Sometimes being a writer is demoralizing

Sorry it's been so long between posts.  Christmas came, and Christmas is often crazy and busy for me.  There was also a perfect storm of other events that made my life considerably more busy.  Other events like getting the black death (stomach flu), and a certain game that I was ridiculously excited for coming out (*cough* Star Wars: The Old Republic *cough*).

I wanted to share a couple thoughts in lieu of the blog I'd planned.

Sometimes, being a writer is demoralizing.

Today I got my first batch of feedback from my first reader.  I was excited to see what he had to say about the book.  I sped-read through all his feedback and at the end was depressed.

This is something I should know: artistic endeavour takes incremental improvement.  It would be insane to think that my book was perfect, or almost perfect, in its first draft.  But in spite of me knowing this my overly optimistic side somehow seemed to think that I wouldn't have to do that much to improve or clean up my novel.  How wrong I was.

This is of course something all writers go through: realizing that there are massive gaps in what they've written, and that they still have a lot of work to do.  It can be demoralizing and intimidating.

Fortunately, I am relentlessly optimistic.  I'll make myself a grand list of improvements I need to make, then go through them one at a time and write until I've made all the necessary improvements.  Maybe draft 2 will be perfect! (not).

Next blog: All about naming characters!

Read to write

In order to write, you must read.  I've heard this somewhere, sometime.  Can't recall who said it, but it's true.

My desire to write a novel was triggered by reading the excellent works of Brandon Sanderson.  If you don't know who I'm talking about, and you like Fantasy novels, go read Mistborn right now.  This very instant.  I also highly recommend Way of Kings (also by Sanderson) to anyone that loves a thick read (almost 1000 pages in hardcover!)

I had wanted to write a novel for a long time.  It was something I thought would be cool.  But the burning need to put words on paper didn't really start to consume me until I read Sanderson's books.  They moved me, brought me to tears, and filled me with joy.  I wanted to try and give something to the world that would do the same to other readers.

It's true of many different skills, and it's true of writing as well.  To get better at it, you need to DO it (write), and you need to look at what others are doing as well (read).  Film makers watch movies.  Video game developers look at other video games.  Authors read books.

General reading is of benefit, but in particular authors need to read the genre they want to write in.  This means I read a LOT of fantasy novels.  In the past year I have purchased 26 books, nearly all of which are Fantasy novels.  I haven't read all of them yet, but on average I read 1-2 books in a month.  A big part of being an aspiring author is figuring out what I want to focus on.  Do I write a story with a ton of characters in a complex narrative?  Do I focus on a small few and try to get to know them really well?  Will I break any of the big "rules" of the genre?  Breaking rules is usually bad - they tend to exist for a reason - but at the same time many of the best authors in existence have broken the rules and made something amazing.

It is my hope that I can write something amazing that people will be moved by, brought to tears by, and given joy by.  So, I read, so I can write.

Next blog: Names!  Names!  Names!

Music Powered Writing

Sometimes I want something that will help me write. That something, is sometimes music.

The types of music that seem to help me significantly fall into two categories:

Trance music:

This is music I tend to listen to when I want to do a long session of writing. I find it can help get me into the rythmn, or into the zone, so to speak. I typically listen to http://www.di.fm/trance/

Epic music:

This is what I listen to when I want to get into a particular mindset. Namely, the mindset for writing an important, intense scene. Listening to a songs like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcw8JVBFBkg&feature=related or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EptSSXNHIfg I find myself almost physically compelled to write a huge battle scene.

Next blog: Read to Write!

How my childhood years and video games made me want to write

Why does anyone become interested in writing novels? It's such an abstract process: thousands upon thousands of hours of work and toil put into a collection of words. It is, initially anyways, a thankless and rewardless work. I've dedicated almost a year of my life to writing this novel and have nothing to show for it other than a mess of files on my computer and some stacks of paper. In our very instant-gratification oriented society, this sort of pursuit might seem crazy to some. But I love the process, and I want to make a career of it. Here's what I think led up to this love for writing.

From a young age I've loved playing video games. Gems such as Chrono Trigger and Earthbound still hold a special place in my heart.

Video games were a refuge for me. As a child I was teased by my peers at school for wearing a hearing aid. Because of this I was an insecure person. I had a very loving home, yes, and that did much to mitigate the effects of the teasting, but it only did so much.

Aside: please don't read this as a sob story. Overall I'm pretty certain my childhood was better than most. I simply seek to illustrate how my experiences early in life led to my current love for novels and writing.

Because of the teasing and insecurity, I did not have many friends. I was socially akward. I had a crippling fear of women that I didn't fully overcome until I was around 21 years old.

