Advice for Writers: Combatting Boredom

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is somewhat cryptic, at least how it's noted on our calendar: Long books - how not to get bored.

It's not entirely clear to me who's attempting to avoid boredom here. The writer? The reader? 

Hopefully not the reader! Most of us readers who love to read long books are totally in it for the long, for the full immersion into another world, living other lives. I suspect the principles for writing a long book that won't bore readers are the same as writing *anything* at all. We never want to bore readers.

So, I'm going to assume we're asking about getting bored writing long books. How to avoid that?

You can't.

Sorry, but... sometimes writing is boring. Sometimes it's fun. Sometimes it's agonizing. Writing novels, especially very long ones, requires a particular skill set of paying attention to, and working incrementally on, a work that takes a very long time to complete. 

The whole point is not to try to avoid boredom with the process. The point is to revise your expectations. 

Writing is work. This is why there are so many people who SAY they always wanted to write a novel and such a vanishingly smaller percentage who have. An even smaller percentage of that subset ever write more than six books. It's hard work and there's a reason we distinguish work from fun. Writing may be occasionally fun, but it's always work.

What's important to keep in mind is that the experience of writing is not the experience of reading. Don't conflate the two. One of my least favorite pieces of "writing advice" is the saw that "if the writer is bored writing it, the reader will be bored reading it."

NOT TRUE.

Writing takes vastly longer than reading. Every one of us who has spent months writing a book that releases at midnight and then wakes up to comments from readers who read it overnight understands this truth viscerally. Writing a novel, especially a long novel, requires patience and attention over a long span of time. 

So: don't worry about finding ways to not get bored while writing long works. Accept that boredom is part of the process. It's part of the price we pay. 

 

Long Term Series - Managing Those Big Arcs and Dangling Threads

We're to get a freeze this week, so I'm savoring these annuals and their intense color. Bittersweet to say goodbye, but I also know I love them partly because they're temporary.

And I like the cooler weather, having a fire in the fireplace and associated coziness.

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is weaving in overarching plot lines in a long-term stories, and how to keep those dangling, to-be-continued threads from dangling so much that they distract from the simpler arc of a particular book.

The thing is, you're always going to have readers (YOU PEOPLE KNOW WHO YOU ARE!) who are going to bitch complain about dangling plot threads. This is a good thing. If readers of long-term series - and we all know I'm one of them - don't come away at the end of the book hungry to find out what happens next, then the author hasn't done her job right. At the same time, there's a delicate balance between that and the cliffhanger so egregious that the reader throws that expensive eReader against the wall.

Or not even a cliffhanger, but taking TOO many books to get to some promised event. There was a famous author (*cough* LKH *cough*) who burned up so many books with her characters NEVER getting a ball that was only a day away to begin with, that I know someone who literally threw the book against the wall in rage - and gave up on the series.

#ProTip: This is BAD and not the reader reaction we want.

Now, I know I'm an offender in the "but I thought we'd get to the big conflict already" category in more than one series. Still, I'm really trying to steer clear of LKH-level offenses.

The key to managing those big arcs and keeping them from distorting the individual stories lies in both ends. The individual story arc must be complete and the overall arc should be simple.

Complete individual story arc

This is where LKH ran afoul. Each book needs to have a beginning, middle, and end. I know this is basic stuff, but stick with me. The protagonist needs to change in some way and accomplish a key goal. This goal, ideally, should be one piece in the larger arc. If all of these things happen, then the reader will feel satisfied at the end - with at least THAT story.

Simple overall arc

The simpler the overall arc, the less it distracts from the individual books. The example that springs to mind is George R.R. Martin's monster epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. The overall arc is SO complex and overriding, that the individual books are really just installments in one massive story. He's a brilliant writer, and his genius lays in the subtle weaving of this complex arc - but it's so overwhelming that there really is no complete arc in the individual books.

What say you, readers - do I have this right? I'll entertain arguments.

The Long and Short of Striving for Simple

It should come as a surprise to no one that my brain is a messy, disorganized place. I do my damnedest to tidy up. It just does not take. File cabinets explode. Accoutrements pile up in a heap. Yes, this photo really did happen and not just in my brain. All the alphabetized things in my best intentions get flung all over in a mental tornado of "Ooo! Look at all the cool stuff!" Complication and intricacy intrigue me. I suffer from the conviction that everything is related and intertwined. This makes me an everything plus the kitchen sink writer.

This is the long way of saying Ye Gods, please don't make me write short.

There's a reason I have only two short stories and one novella to my name. While I have 5 novels - 4 of which belong in series that are 5 or more books long. Long arcs come more naturally to me. I die a little inside each time flash fiction comes around on our topic calendar. Which isn't to say it's not worth doing - it is. Because while I strongly favor long form (novels), I think there's value in getting kicked out of my synaptic rut. Challenge the status quo and step outside the comfort zone. You know. All those pretty sunrise photo inspirational quote memes you scroll past on Facebook. Fact remains, writing short does not come at all naturally and I dread it every. Single. Time.

