The conundrum of writing – February 12, 2014

[Kevin]

The conundrum of writing – February 12, 2014

Writing is such a strange job. I’ve been writing long enough where I can usually crank out work at a fairly consistent speed and quality. Btw, that’s two manuscript pages (one printed, typeset page) an hour. There are days where the writing flows like water and other days where it's like slow-moving sludge. I hate those days.

Last week, Thursday, I was writing and editing like a wild man. It helped that I was in a section of material that Matthew Clements had ‘killed.’ When ‘The Kid’ (as I often call him) is hitting on all cylinders he is pure gold, and that day, the material was golden. When he’s not hitting on all, things go rougher and slower. Other times, the writing and tweaks have nothing to do with the original writer and everything to do with me. As an editor, game designer and writer, there is so much that influences your writing and speed. How you’re feeling physically and emotionally, your level of focus, the number of distractions and interruptions, whether the material is something interesting or personally challenging, or whether it’s a journeyman labor. Heck, sometimes even the weather or the music you are listening to makes a difference. So does the amount of sleep.

I guess that’s why writing is considered an ‘art.’ Because you can not just turn it on and crank out X amount of quality work like a machine. You experience ebbs and flows. Peaks and valleys. One moment your writing is racing and the next you’re stalled. Heck, I’m one of the lucky ones, because I am very consistent in quantity and quality, especially when I get into a rhythm, and I seldom have a writer's block, but you can’t escape the good days and bad.

Last Thursday, I was thrilled when at the end of 9 or 10 hours of writing, I had edited and tweaked 44 manuscript pages. That’s an awesome pace. I wish EVERY DAY could be like that! Friday I woke up excited about writing more, but for reasons unknown, I only managed to hammer out 8 pages in as many hours. Disappointing. Saturday was even worse, 5 pages in 9 hours. Brutal. The next couple of days I had to spend on business matters. Tuesday went better. I had to spend the first part of the day on business, but I could feel myself heating up on the writing by evening. In fact I was tempted to work late, but knew I’d ruin myself for writing the next day if I did. I woke up today, Wednesday, hot again and going at a good pace of about 2-3 pages an hour. I'm feeling good about what’s coming out of me and having fun.

I think that’s a huge part of the writing process that people don’t talk about -- enjoying it. When you are having fun with the concepts and the words are flowing – oh man, there’s nothing like it. You are on Cloud Nine and the ideas and words are coming so fast you can hardly keep up with them. It's almost an out of body experience because you lose track of time and it seems as if you’re not the one who’s doing the writing, but rather just typing out what is being channeled into your head. I often jokingly say that "aliens are beaming it into my head and I need to write it all down quickly before the transmission ends." But that is how it feels at times. When inspiration like that strikes, it is a true blessing and a joy. If there was a camera in my room and you could watch the process, I wonder if I look intense, happy or like a crazy person. Probably a little of all three, as when I'm really on a roll, I will blurt out things like, “Oh yeah, they’ll love this.” “Yes, that’s it! You’ve got it now, Kev.” “Perfect. Perfect. WAIT! If that’s the case then what about . . .” “Oh yeah, that’s it.” Sometimes I’ll even laugh out loud or squeal with joy. Conversely, when things are going poorly or I’ve just decided I need to scrap the garbage I’ve been trying to write for the last two hours, curse words come flying out.

Alex Marciniszyn’s room is next to my office, and there are times when he’ll peek his head in and say with a smile, “I take it writing is going well?” Or “I’m hearing an awful lot of strange noises coming from your room, is everything all right in here?”

That’s the problem with anything creative – all the ups and downs. Sometimes you’re superhuman, other times the writing comes at a crawl. It may be good stuff and you may be happy with it, but it just comes slow. Crazy, eh? Probably stuff only other writers, game designers and concept guys truly understand.

At any rate, I’m working away on Northern Gun™ Two and whether the writing, editing and rewriting is coming fast or going slow, it is coming along. NG-2 is going to wow and delight. Speaking of which, I better get back to it.

Oh, before I forget, the Heroes Unlimited™ RPG 30th Anniversary Hardcover is finished and should arrive at the Palladium warehouse sometime later this afternoon or Thursday Morning. And we'll be releasing a Palladium Fantasy RPG® 30th Anniversary Hardcover (as revealed in The Rifter® #65) in April. Get all the details in tomorrow's Weekly Update.

https://palladium-store.com/1001/produc ... cover.html

Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer and Game Designer

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