The time spent writing
Dec. 17th, 2009 04:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marinessNope, nope, not getting drawn into the how much writers should get paid for short fiction debate, nope, nope. (I will say that I'm pretty astounded that other writers have so much time for this debate, but this may be my fatigue talking. Given the amount of time writers have spent on sillier debates in the past, I really shouldn't be surprised.)
But I did want to address a related topic: the time it takes to write stories, discussed also over atwendigomountain's pace. With the critical caveat that this is just me. Writers are a varied, varied lot, and what you are reading here probably does not apply to most other writers – if it even applies to any other writers. To take a few of my stories from this year, not quite at random:
Colors – flash, writing time, two hours, probably less. No editing (what you see is the first and only draft). Written in a blind fury. Mentioned by several of you as a favorite.
On the Edge of Breathing – flash, writing time, five hours, plus some editing afterwards. This was about my fifth take on the "underworld bride" saga, and by this time, I knew more or less what I wanted to say.
Transport – flash, believe it or not, seven months, and even then, the editor kindly pointed out that two paragraphs were just pointless and needed to be removed as swiftly as possible for the long term safety of readers. (This sort of thing is why we have editors.)
Gravestones – short, two years. Seriously. I couldn't find the ending. The route to publication was even longer. (Incidentally, although it finally saw publication this year, this is one of my earlier pieces.
Pogo Stick – I didn't even know this was a story when I wrote it; one or two hours later, I had a finished tale. An experimental piece where I found the end when I got there. (I was as surprised as all of you when the pogo stick jumped in.)
The Otter– one of the first of the underworld/monster bride tales; five weeks, again because I was searching for the ending.
Wooden Apologies – short, one day. This piece, however, was odd in the sense that it was just a transcription of the dream I'd had the night before. The problem was deciding whether or not to just leave it that way.
Playing With Spades" Months. I started this story while at the Mayo Clinic and had to put it aside for various reasons. When I picked it up, I initially gave it the wrong ending, and only later found the right one.
What can we learn from this?
Well, for one thing, although I can write quickly, I don't consistently write quickly. And my writing speed follows absolutely no pattern whatsoever – although as I'll discuss in another post about novels/epic poems, it's absolutely impacted by my health. But that's a separate conversation (and one reason why I focused on flash pieces above.)
For instance, of the three most personal stories this year – "Colors," "Pogo Stick," and "Playing With Spades," two were written swiftly; the third….not so much. Knowing the ending in advance usually speeds things up – but "Planting," where I knew exactly where I was going, still took time (although if I recall correctly that was more of real life/health interfering). And sometimes, yes, it can take me years to finish a story – twiddling here and there and everywhere. There's another issue as well – deadlines; if I know I have one, I twitch more and focus more. Stories without that deadline lack that external push.
This holds true for longer works, as well. Parts of From Immortal Shadows Singing (see, not only am I hinting at this, but you now get a very tentative title) flowed remarkably quickly, parts….distinctly did not, complicated by the not so slight problem that I did not actually start focusing on this to the near exclusion of all other works until mid-November. I am at the stage of checking, checking, filling out the gaps, working the ending, which for me is slower work, all in hopes of shooting out query letters sometime in January.
(Incidentally, this, and two other longer projects, are why I expect my publication pace will be slowing next year. I've been shifting back and forth between the three, with the result that I just have not been in short story mode. This may change once From Immortal Shadows Singing is finished.)
And, well, unlike many writers, I don't have a particular writing process – it shifts and changes for every story every project. Perhaps developing one might make me a more efficient writer – but it might rob me of the unexpected results.
And why would I want that?
***********
With that said, an early holiday present of acoldecho has arrived! So off for a bit.
But I did want to address a related topic: the time it takes to write stories, discussed also over at
wendigomountain's pace. With the critical caveat that this is just me. Writers are a varied, varied lot, and what you are reading here probably does not apply to most other writers – if it even applies to any other writers. To take a few of my stories from this year, not quite at random:Colors – flash, writing time, two hours, probably less. No editing (what you see is the first and only draft). Written in a blind fury. Mentioned by several of you as a favorite.
On the Edge of Breathing – flash, writing time, five hours, plus some editing afterwards. This was about my fifth take on the "underworld bride" saga, and by this time, I knew more or less what I wanted to say.
Transport – flash, believe it or not, seven months, and even then, the editor kindly pointed out that two paragraphs were just pointless and needed to be removed as swiftly as possible for the long term safety of readers. (This sort of thing is why we have editors.)
Gravestones – short, two years. Seriously. I couldn't find the ending. The route to publication was even longer. (Incidentally, although it finally saw publication this year, this is one of my earlier pieces.
Pogo Stick – I didn't even know this was a story when I wrote it; one or two hours later, I had a finished tale. An experimental piece where I found the end when I got there. (I was as surprised as all of you when the pogo stick jumped in.)
The Otter– one of the first of the underworld/monster bride tales; five weeks, again because I was searching for the ending.
Wooden Apologies – short, one day. This piece, however, was odd in the sense that it was just a transcription of the dream I'd had the night before. The problem was deciding whether or not to just leave it that way.
Playing With Spades" Months. I started this story while at the Mayo Clinic and had to put it aside for various reasons. When I picked it up, I initially gave it the wrong ending, and only later found the right one.
What can we learn from this?
Well, for one thing, although I can write quickly, I don't consistently write quickly. And my writing speed follows absolutely no pattern whatsoever – although as I'll discuss in another post about novels/epic poems, it's absolutely impacted by my health. But that's a separate conversation (and one reason why I focused on flash pieces above.)
For instance, of the three most personal stories this year – "Colors," "Pogo Stick," and "Playing With Spades," two were written swiftly; the third….not so much. Knowing the ending in advance usually speeds things up – but "Planting," where I knew exactly where I was going, still took time (although if I recall correctly that was more of real life/health interfering). And sometimes, yes, it can take me years to finish a story – twiddling here and there and everywhere. There's another issue as well – deadlines; if I know I have one, I twitch more and focus more. Stories without that deadline lack that external push.
This holds true for longer works, as well. Parts of From Immortal Shadows Singing (see, not only am I hinting at this, but you now get a very tentative title) flowed remarkably quickly, parts….distinctly did not, complicated by the not so slight problem that I did not actually start focusing on this to the near exclusion of all other works until mid-November. I am at the stage of checking, checking, filling out the gaps, working the ending, which for me is slower work, all in hopes of shooting out query letters sometime in January.
(Incidentally, this, and two other longer projects, are why I expect my publication pace will be slowing next year. I've been shifting back and forth between the three, with the result that I just have not been in short story mode. This may change once From Immortal Shadows Singing is finished.)
And, well, unlike many writers, I don't have a particular writing process – it shifts and changes for every story every project. Perhaps developing one might make me a more efficient writer – but it might rob me of the unexpected results.
And why would I want that?
***********
With that said, an early holiday present of a
coldecho has arrived! So off for a bit.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-18 03:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-19 03:33 pm (UTC)I can only conclude that people don't want me to think :)