I enjoyed several interviews with Viet Thanh Nguyen, finding them insightful about the fiction writing and the effort that it takes, including this article on ‘overnight success’.
Viet Said
Beta to First Draft
I miss writing like crazy every day. I’m editing and revising instead, trying to turn the beta iteration of the first novel in my Incomplete States series into the first draft. My imagination is chaffing. It doesn’t like being shut down.
To say ‘It’s going well’ is so sloppy to the thinking, writing, and creative process that I eschew using it. What those three words mean is that I haven’t encountered any “OMG WHAT IS THIS CRAP?” moments. I’m enjoying reading the novel. Not many changes have been required, although there are some notes on potential changes to make later, depending on what happens in the next three books in the series. They’re waiting their turn.
Writing like crazy is the fun, addictive part. That’s what I like about writing, spin up the imagination and release it on hyperdrive. Every day, my muses and writing addiction attempt to trick me with the “Let’s write something else today” game. But I know me. This part is necessary. I was thinking last night, I have ten other unpublished novels that I wrote and completed as a first draft that I never did any more with because I prefer the writing-like-crazy excitement over the “Let’s edit and revise this mother into something presentable” stage where I now dwell.
So, yeah, this must be done. And yeah, I remind myself, I need to attend the business end of advertising and so on for the other novels published because they will not sell themselves.
Covers are done for the four books. Yes, I know, why are the covers done if you don’t have a first draft completed? It’s a carrot thing. Having the covers help me visualize the completed novels as something tangible. And I wanted to have covers, so nah-nah-nah, I made some. Yes, I made them.
Changed the first novel’s title too. Kyrios wasn’t working for me in the completed visualization process so the title became Four on Kyrios. Who knows what it’ll end up being? That title feels right for now but it felt right with the last title, didn’t it?
Time to edit like crazy. Just doesn’t have the same feel to it, does it?
Linnea Said
Keep plugging away if you feel the pull.
Saunders Asked Egan
This exchange was profoundly validating to me. I chase my characters and grind my molars, dismayed by where they’re going, reluctant to accept their direction, and upset because I’m again proven not to be in charge. Finding I’m in good company comforts me a little, like an amuse-bouche comforts me when I’m really hungry for pizza.
I enjoyed their conversation, so here’s a link, so you can read it, too.
Scott Said
I did the same thing that Scott said, buying Writer’s Digest and books on fiction writing, looking for the secrets before realizing, just read and write. It wasn’t wasted time or effort, though, because I glimpsed other writers’ processes and developed my processes and voice from thinking about what they’d done, trying to do the same, and then adjusting.
Amor Said
This is the essence of writing like crazy to me. Dive in and start writing, and hopefully, it’ll stick.
Michael Said
I like discovering quotes like these. It helps alleviate the worries I have about the lack of control over what I write — something which seems inherently wrong to write, but most writers will readily grasp.
Terry Also Said
This is an almost perfect analogy for novel writing for me. I know I’m crossing the valley. I have no idea how to do it, so I see a tree and I head for it.
