Practical Tips For The Nighttime Novelist
By Guest | November 22, 2010 |
Kath here. Please welcome Joseph Bates, author of The Nighttime Novelist: Finish Your Novel in Your Spare Time to WU. Bates’s fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The South Carolina Review, Identity Theory, Lunch Hour Stories, The Cincinnati Review, Shenandoah, and Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. He holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature and fiction writing from the University of Cincinnati and teaches in the creative writing program at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. We asked if he could share some of his tips with our readers on how to get the most from writing at night. Enjoy!
Franz Kafka was an insurance agent. William Faulkner was a postmaster. Stephen King taught high school English, John Grisham was an attorney, and Toni Morrison worked in publishing. Though romantic fantasies of the writing life don’t often include a day job, the fact is that most writers have one.
The purpose of this post is to offer some further advice on novel writing that doesn’t really fit into easy categorization, though I’m hesitant to call this advice purely practical. Some of it is –you’ll need a good place to work that meets your individual needs, and you should absolutely set goals and deadlines for yourself as you go — but other bits of wisdom you find here will seem more off-topic. Or superstitious. Or weird.
Of course that’s fine. Take what’s useful and feel free to disregard the rest. But don’t forget this section is here; there might come a time when you’re stuck in the work and find yourself thinking, What the heck! I’ll go take a shower. Maybe you’ll find yourself out at a dinner somewhere, about to spill the secrets of your novel writing, and will suddenly find yourself thinking, Wait, maybe I shouldn’t discuss it. I might jinx it. Maybe you’ll find yourself feeling a bit guilty for spending so much of your time locked away in a little room, separate from the world, and will need someone to tell you that your family and friends understand that what you’re doing means something to you; it’s okay. Maybe you’ll need some of the advice in the chapter after all, no matter how rational or irrational you find it, to help make it through as a Nighttime Novelist. And if that’s the case, then who cares if any of these seem irrational? As John Lennon reminds us: Whatever gets you through the night, it’s alright.
• Have some mindless activity at hand. Sometimes getting out of your head for a few moments is the best way to solve a problem. Play solitaire for a minute. Play with a slinky. Get a little squeeze ball designed to release tension, and squeeze the life out of it.
• Don’t discuss a work in progress. You don’t need any external pressures or expectations on you when you write, not even those by well-meaning friends. If you get asked about the novel, simply say, “I’m working on something, but I’m not exactly sure what.” That will confuse them long enough for you to change the subject.
• When the perfect image or idea comes to you as soon as you’ve gone to bed, GET OUT OF BED. Don’t tell yourself that you’ll remember when you wake up. You won’t.
• Don’t read while you write. This is maybe personal preference, but I find that whatever I’m reading while working on a novel inevitably begins corrupting the novel; I start writing like whomever I’m reading. So by all means read often and read well — good writers are, obviously, good readers — but be careful about anything that might contaminate the creative process.
• Don’t check your e-mail when you work. Or surf the Internet. Or read the news. You should have access to the Internet just in case you need to check a fact, or conduct quick research, or look for inspiration, but try to imagine the Internet has glass around it like a fire extinguisher. In case of emergency . . .
For more tips and inspirations on writing your novel around your day job, follow Joseph on Twitter and Facebook.
Many thanks to today’s guest.
You can read more WU guest posts by visiting this link.
Don’t tell anyone is becoming increasingly important. Not so much that I don’t want people to know, but just that I don’t want input, at least not until I get the story down myself.
Also, I’ve recently realized that my reading affects what I’m writing. That one is going to be hard for me though because I read so much and blog book reviews. Gotta find a way to work through that one, I think.
Joseph,
These are some interesting tips. I can see how they’d help certain people in various stages of the writing process.
The “Don’t check your email…” one is big for me. I shut it off and only go back when my alloted writing hours are through.
But the “Don’t read while you write…” one doesn’t fit for me. I’ve never encountered that issue whereby I start emulating the type of writing that I’ve found between the pages of the novel I’m devouring.
It’s different for everyone, yet I wanted to stop by and thank you for an inspiring post.
Daryl
Great great post, well adapted to my situation. Thanks sir!
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All so true! “Don’t tell anyone” has been one of my favorites for over a decade. Talking about a WIP with anyone but a good writing buddy is simply frustrating and counterproductive. Mindless activities? Absolutely. And above all, yes, most writers do have day jobs. I do, too. Which, by the way, I find really helps, too.
PS – You’re also absolutely right about not waiting for the morning if an idea comes to you at night! I keep a pad by my bed to jot these down.
“Don’t tell yourself that you’ll remember when you wake up. You won’t.”
LOL so true. I keep a pad and pen by my bed so I can just reach over and scribble things down without actually getting up and potentially ruining my ability to sleep.
The one thing I will disagree with is not to read while you’re writing. On the contrary, I find that reading is SO inspirational/motivational for me, and I don’t believe that my writing/voice can be “contaminated.” (Does studying Picasso or Warhol “contaminate” young artists?) But every person is different, so if reading while writing distracts a certain writer’s process, I can totally respect that. I just think we need to be careful of the words we’re using when we talk about that.
