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Thursday, August 21, 2014

Hemingway on the Difficulty of Writing



Enough said.

Who has been bleeding lately? Share in the comments and I'll attempt to coordinate triage. But I have no magical healing methods to offer. You will form thick scabs and deep scars. But they will give you and your writing depth and character and that's not a bad thing.

27 comments:

  1. Scars prove that what tried to kill us has failed.
    ~Robyn Hoode

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    1. Yep.

      Woah, what happened to the time there? July 8? I don't think so.

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    2. I think I saw this post before, and then it was taken down, so that might explain why the date for the comment is so early.

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    3. Lol. That's exactly what happened. Sometimes we hit publish when we mean to hit schedule. Robyn's comment probably inspired a, "Oh, whoops!" moment :)

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    4. Yes, it was my fault. I accidentally hit publish rather than schedule way back when, and I fixed it right away and remember being shocked that it already had gotten a comment. But ever since, I keep putting other posts before this one. And now I finally used it.

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    5. But, Robyn, I love what you said back in July. It's very true.

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    6. I remember when this post popped up and then suddenly disappeared. :)

      Thanks, Jill!

      ~Robyn

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    7. Ooooooh. Oops. Haha :) Kinda interesting how the comments stay put...

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  2. Actually, I haven't been bleeding lately... I've been reading a book on writing which kind of is making me feel like my writing is terrible, so I decided to finish reading the book and take a couple of days off from writing. Hopefully that'll do the trick. :)

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    1. Oh, I'm sorry, Naomi. I feel that way too, more often than I'd like. And I've taken time off before to clear my head. Is it a nonfiction writing book or a fiction one? It's usually the amazing fiction ones that make me feel so inferior.

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    2. It was a nonfiction book, Conversations with a Writing Coach. It was really good, mostly. :) I'll start writing soon....hopefully.... ;)

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  3. I've had writers block, but the words are starting to flow again. :) TOTALLY off topic, but i started reading your Mission League series the other day. I'm still on the first book. I love it!!! (again, that was totally of topic. sorry :p)

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    1. I'm so glad the words are flowing again. That's always such a relief for me. And thank you for reading Spencer's book! He is one of my favorite characters, that sarcastic guy...

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  4. Haven't been "bleeding" lately, unfortunately, at least not in fiction. I admit--it's harder to do in fiction for some reason. Part of me wants to write happy little stories with nothing at all real in them sometimes. But deep down I know the best stories have truth to them. Even if it's a seemingly completely implausible fantasy story. Interesting how that works, huh? :)

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    1. Yes, fantasy helps both writers and readers escape. I often don't put any worthwhile themes in them until I go back to rewrite.

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    2. A wise man once told me that the best way to put real things into your book is through the growth of a character. So if you can held your character grow, there is your truth.

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  5. Recently, I've been comparing my work to everything else and saying, "Wow, this is awful." Still too sad to go back to my WIP.

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    1. Comparison is a common tale for writers. You have to turn off that critical voice and keep on keeping on. Time and practice will help you grow as a writer. But only you can tell the stories you have to tell, so it doesn't do to compare yourself, as you are uniquely you, and that's a good thing!

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  6. Scars are tattoos with better stories.

    I've been prepping to bleed. (XD, that sounds so wrong....) I'm starting my latest WIP today after school.

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  7. I've heard Ms. Morrill (or do you prefer Mrs.?) mention that with every book she writes she starts to get stuck near the end, and I think I'm going through that right now. I'm getting closer to the end, but it feels so hard to get the words down.

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    1. You can call me Stephanie if you like, but Mrs. Morrill is fine too. I'm not picky :)

      And, yes! I always struggle to get my main character to the climax of the plot. The "crazy plan is formed" element of the plot is always difficult for me to figure out.

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  8. Ive bleed so much I've drained myself. ;) But I've bleed nevertheless.

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  9. I think it's so difficult when I try to start writing and end up just sitting there for a third of the time instead of writing. Oooooor when I know I have to do something cruel to a character and I don't want to :P Oh well.

    walking in the air.

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  10. I'm at the stage of beholding my blood - gosh, that sounds creepy! - and now it's obvious to me in certain scenes why I was bleeding. I bump heads with my mom, my MC's mom starts acting unfair and unreasonable. I get emotional/read an emotional book, suddenly mundane scenes about sewing patches on a partway eaten sofa (don't ask) becomes some metaphor for being unable to repair tears in the fabric of life.

    That is some blood that will be mopped up.

    This metaphor is starting to sound like a springboard for a horror novel, lol. Maybe a typewriter like the quill in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. (I...must...not...abandon...this...draft.)

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  11. I've been bleeding a fanfiction. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to think of anything to bleed in my WIP.

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  12. A very wise writing teacher once told me that sometimes we need to write the things we don't want to write. What she meant was that we have to face our deepest fears and struggles and pour them into our writing. One of my personal fears is persecution for my faith. In the current series I'm writing, the main characters face very intense persecution. It is very difficult to write my own fear that intensely into a book, but the results are usually better than when I try to shy away from the hard stuff and stick to something less intense.

    Hannah Barta, I know the feeling of sitting there not writing because the next scene is something you know you have to inflict on your characters, but you dread having to do it. On my current draft, I set aside my WIP for the whole weekend because I wanted to leave my characters (and myself) in the last hopeful place before I plunge them into all the bad things that pile on them for the rest of the book.

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