I’ve had a blog in the works for a while now that requires more time and attention than I am currently willing to give it, so instead you have this marginal, semi-justified excuse instead of something thought-provoking.
I’ve been writing. I suppose that much is a given, but I’ve really been writing. At least 2,000 words a day, sometimes more on good days, sometimes a little less on the particularly bad (or none at all on the rare day off when my brain stops working and requires complete lethargy in order to begin the regenerative process). I think this is a healthy daily amount when it comes to fiction. Sometimes it goes quick, on the order of a couple hours, whereas other times it can be a grueling all-day affair. It’s been less of a fight lately, though, and I am very grateful for that. I seem to be on a roll.
I’m dividing my time mostly between work on some short stories that I hope to send to several publications and work on a new novel that began as a short story then refused to shut up. Things went south after a side character who was supposed to die decided she was going to be contrary and just dust herself off after the ordeal. I hadn’t expected that, and it turned out that she and her co-protagonist had more to say than I gave them credit for. So after a brief apology for trying to kill her—and this is by no means a guarantee that I won’t try again—we were back on our way, exploring a new world together. It’s… different. The place the story began and the place that it went were both surprises, and I think that’s important. That’s the exciting part about writing for me. To relentlessly plot something is to remove from it the joy of discovery.
Beyond that, life continues roughly as normal. I spend between 4 to 7 hours every day at Roots Coffeehouse and the North Richland Hills Public Library mostly ignoring people in favor of working, though occasionally someone will offer me a compliment on a goofy shirt or marvel at the fact that I’m writing a novel on an iPod Touch via a wireless keyboard. That seems to get a lot of attention wherever I go, and because of my ingenious keyboard tray (the box that the keyboard came in, with a little piece of cardboard to hold the lid open taped to the back with electrician’s tape), some unpleasant attention at the airport while they made sure I wasn’t a terrorist. It would all probably be a lot more amusing if it didn’t label me an Apple user. I still hate Apple.
I haven’t had any luck finding a job, as most of the writing jobs out there seem to want a ton of experience, don’t pay anything to make it worth the trouble, or are lousy jobs writing ad copy that would probably depress me. Let’s just hope that before too long someone will decide I’m the next [famous author] and start throwing money at me; because barring that, I may have to start marinading carpet-sample squares for future meals.
Until I started following other writers on Twitter I thought I was the only person who had a character decide that he didn’t want to die – regardless of my plans for him. It’s a very strange sensation to have a well-thought-out plot get twisted all at the whim of a fictional character. But I’ve learned to trust my characters – if they say they don’t want to die, then it’s for a good reason!
Oh – and I hate to break it to you, but if you’re using an iPod touch than you are an Apple user. That doesn’t mean you have to be an Apple lover, though! And what’s wrong with Apple products? I use a Mac at work and it’s far superior to what I have at home. (No offense, laptop. Play nice! (Don’t mind me, I’m just trying to appease my finicky computer. Her feelings are easily hurt!))\
Good luck on the job hunt – and good work on all the writing!
Oh, I have nothing against Apple’s products, just an extreme dislike of the company, its leadership, and their business practices (which, to be fair, is the way I feel about a lot of companies these days). I’m a die-hard PC user from the old school, but a lot of Apple products are definitely slick. I use my iTouch as something between a mini-tablet and laptop, and I’m totally dependent on the thing at this point.
And you’re right, listening to what one’s characters have to say is one of the most important things about writing, and it’s one of the reasons I don’t like to make too many plans. I may have a general idea of where I want things to end up, but I don’t try to railroad my characters into anything. I give them the freedom to have an opinion. I liked Stephen King’s analogy in his memoir On Writing, where he talks about stories being like fossils. You have your tools—vocabulary, grammar, etc.—and you use them to unearth the story as if it already existed, to reveal all that’s supposed to be there while trying not to chip anything away or add anything that doesn’t belong.
Stephen King has it right – I never thought of it that way before.
I (hopefully temporarily) abandoned one of my WIPs a long time ago because one of the minor characters decided that he didn’t want to be a minor character and – no, he wasn’t going to die, thank you very much. And the story was definitely a lot better for it, but all my planning was laid to waste and it would have been a major project to fix everything. I’ll have to start again almost from scratch some day.
So now I do the same as you: I have a general idea where things are going, but I don’t force my characters to go anywhere they don’t want to go.
This writing thingamajig is hard!
I couldn’t have said it better myself. I should send that one to @Quotes4Writers.