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Law of Writing # 79
Feb. 11th, 2008 07:13 pm2319 words. On a Monday (the days after I've been off are always hardest to get back into the groove).
Not bad, especially since a significant part of the day involved that part of writing which does not look like writing although it is a vital and unavoidable part of my writing process, in which I pace, scratch my head, read something (anything) else, move the towels into the dryer, stare at the wall, and make lists about completely unrelated activities - that is, I know which scene comes next and I know who is in it, but I don't know quite what it is that has to be accomplished except I kind of do but more importantly I can't figure out HOW it is to be accomplished.
It was not until I gave up worrying and told myself that I could just scrawl pointless blather in that space and move on to the stuff I did know (coming back to that section later when, as one hoped, All Became Clear) that a glimmer of light appeared and I was suddenly able to write productively.
Thus, today's law of writing:
Don't try to write in the way other people tell you is the right way to write if it's not the right way for you. Or for that matter, don't feel you are locked into the way you wrote the last book. Figure out how this book needs to be written.
Not bad, especially since a significant part of the day involved that part of writing which does not look like writing although it is a vital and unavoidable part of my writing process, in which I pace, scratch my head, read something (anything) else, move the towels into the dryer, stare at the wall, and make lists about completely unrelated activities - that is, I know which scene comes next and I know who is in it, but I don't know quite what it is that has to be accomplished except I kind of do but more importantly I can't figure out HOW it is to be accomplished.
It was not until I gave up worrying and told myself that I could just scrawl pointless blather in that space and move on to the stuff I did know (coming back to that section later when, as one hoped, All Became Clear) that a glimmer of light appeared and I was suddenly able to write productively.
Thus, today's law of writing:
Don't try to write in the way other people tell you is the right way to write if it's not the right way for you. Or for that matter, don't feel you are locked into the way you wrote the last book. Figure out how this book needs to be written.