Video games provided a window to worlds filled with opportunity and excitement. In these worlds I wasn't Richard the socially akward child anymore.

I was Crono, a man with the power to manipulate time to prevent the destruction of the world.

I was Ness, blessed with pyshic powers, on a mission to defend the world from an entity of pure evil.

I was Zidane, a man with no past journeying through a wondrous world with airship-filled skies.

I was a heroic pilot in the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance trying to keep the vicious Shivans from destroying everything.

I was Commander Shepherd, a hero tasked with stopping a machine-race bent on wiping out all sentient life.

Video games were a window by which I could escape from being a kid who had a hard time hearing. It was difficult for me to understand other kids on the playground. So I began to retreat into imaginary worlds. Every recess I would walk back and forth along the tires in the playground while forces of good and evil battled it out a thousand times in my minds eye. These were my earliest creative experiments. I still love creating something from nothing within my mind. Writing a novel is a natural extension of this.

Video games fueled my mind's creative explorations. Video games brought imaginary worlds to life, and let me live in them.

This is all related to my book writing in several ways. For one, the genres of video games I played are the ones I ended up reading the most (Fantasy and Science-Fiction). They are also the genres I want to write in.

I have an irresistible love for the concept of heroism, a concept central to the vast majority of video games. The idea that someone simple can rise above themselves and choose to do good and resist evil. A lone figure standing against impossible odds, simply because it's the right thing to do, sends chills down my spine.

I love the idea of good versus evil. The idea of epic, massive conflict. Many of my favorite fictional characters are ones who have come from lowly positions and struggled to overcome their inner weaknesses so that they can serve the world.

One of my favorite novels is Mistborn. It follows the story of Vin, an orphan abandoned at a young age, discovering she has magical powers and a destiny that calls her to fight evil. The story follows her inner struggles with her own feelings of insignificance, even as she battles the forces of evil. This duality of conflict is something I love: external battle against evil paired with inner battle against evil.

I realize this blog has probably gone a bit astray, but hopefully it gives you an idea of why I want to write. I'll wrap up this up here.

If you have any questions, please feel free to post them! I'm happy to continue discussing how I came to find writing such an enjoyable endeavour.

If I get some good questions I'll post a follow-up blog in which I answer the questions!

Next blog: Music powered writing! What I listen to that helps facilitate my writing sessions.

Alternate Projects

One thing I've heard discussed is the importance of writers having other projects.  Things they turn to when stuck on whatever their current project is.

My Science-Fiction novel developed out of this.  When stuck on writing Elemental Saga I, I developed ideas for other stories.

This Sci-Fi novel is a reflection on what I love most in Science-Fiction worlds and stories.  Namely, huge fleets of space ships blowing each other up.  The novel doesn't have a name yet, but I'm toying around with something along the lines of Dark Pulsar, so I'll use that for now.

With Elemental Saga I'm trying hard to have a dynamic and interesting cast in an interesting, deep world.  Dark Pulsar takes all that "interesting characters" stuff and tosses it out the window.  This book will be an endless sequences of adrenaline-charged battles.  Think five-kilometre long ships blasting the living snot out of each other.  It's gonna be great.

Interestingly, as I worked on it, I found myself developing the characters, even though I didn't really plan to.  Perhaps this is a good sign: perhaps I am actually incapable of writing totally shallow characters.

It will be short.  It probably won't even be published as a physical book (ebook only).  I don't even know if I'll ever finish it, but it's fun to envision and write.  I've been daydreaming of giant space battles ever since I was...  Seven?  Simply put, I've been thinking about huge spaceships for a long time, and this book is an outlet for that.  It's also a way for me to continue being creative and writing even when I'm stuck on my current project.

Next post: how Video Games shaped my love for Fantasy and Science-Fiction and how it has influenced my writing.

The art of taking a break

I recently finished my first draft of my novel: Elemental Saga I (subtitle pending).

This is incredibly exciting, and I'm eager to get into the editing so I can finish and publish it.  But instead of editing, I am waiting.  There are a number of reasons for this.

One, I have given the draft of my novel to a number of people to read.  They will be giving me valuable feedback, and I don't want to edit until I've gotten at least some of that feedback.  Editing a chapter only to re-edit it later after getting feedback would be a waste of time.

Two, I am letting my brain rest.  This is my biggest reason for waiting on the editing.  My mind needs rest.  I've been thinking about this book almost every day for almost a year now.  I feel it's important to take some time away so that when I begin editing it's with a fresh mind.

That said, my mind doesn't seem to want to wait, so I've begun brainstorming for book 2 of Elemental Saga.  It's going to be much bigger and better than book 1.  I can't wait to write it!

Preview for next week: all about my Sci-Fi book project!