Enhanced Focus on What’s Important

Writing taps into the creative part of our brain, the part most apt to free-associate or, run off on tangents. If a writer is a “by the seat of their pants” type rather than a “meticulous planner” (two extremes on the scale), they might find themselves distracted by goings on in their story that does not enhance the story. And, when one has the luxury of sitting around with the same story for an indeterminate amount of time, that tendency is amplified.

Instinctively, we know how a story should unfold. We learn this from an early age either from Disney, Saturday morning cartoons, or stories that parents read to us before bed. The largest aspect of the entertainment industry is, in fact, storytelling. What serial fiction forces us to do is to work to a deadline, which enhances our focus on what’s important and vital in a story. When one doesn’t have the time to focus on purple prose, the story is that much more enhanced.

An Enhanced Voice

Each of us has developed our own type of storytelling, our voice. This voice is a reflection of our thought-patterns, how we see the world and how we relate to others. Sometimes, especially for beginning writers, we lose that uniqueness by over-thinking the words we put down on the page. This is not to say that we shouldn’t self-censor, but we should recognize when that censoring comes at the expense of our own voice.

The time constraint of serial fiction, the constant drive to produce, again, forces writers to consider, in their editing phase (if they have one) if reworking how something is worded is an improvement or an accurate representation of their thought at the time.

Additionally, it gives writers greater confidence in their own voice, which I’ll cover below.

Deliberate Practice

In “Outliers: The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell, Gladwell details the idea of “deliberate practice” developed by Psychologist K. Anders Ericsson. There’s a lot of psychology mumbo-jumbo going on in there, but the essential idea is this: When one practices with intensity, self-correction and goals, the quality of that practice is far and away more effective than simple rote repetition.

When you next sit down to write for yourself, think about how you feel, about how you write. Do you allow yourself mistakes, thinking you’ll get back to it? Do you gloss over important details? Do you feel invested in what you’re putting down on paper?

Compare that to how you feel and think when writing for publication, for others to see? Are your descriptions clearer? Do you take greater consideration for things to make sense? Do you develop ideas more fully?

Of course each person is different, but creating work with the explicit thought that someone will soon be reading what you’ve written fundamentally changes the sort of writing you’re doing.

A few writers I’ve told that to say that that makes writing stressful, hard work. But here’s the thing: Writing is fun. Great writing is hard. With serial fiction we are forced to look at our work through the lens of very nearly immediately publishing it. With this deliberate practice, we develop the skills to tackle difficult passages — because we simply don’t have time to waste lamenting over how hard it is. With this goal-oriented approach, we become confident in our own ability to craft what we want how we want.

Instant Feedback

Have you ever looked back on a piece you’ve written five months ago and think “what was I thinking just then?” If you don’t, I envy you. Often I find myself flabbergasted by a passage I’ve written and the idea of having someone review that is hair-raising at the least. With serial fiction, the story is always at the forefront of your creative mind, percolating away in your subconscious or active imagination. When you release a chapter or a part, the feedback that you receive can be readily incorporated into the overall structure of your story, both conceptually in your mind and practically, in your writing.

Consider this: You’ve just written a one-hundred thousand word novel about the plight of dragons in 1950s middle America, a la “Leave it to Beaver.” Your first reader loves it, and so you send it on to an editor, confident in the work. But when you get the manuscript back, the editor has pointed out a fatal flaw in the plot in the second act, thereby negating half to a third of your hard work.

Instead, you’ve been writing it in serial fashion, putting it on the web about two weeks after you’ve written it. A smart observer points out that, in fact, dragons don’t film well in monochrome and it turns them evil. Right then and there you have the option to address the issue that would have corrupted the rest of your work.

This is an extreme example, but, like forgetting to hit save, it only takes once to ruin your day. Or month.

Most importantly, serial fiction allows you to receive support from your readers. I promise you that whatever it is you’re writing: Supernatural Romance, Time Traveling Hijinks, a written reality television show based on the life of an amoeba that lives on the ear of a cat, you will find an audience that will enjoy your work. These readers will give you the courage and the confidence to continue, when you’re feeling down or unsure about your own work. If for no other reason that this, you should pursue writing in a serial format.

Whew, alright. Well I suppose that’s most of it. Serial fiction is hard work. It can be stressful, hair-pullingly annoying and make one consider the pint of slow-churned cookies and cream in the freezer a viable “snack,” but it is incredibly rewarding.

First, I want to be finished with the first story of Last Mage. That is, the confrontation of the mage and Rhiannon.

Second, I want to have some scripts done and sent out for staffing in Hollywood. Successful or not, I just want to do that.

Third, I want to start working out on a regular basis. I have a weight goal thing that I’ll be following up with weekly on my google+. If I can figure out how to put a link to my profile here, Ill do that as well.

And then I have a number of other projects that I want to get off the ground…

So yeah. This is a quick post to keep posting.

