In a strange twist of either delusions of grandeur or masochism, writers have done their best to convince the world that writing is a wondrous pursuit filled with nothing but sudden bursts of inspiration and creativity after painful writer’s block.
You know how it goes in the movies and on TV: The morose writer will be walking down the street and a stranger will say to them, “Hey, jerkwad, what are you staring at?” and then the writer will get a funny little smile and walk a little faster and then pretty soon they’re skipping down the street toward their typewriter shouting, “Jerkwad! Jerkwad!! BY GOD I’VE GOT IT!!!!” and then there’s a montage of them frantically typing out their future bestseller.
I don’t know about your writing process, but that isn’t how mine works.
Sure, there are Eureka moments walking down the street or in the shower or while at the zoo (“Monkeys… MONKEYS!!!”), but if novelists wrote only when they were inspired it would take a hundred years to string together a novel. If you’re really going to finish one, you’re not only going to have to spend quite a lot of time writing and revising when you don’t feel like it, you’re going to have to spend quite a lot of time writing when you would rather be lighting your toes on fire.
The great Jane Yolen has a name for this: BIC. Butt. In. Chair. That is the writing process. Butt in chair.
You could also call it:
OMGTWISNTBICGOBINTW: “Oh my god the weather is so nice today but I can’t go outside because I need to write.”
IRWICGTTBGBIHTW: “I really wish I could go to that baseball game but I have to write.”
DMMIJGTSATBCSUITOS: “Don’t mind me, I’m just going to stare at this blank computer screen until I think of something.”
Just about everyone on the planet thinks about writing a novel at some point. Many of them really could and many of them could do it really well.
But there’s only one way to actually do it: BIC. Powering through when you want to stop, blocking out days on the calendar when there are more fun things you could be doing, staring at the pad or screen early mornings and late nights, and most of all, setting aside your doubts along the way.
And that’s of course even before you summon your willpower to try and jump through the hoops necessary to get the thing published.
If writing is always fun you may be doing it wrong.
Keri Stevens says
Today I'm doing it right.
It really is lovely out there.
Natania Barron says
Yeah, I totally agree with you here, Nathan. Not to mention there's something really sublime when writing the hard way starts working out: when you didn't think you had anything in you, and you sit down, and it's absolutely magic. That's when you start to realize you're a writer by vocation and not by hobby, I think. I prefer that feeling to being inspired any day, since inspiration is fleeting and fickle and lame. I make my own magic!
Mia says
DMMIJGTSATBCSUITOS << That's me right now….Please tell me this is a hashtag on twitter! *scrambles off to find out and/or create it*
Candyland says
Sooooo very true.
Lauren Johnson says
No, it's not always fun, because sometimes I just want to write all the good parts, lol.
There was a part in my story of where my characters break someone out of jail and I just wanted to get to the end of that part and say, "And so they broke Lord Adam out of jail."
I heard a resounding, "You can't do that." From my family aka the Peanut gallery, but most times I enjoy it – or else I wouldn't be doing it.
I think you're dead on about the masochism aspect.
Eva Ulian says
What do you want first, the blood, the sweat or the tears?
Linda Godfrey says
Yes, writing is work, but the worst day of writing is better than the best day of teaching middle schoolers. Remembering that always revs my word engine.
Liberty Speidel says
That's why someone invented laptops… so the lowly, pale writer can still get outside and get some sun and still be productive!
Of course, the inventor of the wireless network needs to have their head examined… What lowly writer wants to be productive when there's Twitter, blogs, and Facebook that can be accessed while still outside?
BTW, timely post. I'm having a big problem with not wanting to keep my butt in the chair today! Of course, being pregnant, I can't sit still too long!
Rachel @ MWF Seeking BFF says
Thanks for this. I'm totally at that point where there's nothing left to do but get my BIC. I have some chapters due to my editor at the end of next month and I keep waiting for my schedule to "clear up." Uh, yeah that doesn't happen. I must clear it. Thank you for reminding me. Tonight: BIC.
Matt Ryan says
Willpower. Discipline's best friend.
Sara Cox Landolt says
Excellent. BIC. Now.
Mary McDonald says
Some days, I have to resort to using Write or Die by Dr. Wicked. https://writeordie.drwicked.com/
If you'v never been there, you can choose different modes from 'gentle' to electric shock mode, and the grace period from 'forgiving' to 'evil'.
I go for the normal mode that merely flashes and plays horrible sounds if I take my fingers off the keyboard for a few seconds. I've heard the electric shock mode actually starts deleting your words if you stop typing.
When you're done, you can copy and paste it to your own word processor.
