Didja see whut ah did thur?This is a bit of a rant that's been brewing for a while. So brace yourselves.
It's a common topic of discussion among writers, this, "How many pages do you write a day?" or "How many words do you write in each session?" or "How long does it take you to write a book?"
Big deal, you might think. It's just curiosity between professionals. Well, yes.
Sadly, no. There's prejudice out there in Writerville, and it ain't pretty.
On discussion boards and fora, it seems acceptable to say "I only manage 500 words a day," and expect a pat on the head and a "Well done." This good will stretches up to about 2,000 words. Beyond that and we're into dangerous territory.
Why? Well I'll quite happily admit to writing 5k a day when I'm in the zone and yes, migraine-free. This past month has been difficult in that regard. (I currently have 53k of
The Devil You Know written and today was day #38, with 9 of those being what I call zero-days). But nevertheless, 5k in a day isn't too difficult. Same goes for
Lori, of course.
Once you start getting into this ballpark, though, expect a lot of snide comments, sly digs and passive-aggressive remarks about "Well
I prefer to concentrate on quality rather than quantity."
Really, people?
Really?Are you suggesting that in writing 5,000 words in a day I am somehow sacrificing the quality of my story? Are you? Well let me ask you this - how do you know? Have you ever read any of my writing? If I were to publicly post one thousand words I wrote in half an hour, and another thousand words I angsted over for an acceptable (to you) length of time, would you be able to tell the difference?
I used to spend months, even years, writing 'novels' (inverted commas because they don't even deserve that title) and I had no business submitting them to agents and publishers. But I did. And in all that time I had one half-hearted partial request which was promptly knocked back, and no wonder, for it was awful. The query letter was good, shame about the first three chapters I then sent.
You can spend all the time you like on a project but if you're just running round in circles
and not learning anything, then you won't get anywhere. However, if I
am learning how to improve my craft, who the hell has the right to sit in judgement over
me and say, "You're writing too fast to truly be coming up with anything of worth?" If I know how to develop a plot or a character arc, then I'll bloody well get on with it. If I know what needs to be done, why on Earth should I waste weeks, months,
years doing the work to fall in line with
your methods?
Too much of what you say is 'writing' isn't. It's thinking. It's planning. It's angsting. It's worrying about what other people think.
Well let's get something straight here and now, people: If you're a hater, I don't give a shit what you think. If you spend more energy attacking me and my methods, if you spend more time planning your novel than actually writing it, if you spend more energy bitching about my success than you do on building your own, then tell it walking.
If you're an editor, a publisher, an agent, a mentor, someone supportive, a friend, then great. Let's talk. If you believe I can achieve what I set out to do and can help me, or hell, if
I can help
you, fantastic! Let's talk; seriously!
I am tired, tired, tired of defending my methods against people who accuse me and Lori of having a mutual appreciation society, as if there's something wrong with oh, I don't know,
appreciating another human being. It all sounds like jealousy to me. It
must be jealousy, otherwise why spend so much of your time accusing us of writing crap, of sacrificing quality, of bragging when we're just answering the question
you asked us?
Time and time again people make snarky remarks about us wanking each other off writing-wise. And I think, huh? What?
Really? You think it's some sort of writerly mutual masturbation thing we've got going on? 'Cause from where I'm sitting it looks like two friends encouraging each other. And I feel sorry for you if you see 'encouragement' and believe it's worth bitching about. I really do. Perhaps the reason
you don't have such a person in your life is more to do with the person you see in the mirror than the one writing this blog.
I mean seriously, people. If you don't want an answer to "How much do you write in a day?" then
don't fucking ask. If you can't handle the reply, don't ask the question. Most people who know me (and/or Lori) know my methods or some approximation thereof, so half the time when we're asked in
that tone of voice or in
those words by email/in an internet forum, we know.
We know what you're doing.
We know you're looking for holes to pick in what we say. We know you're trying to find fault with what we do.
We know you're looking for excuses.
"Oh,
I can't write that much. I have a family." Really? Who made you have a family? What do you want? A medal? To be canonised? To be held up as a martyr who sacrifices one hour a day away from the family
you chose to have to write, what, 500 words?
"Oh, I can't write that much. I have a social life." Meaning what? I don't? What makes you think I
want to go out partying? What makes you think I make every detail of my life public and all you know of me is all I am? Do you know what commitments I have in my life? Do you know how much spare time I have?
Just recently I was on the receiving end of the same old same old, "You have
time to sit down and write all day. I can't. I have a family."
Oh? Well listen up, folks. I'm gonna say this loud. And I'm gonna say it big. And I'm gonna say it in red fucking type:
There are twenty-four hours in everyone's day.
