How I Wrote

I’m back! As Christmas break creeps up from the other side of college finals, I am looking forward to all the writing time I’ll (hopefully) get when I’m not busy with homework. Honestly, winter provides one of the best writing environments—especially when there is too much snow outside to go anywhere. It’s like God confirming your need for an excuse to do interesting things for a change.

Speaking of writing and interesting things…

Soon it will be the 1-year anniversary of one of my creative writing courses, a class for which I had to keep a writing journal. I like creative writing. I hate journaling. When all my notes are inside my head, it’s easier for them to fly around, self-refine, and free-associate with my other cranial inmates until something even more terrible forms. When the ideas reach critical awfulness, they are allowed to escape onto paper. At least that’s how it works for me.

Okay, I do have a writing-journal-ish book I keep around, but I don’t show it to people mostly because it’s written in “me-language” and/or contains book ideas.

At any rate, for one of my entries I decided to write down my basic writing process. Maybe you can relate; me, I’m interested in seeing if anything changed over this year. Here we go…

When I Write

·         Before Everything:

o   I’d better have a good idea—as in, an idea that will not release my skull until I put it (the idea) down in some form of writing. Granted, I seriously do not want to be one of those writers that waits around for inspiration, but when I’m working in college the idea has to be pretty strong to get my time and attention.

o   The concept usually has to percolate in my head for a period of days or weeks, refining itself and possibly joining onto other concepts until the story is fairly solid. Not all planned out, but solid; the characters will need a little bit of room to breathe when the experiment begins.

o   I’d better have the time to write, that is, I need to be done with everything else I need to do. Yes, yes, I need to find a writing time and protect it to the death (I forget which writer said that) but frequently my writing time is dedicated to writing school stuff, and that tends to burn out my inner writer. Basically, I need to develop more stamina—and no, I’m not asking for more assignments. That’ll just ruin it.

§  As a side note, maintaining my MWF comic blog is both a writing exercise and a design study in and of itself.

§  Also, if I have a correction that I decide to make to my books, it must be done at the next available opportunity. I think I recall a time I edited one of my books while on board an Italian train.

o   This normally results in my writing time being either sometime in the evening—after a day that has been more inspiring than draining—or in the morning, provided there’s nothing on my schedule for the day. Afternoon is usually out of the question; that time usually goes towards wrapping up the morning stuff in preparation for the evening. And—I’ll admit it—some computer games. Hey, Subnautica inspired both my fear of the ocean and a rather fine short story, if I do say so myself (nobody else does; it’s been rejected 3-5 times).

o   (Note added 2/13/17: I’D ALSO BETTER NOT BE SICK. Debilitating disease sucks the energy clean outta me. Well, I did once use the bacterial fog to compose a rather reflective short story—where the narrator was sick. If I’m trying to write a sci-fi thing, I prefer to be well. Otherwise, heaven help me, I might write a story in favor of a person’s total physical cybernetic override. But there’d be computer viruses.)

·         Where I’ll Be Sitting Down:

o   In a public area:

§  A corner is best. As much as the surrounding environment as possible must be within my peripheral vision so I’m not distracted by my own semi-functioning radar.

§  That is connected to the fact that I normally like to write alone; at least, when I’m writing a serious-ish project (I can function in a writers’ group). People reading over my shoulder make my imagination clam up.

§  I’d prefer to be seated in a chair at a table. I can at least look like I’m trying to be serious.

§  Ambient music through earbuds/headphones also helps me get into my inner environment.

o   In private:

§  The location can be more relaxed; using my bed as a couch, using a couch as a couch, on the floor, etc. Normally I’m seated.

§  …but, again, the above rules for a public place apply, including the earbuds and all (I have a speaker but have never used it yet; I dislike potentially broadcasting my subconscious to a neurotic degree). Even though the privacy gives me a little more creative rein, I plan on the place becoming “public” just in case. Why don’t people knock anymore?

·         Preferred Medium:

o   Books/Short stories I may use later: Laptop.

o   Ideas for writing: Anything nearby that I can take with me, i.e. paper scraps, napkins, and so on.

o   Writers’ group: Laptop or notebook paper.

·         During Writing:

o   I do not like unsolved problems or really rough drafts. If a sentence does not fit into its place, or if the wording is off, or if it feels like the section does not have enough, I will not move on until the issue is fixed or at least has a band-aid to get by. Otherwise, it will bug me while I’m trying to write the next part.

o   If I have an idea for that next part, be it a detail that must be added or just something to consider, I will type it in all caps a few spaces underneath the last line of text. That way I can run into it before I’m done and I won’t lose it in my shifting memory.

o   Yes, sometimes I take a break to play a short game or something. Unless I’m in the middle of an intense part, in which case I lose track of my environment completely.

§  (Note: Takes Facebook break right after that point. Not proud of it, but it did happen.)

o   Again, I will not have the plot precisely planned out. I frequently stop to imagine how precisely the next scene will go, and how it will lead into the next scene after that.

o   I will also stop frequently to correct the errors caused by my keyboard dyslexia (hitting all the right keys in the wrong order). I do not like leaving a problem unsolved.

§  …which, now that I think about it, may be one of the forces that compels me to write; an unsolved problem that needs the experimentation of storytelling.

o   Now that I have written this, I’ve made an entire blog post about the distractions that can occur during writing. Read it if you wish; I also don’t like repeating myself.

·         After Writing

o   I can tell if it was a good writing day if I “fall” back into reality after I hit save and close the program. It’s akin to the feeling one gets when he stands up during a period of low blood pressure.

o   Journals don’t do that. That’s why I do not like writing journals.

o   Really, I only use journals for jotting down quick notes or concepts that I might use later, or for logging stuff like story submissions, rejections, and some important events I want to remember.

…Yeah, honestly not much has changed. Funny I referenced a different blog post back there. Any thoughts, comments, suggestions, or anything you just don’t understand? I have a “Contact” section for that reason. However you choose to write, have a great Christmas break!