Hi hotshots!
When I was slightly smaller and shorter and clumsier, there were a lot of books available to me featuring orphans as their protagonist. The orphans were always the ones who had daring adventures, often accompanied by a smaller, irritating sibling. Orphans were it. I sometimes wonder if there was a craze when I was little concerning orphans the way there was a craze for vampires quite recently. Maybe my age group just liked the idea of being unattached and free to wander. No ties. I went through a brief phase where I fantasised about being an orphan. Just for the adventures I would most certainly have. It's strange, how books can influence us like that.
Then now it's all only-children without siblings who rule the board of main character. What is that about? I rarely read a book where there is a brother, a sister mentioned. The most famous exception to this that I can think of is The Hunger Games, but- no spoilers.
At any rate I kind of understand it. When you're smaller you want the feeling that you have this family, you're part of them, and you are free without restrictions. Love and no having to go to bed early. When you're a teenager, you want to be the special one.
Or maybe I'm drawing random conclusions.
Friday 14 December 2012
Wednesday 12 December 2012
"Just have fun" versus reality
Hey, hotshots.
A dictum I hear said a lot when it comes to writing is "just have fun". Of course I can only talk from my perspective. But isn't this the weakest advice?
Writing can be amazing fun. You can go into the high of being in a character's mind, or feel the thrill of a hunt as your protagonist finally accomplishes their goal, or the crushing sadness of a sidekick's despair which is somehow still sweet because it feels so real as you scribble down their words, or, or, or.
Writing is fun in those times because it's as easy as shutting your eyes and letting someone else write the words for you. There is no effort. It's basically pure inspiration.
Writing gets harder when you have to pin down all the ideas you've just chundered everywhere, and make them into a cohesive text with plot and structure. When you must grow up and make a story from your words.
And this can be very, very hard. (I work inspiration first. When I plot, I tend to lose interest in the story itself because once I have everything planned, what's the point of writing it? I know what will happen. Done. But this defeats the purpose of what a plot should do. And so making a decent story becomes difficult.)
You will have to do work, whatever your writing method. You will have to work hard. You will hit roadblocks and stop signs and painful accidents where you have to go back later to rewrite, and you will have to learn that it's okay to screw up in the first draft, and find the courage to create from it a beautiful finished tale.
We all know there are so many times when writing isn't fun! When staring at a blank page, for instance. This awful draining gaze at a white monitor screen. The difficult plot twists. The strange discombobulated mess of a character when you forget their purpose. All those sentences that form words and pages that are worth less than crap when you read them over. That's not fun!
"Grab all the fun you can", I say. There's a lot of it to gather. But don't get discouraged as soon as you stop having 'fun' for a little bit. We all know you'll wake up one day at 4am, swearing as you search the room for something to write your new novel idea down with.
The frustration is worth it. If you love writing. You somehow get the dogged determination to continue on. Writers can be some of the most stubborn people, because this steel grin is exactly right for writing. When it's not fun.
A dictum I hear said a lot when it comes to writing is "just have fun". Of course I can only talk from my perspective. But isn't this the weakest advice?
Writing can be amazing fun. You can go into the high of being in a character's mind, or feel the thrill of a hunt as your protagonist finally accomplishes their goal, or the crushing sadness of a sidekick's despair which is somehow still sweet because it feels so real as you scribble down their words, or, or, or.
Writing is fun in those times because it's as easy as shutting your eyes and letting someone else write the words for you. There is no effort. It's basically pure inspiration.
Writing gets harder when you have to pin down all the ideas you've just chundered everywhere, and make them into a cohesive text with plot and structure. When you must grow up and make a story from your words.
And this can be very, very hard. (I work inspiration first. When I plot, I tend to lose interest in the story itself because once I have everything planned, what's the point of writing it? I know what will happen. Done. But this defeats the purpose of what a plot should do. And so making a decent story becomes difficult.)
You will have to do work, whatever your writing method. You will have to work hard. You will hit roadblocks and stop signs and painful accidents where you have to go back later to rewrite, and you will have to learn that it's okay to screw up in the first draft, and find the courage to create from it a beautiful finished tale.
We all know there are so many times when writing isn't fun! When staring at a blank page, for instance. This awful draining gaze at a white monitor screen. The difficult plot twists. The strange discombobulated mess of a character when you forget their purpose. All those sentences that form words and pages that are worth less than crap when you read them over. That's not fun!
"Grab all the fun you can", I say. There's a lot of it to gather. But don't get discouraged as soon as you stop having 'fun' for a little bit. We all know you'll wake up one day at 4am, swearing as you search the room for something to write your new novel idea down with.
The frustration is worth it. If you love writing. You somehow get the dogged determination to continue on. Writers can be some of the most stubborn people, because this steel grin is exactly right for writing. When it's not fun.
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