Writing Mantras
November 18th, 2011Other writers will tell you they have such a surplus of story ideas, they will never live long enough to write them all. Sadly, that’s not me. Usually I have just the current project. Sometimes there’s a hazy next-project, but often not. My present situation is unusual because I have two new novels-in-progress, and a draft of a short story.
The short story was inspired by a resolve to write more short fiction. It’s not that I wanted to write this short story. It’s just that I wanted to write A short story. Something—anything—sf-nal. So I had no hot, spicy kernel idea to get me inspired. All I had was a vague notion of setting, but after brainstorming that from several angles, a plot eventually appeared and I started writing.
But very soon I wanted to stop.
The internal editor was on overdrive. The story felt dry, mechanical, lifeless, not up to snuff. It was hugely tempting to toss the whole thing out and pretend I’d never started it, but I don’t repeat writing mantras for nothing. The two that kept me going were:
(1) finish what you start (Heinlein rule #2)
(2) avoid the “book as event†trap—the idea that every story has to be a cutting-edge award winner
I powered through the draft. It came out around 5,000 words.
Here’s where I’m supposed to tell you that perseverance paid off, it all turned out well, I love the story, etc. Maybe I’ll be able to say that in a future post. I haven’t actually looked at the story since finishing the first draft—but I do have a first draft. It’ll get better on revision. Then I get to apply another handy writing mantra:
(1) Put your work in front of someone who might buy it. (Heinlein rule #4)
Corollary: Let other people reject your work
This business never gets easier.
Posted on: Friday, November 18th, 2011 at 3:46 pm
Categories: Writing.
Tags: book as event, finish what you write, rules of writing, Short Stories (Ebooks), writing mantras
November 18th, 2011 at 5:27 pm
I totally agree with you about finishing what you start. I’m guilty for not minding this mantra many times. Why? I think it’s because I get a little flustered at times, because I fall in the trap that you eluded to for the second mantra.
I have been accused many times through out my life at being a perfectionist. This resulted in a number of unfinished projects in art, writing and photography. So maybe, after turning…50. I need to chill and not be too demanding of myself. Then, there might be a good chance that I may finish my current beast, oh sorry, I mean project…a novel. That is, my NaNoWriMo novel. I’m so far behind! I’m letting that inner editor control too much! “Bad Self Editor! Bad! Bad!”
Hopefully, I’ll get through with some more projects to follow your third mantra. I’ve already survived that initial rejection letter, even have it framed. Now, I need an acceptance letter to put beside it. 🙂
I look forward to read your short works. I think I had seen one of your tweets about a collection of your short stories that you were going to put in an e-book. Can’t wait.
November 18th, 2011 at 9:05 pm
To my mind, the problem with Nanowrimo is that it insists on a phenomenal month of writing performance. I mean, seriously, if you write ONLY a thousand words a day you can have a finished draft of a novel in two-and-a-half to three months. There is nothing wrong with that. But setting unrealistic writing goals, as Nanowrimo does in my opinion, is a great way of making yourself feel like a weak-willed failure. If you can pull it off, great! But if not, so what? December comes after November and you can write then too. So don’t be hard on yourself if the pace is slower than you’d like. It’s no big deal. Just finish! 🙂
Regarding rejection letters, my most memorable one came in a dream. This was back in the days of snail mail submissions, when the first incarnation of THE BOHR MAKER had been rejected many times over. I dreamed an editor returned the manuscript with a rejection letter saying, “Well at least you can use this for scratch paper.” How’s that for self doubt?
The short story collection is now out in the world. Find more information on it here.
November 19th, 2011 at 8:17 am
Well, if it was easy:
* Anybody could do it (patently untrue).
* You wouldn’t feel the thrill of victory when you succeed (the same reason that few cheat at solitaire).
November 19th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
Nothing in this business is easy, that’s for sure–at least not for me. 🙂