Aleks Canard's Blog: FROM THE CONCESSION STAND - Posts Tagged "writing"

I like Bob Dylan's definition of success the most.

A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.

All too often I think people confuse financial success with success in general. I'm a prime example. I don't make much money from books at this point in time. Let's say that I couldn't afford to rent an apartment for three hundred a week, but I could live under a one million dollar bridge indefinitely if I had to survive on nothing other than royalties.

And that's fine. I never expected to be an overnight financial success. I'm just happy writing. As long as I hit my quota of 3,000 words a day, I count myself successful regardless of what my Amazon sales graph says.

I bring this up because I've been asked by a few people if I'll finish my Machina series, and my fantasy trilogy which has its first book releasing at the end of 2017. It's a fair enough question. I'd hate to become invested in a world then have it left unfinished.

That's why I'll be releasing one book from each series every year until they're done, regardless of how many sell. I always tell people that while I publish in the hopes of making a living, I write to see how the story unfolds.

So if you're one of the few people who's read Trix's first adventure and can't wait to see what happens next, you can rest easy. So long as the Projectionist keeps his films rolling, I'll be here, at my desk, transcribing them.

I posted these responses to questions on Reddit a couple months ago, and thought I'd repost them here.

I can no longer remember the writer who originally said this, or even if this is exactly what he said, but it goes something like this:

"You cannot summon creativity. You can only set an attractive trap, and wait."

Gustave Flaubert said: "You must be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work."

This quote, and the one above, have essentially shaped how I wrote 3,000 words a day, without fail, for four years straight.

Establish a set time you can write every day. It doesn't matter when it is. It doesn't even matter if it's only fifteen minutes. I typically wake up, eat breakfast, exercise, then sit down to write. Find what works for you. Force yourself to sit at your desk for the time you have allotted, even if you don't write anything at the beginning. But don't sit there and procrastinate. Have your work open. Stare at the blinking cursor. If that's all you accomplish the first couple of days, then so be it. I certainly didn't go from not writing to smashing out 3k words a day. I built up to it. And some days will always be better than others.

Aim for maybe a hundred words a day. Every day. Take Sundays off at the start. Then, if your commitments don't allow you to extend the time you can write, aim to write two hundred words, then five hundred in the same time. See if you can hit a thousand words every day of the week. You'd be surprised how fast a book can be finished at this pace.

Reading books in your downtime also helps. So does consuming any media you deem to have a good story, whether it is a single player videogame campaign, or a movie. But don't fall into the trap of only writing when you're "inspired." Anyone can do anything when they feel such a way. But you will never be able to write consistently if you can't be consistent in your efforts. At least, I am yet to see an example to the contrary. Though anything is possible.

In my experience, writer's block is an apt phrase because it is exactly that. It is the writer's block. It is the writer who is blocking the story. A story only wants to be told. Don't stand in its way by thinking you know best, by forcing it down a path you wish to see, by allowing others to influence you, or by being fearful that you'll make mistakes. Put your faith into the story. Let it guide you to the end. All you will have to do is type.

What has helped me the most in terms of quotas and feeling a sense of dread if the words don't flow right away is to not view the word count as some dragon you have to slay. You have to look at it with soft eyes. See the place where the Heavens and the Earth, the stars and the planets, the place where everything that is, has been, and ever will be, all come together. Then you just have to remember, because your story, the one that wants you to tell it, it has already transpired.

Sit at your desk, or wherever it is you write. Just sit there for a moment. Still. Real still. Begin thinking of the story you want to tell. Allow yourself to see the main character. See the world. See characters you don't even know yet.

Eventually all these images will distil into a moment. That moment is how your story starts. But don't think about the story, or where it's gonna go. It has already happened. All you have to do is remember. Then begin typing. And let that initial moment guide you to the end. To places you never could have gone if you sought them out.

The rest will come if you let it because all a story wants is to be told. Don't stand in its way by worrying about the idea you originally planned. Don't worry about what others will think. Your job is just to tell the story, and, if you listen, you'll hear it being told to you. Maybe you'll even see it as though you're in a cinema. Then it's only a matter of copying down what transpires on the screen.

Have faith in the story. You'll be just fine.