Monday, July 24, 2006

Killing to Write or Writing to Kill?

I hope Wondy understands that I am stealing to heal!! :) I saw today this post on her blog and I know this can be in use also for Writing Comics.

From How to Write by Paul Saevig:
On getting to grips with the Short Story before writing a novel:
Here's what I recommend:
1. Think hard to come up with a good story. It should be substantial, and not simply an account of a chance encounter, or a good day at the racetrack, or a date on the town, or even a week in the life of a fascinating person. (There are exceptions, of course, such as James Joyce's Ulysses, which takes place during one day - but Joyce was a supremely gifted novelist, one of the greatest in history, and he's not a suitable model for a new writer.)
2. See if you can imagine several compelling characters who people like you will want to read about. Can you do it? Are you willing to live with them for a year or so, until you've brought them to life and deployed them to tell your story? If your answers are Yes, proceed to the next step.
3. Can you fit your story together with your characters in an attractive setting in an appropriate time, to fashion your novel? "Attractive setting" does not mean only the French Riviera or the Lake District or Hawaii, but simply any place that people like you will want to read about. Dickens used 19th Century London, Greene the British colonies, Somerset Maugham the colonial outposts, and David Lodge the British universities. A skilled writer can make virtually any place attractive. You should be combining elements of a novel such that they cohere. Can you do that? If so, proceed to the next step.
4. Can you write some effective sequences, such as when your protagonist first enters the action, or when the climax occurs, or when two important characters meet for the first time, or when someone dies? As you work at this, you'll be able to tell how successful your efforts are. You can ask members of your writing group, too. If these efforts are successful, proceed to the next step.
5. You need to create an outline of at least all the main scenes and incidents of this novel you're planning. Creating an outline is usually difficult, but it's more difficult to "fly by the seat of your pants" as you're going along, trusting to your instinct, keeping it readable and appealing, travelling up the main road and not getting mired in side streets or dead ends. Your outline doesn't have to include every single breath your characters will take, and there should be room left for variation, inspiration, and the new ideas that will come to you - but you should have this blueprint of framework to guide your efforts. Some writers swear they never use outlines, but this is probably a boast only.
6. Armed with your story, characters, setting, and outline, pause for a moment and ask yourself if this novel is truly worth writing. Be honest with yourself. Does your novel have some fresh ideas about human life, or is it simply a tried-and-true story already told many times? Are your characters appealing, or are they too ordinary to attract favourable attention? Can you tell your story well enough to make it good, or will you have to fight your way through to the end desperately? Will you commit yourself to following it out to a resolution, or are your impulses whimsical? If you can tell yourself that your novel will be worth creating by your own standards, then proceed.
7. Start writing at the beginning. True, some writers create novels the way movies are shot, out of order and piece by piece, but that's doing it the hard way. You need to start at A and continue with B and C and D, until you reach Z. That's the most reasonable approach. Probably your biggest problem will be keeping track of everything you've written - did Sir Oliver die, or can he appear in this new scene? Has the heirloom sword already been introduced? How has Jane Jones been described? Would it be tiresome to write about horses in another scene?
8. Keep writing.
9. Keep writing.
10. Forge onward. Get your story on paper where you can manipulate it. Worry about perfecting it later. Tell your tale. Squeeze your imagination dry. Write something you would like to read. Don't be surprised if the story you write isn't what you expected in the outline. Allow your novel to have some living, breathing life of its own.
11. Finish your story in about 200 double-spaced pages. Yes, this is a short novel, but you need to master small tasks before you progress to bigger ones. Many classic novels -- The Red Badge of Courage, The Stranger, and To Kill A Mockingbird - are also short.
12. After you've finished your first draft, take a little time off. Go down by the ocean, or spend an afternoon in the mountains, or have a few beers. Let your mind go fallow, a friend of mine liked to say. Let yourself rest and seek rejuvenation.
13. Once you're rested, read your first draft all the way through. Is it moving in the right direction? If not, return to Step 1 or 2. If it's moving OK, proceed. NOTE: Do not start editing or changing things yet - you'll get confused and bogged down.
14. Seek out the weak elements - a scene or character that doesn't work, a motivation that's not believable, a result that doesn't follow convincingly, or anything that fails to satisfy you. Make notes of these weak elements until you've checked the whole first draft.
15. Develop your own strategy or priorities to work a little on these weak elements. Or you may simply return to the beginning and start rewriting, if you prefer.
16. Rewrite at least three times, editing and modifying as you go, but avoiding confusion or getting stuck. Many good novels have been rewritten fifty or seventy five times.
17. Keep rewriting. Don't give up. Don't stop rewriting until your novel is smooth and pleases you.
18. Give a version to reliable and trustworthy associates who have at least some expertise in editing. This will probably not be your spouse, or neighbour, or boss, or lover, or tennis partner, or pastor, or cousin in Belfast or Philadelphia. Sorry to be sharp, but the opinions of these people on writing are worthless, or actually injurious. Find people who know something about writing.
19. Take their comments and use them as you think best. Remember, please yourself. If you believe you should ignore some comments, do so.
20. You may collect more reactions from qualified readers if you wish, but don't waste too much time. You have more rewriting, editing, and polishing to do.
21. Stop only when you believe no further improvement is possible.

Remember what Joe Frazier said. The annals of literature are filled with novelists who had to wait for their sixth or seventh novel to be good enough for publication.
And to finish two quotes from a true great about writing:

Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself.
Truman Capote

Writing stopped being fun when I discovered the difference between good writing and bad and, even more terrifying, the difference between it and true art. And after that, the whip came down.
Capote

Great Day!!

JESUS ANTONIO

3 comments:

wondy woman said...

OF COURSE I understand - us writers have got to stick together!

AnnaRaven said...

Hey Jesus,
thanks for this. It's ace, thank you and thank Wondy!
All the best from the Merry Old England.

antonio said...

Start working full time on your writing skills Wondy who knows and in the short terms I will be drawing a comic written by you as I am doing with Bonita Annita!!
Bonita Annita you have nothing to thank!! :)

JESUS ANTONIO