In which I issue a caveat

It occurred to me that I ought to have said this yesterday, but honestly, that post was QUITE lengthy enough. (Have I told y'all about the e-mail I got from a guy who said that my blog posts were very long from a male perspective?) Anyway, if you are a prospective writer and you read yesterday's entry, you might have gone away thinking, "Ooooh, that's the proper way to do it." Um, no. That's MY way to do it, and I suspect my way only works for me.

As I've said before, writing is alchemy. You put the ideas and the research and the characters and the plot and snippets of dialogue together and swirl them all around and something entirely unknowable happens next. There's no way to predict precisely HOW it's all going to come together, and frankly, trying to analyze the process too deeply gives me the heebity-jeebities (with apologies to King Julian). The only two things that are constant are the preparation and the work. And I hate to disappoint the people who are longing for a glamourous answer, but the best response to the question "How do you become a writer?" is "Sit down and write."

However you go about it is valid, so long as you do the work. It doesn't matter if you write directly onto a computer or long-hand on a Big Chief with crayons. It makes no difference if you always begin on a particular date (Isabel Allende, and lately, me) or if you start when the spirit moves you. You can plot out the most minute details in advance, or you can start your story without even a glimmer of an ending. It doesn't matter so long as you begin.

I cannot tell you how many times I have spoken to people who say, "Ooooh, I've been meaning to write a book. If only I weren't so busy..." (These people are not to be confused with the very nice individuals who say, "Oh, I would LOVE to write a book." The difference is subtle, but enormous. One is vastly insulting, the other is admiring. I mean, I wouldn't walk up to a surgeon and say, "You know, I've been planning to perform a little splenectomy next week. Any tips?") But to the people who airily say they would write a book if only they had the time, I can only say, then you will never write a book. Books are like children--they are demanding and unpredictable, and they can suck your energy and your time, leaving you a shattered husk of the person you were before. But, again like children, they give much more than they take. And however you choose to raise them is your right because no one knows them as well as you do.

So, take whatever I say about my process with the heartiest grain of salt, and do whatever works best for you. Really.

Comments

[Hillary]

I've once heard that people who, when asked what they want to do in life, say they "want to write" will succeed in becoming writers, whereas people who say they "want to be a writer" will not. I think that's perhaps a bit similiar to people wishing they had the time to write. I think that might have been in Writing Down the Bones. (A very inspirational book--for a few weeks I actually wanted to write. I have since remembered that I like to read, not to write.) I would imagine that there are a great many people who think writing is easy or not "a real job" since you can work at home and in your nightgown, if you want to. I would also imagine it's difficult to be nice to such people.

Thank you for sharing your process! And for giving us your written children! :o)

[Deanna]

You got me, Hillary. I AM sitting here in my nightgown! I don't make a habit of that, I swear...and yes, it is very difficult to be nice to those people--so I generally avoid them at all costs!

[Michaela]

I have to smile when you mention those who "have been meaning to ____ (fill in the blank)." You run into those types in many areas of life, don't you? And they are always SO BUSY doing this, that, or the other (which makes them so important somehow), that they couldn't possibly take the time to do such-and-such (which, of course, is less important somehow) ... and yet, they always seem to think that they could easily do _____ IF ONLY they had the time.

And they are delusional. If they had the talent to do something, they would. And even if they had the desire while lacking the talent, they would at least give it a try. I've found in my lifetime that we always find the time to do what we want to do ... and that there are some things that we do because that is who we are - not so much a question of "want to do" as it is "MUST do," ... much the same as breathing keeps us alive.

I suspect that writing and weaving stories is something you MUST do. And I am so very glad that you must! ^_^