Consistency

Since taking a new job a couple of months ago, I’ve found a new consistency in my writing schedule. Almost every weekday morning, I get up early, get ready and sit at my writing desk before heading in to work. Usually I have about 45 minutes to an hour of writing time. I believe this routine is helping me overall, much more than when I used to write every couple of days for a couple of hours.

When I head to my desk daily, it’s like I’ve trained my creative mind to get into action. Often, I’m thinking about the current scene or interesting character traits while showering. Minutes later, I’m writing those ideas.

I also feel like I’m taking writing a bit more seriously when I do it consistently. Every weekday, this is what I do, just like I go to work. I have heard from multiple sources that persistence is what matters in many realms of the arts, and there seems to be no better way of persisting than doing so on a daily basis.

Certainly, I’m glad to have unexpected pockets of time in which to write, but when I relied solely upon those pockets, writing wasn’t happening that much. My advice to others is to find a reliable window of opportunity, even if it means getting up earlier or staying up later than you might otherwise. It will likely help with both the quantity and quality of your work.

The Wolf Age by James Enge

The Wolf Age by James Enge was published by Pyr near the end of 2010. This is Enge’s third novel, following Blood of Ambrose and This Crooked Way (both released in 2009, which begs the question of whether or not Enge actually sleeps).

In The Wolf Age, Morlock the Maker has severed all ties with his friends to wander alone, believing it is only a matter of time before he battles his father, Merlin, for the final time. His latest path takes him north into the werewolf city of Wuruyaaria. Instead of Merlin, Morlock struggles against madness, imprisonment, a maker who battles gods, and a slow death by ghost sickness.

I am a huge fan of Enge’s Morlock tales, but I don’t think that prevents me from being objective. That clarification aside, I believe this is Enge’s best work. This is a thrilling tale that showcases Morlock’s ingenuity within the clever, unpredictable plots that Enge fans cherish. What I enjoyed the most was the mortality of Morlock -- a frailness I was unaccustomed to seeing, along with limitations to his skills through an unfortunate turn of events. Beyond this, Enge once more demonstrates strong character development and even introduces a credible and moving love story.

If you’ve never read any of Enge’s works before, it’s time to jump on board. If you have read Enge’s works, this is a step above anything that preceded it; grab a copy as soon as you can.

Rough Drafts Are Ugly

I’ve posted before on basic thoughts of writing rough drafts, and this is meant to enhance and elaborate on the theme. For whatever reason, I’m still working through the notion that rough drafts are ugly.

To stop and ponder the best way of phrasing something is to kill the idea. I’m not suggesting that there is no thought process at all, but there’s a difference between using your imagination and then writing the story as you see it versus using your imagination and then filtering those ideas into what might look the best. Subsequent drafts take care of the clean-up process.

I promised elaborations, so I’ll open up a bit. No, I won’t share text from a working draft. They are hideous, and I refuse to let anyone see them willingly. But I will share a few specifics on what I have purposefully skipped over.

I gloss over a name if I don’t have one readily available in mind and realize that pondering the name will slow me down too much in the moment. In place of the true name, I use a stand-in that I can find/replace later (Control-H for the win). Usually I put in something basic, like Bill, which I know I won’t leave alone in a fantasy story. In fact, bland names are a good motivation to do some extra thinking when I’m away from my writing desk.

One example from my current work in progress is that I had a character who found the first road. Two paragraphs later, this character found the first house. I saw it on a subsequent writing session as I was getting my bearings and was severely tempted to edit. But I refused. I know I’ll fix it later, so there was no need to address it in the moment.

Another point of slowness for me is choosing the right word. Sometimes, it’s that I can’t think of the actual word for something. I was recently trying to think of the device that’s used for holding candles, and for whatever reason, “candlestick” was not coming to mind. In its place, I wrote “hand-held candle” and highlighted it. This isn’t something that happens to me all the time, but when it does, it can drive me up the wall or drive me into Google (which can turn into a long research hunt).

Remember that rough drafts can be ugly. Plan for them to be horrid. Then you’ll be free to create without the confines of polish, grammar, vocabulary or whatever else may get in your way.