Born to Write?

So, as mentioned previously, I'm trying to see if there is a connection between long distance running and writing novels. Both are insane, when you think about them. However, both are very natural: we are made to run, we are equally made to tell stories. Kids know this, they love to run, will run even when you tell them not to. And they love stories. They love hearing them, and they love telling them. Give a kid a toy, and it is suddenly a brave knight on a quest to slay the wicked dragon.

Therefore, my logic works that a book about how to run naturally might have some tips for writing not found in more conventional places, such as books on writing. It seems as good a theory as any, particularly for the type of writing I'm doing: lots of long distances.

The following extract is from 'Born to Run' by Christopher McDougall (which completely coincidentally, I think, is the last name of one of my characters in the book I'm currently working on), from the section where the author is going for his first jog with 'The White Horse' (Caballo Blanco), a man that has been living in the wilds of Mexico and just running.

' “Lesson two” Caballo called. 'Think Easy, Light, Smooth, and Fast. You start with easy, because if that's all you get, that's not so bad. Then work on light. Make it effortless, like you don't give a *&^% how high the hill is or how far you've got to go. When you've practised that so long that you forget you're practising, you work on making it smoooooooth. You won't have to worry about the last one – you get those three, and you'll be fast.'”

(Swear word bleeped out by me, just in case I have any young and/or innocent readers.)

My theory is that the same can be applied to writing. A lot of people have this image that writing should be slow, torturous work. That the writer should agonise over the exact ordering of the words, or choosing the perfect metaphor. And my reply is 'yeah...nah....'. All that can be done in the second draft. It is too soul killing to do in the first. Even if it produces a good work, it will have caused so much pain, the next novel will be entered into with trepidation. But if writing a draft is seen like going for an afternoon jog, how bad can that be? Obviously only if you are sort of fit already, I remember a time when an afternoon jog sounded like freely lining up to have someone pour molten lead into my legs and give my lungs a good brushing over with sandpaper. This likeness of fitness to writing is suggested by Dorothea's exercises which recommend you should practice towards writing for longer and longer periods.

So, I think I have reasonably good general writing fitness. This has largely come from years and years of writing essays of growing length and strangely in reducing amounts of time (yeah, in first year, I was one of the people that would start writing their essays weeks before it was due, by third year of my first degree, I was doing all nighters to get them done start to finish). Given a general level of fitness, I am currently working on thinking of my writing sessions as: easy, light, smooth.

General update on my writing: the fortnight is almost up, I have just tomorrow, and I think that this might be the first draft that I do not finish in the allocated time. Sad, but I'm not going to let it get me down. I have learnt a lot of really useful things from doing this draft (first of a completely unknown book at the very beginning of a series), and have also taken some much needed time off.

I'm currently at just over 50,000 words. Story-wise... I'm not exactly sure where I am. I think I'm ¾ of the way through, but it depends on how the end actually plays out (because I don't know what it is yet). Therefore, I will write what I can tomorrow, though am meeting up with my writing group in the morning, which is fantastic as we only meet once a month and are still pretty new. At the end of the night, I will just plot out where I think the story will go and leave it. I have decided that if I do not finish a draft on time, I just move onto the next story all the same. If I get a chance, if I'm ahead and feeling inspired, I will go back and work on it and hopefully finish it off. If not, I'll see whether the idea catches someone's attention, and finish it off if demanded.

So, that's the plan. Easy, Light, Smooth – Finish and/or Move On. 

Preparation 3: How to Sit Down Part 2 - Motivation

So, have looked at will power. But really, relying on just will power is doing things the hard way. It really should be just there as a backup. To really start cooking with gas, or writing with oomph, you want the good stuff: motivation. If will power is making yourself do something you know you should but don't want to, motivation is the magic power of making you actually want to do it. If you are motivated, you don't have to con or guilty yourself into doing it. Instead, it becomes almost impossible to hold yourself back. The greater the motivation the less will power you need to do it. Awesome, no? So, today I'm going to look at how to overflow with motivation so that writing will become your play and relaxation.

At the beginning of an enterprise, we are usually overflowing with motivation, can't wait to start, jumping the gun. This is with a lot of things, writing, new exercise and diet programs, starting a new job. But after a while, be it as short as one day, that beginners' motivation disappears. Then it feels like you are using every ounce of will power you have just to do what you have to do. There is no joy in life, you don't feel like you are doing anything that you love any more, and it's all just work, work, work.