Susan Quinn says
I think writers should get some kind of award for finishing a book. Maybe a little trumpet fanfare you can download to your mini-laptop when you're avoiding working on your manuscript.
But then you'd have to decide when you're actually DONE. Is it when I type THE END? When I'm done with revisions and send it off to query? When the editor's done with THEIR revisions?
I think this is why we all desperately want to publish. So we can finally say Fin.
And then start the next one.
Bane of Anubis says
Fun. What's that?
Martha Vega says
How about this: : Kill the WiFi.
I find that BIC is much more effective when you've removed the Internet from the equation. As for the lovely days… Hey, those can be the best for inspiration: IAOIIFTCICGO: If And Only If I Finish This Chapter I Can Go Outside
Now I have to go kill the WiFi and put my butt back in the chair.
Josin L. McQuein says
What I want to know is how all those people who claim they need [X] in order to write ("X" being their addiction of choice) can string words together while chemically altered. I've been on medication for a week and the words zapped right out of my brain. (Lots of lovely pictures… just no words to describe them.)
😛
MotherReader says
I'm going to have to argue with: "and many of them could do it really well."
I've seen way too many incoherent comments on news articles, websites, and – lord help us – YouTube to believe that all but a small fraction of the people could actually write well.
But that's okay, but the process gets narrowed down pretty nicely by (a) the people who think they have a novel to write, (b) the people who actually sit down and write it, and (c) you guys.
Kvn says
The movie sequence SLAYED me.
My solution: a countdown timer set for 25 minutes. I don't think about it, I sit down and start it. Often, I barely notice the alarm, reflexively reset it and catch my breath 2 or 3 hours later. It's rare for the alarm to go off that first time without enough wind in my sails to reset for another 25 minutes.
Carolyn V. says
That is so true! Writing is not always fun. It's work. But once that ms is finished…*happy sigh*
JohnO says
I think you chose that image because of all the orange.
M Clement Hall says
I heard of one guy who literally shackles his ankle to his chair so he doesn't keep getting up to do all those things that don't need to be done.
I hope that's you relaxing on the yacht? If you have a boat, Nathan, I don't know how you'd ever find time to write — they're nothing but work.
Daniel Jose Older says
TRUTH…its a long delicious frustrating amazing upsidedown inside out heart wrenching uphill mile-a-minute slow as hell trudge/march/glide/plummet/swoosh…lol
thanks for another great post!
Other Lisa says
If writing is always fun you may be doing it wrong.
Oh, yes (she said, from her revision cave).
Though it is actually so gorgeous out today that I'm going to have to get out in it for at least a little while. But I can't write without the additional oxygen to the brain.
Naomi Canale says
Nathan this is GOOD stuff! Thanks for the jerkwad visuals…loved it.
Anonymous says
Although I agree it absolutely takes willpower and butt-in-chair, I think it is also important to maintain balance in your life. Giving yourself the occasional break from your WIP is an important part of the creative process. It keeps you fresh, inspired and productive. I find that maintaining creative energy is much like maintaining physical energy: rest is important, too. On these blogs I rarely see aspiring writers acknowledging both the yin and the yang of creativity.
Mira says
First of all, this was really funny. I'm still laughing at the second paragraph. Jerkwad, ha ha, ha. Funny stuff.
Second, you are so dead on target, Nathan. And very timely for me. I was reminding myself yesterday that going onto agent blogs and giving them a hard time is not the same thing as actually writing anything.
I suppose I could make a career of it, but looking back on a lifetime acheivement of writing on agent blogs doesn't have that special zing.
My problem is that writing – if I'm going to be honest – just scares the beejeezus out of me. It terrifies the #%#$QW@ out of me.
I need to get over myself. Posts like this really help. I need to get a kitchen timer and just go to it……
BIC. Good to remember. Thanks!
T. Anne says
My muse took last night off. I wrote without him. Sure it reeked, but I rewrote the scene this morning under his careful supervision. Sometimes it's OK to get the structure down, that way when your muse pops up again he has something to work with.
mkcbunny says
Your final line reminds me of something a friend once said about all jobs: "If it were always fun, they wouldn't call it 'work.'"
Even the best job in the world is work.
Nathan Bransford says
anon-
Good point! I'll have to devote a future point to the restorative power of writing breaks.
Lavinia says
There's nothing like a beautiful day to force a word count. I can go outside when I finish xxx words. It almost always works.
Karen Lange says
Great post. Love the last sentence. Okay, so what is the phrase for needing chocolate while writing? I'll have to go work on that.
abc says
I read an interview with Dave Eggers where he says they don't have any internet at home because if he did, he'd never write. He's committed!
I could never do that, though, because I really love my thesaurus.com and dictionary.com and HowManyDaysTillChristmas.com
Ann M says
Great post! Thanks as always.
