The Review Club Forum Perfection and Writing Novels ..

I'm pretty certain there are two things needed to be a good writer. An open mind and a willingness to work really hard -- and -- three things -- a willingness to make a complete a*s of oneself.

Well, for some of us, two out of three will just have to do.

I think people willing to work hard exist in abundance. All of you have that. Foolish pride will keep some from the openness required the attribute of allowing yourself to be an a*s. Thankfully, for the sake of art, some people have almost no pride. The rarest attribute surely is an open mind. And the biggest culprit would be anger, which is to controlled art as cholesterol is to arteries. Anger clogs the mind, narrows it, causes failure of the mind, even as a ruptured heart causes failure in athletic competition. All you admins seem to have no more than two of the attributes. Openmindedness is lacking.

NOW THAT LAST LINE IS AN EXAMPLE OF CANDOR.

Per the disciplinary guidelines, the admins have unanimously decided to ask Leah to leave for the best of the group.

ON THE OTHER HAND, THE ABOVE STATEMENT (which has been presented to you as an explantion under the Administrative Action thread) IS NOT AN EXAMPLE OF CANDOR. Because Leah was not "asked to leave." She was ripped away in the middle of a friendly exchange with a friendly member, and only after she was barred from the group was she sent the following message:

Leah:

Per the guidelines of The Review Club, we have decided to take further action to ensure the sanctity ["READ SANCTIMONIOUSNESS"] of our group. Therefore, your continued membership has been terminated.

The Admins

THE ABOVE CLEARLY DOES NOT SAY "ask Leah to leave for the best of the group."

*yawn* Any one want to get back to writing? So let's do that. I'd be interesting in finding out what you think about writing daily. Should you force it?

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I think writing SOMETHING daily is important. Does that mean work on your current novel or short story project? Not necessarily. I think it's important to keep your brain acting, working on words, etc.

One of the things I find helps me is to keep a blog. So I can write about writing, write about personal things, or try little literary/experimental snippets without the same kind of pressure of thinking that this is serious, but with some pressure of public posting to ensure that I at least think about the words I spill onto the page. If you're interested, the link to one of my blogs is posted on my profile, and you can link to another one through by blogger profile. So if I don't want to work on my novel or revise, I still keep writing.

That's my thought on daily writing.

I have another question. Revision practices? Anybody care to share?

-cc

Revision... sheesh... Revision is one of those things that I have two opinions on. Either A) You're ready to revise and the stuff comes out like gold. Or B) you're not ready to revise and nothing you do is going to make those words any better than they were when you started.

Revision:

The novel I started two years ago has undergone over 8 major revisions, and that does not include editing. My belief is you revise until it sells. You revise until you either hate it because you know it inside and out, or you love each and every word (which will never happen for me). Revison can be cathartic, in that, it allows you to realize the dreams you had when you started the novel.

Anyways, that's my two cents.

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Stop watching Cinemax After Dark.... ::tongue::

So what is wrong with writing sporatically? As long as you write, why not give yourself a TV break? The question should be, are you happy with what you have written and how much? If not, turn off the TV.

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I'm of the belief that writing, like other things, can become habitual. From what I've seen, most successful writers write everyday at the same time. And they all hate TV. It's the one-eyed-devil! I've recently took back my hi-def box to make myself watch less tv. Being that I have a 52 inch jobber, that was a big deal for me. If you think about it, if it becomes habit, you'll have to write.


Next thing that I think is very important is that your read a lot. And if you are a slow reader like me, listen to audio books and read. Library's usually have a good selection of audio books so you don't have to buy. Also I know an online library where you can download and listen. That'll keep ideas popping in your head and also keep your eyes attuned to proper grammar and help with the style of your text.

Maybe there are a hundred suggestions on how to do this but my final one is simply don't force it. If you are sitting down to write and you can't, revise! Not in the mood to write or revise then at least read your work.

Also one more thing I might add is you need to separate yourself from all outward stimulants. Wife, children, pets, cell phone, PM's, interenet.. etc while you are writing. Stephen King wrote Carrie sitting on a washer machine with his daughters school desk on his lap. That was his tiny private writeing area.

In recape:
1) Set daily time for writing, stop being a b**b in front of the tube.
2) Read/listen daily
3) Don't force it and do what you can. If not writing, revising, if not revising, reading.
4) Separate yourself from all outward stimulants.

The above are suggestions I've read from published authors and I'm slowly finding truth in it. Except for number 3 that is my own thinking.

I guess I should answer my own question, huh?

For those of you that don't know, I go through 2 stages of revision on a novel, rain or shine, and then, hopefully, it's just editing after that. The first stage involves printing up the draft and rereading the whole thing, with notes in the margin for places that I want more of some macro element or another. Then I rewrite it, by hand, entirely, which forces me to draft a little more freshly than if i were making changes in an existing document and see every word, which cleans out most of the grammar, spelling, and typo errors. Then I retype the whole thing into a fresh document, which spares me formatting errors, forces another editing sweep, and lets me work through places where I wasn't happy with the revisions on the handwritten draft freshly. And hopefully, by then, I'm happy with the novel. I tend to take it as a sign if, after all that, I still don't like major things, that I've created a mess and it's time to step away or consider a project dead, which, let me tell you, is a hard thing to do after all that time.

Oh, and for being a more focused writer... I have no idea. If I knew, I wouldn't still be stalling on this novel chapter.

-cc