Starting Is The Hard Thing

[sleigh]

Yesterday I put the first words down for A Magic of Nightfall, the second book in the Nessantico Cycle. I probably should have done that a week or two ago, but I stood there on the rock-strewn beach of the Novel Sea, staring out at that distant horizon and the unseen shore on the other side where I hoped to land, and hesitated before diving into those cold waters again.

Gene Wolfe, in answer to someone's question at a convention, once said this: "There's no right way to write a novel. There's only the right way to write this novel." I've found that to be a particularly cogent statement. That you've managed to write one novel successfully is no guarantee you can repeat the process... because the next book will demand you find a unique path through it. The characters are new, the landscape has changed, and there are different demands you'll have to face. You plunge into the nine-to-eighteen-month slog without any guarantee that there will be a reward at the end of it.

But as they say in martial arts: it's not the destination, it's the journey. We're off again.

Comments

[stevenagy.livejournal.com]

I'll second the Wolfe comment, and second the idea about the journey. At this point, getting paid is secondary for me (because I don't). And I'd like to think that when I do get paid, I'll consider it found money and still enjoy the writing just as much as I do now.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

Sounds like sane reasoning to me. Anyone who goes into writing for the money is choosing the profession for the wrong reason. :-) It's nice if it comes, but it isn't the reason to do it. The same applies for any of the arts, I think: music, acting, painting, etc. You'd better be doing it because you can't imagine not doing it, and if you happen to make a little or a lot of money at the same time, well, that's a wonderful bonus.

[affinity8.livejournal.com]

I love your image of the rock-strewn beach of the Novel Sea. That's a keeper! Thank you for sharing it.