AaronTurpen.com

Recently, someone asked me what makes a good writer (besides the ability to articulate in print).  I thought about that.  Although several things went through my mind as to what it could be that really makes for a great writer, one thing stuck out.  It’s something that an author told me when I asked the same basic question, years ago.

I was in a shopping mall in Orem, Utah and saw one of the bookstores there was having a book signing.  One of my favorite authors at the time, Orson Scott Card, was autographing his latest novel.  I quickly got in line.  I didn’t have any money and couldn’t buy a book, so I dug through my coat to find anything I could have him autograph.  The paperback in my pocket was one of the trilogy from Douglas Adams’ Hitchiker’s Guide series, if I recall.

Card was nice about it and obviously understood that I didn’t have the cash to buy his latest hardcover.  I fumbled through the cliche “I’m a huge fan” garbage and felt compelled to ask “what makes a great sci-fi writer?”  He looked at me for a brief moment, probably used to that general question, and said “Life experience.”

I’ve thought about that ever since.  Another of my favorite authors, Isaac Asimov, said much the same thing, though he used the context of academic experience (self-learning) as his answer.  Several others have agreed.  As a non-fiction writer, I would agree.  Life experience, to include self-education (on top of formal education, if you wish) is the real key to good writing.

That has made me reflect on my own life and experiences.  I’ve had many academic loves in my life, from astronomy to horticulture to mysticism and more.  As a neighbor once said of me, introducing me to another neighbor at a BBQ, I’ve “never met anything with words I wouldn’t read.”

Beyond that, though, I reflect on the other aspects of my life.  Like most people, I’ve loved and lost, had high points and low valleys, and been places and seen things.  Everyone’s journey through life is a little different.  I’ve had many jobs, but writing is the only consistent career I’ve ever enjoyed.

My jobs have been as varied as my academic interests.  I’ve worked as a grocery store clerk, as a telemarketer, a data entry person, a “mechanic” at a junk yard, as kitchen help in a large cafeteria, a carpenter, a salesman, a warehouse worker, forklift operator, an acetylene generator operator, a truck driver, and others.  I’ve been active and inactive in politics – I’ve even run for office – and I’ve done freelance Web development, been an entrepreneur, done seminar tours, and have become a friend, husband, and father.

I’ve spent time with people from many backgrounds, many places, and with many philosophies.  I’ve traveled the country, coast to coast, and been in places high and low.  I’ve talked to people, closely, from every conceivable ethnicity and from most of the world’s cultures.

In short, in less than 40 years of life, I’ve had many, many experiences with a wide variety of results.  No doubt you have too.

My suggestion to any writer, whether established or new, is to sit back and reflect and think about all of the things you’ve experienced in life – whether you’ve lived 20 years or 100.  No matter who you are, how old you are, or where you come from: you have unique and life-building experience.

Realizing that and utilizing it in your work is what makes a great writer, I think.

A lot of writers, especially those who write creatively, complain of writer’s block.  I’ve experienced it many times.  There are a lot of methods for countering the block, but not all of them work for everyone.

What works for me may be different than what works for you, but here are the methods I use most often to get me through a bout of writer’s block.  The one I choose will depend on several things, such as what kind of deadline I’m under, how many other projects I have, and even what time of year it is.

When Time is Not the Issue

Of course, rarely is time not really important, since many of us will get writer’s block and then just procrastinate until the very end of our deadline.  That’s a bad habit to get into, so here is what I do before time becomes an issue.

First, I walk away from the project I’m not able to write for.  Not quit, just walk away from it.  I take a day, maybe two, and ignore all information relating to the subject or job and instead work on other things.

Sometimes those other things aren’t even writing, actually.  I might mow the lawn, do some handyman jobs around the house (aka “honey do’s”), play with the dogs, etc.  Anything, so long as it is not the troublesome project.

After doing this and refreshing myself with other subjects, I can usually go back and no longer have a blockage.

When the Pressure Is On

Of course, most writer’s block (at least for me) tends to come because the project is a “hurry hurry, last minute, right now, no time to waste” endeavor.  I used to get a lot of these, but have since either weeded out the clients who were chronic with these types of last-minute projects or have doubled the price to them, thereby winning extra time to avoid the higher costs.

Of course, reasons that may not be your client’s fault or that may be because of your own schedule can make any project become a last-minute time crunch.  Whatever thecase, being under pressure often causes writer’s block – more so than at any other time for me.

For this, I have a method that takes about an hour, but it’s grueling.

I set an alarm (usually my cell phone or the computer) for fifteen minutes.  Then, ignoring the alarm, I open up a word processor and start typing.  I make no stops, no breaks, no “glances at email” or anything else.  What I’m writing doesn’t matter.  Usually it is just me ranting out a tirade about the looming deadline, the project, or the project that delayed me getting to this one, or whatever else.  To be honest, these rants usually boil down to something about the IRS, someone that recently peeved me, and similar and rarely has to do with the project at hand.

