I’m a bad blogger.
By the title you may have guessed that the subject of this
blog post is my writing method. Before I begin I want to point out something
you may already know, I’m a bad blogger. No, not a Badd blogger, (well that
too), a bad blogger. Bad meaning bad not the bad meaning good. I start blogs
and never come back to them, leaving them floating in cyberspace all alone.
Hell, it’s been over a year since I have been back here. But my homeboy started his first blog, Morgue Doors, and then I revamped my website which
links here, couple that to my dedication to precision for the new year, and I
have been motivated to come back.
Why is this about my writing method?
People often ask me, “How do you write?” My answers range
from attempting to explain it in an elevator pitch, to being my smart-ass self
and saying something only a few mortals find humorous. So I’m going to try to
explain how I got here.
In the beginning…
Damn near a decade ago I decided I was going to create that great novel that I always wanted to write. The only problem was, other than being an avid reader, (which most professionals will tell you is a prerequisite of being a decent writer), I had no experience with the literary arts. So I put my white-ass through some years of text-based boot-camp. First I had to learn punctuation: how to use it, when to skip it, how to fuck it, and how to bend it to my will. Next I learned the basic rules; never use an adjective unless you really, really want to; show don’t tell, because “I was mad” is nowhere near as effective as “I smashed his god forsaken skull with my mighty mallet and drank his filthy blood from his favorite mug.” Shit like that.
Then you have to write.
You can’t be a writer without writing. So read and write. Write
and read. So I wrote. I went to writers conventions because that shit is
cheaper than universities. I went to editing conventions for the same reason. I
joined the Saint Louis Writers Guild because birds of a feather flock together
and that is beneficial in many ways. I teamed up with the Comic Creators Coffee Club because I write comics and dabble in the graphic arts as well. I purchased and read numerous books on the craft, (some are pictured here). And I
continued to read and write, write and read.
How I write.
How do I write? Probably not the way I should, or I’d be a world famous published author by now. But I have my methods, and they have their charm. I do most of my first draft writing in my head. I wrote the first draft of this blog in my head while I was taking a shower. In fact I do some of my best writing in the shower. Unfortunately I don’t always remember what I wrote, and without a hard copy things get lost in this abused grey membrane of mine. If only I had those harems to bath me and take notes of my dictations. But then again if I had harems bathing me I probably wouldn’t be doing much mental writing. But I digress.
Today’s writing.
Today I wrote another chapter for my debut novel that I’ve
been working on for years. Each chapter has two sections (for now), and I
started with a section, decided it should come second, started on the next part
placing it first, got stuck, then went back and finished the second half that I
started to begin with. Confusing? Yeah. But I’m kind of fucked up like that.
The Novel
So I have the novel idea, and I have a rough outline of how
things are going to go. I started this novel three previous times, the first
being in 2007. It was painful throwing out those first forty pages, but they
sucked, and they needed to go away. So, by the fourth outing you can imagine
that I have a pretty strong grasp of my world by now. I’ve done a lot of
world building, and I have pages of notes and a white board with a
time line, as well as weights, measures, and other tidbits that make this mine.
Think twice, write once, (then write ten more drafts).
As I said, a lot of this is in my head. I often wander
around thinking about dialogue, (sometimes I catch myself speaking it out loud,
which is bound to get me into trouble someday), I drive and think of character
motivations. Just because I want them to do something does not mean they want
to do it, and they let me know when they feel that way. Oh, you thought I
controlled them? That’s adorable. So today I wrote a sentence, knowing where
the chapter needed to go. But the character was not speaking. So I turned up Brahms,
(I only listen to instrumental music while writing the first drafts, so
classical or film scores are my refuge), set back, closed my eyes, and watched
my characters interact. Once they finished talking to each other I leaned forward
and put the words to digital paper. If my eyes are closed and I’m not moving,
(or moving my hands, I like to touch things), then chances are I am writing.
Any writers block?
I don’t really get writers block, the trick to that is just
to write though it. But I do get stuck with details, and when I do I skip them,
move on, and come back later. As I’ve said, before I ever put pen to paper,
(fingers to keyboard), I have an idea of where my story is going. Now once I
start writing it tends to get a mind of its own and do what it wants. But having
that idea still helps guide me along the way. It is the same with a sentence as
it is with a paragraph, chapter, or entire work. I have an idea of where I need
or want to be, and I write to get there. But much like the rest of life, things
don’t always end up the way we thought they would.
Till next time,
John B Badd
