Hello - and some questions!

[MyBrainIsOutOfTune]

I found this section of MN the other day, and have been reading through some of the old threads. I'm surprised that so many of you write or plan to write! I always wanted to be a writer, but let the thought go when I 'grew up', iyswim. After being reminded that it is possible for normal people (or at least fairly normal) to be writers, I keep wondering, should I, shouldn't I...

I think my main problem is that I'm lazy. I actually am one of those people who want to produce Nobel Prize material in the first sitting I chose not to write anymore because I thought I wasn't good enough, but I never gave myself the chance to become better. I suppose my writing is where I left it, which is when I was still a teenager. If I want to improve, I'll have to work really, really hard, and maybe I'll still be crap How do you decide whether or not it's worth the effort? I love to write, I think it's fun, but I also have to feel that I'm going somewhere with it.

Maybe I should have created separate threads, but while I have your attention...

• How did you decide on which genre to write in? And do you change between genres from text to text? How about high/low-brow? One day I want to write cheap romances because it sounds fun, the next I am deeply ashamed of ever having thought such a thing This confusion then influences the text I am working on - one day I think it is chick lit, the next it's something completely different. At least I'm sure that this particular novel isn't going anywhere!
  

• Do you write about things you actively disagree with, or present things in a way that you know creates an image you don't like? For example, would you write a book about women who are constantly dieting and stressing about food when you know that this makes such behaviour look normal (even if you put it in a bad light)? I'm struggling between wanting to write into cultural conventions like that and not wanting to perpetuate them (I should probably not worry about things like these at this stage, but I'm a worrier)..
  

I'm impressed by those of you who manage to set a task for each day/week/month and do them. I have all the time in the world, but find it hard to discipline myself like that. Once I get going, though, as you might have realised, I just go on and on

[MyBrainIsOutOfTune]

Thanks for answering!

'Switch off your inner critic and get on with it!' Yes, I guess that's just what I need to do. There was a time a couple of years ago when I told myself to write one page a day, and did (mostly), but then the practice period of my teacher training started and every good intention went out the window (I was also trying to teach myself German. I remember the word for strawberries.) I haven't written much since then, except during sporadic fits of inspiration.

I think I will try setting myself a target for each day, and see how that works. If not for anything else, I'll get to use my Scrivener, which I downloaded after reading about it somewhere around here, and I'm completely in love with

[BsshBossh]

How I've gotten back into writing after more than a decade :

• IDEA: Had an idea for a story that just wouldn't leave me alone (a novel), in a genre I enjoy reading
  
• OUTLINE: Stuck to this single idea and plotted it out, virtually scene by scene, in advance of writing, to see if it worked - basically I gave the idea a chance before I contemplated ditching it for another idea
  
• DISCIPLINE: Set myself the task of writing a set amount of words a day (in my case 1000) no matter what, even if it's in burst of time throughout the day
  

I am so excited by the story I'm writing that I can'thelp but write it out (give or take the odd blip here and there!).

Come join us on this thread - we all want to write a book in 2011:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/creative_writing/1099701-For-anyone-else-who-wants-to-start-progress-finish-writing-a-book-in-2011

[ninah]

I do identify with what you are saying and tbh if I had realised that five years down the line I would be unpublished I would have found the prospect of starting to write v daunting.
Intially, yy I wanted to be brilliant overnight, and got discouraged quickly. What you have to realise is that there are no guarantees at all, and think to yourself would I rather have given it a go, or not? what else would you be doing, if you didn't write? I am a lone p and it gives a great focus to enforced solitary evenings. I began writing gibberish when I started to live on my own, daily gibberish. I have definitely got much better and more confident, and have a greater appreciation of how writing is put together.
as for genre I think don't be prescriptive, just write and see what happens. I enjoy psychological crime stuff but can't write it convincingly. An idea needs to have sufficient juice in it to go for 75K + words, to demand to be told, so unless you are truly gripped by it chances are it will peter out. Also don't worry about pc/non pc, you can sort that kind of thing in draft two, three, four etc. If you have censoring, doubtful thoughts in your head you will never start.
I am hooked now. Writing is something I do for myself, it gives me an intellectual purpose I don't have in daily life otherwise.
I can quite see how it might be incompatible with teacher training, however!
and what is german for strawberry?

[MyBrainIsOutOfTune]

Erdbeer

I think where it gets confusing is that I wouldn't be able to write the kind of books I enjoy the most myself. I would, for example, love to be funny, Terry Pratchett funny, but I'm just not

I sent in some chapters for a romance competition some time ago, I think I'll just keep writing on that book and see where it goes. And I'll check out that other thread as well. Thank you

About Scrivener being a distraction - whatever do you mean...