There is no plot so simple that I cannot complicate it past all reason. My favorite word while plotting is 'AND'.  It is for that reason that it's worth forcing myself into short form from time to time. You bet it pinches. But the practice of reining in my woeful tendency to run off at the computer keyboard and pruning ideas waaaaaaaay back is a good (if ouchie) reminder that sometimes it really is best to keep it simple, stupid. Even if I have to force it.

The Long and Short of StoryTelling

First, a breakdown of what I have written and if published, by who:

SHORT STORIES:
Two went into publications of the Mansfield OSU Campus, one of which won me the 2006 OSU Florence B. Allen Creative Writing Award.

My first professionally published short was a Seph prequel featuring Nana, was first published in a witch-themed anthology (available HERE ) and was then available via KDP. (It will be again in a day or so; they made me rename it because the Marlboro part of the Marlboros & Magic title isn't allowed though the original publication had no issue, and despite the fact that I found a few other titles using the name which were still available. ??? It has been re-uploaded and re-covered as Smokes & Magic. I'll publicize when it is confirmed as available.)








My second, Comeuppance, was published in Blackguards: Blacklist. (available HERE )



Another short story is going in an anthology my writing group is soon releasing. A half dozen others wait patiently in my 'submit these when they fit' file. I have notes for about a dozen more I want to write...eventually.




NOVELS:

Persephone Alcmedi series #1

Currently, I have six novels published by Simon & Schuster's imprint Pocket Books ( available HERE ), plus one coming in May 2017 from Ragnarok Publications, and another (Seph #7) late this year or early next. I also have four others written and yet unpublished, plus notes for about a ten more to write, plus 2 more Seph novels.









NOVELLAS:
While I have not written any novellas, I have plans for 6-10 tie-ins (see KAK's post yesterday; she mentions such tie-ins) with the Seph universe because I can't see wrapping up all my threads in the novels because the novels need to be about the novel, not wrapping up loose ends...but there are those of you out there who ask about those threads and I cannot leave you hanging. Plus, I'm kicking around a few prequel things because, yanno. They are good stories. Perhaps I shall release a Seph anthology...

When it comes to stories...I love novels. Short stories don't often make it off the TBR pile. Alas, this is an admitted failure of mine and I should not allow this to happen anymore, but then I should read more in general.

What I noticed in writing this post is that I have files/notes for projects that I intend for a certain length. This made me ask myself, HOW DO I KNOW? That's a good question considering that three of the novels I have started out as shorter works. One was intended as a novella and stuff just kept happening to expand the story. Two were short stories (One of which is the novel I have coming out next May) and I needed to know more about the characters.

For me, the answer is, if I'm honest, I DON'T KNOW. But the placement of the file/notes seems to be based on a mix of 1.) what I anticipate it will take to portray the standard three acts, and 2.) my intention/commitment to the piece. Yet once the process commences, all bets are off and I become the messenger (read as: slave) to the story/character.

Long vs Short Stories: Size Totally Matters

I'm all about the length and the width, baby. The longer the better. Oh, and when they're nice and thick too?

Books, folks, I'm talking about books.

I write novels. Not shorts, not novellas, not that gray area of a short novel/long novella. I'm lucky if I can keep 'em to a mere 100,000 words. LARCOUT rings in at 145,000 words. My CP challenged me to write an Urban Fantasy with a mere 70k. I failed. I kept it light at 85k, but added another 7k after the first round of professional edits. It's in the throes of second-round edits now that'll probably tack on another 3k minimum.

Hey, I tried.

Thing is, as a writer and a reader, I like to spend quality time in a world. More than a drive-by or a quick cuppa. I want to escape and exult in the refuge of imagination. In spending my creative capital, if you will, short stories don't provide the necessary ROI.

Sadly, in the world of self-publishing where I own all the costs, the longer the novel the more expensive it is to produce. Plus, longer novels take longer to write, so there's risk of falling off the reader's radar if you don't release a book a "timely" manner. What is "timely" is up for debate, but it's definitely more than once a year. Think more along the lines of quarterly.

Yes, I fail miserably at the "ideal release schedule" too. 

Stop snickering.

Novellas are commonly used as a marketing tactic among series indie-writers. Releasing two to four novellas a year, the authors buy themselves time in-between novel drops. The theory is the novellas maintain a spot in the reader's awareness, provide a sales boost, and can be discounted for promotions without hurting the net revenue of the series. That puts the minimum production of a barely successful indie author at four novels a year, plus two novellas, and at least one anthology contribution.

My head explodes at the notion.  

Now, when we here at the SFF Seven take our turns at writing flash fiction for you all, that's the only time I write short. And, people, I'mma tell ya, it's HARD. I have to keep repeating, "Focus on the moment. This only about the moment."  My creative brain is all, "Yeah, but, the world we could build around this..."  "FOCUS ON THE MOMENT, DAMN IT."

~clears throat~

Words, I has them in abundance. Sometimes, they're even the right words.