A while ago, I had finished my epic fantasy series and was ready to start the next story, a book called “Clinical Trials” in my forthcoming Wetware Wizards series. I sat there looking at a blank page, the words not coming. I switched to Narcolepsy Falls Asleep, my humorous superhero story, and away I went.
Yesterday, feeling frustrated over learning this marketing thing, I didn’t write. I played computer games and messed around on Facebook instead. Here’s the truth: most people who aspire to be professional writers procrastinate. It’s easy to do; turn on the TV, stream a movie, cook dinner, clean the house, go to your day job, spend time with your significant other. If none of those work, there’s always research to do for the story, or learning more about the craft. At times even outlining and planning can be procrastinating. Each of us has to figure why we procrastinate for ourselves.
A lot of authors aspire to a thousand words a day or more. Honestly, with practice, that isn’t a difficult goal. With practice, that shouldn’t take more than an hour or two. If you are having trouble getting started, however, commit to a sentence a day. This idea came from my friend, mentor, and award-winning author Steven Barnes. (It’s not like it’s a copyrighted idea, and I’m going to give him a plug later on anyway.) His point is that anyone can make the time to write one sentence in a day. If you get one sentence down, there’s a good chance you’ll write two or three or more. You can do one sentence on your coffee break at work. You can dictate it to your phone while driving. Heck, you can probably write it in the line at the grocery store. I know an author who, very busy with work and family, wrote an entire novel that way, in the little spaces we all have.
As Steven says, if you find yourself not writing a sentence a day, then you need to examine what is standing in your way. What are you afraid of? That your story will be terrible? Let it be terrible. I give you permission; write a terrible story. After all, could you have won the Tour de France the first time you got on a bicycle? Are you afraid that you have no talent? See the prior sentence. Talent is created via sweat and perseverance.
Growing as a Writer
I want to give you part of my growth as a writer. First, a paragraph I wrote many years ago. It’s a little embarrassing, but we’ll follow it with something recent.
This is the second paragraph of the novel and our introduction to the main character (the first paragraph is a frame that doesn’t belong there at all):
“There was wonder in the young boy’s eyes as the carriage bringing him home from the King’s Century School drove down the tree-lined, cobble stone streets past the mansions and villas on the East side of Takar. He’d been in school since he was four. He didn’t remember living anywhere but there. But life is exciting for all boys that age, and for all there comes a day when that joy is destroyed. The driver pulled into a drive past a four foot brick wall and an iron gate. The grounds were several acres of manicured trees and lawn, surrounding a large, two story brick house with many windows, and wooden beams. The carriage stopped by the colonnaded front porch that went around three sides of the entry. The driver got down and opened the door. As he stepped out, Kev wondered why his father hadn’t come himself.”
This, on the other hand, is the first three paragraphs of The Tower of Dreams, the first book in my recent epic fantasy series.
“Prince Magnus hated the Ascent, the cold, dark climb and the soul-chilling night in Drommarna Torn, the Tower of Dreams. His father relished it. The dreams gave him power.
Magnus fidgeted, unable to settle down. Something nagged at his attention like a buzzing mosquito and wouldn’t let go. He had tried to meditate and calm himself, to no avail.
The icy wind tried to push him up the stair carved into the Skalletberg’s black rock. The narrow passage between the Bergenfastning and the Vittsten Katedral funneled winter’s breath into a fury.”
While I am not the most poetic writer, I’ve learned to tell a story, where and how to begin. So let’s give you an example of the best, Ursula K. LeGuin.
“With a clamor of bells that set the swallows soaring, the Festival of Summer came to the city
Omelas, bright-towered by the sea. The rigging of the boats in harbor sparkled with flags. In the
streets between houses with red roofs and painted walls, between old moss-grown gardens and
under avenues of trees, past great parks and public buildings, processions moved. Some were
decorous: old people in long stiff robes of mauve and grey, grave master workmen, quiet, merry
women carrying their babies and chatting as they walked. In other streets the music beat faster,
a shimmering of gong and tambourine, and the people went dancing, the procession was a
dance. Children dodged in and out, their high calls rising like the swallows’ crossing flights over
the music and the singing.”
Here is what all of us can yet aspire to be.
One Less Excuse
Now that bad writing is no longer an excuse to avoid writing, what else might be causing your procrastination? Are you afraid you have terrible ideas? Afraid no one will want to read your stories? Afraid they will and you won’t be able to come up with a second and a third just as good? These are questions only you can answer, although, you can get help searching for those answers. If you find yourself unable to write even one sentence a day, here’s one option: Steven Barnes offers classes in just how to figure out and overcome such fears. (To be clear: I get nothing from mentioning his Lifewriting classes. I’m planning to pay him to teach me.)
Some people just need to get a running start at writing their single sentence. Perhaps you need to get coffee, put on music, and write in a journal for thirty minutes to get the creativity flowing. Another writer might type sections from another author’s book, just to see how this other author puts sentences together and structures the language. If you do that, pick an author with impeccable prose. Ursula K. Le Guin comes to mind, as does a friend, Stant Litore. Just typing their sentences will teach you things about their craft.
I write short, utilitarian sentences, while Stant writes glorious, flowing, complicated structures on fairy wings and tyrannosaurus roars. Such as this (which he posted on Facebook):
“Old light brought into the night sky news of stars that had died before this world was born, and the trees in the meadow changed their color and their shape. There were fewer children, and then none, and the town grew cold. Time walked in and broke all the windows with the back of her hand, callously and without peering into the emptied houses.” — Dante’s Heart
My epiphany about SFWA Grand Master Ursula K. Le Guin came after reading J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” The next book I picked up was Le Guin’s “The Other Wind.” I started reading, stopped, and said, “Ooh, look at that sentence! Oh, there’s another one.” Don’t get me wrong, I love the Harry Potter books. Rowling (though she has serious blind spots regarding transgender and fluid people) is the master at putting a vase on the mantel in chapter one that appears unimportant. Then, at the end, it turns out that vase was everything. To me, going from Goblet to that other wind was like going from chugging beers at a football game to a dinner at a five-star restaurant. Neither of those things is bad, it just made a strange juxtaposition. It also tells you why I would choose Le Guin for that warm-up exercise above.
The point is, find what works for you. Listening to other authors and reading their books helps to find new suggestions — just don’t let reading about writing become a new way to procrastinate. Treat books on writing as suggestions and ideas. Try them out and figure out what you have to do to overcome your fears and put words on the page; what you have to do to write that one sentence each day.
You can do it.