Bursting to Write
Sometimes, as a writer, I read books or columns of writing advice, much like what you can find in many of the essays here on Storytellers Unplugged. Although I have a degree in Creative Writing, I figure there’s always something new to learn, and at the very least I can see how other published writers handle the job and maybe take something from their experiences.
Most times, I find myself nodding my head, agreeing with what I read. It’s rare to unearth an epiphany this way, but often I think, “It’s great that someone codified in writing something similar to what I do.” Knowing that others work like I do can be comforting.
Then there are times I just have to wince then look away. That happens when someone declares something to be so that I just can’t agree with. Writing is an art. We all come at it from different angles, and there are few absolutes, especially when you’re talking about the process. All anyone ever sees is the end product, and that’s what counts, not how you get there, right?
Here’s the one that gets me the most, and I may be cast out as a heretic for disagreeing with it: Write every day.
Hey, it sounds like great advice, and I’m all for getting into the writing habit. I’ve just never managed it myself.
That may sound suspicious from a guy working on his 11th published novel (Blood Bowl: Rumble in the Jungle, due out this December from the Black Library) in the last three years, but it’s true. While I love writing fiction, especially novels, I still make most of my money as a freelance game designer, both for tabletop and computer games. So, writing fiction isn’t something I do every day.
Sure, I write e-mails, rules, examples of play, blog posts, and more, but fiction uses different muscles than those things. Tackling a novel, even, is a far different experience than pounding out a short story.
Instead of writing fiction every day, I prefer to hit it in strong, sustained bursts. That may come from the fact I write tie-in novels, which are generally under tight deadlines. As Max Collins said on the IAMTW mailing list once, “We are not sprinters. We are not long distance runners. We sprint long distances.”
I don’t think I’ve ever taken more than three months to write a novel. I once wrote a 95,000-word novel in 16 days, including a day off for Thanksgiving. The last day, I clocked out after writing 11,000 words.
And I like it that way. I enjoy being able to devote every bit of creative power I have to a single project. I work on many different things in the course of a year, and it’s easy for me to get them confused if I try to juggle them all at once. I’d rather hyperfocus on each in succession.
Of course, I do this full-time, so I have that luxury — if you can call a career built on serial obsessions luxurious. It’s what works for me. Figure out what works for you, then do that. Rinse. Repeat. Relax.
