It’s YOUR Turn: Take Five
Therese Walsh on Aug 12 2008 | Filed under: Uncategorized
You guys can be very quiet. (Yes, you, hiding in the corner!) Today, let’s try something new: an open mic. Five questions for all of you. Let’s get some interesting comments going.
* What’s your most steadfast writing habit?
* What’s the hardest (and possibly the best) lesson you’ve learned while on your writer’s journey?
* How many story ideas do you come up with for every one you act on? (Guesstimates welcome.)
* Which book do you wish you’d written?
* If you could do it all over again, would you go for that MFA in college? Why or why not? (And if you already have one, are you glad?)
The floor is yours.
Therese Walsh co-founded Writer Unboxed in 2006. Her debut novel, The Last Will of Moira Leahy, sold to Random House in a two-book deal in 2008, was named one of January Magazine’s Best Books of 2009, and was a Target Breakout Book in 2010. She's never been published with a lit magazine, but LOST's Carlton Cuse liked her haiku best on Twitter, and that made her pretty happy.
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* What’s your most steadfast writing habit?
Writing the first draft of everything in pen so I can’t erase. And then doing revisions in pencil so I can tell the difference.
* What’s the hardest (and possibly the best) lesson you’ve learned while on your writer’s journey?
Your friends and family will support you all the way, but that doesn’t mean they’ll buy your book. And they’ll probably feel insulted if you can’t give them a discount.
* How many story ideas do you come up with for every one you act on? (Guesstimates welcome.)
I’m a slow developer. It takes me years to grow into a story, so I’d say I’ll try about four or five different ideas before one really sticks.
* Which book do you wish you’d written?
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
* If you could do it all over again, would you go for that MFA in college? Why or why not? (And if you already have one, are you glad?)
It depends. On the one hand, I’m jealous of MFAs because they have the excuse to write all the time and have intense critiques. On the other hand, I don’t think an MFA guarantees a publishing contract. On still a third hand I’m borrowing from a friend, I’m going for a masters in a different field and see no reason why I can’t sneak a couple of writing classes in.
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* What’s your most steadfast writing habit?
I don’t really have one…any suggestions?!
* What’s the hardest (and possibly the best) lesson you’ve learned while on your writer’s journey?
That determination LOVES to go on vacation! You have to coax it back with snacks and promises!
* How many story ideas do you come up with for every one you act on? (Guesstimates welcome.)
Not too many, maybe 5-10
* Which book do you wish you’d written?
Definitely Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. The best book I’ve ever read.
* If you could do it all over again, would you go for that MFA in college? Why or why not? (And if you already have one, are you glad?)
Sometimes I think ‘Yes, I need it!’ and other times I don’t. You tell me?
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1 – My habit is writing out the story almost all the way without ever writing any prose or script. Treatment style. I need to have the bones down before I commit to full form.
2 – Hardest lesson is I’m indecisive when faced with story problems, and just need to pick a direction instead of waiting for the perfect solution.
3 – I come up with a lot of short story ideas but I can never see a point to them, or a good ending, so I never write them. The full stories for my franchise worth pursuing are being pursued.
4 – Book I wish I’d written? The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester.
5 – MFA? Naw. I don’t care about degrees. I’d feel a lot better having a dozen books published than an MFA, and could probably do so in the same amount of time it’d take me.
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1, Writing in my journal. Been doing it since I was 14. Can’t stop. This has bled over into blogs too.
2, Write a crappy first draft then cut out half the words, and you’ll be close to being done.
3, Maybe 5:1, although I tend to come back to the best ideas and work on them later. I just need to write more!
4, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams.
5, Definitely no MFA for me. I spent my teens and early 20s being totally intimidated by all the literature I was studying, and stopped writing almost entirely. And because they were literature and not ‘writing’ courses, no-one ever pointed out that those writers mostly applied rule 2 (above) before getting to the deathless prose!
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What’s your most steadfast writing habit?
Journaling, hand letter writing
* What’s the hardest (and possibly the best) lesson you’ve learned while on your writer’s journey?
It won’t get written unless you get your butt in the chair
* How many story ideas do you come up with for every one you act on? (Guesstimates welcome.)
