Author Topic: article: WorldCon Report, Day 5  (Read 893 times)

The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers

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article: WorldCon Report, Day 5
« on: September 13, 2004, 12:01:44 PM »
reference: http://www.timewastersguide.com/view.php?id=838

so, perhaps the rest of you would like to explain what you think is so cool that it could be cool without me here.

stacer

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Re: article: WorldCon Report, Day 5
« Reply #1 on: September 14, 2004, 12:27:29 AM »
Well, there was the cheesecake part. Lots of good conversation. I don't remember what all we talked about, except a vague memory of explaining the intricacies of LDS dating to Joshua. And then most people missed lunch at ... I'll never remember the name of that restaurant. I've eaten there twice, but it just doesn't stick in my head. Anyway, that was Tuesday, so most people were gone by then. Only ones left were Ookla and EUOL, who both got to see the corporate cube farm I work in. (Until Friday.)
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Mistress of Darkness

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Re: article: WorldCon Report, Day 5
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2004, 02:34:21 PM »
So, what were some of the writer's block exercises?
" If i ever need a pen-name I'd choose EUOL, just to confuse everyone. " --Entropy

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Re: article: WorldCon Report, Day 5
« Reply #3 on: September 14, 2004, 04:46:07 PM »
I can't remember. I do remember the competition thing. Brenna and I were kind of distracted. I blame the ninja monkeys.
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The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers

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Re: article: WorldCon Report, Day 5
« Reply #4 on: September 14, 2004, 04:47:29 PM »
I'll pull out my notes in a little bit.

The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers

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Re: article: WorldCon Report, Day 5
« Reply #5 on: September 14, 2004, 05:08:03 PM »
I'll group comments by the panelists. You may not know any of them, but I figure I'll give credit where credit is due. Some of these comments are well known, but they're well worth bringing to mind again.

Tobias Buckell:
Tobias has made a goal to never spend more than 2 days not writing. Basically, he can take weekends off, or can have a couple day's break for block, but then he writes.
He also brought up the idea that there are really two different "impulses" or "persons" in our minds that work on our writing. One is more of an editor and one is a writer/creator. The editor can often get in the way of the writer, but you shouldn't edit your ideas until you have them written.
Tobias also tracks not just his word/page count, but the times he writes, so he can find trends. That way you can focus on writing when you work best. He also points out if this writing time is when you're very tired, you shouldn't do ANY editing till morning. Editing needs to be done when you're most clear-headed.
He also set up Excel to make graphs and visual representations of his progress (with a marker toward goals, either of a month, or a whole book's worth) to keep him going. SOmething like EUOL has on his site to track progress toward completion.
Finally, though he's a big fan of tracking work, he hasn't found an ideal way to do it for edits or revisions. He recommends trying to track hours or page counts
(I recommend keeping various versions of your work, draft 1 being v.1.0, then you can edit/re-write and make v.1.5 or 2.0 as you go, that helps you separate what's been edited and so forth, but you may still have problem tracking little changes you make as you go through one version of a draft).


Adrian Bedford
Adrian sets resolution, then gives himself permission to write a little bit of crap every day, to start yourself off if you need to. Focus on meeting the resolution, not the quality. You can always revise/edit later. Writing crap 6 days and keeping only one day's worth is better than not having written any of those days.
He recommends small, short term goals. Don't set a goal to write a 100,000 novel in a year. Set a goal to write 1000 words in a day. then repeat it.

Stephen P. Kelner
Stephen, when stuck or distracted, does something repetitive and interesting, like Solitaire, till he gets bored with it and comes back to write.
He also recommends, like the recommendation for insomniacs, that you only site in your writing space when you're writing. Don't sit there when you're blocked.
He also suggests that with work, you can force yourself to build a habit to unproductive times become productive times.
As for revising, he suggests you can track how much you cut, and he likes the visual graphs like Tobias does for tracking.


Patricia Bray suggests you count research as writing, as long as you're honest about it being research.
Discuss lots of new challenges, make up things you have to work into your story (to distract you from an oppressive goal, since this should still move your writing forward). Other people are good for coming up with these sorts of ideas for you.
She suggests meeting with people for ideas. Have a social comraderie with other writers. (There was some discussion of getting drunk as conducive to writing, but it doesn't apply as a good idea for many of the writers here).
Remember that not writing for a day isn't necessarily a betrayal of the craft or yourself.
Be realistic: don't plan to write if you're not going to, that only bring guilt. When you take time off of writing, be deliberate about it. Don't pretend you will when you're not going to.
Your writing habits may change over time. Be conscious of how your habits change (as in when/where/how much you write). (I want to note that this is a good reason to track progress/times/etc).

I want to add to tracking: track the subject/type of thing you wrote.

There was also a lot of reminders that  everyone writes different. None of these ideas will work for everyone. Try'em, use what works. Don't keep trying what doesn't work.