Time with Tom

On Writing

Consider, if you will, the following passage from Terry Pratchett’s Thief of Time:

Suppose you’d watched the slow accretion of snow over thousands of years as it was compressed and pushed over the deep rock until the glacier calved its icebergs into the sea, and you watched an iceberg drift out through the chilly waters, and you got to know its cargo of happy polar bears and seals as they looked forward to a brave new life in the other hemisphere where they say the ice floes are lined with crunchy penguins, and then wham – tragedy loomed in the shape of thousands of tons of unaccountably floating iron and an exciting soundtrack…

I like to hope I’m developing my own writing style as fun to read as that one. It’s not an easy thing for me to do, especially given how heavily influenced I am by the authors I’m reading at the time of any sort of writing. My last short story, for instance, sounded like Chuck Palahniuk at first, because I had been reading Snuff at the time.

When I started Late Fees back on November 1st (still not done, but close to the exciting finale!), I began reading Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series again, because I knew that his humor style was closest to what I wanted my story to sound like, and I would be able to think in my style more clearly if that was the influence I was receiving. Before you accuse me of cheating, though: it’s totally not. It’s really just knowing who I am and what I’m like, and adjusting my habits accordingly.

Plus, Discworld is awesome.

I wonder if this sort of thing affects all artists, or if it’s something more localized to writers? I have a sneaking suspicion, though, that one of the reasons bands start sounding like one another is because that’s exactly who they’re listening to. Same thing with art periods and whatnot. Okay, upon a barely closer inspection, it’s fairly obvious that artists influence each other like crazy.

I wonder who influenced my photography, then?

Tom

Dust Some Cobwebs

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve been here. I have a great excuse, I promise. I’ve been busy.

No, really.

It’s called Nano Wrimo, and I’ve talked about it here before. And I know Brandon has mentioned it. We’ve been attempting to write a novel (each) this month. I’m up almost at 32,000 words, and Brandon is somewhere, but I don’t know his actual word count. You’d have to ask him.

The novel’s going well. Better than the previous two years, that’s for sure. When I started this back in ‘07, I fell horribly behind, and had to crank out 30,000 words in a week (somewhere around 9,000 the last day, I think). It was nuts. Last year was a lot better, but I still fell behind a few days, which is both very easy to do and very dangerous to do. This year, the most I fell behind so far was one day, and I caught up the next day. I did get ahead by entire days once or twice, which was nice. At the moment, I think I’m ahead by about 12 words, but it’s all good. The plot is insane, the characters are all nutjobs, and I’m not sure some of what I write makes any sense.

So I’m obviously enjoying myself a lot.

The only other news is that I still have the completely used roll of film from the old school camera sitting on my desk, waiting for processing. I have to ask around and find somewhere that’ll do it, because I would love to see how (badly) those pictures turn out. I promise, soon as they’re scanned, you’ll get to see them. Until then, though, you’ll just have to wait.

In the meantime, have some fall pictures from me.

Tom

Shadow of a Ghost of an Idea

November is, oddly, not that far away anymore. Well, sure, okay, it’s far enough away so that we’re still in the summer, and technically have two and a half months to get through (give or take a week).

But!

If you’re a Nano Wrimo writer like I am, it’s not too far away (frighteningly). This time last year, I was beginning the process of collecting notes and thinking about the novel that would become Divine. I was working out character sketches, piecing together the story, and wondering how the villains would push things along. In short, I was beginning the process of being prepared, so that I would be ready for the event. This yeah, I’m in a bit more of a pickle.

I think my problem is that I have too many ideas, but nothing’s really jumping out at me. A kid who accidentally has a super power, a sequel to Divine, a sequel to Mists of Nerrivik, a thing involving poorly defined subjective gravity…just too much is running through my head all at once. It’s getting stuck in the doorway, I think, and nothing’s really getting through (sort of like a Three Stooges sketch, although with pose in place of, say, Moe).

This is a much bigger problem than you may think it is. “So you don’t have an idea? So what? Can’t you just figure that out as you go along?” Well, yes and no. Sure, I can (and I have), but I end up floundering a bit without having a solid idea of my story going into things. And I can’t think up a good story as I go along. Not to mention, there is always the fact that Nano is marathon writing, and going in without notes is a lot like going on a marathon run without training too hard or stretching first. Sure, you could do it, but do you really want to?

When I wrote Mists, I had a couple basic ideas and figured it out as I went along. It was fun, but it was slow going. By Thanksgiving, I was 20,000 words behind, and ended up averaging 6k a day until I finished (on a 9k day, if memory serves). Last year, when I went in with Divine, the most I fell behind was 5k, I believe, and I recovered fairly quickly from that, ultimately writing a novel that hits somewhere around 67,000 words start to finish (and that’s just the first draft).  Everyone I’ve become friends with through this event seems to agree that knowing what you’re going to write for a story before you write it is a great step to actually completing the damn thing on time.

Which brings me back to my quandry. It’s not indecisiveness, exactly. It’s more…not being sure what I want to write first. Although I’m starting to lean toward the superhero kid. I think I could have a lot of fun with that idea, and write a pretty funny story.  And who doesn’t like a funny story?

I think I may be rambling now, so I’ll let you go. Below, I’ve placed a web badge for this year’s Nano Wrimo. If you have any interest in attempting to actually write a novel, you should check their site out. I’ve met some totally awesome people through it.

