I think most writers have a reclusive streak in them. I do know some writers who really love being around people all the time, but I still believe they slink away and withdraw when they're working. Maybe I'm wrong, and it's just me.
But, as a writer, I've always felt like an outsider among other authors. I don't belong to any organizations, I don't have a crit group, and I never attend writers' workshops. A lot of that can be attributed to the remoteness of the physical location of where I live, but most of it is just because that's how I am, too. They guy who gets ding-dong ditched in seedy Arizona bars and chased by irate cowboys who don't appreciate the distinct advantage Belgian beer has over Bud Lite.
(true story. I'll tell you about it some time when I get over the trauma.)
I also think I stay away from writers' groups because of the process by which I work. It's not very normal. I mention this because I think I'm just about ready to give up another piece of my guts, which means I am just about to start in on page one of the next book.
I know what I'm going to write, usually, for a few months before I start writing it. I know who all the characters are going to be, how they're connected, and what they want. Then I live with all this information inside my head for several months, and it becomes clearer and clearer until the first sentences and the first scene are dying to get out and onto the page.
My outline is there. It's just invisible to anyone but me.
That's about where I am now. Page one is coming any time now.
People often ask if I know how a book is going to end while I'm writing it, but I never do. I know where it's going, but I never know the actual concrete ending until the day I write that part of the book.
And, once I start, I stay on a pace so that I can predict -- usually within a few days -- very accurately, when I will be finished with the book.
I know. It's not the way people do things. It's why I stay out here where I am.
4 comments:
Nicely put, Andrew. That's why I love living where I do. In Palos Verdes (a peninsula just south of LA) I'm technically part of LA county, but you wouldn't know it. It takes half an hour's drive just to get off the peninsula and on to a freeway. It takes another hour to get into Los Angeles proper. Rather a deterrent to gadding about or to friends dropping by unannounced.
Interesting to learn more about your process, too. When are you going to start the new book?
I go to conferences, have a crit group, socialize with as many writers as I can and I am really glad I do. Maybe being in television has made me more of a social bug. It's how you get that next job.
But, I go into a cave when it is time to write and put the pedal to the metal. My own personal Batcave of writing. Lock it down Alfred, hold the calls. Its painful and wonderful all at the same time.
Sounds about the same as me...but I know I'm a recluse and always have been.
I used to know how long it would take me, but it seems with each novel, it takes me longer because I find I'm obsessively playing with structure these days.
Good luck.
P.S. I'm currently reading the Marbury Lens...I'm intrigued. I have an idea where I think the story is going, I'm dying to know if I'm right.
Thanks, Brian. "Dying to know" is a good thing. Went out with Jean and Liz in New York last week. My wife had just finished reading THE HEIGHTS, which she totally loved, and we all chatted about you and your books. Let me know what you think about THE MARBURY LENS. I know you're not one to ever hold back an honest opinion.
And, thanks for the comments, Lia and D.M. Maybe we'll catch up with one another at the LA Times Festival of books next weekend. Lia, they'll have a special section in the LA Times about it on Sunday the 18th.
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