Two. Ideas, i have. getting them to paper a challenge for this procrastinator!
* Which book do you wish you’d written? Gone with the Wind or Pride and Prejudice
* If you could do it all over again, would you go for that MFA in college? Why or why not? (And if you already have one, are you glad?)
Yes, absolutely. I would have gotten as much education as I could, early in life. Although, learning is always an ongoing thing fo me.
The floor is yours.
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1. Goal setting. I don’t always make it, but I know how long it should take me to write something, and I know what I should do a week to reach that goal. I don’t always make the goal, but having goals motivates me.
2. I like Thea’s butt in chair answer. It’s one of many, but the most important.
3. I’m not sure. 2 or 3?
4. Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie.
5. Definitely an MFA. I think it would have made a huge difference in my life.
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Your friends and family will support you all the way, but that doesn’t mean they’ll buy your book. And they’ll probably feel insulted if you can’t give them a discount.
LOL, Belinda!
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If you could do it all over again, would you go for that MFA in college? Why or why not? (And if you already have one, are you glad?)
Sometimes I think ‘Yes, I need it!’ and other times I don’t. You tell me?
I don’t know either, Jamie. At times I wish I had one (I have three science degrees!), but at the same time a path is a path is a path. The formula as I see it is this: Passion + Knowledge = Possiblity. There are plenty of ways to get knowledge, aside from sitting in a class room–including through good critique, and by reading craft books and well-written novels.
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Great responses so far.
I’ll be tackling my next story idea soon, Eric, in much the same way. Kind of an oversized outline.
Julie, word chopping–so critical. I write fat, every time.
Thea, butt in chair. Definitely!
Edie, I need to get better at setting goals. Hmm…I know the perfect group to keep me on track with that. ;)
Okay, lurkers, chime in!
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1. Never losing hope or belief in myself –even though it may not be warranted, ha-ha!
2. “It can always stand another edit/revision.” (Thanks, Joy.)
3. I take a whack at just about all of them. About 1:3 reach the last line. Of those, 1:10 are worth revising.
4. I wish I’d written “Montana, 1948″ by Larry Watson.
5. If I had it to do all over again I’d have finished college in the first place! And then, yes, I would have gone after an MFA.
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I’m a lurker, I admit it. Love your blog!
1. Writing habit–I edit as I go. Write, go back, read, edit, think, write some more, repeat… I end up with a pretty clean first draft that way.
2. Lesson learned? Perseverance is the key to everything, before and after the sale.
3. Ideas? Probably three for every one I act on, but every one of them goes in the idea file.
4. Book I wish I’d written? I write romance, so I’m going to say “The Thorn Birds” by Colleen MacCullough. I read it twice the summer between 8th and 9th grades. Ahhh, Fr. Ralph…so tormented.
5. MFA? Nope. I went to journalism school, which prepared me well for every kind of writing I’ve done at work and now in fiction.
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What’s your most steadfast writing habit?
My Internal Editor. For better or worse, I can’t turn it off, which means I do the same thing as Marie: Write, go back, read, edit, think, write some more, repeat… I end up with a pretty clean first draft that way.
What’s the hardest (and possibly the best) lesson you’ve learned while on your writer’s journey?
Well, I’m still pretty early on my journey, but so far, I’d have to go with Thea’s It won’t get written unless you get your butt in the chair.
How many story ideas do you come up with for every one you act on? (Guesstimates welcome.)
Maybe this is because I’m just starting out, but I’d have to say it’s a lot closer to 10 or 20 to 1. I come up with ideas all day long, some better or more formed than others. But I only have time to really develop a few short stories and maybe 1 novel per year.
Which book do you wish you’d written?
Oh goodness, which bookS, you mean? BELOVED by Toni Morrison, BLINDNESS by Jose Saramago, THE JOY LUCK CLUB by Amy Tan, DRINKING COFFEE ELSEWHERE by Z.Z. Packer, THE HANDMAID’S TALE by Margaret Atwood, THE POISONWOOD BIBLE by Barbara Kingsolver, THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE by Audrey Niffenegger, THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald, all the HARRY POTTERS, and many, many more.
If you could do it all over again, would you go for that MFA in college? Why or why not? (And if you already have one, are you glad?)
