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A lot of advice is thrown around during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) about the best way to win and to get 50,000 words written in 30 days. Most of it is good advice, but some of it only sounds good because it’s been repeated so often. For example, here’s a bit of bad advice you find on all the blogs: “Take Breaks.” Many advice columns throw this little nugget in at the end, almost out of obligation.
But let’s be honest, do you really need a break? Really? Are you sure? Are you hallucinating due to sleep deprivation or dehydration? No? Then most likely you are not in need of a break. You’re just stuck. It is a problem binging on a Walking Dead marathon will not solve. You might need a change of scenery, a rethink, or another cup of coffee, but you do not need a break. When the only person keeping your nose to the grindstone is you, it is too easy to let this bad advice become wisdom. You think “Oh didn’t that author say I should walk away if I need to?” and then you go get a scone-- or three. We often skip the obvious follow-up question: “Yes, but do I need to.” This is where a writing partner comes in handy, especially one that believes in you enough not to indulge when you start whining. That’s the kind of partner you want at your back-- the one who pushes it. Since I,too, am hustling this month to finish my next big project, I’ll leave this post short and sweet. So here’s the take-away: Don’t use the fortune cookie advice “take frequent breaks” as an excuse to walk away from your writing, especially if you are challenging yourself to write more during NaNoWriMo. You can take a break in December. For now, get to work.
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Fanfiction is new to me. I didn't read any until I was an adult who already had a PhD, and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of writing and the atmosphere communal support I saw there. People who write fanfiction have no fear, and so underneath all the fluff I found a culture of experimentation I haven't seen in traditionally published fiction. I was inspired, and I felt like some trends in fanfiction were not being addressed by academic writing. There was little about really dark fanfiction and even less about manga fics.
So I wrote an article. And it got published. You can read my article about Fullmetal Alchemist fanfiction published by Transformative Works and Cultures here. Be warned, I'm talking about torture in manga and fanfiction, so it's pretty violent. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is upon us again, dear writers. It’s a fantastic event that has permanently welded together my love of fall (warm coffee, muffins, and all things squash) to my love of intense creative output. NaNoWriMo challenges writers to write The challenge is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. But even if you don’t have novel bursting forth from your… chest or whatnot—you can still participate in spirit. Last year I wrote an academic article in November instead of something fictional, but it was still intense and I used NaNoWriMo’s encouragement to get me through.
Some things about the early stages of writing are universal: the exhilaration of epiphany, the struggle to wrangle that amorphous epiphany into actual words, and rampant hair-pulling when the words won’t play fair.
But then again every writer’s process is different-- it’s this weird scaffold of habits and strategies lashed together that capitalizes on your strengths and fights against your weaknesses as you summit the WIP mountain. So this week I’m revealing my things that make my neurotic process uniquely mine and explaining why my habits are what they are. The hope is you then think about your process deeply and see what’s working for you, why, and what needs to be changed to get you to the summit. Today I’m going to talk to you about critiquing with "double vision." It's always fun to analyze a work and give it your undivided attention, but sometimes looking too long at just one work makes it difficult to imagine what might have been. At some point in history, Jane Austen, Shakespeare, and Virgil all made narrative choices. Their works were once "in progress." With the ever-growing popularity of retellings, franchises, and sequels, writers and editors need to hone their "double vision" so they can see how subtle, small changes can completely change the meaning of a work.
The online literary review Bookends published a flash fiction piece I wrote called "The First Time Once." I'm linking it here because it is a rumination on writing partnerships. Enjoy!
WARNING: There will be minor spoilers for Disney’s Moana in this post.
Last week I talked about the importance of the false goal, and I wanted to expand on that topic this week. And sometimes, the easiest way to explain what something should look like is to give you an example of what it shouldn’t. Enter Moana.  Sometimes storytellers get so excited about getting to the end, the gooey center gets forgotten. And really, who doesn’t love the gooey center? A lot happens in the heart of that murky swamp of act two that gets pushed aside. We know how to start, and we certainly know how to end (you know, WITH EXPLOSIONS) but the weird, swirly middle doesn’t get the same love and attention. So what should you be doing in the murky swamp? One thing the brilliant Matt Bird emphasizes in his Secrets of Story (a book so good I returned my library copy and bought my own) is that your protagonist should “pursue a false or shortsighted goal for the first half of your story.” (pg 107) Since this topic doesn’t get enough dedicated pages, let’s talk about false goals.
I worried and sweated over my dissertation the most while I was avoiding it. At dinner, at the movies, singing karaoke-- it loomed. I hefted this 200-page boulder around (literally and metaphorically) for years as it poisoned my life. I remember sitting down to a pleasant lunch with some old friends about six months into drafting. One friend bravely inquired about my writing. My (very mature) response was:
“I hate it. I just HATE IT!” This week I wrote for Ava Jae's popular blog, Writablity. It's some advice to help creatives maintain sanity in an artistic environment that demands constant public exposure to your fans and your critics. Also Margaret Atwood. Enjoy!
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