The subject you’re writing on for this fifteen minute marathon is not really important.  It’s the unabated flow of writing that matters.  After fifteen minutes, I can often stop, take a breather, and open a new page and begin the project at hand.

If, after fifteen minutes, the block is still there, then I do another fifteen.  It can sometimes take up to an hour to get through, but most of the time the first fifteen minutes does the job.

The Research Salve

My last method, which I’ll use when the block seems to be all about “how do I start this?” is what I call my “research salve.”  I cover the wound (writer’s block) with more research or with a re-examination of it.

Often the blockage in this case is not an inability to write on the subject, but instead a problem with what approach to take.  Some time spent going through the information to be written about usually solves this for me.  Especially if I take a respite or break of some kind and come back to it.

Another, similar method I often use for heavily-researched and science-based items is mind mapping or even the writing of a preliminary, summarized version of what I intend to write overall (without any “angle” implied).  In other words, I take the information and either map it out in a non-linear fashion (mind map) or I write a short (less than a page) “just the facts, ma’am” summary to work from.

Either of these works well to put all of the information in front of me in a one-page, one-glance format so that I can more easily develop a focus for the final piece.

Whatever Works For You

Of course, you’ll have to find whatever works for you in whatever situation you find yourself in.  Many writers use meditation, relaxation, stimulation, distraction, and many other “ions” to work through their writer’s block.

There are as many ways to do it as there are writers doing it.  Experiment a little and find your best methods.

This is a little different than my usual posts about the business of writing, but it clearly falls into the overall subject matter here.  Most people in the business of selling words understand that a publisher’s primary job is not printing material, but selling (marketing) it.  The writer creates the work, but the publisher finds people who will pay to read it.  Thus the writer and publisher are often two halves of the same grapefruit, so to speak.

According to the Wall Street Journal, however, the profits for publishers are dwindling fast.  Even in books and magazines, where traditional media seemed to have been holding its own (whereas newspapers are faltering).  Ron Adner and William Vincent at the WSJ say that the future of books, especially electronic books, will include advertising because publishers have little to no profit margin in these mediums.

Of course, this is not really all that new.  I have a small collection of pulp novels from the 70s, 80s, and 90s that all have advertising inserts at their centers.  Collectors know, by the way, that these are worth more if they include the adverts rather than if those have been torn out.  Mine aren’t worth anything, really, except that I enjoy the mindless reading once in a while.  I confess to a small horde of Destroyer and Executioner novels.  I especially enjoy the Destroyer series for its humor and surprising philosophic mysticism.

Books today don’t generally have advertisements in them for a simple reason: it’s hard to sell adverts in most books and the ones that could draw advertising dollars are probably selling too well to bother the reader with it.  Those authors, and I’m talking about the big names like Stephen King and Michael Crichton, usually retain a large measure of artistic control over their work and would likely veto any ad attempts regardless.

Electronic books are a new medium that, while it has relatively low costs associated with it, also has a low profit margins to match.  With outlets like Amazon.com selling ebooks at less than paperback prices, it’s no wonder publishers are a little worried.

Ebook reading (thanks primarily, I think, to readers like the Kindle and iPhone) is gaining ground fast as more and more people latch onto this method of absorbing literature.  The market for electronic books has been growing quickly for the past few years.

Some readers, like myself (a confessed bibliophile), will probably never enjoy reading from a screen.  We are, however, becoming a minority as the percentage of Americans who read regularly is migrating more and more towards electronic delivery.

How will this change the printed word?

To be honest, I don’t think it will change it all that much.  Some methods of advertising, such as “push” or forced adverts, will probably create a backlash amongst readers when it inevitably appears in books.  Currently, for instance, I boycott all Disney films on DVD because they force the viewer to sit through their previews despite having paid for the movie on the disc and not the previews that are an advertising bonus (in my mind) to the studio.   Forcing ads between chapters, at page turns, or when loading a book to read would be comparable to that and unacceptable.

On the other hand, having an ad appear tastefully within the text or come up during the book loading (with the ability to skip it immediately) is not so bad.  While it will require some getting used to, I think most people would understand that the price of a cheaper ebook is seeing those ads.  Smart publishers will probably charge a premium for ad-free copies.

In the mean time, those in traditional print media will continue their doom drum beating, telling us all how the world will end because the newspaper and news magazine are on their death beds.  Like any business, publishers have to adapt as times change.  Today, the Internet and instant proliferation of information is quickly replacing the old print-and-distribute method.  A few publishers are or will adapt and continue to operate.  Others will fail.

That’s the biz, sweetheart.