I've been reading this Stephen King book called On Writing. So far it's mostly been about his past, memories he has and such, but there are some real gems of knowledge in it. I've been enjoying myself so far, and trying to think about some of the things he's said, relating it to my own life and such.
It's interesting to read something that has so much personal history in it. As many people know I want to make it my job, to be an author. It's not something I've worked hard at yet, I mean I write a lot, but I'm not as diligent with the actual editing part. If you never get through the editing part, you can't submit, and without submitting, you can't get accepted, without being accepted, you don't get paid. It's a cycle that I'm not completing and thus it is ultimately my fault I haven't gotten to the author part.
When reading his book he has these gem moments where I'm reading and thinking, "Oh, yes, that makes sense. I see what you're saying.". Those are nice moments. Then there are moments where I'm reading and thinking, "Oh gods, no I don't want to hear anymore, I think my brain ran away, can I skip this part?". Most of the second parts have to do with too much detail and my incredible sense of imagination. I don't like feeling the pain he felt.
I wonder, a lot, if my ability to feel other's pain, or to be able to imagine what someone has gone through and why they did the things they did, makes it harder for me to write. I think it's why I don't like tragedy's or overly angsty stuff. I get too wrapped up in it. I want there to be happiness at the end of a long, terrible journey, or why bother at all? I also think that I have an issue writing conflict, because I don't want there to be terrible things that happen to a person. They could have happened in the past, but I don't to do them now. I can create a very complex and interesting person, but I don't want to deal with them having more pain or trouble dumped on them. I used to do that sort of thing all the time. Have I just gotten old? Or is it just that I never liked to deal with it all that much and now I'm allowing myself to not do so?
I've done NaNoWriMo for the past four years, and am going to be doing it again this year, but I'm a little on edge this time around. I wrote for myself the first two years, then the third I wrote with Wife (we passed with more than flying colors although the story didn't get finished) and then the fourth year we both tried to write on our own. Only I failed miserably on my own, so did Wife, and we ended up writing together, and passing (of course. ;) ). I'm not sure if I'm going to try to do it on my own again this year or if she wants to write together. I feel like I had a very sure goal for my first two novels, but now that I don't want to edit them just yet I'm not sure what I want to write.
I find that I am fascinated by certain people, certain things, but I'm not interested in writing about them. For instance, I am fascinated by the military, don't mind having people involved in it, or part of it, but I don't want to write it. I have no interest in writing fighting scenes or strategy meetings or anything like that. In fact when I do try to write that sort of thing I not only get incredibly bored with it, I get irritated and angry. I don't like that, so I don't want to write it, but if you have someone who is a General and it's war time, then you have to at least know something, right? I can't simply skim over that stuff. Same goes with medieval times and sword fighting or horseback riding or something. I have to be involved, or I can't write it, but it isn't interesting, but the outcomes and how people react are. Maybe I should just write the stuff that interests me and leave the other parts blank and see if it matters to the overall story?
Perhaps I could put in tooltips? Like, "This is where they fight a long and bloody battle and through some genius of Marenten's they win the ownership of the town and the surrounding fields." instead of doing the battle itself and trying to come up with the genius maneuver that Marenten came up with.
A lot of people have two pieces of advice for writers. "Write what you know." and "Write what you like." and neither of those two things would really get me anywhere. I know a lot of things, mostly involving housework, crap jobs, some cooking and a lot of video games. As for writing what I like, as mentioned above, I don't feel as though I know enough about those things to properly write about them. Should I go with urban fantasy in which magic plays an interical part? I know about urban, and fantasy, and I can create a magic system on the fly that works (done it enough times now). But wouldn't I eventually come across things that don't really interest me that are important to the story? Don't all stories involve things that are boring or irritating? Isn't that the something every author has to struggle with?
Well, I guess I'll just have to struggle with it for a while more, and maybe this NaNo I'll do my own story, make something I'm pleased with, and cross the finish line, doing something with the novel I've finished.
http://www.nanowrimo.org/
http://www.amazon.com/Kings-Writing-Stephen-Market-Paperback/dp/B003777QYQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317866564&sr=1-3
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