July 31, 2004

product

If you read books on writing, you'll find a whole slew of opinions on the matter of productivity. Some say that writing is a business like any other; you don't feel like working, tough. Sit down and get it done. Others say that to force things is to put a stop to all creativity. Annie Dillard wrote a whole series of essays on the painful nature of getting words down on the page. In contrast, people like Stephen King and Joyce Carol Oates seem to be able to spit out thousands of words a day without ever pausing (of course they pause. of course. but these two represent that small portion of the population of writers who produce constantly).

I have always told students, and I will say here again, that there's no one way, no magic formula, and only one way to measure the effectiveness of one approach over another: if you get the story down, then it is right for you.

My own process is opaque for me, at best. I feel things cooking beneath the surface, sometimes. There's a bit of a mental itch, the sense of somethng coming to fruition, and then it erupts, in a small way or a larger one. At that point it has to be put down on the page, or it will dissipate. In a really good stretch I write between ten and fifteen double spaced pages a day. More usually I'm happy if I get three or four solid pages down. Sometimes it's only two. Sometimes those two pages are so painfully won that I wonder why I ever thought I could write another novel, or anything at all.

Just now I'm in a productive period, where the story is boiling over and I'm putting out about fifteen pages a day. In bed late at night, too weary to read, I have the urge to get the laptop and continue writing. While I'm driving sentences are snaking through my head. Images jump into view. My fingers twitch; I write with my finger in the air, and don't even realize I'm doing it. This was first brought to my attention by my husband, who refuses to sit on my right at the movies because I write on his hand the whole time.

Mostly I just let this happen and try not to analyze it too closely. Even writing about it in this limited way makes me wonder if I'm quite balanced at times like these, but hey. Love me, love my dog.

July 31, 2004 08:31 AM

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Comments

Being balanced is nice, but it can be over-rated [g]. Love the image of writing in your husband's hand -- I sometimes catch myself typing on my steering wheel (or hallucinate quilt patterns while driving, but that's another post). Just thank the Big Dog and WRITE ON, honey. [cheering you]

Posted by: robyn at July 31, 2004 05:54 AM

I think most people have mannerisms which seem fine to us but odd to other people (like your writing in the air). I always have words in my mind, like scrolling credits or subtitles. In conversations, I see the words being spoken; when I'm not reading or talking or listening (especially if I'm about to drift off to sleep), usually there are just random words moving across the screen in my brain. Effervescent. Irradiate. Juxtaposition. I thought pretty much everyone did this, until once when the words in my head were broken into syllables and I couldn't make them go back together, I told my husband this and he began sloooowly backing away. I wasn't terribly shocked that he thought it was strange about the random words, but I did honestly think that almost everyone saw spoken words spelled out in their heads.

Or then again, maybe it's just us crazy people....

Posted by: Rachel at July 31, 2004 05:11 PM

oooh Rachel, you've got one up on me. I don't see words, although I have to say it sounds quite convenient. Like a built in computer monitor. I do fixate on particular words now and then that get stuck in my head, like a song. I think *juxtaposition* will be with me for a while now. Such a lovely jumble of syllables.

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