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Working Vacations

July 23, 2018July 22, 2018 Jon Chaisson1 Comment

anime vacation

Have I ever gone on a vacation and not done any writing work? That’s a good question. I highly doubt it. I mean, even if I post a fly-by here and say that I haven’t been doing much of anything at all, chances are quite high that I’ve been doing something related to one of the projects I’m working on.

More often than not I use vacations to do a read-through of The Book So Far. I’ll either pull it up via Dropbox or I’ll actually have it saved to my tablet or my Nook. This is a perfect time for me to read what I have up to that point and make a few mental notes: Is the flow of the prose consistent and balanced? Does the continuity need work? Did I forget a subplot? Are there any gaping holes I need to fill? These are things that I don’t necessarily need to work on that moment, but finding them at that point helps me remember them when I’m working on revision later on.

I don’t usually do any new writing during vacations, because that can take a while. I’d rather be walking around the place we’re visiting rather than holed up in the hotel tapping away. [The only exceptions to this are Just To Say I Did moments, such as when I did a bit of thumbnail sketching at the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris.] I also don’t do that much new work because I only bring my midsized tablet and/or my Nook, which aren’t all that easy for typing.

And my favorite place to work while on vacation, oddly enough? On the plane! Our flights, depending on where we’re going, usually take a good couple of hours, so I can certainly keep myself busy with my reading/revision work. With that, my mp3 player, and perhaps a beverage, I’m good to go.

I’ve also learned over the years not to overpack when it comes to bringing my writing on vacation with me; I’ll have less time to play around with it than I think I will, especially if we’re going somewhere like the Big Smoke where we’ll be hitting All the Bookstores and visiting friends and crossing Abbey Road and going on tours of royal locations. Last time we were in London, I only brought my tablet, my Nook, and a small handful of index cards, all of which took up a tiny spot in my satchel.

I’ve also learned not to sweat it if I don’t get to it. I purposely set my deadlines far enough in advance (and make them flexible at that), so I can spend these days properly enjoying our vacation and not feel guilty about it.

So yes…if you’re like me and you find yourself itching to get some writing work done while you’re kicking it in a tiny top floor bedsit in Earl’s Court while your significant other gets their recommended dose of Tony Robinson historical documentaries on the telly, by all means go for it. But don’t forget to simply have fun and enjoy yourself!

Fly-By: two novels, finish my blueprint, begin my beguine

July 16, 2018July 13, 2018 Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

nowhere man typing

Yeah, I know, I used that subject line about this time last year. I have a good reason, though — I’ve been quite busy this past weekend, attempting to get In My Blue World revised, create the freebie postcards for it (and get them ordered), and also go see Yellow Submarine at the Castro Theater! I couldn’t pass up seeing one of my favorite movies from my childhood at a local theater I’ve been wanting to go to for ages.

On the plus side, I’m still relatively on schedule with this novel, which makes me happy.

Oh — and I may be making some pre-writing notes for a future Mendaihu Universe story that I will most likely start writing later in the year. As if I don’t have enough to do right now…

See you on Friday! 🙂

On Writing a Positive Voice

July 13, 2018July 10, 2018 Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

Don’t get me wrong. There are things going on in this world that rile me up, get me pissed off, want to dick-punch anyone who’s fucking it up for the rest of us. It’s aggravating and it’s exhausting.

Back in my high school and college years, I’d write protests — poetry, lyrics, comics, stories — most of which hovered between rose-tinted self-righteousness and vague finger-pointing. I kept most of it to myself, though; I didn’t share most of it with others for various reasons. The biggest reason being that I always felt the end result was crap.

Sure, you say. Everyone’s early writing is in fact crap, because you’re still learning. The only way out of that sludge is to keep working at it until you figure it out. Thing is, I knew my vitriolic writing was misguided and not fully informed. It was merely a release of all the pent-up anger and aggravation. That’s why I rarely shared it with the outside world.

