paradise

Latest posts from A Saint in Paradise

• "2001: A Space Odyssey" by Arthur C. Clarke

  Jul 31 ⎯ I watched the movie years ago, and hadn’t read the book. I wanted to read it, since I had read elsewhere that 2001 was a first contact story, of all things (I never would’ve guessed that from the movie – I knew the monolith was weird, but never connected the dots. The movie had a lot of weird). I’ve been really into first contact, aliens, star trek, transformers, and so on recently, so something as lauded as 2001 seemed right up my alley, especially since I’m trying to read “real” books more. There was a LOT of descriptive text focused on the technology and world-building, but it was never boring. I’m glad I enjoyed it – I usually prefer works that are very character or relationship oriented. It was a very easy and relaxing read, there were a few nights at midnight where it was hard to put down the book. The final part of the book was just as weird as the final part of the movie, even with the context of incorporeal aliens running experiments on life to create thinking beings.

  • books

• “Where do you get your ideas?” by Fred White

  Jul 31 ⎯ This book is why I was finally able to get my daily word count up. Full stop. Maybe I learned more about writing over the years from various structure books and good ol’ Strunk & White, but when it comes to getting actual results, simply learning how to write ideas down as they come to you (and that you should just write down whatever comes to you) was incredibly helpful. It’s a little sad that the best writing advice I’ve received seems like such common sense after the fact. It can’t be helped. Maybe I’m just a little too self-conscious about my poor performance… or perhaps not self-conscious enough. A weird part of the whole “writing community” is how macho it seems to be about word count, discipline, and so on. It’s been a year or so since I read the book, so I don’t have much to say, but I wanted to put it on here (as a real book-mark) in case other folks have the same issues that I have.

  • books
  • writing

• Writing is Running

  Jul 31 ⎯ I had an epiphany about a year or so ago: writing is long-distance running. It’s an endurance sport, and takes time to build up. That’s why it seemed so difficult to even spit out one thousand words in a day ten years ago, but nowadays, I can sometimes do four thousand words in just an evening. I was on roll! All I had to do was keep writing, and I would be better at hitting my word count. Perhaps this was stating the obvious to everyone but me. Of course, after that, I did what I always did and after about a month or so my motivation petered out, and since my discipline wasn’t there, I wasn’t writing. Surprise, surprise. When I don’t have a deadline or anyone counting on me, my personal projects don’t manifest magically on their own. There’s been ups and downs since then – sometimes I counted outlining as part of my daily word count, and that was enough to keep up the momentum, at least, but I still just have a bunch of different fanfic projects which are sitting at forty thousand words, ten thousand words, and five thousand words (not to mention ones from years back sitting at around one to two thousand words). And let’s not even get into the mess that is the original fiction that I’m working on. Even if I think I’ve crystallized the idea of what that world is, I still seem paralyzed on where to start. “Just do it” doesn’t work for me. We can call it a character flaw. For me, it seems, it’s like telling someone to just go run a marathon if they want a sub-two hour marathon time. It’s the dumbest way to go about training for a marathon, especially if your only experience with running is some off-and-on five-mile fun runs. I’ve heard all the advice about one thousand words a day, or how Pratchett did four hundred words a day and that worked for him, or how you need to schedule time in the day to do it right. Or how you should outline – or not outline – or how you should plan – or not plan. I think the people who can “just do it” simply have natural talent, and aren’t necessarily the best teachers. Just like with distance running. If you’re naturally athletic and never ran into major issues in track and field, then you’re not the right person to figure out a training schedule for someone less gifted. I know part of this is that there isn’t a “one size fits all” to learning how to write a novel. And perhaps there’s a grain of truth to that. If art is how humans talk to other humans about life, then the way we make art must also be a deeply personal experience. I don’t necessarily think the opposite, either – I think I’ve read half a dozen books that all have the panacea to the “real” way to write (my guiding light is to be suspicious of any book that claims all the other experts in the field are wrong – looking at you, Strong Towns and Story Genius). Of course, there’s always personal blogging. I can do stream-of-thought on that no problem. Anyone can, really, (insert blithe podcast joke here), so I do think there’s something fundamental about creating this kind of art. The tricky part is doing it well – and I’m not looking over my word choice here with the same microscope I would a professional or personal project. I’m not a pantser with fiction. I’ve tried and it comes out to garbage. Going back to fix it later is just rearranging garbage. The way I work, is if I don’t know what to write next, I outline or bullet point what I do know how to write. That’s the method that got me from 1k-2k max on a project to 10k-40k projects. It works for me. Now I just need to figure out the next hurdle. One issue with my fanfic projects is that my interest flits from fandom-to-fandom too often. The 40k word incomplete fic only lasted that long because I was into transformers for about a year – the franchise was large and varied enough to keep my interest that long. I think an original fic might work better for me to maintain my speed (and consistency), especially if I’m able to tailor it to my interests a little better. I’m not asking for advice here on story structure or climaxes or building good habits – if reading a dozen books on writing didn’t solve my problems, I know reaching out to the general public of the internet will not help, either. If I want more knowledge, I have a few dozen more writing books gathering dust on my bookshelves: the perpetual to-do list that comes with having the cheap hobby of collecting used books which I aspire to read. There’s a pattern here with this arrogance. Call it a character flaw, if you’d like. Doing so won’t help. I’ve always loved the outlining and world-building portion of creating a book. More recently, I’ve started enjoying editing (for technical writing, at least) since I’ve done it in my career quite a bit, though not as the primary function of a job. I just need to figure out how to keep doing the drafting part. (I don’t exactly “get” people who are the opposite – who love drafting, but hate outlining and editing. But that’s why I am me and they are them.) All for the glory of completing a book. I want to talk to other humans, and I want other humans to understand what I’m saying. I don’t care what the right reason for writing is

  • writing
  • self