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Book III has decided it wants to be written and is now making my hand hurt (a good thing) with the download from Storybrain through my arm into the computer. Every day this week has been more productive than the last, even though I’m trying not to overwork the more vulnerable right hand. Today I stopped just short of 3000 words and will no doubt toss in another paragraph later when I’ve rested my hand to top that off.
Book came out of its post-map sulk faster than I expected–and I think that was due to the little bits of writing I crammed in, and the amount of serious attention I was paying to it–thanking about it–while drawing.
Today’s writing was done with a fairly serious toothache going on…it concentrates the mind, all right, but it’s not recommended as an aid to distractable writers. I worked on two POV sections today, neither of which I can talk about without dropping major spoilers in the path of those who don’t want them. I can say that Captain Burek, the young captain from Oath, has acquired a POV section, and that Kieri is still alive, well, and for the moment happier than before.
And now I’m off to take some more ibuprofen and rest the hands.
Comment by Dave Ring — July 15, 2010 @ 4:53 pm
I wonder … Has it ever happened that you wrote a whole book without obstacles or serious delays? Are the delays, diversions and pains of life in fact essential interludes in which Plot Daemon plays off line with snippets of possibility and assembles them into chunks of true story?
Comment by PamelaL — July 15, 2010 @ 5:27 pm
Ouch I hope you can get the tooth taken care of soon. There was probably a lot going on in the background while you were drawing all thouse mountains. I’ve often found it useful to do something persnickety when trying to work out a problem. I liked Burek. The segment where he and Arcolin are tracking the raiders is one of my favorites.
That news on Kieri sounds like one of those phone calls that start out with “I’m ok…”
Comment by elizabeth — July 15, 2010 @ 10:09 pm
Dave: In a way, yes. The first part of the DEED was written in one long, delirious rush–it became SHEEPFARMER’S DAUGHTER. By then I realized that there was much more to come and it wasn’t all going to fit in one volume. And it was about then that we had the chance to adopt, a private adoption as the mother knew someone who knew someone who knew us. I tore into the next part of it, which came out with the same ease and speed, and had a start on it (on a typewriter) when our son was born and we brought him home. Less than a month later, we bought a computer. I learned WordStar in about a week, in the interstices of caring for a baby (for all that people griped about it, I found it intuitive and a vast improvement over the typewriter.) The book itself went on without a hitch, and I finished the next two-thirds a week after he started walking, 13 months later.
The next book–what some agents call “the sophomore book”–ran into the usual difficulty and died. Then I had the chance to write SASSINAK with Anne McCaffrey and regained my confidence. Gird’s book came out without any problems (there were problems in my life, but the book didn’t give me any.) Luap’s book did, but that was the result of writing it while grieving. Life itself became increasingly complicated while I was homeschooling our son, and so on, and the books all had some problems that took a while to sort out.
I think that as writers produce more and more, and acquire new skills and hone old ones, they go through “developmental” stages just as in any other skill…an advance in skill can make something harder, in part because you’re more aware of what you’re doing, and the self-critical side comes into play too soon.
Karen Pryor says that in training, when things seem to be going well, suddenly the dog or horse (or person) will have what she calls a “pre-learning dip”–a day or week of confusion and mistakes and inability to do what one could do the week before–but after that the skill becomes solid. I think my “middle of the book tangle” is related to that–the early part, I’m using the skills I made solid in the previous books, and some new ones picked up in the one right before. Somewhere in the middle of the book, I fall off the greased balance beam of the new skills and have to figure out how to get back on. By the end, everything’s flying again. (Or maybe, since I write from inside characters, my character’s problems affect me. Hmmmm…)
Comment by elizabeth — July 15, 2010 @ 10:14 pm
Pamela: I’m glad you liked Burek. I like him too, though so far he’s not slid into a primary position–but he’s strong enough to be a POV. He’s got potential for later…we’ll see if he grows into it.
Kieri is, of course, a major character with star power. He’s in a situation now where his former skillset isn’t always (often) appropriate: a king–Lyonya’s king at least–is not primarily a war leader. His dealings with civilians have always been limited and relatively simple; he has the military virtues but is having to develop skills he hadn’t used much. So difficulties will abound, and Kieri is not the man to turn into a Luap and get all his people killed.
Comment by elizabeth — July 16, 2010 @ 7:19 am
Yesterday’s words ended with 3352, which means that today the right hand is in a snit. OTOH, the book’s strong flow is a good sign.
