This is such a crucial topic for storytellers and has been on my mind quite a lot lately. Today, I wrote six pages. The first five were workmanlike; only on the sixth did I write a line that surprised me - that had that tingle of truth and clarity about it that might mean it makes it into the finished story. Often I think you have to write and write to get your thinking mind to go quiet so that the good stuff can bubble up from the unconscious. One of my all time favourite authors, Jack Vance, called himself 'a million words a year man' because he knocked out so much pulp sci-fi. His storytelling is consistently good, but here and there elevates itself to unbelievable genius. All that furious mining uncovered the occasional diamond. But...another of my storytelling heroes, Philip Pullman, writes a relatively modest number of words a day, and his sentences are golden. So...I suppose we all have to find a rhythm and a balance that works for us. Great post, Simon, thank you!
I think in terms of writing consistently vs. writing more. Anytime we commit to writing is time well spent. For a long time I had a goal of writing 15 minutes per day. Many days I wrote more than 15 minutes and I never tracked things like word count. It was showing up to write that makes the difference. Also, as writers we need to read as much as we can. I'm a huge fan of audiobooks and this is a way for me to consume a lot more writing than I could otherwise.
Another lesson many writers learn is there's a point that we switch from reading craft books on writing to just reading good writing. I've read a ton of craft books and my bookshelf is crammed with these wonderful books. I'm at the point now where I read like a writer and study what other authors do well and what they do poorly. Another thing I do now after ten years of writing seriously is pay for editorial help. A good editor can teach any writer how to improve their writing better than any book.
Simon, thanks for your regular articles and encouragement.
I think I might still feel nervous sharing a new story with actual people *in the room* but definitely the regular serving up of words online to strangers has got me much more relaxed about that. I dread to think how many hours I've spent writing, it's 20 years since I got serious about it and I've had a blog since 2008. Where does the time go?!
Incidentally, I'm holding you slightly responsible for my other half's purchase of the complete Babylon 5 DVD box set in our local Oxfam at the weekend. When I signed up for your newsletter last year I mentioned to him that you were doing a watch along of one of his favourite series, and I think it's reawakened an interest :-)
Couldn't agree more, with all of this. And I loved Bird by Bird. I embroidered "One inch assignments, sh*tty first drafts" and hung it over my desk to help me over those humps when I have a hard time getting started.
I more or less have lots of issues with time management.
I know I could write, work out, game, watch a video.... But it's always one of those getting in the way of the others.
Recently I have been trying to get into writing more consistently. I set up a new page about something that I am passionate about, Japan to be specific. So I set that up, set up a discord for more chatting, and woot the about page.
The welcome post is out and want to push out at least 1 post every 2 weeks. If possible every week.
There is however 1 fear I constantly have. That is, that I run out of content. I never really liked talking about myself out my experiences. I always far I'm talking myself up to much. Like I try to be the center of attention. That couldn't be further from the truth though.
But I'm doing my best. Trying to put myself out there, connect to strangers with a similar love for a country, in this case anyway.
But you have me a little nudge with this post, thanks for that ^_^
Yeah, I have always struggled with talking about myself and my experiences. Who would want to read that, right? But it's easy to underestimate how much knowledge and/or useful experience we have in a topic.
What's the worst that could happen? Nobody shows up to read, perhaps? But, then, you'd still have had a good time writing it, hopefully.
Running out of things to say is something I worried about a lot, but *so far* it hasn't happened. I find this extremely surprising! But it turns out that as long as you're writing about something you're passionate for, you probably won't run out of things to say, because you're *always* thinking about it. Sometimes I have stuff planned out, but often a Monday newsletter will be something that hadn't even occurred to me a week or two prior.
I totally get your time management thing. I have the same problem! It intensified when my son was born (12 years ago now, erk), because then my time became even scarcer.
I think this is why the 'just do 10 minutes' approach is a good one. If you set a 2,000 word goal, you're going to be sat there trying to write while wishing you were gaming/watching a movie/hanging out with friends/at the gym/etc.
But if you sit down to do 10 minutes of writing, none of that matters. Because after 10 minutes you'll still have time to do those other things. The pressure/competing attention goes away. Chances are you'll enjoy yourself and then do MORE than 10 minutes, which is fine - you won't feel like you missed out on something else, because you enjoyed doing the writing so much. Rather than your Gym Brain or Game Brain getting jealous.
Those are the little mental tricks I have to play with myself, at least. :D
I knew about the 10min 'trick'. The only thing that my slightly perfectionistic mind things is "10min... just 10min.... that doesn't do anything. What is 10min? I can hardly get into the vibe" Which is already turns me off from starting -_-
It's really annoying how my mind works.
But hopefully, my new project will help me stay motivated.
Ow and I just need to stop holding myself back with self-destructing thoughts.
Well, luckily my readers do not think the I am churning out slop.
It is too bad that there is such a prejudice in some circles against writing quantity. Everyone has different capacities, and it seems to be a common reaction for a writer who takes days, weeks, or months to write the perfect paragraph to assume that someone who writes quickly or has high production levels must be a hack and just be producing worthless pap.
Write a little regularly, if that is your capacity. Write a lot regularly if that is your bent. Putting pen to page is your best bet for improving your writing. Athletes work out regularly and increase their capacity. Musicians practice for hours to perfect their craft. Writers write if you want to improve your craft.
Great post, Simon. Love the workmanlike attitude: show up and practice your craft. It won’t all be great—or even good—but that’s why we have revisions.
