We're back! Welcome to number fourteen in my ongoing series of essays on the art and craft of writing. There will eventually be fifty essays in this series, all of them based on my fifty thoughts on writing. This proves that I have no hobbies. All fifty thoughts were composed in a single heated, Diet Dr Pepper-powered session, which probably goes a long way towards explaining the number of seriously weird metaphors involved. I'm reasonably easy to bribe and distract, so if there's something you've been hoping I will -- or won't -- discuss, remember, if it's orange, I probably adore it.

Here's our thought for the day:

Thoughts on Writing #14: Know Your Territory.

While the thought at the core of today's essay is a bit more publishing-oriented than many of them have been (or will be), it can still apply to writers of all stripes, whether you're writing for fun or writing with the goal of eventually becoming the next big best-selling author. This is another essay that's just as much about being a reader as it is about being a writer; hopefully, if I write enough of these, people will realize that I genuinely mean it when I say that without reading, writing starts going a little bit stale. Here's today's expanded topic of discussion:

Even if you're not publishing right now -- even if you're just hoping to publish someday -- make sure you're reading as much as you can of the genres where you're writing or planning to write. The line between 'new and hot' and 'played-out and cliche' is a thin one, and while I'm not saying 'throw away your baby because somebody else got there first,' you need to know where that line is at any given moment, because you need to be able to defend your work from an informed perspective.

Now, you will hopefully remember that we discussed genre and what it means in essay thirteen, 'Reading Outside the Box,' and I can thus continue without going over old ground. If you don't remember that essay, or if you want a refresher on its contents, that's okay. We can wait right here while you get caught up. Once you're ready, we can continue.

All set? Excellent. Let’s begin.

( My thoughts are not your thoughts; my process is not your process; my ideas are not your ideas; my method is not your method. All these things are totally right for me, and may be just as totally wrong for you. So please don't stress if the things I'm saying don't apply to you -- I promise, there is no One True Way. This way for my thoughts on reading inside the genre, why this is an important thing to do, and why we sometimes have to defend our work.Collapse )

Current stats:

Words: 3,200.
Total words: 23,468.
Reason for stopping: it's time for bed.
Music: the new We're About 9 album.
Lilly: in my lap, like a big fuzzy sausage that purrs.

I feel like I've been horribly neglecting this book as Late Eclipses of the Sun and the setup for The Brightest Fell devour my brain. At the same time, slipping back into Verity's world is like putting on a pair of well-loved fuzzy slippers. Fuzzy slippers that may decide to digest my feet and lay eggs in my chest cavity, but still, fuzzy slippers.

Oh, and since the last time I posted a word count, I didn't know the name of the third Verity book yet, here you go: Professional Goreography. (Yes, the second word of that title is pronounced to sound like 'choreography.') It's possibly my worst book title pun yet, and that's saying a lot coming from the author of Newsflesh.

I am now at the point where my plot is driving the situation, rather than my need to introduce characters and setting driving the situation. I love that particular click-over moment in my books. (There are books where situation is in the driver's seat from page one -- Upon A Star anyone? -- but I usually go for the slower build. It's more satisfying.)

I am a happy kitty.