Mandy's Shorts by Dan Yeagle
Writers come up with all sorts of excuses for not finishing their books. I don’t blame them, really. Writing is very hard work.
I came up with some excuses of my own last month. I had to concentrate on moving house. I was ill. The weather was too cold. I needed to spend more time learning Chinese. There are too many books anyway.
You might think the cold weather excuse was a bit flimsy. But my usual writing seat is a marble slab in an unheated passage under the railway and I go there because it’s the only quiet spot near my office, so the long spell of sub zero temperatures did give me a slight problem. I suppose I could have brought in a furry cushion. I managed to go to a warm café on some days but most of the time I couldn’t get a seat anywhere and wasted a lot of time wandering around from café to café.
My work was also very busy and since my employer had a fit of generosity and offered to buy me as many Chinese lessons as I could do in a year, I thought I’d better take advantage of the opportunity and try to give value for money by spending more time at work as well as on my Chinese.
Yesterday there was a storm and my bedroom walls became alarmingly damp. All the more reason to concentrate on moving house. But at least I still have a house.
And I can’t complain about spending more time with my Chinese teacher. Last week she was in a very good mood because the weather had warmed up a little. When she took off her long black coat I was surprised to see she was wearing a pair of red hotpants.
She is a great motivator.
“I love your stories,” she is fond of telling me. She means my stories in Chinese. “You should write more.”
I haven’t told her I’m writing a novel. It’s better not to tell people, I’ve found. It’s better to just do it. Well, now the temperatures are above zero again, I have no excuse. And writing in English is a lot easier than writing in Chinese. I rarely even need to think about those great shorts.
I love your excuse: There are too many books anyway.
I agree that it is better to write a novel rather than tell people and then write it.
It is a mixed blessing when you tell people, this is true. I was touched when I revealed in seventh grade I was writing a novel. During junior year, a girl came up and asked me how the novel was going. I was touched she remembered.
And guilty because I’d given up.
I think if you surprise people with the finished novel, the shocked expression and sudden excitement on their faces is the blessing unmixed, the straight drambuie as opposed to the Rusty Nail.
Oof, I hate it when the weather gets too cold!
I’ve found that writing (extensive) outlines help motivate me to “finish writing the book” (on time).
I’ve read that some people don’t enjoy writing outlines, because they feel like they’ve written the book already, once the outline is completed. I understand the perspective, but I seem to benefit from being able to actually view some kind of plan/structure to guide the construction of the novel.
By the way, I’ve Herman Melville to read for one subject this semester (Studies in Major Authors). I hated his work at first (really long-winded), but grew to appreciate it — especially after writing an essay on “Billy Budd”…
+ Full text of Billy Budd online = http://www.shsu.edu/~eng_wpf/authors/Melville/Billy-Budd.html
Hello Jess
You’ve been quiet. Have you been busy writing another novel? I enjoyed reading your stories but I never got around to posting a review of them for reasons that had nothing to do with laziness or cold weather.
I read a lot of Herman Melville’s work when I was 20 or so. My favourite was Typee, largely because of the descriptions of beautiful naked women. It is quite funny to read frank descriptions of erotic feelings from a writer whose prose is normally, as you say, a little long-winded. But I think he is plain-spoken enough when it matters.
I also like to work to an outline. Without an outline I am prone to wild deviations, like Melville in Moby Dick. At least Melville, unlike me, can remember his plot. You have to give him credit for that. It’s harder than people think.
I’m currently drowning in some remaining assignments, including a 30-page advertising plan (proposed and approved final project for “BUS 345: Advertising”, with regards to “establishing my brand identity as an author”)…I am trying to finish that by tomorrow, because I have another two 8-10 page essays left (Shakespeare + Melville).
And yes, I managed to complete two other novels, and another (shorter) one I recently put together (new and previously published short stories / poems / excerpts = samples for potential readers to peruse…). Will probably publish that one in June/July 2010.
Those “two other novels” are currently being reviewed by some literary agents…but I honestly enjoy the speed and efficiency of indie publishing too much. Nowadays, you can go from concept to final product in a matter of weeks, versus 12-18 months with traditional publishers. Having full business + creative control is invaluable too, lol.
Anyway, glad to hear you enjoyed reading 4:Play. Next two books are more toned down (wanted to try something different ^^).
Typee — I’ll make a note of that. Melville’s descriptions are unbeatable:
…It is into “the gall of his envy” which Claggart infuses “the vitriol of his contempt…for the sly escape of a spontaneous feeling on Billy’s part…answering to the antipathy of his own.” ~ (the homoerotically charged) Billy Budd
One of my remaining 8-10 page essays is on Moby Dick. I’ll look out for the “wild deviations”…I wonder if Melville worked to an outline as well?
I don’t know if Melville used an outline but he was a fascinating, sensual man open to experiences of all kinds. Moby Dick contains many startling scenes of bonding and unprejudiced appreciation of others, whatever their race, culture, creed, sexual orientation or diet. Life would be very dull without people like him or his relative Richard Melville Hall, the pop musician and vegetarian (better known as Moby), who is also in touch with his feminine side, having been encouraged to express his creativity by his mother from a very early age. Herman Melville, by the way, kept writing despite many rejections and commercial failures, right to the very end of his life. He is a monumental inspiration to all of us who prefer never to relinquish our creativity or close our minds to the joys we have not yet had the privilege to experience. Good luck with your writing, Jess. You are an inspiration too.
I know more about Moby’s music than his personal life (apart from being related to Herman Melville, and his vegetarian preference). I think one of the critics during Melville’s day used the word “dangerous” to describe him/his work!
Commercial successes always remind me of an Oscar Wilde quote:
“Popularity is the crown of laurel which the world puts on bad art. Whatever is popular is wrong.”
Good luck with your writing too — and much thanks for considering me an inspiration, heh. By the way, the 30-page advertising plan (which induced some whining from me initially) turned out to be quite illuminating. It was especially nice to see that (for newbie authors) the opportunities lie in indie > traditional publishing.
I’ll let you know / “report back later” on which of my tactics work (hopefully, some of them will). In my executive summary and conclusion, I wrote that the key lies in establishing a strong brand identity. The publishing/business side has to blend harmoniously with the writing side. I seem to work well between extremes/opposing forces — so I’ll be constantly working towards “standing out” sometime in the future…
First step = blog/main website overhaul (sometime in June 2010, maybe).
Be careful about revealing too much here, Jess. It’s not just you and me reading this. Some influential people from the publishing industry may get wind of your plan and try to block it. They try to stamp out anything with a spark of life in it. Please do report back, though. Don’t forget me when you hit the big time. “Fame is a fickle friend.” (J.K. Rowling)