Dear Fellow Writer,
I am still unashamedly bribing you
to read my NEW THRILLER:
This week an esteemed subscriber asked me about the process I used to write this latest 349 page novel - and I had intended to write an article about it today.
However, the article was turning into a bit of a novel in itself, so perhaps next week I'll write a more condensed version of how I wrote Kindred - and why it took almost 3 years to complete!
Plus, in case you've been following this other thing, I have finally finished making First Cut, my latest horror movie - a 30 minute piece - and I'm ready to start submitting it to film festivals around the world.
I'll be putting out a 30 second trailer for it soon.
Keep writing!
My 30 Day Mentoring Program
My
subscribers often ask me what they get in my 30
day novel mentoring program - the one that comes
FREE with my famous Easy Writing System.
Here's
the lowdown:
After
you've studied my Easy Writing System,
including Fiction 101 and The Easy Way
to Write a Novel, then I'm usually happy
to personally help you write over a 30 day
period.
Most
times, people set a date and off we go.
Writers
often assume that if they give up trying to write 5000+
words a day for a month then somehow they've
failed.
That's
not how I see it.
That's
why, for me, there's no pressure for you
to work every day or even to stick to the 30 day
time limit.
To
me, the most important aspect of trying to write
a novel in 30 days is the mindset this creates in
the writer.
Being
a professional writer, which most new writers say
they want, is really about dedication
- and creating the first draft of a
novel in 30 days, no excuses, teaches you volumes
about your potential for professionalism and
commitment.
Later,
when you're writing full time, it's this
mindset that will keep you going through thick
and thin.
All
else - success, bestsellers, awards,
fame - is vanity in comparison.
Fact
is, you need to be able to write consistently and
finish things to a deadline, especially if self
imposed, if you're ever going to make a
living from writing novels... writing anything in
fact.
Most new writers
have problems committing to finishing projects - a common enough issue for many
aspiring novelists.
This can be a very frustrating problem when you really need to get your career started.
By hopping backwards and forwards between unfinished projects, you're basically putting off the day you can begin your career - which may be subconsciously why you're flitting from one project to another in the first place!
As you will read in my ebooks and courses, one of the conditions I place on the 30 day mentoring period is that it is for new works only.
And by 'new work' I mean novels written after you have studied and absorbed and understood my writing system.
Revising 'old' novels is a painstaking process that can take anything up to a year or two. For the writer, an independent editor - and a long suffering mentor.
It's often so dreadfully time consuming in fact I would say revision was most times a pointless and unnecessarily nerve-wracking exercise - especially when you could be writing new novels that actually work the first time around!
Revising our old work is usually horrible and tedious!
No, that's not what the 30 day mentoring is for.
Basically because, if you're trying to fix an old MS, you'll most likely only get a short way through before you realize you probably need to start again.
This is because we change as people - as well as writers - over time and that each successive time we go back to an old project, we have changed - which means the books must inevitably change - which of course means that UNTIL you finish a book, it is likely to be in a constant state of revision.
This is all fine for an amateur author.
Not so great for a professional, who must STOP and FINISH writing a novel in order to get it out into the world.
This can be a very frustrating problem when you really need to get your career started.
By hopping backwards and forwards between unfinished projects, you're basically putting off the day you can begin your career - which may be subconsciously why you're flitting from one project to another in the first place!
As you will read in my ebooks and courses, one of the conditions I place on the 30 day mentoring period is that it is for new works only.
And by 'new work' I mean novels written after you have studied and absorbed and understood my writing system.
Revising 'old' novels is a painstaking process that can take anything up to a year or two. For the writer, an independent editor - and a long suffering mentor.
It's often so dreadfully time consuming in fact I would say revision was most times a pointless and unnecessarily nerve-wracking exercise - especially when you could be writing new novels that actually work the first time around!
Revising our old work is usually horrible and tedious!
No, that's not what the 30 day mentoring is for.
Basically because, if you're trying to fix an old MS, you'll most likely only get a short way through before you realize you probably need to start again.
This is because we change as people - as well as writers - over time and that each successive time we go back to an old project, we have changed - which means the books must inevitably change - which of course means that UNTIL you finish a book, it is likely to be in a constant state of revision.
This is all fine for an amateur author.
Not so great for a professional, who must STOP and FINISH writing a novel in order to get it out into the world.
If ever you want to write the first draft a novel
in thirty days, get my Easy
Writing System and I'll be there for
you, whenever you need me.
But of course the real issue is, will YOU be there when YOU need YOU!
Self motivation and the determination to finish projects by certain deadlines is crucial to your future success.
When it comes to preparation for writing a novel the easy way, I hope you'll have read and thought hard about my writing advice - especially when it comes to structuring fiction. This is what I'm good for!
And, I can attest, as long as you have a good template for the whole story - complete with its ending - then you're good to go.
But you must learn to write and complete a story quickly.
Going back half way through something at some point later rarely, if ever, makes a story better!
Again, this is what the 30 day 'test' is all about. It's about writing a story IN ONE HIT, including the ending. Finishing.
That's what I want to help you with.
But of course the real issue is, will YOU be there when YOU need YOU!
Self motivation and the determination to finish projects by certain deadlines is crucial to your future success.
When it comes to preparation for writing a novel the easy way, I hope you'll have read and thought hard about my writing advice - especially when it comes to structuring fiction. This is what I'm good for!
And, I can attest, as long as you have a good template for the whole story - complete with its ending - then you're good to go.
But you must learn to write and complete a story quickly.
Going back half way through something at some point later rarely, if ever, makes a story better!
Again, this is what the 30 day 'test' is all about. It's about writing a story IN ONE HIT, including the ending. Finishing.
That's what I want to help you with.
Editing old MSS never seems to work. I used to do
it myself until I realized I was just wasting
precious time when I should be getting on with
writing new novels I can write quickly,
consistently and without distraction, all in one
go until they're done. Finished.
Your old stuff just holds you back.
Mostly because we're better writers by the time we go back and try to fix unfixable manuscripts.
This is also why I don't like to offer critiques on work written before you came across my teaching.
All I can do is tell you what you did wrong - and send you back to my courses.
Fixing old manuscripts is just too hard.
Learn to let go of your old stuff.
Honestly, you wrote it when you didn't really understand many fundamental rules - like the stuff I teach in all of my courses!
Your old stuff just holds you back.
Mostly because we're better writers by the time we go back and try to fix unfixable manuscripts.
This is also why I don't like to offer critiques on work written before you came across my teaching.
All I can do is tell you what you did wrong - and send you back to my courses.
Fixing old manuscripts is just too hard.
Learn to let go of your old stuff.
Honestly, you wrote it when you didn't really understand many fundamental rules - like the stuff I teach in all of my courses!
If you want to be successful as a writer, and
you're not already, then this I think is what you
need to prepare yourself for:
Dump everything you've written to this date and start fresh, knowing that this time, baby, it's for real!
Dump everything you've written to this date and start fresh, knowing that this time, baby, it's for real!
Keep Writing!
Rob Parnell
The Easy Way to Write
The Easy Way to Write
No comments:
Post a Comment