Stuff about Writing or the Most Generic Title Ever

The lovely Sarah Skilton said I’d been negligent in my blogging, which is true, and she also commanded I include this photo of my cats:

I’ve had some fun conversations about writing in the past week.* Sorry the formatting is so wonky; I truly have no idea what’s wrong with this post. Here I am, trying to blog again, and WordPress apparently hates my stupid face. Let’s try to get through this together, internet.

1. Isn’t it funny how you can get so married to “facts” in your work of fiction? When I’m revising, either thanks to someone else’s notes or just my own ideas of what could work better, there are elements I’m happy changing. Sometimes it’s to make the story flow better, sometimes it’s because a published work of fiction used a similar element and now mine seems inadvertently plagiarisy, sometimes it’s to make a different revision work, sometimes it’s something I totally think works but notes indicate otherwise. Anyways! Sometimes these are easy to change, often they’re challenging, and every once in awhile they’re practically painful.
   
   But then there are changes I truly can’t make. Amazing that in a work of ABSOLUTE FICTION that I find something absolutely permanent and immovable. Just another thing that makes me truly think writers are crazy. (Or, you know, at least me.)




2. Casting! I’m not talking about the crazy hypothetical film/TV adaptations perhaps some of us you dream of. No, every once in awhile there’s a character I just can’t quite pin down. And then I view an actor in whatever, and totally just FEEL that character. And suddenly it’s easier. Their dialogue becomes consistent, their mannerisms firm up, they suddenly just MAKE SENSE. It’s not as if they’re based on that person at all, it’s just a tool to help define someone. And, for me, it’s not that I seek out people who I can base characters on, it’s that occasionally I’ve already got a very hazy picture in my head, and seeing someone who resembles that pulls it all into focus.**




3. I used to hate rewriting. Really, really hate it. PASSIONATELY HATE IT! And then I got actual notes on actual fixable books, and, amazingly, I figured it out. But more amazingly, I’ve grown to love rewriting. First drafts are so much easier and more fun when you can just sail through, knowing you’ll fix those rough spots later.*** And then rewriting becomes about more than just polishing and catching typos and noticing that the ex-boyfriend’s name changes halfway through. It totally works a different part of my brain than writing does, but after pounding out a whole manuscript, that part of my brain needs a vacation anyway.




4. Not so much a discussion, but I will say that when you’re down and out and angsty about your own manuscript, some positive feedback from trusted readers means the effing world to me. Writing can be really solitary, so it’s good when it’s not.

*Well, fun to me, at least. I am a huge geek, so YMMV.
**Sometimes this is also an excuse to ogle celebrities.
***It is true that this can create some soul-suckingly terrible days of rewrites, I admit.