The Blank Page

I officially started up writing my next novel in the Into the Realms Series last night.  Book Three will be called Pyurik’s Pursuit, by the way, and will hopefully be the best one yet (though naturally, I think the first two are very, very good as well!).  Each of these rather hefty novels have taken me somewhere around two years apiece to write, and I expect that PP will be no different.  They’re long novels, but not particularly overlong when compared to other books in the fantasy genre, I should think.  They’re all elaborate, complicated stories with dozens of characters and places to explore, with intertwining plotlines to manage, and tying it all together to make it comprehensible, let alone eloquent, is quite a daunting challenge.  But it is a challenge which I relish, and if I can one day complete the entirety of my envisioned five-book quintilogy of the series, I will consider it a major achievement of my life’s work completed (at this point, two-fifths completed). 

          So it’s on to Book Three now, and once again, I’m faced with that old familiar nemesis, the same foe every single writer has faced whenever he or she takes on a new project – the blank page.  Presumably, it should be easier when it’s a continuation in a series of books, as you should just be able to keep the story going.  Unfortunately, in many ways, series books are even harder to start.  You have to begin writing with an expectation that the reader, if not necessarily is picking up the middle book of a series to read first, is at least picking up a book in a series that he or she hasn’t read for quite a while.  A re-introduction of characters and events is definitely called for.

          But starting with a blank slate is so hard, because there’s so much to accomplish right off the bat, you hardly know how to begin.  For a novel that will ultimately be a quarter of a million words long and some 600+ pages, invariably, it’s that first page that’s the hardest to write.  Some authors prefer to start writing further in to the story to begin with, to kind of get the feel of writing the story before going back to do the beginning, but I’m generally a strict linear writer, so it’s not something I’m comfortable doing.  Time is linear, and events are always crafted by what’s come before, so my feeling is that for my stories to happen organically, my writing has to do the same. So I start with the blank page and go from there.

          Even on a slow writing night, I can usually scrape up a thousand words or so, making slow but steady progress on the job.  More often though, I’ll get close to 2,000 words or even 3,000 or more on a really productive writing session.  Last night, in Pyurik’s Pursuit’s inaugural writing night, I managed to pound out a scant 220 words.  Just two opening paragraphs which are dwarfed by this little blog post I’ve written here right now, and an opening to the book which will be chopped and carved up later on as I reread it again and again.  But the page is no longer blank, and hopefully, my next writing session will make more headway skinning that cat, and it’ll get easier and easier each time until I start to cruise into it, until two years from now, I’ll finally be finished – and then it’s on to Book Four.

          Whatever it takes to get started.

Why We Write

I've been writing for quite some time now. Ever since my 6th grade teacher praised me for my very first "novel", called Journey to Cowland (though it's possible that I misspelled "Journey"), I've found a great deal of pleasure showing off my active imagination. Art class was always my favorite in grade school, because it was the only class where I was regularly free to express myself creatively.

Now that I'm into adulthood (far further into adulthood than I care to admit to myself), I still look for new creative outlets where I can. I still like to paint and draw and work with clay, though my skill with each is extremely limited. I also have a recurring itch to learn to play a musical instrument, though I've consistently find I lack a certain discipline to make much headway (along with a bit of a tin ear). My favorite toy as a kid was Legos, and I still have a weakness for building plastic brick wonders with my surviving collection, and my room is decorated with various lumpy ceramic knick knacks and cartoonish pictures I've made over the years. This, along with a host of video cassettes and DVD's of movies I've helped make with friends, from humiliating productions as a gawky teen with dumb jokes, to a still-pretty gawky young man with somewhat more sophisticated humor.

Yet still, with all of the creative avenues available to my restless imagination, I always seemed to come back to writing. I often wonder what it is that continues to draw me to writing novels (along with the occasional short story) rather than finding other medians to express myself. I wonder if it's the same impulse that attracts every writer to it, or if it's something different for everyone. Whatever it might be, I think it's very important for anyone who is or wants to be a writer to know why it is that they write.

For me at least, the compulsion to write comes from an intense desire, even a need, to tell a story. I suppose it's possible that I selected prose writing over poetry, painting, and the other expressive arts because fiction writing is the method which I've expressed the greatest aptitude, and as they always tell you, you should play to your own strengths. Being a shy, introverted kid through most of my childhood and teenage years, I had lots of time to myself, and I often spent that time daydreaming and creating characters and worlds to escape to whenever I felt burdened by the perils of everyday life.

That need for escapism eventually led me to be attracted to books, and later to forming my own ideas into complete stories. By the time I started my novel, The Other Side of the Gate (available on Barnes & Noble.com!), I never questioned that novel writing was my favorite and most effective means of expressing myself.

For me, it isn't just a desire to tell stories, but it's also the need to find a story that I think is worth telling. Every time I start a new writing project, I will ask myself, "what makes this story worth hearing above all others?" Is there a more interesting story within this tale - another character, another subplot that overshadows the one I'm trying to tell? If so, why aren't I writing that one instead?

Usually though, I'm right on target with the story that interests me the most. It's the tweaking and molding the plot and the characters that's the fun part. That and the actual writing. When I've finished that really good scene in the wee hours of the morning, and I just have to go back and reread it again before bed, just for fun ... that's what it's all about. That's why I write.