Letting it Simmer
It’s Been a While
Hello there again. It’s been kind of a while since I posted anything on this blog. I guess it’s a combination of being busy and being at least a little bit lazy. As I’ve probably said, I’m an elementary school teacher and I’m off for the summer. I’m in my final few weeks of break, and slowly realizing I have to get myself ready.
I’m also realizing that maybe I haven’t accomplished quite as much writing as I had planned on doing. In a previous entry, I wrote about not feeling bad about this, so I still refuse to guilt myself into not meeting some sort of made-up deadline. After all, for the time being at least, this whole “writing” thing is just for me. It’s a hobby, really. A calling, maybe, but something is not for anybody else.
Old Work
So, I have been thinking about going back to old work. I’ve seen this advice a couple times, to write something, and then physically put it away for a while. Maybe write a draft of a short story, then shove it into a desk drawer. Or type out the plot of a novel, then save it onto your computer and give it time.
Recently, I have started thinking again about a science fiction story I began maybe three years ago. I had decided to try out NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). If you don’t know about this, the challenge is to write a 50,000-word novel during the month of November. People have meet-ups to encourage each other, including one on Halloween, where at the stroke of midnight on November 1st, everyone begins typing away.
Some have a story already plotted out and outlined. Others make it up on the spot. Still others, like me, do a bit of both. I had a separate “notes” file, where I outlined key elements as they came to me. I also have short bios for the main characters, as well as some basic world-building information.
I didn’t get through the whole 50,000-word quota. At the time, it seemed pretty difficult. Now that I’ve been writing every day of 2017, the required daily average of 1,667 words doesn’t seem all that tough. I can do that in twenty minutes or less if I know what I’m doing. The draft I got through before admitting defeat was 15,167 words, counting chapter names and intro sections.
The basic premise of the story, code-named “Forsaken,” is it’s far into the future, and humanity has colonized other worlds and other star systems. Likewise, people had been split into separate “breeds,” each with their own talents and place in society. I had been thinking, look how crazy different dogs are, even though they’re all the same species. Imagine we had humans like that. Ones which were huge and muscular, others with insane sense. Some which were full of energy, or able to live in difficult environments. With the help of some main characters, the social order is shaken up. Revolution, intrigue, a pretty cool villain, maybe a bit of romance. It had promise, but just wasn’t done. (Note: The images in the header are sketches I made of three of the main characters, while also playing with/learning PhotoShop and digital artwork).
Let it Simmer
So, while I have been slowly world-building on my “Rasa” story, which is completely separate, my mind slowly started to drift back to “Forsaken.” Even though I had another story which was ready to be rewritten into a new draft with the goal of being published kind of soon, I couldn’t focus on just one piece. And now that I had begun thinking of “Forsaken” again, I found myself getting back into the characters and that universe with renewed vigor and excitement.
Which, I guess is the whole point of letting your work “simmer” for a while. Even years, if necessary. It’s like any creative endeavor or artwork. If you are the type who is able to get the whole thing done in some sort of rapid and insane trance, then go for it. I have had those moments, but can rarely complete something like that. If I had the lifestyle to buy a ton of snacks and drinks and lock myself into a cabin in the woods until a novel was written, that’d be great. But I have a job, kids, bills to pay and all that boring stuff.
For me, it’s much more feasible to think about something slowly, let it grow bit by bit in my mind. And even though I haven’t had anything completed yet, and definitely am not ready to publish at all, I’m kind of happy I have multiple things in the works right now. It gives me a break from something when maybe I’m getting a little frustrated, while still getting some work done.
Benefits of Looking Back
I guess the point to this rambling today is that I like looking back at old work. I have more of it than I knew at first, even though I’m only recently trying to write “for real.” I have story ideas I came up with as a child, even, including a couple hand-written drafts. One was a superhero I made up. Thinking back on this immature story one day, I came up with a more interesting idea about a self-proclaimed hero, trying to singlehandedly rid his city of anyone he deemed unfit to “participate” in society.
I also have many story starters I have jotted down in my daily writing as practice during my “write every day” resolution for 2017. Many of them are pretty bad or uninspired. But a couple of them are seeds of something which could be much better.
So, yeah, I should keep looking back to what I’ve done. Not just to find things to finish, but to learn lessons and see how much I’ve grown. Maybe the innocence I had years ago was what I needed, back when I didn’t have that annoying “Censor” voice in my head saying what I was doing is horrible.
Not everything we do as writers is worthy of being published, or even being read by another human being. We probably have a lot of pieces we wish we could just throw into a bonfire. But if you think back, there has also been a lot of positive work done. Opportunities to let your imagination go, to not worry about the future, but to be creative in the moment.
That’s the kind of encouragement you can give to yourself. And that may be all you need to get through just one more day of writing.
Wrapping Up
Do you have old writing you have gone back to? Maybe some ideas you jotted down when you were an innocent youngster? Share your ideas and thoughts on this topic in the comments section below….
….Or join the Facebook Group I made up, “Chapter One, Page One.” I’m hoping to have more members on the page when I can get the time to plug it better. The idea is to get a community of other “beginners” so we can keep encouraged and motivated. I know I could use a little fire under my butt myself!
Until next time, which I hope isn’t too long in the future. Keep writing, at least something, every day!
-Michael Karpe
