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50 Days of LJ: Day 5
Aug. 23rd, 2015 07:23 pmI wrote three thousand words this weekend, which I’m happy with. I have a week off this week so I’m hoping to get some more writing done. I want to get these fanfics written so they will stop bugging my muse and I can then focus on my original. I’ve been thinking a lot about writing lately, I watched a bunch of Neil Gaiman talking about stuff vids and one thing stuck in my head. And it wasn’t his popular ‘make good art’ speech, which frankly just doesn’t work for me. I suppose I do have reactionary writing to things in my life, but that tends to be stories that happen in my head and then are never written down because I have little interest in growing or developing them, they are merely stumped mutations of stories created in a dream-like fog of emotion, incapable of being an actual story.
No, the thing that stuck with me, was him talking to a fledgling writer. And he said, imagine you have a million words of shit in you and you have to get all those words out before you get to the good stuff. I suppose some might find this disheartening. I found it massively encouraging. I am holding onto these words. It’s too easy to go back to things I’ve written in the past and think I haven’t improved enough or as much as I should have. But things like this serve as a good reminder that we’re always growing and learning as writers and it does take a lot of practice and a lot of work. Also as much as I think I’ve done, I’ve probably only written around four hundred thousand words, and in perspective, it’s not actually that much, not as much as it’s easy to think it is. There is still plenty of time and space for improvement yet.
Also a quote from author Beth Revis; ‘I wrote a book. It sucked. I wrote nine more books. They sucked too. Meanwhile I read every single thing I could find on publishing and writing, went to conferences, joined professional organisations, hooked up with fellow writers and critique groups and didn’t give up. Then I wrote one more book.’
Writing is an art-form and it demands dedication, but while I would happily fall into a writing slumber and forgo all else. I do think a balance still needs to be maintained, lest I wake one day with a house full of pieces of paper lined in the written word and nothing else. I do wonder sometimes whether I have it in me, but I’m going to try anyway and not give up.
Anyway, the three thousand words was of an Angel fanfic and I’m using the theme of Pandora’s box. I do find it a fascinating myth. All the evils let out, but hope trapped inside. The notion that hope remained trapped inside, that hope is an evil because it offers us something we cannot have. The notion of what hope is; evil? Good? Perhaps the difference is between hope and false hope. I do think hope can accomplish amazing things. But here it references what damage can be caused.
No, the thing that stuck with me, was him talking to a fledgling writer. And he said, imagine you have a million words of shit in you and you have to get all those words out before you get to the good stuff. I suppose some might find this disheartening. I found it massively encouraging. I am holding onto these words. It’s too easy to go back to things I’ve written in the past and think I haven’t improved enough or as much as I should have. But things like this serve as a good reminder that we’re always growing and learning as writers and it does take a lot of practice and a lot of work. Also as much as I think I’ve done, I’ve probably only written around four hundred thousand words, and in perspective, it’s not actually that much, not as much as it’s easy to think it is. There is still plenty of time and space for improvement yet.
Also a quote from author Beth Revis; ‘I wrote a book. It sucked. I wrote nine more books. They sucked too. Meanwhile I read every single thing I could find on publishing and writing, went to conferences, joined professional organisations, hooked up with fellow writers and critique groups and didn’t give up. Then I wrote one more book.’
Writing is an art-form and it demands dedication, but while I would happily fall into a writing slumber and forgo all else. I do think a balance still needs to be maintained, lest I wake one day with a house full of pieces of paper lined in the written word and nothing else. I do wonder sometimes whether I have it in me, but I’m going to try anyway and not give up.
Anyway, the three thousand words was of an Angel fanfic and I’m using the theme of Pandora’s box. I do find it a fascinating myth. All the evils let out, but hope trapped inside. The notion that hope remained trapped inside, that hope is an evil because it offers us something we cannot have. The notion of what hope is; evil? Good? Perhaps the difference is between hope and false hope. I do think hope can accomplish amazing things. But here it references what damage can be caused.