Feb 04 2008
Less Than Zero
The words I wrote this week won’t be counted towards the overall word count. This is because most of what I wrote won’t be part of the book. I knew this when I was writing the words, but I didn’t want to kill the momentum. At least I was writing something right? Yeah, that’s what I keep telling myself, but in my heart I don’t believe that. It was a waste of time for me to write scenes that I know don’t fit in the book. I also went back and deleted scenes from weeks ago that aren’t going to make the final cut. So my word count is lower that it was last week.
This week I will spend time outlining the book. This is something I should have done from the beginning. Free flow writing has its place, but not with me.
Click HERE for more information on Mija
Sometimes you need to see where you’ve been to know where you’re going.
I think it’s good that you kept writing, regardless of if you were going to use the words or not. Sometimes you can use pieces of that for other works or incorporate them somehow.
Don’t worry about word count. Just write.
Don’t kill the momentum, glad you at least kept writing. Nothing you wrote was wasted, it’s a process. Of course, we, your future fan club, will always wonder what we might have missed, but … you go, girl! Word count be damned.
I don’t know fellas.
Writing is one thing. Writing a novel is another. If I wanted to just write as an exercise, anything will do. Writing content for a novel knowing that the content isn’t usable at all, is completely different. It’s a waste of time in terms of the goal – finishing Mija.
“Just write” is a good theory for hobby writers. I want to make a living on fiction writing. As a result, just writing needs to be taken up a notch to “targeted writing.”
Let me put it to you this way: when Linda received her book contract, she didn’t write useless information that wasn’t going to make it into the book. There is no time for that. She wrote content for the book, she didn’t “just write.” If she “just wrote” she never would have met the deadline.
I’m going to take this page from Linda’s playbook.
Doug, when I become rich and famous a disgruntled maid will take my unplubished writings and auction them off at Christi’s. Don’t worry, you’ll get to see them at some point.
Auria, quick FYI that I tried e-mailing you this morning but it was bounced back. I re-sent to your Opt address.
Hello Auria,
I also take fiction writing (and writing) very seriously—not as a mere hobby to toy with, but something I want to eventually make a living from—or at least to be as professionally prolific as possible.
However, I think what you wrote is still important, because writing extra words
a) helps you work out voice details,
b) helps you work out character interactions,
c) makes you aware of possible plot options or roadblocks,
d) keeps you writing—e.g., one slow-down for anybody usually means that you end up with a mental roadblock even for “serious” writing.
I work as a software developer; this is like developing a prototype. Eventually I will throw away the prototype and work on real code, but in the meantime, it’s helped me loosen my muscles with respect to the project design and approach. When it comes to showtime, I have a much better idea of what’s going to happen.
This is why I write flash fiction with characters from my WIPs, that aren’t going to end up in the published work—although maybe someday they’ll be extras.
My speciality tends to be characters, and it’s rather like throwing chemicals into a beaker and waiting for the reaction…. something I like to test out before I try to go for the long-term experiment. 
So don’t worry. Just keep moving forwards in the main.
Extra words isn’t the problem. Writing content knowing that it won’t make it into the book is a waste of time in terms of the goal. Hobby writers can go off on tangents. As a professional writer, you can’t. I know this because I am a professional writer.
Of course every writer is different, but I’m sure you will be hard pressed to find a professional writer that spends time writing content that will not be used. By professional, I mean someone who makes a full-time living writing – preferably six figures.
Just write is for hobbyists.
I shouldn’t have spent the time writing irrelevant material on scenes that are not going to make the cut (or at least potentially).
By focusing on relevant scenes, I could have worked on voice, obstacles, and so on. The bottom line for me is this: I have to treat this book as though it’s under contract.
Jim MacDonald is a professional fiction writer, and he has ended up writing scenes in fantasy novels where, per se, people wander off and do/say things that are obviously out of book—which aren’t used, but which do keep the momentum going. I’m pretty sure Elizabeth Bear does the same, and I know Neil Gaiman is guilty of the occasional excursion (if their journals are, indeed, Truth).
Probably about every other fiction writer has a character bible that they’ve written to, likely a large number of things, that will never be used directly, but inform them as to who the characters are. Some things you need to work out in private, but you will never use them directly. (Since when am I going to use Arcady’s preference for peppermint ice cream in a meaningful way? Probably never. But his attitude about it—which is marked and unusual—I do use, every step of his characterization.)
I guess I’m saying: in fiction, things that are off the page can be as valuable as what’s on the page. Don’t write it off.
And yes, so I’m not a professional. Doesn’t mean I’m not paying attention to what the professionals do and trying to emulate.
Nor does it mean that the experience I’ve had unprofessionally does not apply to professionals as well. Although sometimes it very well doesn’t; I am definitely in peanut gallery territory.
We will just have to agree to disagree on this point. As a professional writer, I find it’s a waste to spend time on material that isn’t going to make the cut. When my agent and publisher is waiting for material, my writing is focused. Simple as that. There is no question about it. This is my experience.
So what I decided to do is to continue on the path that has led me to be a professional writer. I tried the “just write” method and it didn’t work for me. Really, it’s not anymore complicated than that.
On edit: I agree that professional writers and writers alike have knowledge they can share with others. And no matter what level of experience or success, every writer’s opinion has value.
Nor am I suggesting that “just write” is the way to go. I’m just saying that you shouldn’t beat yourself up over one day of this, nor am I saying that professional writers do that sort of thing on a regular basis.
And I’m saying that there are useful things that come out of having written things that fall by the wayside, and you can either look for them or beat yourself up over them.
Basically, I’m saying: a) lighten up, b) it isn’t that bad, c) there is value, and d) I luv ya my dear and hate to see you tearing yourself up over something not-so-big-a-deal as this.
In the long run, I really don’t care if you agree or not; but look at what other professional folks in your situation do before you start worrying.
The urge to have every word count, count, count is strong. I can understand that, because I haven’t got time to waste when I blog (much as people don’t understand that and think I’m just dilly-dallying, but then, I have one goal and they have others…), and it’s either produce or die.
In the end, though. It’s just one day.
(And don’t give me the “but if I say it’s one day everyday….” You obviously have enough discipline to say that one day everyday is NOT okay; you need to relax enough so that one odd day is simply that.)
Now I understand where the confusion lies. I don’t have a problem that my word count is lower. I actually don’t mind at all because now I’m on the right track (for me). I did a quick post about my word count yesterday. Here’s the link: http://auriacortes.com/snip-snip/ where I clearly state I’m fine with my new word count.
To clarify, it wasn’t one day. It was all last week - 5,000 words worth. I then went back and removed another 15,000 words.
Oh! Okay.
Good! :hugs:
I was just worried. Heh. Sometimes I over-worry. :-3