Well, that’s still a choice I’m trying to make… Advice certainly would be appreciated. :) (And yes, I read the responses so far!)
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* What’s your most steadfast writing habit?
As much as I try to change it, writing in sync with my internal body clock. I’m an incurable night owl. It works, most of the time, but I’m slowly turning into a vampire.
* What’s the hardest (and possibly the best) lesson you’ve learned while on your writer’s journey?
As in life, “Be yourself.”
* How many story ideas do you come up with for every one you act on? (Guesstimates welcome.)
After I finally started putting pen to paper, probably 4:1 or 3:1.
* Which book do you wish you’d written?
Call me sentimental, but A Little Princess or The Secret Garden.
* If you could do it all over again, would you go for that MFA in college? Why or why not? (And if you already have one, are you glad?)
I might have done an MFA after a BA in English and journalmistm instead of the MLS (library science), but the MLS got me to where I am now, so hard to say. It might have been fun, though!
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What’s your most steadfast writing habit?
Writing about everything, processing everything through writing. I’ve been doing it that way since I could write words.
What’s the hardest (and possibly the best) lesson you’ve learned while on your writer’s journey?
That you can’t please everyone. Ever. And everyone thinks they know how to write your books.
How many story ideas do you come up with for every one you act on? (Guesstimates welcome.)
I end up writing most of the ideas I come up with, in some form or another. I don’t start jotting anything down until they’ve been nagging me for quite awhile, but once I start taking notes, they usually will become something.
Which book do you wish you’d written?
I’d have to agree with Kristan–and with a couple n her list. Joy Luck, but I’d want to do the Irish version. I’d choose a different Barbara Kingsolver, Animal Dreams. Time Traveler’s Wife is just about perfect, IMO. I so admire that book! Romantic and intelligent and passionate and incredibly well plotted. I’d add Green Darkness, by Anya Seton. Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, Tam Lin by Pamela Dean. Flower from the Storm by Laura Kinsale, and The Portrait by Megan Chance. So many books to read and write and love!
If you could do it all over again, would you go for that MFA in college? Why or why not?
No. I don’t actually believe that kind of intensive writing program is the best way for writers to develop individual voices. It develops literary voices that all value the same sort of ideas. Not saying that there isn’t a lot of beautiful work that comes out of those programs, but I think all of those writers would be writing great books on their own anyway. Maybe even better.
Also, I absolutely cannot stand to have many hands on my work for a long time. It feels like having fingers in my intestines. Ugh. Writing, to me, is a personal and intimate journey.
Now you, Therese. What are your answers?
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Great questions!
* What’s your most steadfast writing habit?
Writing the first draft with a pen rather than staring blankly at the computer.
* What’s the hardest (and possibly the best) lesson you’ve learned while on your writer’s journey?
Give every manuscript critiquer a clear idea of what type of feedback you’re looking for, and make sure they use a pencil to write down their thoughts while they read.
* How many story ideas do you come up with for every one you act on?
A hundred?
* Which book do you wish you’d written?
I wish I could write like Michael Cunningham. No particular book, though.
* If you could do it all over again, would you go for that MFA in college? Why or why not?
I got an MSW (social work) and I’m pretty happy with that–not only did it earn me a living, but I also think the world view and information I gained there has had a positive effect on my writing. I might still like to get an MFA at some point, though.
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* What’s your most steadfast writing habit?
Write every day – as Thea said, bum in chair. Oh, and set yourself a word quota. There’s a Zen saying about this that has always resonated with me: ‘A day without work is like a day without food.’
* What’s the hardest (and possibly the best) lesson you’ve learned while on your writer’s journey?
Don’t ever try to convince yourself that that niggling little doubt about a certain character or a particular aspect of the storyline isn’t really a problem. Yes, it is. Does that stop me? No, it doesn’t.
And a second one – cut every word you can. When the ms of my first book blew out by 40,000 words, I worked out the average number of words I needed to cut per page, and attacked it with a red pen. By the time I finished, it looked like the pages were bleeding, but the book was a million times better as a result – tighter, sharper, and without an ounce of fat.
* How many story ideas do you come up with for every one you act on? (Guesstimates welcome.)
Probably about 4 or 5 to 1.