This is such a crucial topic for storytellers and has been on my mind quite a lot lately. Today, I wrote six pages. The first five were workmanlike; only on the sixth did I write a line that surprised me - that had that tingle of truth and clarity about it that might mean it makes it into the finished story. Often I think you have to write and write to get your thinking mind to go quiet so that the good stuff can bubble up from the unconscious. One of my all time favourite authors, Jack Vance, called himself 'a million words a year man' because he knocked out so much pulp sci-fi. His storytelling is consistently good, but here and there elevates itself to unbelievable genius. All that furious mining uncovered the occasional diamond. But...another of my storytelling heroes, Philip Pullman, writes a relatively modest number of words a day, and his sentences are golden. So...I suppose we all have to find a rhythm and a balance that works for us. Great post, Simon, thank you!
I think in terms of writing consistently vs. writing more. Anytime we commit to writing is time well spent. For a long time I had a goal of writing 15 minutes per day. Many days I wrote more than 15 minutes and I never tracked things like word count. It was showing up to write that makes the difference. Also, as writers we need to read as much as we can. I'm a huge fan of audiobooks and this is a way for me to consume a lot more writing than I could otherwise.
Another lesson many writers learn is there's a point that we switch from reading craft books on writing to just reading good writing. I've read a ton of craft books and my bookshelf is crammed with these wonderful books. I'm at the point now where I read like a writer and study what other authors do well and what they do poorly. Another thing I do now after ten years of writing seriously is pay for editorial help. A good editor can teach any writer how to improve their writing better than any book.
Simon, thanks for your regular articles and encouragement.
I think I might still feel nervous sharing a new story with actual people *in the room* but definitely the regular serving up of words online to strangers has got me much more relaxed about that. I dread to think how many hours I've spent writing, it's 20 years since I got serious about it and I've had a blog since 2008. Where does the time go?!
Incidentally, I'm holding you slightly responsible for my other half's purchase of the complete Babylon 5 DVD box set in our local Oxfam at the weekend. When I signed up for your newsletter last year I mentioned to him that you were doing a watch along of one of his favourite series, and I think it's reawakened an interest :-)
Couldn't agree more, with all of this. And I loved Bird by Bird. I embroidered "One inch assignments, sh*tty first drafts" and hung it over my desk to help me over those humps when I have a hard time getting started.
I more or less have lots of issues with time management.
I know I could write, work out, game, watch a video.... But it's always one of those getting in the way of the others.
Recently I have been trying to get into writing more consistently. I set up a new page about something that I am passionate about, Japan to be specific. So I set that up, set up a discord for more chatting, and woot the about page.
The welcome post is out and want to push out at least 1 post every 2 weeks. If possible every week.
There is however 1 fear I constantly have. That is, that I run out of content. I never really liked talking about myself out my experiences. I always far I'm talking myself up to much. Like I try to be the center of attention. That couldn't be further from the truth though.
But I'm doing my best. Trying to put myself out there, connect to strangers with a similar love for a country, in this case anyway.
But you have me a little nudge with this post, thanks for that ^_^
Yeah, I have always struggled with talking about myself and my experiences. Who would want to read that, right? But it's easy to underestimate how much knowledge and/or useful experience we have in a topic.
What's the worst that could happen? Nobody shows up to read, perhaps? But, then, you'd still have had a good time writing it, hopefully.
Running out of things to say is something I worried about a lot, but *so far* it hasn't happened. I find this extremely surprising! But it turns out that as long as you're writing about something you're passionate for, you probably won't run out of things to say, because you're *always* thinking about it. Sometimes I have stuff planned out, but often a Monday newsletter will be something that hadn't even occurred to me a week or two prior.
I totally get your time management thing. I have the same problem! It intensified when my son was born (12 years ago now, erk), because then my time became even scarcer.
I think this is why the 'just do 10 minutes' approach is a good one. If you set a 2,000 word goal, you're going to be sat there trying to write while wishing you were gaming/watching a movie/hanging out with friends/at the gym/etc.
But if you sit down to do 10 minutes of writing, none of that matters. Because after 10 minutes you'll still have time to do those other things. The pressure/competing attention goes away. Chances are you'll enjoy yourself and then do MORE than 10 minutes, which is fine - you won't feel like you missed out on something else, because you enjoyed doing the writing so much. Rather than your Gym Brain or Game Brain getting jealous.
Those are the little mental tricks I have to play with myself, at least. :D
I knew about the 10min 'trick'. The only thing that my slightly perfectionistic mind things is "10min... just 10min.... that doesn't do anything. What is 10min? I can hardly get into the vibe" Which is already turns me off from starting -_-
It's really annoying how my mind works.
But hopefully, my new project will help me stay motivated.
Ow and I just need to stop holding myself back with self-destructing thoughts.
I've come up with some of my best idea in 10 minutes. :P
But yeah - a lot of this business if simply figuring out what particular tricks we each need to pull for our specific brain weirdness. Good luck!
Well, luckily my readers do not think the I am churning out slop.
It is too bad that there is such a prejudice in some circles against writing quantity. Everyone has different capacities, and it seems to be a common reaction for a writer who takes days, weeks, or months to write the perfect paragraph to assume that someone who writes quickly or has high production levels must be a hack and just be producing worthless pap.
Write a little regularly, if that is your capacity. Write a lot regularly if that is your bent. Putting pen to page is your best bet for improving your writing. Athletes work out regularly and increase their capacity. Musicians practice for hours to perfect their craft. Writers write if you want to improve your craft.
Great post, Simon. Love the workmanlike attitude: show up and practice your craft. It won’t all be great—or even good—but that’s why we have revisions.