Writers Feb 2014 - YouLookFab Forum

I am feeling pulled in too many directions right now. I just had a great idea and dashed down three pages about it (yay) but it's not any of my current WIPs, several of which have deadlines attached to them. Aahh! Both of my critique partners have been slogging away on their novels for several years and making great progress. I, in the meantime, have picked up and put down several different projects, and I still haven't finished a book-length draft. And I have a screenwriting class in two weeks that is relevant to another idea which I haven't even started working on yet.

Does anyone read Tin House? I picked up the 'winter reading' issue recently and just finished it. I enjoyed almost everything, although I thought the very first story was a one-trick gag. I have this sort of reverse snobbery about short stories where I almost never read stuff from the New Yorker, literary journals, because they're usually so darn post-modern and aimless I want to set them on fire. These, on the other hand, definitely had actual plots and characters. Are plots and characters finally back in style?

11 years ago

Beth Ann

Veteran

OK, I'm a singer, not an author, although I sing lots of poetry -- the good stuff -- does that count.

I, too, live the artistic part of my life in projects, and I know too well the difficulty of getting them to the finish line! Perhaps its a good time to expand your group of colleagues and, rather than just reviewing one another's work, explore working together to grow on the "business" end of things. I regularly following Todd Henry over at "Accidental Creative," listening to his podcast on the stair climber at the gym. I also follow Chris Guillebeau at AONC.

I grow impatient with postmodern meanderings, too, particularly in longer fiction, because I invest so much time and get so little plot in return!

Lucy

Ok, I'm getting on my soap box here - only because I want to share what has really worked for me. Have you tried Shut Up and Write? I've been doing it now for nearly a year with my 4th year thesis writing students - and now some of my writing friends are getting into the action.

Basically you need to go somewhere - a cafe works best - and you meet up with others, have a chat for 20-30 mins (decide before hand). Then you have to Shut Up and Write for either 1.5 or 2 hours. No talking, no phone, no texting, no internet connection no YLF!). No research or reading (you might not need to do that for more creative work). Plan and think about what you are going to do beforehand, so you just turn up and write.

You can google the benefits, and they have def outpaced my expectations!

Even one person works. My neighbour has been struggling to carve out time from her family to finish her PhD. We have been doing one session each week over the teaching break, and it has been great for both of us. At a stretch, I have even done it over the phone with a friend - we have to text our word count at the end! Either way, we get to catch up and I can write 1200-1600 words in that time, which is kinda awesome. And it is great for teaching times,because you can do almost a day's output in a short burst, and then get back to marking papers

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Beth Ann, singing definitely counts - next time I will make a more general artist topic! Thanks for the recs; I've read some of Guilleabeau's blog but I will check out the other. I like the idea of creating a group to be more accountable about the business and administrative stuff.

Lucy, there is a Shut Up and Write group nearby and I have been to a few sessions. Unfortunately, the location closest to me is only an hour meeting (an hour and 15 minutes with the intro conversation), which is pretty short to get a lot of work done. But it's better than nothing! I regularly meet with my critique partners and work together - sometimes we do sprints of a certain time period with no talking or Internet-Ing. But of course we have our bad habits of conversation some of the time too.

Lucy, what are you working on right now?

rachylou

That would be nice if plots came back. After Marguerite Duras, there is no other stream-of-consciousness writer I have ever wanted to read. So boring!

Of course, I myself couldn't plot a plot if my life depended on it. To me, nothing ever happens. I can't afford to think that way personally. But I'm a technical writer.

I also don't really get research - historical research and so forth. I mean, reading stuff other people have written. I have philosophical issues... but I digress.

I have a question: Do y'all write what you want to read? I don't.

Laura - It's grant writing season here in Oz, so I've been doing that full time for the last few weeks. It's the worst kind of writing for me, both hard and boring all at the same time.
Other than that, I am writing (co-writing actually) on a series of almost 500 sexual crimes, written from court records. It is fairly confronting material, and a bit different to what I normally write. So not a creative writer per se, but it does require some creative thought and an engaging writing style as well It is due at the publishers at the end of the year, and we have more than half written.
I love RachyLou's comment re historical research - I'm a historian!

I reckon you should start your own SUAW group locally, where you control the rules!

Happy writing.

nancylee

Ack, Laura! Those horrible New Yorker stories. I hate to admit it (as a short story writer myself), but I never read them anymore. They're all so self-involved and/or gimmicky. FWIW, I think plots and characters will always be in style. Literary fashions come and go with the lit set, but the vast majority of readers want stories they can relate to as human beings….at least that's what I'm banking on.

Rachylou, I agree with you on Duras. The Lover is one of my favs.

As for me, I'm finally back to working on my novel after a 2-year break while I dealt with my husband's health issues. The bad NE weather has given me a lot of time to write so far this year, since my classes have often been cancelled. (I teach English part-time)

What's been working for me lately is writing in 90-minute stretches. I read somewhere that we work most efficiently for that amount of time, so I write for that long then allow myself a break. If that's all I get done that day it's ok, but I try to fit in as many stretches as possible. I'm also trying not to go more than 2 days w/o working. If I stay away too long I feel too distanced from the book.

I've also joined a small writing group…just four people. We meet once a month and share what we're working on, reading passages or giving the other members a chapter or so to read. It does help to know I'm accountable to others, but it can be tricky finding the right mix of people. I've tried groups before and it's never worked, but this group feels right. One of the members just signed a contract for her novel and is revising it for her agent, which is an interesting and helpful experience for the rest of us.

Write on, everyone!

Rachylou, I'm intrigued by your comments about research - do you mean avoiding secondary sources, or everything entirely? I have definitely read some books that feel over-researched - too much reiteration of what we already all know.

Lucy, I collaborated on a grant proposal when I was staff at a university - it's a lot of work! Hope your grant writing gets done happily. Your other project sounds intense, but interesting in its own way. I'm a historian too, sort of - or at least I have an MA in history, and one of the projects I'm working on is a nonfiction history book.

Nancylee, congrats on getting back to the novel - sounds like you've found a great writing group as well. I agree, it can be really tricky to find a group that you jell with, and that everyone has similar goals. I co-lead a group at the local library and it draws a lot of people who are just getting started, which can be really frustrating to deal with all the time when you are more serious/ farther along in your career.

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