On Writing

[extrapenguin]

Summer is coming! My new place has a thermometer. Based on observations from that, while 21°C is a perfectly valid temperature to do stuff in, 22°C is too hot and my brains want to melt.

I have written a lot of words for Guardian. I still have more to write. I've also read 55 chapters of Sha Po Lang and holy fuck I love it so much, it's got so many MilSF-type feels from Gu Yun loyal to his country despite the crap happening to him. A+ would recommend.

However, the title of this post is On Writing (instead of On Sha Po Lang) because I have over the past few weeks discovered two posts on writing I wish to share!

One Free Trick: How to Use the Writing Skills You Have to Learn the Ones You Don’t (Arkady Martine) is mostly an essay about how we all have something we're good at, so we can use those bits to push through the harder bits. Then I spent some time wondering what my "free trick" is. Humor, maybe? That seems to come easily to me.

How I Went From Writing 2,000 Words a Day to 10,000 Words a Day (Rachel Aaron) is exactly what it says on the tin. As a hobbyist, I can't do 10k per day, but method one (write a more barebones outline summary of what has to happen in the scene) has so far worked really well when I'm a bit stuck.

Anyway, I am now off to write even more words for the 520 Ex assignment (yay) and then sleep. Mayday is a public holiday here, so I'll probably dedicate Wednesday to words as well!

Comments

[lynndyre]

Thank you for linking those! (and I completely know what you mean about brain vs hot weather)

[extrapenguin]

You're welcome!

The worst bit is that I still want to write, so I wait until it's cooler, i.e. 1 am, and stay up much too late to write. (It's easier in spring - currently only overheating from noon to 3pm max - but summer sucks.) Fingers crossed for a rainy, overcast summer.

[qikiqtarjuaq]

Good to hear that you're enjoying Sha Po Lang! I need to catch up on that translation, but I keep getting side tracked by other shinies.

And man, I'd be happy to write 2k a day. I find myself most often getting stuck on that first part - the whole knowledge/specifics of what I want to happen in the scene, and then I'm out of time to write!

[extrapenguin]

I have read 60 chapters (out of 75 translated/128 total), and *man* is it good! It's so far so very much like the MilSF I like. This bit is also ... overwrought and tropey in a way that actually fits the genre, rather than something that feels like a romance author creating the most boring and stereotypical technically-SF backdrop for their romance, so I am happy. Steampunk MilSF where gay people exist!

See, I think step one would benefit you - outlining is a powerful tool, and just the analytical thinking through of what the next scene needs to have can be a good thing that jars out blocks. Over the long haul, I average about 500 words per day for longer projects (10k+), incuding days off, though e.g. on Saturday I wrote 4k. Outlines! I do occasionally find that I need to have an intermediate scene for things to make sense, but having an idea of how things end and what to work towards is always good.

[qikiqtarjuaq]

Yeah, I've been getting by with very rough outlines like (X talks with Y about Z), but that doesn't help me when I'm blocked on how they choose to talk about it. I'm hesitant to spend too much time outlining in great detail because things get wasted if I need to change things up, but I'll see if more detailed outlines improves productivity. I suspect I'll just spend less time to write more words but my overall average will stay the same.

[extrapenguin]

My outlines in general are on the level of [epilogue a few years later], but when I'm blocked in my [scene in which X happens], writing a more detailed outline generally has helped tackle it.

[rheasilvia]

Yeeees, I cannot with the heat, either. O_O Just... not.

Thank you for reminding me of Aaron's book! I read it a few years back and - while much of it wasn't applicable to me and my writing is never going to be that fast, no matter what - the barebones outline thing is exactly what really helped me, too. I should re-read the book! She definitely does have some helpful pointers.

I'll check out the Free Trick, too! :-) Who knows, it may help. (Although I wrote 3k words yesterday/today on another WIP, which I hope will be the 520 fic. That's a record for me lately, so I am cautiously optimistic that my writing mojo may not have abandoned me permanently. *g*)

[extrapenguin]

Ooh, I haven't read her book - are there any other helpful pointers applicable for ficwriters? I went through a dive of her blog, and a lot of it was more geared towards selfpub pro authors. There were also bits I outright disagreed with - she introduced some frankly boring sentences as sublime, and her counterexamples of terrible sentences were much more interesting, because they at least had something to think about.

I'm not sure whether the Free Trick will *help* per se, but it's a thing that is interesting to introspect about. I suspect my free trick of Humor bleeds into (or is created by) Insight and Turn of Phrase. Also an imagination that has no problem coming up with the absurd. As for actual writing-related free tricks, well, I probably do have one, but fuck if I know what it is. Probably not Theme, and likely not Plot, either.

I also wrote a lot of words for my 520 assignment! If someone actually manages to write something longer than me, I raise my hat to them. My fic is, uh, *long*.

[rheasilvia]

Oh, that's her blog! I saw the title and just assumed it was her book, since the title is the same, but now I realize you did mention "posts", which was definitely a clue. ;-) I will check out the blog to see what else she has on there - I don't remember any example sentences from the book at all.

The book is definitely geared towards pro writing, but much of it applies to fanfic too, I think. I only really remember the parts I tried right now, namely rough outlining and tracking word output. Most of the tips in the book weren't right for me, either, but it was because of my personal writing ways - I will never be able to do 10k words a day, and that's okay. Not everyone is that fast a writer.

My fic is, uh, *long*.

Coolness! :-) My story will not be particularly long, sadly, but at least I'll have finished something over 1k again. Maybe it's a trend? *g*

Mostly I just need more hours in the day, and days in the week, because argh. *headdesk*

[extrapenguin]

I will never be able to do 10k words a day, and that's okay. Not everyone is that fast a writer.
Yup, not even the pros. Yoon Ha Lee, frex, only does 2k a day because he needs to digest the work before writing it, and he's a full-time pro.

My fic has exceeded the minimum wordcount by an order of magnitude. I hope to end it before it exceeds the minimum by *two* orders of magnitude...

Yup, more leisure time would definitely be a plus! Maybe then I would be bored enough to actually clean something.

[mekare]

Hapy writing!

[extrapenguin]

Thanks!

[maggie33]

Summer is coming!

Aaaa, don’t remind me. It’s the end of April and it’s basically already summer here. It’s supposed to be still Spring in Poland. I can stand 3 months of summer, but not 5. Just go away, stupid hot sun. >:(

And I’ve read that first article, but not that 2nd one, so thanks for the link. I would love to increase my daily wordcount. Not to 10K per day, not even 2k per day, because yes, I have to work sometimes. ;) But a bit more than now would be very nice.

[extrapenguin]

We still get cold overnight, and the lakes only just melted over the weekend, so it's still spring. They claim it'll rain later in the week, too, so hopefully we'll get a few more weeks of spring! I agree that summer is the worst season. The hot sun is too scorching, and it's too bright to sleep, so it's at minimum 3 months of misery. Boo.

10k per day is only achievable for full-time pros, and even Yoon Ha Lee only writes 2k per day (because he needs time to process), for instance. For a fanfic writer, just getting out those words *faster* would be a bonus - sleep is also an important thing, for instance...

[maggie33]

For a fanfic writer, just getting out those words *faster* would be a bonus

Oh yes, that would be nice, too. Sometimes after an hour in front of the computer I only have like 100 words. It’s so frustrating. :)

[extrapenguin]

Between my assignment and Sha Po Lang, I stayed up until 1am. 0/5, would not recommend!

[dhampyresa]

Thanks for the links!

[extrapenguin]

You're welcome! I hope you find them useful.