Great post. I read during the writing process but ONLY WHEN I’m STUCK. It unlocks me each and every time. I agree that to actually be reading another book, a different voice (say, at night, if you write during the day) is too difficult. I’m too distracted.
Look forward to reading more of your posts!
That’s so funny, just yesterday a friend and I were talking about reading while you’re in the middle of a writing project. She’s like you – reading influences her own story too much so she avoids it when writing. Whereas I am able to separate the two and don’t worry about being influenced at all by what I’m reading. If anything, enjoying a good book just motivates me to get back to work and create my own magic.
My only problem is that sometimes I get too hooked on a book and end up reading all day when I should be working on my novel!
I must agree with those of you who DO read while we’re writing. To begin with, reading is part of both my job and my writers’ workshop requirements, so I can’t avoid it. Also, when I find myself stuck in my own head, with my ideas feeling stale, reading fiction (or even nonfiction) by others serves as a kind of “spring cleaning” for my brain! :-)
Great post. Thanks for sharing your insights.
I agree with Kristan. I also keep a pen and a pad by my bedside. ;)
I’ve learned the hard way about getting out of bed to write something down. I’m certain I’ve lost my best seller idea by now ;)
Also, regarding reading while you’re writing — I can only read work from a different genre while I’m writing. When I’m writing fiction, reading nonfiction works best. Otherwise, I do find myself unknowingly adopting phrases, situations and voice from whatever I’m reading into my own writing.
I like the mindless activity tip because sometimes I do have a natural pause in writing and I tend to go to the internet (which is counterproductive and I get sucked into other things).
Also, I have lost so many ideas because I’m too lazy to get out of bed…sometimes too lazy to even stretch out for the paper and pencil. I think I need someone to tell me, definitively, to GET UP.
I read while I write. In fact, I read more while I’m writing because I need that constant flow of words. I love catching things that authors do…writing little details that are important to making a scene a sensory experience…and then put some of that into my wip. What writing affects my writing? My critique partners.
Love this! I consider myself a Lunch break or Quick(!)-before-the-kids-get-up Writer. It’s amazing though how efficient I’ve learned to be with the time I have. Write fast, people! That’s all there is to it!
I have to ditto the advice about getting out of bed to write stuff down–too often, come morning, I’ve forgotten what was sure to be my path to the NYT bestseller list.
I also agree that simultaneously reading and writing is tough going. The urge to assimilate your writing to whatever your reading is definitely there.
I need to read when I’m writing, because I like to add words to my brain to replace the ones I’ve spilled out via writing. :) However, I tend to read in a subgenre that is completely different than whatever I’m writing at that particular moment.
It’s amazing how many ideas for my own WIP have popped into my head while I’m reading — and it has nothing to do with the plot or the story or the words I’m reading. So I know it works, but I just don’t know HOW it does!
I have a pad and pen by my bed and the few times where I haven’t gotten up (because I am SURE I will remember, ha ha), I’ve always lost the idea or phrasing by morning.
I do read while I write, though. I read all the time and it helps fuel me as a writer and as a person. I can’t imagine putting that down. I think my writing would dry up completely.
And a semi-guilty admission? My “mindless activity” is sometimes a few minutes on twitter. It works, so I’m okay with it. I also have a stress ball too. And knitting works fine. Or getting a snack for the kids . . . or breaking up their arguments . . . Yeah, I’m not short on distractions.
Pen and pad on my nightstand. I’ve learned to write well in the dark.
I’m always in the middle of a writing project so if I didn’t read while I was writing, I’d never read.
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Beautifully said, Joseph. Anytime I’ve been tempted to ignore any of there tips I’ve paid the price — kicked myself for days for not writing down those perfect words because I was just too tired to reach for the pen on the nightstand. Just as heinous, I’ve just recently taken a grand leap into the trap of discussing my novel in progress — briefly, but still enough to put a serious dent in my enthusiasm for the story.
[…] Practical Tips for the Nighttime Novelist – These are great tips from Joseph Bates, author of The Nighttime […]
“Favorited” this on Twitter the other day & so glad I did. Great tips. The Internet truly is an evil distraction!
I have sometimes gotten ‘lost’ inside my own story and find that stepping back to recapture the pivotal points gets me back into the flow. Sometimes, giving someone a quick review of what I am writing serves that ‘stepping back’ need. But, I do not invite input or suggestions nor give much never mind to those that are provided, no matter how well intentioned.
I’m always a fan of posts that remind me it’s not just okay but normal – and now beneficial! – to abstain from talking about the project.
Whew!
That’s great advice. I agree that it is different for everyone to different degrees. Checking email and fb are my mindless activities. Getting out of bed…. Yeah that one I do, and yes Kristan it does ruin my ability to sleep. Better that, however, than my wife ruining my ability to chew solid food for turning on the light in the middle of the night. I’ll have to learn how to write in the dark, lol. I either read or I write. I don’t like to do both. I find that I want to do both equally and I just don’t have the time. I just finished writing my first science fiction novel and I’m trying to figure out how to go about getting it published. It would be nice not to have to have a day job. I’d like to eventually be able to make a living doing what I love.