I forcibly shed my Angry Young Male Writer facade when I moved back home in 1995. I knew that was a dangerous road for me, and would lead me nowhere. It wasn’t where I wanted or needed to go. Which is why, when I started writing The Phoenix Effect in 1997, I made sure the book never veered too far into dystopian doom. I needed to write something with a positive edge to it. I’m not talking about Shiny Happy People here… I’m merely talking about writing stories that have an uplifting theme somewhere in there.

I’ve been tempted to write dark and gloomy fiction now and again over the ensuing years, especially when world events intervene in my personal life. But each time I’ll let the mood pass. Again: it’s not the direction I want to go.

Writing both In My Blue World and the Apartment Complex story is partly a response to that. The AC project, as I’ve said before, is my attempt at writing in the style of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki; something meaningful and emotional without being overwrought. In My Blue World takes a slightly similar Ghibli road…there are moments of improbability in there, but that’s just the way that universe is, and the characters accept that as part of life.

Is this in response to the emotions and frustrations of Current Real Life for me? Maybe, but I’m not making it a key component to the stories. If anything, I think of it this way: I’m writing positive stories because they’re needed right now, both for the reader and for myself. The worst thing I can do right now is go back to my doomcrier days; those did nothing for me except make me miserable. And if my writing is miserable, I’m making my reader feel the same. And I definitely don’t want that.

Of course, I’m not saying that one shouldn’t write dark stories or angry songs. In fact, I feel the exact opposite: those are also needed right now! It’s simply that there are many writers, musicians, etc, that can do it so much better than I ever could. I’m leaving them up to the professionals.

I’m just better at Ac-Cent-U-Ating the Positive than I am at Fighting the Power, is all.

You go with your strengths. That’s how you win the game.

As If I Don’t Already Have Enough to Do…

June 22, 2018June 20, 2018 Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

ghibli poppy hill shun — Source: *From Up on Poppy Hill*

I was looking through my two blogs and I realized that a lot of the subpages — the links, the Buy Stuff and Newsletter pages in particular — are woefully out of date. I haven’t touched them for at least seven or eight months. And to add to that, I haven’t set up a newsletter in probably well over a year.

That’s gonna change. Not right now, and not overnight, but soon enough. Over the course of the next couple of months I’ll be updating those blog subpages and restarting a newsletter. That will most likely be a monthly thing, a cross between a link aggregator for my blog entries and any news and upcoming events, and maybe a special passage or two.

So how am I going to update this? Good question. Between finishing off a novel, writing a second one, revising that first one, heading to the UK for a week and a half in August and following that up with Worldcon — not to mention juggling all that with my Day Job — I’m going to be ridiculously busy. But I think I can do it.

It’ll take time, and I’ll probably be exhausted by the end of it, but I’ll do it anyway. Because come on — I’m trying to be somewhat professional here, folks! I can do better than the bare minimum here. Y’all deserve it.

When Distraction Is a GOOD Thing…?

June 4, 2018June 3, 2018 Jon Chaisson1 Comment

anime-pull-yourself-together

The downside to having a full schedule, especially when multiple social events are added to it, is that physical and mental exhaustion (and maybe illness) can sometimes kick in, screwing things up even worse. Right now I’m trying to fight off a sore throat and exhaustion from too many things going on over the last few week.

That’s probably the best time for me to remind myself: It’s okay to take a day or two off from writing, you know. Or even more importantly: It’s also okay to call in sick to the Day Job now and again…that’s what your sick days are for. Between my stubborn will to keep to my writing schedule and my Catholic guilt for not letting my coworkers down, I can be my own worst enemy sometimes.

Sometimes all I want to do is play an entire afternoon of PC card games, watch silly cat videos, and noodle around with my mp3 collection. Is that too much to ask?

Well, no, not really. I’m not on a strict writing deadline. I can afford a day off from the Day Job now and again. As long as I don’t make it a habit. I can — and should — take a day or two off from reality now and again. I’ll be honest, sometimes I’m jealous of those people who spend the entire afternoon binge-watching TV series or playing video games. Why shouldn’t I be able to take a day off as well?