[ninah]

I'd love to be suspensful and disgusting
but I come over all anita brookner

[wordfactory]

Hmmm.

I wrote my first book for fun. TBH I assumed it sucked.
I chose crime fiction because I adored it both books and telly and also because I was a lawyer so I knew a lot about court cases etc.

I subbed it partly because I think you do need some sort of external opinion on your work otherwise you can either assume it's great or terrible (chances are it's neither).

That book however did get published and I'm now quite a way down the road ...

Would I present things in a way I disagreed with? What an interesting question. And one that goes to the heart of the editing process.

Of course I take all comments from my editor gracefully but I don't always agree. Often we compromise, sometimes we can't.

For example I portrayed a gang rape in one book. I wrote it from the POV of an onlooker (possibly an encourager, certainly a bystander). I was asked to jazz it up but I felt very strongly that to write it from the POV of the victim or perp would be too voyeuristic.

In another I made some fairly strong comments about religion and women...

I need to be careful now or I will out myself again...and I'm running out of names.

[ninah]

intrigued ....I think I love you wf

[TimeWasting]

Wow, I've just googled Scrivener. That looks awesome. Does it help? Is it free?

wf, while you're there can I ask, do you think it's snesible to approach crime writing if you don't have any background in the area? Are there enough resources online to iron out any problems of procedure etc.?

[wordfactory]

I do have a background in law, but I don't think it's necessary.

There are always so many people to help out these days - experts in everything who always seem so pleased to help. MN is pretty darn good.. And the internet is wonderful - I've discovered everything from how to manufacture crystal meth to how many illegal fire arms there are in the UK just by googling.

And to be honest if I really don't know and I really can't find out...I make it up

[TimeWasting]

[BlooferLady]

Um. The genre thing is a biggie. I write in a fashion utterly distinct from the writers I read most, and most admire. Indeed, when it was first pointed out I was furious, and stamped my foot, and resolved that I was nothing of the kind .

I have never 'tried' to write in a particular style. It just comes out that way, quite distinct from anything I would choose to read. I don't think I could change it any more than I could change the size of my feet. I could put on a different pair of shoes I suppose

[Punkatheart]

I have written crime, macabre and psychological. I would like to think that I now write literary fiction but I always think that qualification should be given by someone other than the writer.

I write from compulsion and when it goes well, it is a drug.

Being published is a buzz too....but I also get a thrill out of editing other people's work and critiqueing. I would recommend the latter to all writers - you learn so much...

[Abr1de]

Definitely second that. Being published is a thrill--probably one of the biggest in my life to date. But I have learned so much from critiquing. It's a hard thing to do well but you gain so much.

I'm now at the stage where I'm considering moving on from writing. The financial side is getting harder and harder to predict and cashflow is a nightmare. But I haven't resented a single year I've spent trying to be a better writer. It has taken me to some interesting places. And in trying to get inside the heads of some not very sympathetic characters I've learned a lot.

[wordfactory]

Oh Lord, I cnanot edit my own work - singularly and spectacularly fail to be able to get the distance, even after all these books and wotnot.

To edit anyone else...torture.

Abride I can understand that you're moving away from writing. It is getting harder and harder and so unpredictable. I was haibng dinner with a script writer mate of mine last night and he said he was moving towards books because he wanted more autonomy...but the lack of money had sent him straight back to Holby City .

[Punkatheart]

Back to Holby City? Oh dear, another Casualty. (Boom boom)

[Abr1de]

Wordfactory, I can imagine that it's hard to turn down a regular gig like HC! N I'm moving back to writing corporate literature and reports. Paid by the hour, payment received once a month...

[Punkatheart]

Yes, I do journalism as well as sponging off my DP. But to make a living? Even friends who have written books, one who has been signed by Bloomsbury - they cannot live by the pen alone. Although another writing colleague has just been given a £100,000 advance and is described as the next Margaret Atwood.......

But I don't write for the money. Who would?

[Abr1de]

I have to write for the money and if it doesn't pay I have to stop. I had two years when I did very nicely. Most years I couldn't have supported myself with my novels alone.

I could perhaps be going to have a bumper year this year but my publisher insists on clinging onto my money until I come and wrench it out of their accounts department by force. So our cashflow is dreadful. And my husband has been made redundant. We probably could have managed one of the situations: either the redundancy or the late payment, but both together is a little nerve-wracking.

Well done to your friend! That's wonderful. I get a real lift when I hear of authors doing well.