Writing as a God
June 3, 2008 by J.C. Hewitt
Article By David Jace
I started writing novels before I was in high school. The problem with that sentence is, I started, but never finished them. Until now. In April of 2008 I finally finished writing a novel. Now that I’m counting the years, I realize that I spent over half my life, nearly two-thirds, failing to complete novel projects. I spent plenty of time writing. I would reread and rewrite those first few chapters countless times, and then do the same with the next idea that came to mind. They may have gotten better, but they never got finished. What changed is that I realized a couple of things about myself and then acquired a couple of tools to apply to my work. And now I would like to share them with those who might benefit from it.
I recognized that I am an explorer. I want to go see the sights never before seen and discover what lies over that next hill. This is great for keeping an open mind, which I value. However, whatever lies beyond that next hill… hasn’t been written yet. That’s my job. I can’t discover what’s out there, I have to decide what’s out there. When I eagerly wait to see what the character is going to do in the next scene, the story stalls and he never makes it there. If I can’t wait to find out “whodunnit,” then no one did.
In effect, I have realized that in order to succeed, Writers Must Be Gods. We have created a world. We have populated it with animals (or machines). And we have formed people, characters, from the dust of our minds. And if you’re doing NaNoWriMo, you’d better do it in less than 7 days! This sequence of events sound familiar to anyone? We are the one and only god of our creation and it is up to us to write the future. We must decide the End days, and what the signs are that lead up to it.
Every one of my characters gets to the end of the scene, turns around and says “Hey, big guy, what now?” It’s my job to decide on a course of action and give him an answer. I’m not saying I have to have every detail ironed out in advance. (Even if I did, it would probably change along the way.) I am saying that if you don’t know where your story is going, it’ll never get there. It might be a mystery to you at first how Elena, the beautiful seamstress, ends up in love with Timmy the Robot, but you know they’re fated to be together. You may not know how you’re going to kill Jefferson MacGregor, but you know he’s gotta die.
So, realize this. Recognize and revel in the inherent power of being a god. Characters are born, live, die, cry, and celebrate at your whim. The entire world is your playground, and you can do anything you want within it. When you are writing, you have to be a Creator first, and then you can discover the details.
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I don’t have my own blog or website, but if you are interested in me as a person, or reading a little of my non-blog writings, feel free to look for me on myspace: www.myspace.com/bengaleyes
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By Myself! I think you’re right. I am a god! Of course, I have just drunk a bottle of champagne, a bottle of cider and a (small) bottle of grappa – it’s my birthday – but your analysis resonates with my own sense of omnipotence!
The best part of writing a novel is creating the ‘world’. The residual fun is in making the ‘characters’ run around in it.
In fact, I am inspired to invent a whole new physics and have some poor hapless ‘characters’ cope with the consequences. Ha, ha, ha! The power! The power!
Grahams last blog post..The Future of Publishing: Techie Perspective
David,
I survived NaNoWriMo this last November and it was one of the best experiences I’ve had. I learned a lot about myself, including the fact that I can actually write that many words if I have a super-intense deadline and a wonderful, supportive writing community.
Morgans last blog post..The Darkest Hour…
@ Graham Happy Birthday!! And good luck with inventing new physics. It worked wonders for Asimov!
@Morgan Congratulations on NaNoWriMo, that’s no easy task. A deadline and strong support are absolutely great motivators, I agree.
Very interesting, I am so glad you decided to complete a writing. You have always had a talent but never pushed it. Congratulations. Mom
Congratulations, Mr. Husband! A fine piece of writing, as always!
Thank you for the article Jace. Good luck with the book.
Thank you, John. Thank you for the opportunity to be here.
Wait a minute, what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be on vacation??
Get back to those scantily clad beach girls. Go surf with the Big Kahuna. Have a fruity, colorful drink with a little umbrella or flower floating in it! On vacation and still coming into the office…
I did the same thing all through high school – I guess was just being a “lazy GOD”.
Maybe I should follow through and create a novellette?? Ha ha, big maybe.
Man, writers get all the luck. First they get to have a cool profession like, well, WRITING, and now they get to be God too!
Add another reason writing may just be the coolest profession ever.
Cool piece of writing David — and get that website.
Yuwanda Blacks last blog post..$5,000 for a 500-Word Article: The Ultimate Article Writing Gig!
@SomethingPositive A lazy god… might be meat for a short story in that… and you should absolutely go write a novellette!
@Yuwanda That would be a great blog post: X Reasons Why Writing is the Coolest Profession Ever!
