Writing a novel is like being in a relationship/marriage. You have to put into it to get something out of it. Some days we wonder if it's worth it, while other days we know we can't live without it.
What about the bickering?
Oh yes, we bicker with our characters, the direction they want to go is sometimes the direction we don't want them to go. So it's about compromise...just like a marriage. You say you aren't the marrying kind? Well I'm here to tell you that if you are writing a novel. . .you are the marrying kind!
What about the cheating?
Yes! WE all cheat on our novel when we hop over to the edits of the last novel or start to work on that new idea. But then the guilt settles in and you go back to the novel where you bicker with your characters, or don't invest in it, spend time with it.
Think back about the times that the idea of the novel was new and exciting. Think about the history you took in creating those characters. Visit the places the inspired you to write those novels. Just spend a little time in that novel and let the creative flow take you away to the world only you can create.
FALL BACK IN LOVE!
Ray Bradbury on writing
“Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for. (…)
If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. You must write every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories — science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.”
“Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for. (…)
If you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling. You must write every single day of your life. You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads. I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you. May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories — science fiction or otherwise. Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.”
It only takes going to the beach a couple times a year, where nothing stresses me out~not the day ins and outs of negative people, negative reviews, naysayers, or the daily grind of work, to find that true love of writing that I have in my heart.
(Me writing the second novel, A Charming Cure, in the Magical Cure Series)
How do you fall back in love all over again with your writing?
I haven't fallen out of love with writing, so I guess I'm lucky!
ReplyDeleteStacy, you are!
DeleteWhat a beautiful quote!!
ReplyDeleteI love that quote too, PJ!
DeleteI don't know that I've ever made a conscious effort to fall back in love. It's more like the characters become stalkers, following me everywhere I go, haunting my sleep, showing up in my dreams, and eventually, I give in to their pressure and openly invite them into my life. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, Alannah, you put a smile on my face. My characters LOVE to wake me up at night. Being open and getting along is a great way to LOVE what you do
DeleteI have more of a love/hate relationship with writing. As some famous author once said, "I hate writing novels, but I love having written one." I enjoyed my writing time much more before it became a job, and I used to love writing first drafts before I learned to revise and edit. Just like relationships, writing for me is an evolutionary process. Growing and learning can be both fun and painful at the same time, but as in relationships I get up every day and keep at it knowing the end result will be a thing of beauty.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully put, PJ. It is a relationship that grows with time, compromise, and we know when to let go when it's turned into a thing of beauty.
DeleteI loved this blog and it's comments. I have identified with each sentiment at some point in my writing.
ReplyDeleteMe too, KT! I learn something new everyday from my readers.
DeleteI stop for a while and I read. That usually does the trick.
ReplyDeleteHandy, I'm always reading. I find it exciting to break down other author's story structures.
DeleteThank you for in inspirational post.
ReplyDeleteTerrific Post, thank you!
ReplyDeleteLove the Ray Bradbury quote.
Lovely post! Been in love with writing longer than I've been married, and that's, er, rather a long time Even when I try to leave it (writing, that is)there's an emptiness in me and somehow the current wip or a new story idea always calls me back. Is writing a curse or a blessing?????
ReplyDelete