I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my experience of 41 Days of Story.
The background for those of you scratching your heads: I’m the Board Chair of the Clarion West Writers Workshop. This past summer, to raise money for CW, I accepted donations and wrote a new piece of fiction to a prompt supplied by the donor. I did this every day for 41 days in a row.
Thank you to all of you who donated, and read the pieces, and left encouraging comments. You made a difference to Clarion West, and to me. I will always be grateful.
- For those who like the numbers:
- I raised more than $2,500 for Clarion West.
- I wrote 32,000 words of fiction, plus another 8,000-10,000 of editorial commentary at Sterling Editing.
- At least 6 of these pieces are conscious opening or early scenes of a novel (meaning that I saw a much longer work when I was writing them).
- 34 of them are stories. Of those 33, at least 12 could conceivably be the genesis of a longer work (novella or novel) if I wanted to develop them along those lines.
- There’s one piece that is not a story: a prose poem, maybe?
- I would classify 9 to 12 of the pieces as speculative fiction.
- 7 of the pieces are YA fiction.
And then there were the days themselves. Getting up every morning and sitting down to a sentence or two of prompt, and a big blank screen, and then…writing.
It was brutal. It was absolutely fucking terrifying. It was exhilarating. It was deeply surprising. And it was occasionally ecstatic. But I keep trying to talk about it beyond hanging these tags on it, and I just…can’t. I don’t really know how to make anyone understand what it means to me that I did this thing. Because, you know, people write new fiction all the time. Lots of people write 32,000 words in six weeks. It’s not particularly impressive to the outside world, and it feels pretentious to process about it in public as if it were important to anyone but me. But I just wanted you to know that it mattered to me, and that it has changed me deeply and forever in ways that are exciting, and not entirely comfortable.
However, I would really appreciate your input about what the hell I should do with this stuff. Because my head is overfull of ideas. I could e-publish them as unedited flash fiction (explaining in the introduction the Clarion West/prompt context — I could even give the prompts). I could publish them with the Sterling Editing commentary appended. I could dig in and write one of those novels. I could polish/expand some of the better stories and publish them individually or in a small collection. I could put a nail gun to my forehead and end my indecision that way, although that seems counterproductive…
Your ideas? What would you do with too many options and not enough time? I would also love to know from those of you who read the pieces what your favorites were, and perhaps why?
I am not accustomed to crowd-sourcing my career (and, to be fair, I’m not leaving the decision up to the crowd), but any feedback is a gift right now, and I would appreciate any input you care to offer.
Enjoy your day, and thanks.
Thanks for your hard work and for inviting us along on the journey. Personally, I would love to see all the pieces together in order to see the progress. So, a self-pubbed collection would be fun. (A nominal charge might add to the CW coffers…)
Re: “But I just wanted you to know that it mattered to me, and that it has changed me deeply and forever in ways that are exciting, and not entirely comfortable.”
I’ve participated in Nanowrimo (50K words in 30 days) for the past 7 years and I agree that it is hard to describe that kind of self imposed craziness. That daily grind has helped me more than almost anyhting.
Whatever you choose to do will be the fruit of an increbible labor. Congratulations and good luck!
jeanne
Ha! I was just reflecting on those days of writing yesterday and posted you a note – in the mail! What you did was just incredible, the challenge was humungous and – yes, you did it – but you did it superbly.
You have a treasure trove there and you sweated for every bit of of it. (Reminds me the trove Nicola posted a link to.) Isn’t it like a resource? You’ve already categorised them; is there one that’s speaking to you that doesn’t want to wait?
I don’t understand the pressure, why isn’t there enough time?
That was such an incredible experience for us readers, too (at least this one). I vote for all of the above (minus the nail gun).
I read each of your commentaries like class notes. You should really consider putting out a writing guide. The things you mentioned are not in other books. Everyone writes about what it’s like to be a writer. I liked the specific craft details–like how to approach a flashback, that was huge! Why you chose a particular POV or voice. What your thought process was. And it wasn’t in academic gobbledygook. Great stuff.
Not to mention these were really cool stories. Though I can see how it could be overwhelming.
I’m glad it changed you. And thank you again for doing it!
Thank you for giving back so generously to Clarion.
Thank you for inviting ‘us’ to read along.
