I once attended a creative writing workshop. Marshall Cook a man who taught me more about writing than anyone. Asked the group who in the room thought they were writers?
A couple of very tentative hands went up. When he asked who had sold their writing to anyone. I believe one hand went up. He asked if we thought that selling our work meant that we were real writers? Most of us, including me, raised our hands.
He then said, "If you write, you are a writer. The test is why you write. Do you write because you have to or because you want to.?" Oddly, the real definitive answer is, if you write because you have to write. Wanting to write is like hoping you win the lottery. Having to write is buying the ticket. Agreed, having to write is more work than buying a lottery ticket, but the dream is as big and the odds of published success is comperable.
Hence Halvin and Cobbs. I, like many others, that subject ourselves to scribble out a couple of hundred words a week to satisfy the at the urge to be heard. We think we have something to say about...fill in the blank. You can look at this job as the wild expressions of a stand-up comic, frustrated John Oliver, motherly Martha Stewert, or any number of opinionated jerks. My slice of life, self-deprecations are an attempt to reach out and say hello to people I value as friends and who I don't get to see often enough, But make no bones about it. I'm exercising my writer's muscle.
In the desk drawer of almost every person, who says their a writer, there is an attempt a writing a story long enough to be a novel. I have four. Writing long pieces are easy. You just think of what you want to write and literally throwup on the pages. Of course, you have to go back and edit it down to something that makes sense. (Note: I make enough typos to make you think I'm not writing in English.)
There are a lot of theory about how to approach writing fiction. I've heard the, you have to outline the entire story before you write the first line, approach. Then there is the, you write the ending and work backward school. I thought I was a freak because I couldn't work with either of those or any other approach. Then I met Stephen King. Well. I didn't actually meet him. I bought his book, "On Writing". I listened to it in the car while I was on a long road trip. I hate to overstate my reaction, but gaining permission is one way of reporting my reaction to his method.
I write from a stream of consciousness. You've heard from time to time a writer make the claim that his characters tell him what comes next. Now since the characters are writing the story, it makes good sense to know these characters. One good way to know them is to see how they operate in their world. I think you get it. Now I caution you if you attempt to write this way you are going to end up with six hundred pages, of which only two hundred and seventy-five or three hundred are any good. But those pages are going to better because you wrote the six hundred.
I've just finished the first draft of a long piece that I like too much. I never have a line by line editor look at my work until it's further down the road (third of fourth look). If you think you like to read my story Email me and I'll send you a PDF. You get two things for this. One is a great big thank you. In two ways possibly. One for sure, as I shake your hand or hug you for your effort. if the book is published, you will be mentioned as helping me with crafting the manuscript. Oh yeah, you get a free copy of a first edition, Jeff Jordan Novel. I warn you it will be available on Amazon for fifty cents a couple of weeks after publication.
From the flames of creativity at Camp Jeff, I am Poopa Jeff.
A couple of very tentative hands went up. When he asked who had sold their writing to anyone. I believe one hand went up. He asked if we thought that selling our work meant that we were real writers? Most of us, including me, raised our hands.
He then said, "If you write, you are a writer. The test is why you write. Do you write because you have to or because you want to.?" Oddly, the real definitive answer is, if you write because you have to write. Wanting to write is like hoping you win the lottery. Having to write is buying the ticket. Agreed, having to write is more work than buying a lottery ticket, but the dream is as big and the odds of published success is comperable.
Hence Halvin and Cobbs. I, like many others, that subject ourselves to scribble out a couple of hundred words a week to satisfy the at the urge to be heard. We think we have something to say about...fill in the blank. You can look at this job as the wild expressions of a stand-up comic, frustrated John Oliver, motherly Martha Stewert, or any number of opinionated jerks. My slice of life, self-deprecations are an attempt to reach out and say hello to people I value as friends and who I don't get to see often enough, But make no bones about it. I'm exercising my writer's muscle.
In the desk drawer of almost every person, who says their a writer, there is an attempt a writing a story long enough to be a novel. I have four. Writing long pieces are easy. You just think of what you want to write and literally throwup on the pages. Of course, you have to go back and edit it down to something that makes sense. (Note: I make enough typos to make you think I'm not writing in English.)
There are a lot of theory about how to approach writing fiction. I've heard the, you have to outline the entire story before you write the first line, approach. Then there is the, you write the ending and work backward school. I thought I was a freak because I couldn't work with either of those or any other approach. Then I met Stephen King. Well. I didn't actually meet him. I bought his book, "On Writing". I listened to it in the car while I was on a long road trip. I hate to overstate my reaction, but gaining permission is one way of reporting my reaction to his method.
I write from a stream of consciousness. You've heard from time to time a writer make the claim that his characters tell him what comes next. Now since the characters are writing the story, it makes good sense to know these characters. One good way to know them is to see how they operate in their world. I think you get it. Now I caution you if you attempt to write this way you are going to end up with six hundred pages, of which only two hundred and seventy-five or three hundred are any good. But those pages are going to better because you wrote the six hundred.
I've just finished the first draft of a long piece that I like too much. I never have a line by line editor look at my work until it's further down the road (third of fourth look). If you think you like to read my story Email me and I'll send you a PDF. You get two things for this. One is a great big thank you. In two ways possibly. One for sure, as I shake your hand or hug you for your effort. if the book is published, you will be mentioned as helping me with crafting the manuscript. Oh yeah, you get a free copy of a first edition, Jeff Jordan Novel. I warn you it will be available on Amazon for fifty cents a couple of weeks after publication.
From the flames of creativity at Camp Jeff, I am Poopa Jeff.
Comments
Post a Comment