More process: Writing is Hard

[ellenkushner]

Holly Black started it - my reply:

You, too, huh? Maybe it's solar flares or something. I'm on our vaunted Writers' Retreat in Wisconsin, and am mostly adding to the creative ferment by announcing loudly and often that this story is a disaster and why did I ever think this would work?

Thank god I travel with my own personal editorial genius. Byron had a physician; I have Delia.

Comments

[voidmonster.livejournal.com]

Hrm. Clearly solar flares.

I'm having the same deal. I normally rip through first drafts, but this one has teeth and it tries to bite me every time I sit down with it.

[ktempest.livejournal.com]

see this s why you should come on a writing retreat with me at the end of june. because obviously one is not enough!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Would that I could! We are actually going up to Maine then*, for Total Retreat at a friend's isolated country house (on our way to Odyssey/REadercon). Not the same, I know - but I have learned a Valuable Lesson, which is that when I'm on "retreat" with folks I like, mostly what I want to do is talk to them about Life - and listen to their iTunes (and talk about that, too!). Writing? It's OK, I guess...

*[No, wait - Maine's July - end of June, we're going down to Roanoke to tell *other* people how to write!]

But I am honored by the offer.

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this year's Mythcon paper's being a bitch. My own fault, really, as I picked a much harder topic.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Harder than THE FALL OF THE KINGS?! Impossible!

OK, I'll bite - What is it this year?

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

This year, it's looking at angsty versus empowering images of women warriors, limited to women in modern settings (so TPOTS and Firefly are both out of bounds), and, thus far, those who use swords.

The reason this is more difficult is that it's vaguer. However difficult one considers The Fall of the Kings -- and I did my Masters Thesis on Ulysses and a grad paper on Finnegans Wake -- I was dealing with three texts, all fairly short, all in the same setting. I was looking at a specific pattern, with as small as possible a subjective element. Here, well, it's mushier.

My mental list of examples is Buffy, Val from Valiant, Gil Shalos from the Darwath books, and possibly the Bride from Kill Bill, and so much is in individual interpretation. I'm also uncomfortable that Buffy's the only "angsty" example I have.

Angsty = Woe is me! I miss out on all the good stuff because I -have- to be a woman warrior instead of an ordinary woman!

Empowering is = You know, being a woman warrior is cool, and I can defend those things that I am quite capable of enjoying as a woman.

And, here we're getting into all sorts of feminist issues and theory, and everything threatens to spiral out of control.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Wowza.

Fascinating. I'd love to know what you conclude!

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

So would I!

[blackholly.livejournal.com]

More precious than rubies!

[beth-bernobich.livejournal.com]

Oh, how I wish I had a personal editorial genius!

*weeps and gnashes teeth at the current project*

[tasiha.livejournal.com]

Actually increase in the flux of solar neutrinos has been directly correlated to increased writer's block as well as people driving like stupid

:D

Always,
Your Nerdy Physicist Minion

Physics Ruels!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

. . . but yer kidding, right? I mean, you're just saying there are solar flares when actually there aren't and really we're just stupid . . . .

But I'm liking this life! I get my own personal traveling editor, *and* a physicist! (And I'm not even Duchess yet....)

Re: Physics Ruels!

[tasiha.livejournal.com]

Well, a solar flare would lead to increase in solar neutrinos... neutrinos hardly *ever* interact, but if there are more of them, there's a higher probability of an interaction occurring with, for example, your brain... triggering random neural processes to make you suddenly think of something else whenever "The Next Scene" is about to be written in your head.

So. Yes.

(actually if you check out the real time monitors at NOAA, here, http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots/index.html, you'll see there isn't much going on of late. But there are daily fluctuations!)

[saralinda.livejournal.com]

I'm on my own (day-long) writing "retreat" at the uni library, and I have spent almost ALL of it on lj/the Internet.

Bad, bad, bad writer!!! BAD!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

VERY bad, as how will we know if the Solar Flares are working if you're just dicking around online? It really isn't very hard to turn off the Wi-Fi when you sit down to write. Not hard at all . . . I can make myself do it . . . any time . . . . . .

[aulus-poliutos.livejournal.com]

Lol, looks like everyone is fighting with her novel right now.

And having just returned from Wales not only with some 2000 photos of castles but also a bunch of plotbunnies* doesn't help. Can't have shinies.

* Cute looking little critters that turn out to be ideas for Yet Another Roman Novel and Probably a Mediaeval Welsh One As Well. :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Writing is like drowning only nastier... current project is trying to ruin my social behaviour and then kill me. I have a shark to help chase writing demons away, but that only works so far...