Dismantle My Bed

If you are out in the desert with plenty of water, an endless supply of jerky and a horse named Buckeye that you are fairly certain will live forever, it’s okay to ramble. It’s okay to meander, trot, or use any other method of slowly getting from one place to another that you would like to utilize while seeing the sights and heading toward no specific destination. When writing a novel, though, at some point you are going to have to know where you are going.

You don’t necessarily have to know when you begin writing exactly how things are going to turn out. I suspect every author has a different way of getting their novel out.

I have written three novels. With two of those, the last scene, or the big climax, if you will, was the first scene that I had in mind. I knew where the characters were going. I had to go back and find out how they ended up there. With the third novel, the one I self-published, I knew only the journey. At the time, I had no idea how it was going to end.

Both of these methods worked for me. For some people, they wouldn’t. It just depends on you and your particular writing style. What I found out was that my characters had their own voices and personalities, and, often, it wasn’t until I was in the midst of the writing that I understood how each character would react in certain situations. That’s the joy of it, isn’t it, when you discover that your characters are speaking to you, instead of you speaking for them?

I have read many methods of organizing thoughts for writing. Some people write each major event or scene on an index card, so that they can be sorted and rearranged as necessary. Others make an outline.

In my own writing, I’ve made several outlines, and I’ve destroyed several outlines. Never have I had an outline that I created when I commenced writing last until the project was completed. Things change, events happen that you may not foresee. But if having a working outline or in some other way organizing your thoughts keeps you focused and on-track, by all means do so. Do whatever you need to do to keep yourself writing.

The only thing that has ever continually worked for me is jotting down notes and scenes as they come to me and then finding their place in the script, novel or story. It’s completely chaotic, but then so am I.

While I cannot make your shopping list for you, there are a few things that you might want to make sure you have on hand before you begin writing your bestselling novel or your work of literary genius. In today’s market, it cannot be both. I’m sorry.

If you are doing all of your writing at the computer, make sure you have more than one place to save your writing. Saving directly to the hard drive of the computer has its advantages, but the computer could also crash and you could lose everything. It’s always good to keep a copy of whatever you are working on in more than one place. I generally keep a copy on the computer’s hard drive and on a jump drive that I carry with me everywhere. These are small, compact, hold a lot of information, and can be easily kept with you at all times. It really is the best option.

Also, if you are going to print out sections for purposes of rewriting, proofreading, or letting someone else read your work, keep plenty of paper and ink cartridges on hand.

If you are writing by hand first (I often do this when I am blocked at the computer), keep extra supply of whatever it is you choose to write on, be it blank white sheets, legal pads, or in a journal, as well as a large supply of your pen or pencil of choice. Personally, I find that it can be difficult to switch up pen type in the middle of something. This is definitely psychological, but it’s true, so there you go.

You’ll also want to remain stocked in all of the computer supplies above. If you are writing by hand, type everything up regularly, be it every few hours or at the end of a day. Remember, writing done on paper has considerably greater potential for mishaps like spills and getting lost. Either of these things will lead to several hard nights of drinking.

Would you start across the Pacific on a rowboat without food and sunblock? Would you start up Mount Kilimanjaro without ropes and a pick axe? Would you hike through Death Valley without a visor and a canteen? I think you see where I’m going with this.

As any explorer will tell you, every successful journey begins with being well-equipped. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you what you will need to begin your novel-writing adventure. What works for one person will certainly not work for everyone.

For instance, say you don’t consume caffeine. Not only will I find you bizarre and in great disharmony with me personally, but my positively essential writing provisions of coffee and dark chocolate will be entirely lost on you.

Make a list of things that you will need to write for several hours a day every day. Then stock up. You will desperately regret running out of a necessity in the midst of a productive writing spell.

I’m not just stalling here. This step rivals Step 1 in importance. In fact, it may be more important.

I can have the thought, “Hey, I’m gonna have a glass of milk.” No problem. Thinking some more is where I decide exactly how I might take that thought and turn it into something phenomenal. Or, in this instance, it’s where I would think some more and realize that any idea that revolved entirely around the concept of having a glass of milk would be too dumb to even begin. Unless, of course, I am working on a milk ad.

The point is:

Are you going to be able to get from A to Z, at least using enough of B through Y to make the whole story make sense? And, if you do, will it be a story worth reading?

I imagine it would be a terrible thing to spend months on a project, only to realize, once it’s complete, that it never should have been written in the first place. Better to come to these conclusions before the writing commences.

I’ve picked up my fair share of writing books. After all, by its very nature, a book about writing indicates that you are reading advice from someone who has had something published, hence the whole “book” thing.

It seems that no matter what kind of writing book I pick up, whether its screenwriting, playwriting or writing a novel, they all start the same. They start at the beginning. They start with “how to come up with an idea”. Then, they go into brainstorming and webbing and notecards and all kinds of ways to form a plot.

The Method drastically simplifies this first step. Forget all of the fancy ways to you’ve learned. That’s just good salespeople trying to sell you index cards and meditation CDs. Try this instead…

Have a thought.

That’s it.

Have a thought.

Because if you haven’t already had a thought and you don’t have a basic idea, then why the fuck are you trying to write a book?!?

So, have a thought?

Excellent.

Moving on.