Meanderings: July 12, 1999

Monday,
July 12, 1999

I've noticed something interesting about my writing lately. In addition to the novel and "Daughters of Men," I've also been doing this extremely tongue-in-cheek shared universe story on alt.culture.fabulous (a group of a.c.f regulars used Lee's Useless Superhero Generator to come up with superpowered alter egos, and somehow the Wondrous Fabu-Friendz were born. It's a long story).

Now, this piece is most definitely "just for fun" -- I can't sell it, and including it on a resume would look amateurish. Beside which, I don't really want anyone calling the attention of Lucasfilms and Leonardo DiCaprio to this little gem (it's satire, guys, honest). HowEVER, the pace I've been writing it at has astounded me. My production speed is usually pretty good if I have a solid grasp of the plot and know where I'm going with the story-- 300 words an hour or thereabouts isn't surprising.

But I gotta admit, "The Wondrous Fabu-Friendz: The Media Munchkin Strikes Back" is rocketing out at lightspeed. I sat down last night to add a scene or two, and wound up plunking out over a K in ninety minutes. And I don't think it's because I'm short-shrifting on quality since the story is straight-to-Web -- I've proofread each chapter before posting, and I'm quite happy to put my professional name on the result. It ain't Heinlein (hell, it ain't even Peter David), but it's certainly readable.

I think the hurricane speed is partially due to the absolute lack of professional pressure. For the first time in a long while, I'm not worrying about theme, or POV, or nailing reversals and climaxes, or what Editor X at Magazine Y is going to think of it. My biggest challenge is juggling 10 characters, keeping all of them in-character (which means coming up with a lot of whipcrack comments and witty insult-fests), and trying to remember which superhero talent goes with whom.

And, my God, it's been a lot of fun. I think it's very easy to lose track of the fact that sitting down at a keyboard or tablet and bashing out a story is supposed to be enjoyable, something we WANT to do. A lot of writers (myself included) tend to get bogged down with writing quotas, story mechanics or market concerns, especially in these times of the Great Disappearing Midlist. And we get so busy trying to hack our way out of the bog that we forget why we started writing in the first place -- because we love telling stories.

Ironically, the most successful writers seem to be the ones who've kept in touch with that feeling. Sure, Terry Pratchett has a daily quota, and I don't envy him his business paperwork, but the reason why he plunks himself in a chair every day and starts hitting the keyboard is because he enjoys writing. Simply loves it. And it's made him very comfortable, the l/u/c/k/y/ hardworking git.

Don't get me wrong -- a solid grounding in technique and an understanding of the market is important to a writer. You can't build a house if you don't have the right tools, and trying to sell it to nomads is kinda pointless. But ultimately, these are the means to an end, not the end itself. What I want to do is remember this feeling -- and it's a good feeling -- and learn how to incorporate it into the rest of my writing. In the meantime, I'll just continue with my frothy adventure and see what trouble I can dump the heroes in (I'm looking forward to the scene where they battle Fashion Slave and Sarcastra, I am).

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