And thanks!
Cool entry, Jace, very empowering
I also participated in NaNoWriMo last November for the first time. I was amazed by hard it was to stop writing. I wanted to end my novel, not just complete the requisite number of words, but it was like trying to end a relationship that I really wanted to continue. My only comfort was in knowing that this was just my first draft and I would return to it. I have the same problem with other things I do, like knitting and sewing. I love the process, but when it comes time to “finish up,” I often balk and look around for some other project to start. So, apparently for me, this is a character defect.
I agree with Yuwanda that you should go ahead and get a website and/or blog. There’s lot of good free services that you can use (Blogger and WordPress are the two most popular, I think). The best thing is to troll around other websites and blogs, find ones that you like, and see what service they use.
Marie Ann Baileys last blog post..The New Bard Press
Jace, your are very talented with your writing
I hope you have finish that book of yours, i hope this the first
of many things I see, NOW GO BACK TO WORK
If need some more Ice cream & a movie is
carol busy ? because you writing you can’t go
@ Marie Ann Bailey: Wow, that’s two votes for me starting my own blog. I’ll have to give it consideration now. Though I hate to start my own when I feel like so many of you are already doing the same thing I’d be doing and so well. Perhaps I’ll just showup randomly as a guest blogger wherever I find space for me for awhile first.
And, sadly, I have to disagree with you. That is NOT a character flaw, that’s a goldmine! You just have to learn to use it to your advantage. Piers Anthony currently has over 30 novels in the Xanth series with more on the way. Talk about not wanting to leave a world!! Maybe you should start thinking in terms of trilogies or series instead of single books. Then, when you finish one, you’ve still got plenty more to write!
@Mikey: You aren’t taking my girl to ice cream and a movie unless I come too!! Besides, I can stop writing anytime I want. No, really, I can. Honest. Anytime. Give me back my pencil!!!
[...] on but never completely. Take David Jace’s advice and be the god you know you are. In his guest entry at the Writer’s Resource Center, Jace admonishes us that “Writers Must Be [...]
Here’s a third vote for your starting your own blog, Jace.
I have an author friend who is on the third novel of a series of seven who swears her main character sits on her shoulder and tells her what to write. If she gets off-track, he lets her know. Most of us, though, don’t have our characters telling us their stories, so we do have to create everything.
@ Lillie Thanks for the vote. What a fun way to write. And it does sometimes come out that way. As I said, even if I had everything planned, I’m sure my characters would make some changes. Even in the novel I referenced in my post, there was a character who, not only did not exist in my original plan, but pretty much wrote himself into the story as well as his actual character. That was a fun experience. And I really loved his style. It’s rather a shame I had to kill him.
We are all gods in our own imagination.
I always knew you had a god complex. Great article, very thoughtful too. So, when will you finish that novel?
It’s scheduled for editing in the fall, so should be ‘complete’ and submitted to publishers by/after Christmas of this year.
So I guess in the next year keep your eyes out for news about “On Common Ground”
David, I’m glad you decided to visit your posting upon we, your earth-bound underlings! But seriously, thanks for your article. Even writing about writing qualifies as creating (so I’ve found; thank goodness), and I admire that you followed through with your love of writing. Many of us, too many perhaps, don’t!
Well, best of luck as your novel makes its way through the wheels and cogs of editing later in the year.
David,
You make some excellent points in this piece–and I must confess that your angle is quite creative (if you’ll pardon the unintended pun)!
It’s so, so true that if we as writers don’t know where we’re going, we’ll never get there–and neither will our readers! We’re the ones who make it all happen; and since nothing can happen without us, we owe it to both our readers and ourselves to stay the course and stick with the project to the end. Your piece really resonates with me, because the above points are the whole basis for my current Guide to Polished Writing series at Writer’s Notes.
Thanks for offering writers a rationale for taking charge of their writing projects and making wonderful things happen! And thanks for doing it in such an engaging way!
Regards,
Jeanne
hehe… *is suffering from major power trip… and major sugar high…* anyway, I have to agree with what you said. You have got to know where you’re going before you get there. I always shock my friends with my 3-10 page story outlines for anything from a short story to a full length novel. Most of them say that it’s to much planning. I might care to point out now, that out of the four of my friends that did NaNoWriMo, I am the only one that finish. :^D … anyways, great article!!
Wow, Jace…your article really spoke to me. As a fellow aspiring novelist, I have at least one or two unfinished stories. Now it all makes sense! I knew where I wanted things to go, but I couldn’t figure out how to get it there and it’s all up to me anyway! Great advice.