A million thanks for inviting our prompts and participation.
Kudos to Jude for the ‘treasure trove’ and for asking “why isn’t there enough time?”
Macerate with good alcohol, come back and check on it later. Something will tell you when it’s ready.
I’ll be waiting to read whatever is next.
Caryl
I want a novel, so pick that one and write it. That way, you don’t have to worry about having enough time.
I agree with ElaineB above, you should consider putting out a book on writing craft. I found your craft commentary to be very helpful and thought-provoking as a new writer. My writing group, none of whom have read any of your other work, really enjoyed your comments as well. Now you have some new readers, all of whom say that they are literary writers who don’t like to read speculative fiction .
I’m curious which story(ies) you will decide to expand. A book growing from these pieces seems like it would, inherently have good karma.
I just let it flash and what I see is that the experience has opened up a giant new white canvas inside of your head. It opened and expanded you, affected you in ways that you’ll only understand if you keep going. So keep going:)
A third vote for a writing guide. Your insights were wonderful and several were points that I’ve never heard another instructor make. I would be really interested to see how you’d flesh it out.
Jill
I knew after the first few days that we were watching something momentous and magical happening here. I mentioned it several times. Other people may be writing that many words every day, and they may be good writers. But I doubt there are very many, if any, that are doing what you did. Writing something completely unrelated every day. Creating a new world every day with an economy of words that few could match if they spent a whole week on one of your petite stories. And getting up at 4 am when the rest of us are still sleeping. Overcoming the fear to let your brilliance come through, and then going about your day doing all the other umpteen million things you have on your list every day. And getting up the next day before the day starts to do it all over again. That takes a kind of self will and courage and brilliance and heart that few have.
Several years ago I saw/heard Jim Rohn speak in person. He’s a motivational speaker who’s been around for decades. He said that many people talk to him about wanting to become a millionaire. He tells a story about something his mentor told him about that back in the 60’s. He said that it’s not about the million dollars or what you could do with it. He said (and I’m paraphrasing) it’s about what it will make of you to become it. In the effort of becoming of a millionaire, people become better. More than they were. I think about that sometimes when I have to do things I don’t want to. What will it make of me to become it? And I’m thinking about it now. And what you have become and will do because of this that we don’t know yet.
I don’t know what you should do with this wonderful writing. What matters most? Money, the work, what? Me, I’m like Barbara. I’d like a novel please. And another and another and another after that. : ) But if end up watching a movie you’ve written, I’d be happy with that too. I bet you could make a nice chunk of change with a writing guide (ebook) and help a bunch of people in the process. What speaks to you the most? If you don’t know yet, I’m guessing you may need to sit with it a while longer. I have no doubt you will know what’s best.
Thank you all very much for your generous responses. I appreciate them very much indeed.
Didn’t help you at all with favourite stories from that wonderful selection – all gems. Personally, I’d go and sit and look at the ocean for a while – days probably… ; )
do the unique, self-published writing guide: the short pieces with commentary. but, for goodness sake, charge a low price ($2.99) and keep the proceeds. no one puts out a quality ebook without a lot of work, and you have an obligation to support yourself and your writing, too.
oh, but hold out the two pieces that you most want to turn into novels. once your guidebook is up…
I’ve also been thinking a very helpful (for other writers) and marketable thing would be a series of concise ebooks with different topics – dialogue, POV, theory, etc. Use some of these stories with your commentary as part of them. Charge $4.99 a pop/ 5 for $20. Maybe work your edit casts in there somehow – app maybe?
You know — in all that spare time you have.
I’ve seen photographers doing that kind of model very successfully. I’ve purchased some of them myself.
I also suggest making a craft book out of your posts. I learned more as a writer from reading this series of post with their commentary than I have from reading the inumerable craft books already out there. Most of the books seem to say the same things over and over. They also never address more advanced and subtle techniques (like the verb tense thing with the basketball player).
Several of your posts actually prompted me to sit down and write my own practice piece based around the techniques you focused on in your commentary. Thank you so much for doing that little extra. It had a big impact on me as a writer.
Again, thanks to all for the comments. Very useful, and so kind of you all to help! I’m thinking seriously about the craft book ideas, and I’m delighted that so many people found the tips useful. That jazzes me.
Lots to think about here.