I don't sweat that kind of detail until I'm in the later drafts. Of course, this is mainly because I just recently (like only about a month and a half ago) found the voice I wanted to use while telling that particular story. And this was the first time I realized that I'd found the voice (I did find it once before for another story, but since I didn't realize it until many years later, I don't count that. And the story was never finished, so that makes it even less relevant.) While writing the current draft of my WIP, I've been stuck a couple of times and rather than waste time pining for inspiration or waiting for enlightenment so I could get back at it, I chose instead to go back and polish. And the kind of detail you're talking about is what I went for. Take a paragraph, make it sing, then go to the next, make it sing the same song, etc. etc. So, eventually, yes. I do that. But it's not necessary (IMHO) until you get to where the story is laid out, all the plot holes plugged and you're heading down that home stretch toward submitting or self-publishing it.
Sounds like me. I think this is why putting a finished draft aside for a few weeks to a few months is such a great idea. A fresh mind is a wonderful thing.
And here's me chiming in from the other end of the spectrum... I want every paragraph to be special. I want school children (or at least, university students) to be quoting my shit for the next few hundred years. I want to be immortalized through my writing, nay! To be a god... <snort; blink; blink> Sorry, I was dreaming.
It's not the size of the paragraph that matters, its how you word it. Also, unindented paragraphs are gross and insanitary.
I work on the surrounding paragraphs until they're good, too. Usually, for me, bad paragraphs indicate a failure of imagination: I haven't imagined the scene fully enough to be able to include the right details, so the paragraphs are bad because they're sketchy. I use their badness to kick myself in the ass; to tell myself, "Come on - think! What is really happening here? What's the right image to describe it? How do I phrase sentences that pace the paragraph correctly?" I focus. I try not to let myself get lazy. Of course, that's the ideal situation. I often do get lazy without realizing it, and I wind up kicking myself the next day, when I really notice the crap I've written. I always read over yesterday's work before adding to it, and if I can see that it's bad and what to do about it, I revise it before carrying on with new stuff. I have a hard time adding new stuff unless I'm proud of yesterday's stuff. That's why I revise as I go.
In my own writing there should be no difference. Each paragraph should be flowing from the next, a concise whole - Ideally. Make a wish . Occassionally a paragraph packs a punch but that is mainly the 'fault' of the content. It hits, because it needs to. But this happens mostly at chapter-endings. Like Minstrel, I am incapable of writing if paragraphs don't tie to another.
Someone had the guts, the audacity, the nerve! To tell me this? To me?? I'm only kidding, but seriously I did have a chat with someone who told me that "Writing is easy, writing for someone else is what's hard." And as much as I can understand what they mean, I'm not sure I agree? Even when I write for myself it still has to be perfect? I can't just write 'He said that, and then he said that, and then this happened, and...' Like the beginning has to make sense with the chapter, the flow has to be right, I can't say too much, I can't say too little... I want X character to say that but he wouldn't say that... Those kind of things! Honestly this conversation has only lead me to believe that anyone who claims that writing is easy is someone who just writes line after line without bothering to make sure if it's nice! What do you guys think? To be fair I'm probably just taking this so seriously because I'm struggling with this one chapter lol
My day job is freelance ghostwriting, frequently advertisements and blog posts and news stories, and I'd say that stuff is super easy. And that's writing for someone else! It's much harder for me to write something for myself, because I know I have higher standards than whoever I'm ghostwriting for does (not that I'm phoning it in there, it's just a pretty simple job with pretty low expectations). Now stop procrastinating and work on that chapter
I think it depends on the person. For some people it may come more naturally than for others, kind of like singing, playing an instrument, athletics, etc. For me, writing can be hard, or I'd rather say frustrating, depending upon what I'm working on but, for the most part, I wouldn't really call it difficult. My process of writing used to be much more strict than I am now. I used to get stuck on every line until I felt like it was perfect. Now I tend to be more lenient on letting myself make mistakes because I know that I will go back through to fix it later. I try to do the best I can in writing a good scene or chapter while I'm writing it, but if it doesn't work out then it doesn't work out, and I know that I can always go back and make it better later, not to mention I'll have other drafts. I would say the most difficult part of writing for me is just keeping myself from getting distracted and to actually start writing to begin with because lord knows I have the attention span of a fly and procrastinate like hell. But, again, I think it's different for each individual person and that's not to say that one writer is better than the other. That's just to say that it comes differently for different people.
