A couple of articles on writing

[wshaffer]

Just wanted to post links to a couple of articles that echo some conversations I've had about writing with friends recently:

A writing career becomes harder to scale: I'm dubious about whether the phenomenon of would-be writers hoping for a quick success is really new - I'm sure that back in Dickens's day you had hopefuls who were just sure they could score that coveted newspaper serial slot and become rich and famous. But I think the article is right about the necessary quality of persistence in a writer. Ten years ago, I used to wonder whether I had the talent to become a successful fiction writer. These days, I wonder about whether I have the sheer bloody-minded persistence.

One pair of boots at a time - how to get everything in a scene right and not go mad: How to cope with difficulties writing dialogue and description at the same time. I'll admit, I've never perceived a particular difficulty in writing dialogue and description simultaneously, but I think that's because I try to write very strongly through the lens of the point-of-view character, which tends to unify the dialogue and description into a single experience. But I had a conversation with someone about this difficulty quite recently, and then this article popped up. Sometimes I think the internet is eavesdropping on me.

Comments

[wshaffer.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's a very good description of why I would have a hard time writing a dialogue-only draft of a story. Although I think even for people who could write such a draft, it's more like an outline than a draft - it's missing a lot of stuff that is necessary in a final draft, but if it helps you get to a final draft, great.

I do sometimes wonder if what goes on in other writers' heads when they write is anything like what goes on in my head when I write. When I write, I do it very much sentence by sentence, so it's hard to separate what happens from the specific words used to describe what happens - I'm usually figuring out both at the same time. But I get the impression that some writers get a very clear picture of what happens in their head, and for them the tremendous challenge is putting that into actual words.

Hmmm, well, there's a question to break the ice at parties: "When you write, what does the inside of your head look like?"

[vvvexation.livejournal.com]

"Outside of my head, my best friend is the book I'm writing. Inside of my head it's too dark to write."