Coffee With David

2009 has been an interesting year in and outside of my writing life. Along with many events and changing priorities outside of writing, I have also learned and tried new methods of this art. From these experiments, I have come to a conclusion that seems to work for me rather well. I really should say: “So far, so good.”

Before I talk about what I am doing, let me clearly say two things: 1. Not every method works for every writer. If you are reading this thinking I have discovered the “Writers’ Holy Grail,” use caution and remember the scene from the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” when the antagonist chose poorly. 2. From what I know of myself and from discussions I have had with writers with differing levels of success in their career, stories are not always able to be written with the same method.

The current method I am employing is to write a story strictly as dialogue with very little description for the first draft. I record a little description or more direction as I go, but only enough to tell myself what is happening and what I need to fill in on a later draft. This goes against everything that I have learned about writing—but it is working. In classes and seminars, I have always been told “Write until done and then cut—cut—cut.” Here I am doing the opposite at first. I am writing, then going back and adding and adding until the piece is truly complete with all the description that is needed. THEN I am going to go after it with the editor’s “sword” and cut away the fat to get to the bone.

I have started this with a new novel and I was able to write over 17000 words in three days. I am actually close to half way in the story line. This is not many words to be so far in the story line, but remember this is only the dialogue. Once I add the description and any narrative, . ..

I will talk about this more as time goes on and see if the production keeps at this pace.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for information on blogs, stories , articles, and poems that I write.

I have recently started an experiment for a separate blog (see my website under non-fiction “What do Favorite Authors May Say About You”) to explore what a writer should write. With my experiment I proposed, does your choice in writers that you like to read say about what you should write. I pondered on this, especially when I like to read multiple genres…how many authors do I consider to be favorites and why.

So here is my list and I have put Wikipedia links next to them in case a reader of this blog does not recognize them. These are a list of poets, novelist, screen writers and playwrights (in no particular order):

Isaac Asimov http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov
Alex Haley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Haley
Arthur C. Clarke http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke
Lin Yutang http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_Yutang
Charles W. Chesnutt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_W._Chesnutt
PD James http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PD_James
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Conan_Doyle
David Weber http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Weber
Ben Bova http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Bova
Jules Verne http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne
Erle Stanley Gardner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erle_Stanley_Gardner
Gene Roddenberry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Roddenberry
J. R. R. Tolkien http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien
Alexandre Dumas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Dumas
J. Michael Straczynski http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Michael_Straczynski
Edgar Allan Poe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe
C. S. Lewis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis
Joss Whedon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joss_Whedon
Walt Whitman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman
C. S. Forester http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Forester
Herman Wouk http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Wouk
W. E. B. Du Bois http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois
William Faulkner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Faulkner
Ian Fleming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fleming
John Masefield http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Masefield
George Lucas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lucas
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Pavlovich_Chekhov
Tom Clancey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Clancey
William Shakespeare http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare
Sydney Sheldon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_sheldon
Fyodor Dostoyevsky http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoyevsky
Louis L'Amour http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_L%27Amour
Tennessee Williams http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Williams
Leo Tolstoy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy
Victor Hugo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo
Sinclair Lewis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Lewis
Mary Shelly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Shelly
Bram Stoker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker
Kan Shimozawa (no wiki)
Robert Louis Stevenson (Personal note: I am named after two of his characters) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Louis_Stevenson
Clive Cussler http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Cussler
Charles Dickens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens
Alan Dean Foster http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Dean_Foster
Georges Joseph Christian Simenon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Joseph_Christian_Simenon
Homer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer
Jack Higgins (Harry Patterson) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Patterson
HG Wells http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HG_Wells
Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Pargeter
Agatha Christie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie
Alistair MacLean http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alistair_MacLean
Robert A. Heinlein http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein
Lindsay Davis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Davis
Baroness Emma Orczy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroness_Emma_Orczy
Johnston McCulley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_McCulley
Ed McBain (Evan Hunter) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Hunter
Terry Brooks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Brooks
Anne McCaffrey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_McCaffrey
Anne Rice http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Rice
Glen A. Larson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_A._Larson
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Quinn_Yarbro

After I looked at the list and researched what I didn’t know about their writing and what themes they focused on, I asked myself—are these themes showing up in my work. The answer is subconsciously yes. Their themes touch something in me, stir my soul and they are what I know. As every writer knows, you write what you know. Not your 9 to 5 job, unless it is really thrilling, or your life as most people do not live a life of adventure. It is the themes of the works that attract you that you know well and are a port of you and attracts you –at least me—to the art.

If you are a writer, try this experiment. See if you find what I did…that their work beats like the tell-tale-heart under the floor boards of your work.
Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for information on the stories and blogs I write.

As I get back in to the swing of writing again after recovering from near burnout, I can easily see why I almost did burnout. I only need to look at my multitude of schedules to figure that out. This blog is delayed because of a conflict in those schedules that arouse unexpectedly from an outside source who has no regards for personal goals or personal responsibilities. So, why don’t I cut back? Honestly, because I do not have much of a choice on it. I cannot shrug responsibility and there is no one to fall back on.

One thing I have to remember—an old lesson—is the truth of time management and routines. If you do not control your time it will be filled by others who have no regards for your priorities, goals, or other responsibilities. Furthermore, if you allow yourself to be spread like a trace of butter on too much bread, your energies and talents will be wasted. If you waste your time, your talents, or your energy, then you have polluted your soul with waste and you will crumble beneath it.

I must learn and remember….

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for updates to blogs and stories that I write.