Well, my friends, it's time to break that mental attitude, and bring back the fun!

I started writing out a practical list of things you could do to try and make yourself feel motivated, but it all sounded a bit too much like work. So I thought about it another way. What's the difference between play and work? Really? Pretty much one you enjoy and the other you don't. That which is play for some is work for others. So, basically, we want to turn writing into our play, not our work.

First there is the way we approach the writing time. Play is about imagination, discovery, surprising yourself. It cannot be routine. Routine is the death of play. If you take a group of kids that love kicking around a soccer ball and start telling them they need to practice kicking back and forth for ten minutes, then practice blocking from each other for the next ten minutes etc., you have suddenly taken all the play out of it. Give them a ball and let them go for it. If you want to look forward to your writing time and be able to write for hours on end, you need to do the same. Yes, you need to sit down, and yes you do need to churn out words, but that's about it. Give your characters a situation or problem, and then just sit back and enjoy them trying to work out a solution.

Similarly, in your first draft, don't take yourself too seriously (no one else is!). Just be silly and enjoy it. During exam periods a friend and I gave each other challenges such as: find a way to get a Terry Pratchett quote into your essay, or one of my favourites was to find a way in a written exam to include the sentence 'I'm a fish' in ancient Greek. Suddenly something which was a chore becomes an enjoyable challenge. Staying motivated to write is a lot easier when you don't take yourself seriously, and are prepared to have fun.

Then there is what Kate Forsyth talked about: building anticipation. I have to admit, this is an art that I had almost lost. We are told it is childish to look forward to things, to not be able to sleep the night before Christmas, or to count down to birthdays. We aren't even supposed to like birthdays when you grow up (which is a waste of a great day of cake, if you ask me). To chuckle with glee at the thought of being allowed to escape and sit down and write just does not gel with our image of the tortured writer.

Well stuff that.

I'm going on a journey to rediscover anticipation and joy. From now on my writing is going to be my play time. I'm going to spend all day dreaming about what my characters are going to do when I let them loose. I'm going to smile as I converse with my main girl and promise her I'll get her out of her current difficulties. I'm going to walk away from work with a spring in my step because I know that soon I'll be entering my imaginary world where nothing is routine and I am queen. It's going to be great.

And while I said I wasn't going to give any practical tips, here are just a few that might help.

1. I find reading entertaining writers on writing motivating. I also find reading amazingly bad writers helps became I'll be damned if they get published and I don't.


2. I try to write something first thing in the morning, particularly any problems I'm having right now, so that my mind can tick away all day subconsciously trying to solve it.


3. Make yourself smile every time you think about writing. There is a lot of research to suggest that smiling is part of a feedback loop: you usually smile because you are happy, therefore if you make yourself smile in connection to something, it appears to feedback to your mind that you must therefore be happy about that thing. It's worth a try at least. And if you want to go one better, develop a manic, evil laugh when you think about being the creator of thousands of minions and worlds. Mwah-ha-ha....


4. Feel free to daydream throughout the day about your story. Daydreaming is a very important part of the process, and you shouldn't allow anyone to steal it away from you, unless possibly if they are paying you by the hour to do something else.

That's all my practical advice for now. Am going to try and work on building anticipation, and see if I learn anything new along the way.

Unfortunately, I'm sort of looking forward to some of my later books, which I really don't know much about, but the first two which are the sequel and third in the series aren't exciting me so much. I might have left them a bit long, they have gone a bit stale, so I will have to see what I can do about reinvigorating them. I'm 30,000 words into the second, but it might mean that I have to just start from the beginning again. Will see.

Preparation Day 5: Unfortunately, other than writing two blog entries and discussing what I want to write with my brother (Tim, not the one writing the book, who is Dave), I didn't really get much done writing prep wise. I stayed the night with my grandparents, and after I explained that I wanted to try and make it as a writer, but not to worry because I wasn't giving up my day job straight away, they then turned the conversation onto jobs I could apply for once I had worked out I wasn't going to make it as a writer. The top suggestion is to be a public servant. If you can't be a writer, the next best thing is obviously working for the Government. If I work out the secret to turning that into play, I'll seriously be onto something!

Over and out,

Buffy.