More than anything, it’s freeing

I love editing and if I had my way I would edit a page of writing to such a degree that the resulting finished product will have no resemblance to the original. Live writing gives me the permission to put what I’ve just written on display without having to worry about the intricacies of editing. Now, that isn’t to say that I don’t edit at all. I try to do a swift grammar check and spell check, but I don’t always catch it all.

And that’s okay.

Because what’s important is that the story is out and live and available for people to read. It allows the reader to pierce the veil of the perfectly-polished page and peer into the raw creativity in my head. It’s a personal, visceral feeling of sharing and the sensation is phenomenal.

Because I am always writing

That’s misleading. On any given day during any given moment, I’m writing in my head. I think of story, plot and characters. I think of worlds and emotions and dialogue. I think of music and images and vistas. I think of the big reveals and the tiny details. They swirl around in my head like a thick, glimmering fog. But I can’t always set these things down on a page while I’m working or walking or doing other things.

And so once I sit down to actually set these things down onto a page, it comes out in a rush. I won’t compare it to regurgitation because, well, that’s gross. But I will compare it to a sort of explosive release – the sort that happens when you shake up a soda bottle (not the other one, perverts :p). I can do this to such a degree that in a given afternoon, without distraction, I can hammer out seven thousand words.

It keeps me honest

If I don’t get a post out on time I don’t just disappoint myself, I disappoint my readers and I value their enjoyment over my own. Putting out a post is something to celebrate regularly and, given how my life is, I can use all the celebration I can get. Every Tuesday I know that I need to have something up and available for people to read to follow the continuing story of the Mage. I know that it is no one else’s responsibility but my own.

I know there are some published and successful authors out there who do not agree that anything should be put up without ‘proper editing.’ For the most part, I agree. But if I was presented with the opportunity to look into the creative mind of a writer as they wrote, I would jump at the chance. I hope that there are more readers out there who feel the same.

p.s. Because I have a ‘head start’ apparently I’ll have to buy Justin Diehl the DLC for Deus Ex should he win. You know, I bet I could win this fair and square. Since the inception of the competition I’ve written 19k words, more than Diehl. My personal challenge is to do the full 100k, regardless of the competition. That’s 135k words.

But I digress here. The true reason for this post is for me to work out what exactly it is that I want to start working on in general. Lucky you, right? You have the opportunity to peek into my tiny little mind and see exactly what it is that’s going on in there. Well that and see a bit of the behind-the-scenes.

As it stands I have some ten projects that I want to work on and get off the ground. Let me list them for ya:

imagechaos, the podcast
imagechaos.tv, the webcast
alorium.com, the production studio
LastMage, the ebook
LastMage, the podcast/audioboo
LastMage, the book trailer
Dark Sky, Bright Prince, the website
Heller, Darkly, the serial
One World Emperor, the serial
The Extraordinary Adventures of Travis and Dean, the audiodrama

So, on any given night, these things are all floating around my head. Floating and floating, but never really finding a solid perch on the vast expanse of laziness that I like to call my brain.

But this is not at all to say that I don’t want to do any of these things, it’s just that I’ve been spending my time doing other things. Watching movies (I probably see about five a month in the theatre and who knows how much Netflix and Hulu…), playing video games, (see my post on my anticipated games of the next year), and in general just messing about on the internet not being particularly productive.

So, I’ve decided to make some changes.

First, I’m going to start working out. I know that sounds odd, but t do some of my best thinking while moving. Indeed, I once wrote over five-hundred words while I walked from the Metro to my home – a 10 minute walk. More than just the creative impetus for this is the fact that I really need to get healthy. I constantly deal with health issues and the like and I think it might help a bit with depression.

Second, instead of going straight home each evening, I will stop by either the café, the library or the Garden Room and spend an hour writing. It doesn’t particularly matter what it is that I write, just that I do so. I’ve never been one to particularly care all that much about editing during first passes, so that’s not a huge concern to me.

Third, cut down video-game time in favor of research and project time. These things that I listed above are things that I’m really interested in! So it should be simple to simply supplement gaming with this. The problem, though, is that gaming offers immediate gratification. I can sit down and level in an hour. I can’t sit down and create an  entire production studio in an hour. And I know what it is that you’ll say regarding long term projects, they feel awesome oce you finally finish them. And I get that, I really do. I get that the sense of accomplishment that comes from a project well done is so much better than simply leveling up, but damn it if sometimes I just need that fix.

Fourth, get out more. For those of you who follow my twitter and my various presences online, you’ll understand that I pretty much hate humanity. Not in a species sense, but in a human condition sense. That is to say, I don’t understand why people always want to go out drinking or do drugs or don’t communicate between each other. It’s tiring being around folks for any length of time, which I find hilarious because I find human interaction fascinating. Still, I want to make it a point to go out and meet people more often than the never I do so now.

Welp, my train is almost at the station (literally), so I’ll sign off.

Cheers and stay tuned,

Eckhart

P.S. My good friend and fellow writer Justin Diehl has issued me a challenge: Write a full 100k word novel by the end of September. If he beats me, I’ll have to buy him a copy of the new Elder Scrolls game. If I win, he’ll have to do the same for me. Hmm… could this be the motivation I needed?