Comment by Dave Ring — July 16, 2010 @ 8:50 am
My Aikido instructors used to talk about something akin to a pre-learning dip (or plateau) — a period when things seem hard and nothing goes well but new skills are actually beinf formed and integrated. They also said we would learn as much from those we teach as from our teachers, something which I’ve found to be very true.
Comment by elizabeth — July 16, 2010 @ 9:57 pm
Today, after doing too much yesterday, I barely made 2051 words. But for the week–just over 10,000.
Today was hard–woke with pain in several places, tired, not enough sleep, etc. Dragged in after lunch and it was grind, grind, grind, the whole way. Word by word, sentence by sentence. Days like this are why a lot of people never finish the books/stories they start. If you’ve got the experience, you know that just putting those words down–almost any words down–will grease the wheels and the flow will come back. But if you quit, then the next day will be harder.
Finished at 10 pm. With a 10K week, any writing I do on the weekend is gravy. Monday starts the 2000 words/day again. I will be getting page proofs, and I have a speaking gig Friday that will take most of the day (long drive there and back–nearly all of it on an unpleasant very busy interstate through an intervening large city, with the return hitting afternoon rush hour. There’s a long way, but I’ll be tired and hot–northbound I’ll have hot afternoon sun on me the whole way.)
So it would be really smart to make headway on the week’s work over the weekend, so if I don’t get anything done early Friday morning it won’t be a disaster, and I can rest that Saturday.
Comment by Kip Colegrove — July 17, 2010 @ 10:51 am
In almost everything I’ve ever undertaken (new job, new project, etc.)there is an initial high-velocity period, full of exultant productivity, followed not so much by a slump as by a time of confusion and awkwardness. Then things sort out at a new level. In a very long project/commitment/etc., there may be a series of these cycles. Sounds a lot like what you were talking about in Comment 3 and what Dave was talking about in Comment 6.
So learning curves, in my experience, are rarely smooth. The temptation to abort the launch during the time of confusion and ineffectiveness is rather strong; one learns to persevere.
Resting on Sunday is good. I try to, after the exceedingly busy morning and early afternoon.
Comment by elizabeth — July 17, 2010 @ 8:37 pm
That’s probably the reason for the “sophomore book slump” (and maybe the sophomore slump in college, too.)
Comment by PamelaL — July 18, 2010 @ 1:41 pm
In the first book and year of college everything moves so fast and there is so much to absorb. In the next book and year you have time to sit back and be self-critical. It’s easy to nosedive right down into the ground.
Thank goodness for Karen Pryor. She’s made life better for so many people and dogs. I’ve seen the slump she talks about many times in my shelties. They are from working lines and will take up home decorating or gardening if I don’t give them work so they are always learning something.
Comment by PamelaL — July 18, 2010 @ 1:42 pm
Not everyone can be a major character and that’s ok. Burek in Oath was like the garlic in spagetti sauce. The book wouldn’t have been as good without him. He may never move up to Garlic Bread but who knows, maybe Basil Garlic Chicken.
Comment by Genko — July 18, 2010 @ 6:08 pm
When I was teaching ESL to low-literacy moms, I noticed that January and February were total slogging months, the times when people were tempted to despair (including me, the first few years). If we could just keep hanging in there and working, things started to loosen up in March, and by June and July when I was making home visits we were often able to have whole conversations in English — the breakthroughs were really incredible. Sounds like the same kind of thing. There are just some times that you have to persevere through, and trust that it will get better.
Comment by patrick — July 25, 2010 @ 10:43 am
With respect to hand pain….
Have you recently investigated dictation software? It’s vastly improved over what was available 10 years ago. Downsides are that it still takes an investment in training the software to recognize your voice patterns and you need disciplined speech to avoid the ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ typical to most of us while we are thinking. Perhaps too bothersome for some things, but it might let you make notes and progress in selected areas when you really need to rest your hands. Just a thought.
I recommended Oath of Fealty last night to an friend/SF fan (SF con worker) who I think might actually go out and buy it. If he likes it, he’s probably tell others. If we fans continue to spread the word, we can help build the base of sales so we get to read the full story arc. 🙂
Comment by elizabeth — July 25, 2010 @ 4:28 pm
I’ll consider that if things get worse. Right now, a comfortable level of output for me is also ample for getting a book done in time if I keep on track with it.
I hope your friend likes the book–thanks for recommending it!