* Which book do you wish you’d written?
Katherine Kerr’s Deverry series. Hers were the first fantasy books I ever bought, and they’re still my favourites.
* If you could do it all over again, would you go for that MFA in college? Why or why not? (And if you already have one, are you glad?)
Hell, no. It’s not quite the same thing, I know, but I once knew a woman who, after graduating in journalism, believed that the way to be a professional writer was to write your piece, take a thesaurus and replace every word with the longest synonym you could find. No joke. I think that a formal study of writing and literature would have destroyed my love of it. As it was, I studied science, majoring in Geology and with a side interest in Palaeontology. This taught me to be rigorous in assembling my ideas, and in particular how to take a few small pieces of information and extrapolate a whole environment and history from them. This is precisely the same process I use to take the germ of an idea and develop it into a fully-fledged story, and, I think, has been the most valuable skill I could have brought to my writing.
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What’s your most steadfast writing habit? Writing longhand, printing out every draft and correcting on paper. Just so I know I can undo changes if I need to.
What’s the hardest (and possibly the best) lesson you’ve learned while on your writer’s journey? To balance obsession, control, instinct and relaxation while writing. Although Belinda’s answer about the family not buying the books is, sadly, very true. My family expects FREE books.
How many story ideas do you come up with for every one you act on? That would be dozens. And dozens, probably. I have more ideas than I could use in ten lifetimes.
My next novel, that I’m only dreaming about yet.
If you could do it all over again, would you go for that MFA in college? Why or why not? Nah, better to go out and learn about living, I think. Makes the writing meatier.
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Thom, I read an interview with Sara Gruen recently and she admitted that she’d never finish a work unless it was stripped out of her hands. There’s always something to tweak or improve upon. Never lose hope…absolutely a mantra to live by.
Marie,thanks for de-lurking! I like to edit as I go, too. And The Thorn Birds sits on my shelf as well. Don’t you think Ralph and Meggie are contagonists each to the other?
More fans of THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE, cool. Kristen, sounds like you are a true Ideas Person. (You, too, Ali!) I wonder if that gives you an unboxed advantage…hmm? I like Barbara’s response to the MFA question, for what my opinion on that is worth.
I’m an incurable night owl. Meet another of your kind, Julie. I have a hard time writing in the morning. But 9 pm rolls around and I’m ready to write.
Thanks for playing, Barbara! Love this response: That you can’t please everyone. Ever. And everyone thinks they know how to write your books. I also love your fingers in the intestines description. Kinsale’s Flowers from the Storm is a gorgeous love story.
Ali, I might try to write my new story out longhand. I noticed that the two scenes for Unbounded that I wrote with pen and paper ended up being pretty complete–and were edited relatively quickly. I think taking away the option to edit as I went was key there. I’m an edit-a-holic.
Oh, and set yourself a word quota. Jo, I’ve heard that even a 50-word-daily commitment can be enough to inspire the muse.
Don’t ever try to convince yourself that that niggling little doubt about a certain character or a particular aspect of the storyline isn’t really a problem. Yes, it is. Oh, I LOVE this one. So, so true for me! That right there is the source of 95% of my writer’s block when it comes.
…balance obsession, control, instinct and relaxation while writing. Balance is a huge issue for me also, Margo. I’ll need to blog about that subject sometime in the near future!
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1) Procrastination. Looking at it more positively, my characters find a way to re-emerge at all sorts of random times and more often than not, I take notes.
2) Don’t take edits personally. This is especially true in my day job working as a journalist.
3) Probably dozens. But many of the ideas are jotted down with intent to use or attempt in the future.
4) John Connolley’s The Book of Lost Things. Clever, intelligent, funny, touching. One of those books that is worth reading again and again.
5) Looking back to when I seriously considered it, Yes, it would have been a good experience. I think I would have finished writing more of my ideas for novels by now. But I don’t know that it would have helped me professionally, and the experience I gained working as a journalist has enabled me to gain confidence in other aspects of my writing life. I can’t really complain.
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Matt, I agree about that procrastination has its benefits! Have you ever had the experience of reading a book and all of a sudden you solve a story problem? These new insights have nothing (at least nothing obvious) to do with the story you’d been reading, either.
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