird short stories forever!
Apart from that, a day or two of down-time, family, videos and reading, and walking around in the sunlight like a myopic cave-Fisch. Then, straight back into things.
No rest for the wicked!
Your pal,
The Fisch.
by Jason Fischer | Oct 19, 2011 | Pimping
Awesome! The cover art for my next instalment in the After the World zombie novellas has now gone public. Once again, artist Jason Paulos knocked it out of the park, bringing the world-weary bow-slinging Tamsyn to life. Look out for “Corpus Christi” in your local newstands, more info soon!
(image nicked from Black House Comics facebook page)
by Jason Fischer | Oct 13, 2011 | Writing
So, I’m officially a little over half-way through my writing sabbatical. How’s it all going? Very, very well indeed!
Have stayed on target thus far, and with this head down and bum-up approach I’ve just reached the 75% complete mark. So, I’m slightly ahead of the game which is nice. This should allow me ample time at the end to work on revisions, quietly hunt out beta-readers, and just generally knock the cobwebs out of this story.
In writing parlance you may have heard of two types of writers, outliners and pantsers (ie flying by the seat of your pants). Definitely a 100% pantser here. Apart from my zombie novellas (which were planned and researched to the hilt) I approach longer projects with a very fluid outlook. I know the beginning, some of the middle and maybe the end, but the rest is a horrid mess, one I wade into with gusto.
And I’m glad of this.
The first reason being that my process (your mileage may vary of course) runs on the very best of fuzzy logic. Once I hit that sweet spot where words flow and hours vanish, my mind quite happily skips away from the ordained path. Sometimes it just doesn’t work, but other times my subconscious brings me the real story, what I actually need to be telling. With a loose enough outline, I can make the most of these sporadic outbursts from my opium-addled muse, who flutters in occasionally, leaves feathers and shit everywhere, and sometimes comes up with the goods.
So a few well-justified lateral arabesques as they occur to me, constant revision and editing to make sure the continuity is up to scratch, and this is basically how I write my first and second drafts simultaneously. If this were a building, I would have most of the framework up, but boy oh boy, the rest is a dog’s breakfast. I’ve got wires and shit everywhere, the plumbing is visible, and the builders have left cigarette butts and dirty magazines all over the place. It’s an embarassment. But if I step back a little, and imagine how it’s going to end up, well I’m sure glad the architects agreed to that 11th hour amendment. The place just wouldn’t look the same without that command tower and the revolving gazebo, and just because I didn’t think of these things when I first conceived of the house, doesn’t mean they don’t belong.
But yes. Flying by the seat of my pants means that a driving element of this story just sort of slid in by accident, because it needed to be there all along. This has completely affected the relationships between a group of antagonists, one of the POV characters, and has forced a complete revamp of the setting itself, all for the better. Some great epic moments have arisen from the arrival of this particular gizmo, and I’ve managed to import some much needed gravitas and actual fantasy into something that could have ended up as a bad Mad Max knock-off with token wizards. Nope, my half-arsery has steered me through these troubled waters, and instinct saves the day!
So Book 3 of 4 is done and dusted, and it’s time to bring this bad boy home. See you on the other side!
Your pal,
The Fisch.
