Word Constipation

One of the ways I know I’m a writer is that ever since I was in high school, if I didn’t write in my journal if not on a story, I’d start to get antsy–sort of like when you’ve had waaaaay too much caffeine in too short of time and your hands start to shake.

Well, for me, my hands shake like I gotta get all the words out. They may not be good words, necessary words, interesting words, but words nonetheless and they have no business being locked inside me when they should be on a page somewhere either physically or electronically.

I’m experiencing this phenomenon today, right now as a matter of fact! If I’m not careful, this entry could end up being several thousand words long. Lucky for both of us, I’m at least reasonably careful.

And I really don’t have much to say, I just needed to get my fingers in motion and get out some of these gol’darn words!

Let me also explain that writers block is much different than word constipation. I never get writers block. I just plain don’t. I’m willing to write a million words of crap until I find where I’m supposed to go. Cutting is easier than adding. Plus, if you already have your book plotted, you know where everything needs to happen and how its going to happen, so there’s no reason to stare at a blank screen, wondering…you already know. I never start a book without at least the first half plotted and the ending decided upon.

Writers block steals time. Word constipation happens when there’s no time to write. See, by having writers block, you’re already sitting there, ready to go, but nothing’s coming. Word constipation happens over time, and there’s plenty coming, but you’re not sitting there, ready to go…no matter how much you want to be!

I know, I know, I should be doing something useful…like writing another novel [I’ve pushed the current one onto the back burner because it needs to simmer a while longer] or building another ugly shirt, but hopefully not as ugly…or even updating my website. Well, I did build a sitemap. That’s something, isn’t it?

Funny how I’ve been getting time in short blasts like this one while I drink my tea, but I can’t find a long enough chunk to get anything else accomplished. Oh well, I suppose that’s the real root of my word constipation. But I’m working through, feeling better now that I’ve written this entry about nothing.

Oh wait!!!! I just thought of something that I’d wanted to post up here. A little about process and why I do things the way I do them. And I learned this from being on a panel at LosCon and then thinking through my own processes.

When Jen and I write as Ashleigh Raine, she’s better at emotional stuff and I’m better at action. We’d just taken that as a rule and worked with our strengths and weaknesses. I can write a damn good demon brawl or car chase, while she can write the big, beautiful climactic hero and heroine admit to each other that, yes, indeed they are hopelessly in love.

As I said, we used to just see this as the way things are and work with it. Well, while listening to Barbara Hambly at LosCon as she mentioned hand-writing certain things because it forced her to slow down and really get into the work, I realized that she was on to something.

I write much faster than Jen. A few posts down, I wrote about being able to write at least 2300 words in an hour. She’s not quite as fast…which is why she captures the emotion better. While writing a car chase, if you put in too much emotion, the scene grinds to a snail’s pace. While writing a climactic love admission scene, if you hurriedly skim over the emotion, there’s not enough depth and the reader doesn’t buy that they’re really in love and might even throw the book across the room because of that.

So, I did a little experiment to see if typing speed had anything to do with all of this.

It did.

I wasn’t surprised, but yet I was. Also, to see if there was much difference, I paid more attention to my thought processes and how I was juggling characters and plot while the words were going onto the page. But, I found that writing action by hand made it–for lack of a better term–suck. Everything came out even flatter than an emotional scene at full speed typing. And the emotional scene was beautiful.

I have since resolved to write everything at full speed for continuity–and because I don’t really write romances unless I’m writing with Jen–then, I’ll print the manuscript and do my editing while paying extra attention to the emotional scenes to the extent of perhaps rewriting them by hand on the printed copy. That seems to be my best course of action for improving my writing. Hopefully, someday, it won’t be so complicated, but at least I’m aware of this particular weakness and am working toward correcting it.

And in the mean time, Ashleigh Raine has a story coming out in a few more weeks in which one of my other strengths is showcased: BAD poetry and alliteration. Click here for an excerpt. But be warned that although campy, the language is strong and not suitable for people under 18 years of age.

Aaaaahhhh… I’m feeling much better now…

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