Fandom: This.

[nebroadwe]

More kerfuffle has erupted over a leaked draft of Stephenie Meyer's next planned novel in the Twilight series. Observers are divided over the author's decision to shelve the project, but until Nora Roberts weighs in, I think Diane Duane has the best analysis of the situation:

The line that brought me up short was this one:

With writing, the way you feel changes everything.

It's an endearingly tyro-like way to feel about the craft (IMO). A lot of us go through this stage early on. But she's still in her novitiate, let the Times Bestseller List imply what it may; so odds are she'll be over this way of thinking by the time she's beyond her tenth or fifteenth novel. By then she'll have discovered that writing a novel is a job of work, like building a bookshelf or driving a truck: you don't have to wait for inspiration or the right mood, you just do it. (In fact, writing is one of the very best ways of changing your mood. A highly effective way to get out of the dumps is to write something where the plot requires the characters to feel cheerful. It's like smiling when you don't feel like it: it forces your brain chemistry to change to match.)

Word. This is, in fact, the most important thing I have learned thus far from writing fanfiction. I just wish I had been able to figure it out while I was writing my dissertation. (Also the fact that, being a morning person, I have less of an activation barrier to get over if I start writing as soon as I get up. Duh.)

Some further useful discussion follows here (nested among the snark).

Comments

[fmanalyst.livejournal.com]

I've always felt that writing keeps me sane. My biggest frustration is that right now my writing is administrative and utilitarian, not allowing much room for the free play of language.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I write documentation at work, and while there's satisfaction in being clear and concise, it's certainly not the only kind of writing I'd want to do. (Especially when it doesn't get read. Argh.)

[artemisrae.livejournal.com]

Part of me kind of understands what she's saying - when I'm feeling crappy, no I don't want to open Word and write, I want to sulk and pout and whine, and yet once I DO open Word and get started, I find that most of the time those feeling evaporate rather quickly. Maybe it's the sense of escapism - I can worry about THESE people's problems, and not mine - or maybe it's the writing of other emotions - like Diane Duane explained above - but writing usually breaks me out of a funk.

I have a hard time feeling sympathy for her. She's a professional writer, and you've got to have brass ones to be whining about your human rights being violated when you've gone on the record as saying that you're "anti-human."

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on this. While I love writing, I try to approach it as I would a job. Even when I'm not feeling like doing it I try to do something. I like what Ms. Duane has said on the subject

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

It's all about the craftspersonship, IMO. We can talk about Muses and such, and there are those AHA! moments of inspiration that get a story rolling or send it careering off in new directions, but the bulk of producing a text is the technical DIY -- hitching one sentence into another, carrying a metaphor through, inventing dialogue that expresses character. And no matter how many times I hit my thumb with the pen, I still enjoy the process.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Ihave to agree with you. That's why I get very impatient when someone is telling me they're waiting for inspiration to strike. You won't get far doing that.

my personal failing is my dislike of going back over the draft and polishing it

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I live in terror of the blank page. Once I have words on it, I can go like gangbusters. Between us, we could be great. :-)

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

snort. great or scary

[artemisrae.livejournal.com]

You think someone like SMeyes would have more motivation than us, being that she actually IS getting pay like it's a job and everything.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

That does involve a completely different set of motivators (and stressors -- it can be hard to make the transition from "writing is fun!" to "writing is my job," particularly if you're invested in an "I have to feel it to write it" mindset). I agree that if she is a professional, she needs to take a more professional, and much less confessional, approach to problems like this. I wonder whether she's getting the help she needs from her agent or from Random House. Anyone working in public relations with half an ounce of Internet savvy could have predicted the reaction Ms. Meyers's announcement would cause. [frowns in the general direction of the should-be ept]

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

well yes
(and I like your icon)

But as I'm realizing that several lady authors in the Urban Fantasy realm have gone totally off their nut (Hamilton, Rice, now Meyers). This worries me (guess who's published in this genre...)

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I struggle with the discipline of writing constantly -- I know that if I just sit down and do it, I'll produce text, but first I have to decide to sit down, which can be hard, as you say, when I feel crappy or tired or just plain lazy ("Read another book!"). I have to keep reminding myself that I don't have forever to get things done, just right now. (Even if today I need to do the dishes first.)

I have a hard time feeling sympathy for her. She's a professional writer, and you've got to have brass ones to be whining about your human rights being violated when you've gone on the record as saying that you're "anti-human."

I'm pretty sure that was a joke. Still, she didn't make her case very well, muddling up her legal position with her emotional one. (Better still, she shouldn't have released draft materials to "trusted individuals" in the first place. Live and learn.)

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Bah. I mean, "I'm pretty sure the 'anti-human' thing was a joke." Sadly, the human-rights-violation thing was probably serious.

[lyrangalia]

See, I like the fact that there's serious discussion about this whole thing, but the way Stephenie Meyer announced it, the way the whole thing reeks of tween FFN drama suspends all my rational thought.

All I can do is snark. Because snarking keeps me from crying.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I will admit to enjoying the snark. But when my offline beta comments that Ms. Meyer sounds (as you point out) very young, I sometimes feel a touch guilty for snickering. Chronological age doesn't always equate to experience (she says, looking back over her own chequered past). But it surprises me exceedingly that nobody in Ms. Meyer's posse had the savvy to point out the reek of tween drama we're all nosing. She's not being served well by her handlers.

[lyrangalia]

But it surprises me exceedingly that nobody in Ms. Meyer's posse had the savvy to point out the reek of tween drama we're all nosing. She's not being served well by her handlers.

I don't know exactly how much of the snark at fandom_wank you've been following, but it seems Meyer may be surrounding herself completely with yes-men and coddlers. Her brother is her webmaster, and is just as bad (if not worse) at handling public (Internet) affairs, illustrated by an earlier wank. The way she sounds makes me think any professional handler in her employ is too worn out from talking her off the ledge (metaphorically) to handle publicity.

Or I could be being uncharitable. It happens sometimes when I don't have respect for a person. ;)

Note to self: If I ever need someone to handle my publicity, hire a professional. Family and friends may mean well, but do not serve professional interests.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Note to self: If I ever need someone to handle my publicity, hire a professional. Family and friends may mean well, but do not serve professional interests.

Hear, hear!

[artemisrae.livejournal.com]

Oh no, I knew that part was a joke. Like I said, I'm simply having a hard time feeling bad for her. I kinda got what she was saying, but mixing it so melodramtically with the flounce just makes it hard for me to root for her. With the esteem with which some people apparently hold her books (I'm not one of them), it's time for her to start acting like she's a professional writer. Not to mention she should be able to hire an advisor to keep her mind on task. Just because she writes about vapid teenagers doesn't mean she gets to act like them.

(Seriously, hire someone and grab the guy who leaked it by the balls; don't pout and flounce and piss off the people who have been PAYING YOU TO DO THIS.)

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a plan to me. Of course, it's easier to blame the mean people on the Internet than your trusted friends. I'll be interested to see what the follow-up is on this ...