Today's Date: May 8, 2015
So I know that I kind of died there for a while and I am sorry. Life wasn't happy with me, but that's about normal for me.
I'm kind of doing a twitchtwitchdie thing over here in regards to pain but that's about normal.
But! I wanted to get back into doing something interesting and this is what I decided to do!
My 10 Commandments of Writing
Disclaimer: My commandments might not work for you. Just so you know.
1) Practice. Practice. Then Practice some more.
When people ask me how I can write so many words in a week (on average about 5K when life isn't sucking my soul) they always give me this look when I say "Practice".
I'm not joking you when I say that. It was practice that trained me into writing every day in some way. I may write only a single side of a piece of paper a day for a week, but I'm getting words down. I don't let a block on one story stop me from writing.
I simply put that story to the side for a short time and work on another story. And while I write, I talk with a friend or two about the knot that I've found in my story. I don't stop practicing.
I write, always.
2) Write. Even when you don't want to, write.
The only time that I can't write is when I'm so drugged up that my eyes are going crosseyed and I'm falling asleep at my desk. And that's pretty darn rare.
I don't let my life hold me back. I write in some way or another. Just like I have practiced since the day that I picked up a pen and started to write horrible poems.
3) Ignore those who have only seen part of the manuscript.
They know nothing.
I can not tell you how often someone has read a chapter or two of a story and the utterly fucked it over for me by butting into what I'm writing.
"Have you done this yet?"
"Have you changed that yet?"
It really kills an idea for me. I do continue to write on that story but I tend not to show it ever again. It has taken me years to get to a point where I just kind of ignore requests to see even full manuscripts until I'm ready to show someone something.
4) Ignore those who think they know your style and what you're trying to do.
This ties in with number 3. People tend to think they know what you're writing or how you write. They think they do and most often than not, they're wrong. And it can really mess with someone when that person tries to butt in.
Especially when it's someone who is just learning what their writing style is or what they want to do with a story.
5) Ignore the urge to go back and edit before at least 10 chapters.
This is mostly because after the first 10 chapters, I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do with the story and need to go back to edit some details into the story or change some around.
Or in the case of Bad Dog, rewrite a chapter into two chapters so that the information dump is more of an information stream.
But if I don't wait, I tend to have to rewrite and edit more than two or three times, which is a waste of time and space, and I don't enjoy wasting my time when I can write on things. Thus, I wait until I have a minimum of ten chapters written.
6) Write what you want to write.
I don't write to be popular. I know that a lot of my stuff is very niche, very small in a lot of ways. But that's fine. I write what I write because I enjoy it. I write what I write because out there someone else will enjoy it. I write what I write because I want to read it myself.
And I can't find it anywhere. Thus, I write what I want to write.
7) Ignore people who say you need to write this because it's all the rage.
This is tied to number 6. I said that i don't write because I want to be popular.
And I don't. Popularity is a fickle, fickle bitch and not something I want to deal with. If I become popular...people will just have to deal with what I write because apparently I'm doing something good.
No, I will not write some bored housewife wish fulfilment that is a badly written attempt at the BDSM world without a drop of research.
Yes, I will write (or try to) write a BDSM homo-erotic story that is researched until my eyes bleed...and then researched some more. I have connections who are willing to tell me in great detail what goes on in that world.
No, I will not write about a 'vampire' that falls in love with some simpering Self-insert to cater to the masses.
Yes, I will write about a vampire who is a smug little bastard who finds a half angel and has a stalker ex who wants to bleed his half angel out just because, hey, blood. And a cold corpse to fuck. (I never said that my stories had SANE villains, people.)
Yes, I will write what I want to write, and fill my niche with fans who like my stuff and I'll let the bullshit...be far, far away from me.
8) Don't limit yourself.
I will not limit myself to one genre, type of character, or type of plot. I will explore whatever interests me and I will learn about each thing that catches my attention.
Because I apparently like to research and learn.
9) Don't stop writing damnit!
Nope, can't stop writing. Nope.
10) Do what you need to do to get those words.
I will do whatever I can do to get my words.
I will listen to music, or a movie, or marathon something creepy on Youtube.
I will hand write, write in Google Docs, or I will babble about a story to my friend who likes to watch me write.
I will get those fucking words!
One way. Or the other.
So! I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my world. I know I had fun with this one and I hope to have more fun with more posts like this as time goes along.