These past few months I have been in battle. Not against hordes of enemies or an ancient terror, but from stress. Stressed caused by money, as I’m sure many of my readers can relate. Stress from work. And, more, I find myself battling a dark depression.

For those who know me and interact with me regularly, this may come as a surprise. I endeavour to put on a positive affectation. I Laugh, I joke, I am conpanionable. But what is not seen is how very tired I am. How I live with pain both physical and mental. How the deep darkness hovers and threatens.

I find myself battleweary. Disgusted by the lack of communication between humans; between people who should be able to behave like adults. Tired of having to act as if everything is alright. Tired of the lonliness and the quiet and the noise. I feel as though the world spins while I remain the same. The world progresses while I stagnate. Others grow while I simply am.

I imagine this is one of the many facets that simply makes us human, these battles. But wouldn’t it be nice if that weren’t the case?

As I write this I sit in my local Five Guys, enjoying fries while thinking about the facts of my life. How it might change, how it might grow.

I am so very tired and I look to tomorrow as an old warrior might view a dark, desolate battle field.

Videogames.

I swear to Bob on High, that videogames will be the death of my foundling career. I’m beginning to get some notice and just when I rope people in, when my metrics start to grow, my brain rebells and I’m back down to square one. Is it a fear of failure? I don’t know, but I do know that these videogame companies need to stop releasing these darn things and my friends need to stop roping me in to these things. These past three months are a graveyard of dead progress and won games. Let me share with you what I’ve been playing.

Team Fortress 2: I usually hop on this to decompress after I get home from work. Then I look up and it’s effing 11 pm.
Terraria: I lost two whole days with this beast.
Rift: Don’t get me started.
Fable 3: Just released by has already eaten a lot of my time.

I really need to just… stop playing games. I really need to get back on that horse. Help!

This two-fold perspective on storytelling is essential in the success of any creative’s career. We were easily able to sympathize with a plain-looking, scrawny boy living under a staircase. J.K. Rowling’s billion-dollar epic told the story of how this young boy grew up to fight against insurmountable odds. Who among us doesn’t dream about moving out of an oppressive situation into glory? Still, somehow this story is significantly more popular that, say, any Mary Sue story with similar properties. This is because readers reject the notion of “hidden perfection.”

That is to say, it’s the same reaction we as viewers have when watching a trailer for a movie in which the female lead is magically turned into a hot, smoldering temptress from a frump. “Shenanigans!” we cry because, frankly, the actress was hot in the first place. How are we, as an audience, supposed to suspend that sort of disbelief? And more, because of that disbelief, we are prevented from internalizing the story to elevate it above a simple “enjoyable” experience.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There is a great deal of money to be made out there by simply telling a story rather. But crafting an experience that enables the audience to participate or allows them to internalize the story marks the difference between those storytellers who will gain people who appreciate their work and those who will create rabid fans.

I think about this each time I sit down to write and begin to feel worried that I’m loosing the audience’s attention. Especially recently. I am having a blast writing the monstrosity but it’s not readily clear that, outside a few dedicated commenters, anyone else is enjoying my offerings.

So I become paralyzed. I sit there, not particularly experiencing writer’s block, but unwilling to type because I’m afraid I’m boring people.

I’ll call it arrogance because, in all honesty, I can’t come up with another word for it. Confidence is not quite it, because it assumes a measure of surety in my work that derives from approval rather than arrogance which is surety in my work despite a lack of approval. That’s not to say that I don’t care about what my readers think about my work, I absolutely care. But it is to say that I am sure in my work. I love what I’m writing and I feel that, despite quirks and typos, the story is stellar.

So this requires me to ask myself if I feel that the work that I put up online is worth the time people take to read it when they could be doing other things. To that I answer yes — for the reason above. But am I willing to sell this story in a similar capacity to that of a published novel? Am I willing to try to monetize it and ask readers for donations or charge them for the privilege of reading this story? Absolutely not. Why, though, when I feel that the story is ready to be read even if incomplete?

That’s the thing, the product is not complete, so why would I ask anyone to pay for it? It’s like putting a videogame up for beta, really. What my readers see is the story unfolding, my thought processes progressing through the steps I take instinctively to pull a story together. It would be me asking for full price admission to a film and all the audience sees is the story-board.

From here, now, I must look towards the future. There are short stories set in the same world of LastMage that I’ve written and am currently writing. These are finished products that I intend to offer for a very reasonable price in various formats. But what must be done for the story of the Last Mage to become the sort of value that I know it to be? Well, I need to finish it first. Then edit, polish, edit again, re-write, re-plot, edit, polish and then layout.

That’s only the barest of exaggeration.

I write all of this to say that while I recognize that there are other writers on the internet who feel as though they need to hold everything to the vest to ensure that they get the maximum monetization from their work, I don’t feel that LastMage is quite there yet. I would be very disappointed if I got a rough, unpolished chair from a carpenter. I don’t want to inflict the same on my readers.

I love them too much for that.