tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post3880466050913925206..comments2023-10-30T15:13:22.680+00:00Comments on Strictly Writing: Engine TroubleDThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11803989273524731892noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-8388543403652570532009-08-04T08:27:43.954+01:002009-08-04T08:27:43.954+01:00I'm so glad Caro linked to this because I some...I'm so glad Caro linked to this because I somehow missed it last week...not sure how that happened!<br />Interesting post, Susannah.Caroline Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04708248040141519582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-30733011217156094102009-07-28T08:54:23.219+01:002009-07-28T08:54:23.219+01:00Great post, Susannah, and so true. I agree with ot...Great post, Susannah, and so true. I agree with other comments that it's hard not to let commercial expectations creep in once we want to continue to be published. If we only ever write to follow our hearts, (unless we're very lucky), we'd probably be ignoring editorial advice and we all know how that ends up! But what a fabulous apprenticeship, reading those 400 stories!Sheila Nortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13997206301877289623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-70621081523307429022009-07-28T08:43:05.940+01:002009-07-28T08:43:05.940+01:00It's weird, isn't it? That wonderful descr...It's weird, isn't it? That wonderful description of 'wire-in-the-heart' writing only ever comes to me when I'm writing something that comes instinctively, from within - its almost inate. Inevitably, I'm writing about themes I care about - I think that matters?<br />I have yet to master the short story genre and I think its because when I attempt it, I write to order ie magazine rules and expectations. I know it's possible to marry these with themes and plots I care about but I haven't quite managed that yet! Great post Susannah and big high five to you Tania!Fionnualahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12275984316414726884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-47413448185906475862009-07-27T19:20:13.783+01:002009-07-27T19:20:13.783+01:00Thanks, Tania.
I do want to find that energy wit...Thanks, Tania.<br /><br /> I do want to find that energy with a novel, and have had some fantastic suggestions from another writer who's made the transition. But I now think the time should be spent finding the right energy for a novel rather than organising material that doesn't make my heart leap in the first place.Susannah Rickardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14533371458667245083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-91920109551774912462009-07-27T18:23:29.966+01:002009-07-27T18:23:29.966+01:00Excellent post, Susannah. I was finding myself in ...Excellent post, Susannah. I was finding myself in the position of writing something just because an agent said she liked the beginning, but it wasn't thrilling me, wasn't that wire-into-the-heart feeling. Yes, it might have been a novel, but what gets me fired up are short stories, and without that fire, I had little to get up for every day, even though I am fully aware that short stories are by far the less commercially-viable "choice". But that's the thing - it's not <i>really</i> an choice!Tania Hershmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781460794034586895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-5463144811374232382009-07-27T15:44:24.779+01:002009-07-27T15:44:24.779+01:00Thanks for the comments everyone.
Geri, Emma, I a...Thanks for the comments everyone. <br />Geri, Emma, I agree that it's possible to feel that rush of affection and dedication to a piece that came about purely from a business transaction to write something. But I think to get to that stage you need to regularly work on what you love, not just on what you feel you ought to write.Susannah Rickardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14533371458667245083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-72474161387640712282009-07-27T10:18:08.874+01:002009-07-27T10:18:08.874+01:00I think we all recognise the difference in the two...I think we all recognise the difference in the two kinds of writing, but as Gerry suggests, I'm not sure it's a clear either-or. One of the reasons for the awkward, second-book ugly-duckling stage is that because you're new to the writing game (okay, your first novel took years, but that's still relatively new) you haven't integrated the new stuff, whether it's 'rules' about creative writing, or 'rules' about what agents say they want. Your writerly sense is still adolescent, and you don't always make a very good job of picking around in those rules for what's right for you and your work and what isn't: what you can integrate into your own writerly nature and practice, and what you would never be able to, either technically or in terms of its fundamental nature. Since you're eager to get it 'right' by these external judgements, your own internal judgement is affected. It's like driving a rally car while trying to prevent your navigator seeing your potbelly and the spot on your nose - you're not going to win, and you might just crash.<br /><br />But in fact what you put into your writing - what actually catches light - what gets your creative juices flowing - can come from all sorts of places, including apparently crude, external things, and I think that's what's happening when what starts as the professional necessity to come up with another story does, actually, begin to take wing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-85878013210054087662009-07-27T09:54:45.597+01:002009-07-27T09:54:45.597+01:00I loved your post, Susannah - because I was able t...I loved your post, Susannah - because I was able to read it as a licence to carry on being an obsessively driven nutter when it comes to writing!Rosy Thttp://www.rosythornton.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-53727101284831566452009-07-27T09:53:44.807+01:002009-07-27T09:53:44.807+01:00Writing as I do for a living I occasionally hammer...Writing as I do for a living I occasionally hammer away at a story where my heart isn't in, to begin with. But I have to keep going because I need the money! But even with those sort of stories I soon get caught up in the trick of making it come out right, even if it's a struggle to begin.<br /><br />Occasionally I sit down and write a story from start to finish that seems to flow out of me. That doesn't happen often either and it's a joyous feeling.<br /><br />Writing is a compromise, once you've started to be published regularly, between what your heart pushes you to do and what your editor tells you she wants. It's like Life, really.<br /><br />Susannah, I do so love your posts. Each one is like reading a story and I always come away knowing more about myself than when I started.Geraldine Ryanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01575892095296317266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-21875121796935632002009-07-27T09:11:07.026+01:002009-07-27T09:11:07.026+01:00Very thought-provoking, Susannah. I'm in that...Very thought-provoking, Susannah. I'm in that limbo-land at the moment - the first novel written because it needed to be, but 'not what agents/the industry wants', second novel stalling because part of me is trying to second-guess that 'system'.Susie Nott-Bowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08428000582406338267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725342624231517088.post-44135123376800775282009-07-27T08:19:00.707+01:002009-07-27T08:19:00.707+01:00I feel that urgent drive has to be tempered with r...I feel that urgent drive has to be tempered with realism though - but only if you want to get into print.<br /><br />My second book was very mechanical, i can see that now, trying too hard to please the market, my first book written after the awareness of writing rules... Whereas my present book was written on a whim, based on my long-held fascination for Ancient Egypt - but it is between genre, and if you are writing genre fiction that's an invitation to show the Grim Reaper in.<br /><br />It's a difficult one and an argument i've seen discussed many times before. Certainly for genre fiction if you write straight from the heart just be aware that might be your downfall in terms of publication.Or it might not. I'm several rejections into my own submission process and at the moment it could go either way. But the feedback i'm getting so far is that it's not the writing itself that's the problem...<br /><br />Great post, Susannah and what a wonderful opportunity to read all those short stories.Administratorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13894920115299109640noreply@blogger.com