How to Keep Writing

When I decided to write a novel, I had the impression that writing fiction would be easy, a winsome process that would fly on the wings of creativity. What fun to let go and free myself from the objective to the subjective. How exhilarating! Well, sort of, for a while. Fact was it took me three years to complete my first book-length manuscript that was, in the clear light of day, unreadable. During those early years, I did two things: I read books on writing, and I wrote. Neither was a bad thing, but besides taking an inordinately long time, I kept making the same mistakes over and over again. And when it came time to rewrite, I didn’t know where or how to start. The writing books were clear, concise and redundant in what they had to say. I poured over them with gusto and did a lot of highlighting. But the wisdom that spewed forth never seeped into my brain for any practical purpose.

The tasks of writing and publishing are rife with fits and starts. Some aspects may come easily, while others will prove more trying. Looking back I can now identify three critical activities, that once incorporated into my writing life, were and continue to be, of immense help.

Join a writer’s group. In the absence of attending a writing program (an option not available to most of us), the advantages of joining a writer’s group are tremendous. It is in this environment that craft can grow and flourish. Often, members in a group are diverse, not only in what they write but where they are on the writing-publishing-marketing continuum. Put all the members together and a synergy takes place, whereby a wide base of skill level and experience can be freely shared. Besides having your writing reviewed, critiquing other people’s work is likewise helpful. Figuring out what works and why is a critical developmental step in learning how to write well. And there’s also the commiseration factor. Like babies to new mothers, writing is fascinating to writers, but in the company of non-writers such discussions may leave you standing alone, drink in hand, looking furtively to where your friendly listener disappeared. Writers’ groups can be found in bookstores, continuing education programs and on-line. It’s been my experience that libraries have the space and are amenable to having community meetings. Membership can be open or restricted, receptive to all genres or focused on a certain kind of writing. No matter how the group is configured, there’s gold in ‘them thar hills’.

Write daily. Yeah. I avoided the daily quota for years: too much pressure, performance anxiety, fear of failure, you name it. Finally one summer I took on the challenge, stuck with a minimum of 250 words and kept track of my daily progress. Some days I easily surpassed the quota. Writing daily keeps the story fresh and continuous. Start out small if you like – one hundred words. Double that and you’ll have a novel-length manuscript in one year. It’s crucial to choose a word-count quota that is doable and measurable. Be realistic and don’t set yourself up for failure. I also found Ernest Hemingway’s advice helpful – keep water in the well. In other words, once you’re done writing for the day, have a sense of where you’ll be picking up the story the following day. For illustrative purposes, this paragraph runs 138 words.

Analyze Story X. Immerse yourself in a novel or short story that you wish you had written. I believe subconscious formatting occurs when a person reads and the more one reads, the better she is able to write. There is also a state of natural selection and what you hold up as your favorite book or story, most likely reflects the kind of writing you want to take on. Immersion into a story is done by reading it, speaking it, and deconstructing it. To deconstruct, write an excerpt in longhand and pay careful attention to words, sentences, paragraphs. As you develop craft, this book/story will hold many answers to your questions, i.e., How does the author handle description, backstory, transitions? My Story X is Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride. I still marvel at how she plays with tense, description, characterization. I have referred to this book endlessly in learning how to write. For example, when my characters were doing an inordinate amount of walking and turning and looking, I referred to a random page of Atwood’s Bride and found some fixes. By the way, I do not write like Margaret Atwood . . . yet.

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