Tom

Art as Joy as Art

I’m assuming by this point that you’ve picked up that I have a bit of an overactive imagination. Writing, photography, film, D&D…it’s all just a series of outlets for me. Fun outlets, and ones I would love to run with, but outlets none the less. I’m not really into that whole “tortured artist” scene, either. I was asked recently, “You’re not one of those people that can only create when they’re depressed, are you?”

No. No I am not. Actually, the happier I am, the better I feel, the more my imagination works. Which, needless to say, means I create more (and better). Anyone can write shitty emo poetry, but the only way to really, truly get inside the mind of a character is to be in a mental state where it’s not you against the world. At least, I can’t be there. I don’t really have to be in my “happy place” either, although that’s more or less how I get through Nano each year.

What I find works best is somewhere close to really happy, but just south of it. Realistically happy? It’s where you’re happy, you’re enjoying life and the projects you’re working on, but in the back of your mind you know that it’s not all a bed of roses, and that there’s work to do. But it’s okay, because it’s work you love, so it’s more of a game. Writing and photography…those can be absolute chores. Character development, plot progression, believable dialog, light levels, composition, knowing what the hell the f-stop does…there’s a lot to deal with. Which is why I let myself bounce around. Whatever I’m strongest with, I stick with while I can, and then I move on (or back).

I was working on a story for an annual short fiction contest Esquire has. The story’s half done, and the deadline is Friday. It feels weird to know that I started this thing months ago and I won’t be sending it out to the magazine I was expressly writing for, but on the other hand, I’ve taken thousands of pictures since I found out about the contest. Thousands. And I have a whole new project in mind that would not only be interesting, but it would be organic. It would grow and move as the models I use change or get new ideas. It would probably be immense to look at all at once, but in the small chunks I’ll be doing it, it’ll feel easy, it’ll flow (much like my novels in November are starting to do – it’s literally like climbing a mountain, then looking back and asking “Did I just seriously pull that off?”).

I have a few details to figure out and probably plenty of kinks to work out as I go along, but I’ll be putting a call out for models soon. I’ll need local (ie, Boston or easily avaible to show up, although if you’re going to be in town for a weekend, and I’m free, I’d be willing to work something out), and willing to put up with my bullshit (at least until I get the hang for this). I’m going to keep it a pretty small group at first, but I’d like to expand. I’ll explain more as I get to it, but if you’re interested, keep it (and me) in mind.

Have a picture I grabbed on a photowalk with Brandon Monday night. This hasn’t been digitally altered whatsoever (except I’ve shrunk the size to fit in the blog’s borders). It’s just streetlights near my apartment. Neat, huh?

Tom

A Notice to All New Writers

Don’t give up.

I could probably just stop right there, but I have a suspicion that if I do, I might be mocked for a one-line post (even if it is a poignant line).  So I guess a little dissertation is in order (but I’ll try to keep it short, since I need to wrap up the ZSN post that’s in the works).

When I first started doing stories, it was for a Fiction Writing Workshop in college. Since I had a grade riding on my writing, I was naturally predisposed to wanting to finish everything I started, and quickly. However, ever since, I haven’t really had much of a deadline in my mind. Yes, there are tons of writing contests with submission deadlines, but…so? Oversaturation is a problem there – if you miss one deadline, there’s always another. That’s one of the reasons I love Nano Wrimo so much: you have one month, and that’s that. If you want your winner goodies, you have one shot at them, and one goal to reach (an insane goal, but one I strive for nonetheless).

However, deadlines don’t mean jack if you don’t have a good story, right? After all, what’s the point of writing if you don’t have deep characters with meanginful relationships, sincerely instrospective moments, and a story that makes people sit up and say “wow”? Well..actually, the point of writing should, ultimately, be to write. Getting the story out is its own reward, and if you can’t see that, you probably shouldn’t be writing.

What the hell’s the point of a first draft, except to kind of suck? The beauty of first drafts is that if you have flat characters, or a story that takes too long to get to where it’s going (or not long enough, for that matter), or weird descriptions, or words that aren’t technically actual words, it doesn’t matter. And it doesn’t matter because it’s a damned first draft. I’m currently in the process of having my last Nano novel read, and it’s a bit of an eye-opener. The main character’s flatter than a limp pancake, the background explanations have holes large enough to drive a Optimus Prime through, and I’m pretty sure I wrote in a total nun stereotype. On the other hand, the story seems to be engaging, and the friends I’ve had read it all say they really like the supporting characters and the story itself.

First drafts, you see, are all about experimenting. Just get the story out there. Who cares how bare bones it is? Your characters are doing things, keep up with them. When the second draft comes around, clean it up a bit. Focus here and there, and make it better. Shrink the holes, pump some air into that pancake (is that even possible?), and then pat yourself on the back. No writer in his or her right mind would ever try to publish their first draft. That’s just insane! All first drafts suck, and that’s why revisions exist.

Don’t believe me? When Robert Louis Stevenson wrote The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, he did it in three days and handed it to his wife. She said, “You rather missed the point though, didn’t you?” So he took it, looked at it, threw it in the fire, and re-wrote.

Even better: the original script for Ghostbusters II was actually more along the line of Ghostbusters in Hell. Seriously.

Thank god for second drafts.

Tom