As long as I get back on track once I’m recharged, right?

anime sleeping — *COME ON LAZYBUTT, WAKE UP YOU’VE GOT WRITING TO DO*

Don’t forget not to write

May 7, 2018May 6, 2018 Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

I know, I know, I’ve blogged about this before, but it’s always worth repeating, because we writers are often our own worst enemies.

Sometimes I get so into the groove of writing or revising one of my projects that I just keep going for weeks on end, and let other things fall by the wayside. Which is fine, especially if I really want to make a significant dent in my progress. Thing is, sometimes I do this for a little too long, and I’ll either burn out or I’ll lose track of other important things.

So this past Saturday, instead of doing any writing, we went on a short road trip down the coast to Half Moon Bay for brunch and a little bit of shopping, and followed it up with watching the first two Star Wars prequels. We hadn’t seen The Phantom Menace since it came out, and neither of us had seen Attack of the Clones. [Our post-movie thoughts: TPM had promise but suffered from horrifically bad dialogue and lifeless acting; AotC was miles better and actually quite enjoyable, if overlong and with a few questionable plot choices. We plan on watching Revenge of the Sith sometime this week. Noted, we’re watching these for a panel we’ve devised for BayCon in a few weeks!]

Taking a day off from writing is always a good choice, for multiple reasons. One, every now and again it feels good not to have to worry about hitting a self-imposed deadline or word count. I’m allowed a fun day off now and again, right? Two, this is a perfect time for me to switch from Writer/Editor Brain over to Reader Brain. Time to kick back, enjoy a story. Be moved or inspired by a novel or movie. Three, I get to be social with other people, including my wife. Four, it reminds me that even though I might find the writing process thrilling and immensely enjoyable, there are other things out there that are equally as enjoyable. Like going to the local zoo!

IMG_20180506_125129_958 — Well, hello to you too!

I think I’ve managed to get the the point in my life where I’m okay if I take a day off now and again. Writer that I am, I’ll most likely still think about whatever I’m working on, but in a passive way, making mental notes for later. It’ll still be there when I get back in a day or so.

Refining My Reading

April 23, 2018April 22, 2018 Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

book-reading-words-flying-by-animated-gif

I’ve been putting a lot more books in my Did Not Finish pile on GoodReads lately, and to be honest, I’m not feeling too worried about it. It’s not that the books are bad (though there have been a few), it’s more that they’re just not my thing.

I’ve found that for me, one of the most common reasons for not finishing a novel is that trying to get through it is a chore. They’re either far too verbose, far too infodumpy, or just in a really irritating style. There are also the Everything/Everyone Is Horrible novels that I really don’t have time for in my life right now.

When I was a teenager it used to irritate me that I would lose interest in a book. Granted, a good handful of the assigned reading when I was in high school was dry as a bone (George Eliot’s Silas Marner remains one of my least favorite books for its desert-level dryness); others were Written to Make a Point (like William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, which dropped metaphors on you like Acme™ anvils). Both are my least favorite styles of writing. It actually put me off reading for entertainment for quite some time.

Yes, this, coming from a writer, right? This is why I focused more on storytelling in different mediums, like comics, movies and television. It wasn’t until I was in my late 20s that I figured it was time to actually read novels for entertainment again. Once I got back into the swing of it, my personal library expanded exponentially.

Thing is, I found that I was trying to read everything, whether it was enjoyable or not. There were very few books that I wrote off as DNF; I kept a hold of them for years, trying to read them again at a later time.

Nowadays I go by my book ownership rules:

If I just bought it new, it needs to be read within the year.
If I’ve bought it but haven’t started reading it in over a year, I push it to the top of my To Be Read queue. If I don’t think I’ll get to it anytime soon, however, it goes to the donation pile.
If I’ve owned it for ages and enjoyed it in the past but don’t think I’ll be reading it again, it goes in the donation pile.
If I’ve gotten a quarter of the way in and it’s just not doing anything for me, or if it’s more irritating than enjoyable, it’s not worth finishing. [Note: This is not to say I toss books at the slightest irritation. It takes a lot for me to give up on a book, so I give it a serious go before giving up.]

