On Writing
I’ve stolen the title of this blog from literary genius Stephen King, a master of words and a man with so many worlds in his head I can hardly fathom how he gets any sleep with all those characters banging around inside his brain. He is a man whose talent few can match, and in my future as a novelist I can only hope to make half the impact his works have.
I can say that I have successfully completed three books since I started dabbling in novel writing back in the seventh grade, two of them rather short works that will never leave the sanctity of my laptop. The third, however, a sci fi epic I completed just two years ago has been (unofficially) finished and will possibly undergo more facelifts that Joan Rivers before I feel it’s worthy enough to be sent away to a dozen different publishers. However, once I finished the work—and after a few moments of immense accomplishment—I suddenly felt lost. My book was done. My characters had lived and died, loved and lost, and now their chapter was over. I had a million more ideas for future novels, some sci fi some not, but I just couldn’t bring myself to begin another work and I concentrated on editing my finished piece over and over and over until, eventually, I stopped writing it altogether.
For a year or more I concentrated only on short stories, outlines, poetry, brief edits… But nothing held the raw satisfaction of writing a complete novel. And that’s when I started reading Stephen King’s s The Dark Tower, a seven book fantasy/western/horror series based on the exploits of Roland Deschain, a man whose quest in life is to find The Dark Tower itself, a forbidding edifice whose nature is both physical and metaphorical. As I read the introduction to one of these books, Stephen King made the comment that he ceased writing the series for over a decade because he was frightened of his characters—it was almost as though he was afraid to complete the series because he did not want to disappoint Roland, Eddy, Susan, Jake, and the rest of the Dark Tower cast.
It was then that I realized, in a way, that King and I had the same problem, though fortunately it took me a fraction of the time to realize so. I have since started writing again, beyond short stories and edits, and I have the lovely Mr. King to thank for it.
I will also insert a shameless plug to the official Dark Tower website in hopes that all of you will read the books.
September 22, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Wow, that’s fascinating. I’m not the biggest Stephen King fan, but you do have to give the man his due respect. I think that it is awesome that you have created three novels, and one that is so good that you feel it is life like. I’m impressed. I hope that you make good use of your talent, and don’t let it slip away.
I would like to read your book actually, but I don’t know if you let many people see that draft. Please let me know if you’ll let me read it. You did sci-fi, but what novel genre are you interesting in exploring next? How often do you write? Do you get much accomplished daily?
I read the first book of the Dark Tower series, and thought it was interesting, but never got to any of the other books. I have a cousin who collects them all in hardback so I could always borrow them or go to the library. I don’t feel I have the time for such books now, and I’m really more interested in your novel at the moment.
Can we get some information on this book, or could you give us a small taste of the actual text? Who are some of the characters and what are their backgrounds?
How long have you been writing, and what started you on the path of becoming a writer? Have you submitted any of your shorter works to magazines or publishers?
I wish you the best of luck in your writing.
October 5, 2009 at 4:45 pm
[...] War, for example, is a sci fi epic that takes place on a post apocalyptic, dying Earth. (See On Writing for details.) While writing said book I derive most of my inspiration from deep, heavy tunes. [...]