I find writing for myself is easier than writing something for someone else. I don't find writing easy at all. I find things pull me away, as life does, or I get writer's block and I just have to step away. I set a standard for myself and when I don't feel I have done my best, I have to sit back and ask myself what my goal is in writing of this particular scene or angle of the book. I agree with you that you want that flow, write the kinds of things that make people want to never put down that book even for just a minute because they are so into the story. People who aren't used to writing may find that writing words on paper is easy, but adding a depth, and something of themselves into it isn't what they are after, so they don't bother and don't put effort into it. Others will agonize over every word and spend too much time on the small details. Everyone is different. Everyone has a passion, for some writing just isn't it, and because they don't really care, they don't bother to find out just how hard another person's passion may be.
You really put it into words beautifully! I have the same writing process, but maybe you're right. We don't all have the same motivations as we write.
Writing well is not easy unless we consider what 'well' or 'good' means. When we are given books or suggestions by friends and they are in love with what they read and we read the same words and have no reaction is that us liking bad things or them liking things that aren't good?
Well I would agree there is something in quality over quantity. Then again some can just pump out books on right after the other, like welfare queens do with babies. So who really knows. Hard to say, maybe there is a secret genius in writing simplicity of a preferred genre, even if it all kinda blends together in the end. Seems there are quite a few who spew books out every few months and they seem to do alright. Though they all eventually do become the same story over and over again with minor changes for a little variation. But I am pretty sure the characters/setting/plot are all interchangeable and indistinguishable from book to book. So for some it is easy, but at what cost?
I find writing for someone else is much easier. I write according to specifications for a day job, and it's a breeze.
Sure it's easy. It's just a "hobby" right? Something we do "casually" to "distract" ourselves from the really hard aspects of life. Like Nintendo.
Folks have different goals about their writing. Some want to produce the most perfect prose/poetry they can, and are never satisfied with less. This can result in some pretty fantastic writing, great imagery, and quotes that stick—but probably also the naggy feeling, on the part of the writer, that no matter how good it is, it's never quite 'good enough.' That's never been my goal, so I don't suffer quite the same way, I suppose. My goal is to be forgotten as a writer while the reader reads my story. I don't want them to notice my prose. I want them to be so immersed in my story that they forget about everything else. That's the kind of immersion I love to get into when I read a book myself, and it's what I want to achieve with mine. That's the kind of result I can't really judge for myself, either. I know I'm immersed in my story as I write it, but have I done enough to draw other readers into it as well? No way to find this out except to get feedback. I'm entirely dependent on others in this regard.
Writing is easy, writing well is not. I really think it's highly personal, some may find ghostwriting hard, others may find it easy. For me personally, I don't think I could do it if I'm not 100% invested in what I'm writing, I just can't scrape up enough passion to get the work done. I tried something similar before with painting miniatures for others for a small fee, and I just couldn't do it because it wasn't the models I was interested in and I think I would feel that same about writing.
Didn't they mean 'writing is easy, and then and then and then and my feelings and I'm so unhappy dear diary' but for somebody else...to read the diary for their pleasure, and enjoy the ride is more difficult?'
It's interesting because it's the opposite for me, I have tons of inspiration but I refuse to just write line after line, it has to be beautiful. But I'm seeing now that it's just about what sort of writing that attracts you more.
I am at a weird but cool spot. I just figured out how I want my narrator to sound (1st person, this is my third draft). What I think really helped me was reading it out loud. So TS, if you are having a hard time read it out loud. When you read it out loud you can tell if it has that flow and if it is consistent. Now, I will say that I only have so much time to write before my mind needs a break. Then go out do some stuff and come back. While I am still only good for one hour at a time, I find it is easier to write 2 or 3 times a day. Now, of course this is my third draft and I already have the story down pretty damn much. But when I start up again, I read at least a page before where I left off to get in that rhythm. It is like a singer warming up their voice. Fah lah lah lahhhh lah. Do it.
