Just watched Wil Wheaton‘s Awesome Hour on the PAX 09 DVD. This has made me sorry I missed his keynote speech at PAX East, as he’s a fantastic public speaker, an excellent storyteller and a genuinely funny guy. Modest, too, which is always nice to see.
It’s strange to think about these people that we got the chance to see or even meet at PAX being “celebrities” in the geeks’ world, but complete unknowns to everyone else. The thing is, I personally feel that Wheaton, along with Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade, are far more admirable human beings than many people who are constantly in the news. What is it about them?
Well, I know why they are admirable people: they’re not dicks. But why do they toil in obscurity? Because of their geeky interests? Perhaps. I say it’s a shame. But it’s probably for the best. Would these guys be the same people they are now if they were constantly in the spotlight? Who knows. Perhaps they would be. I’d like to think so. But it’s actually kind of nice to have figures to look up to that belong entirely to your own subculture.
Wheaton said some interesting things in his speech and Q&A session, particularly about self-publishing material that you’ve written yourself. It’s something that I’ve considered myself, actually. But, of course, I need to write something first. I have quite a few half-finished novels in a folder on my computer (in fact, that folder’s made the jump across at least four different hard drives now) and an abortive attempt at last year’s NaNoWriMo in the planning stages.
If there’s one thing that this One A Day experiment has proven, it’s that I certainly can churn out some writing each day. Some of it’s not great, of course – I’m writing this at the same time as watching the end of Wheaton’s spot on the PAX DVD, for example – but I certainly don’t have a problem churning out… stuff. So perhaps I should try and actually, you know, write something.
So tomorrow I’m going to try and start a novel. And try and finish it. Not tomorrow, obviously, but I’m going to make a good attempt to write a bit every day. I’m going to take the NaNoWriMo approach of doing a brain dump every day and edit it later. I have a few ideas floating around in my head and have done for some time. Some of them are compatible. Others are not. The difficult thing is coming up with a concept that’s not shit. Or coming up with a good concept and ruining it with a shit twist. If there’s anything that Douglas Coupland novels have taught me, its that you don’t have to have big, stupid, dramatic twists to make a decent story.
So let’s see where this goes. I’ll post regular updates on here. If you’re lucky, even extracts. Though I’m weird about people reading work-in-progress writing, so you’ll have to be very lucky. But it starts tomorrow. You’ll see. You’ll all see! Bwahahahaha! *jumps out of window*
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I’ve been thinking about my writing output as well. I’ve taken my daily journaling offline over the last few months and have been paying attention to what’s come out of me. I’ve noticed that my quantity is higher but the quality of “the message” is banal. I guess it’s kind of like going through the motions. Sure, I’m consistent but does anything I write entertain, educate, or offer up a new and interesting perspective to a reader?
Not really.
For me, there’s something energizing about writing FOR a person or group of people that brings out the best out of me. Maybe I should take that bit of insight and put it to better use. 🙂
This is true: writing is always easier (and better) when you’re doing it for both an audience and a purpose. They taught us that back in high school. (Now they teach it in primary school.)
The whole thinking behind the #oneaday project (which, entertainingly, the creator abandoned quite quickly, only for many others to take up the slack) is to write just for yourself, and if other people dig it, great. Not everything you write will be great. But the self-discipline side of things is really important, because otherwise you can start writing in a flurry of excitement, tail off, give up and never be able to get back to it. That’s what’s happened to all my previous stories – something made me lose interest and I’ve never gone back since. If I can take what I’ve learned from the last 73 days and apply it to writing something that actually has a purpose (and an implied audience) – I think that could work.
We’ll see, I guess. Call it my own personal NaNoWriMo.
It’s funny you mention publishing work; I’ve been on that same boat too.
What pours out of me is stuff that is highly influenced by 30s and 40s pulp serial novels. Half stream of though, half thought out things. I’ve contemplated numerous times of starting up a site for such an outlet, getting out an 80-page story a month with the ubiquitous cliff-hanger ending to lead up to next month’s post.
I just need a catchy name…