May 22nd 2008

Thought and Memory

New words: 2,121

Total words: 64,408

Listening/watching: Nothing

Total words for the year: 218,812

Weird day in my brain. I really didn’t want to write. I was plotting reasons to give myself a day off.

And yet I found myself sitting down with the laptop at the usual time. Write a thousand words, thought they were pretty decent. Took a break for lunch, as usual. Didn’t want to write again. Sat down again and churned out the rest of the word count.

Life as a writer is downright weird. There’s this reluctance to write some days, even when the words come easily. It makes no sense to me, but then again, few things in human psychology do.

(Meanwhile, my cat is sitting staring at me for no good reason, having spurned a perfectly good sunbeam to come and sit on the couch. I don’t understand cat psychology either. I suspect that cats have no idea about it, too.)

I’m definitely approaching the downward slope of this book. The space between here and the end is still nebulous - this is where i envy people who outline before writing. It’s like digging away at something buried, every day I unearth a small part of it.

[cross-posted from my website]

May 22nd 2008

Thought and Memory

New words: 2,121

Total words: 64,408

Listening/watching: Nothing

Total words for the year: 218,812

Weird day in my brain. I really didn’t want to write. I was plotting reasons to give myself a day off.

And yet I found myself sitting down with the laptop at the usual time. Write a thousand words, thought they were pretty decent. Took a break for lunch, as usual. Didn’t want to write again. Sat down again and churned out the rest of the word count.

Life as a writer is downright weird. There’s this reluctance to write some days, even when the words come easily. It makes no sense to me, but then again, few things in human psychology do.

(Meanwhile, my cat is sitting staring at me for no good reason, having spurned a perfectly good sunbeam to come and sit on the couch. I don’t understand cat psychology either. I suspect that cats have no idea about it, too.)

I’m definitely approaching the downward slope of this book. The space between here and the end is still nebulous – this is where i envy people who outline before writing. It’s like digging away at something buried, every day I unearth a small part of it.

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.

May 22nd 2008

Thought and Memory

New words: 2,121

Total words: 64,408

Listening/watching: Nothing

Total words for the year: 218,812

Weird day in my brain. I really didn’t want to write. I was plotting reasons to give myself a day off.

And yet I found myself sitting down with the laptop at the usual time. Write a thousand words, thought they were pretty decent. Took a break for lunch, as usual. Didn’t want to write again. Sat down again and churned out the rest of the word count.

Life as a writer is downright weird. There’s this reluctance to write some days, even when the words come easily. It makes no sense to me, but then again, few things in human psychology do.

(Meanwhile, my cat is sitting staring at me for no good reason, having spurned a perfectly good sunbeam to come and sit on the couch. I don’t understand cat psychology either. I suspect that cats have no idea about it, too.)

I’m definitely approaching the downward slope of this book. The space between here and the end is still nebulous – this is where i envy people who outline before writing. It’s like digging away at something buried, every day I unearth a small part of it.

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.

Some other thoughts

Thoughts that have been inspired by reading of other blogs of late.

There’s a lot of fiction out there that is popular and loved by the general public. And I mean loved. Look at the Harry Potter books, at Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books.

Undoubtably, from a writer’s standpoint, these books are flawed. I’ve seen people complaining about them and decrying the general public as being idiots for liking such trash. These people are, more often than not, writers.

Now, i’m not claiming that these books are wonderful, not by any means. But they have something. Something that makes Joe (or Jane) Bloggs clamour for more, to dress up as their favourite character, to write really bad fan fiction so they can feel closer to that world.

These books are popular for a reason. I have a multitude of thoughts on what draws me to them. There’s a revelation of a secret world beyond our own, demonstrating that there’s more to the world than just the mundane nine to five. There’s the kind of epic love that many dream about - the kind of thing that just is and doesn’t need justification.

These books describe worlds that people want to live in. Perhaps it is the simplicity of the writing that actually aids in helping the popularity of the books. Readers don’t feel talked down to, they don’t feel like they have to wade through oceans of prose to hear the author.

Thoughts?

[cross-posted from my website]

Some other thoughts

Thoughts that have been inspired by reading of other blogs of late.

There’s a lot of fiction out there that is popular and loved by the general public. And I mean loved. Look at the Harry Potter books, at Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books.

Undoubtably, from a writer’s standpoint, these books are flawed. I’ve seen people complaining about them and decrying the general public as being idiots for liking such trash. These people are, more often than not, writers.

Now, i’m not claiming that these books are wonderful, not by any means. But they have something. Something that makes Joe (or Jane) Bloggs clamour for more, to dress up as their favourite character, to write really bad fan fiction so they can feel closer to that world.

These books are popular for a reason. I have a multitude of thoughts on what draws me to them. There’s a revelation of a secret world beyond our own, demonstrating that there’s more to the world than just the mundane nine to five. There’s the kind of epic love that many dream about – the kind of thing that just is and doesn’t need justification.

These books describe worlds that people want to live in. Perhaps it is the simplicity of the writing that actually aids in helping the popularity of the books. Readers don’t feel talked down to, they don’t feel like they have to wade through oceans of prose to hear the author.

Thoughts?

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.

Some other thoughts

Thoughts that have been inspired by reading of other blogs of late.

There’s a lot of fiction out there that is popular and loved by the general public. And I mean loved. Look at the Harry Potter books, at Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books.

Undoubtably, from a writer’s standpoint, these books are flawed. I’ve seen people complaining about them and decrying the general public as being idiots for liking such trash. These people are, more often than not, writers.

Now, i’m not claiming that these books are wonderful, not by any means. But they have something. Something that makes Joe (or Jane) Bloggs clamour for more, to dress up as their favourite character, to write really bad fan fiction so they can feel closer to that world.

These books are popular for a reason. I have a multitude of thoughts on what draws me to them. There’s a revelation of a secret world beyond our own, demonstrating that there’s more to the world than just the mundane nine to five. There’s the kind of epic love that many dream about – the kind of thing that just is and doesn’t need justification.

These books describe worlds that people want to live in. Perhaps it is the simplicity of the writing that actually aids in helping the popularity of the books. Readers don’t feel talked down to, they don’t feel like they have to wade through oceans of prose to hear the author.

Thoughts?

Mirrored from Stephanie Gunn.