It's all about how you choose to use them. Priorities. I have no more time than you. So never,
ever devalue how I choose to spend my time by suggesting I only write because it's easy. That's just an insult. You're basically accusing me of only writing because I don't have to fight for it, or work on it, or because it's the path of least resistance. When you say, "It's all right for you..." the subtext is there. What you're
actually saying is, "You're only a writer because it's easy. You're lazy. You're not working. Oh, and the more I slag off the effort you expend in the process, the better it makes me feel about myself for not doing what you do. It takes my attention away from the fact I could be doing it too
but choose not to."
That's what it's all about - how we
choose to spend our time. Because if your excuses about having a family, a full-time job, other commitments were valid,
no-one in your circumstances would be able to write a book.
There are single mothers out there who write. There are people in full-time employment or education who write. There are people with health problems who write (I'm one of them). If being a single mother, a student, a worker, someone with health problems was an automatic exclusion from the writer's club,
no-one would be able to join.
But plenty of people get over those stumbling blocks - because they use them as a stepping stone, not an excuse.
And remember those novels I subbed when I had no business doing so? The ones I had no business sending out? The ones I angsted over for months and months on end?
I trunked them.
Every last one (well, apart from one which I'll turn into a short novel some day because the characters are cool).
Let me tell you about a novel called
Long Time Coming. I wrote 50k in month #1. 25k in month #2. 10k in month #3. Took month #4 off out of laziness. That's me up to 85k so far. With me? Then in the following month and a half I wrote another 65k to complete the first draft.
I went away to write another book.
Came back to LTC. Edited it in a fortnight. Yes, you heard me. I edited it in a fortnight. Why didn't I take months to take it apart and rebuild?
Because I didn't need to. It was good enough to require only a quick going over. I saw what needed to be done and did it. Excised one character, shaved off around 65k, done.
Put it to one side and wrote another book. Yes, yes, I should have worked on subbing it then but Book #3 was calling to me and I loved the male MC. Sue me.
Subbed LTC to an agent, got on with NaNoWriMo this year. After NaNo, LTC came back to me. A rejection. Oh poor me, let me put the sad music on. I hadn't finished my NaNo novel (I mean I crossed 50k but the story wasn't done) so I sent LTC out again, went back to my current WIP.
This time it was to a publisher who said their normal turnaround is 6-8 weeks.
Five days later the senior editor emailed me back to request the full.
So. A novel I wrote in five and a half months and edited in a fortnight garnered a full request from a publisher in five days.
The first publisher I sent the damn submission package to.Still think quickly-written novels are shit? Huh? Do ya? Well we'll see once I receive this editor's verdict. I'm hopeful but not counting my chickens. I believe the phrase is 'quietly confident'.
Lori wrote
Nine Tenths of the Law in 37 days.
Between Brothers in 35.
Rules of Engagement in 20.
The Distance Between Us in 11. (For more details read
her rant on this subject
hyuh).
Want to know what the connection is?
They've all been contracted for publication. Two are already available.
I'd love to know why it's taken as boasting to admit to what you do well. Not going out of your way to say "Look at me, look at me!" mark you. Just answering a question. If someone asks me, "How long did it take you to write/edit such-and-such a project?" why should I lie to save their ego?
Why does no-one dance around mine? Why is it acceptable to say - and yes, I have heard this - "You probably steal plots from TV shows," or "You can't possibly expect to come up with a quality novel in that length of time," or "You have to be letting the quality drop at that speed."
Why is it acceptable to insult someone who does something fast and well, while stroking the ego of someone who does something slowly and - well, who quite frankly is not published and has had no interest from agents and/or publishers?
Why must we spend our energies on salving the bruised egos of the precious snowflakes among us, while bringing down (or trying to) the outliers, those who push themselves, those who see no reason to slow down?
If I do something well - and you're damn right I write well - I'll be just as good at 5k a day as I would at 500 words. If I write more words in the same length of time, then I produce more books. More chance of publication. More
money.I would sincerely love someone to explain to me what the fuck is up with this tendency to make excuses for those who
don't, while badmouthing those who
do."You and Lori only write fast because you can!"
Uh...yeah. And
why can we?
Because we make the time for it. We're dedicated. We're focused. We have no more energy or time than you, dear. We just spend that same energy or time on our writing, not making excuses for why we're
not doing this or that, or badmouthing those who are more successful than us out of some misguided sense of
jealousy.
Because that's all it is. If the only way you can feel good about your own choices in life is to slag off the time, money, work and effort I put in to my craft, the problem is with your ego,
not the quality of my prose.
In conclusion - yes, you knew I'd get there eventually - I would like to say this:
2010 is the year in which I sell at least four books (there's a chance I could start early with LTC this month, so fingers crossed) and sign with an agent.
It's also the year in which I stop apologising for writing fast and writing well. It's the year in which
I stop making excuses. It's the year in which I stop holding back from answering questions about my writing for fear I set myself up for insults, snide comments, snarky forums posts and jealous accusations.
I am sick to the back teeth of people sticking the boot in to those who are tasting success - success for which they have worked. That's not luck. It's not fucking
chance.It's my reward.
And apologising for
earning that fucking reward. Stops. Now.
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