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lagilmanNothing quite like reading over your WiP and realizing that the opening segment does not exactly lead off from where you left your characters heading When Last Seen in the previous book. Fortunately I was only a few degrees off, so was able to massage things into line with a minimum of cursing and self-loathing. Unfortunately, this took more time than planned, so I am now off-schedule. Again.
Here is where a good writer-mentor would talk about what I did and why, but I find myself strangely disinclined to do so. I'm worried, I think, that someone will read it and say "oh, that's not how I do it, I must be doing it wrong" [You may be thinking "oh my god she's doing it wrong, she's an idiot," but I don't worry so much about that.]
Part of this hesitation comes from discussions during the break periods of Word War. We have a mixed bag of folk -- some multi-published, some just starting out, some in-between, and what comes up a lot is "oh, but how do YOU (a pro) do it?" and its illicit partner "oh, but it's DIFFERENT for you, you're published, I'm not." And I cringe each time a variant of those questions is trotted out, because Process is internal, not external, and nobody's brain works like mine/yours/his/hers, so nobody's process should be exactly the same, either and --
and I'm going to set this apart because I think it's really important --
When a writer starts a new project, nothing that came before matters. Pro, amateur, hobbyist or die-trying newbie, we all sit there and face the same questions: "how do I do this? How do I tell this story to the best of my abilities, and dear dog, what if nobody likes it?"
Someone who has written-to-completion before has (hopefully) learned a few coping skills, some tricks and shortcuts that get them to the desired point with less hesitation...but they probably have picked up new doubts and confusions along the way, because it's all a learning curve, right up to when we cover the keyboard that final time.
So if you're reading the blog or the Twitter or the essay by Famous Writer Dude and think "oh god, that's not me, I'm never going to make it" or "I never thought of that, why didn't I think of that" in a negative, despairing way -- STOP. What works for you is what works (see sidebar note on "getting it done.")
In a semi-related topic, I've been listening to the commentary track on the Leverage DVDs, and it's really fascinating to hear them talk about the camera angles and the plotting challenges and the general tech-talk among the screenwriters and directors and producer, because what they're talking about is television, yeah, but it's still storytelling, using visual and spoken cues rather than written ones. I think a good writer needs to pay attention to the three-dimensionality of the story, so hearing visual storytellers talk about their work challenges me to think about the process (there we go again) in a different way, to [for example] take the lessons of a director who is playing with camera angles, and consider it in terms of POV.
Plus, these guys are smart. And funny. And it makes me forgive the headaches Dean Devlin gave me in the 90's, when I was working on the Stargate books*. *grin*
*those headaches were nothing compared to working with the spinoff tv series. Never doubt the ability of a movie company to drive someone to justifiable homicide.
Here is where a good writer-mentor would talk about what I did and why, but I find myself strangely disinclined to do so. I'm worried, I think, that someone will read it and say "oh, that's not how I do it, I must be doing it wrong" [You may be thinking "oh my god she's doing it wrong, she's an idiot," but I don't worry so much about that.]
Part of this hesitation comes from discussions during the break periods of Word War. We have a mixed bag of folk -- some multi-published, some just starting out, some in-between, and what comes up a lot is "oh, but how do YOU (a pro) do it?" and its illicit partner "oh, but it's DIFFERENT for you, you're published, I'm not." And I cringe each time a variant of those questions is trotted out, because Process is internal, not external, and nobody's brain works like mine/yours/his/hers, so nobody's process should be exactly the same, either and --
and I'm going to set this apart because I think it's really important --
When a writer starts a new project, nothing that came before matters. Pro, amateur, hobbyist or die-trying newbie, we all sit there and face the same questions: "how do I do this? How do I tell this story to the best of my abilities, and dear dog, what if nobody likes it?"
Someone who has written-to-completion before has (hopefully) learned a few coping skills, some tricks and shortcuts that get them to the desired point with less hesitation...but they probably have picked up new doubts and confusions along the way, because it's all a learning curve, right up to when we cover the keyboard that final time.
So if you're reading the blog or the Twitter or the essay by Famous Writer Dude and think "oh god, that's not me, I'm never going to make it" or "I never thought of that, why didn't I think of that" in a negative, despairing way -- STOP. What works for you is what works (see sidebar note on "getting it done.")
In a semi-related topic, I've been listening to the commentary track on the Leverage DVDs, and it's really fascinating to hear them talk about the camera angles and the plotting challenges and the general tech-talk among the screenwriters and directors and producer, because what they're talking about is television, yeah, but it's still storytelling, using visual and spoken cues rather than written ones. I think a good writer needs to pay attention to the three-dimensionality of the story, so hearing visual storytellers talk about their work challenges me to think about the process (there we go again) in a different way, to [for example] take the lessons of a director who is playing with camera angles, and consider it in terms of POV.
Plus, these guys are smart. And funny. And it makes me forgive the headaches Dean Devlin gave me in the 90's, when I was working on the Stargate books*. *grin*
*those headaches were nothing compared to working with the spinoff tv series. Never doubt the ability of a movie company to drive someone to justifiable homicide.
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no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 04:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 07:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 11:49 am (UTC)(I'm currently halfway through the recently arrived Studio 60 DVDs, and loving loving loving the writing).
no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 11:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 06:01 pm (UTC)As for getting process ideas from other media--oh, yes.