Fountain of Ideas

Journal 31 July- 6 August 2023

Another week of word counts and trying to improve my health.

Both are going well, though the latter has me aching and sore all the time. Yet paradoxically I feel like I can do more. Hopefully as each week goes by that will balance out more and more to the point where I feel fine again, and can get full range of motion.

I keep debating whether to stay weekly or bi-weekly, and with Twitter going to hell these posts no longer populate there and half of my random readers have gone away.

I believe that as long as I have weekly numbers to report, then I should do weekly journals. Right? The only problem is I don’t always have a topic in mind to talk about. As much as I can give word counts and talk about what I was writing and where I intend to go. I don’t want to reveal too much of the story and I like to have another topic to talk about each journal as well.

Topic:  Ideas.

That’s a misleading sub-heading. I want to talk about the paradox of having ideas.

I meet a lot of writers who are always talking about how they want to write three, four, five books all at the same time. They mention how they start the first five chapters of Book A and then suddenly stop and start Book B. But they also have an idea for Book C.

With me, I’ve always been focused on the book I’m writing on. To the point where I can’t work on other things at all. Now, in recent years that has given way to thinking of the series overall, so I’m working on this book and thinking about the next sometimes.

After all, I just went several months where I didn’t work on the novel and all I did was draw maps and populate a city that is going to be the centerpiece for the next novel. All of that was an excuse to forgive myself from not writing.

My dogged concentration on a single book/story has two sources. The first is obsessively thinking about the book. The second is that a lot of the writers that move from book to book, never finish any of their novels. They just go through the motions. As such I swore that I would always concentrate and finish a book. Even if it was utter garbage. It needed to reach a conclusion.

Birth of Ideas

This brings us around to a funny little aside… or not quite an aside as it informs the main topic.

I find that while I write a story, a fair amount of it is “pantsed” (improv) as I go. Invariably I’ll mention some past event, usually in dialogue between characters. Something to establish the depth of their history (and the world they live in). There are many times where these random ideas then get jotted down in the margins of a notebook and I add a new book to my future list.

Which brings us to how ideas are born. There are many, many ways that ideas come into the world. I could probably do that as a topic (and just like that you witnessed the birth of a new idea).

Ideas tend to sprout randomly. But they always sprout form fertile ground. Does that make sense? Let tell you a story.

Paradox of Ideas

This is one of those stories that is a confession that makes me look a little stupid (though I might be too tough on myself).

Fertile ground refers to having an actively engaged imagination. That means reading a bunch of books, watching a bunch of movies, AND WORKING on more stories.

I mentioned above that I often have ideas pop into my head while I’m in the middle of a story. I’ll have two characters met and start talking and they’ll reference a historical event, or a fable, or legend… and BAM! New story idea. I tend to not write short stories.

Mostly because I overwrite and because I just have no idea about the various magazines and markets to try and sell those stories to. As such, I just don’t do them. So many shorts and novel ideas end up as little notes in my notebooks that I later forget about it and never work on.

Why?

Because I force myself to concentrate on a single novel at a time.

And this is where I call myself dumb.

Back in my 20s I gave up on the idea of being a writer. I concentrated on my work and I stopped writing. For a few years I put my energy into running TTRPG games and then I even stopped that as well.

Skip a near decade and I came back to writing and had some great ideas and found myself working and rebuilding my worlds. So, I cut myself off from running games for over 14 years, and working on other projects.

The first couple years back at the keys I accomplished little. I outlined, I made better characters, I started to meet other writers online and in IRL. I traveled to conventions and conferences. I met editors and publishers. I ended up back in college. A 10+ year journey that in the first 7 years I finished a handful of shorts and 1 novel. Crap.

Then in the last half of that decade I made some changes. I finished two college degrees, finished 2 novels and almost a third, and I also started running games again. I started redoing a lot of my world building and started this website and journal.

Fertile Ground

That was a long-winded way of saying that I gave up on a lot of things to just concentrate on 1 thing. One novel. And it was crap and I accomplished little (writing wise… social wise I made a ton of connections and made a bunch of fantastic friendships).

I made this dumb decision that I had to stop running games, writing other stories, and working on multiple things at a time. BUT that is wrong.

Fertile Ground= Many ideas, projects, and work.

Where do ideas come from? They are born in the fertile ground created by the things we consume and do. The books we read, the movies we watch, and the games we play. The more we engage/stimulate our imagination the more it gives back to us.

All the time I spent saying I couldn’t game AND write was kind of bullshit. I have too many ideas when I’m engaged in multiple activities. Versus when I’m just writing or just gaming.

Still a Problem

However….

We still have a problem. Time.

How long do you sit at the key board… how long do you read… how many movies/tv series do you watch… what’s your gaming schedule.

Time is the great equalizer that kicks as all in the ass. Not just writers but EVERYONE. Juggling everything to fit into a day. Though I will admit that sitting in bed and watching a bunch of horror movies and being able to say to judgmental people, “Hey, this is research. I’m studying tropes and learning legends. I’m cultivating ideas.”

Plus, it’s fun to see when people have succeeded with an idea you wrote long ago but they actually got paid for it. (/Sarcasm) I’m looking at you Wolf of Snow Hollow (FANTASTIC movie but I wrote that killer into a fantasy novel almost15 years ago).

But I digress.

Words!

Wow. I went a little longer than expected on that.

Word count for the week. I’m a little short of my original goals but considering the four-month break I’m just happy to back in the chair (also the back problems not allowing me to sit for too long).

I got in three sessions this week, finished chapter 31 and maybe 32 (I have to read the end again and see if that’s where I want to stop it). I hammered out 5636 total new words and the novel now sits at 165,951 total words.

I also had the issue that I had to go back and reread five chapters in this manuscript to remember details and continuity… and then a chapter in the previous manuscript… and then two chapters in the Thesis Novel as well.

All of that reminded me that I’ve forgotten a bunch of details across the whole series and that I keep adapting things that have ripple effects on later points in the book. Fun times.

Storyline

Chapter 31 got the two teams together.

Chapter 32 saw all the characters, twelve of them, in ne room finally sharing information. Hence why I had to go back and reread a bunch of chapters to remember all the previous conversation and continuity. I’m sure I dropped the ball on some details.

This is why you should really try to get the whole manuscript hammered out in a one go. And by “one go” I mean however many weeks or months it takes, don’t stop until you hit the end.

I’m rewriting the whole outline for the end as I go, just throwing out what was originally planned and changing it up to fit the current situation. It’s crazy, but it is a ton of fun and it’s picking up speed. As it is, Chap 32 is done… but I think I forgot to mention some details in the arguments. I might have to go in and add in some more.

Most of the chapter is just dialogue with the POV firmly on a character sitting on the sidelines watching the back-and-forth arguments.

 Outro

Anyway, I feel like this one is getting a little longer than intended.

The story is going well I’m heading into the final set-piece scene and a LOT of action. This is going to be crazy and I hope I pull it off.

Thank you for reading this far and I hope you’re having a wonderful day. Remember, the more you think and dream the more ideas you’ll sow. Get that mind fertile, read a good book, watch a good movie, pay attention to the details.

Be well.