I donate the books to the Friends of the SF Public Library at their book store over in Fort Mason. I’m totally fine with not making any money back, because these end up getting sold at their store or at their Big Honkin’ Book Sale they have a few times a year. I might not have liked the book, but hey, someone else might!

I’ve found that sticking to these four rules works out really well, as it helps me get through my towering To Be Read pile quickly. Time’s too short to force myself through novels that are more of a chore than a joy. Plus it leaves me more time to check out new writers!

My daily writing process, told in anime gifs

April 16, 2018April 15, 2018 Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

Trying to think through the scene I’m about to write:

anime-thinking-sasuke

What the inside of my head looks like at that very moment:

naruto screaming

What I probably look like at the same time when A. walks into Spare Oom to see what I’m up to:

When I suddenly decide maybe I need some brain food if I’m going to get anywhere:

spike spiegel eating

Post-snack, back to thinking about what I should be writing:

anime thinking smoke ears

SUDDENLY: An idea emerges!

fullmetal idea

And now I write.

umaru-kawaii

That moment when A. decides to come in and check up on me again:

anime blink blink

Kicking ass and banging that scene into shape:

anime ergo proxy

Getting into the groove and hitting a damn fine word count:

naruto killer bee

Almost forgetting to save my work. ALMOST.:

anime shocked

Realizing I’ve been working for an hour and a half straight with no break:

tired panda

Calling it a day, heading to bed:
anime-tired

Instinct

April 6, 2018April 5, 2018 Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

dareka no manazashi — Source: *Dareka no Manazashi* by Makoto Shinkai

Meanwhile, the Apartment Complex story is slowly — finally — taking shape. I’m trying not to give away too much, for fear that it’ll blow up in my face once more, but I’m feeling a little more hopeful this time.

Instinct is something that doesn’t get talked about when we talk about writing, except maybe in a clinical sense. We talk about rules that we follow and rules we break. We talk about inspiration. We talk about styles, processes, all kinds of things. But we don’t always hear about the instinct of a writer.

For me, it’s a very large part of how I create a story, to know if it feels right to me. It’s more than just looking at a rough, just-written passage and feeling the frustration of how horrible it reads. It’s more than keeping to the notes of future plot points written on my index cards (or in my head). It’s more than knowing if I’m following the rules, mine or others’.

Regarding the Apartment Complex story, my continued frustration with the previous versions was that instinct kept telling me: this is not the way the story is supposed to go. It was telling me: this is not the story you want to tell. The prose was weak and the plot was forced, sure. But instinct kept telling me I was going in the wrong direction.

With many of my projects, it’s instinct that tells me whether a possible plot point is worth it or just filler. This is how I edit my own work, to some degree. During the Great Trilogy Revision, I relied on instinct almost exclusively; I knew the story inside and out, so I could tell what was weak and need to be excised. There are numerous scenes — many of them in The Balance of Light — that were cut for precisely this reason. It just didn’t feel right to me. In the context of the rest of the story, if it felt like a weak point, or a useless ramble, out it went. But I was also putting the trilogy in the context of an extremely long single novel; I had to rely on instinct that what I was editing and revising in Book 3 connected on a deeper level to the other two books, and the entire story as a whole.

It’s not a magical thing, instinct. But it’s something I’ve relied upon quite a bit over the years with my writing. I connect myself to my writing on a level where I try to understand its spirit, if that makes sense. Or perhaps it’s like music, my other obsession. I understand the melody and where it’s going, anticipating its flourishes and quietness, connecting with its tempo and its ambiance. And I try to sculpt the story into what I hear within me, waiting to come out.

It definitely took me years to learn this, but it’s never let me down once I did.