Don't look back unless you're looking forward to your next piece. It's my contention that the more I just plow forward, the easier it'll get. It builds the thinking muscle (the brain) and the natural instinct to move on (the feet). This has three parts, one mysteriously longer than the other two:
It's Been Done Before
and I've got nothing new to add.
It's Not a New Challenge
and I won't learn anything from it except how to finish a piece more quickly. I always have a learning goal at the start of a piece. Note, though, that if somebody paid me specifically to write "something like that other piece", I'd say Sure. Getting paid for doing what you're apparently good at is always Good Stuff.
Continuity Is For Suckers
When I read the "series" I like, they're pretty rough and ready with continuity. The writer just writes the next book, then she incorporates the interesting characters and events into a mostly stand-alone plot such that any new reader can pick up and start reading. Perhaps, to be slightly less offensive, Continuity is a bonus feature for my dedicated fans. And if I don't have dedicated fans, I'm a sucker to worry about continuity instead of better writing.
Now, to write them there books.
It's Been Done Before
and I've got nothing new to add.
It's Not a New Challenge
and I won't learn anything from it except how to finish a piece more quickly. I always have a learning goal at the start of a piece. Note, though, that if somebody paid me specifically to write "something like that other piece", I'd say Sure. Getting paid for doing what you're apparently good at is always Good Stuff.
Continuity Is For Suckers
When I read the "series" I like, they're pretty rough and ready with continuity. The writer just writes the next book, then she incorporates the interesting characters and events into a mostly stand-alone plot such that any new reader can pick up and start reading. Perhaps, to be slightly less offensive, Continuity is a bonus feature for my dedicated fans. And if I don't have dedicated fans, I'm a sucker to worry about continuity instead of better writing.
Now, to write them there books.
#
I think a major point of disillusionment in my childhood was the realization that these dishes didn't fire lasers.
Then we got hunter-killer drones and doom satellites and I was reillusioned. Hurrah!
Then we got hunter-killer drones and doom satellites and I was reillusioned. Hurrah!
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250 words? Yes
Book "Lived Too Long to Die"
- - - -
Reading - MFA vs. NYC
(Slate)
(Slate)
*129
