I seem to have inadvertently misled people with my comment about starting writing "as a job." Let me see if I can clear that up.
By "as a job," I meant that I would be spending job-like hours on writing from now on, instead of relaxing most of the time as I did in August. Not that August wasn't great (I highly recommend a month of vacation to anyone who can swing it) but it's time to move on.
So, from now on, I will be spending five to eight hours a day, five days a week, focused on writing. My daily word count goal is 5000 words, which I've seen a professional writer say was his daily output. It's a lot, but even typing, as long as I know what I'm saying, I can do a thousand words an hour.
Of course, the kicker is "as long as I know what I'm saying." If I'm trying to work out plot problems, solve character difficulties, or wrestle with quirks in settings, I may not make word count for the day. Or worse, I may make word count, then realize later that it's no good and I have to discard it.
One of the ways I will be solving this problem is by having more than one story going at the same time. If I get blocked on one, I can just switch to another. If one catches fire, I can let the others go for a little while and focus in on that one.
I've had people ask me if I don't get characters from different stories confused, but honestly, even when I was writing two or three HP fan fictions at the same time, I never did. Each world… well, there really isn't a word for the sensation, but "feels" or "tastes" come closest.
Each world, then, feels or tastes different to me. The characters, even though they come from the same sources, have their own unique personalities and abilities, and I would no more get them mixed up than a mother would mix up her children!
On the other hand… my mom did have the bad habit of calling every name in the house, including the dog, before she found mine, and sometimes would even resort to "Hey you, the big one, c'mere…"
Well, let's just say that I haven't had a problem in the past mixing up my characters. I don't know if I will start once I have original settings to think about, but somehow I doubt it. Still, the proof is in the pudding, so why don't I stop blogging about writing and get to actual writing?
(Also, allow me to take one moment to be very, very glad that my mother does not read this blog…)
Yes I would be glad that she doesn't read it too... I hope that so far you're enjoying writing instead of working... I'm certainly enjoying He nearly killed the cat!
ReplyDeleteI think it's part of a parent's job to get their children's names confused. My grandpa used to call my dad JerryAndyBobbyLarry. I get called Lee (my aunt's name) by my dad a lot, more often when we're all together.
ReplyDeleteI'm thoroughly enjoying your new story and its universe.
I have a terrible time with names between my brother and my son. I had no idea when I named Eric, how phonetically similar his name was to my brother, Gary.
ReplyDeleteAdd to that, the fact that they are now similar in height and build, and share a goofy sense of humor, and it is probably not surprising that I call Gary 'Eric' and Eric 'Gary'.