Awesome post, Jace. I’m so glad you finished your novel. It was an experience to watch that novel grow throughout the semester, and reading the end was the perfect way to tie things up for the class. <3
Still sorry I missed your wedding. The pictures look beautiful.
Remember who inspired you to plan out all your chapters beforehand with your fiance’s Google Spreadsheet of Awesomeness.
Everyone has to find their own amount of planning to do to fit their writing style, but it IS important that everyone has SOME planning, so you make an excellent point with this.
I wish I could have been a guest blogger for this, but I’m thinking about just picking the creative writing journals back up and continuing on with that before sharing any of them… We have some beautiful journals at Barnes & Noble.
Anyway, hon, have fun being a god. As Miss Jocks told me when she signed my copy of her book, I’m off to embrace my inner goddess and (hopefully soon) finish chapter ten.
By the way, anyone who is interested in looking at more of Jace’s stuff online, I feel this is the perfect time to insert a shameless plug for my own website for creative writers: Creative Writing Workshop. It has Jace’s completed novel in its entirety for all to enjoy/critique.
@Leigh Thanks! And don’t worry, I’m not one of those burning bush kind of fellas. A simple, down-to-earth email is good enough for most deific messages.
@Jeanne. I appreciate your praise. I just hope I earned it. And don’t worry. I try to do everything I do in an engaging way! Otherwise, the car won’t start!
@Elizabeth, remind me to get a peek at one of those extensive planning pieces. I think I could pick up some tips!
@ Jessica I’m so glad it resonated with you. You’re already a step ahead of where I was. I had awesome situation, deep characters, bold initial conflicts… I just had no idea what to do with them! The moment when I sat back and said “I have a plot. I know how this is going to end!!” was a real celebratory turning point!
@Sabre Shameless plug? You’d better know what words mean before you use them. And you can’t know what shameless means if you don’t know the meaning of the word shame!!
Actually, Sabre has a great site, and I am glad she offered up to everyone. There are some really nice little gems on there and it is all very well organized by genre and writing type. I highly recommend checking it out. (And don’t forget to leave comments! We all love comments and critiques!!)
In “Ship of Gold in a Deep Blue Sea”, brilliant engineer Tommy Thompson strictly limits himself to a maximum of three projects at a time so that he’ll actually finish something (like recovering over a billion in gold from the ocean floor).
J. K. Rowling appears to use the same strategy – I understand she chose to work on just two projects until one “grabbed” her in the same way her modestly successful (!) first project did.
That seems to be a good approach for those blessed with literary godhood (or any other creative inclinations). If the play’s the thing, then *completing* the play must be the *main* thing!
Great post, by the way.
Jace,
I’m sorry I took so long to get to this for you, but I have been swamped at work. It sounds like getting to post on here was a big privilege, so congrats, sonny boy.
I whole-heartedly agree with your premise here — that as we tackle any accomplishment in life (including writing), we should implement a master-plan, following the example of The Great Master-Planner. Everything is better when we follow in His footsteps!
So, now, hi-ho, hi-ho. As usual, it’s off to work I go. I might note that I did thoroughly enjoy getting off work to participate in my Carrie Dee Darling’s (a.k.a. Carol, Rini, Care-Care, daughter-extraordinaire) and your wedding — special thanks to George & Janet for hosting it. And, I even get to take off a little early tonight to see our Terri Lea (middle sister) walk for her diploma! Whoo-hoo!
Take care. LUVZ
Mommy
Jace,
First, I would like to say congrats and excellent job. I am not a writer or even that much of a reader, but I enjoyed the article a lot. If I can get Kristen out of bed I will show her the article and I am sure she will love it too!
Second, I hope the wedding was an extremely happy and love filled day for you and I wish I could have been there to see it!
With love from Kristen and I,
Matt
A very unique point of view. Push hard and you will finish a novel. Never, never, never give up.
Oh, I already know about the whole ‘writers are GODS’ thing… I probably take it farther than most, though, because nearly every story I’ve written that’s longer than five pages has a goddess who actively talks to the characters and gets requests from the characters and threatens lightning bolts upon recalcitrant characters… Kind of like ‘Letters to the Characters/Author’, only in dialog format with more swearing and attempted stranglings. Oh, and punchings-of-the-goddess’s-nose. I also argue with my characters in my head…
Jace,
Thank you again for this insightful and fun article. I wish you the best of luck on your novel and I hope the characters benefit from your role as supreme overlord.