Because I know you've been on the edge of your seats...

[rolanni]

...the braiding is done.  The plot is exactly where it's supposed to be.  Now I get to write The Thrilling Conclusion.

I know what you're thinking:  How does she DO it?

Damned if I know.

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Blow things up?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

This one hasn't many. . .any?. . .explosions. There's a doozy coming up, but it's been a Light Ordinance Narrative (LON), thus far.

[ironore.livejournal.com]

That sounds promising. Perhaps something with the Yxtrang? Maybe finishing off the Department of the Interior? Can't wait to find out.

[otterb.livejournal.com]

Stand back! This is a professional at work!

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

I have NO idea how you do it, but it sure works for me :)

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Or, as we learned previously, "It's complicated."

YAY!

[gareth griffiths (from livejournal.com)]

Well done! - Curious - does it get easier as you write more books or is each book still different in the problems it poses!

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

*laughs out loud*

Some things get easier; some things get harder. It's one of the things that writers say to each other, when writers gather together and talk about their projects: "Just when I learned how to write Book A, it ended. Now I have to learn how to write Book B."

Basic craft (how to build sentences and paragraphs; the basic shapes that stories can take; knowing when a chapter needs to be unzipped -- and how to do that -- knowing that there are several ways to approach the massive project that is writing a novel and not being afraid to try another way if your preferred method isn't working) is easier. As I was reminded just now when I looked at the first chapter of Shan and Priscilla Ride Again. Good grief, what a hot mess. Somewhere along the line, it seems we learned that the first chapter ought to do introduction and set-up, even if we're starting the story in media res.

The thing that I miss is the. . .sense of almost overwhelming excitement in the writing of the story. Crazy enthusiasm is what gets most new writers through their first works, where they're learning their craft, and how stories go together, and all the nine-and-sixty ways of constructing tribal lays, and when to try another. . . This is not to say that I lack enthusiasm for my work now, but I'm not shooting off fireworks 24/7 because book!book!book!, and I can think of craft and story simultaneously . . .I think they call it "control" :)

I should add that it seems to be the fashion now among new/learning writers to adopt a grim "writing is tough, but I'm tougher" sort of approach to the work, as if enjoying your work is. . .so uncool. No question, writing is hard, but it's also fun. I can't imagine why you'd want to be a writer, if writing isn't fun. There are lots of jobs out there that are hard and joyless, and pay much, much better than writing does.

So. . .anyway. . .

[amm-me.livejournal.com]

Your first paragraph reminds me of my grandmother's reported remark in 1950 when her third and last child had just gotten married: "I was just getting the hang of this.'

[charlie russel (from livejournal.com)]

Interesting, technical writing is very much the same in that sense. Your first book you're so excited. At least until you realize just what a slog some of it is. And that first advance copy? The thrill! It's IN PRINT! I'm _published_! 30+ books later, I'm still very excited at the proposal, and very much enjoy actually seeing it in print. And the craft part of writing gets easier. I know where my "tics" are, and try to avoid them. I know how a chapter needs to come together, and I know about visual elements to break up the text and code. But each book is a different technical challenge, and I usually just about get to know how something works about the time I finish the book. Sometimes the challenges are what I expect, and other times stuff that I think will be easy turns remarkably recalcitrant, and other stuff stays just as difficult as I feared. But I enjoy what I do, or I certainly could make more money doing something else. And the pleasure of getting the first royalty cheque months after finishing a book that I was sure would never pay back its advance is palpable.

Write on -- I'll always read. And as for explosions - they don't require heavy artillery after all. They could be water balloons. :)