hello tbr folk, sorry i been tardy with my posts, been on the road
i will do better
trying to think what i can knock off right quick that’s gon be of real use to you
let me run a quick bit on making novels, which i love to do
and i love teaching other folk how to do it
novels are difficult to handle in a workshop format
but i have strived to make my workshops novel friendly
i got tricks for making novels work in workshop, basically you dont really critique a novel
till its mature – mostly those early drafts its rah rah, you can do it
basically making a novel happen you have to get that 1st draft out of your head and
on paper – most writers just barrel through that initial draft
treat it as a coherent whole, do the whole thing
and when you rewrite it, rewrite the whole thing
you can spend months cleaning up individual chapters
then as novel evolves those chapters no longer work
not only does your novel grow unevenly but youve wasted months, if not years
same same working off outlines, working off outlines will save you years of fumbling
some folk avoid outlines because they say outlines block spontaneity
thing about working off outlines is they written in water
everyday you work on your novel it evolves and you follow it where ever it take you
you let it evolve, you let it breath and what you eventually come up with is
so far beyond what you originally concepted its magical
thats what gives literature its power
letting that novel breath and evolve
of course you all the time reading for licks and constantly studying the craft
and lit crit too so as to constantly grow as a professional
you patient and you give it the years it takes
to move a work from mediocre to good to great
making drafts you live by the deadlines
every draft you take into consideration whats going on in your life
you choose a deadline that you can reasonably do a draft in
you choose a novel pagecount (200 pager, 300, how long you want this novel to be)
you determine how many pages a day will get you to that point with manuscript in hand
considering whats going on in your life and how many hours you can
squeeze out of your day for daily production, one hour, two, three
many as your life and focus can stand
folk talking about they cant find the time in their lives to write
they not serious about this – you wasting your time and mine
life will constantly be telling you you dont have time
that you got to be taking care of real business
quit dreaming
but you got to tell life no, im taking time for this, this for me
its one of those psychological blocks that some people never get past
at every stage in the pursuit of literary mastery you run up
on psychological blocks that will keep you from doing what
you have to do to make this dream real
ive been in this business some 30 odd years now and ive seen thousands of
wouldbe writers and only a few, lets say a hundred or so, made the cut
most of them just never got serious about their daily production
never got over the hump and built their lives around production
thats what divide the writers from the dilettantes
buddy of mine once said if it was easy everybody would walk down the street and get some
i have paid many dues to be a literary man but i love being a writer
i could not have dreamed a better life than the one i have lived
i love being a writer, i love being a novelist
and i love helping folk write novels, I pride myself on being good at it, i am a traveler
who knows the road