Sometimes I don't like taking credit for an idea because of that whole Eureka thing (I didn't try to think the idea up, after all, it just appeared out of thin air). Yet, that seems to take away from all the sweat, tears, and blood (thank you paper cuts!) that do go into writing. So, I finally decided that it's not so much taking credit for the ideas, but rather taking credit for recognizing the good ones and then molding them from an idea into a complete story (which requires lots of BIC).
Hillary says
Probably it's because my formative years were in the '80s, but the lack of spontaneous time-warping musical montages is a daily disappointment to me.
My favorite conversations are with non-writers who say "I could write a bestseller, because I have the best idea ever." I just smile and tell them good luck. Ideas can't spin themselves into 90,000 words of gold. Only willpower, dedication, the ability to power through droughts and frustration, and sacrifice can do that.
J.J. Bennett says
LOL!!! Today someone gave me great advice. It was… Just do it! So I am.
Kristan says
Mmm, great post, and I really like what Natania Barron had to add.
Bethany Elizabeth says
I used to write like that.. only when inspiration hit. Not only did it result in very spastic writing and a confused plot, but it took me two years to write 90,000 word book. And not a good one. However, I was in seventh grade at the time, so maybe that's excusable. Now, I still procrastinate, but I do write when I don't want to. My writing is much, much better. 🙂
Jennifer says
I have just begun slowly revealing to friends and family the fact that I am writing a novel. The response is fascinating, sometimes unflattering, only slightly encouraging (i.e. extremely mistaken belief that I am soon to have money to give them).
Many folks state that they have a much better story idea or that their way with words surpasses my untested literary skills. I don't disagree with them, as I agree entirely with you that others also have great stories to tell and the ability to write very well. It is the BIC part that is the tricky part for most.
It is similar to when I tell someone that I am a lawyer, and their response is to tell me that they had intended to go to law school too, everyone says they are amazing at debating and would make a great lawyer and that they would have been a very good at the law indeed if they had only scored higher on the LSAT, as if I should then somehow magically grant them an honorary J.D. on the spot.
BIC – the unglamorous part that people want to skip over, just like the LSAT, three years of law school, massive student loans and passing a bar exam. Not to mention the billable hour (which is very similar to BIC, probably why there are so many published lawyer/authors, we are good at grinding out the work product).
BIC since January = 50,000 WIP.
Icy @ IndividualChic IsaByrne says
Hmm, monkeys could really work for me about now…jerkwad monkeys…jerkwad monkeys who have creepy stares and wave yellow fruit threateningly…hmm, I may have something there.
Anonymous says
How many people have now got B.I.C taped to their screen / board / wall?
"When you would be rather be lighting your toes on fire?" – ha ha, so I thought of cotton wool between toes when painting your nails which then reminded me (visually) of toasting marshmallows, so my BIC willpower melted and took me into the kitchen…but I'm happy. Thanks for the kick in the B. Let's do it people!
Reesha says
BIC.
It sounds like some kind of writerly swear word.
*tries to use in actual sentence as a swear word*
Okay, maybe that doesn't work so well.
Dina says
I think that's why I was so annoyed by the movie "Alex and Emma" which was drivel to start, but really got under the skin with its ridiculous notions of the writing process.
Have you seen it?
The plot basically hangs on the idea that a bestselling novelist (Luke Wilson) has 30 days to write his second novel, and so he hires a stenographer so that he can dictate it to her.
AS IF, the biggest bottleneck in novel writing is TYPING!!! And then of course, the process he uses is so ludicrous I threw my coffee mug at the screen.
Kia Abdullah says
You're absolutely right. I gave a talk recently, which included the 5 traits of a successful author and I make a point about how number 4 is 'a desire to write' rather than 'a love for writing' because writing a novel doesn't always feel like love.
As for BIC, the internet is such a huge distraction. I recently heard about a program called 'Freedom' which cuts you off from the net for up to 8 hours. I might give it a try!
lexcade says
i am a fan of your last one. because…yeah.
BonSue Brandvik says
Perfect timing on this post. I sooooo wanted to walk around the lake and watch the ducks today!
Michelle says
I love it because it is so true! When I first started writing many years ago I too suffered from only writing when I was inspired and that's why it took me nearly eight years to finish a novel. But with more experience and and much more understanding, I now know what it really takes to get the job done. BIC-because without the butt in the chair you can't work through the writing hangups, the writers block, the procrastination, plot issues, characters that won't cooperate, boring dialogue, blah, blah, blah. Nothing will get done if you don't work through it and do a little bit everyday (or whatever schedule you've set for yourself). Writing makes a writer. Not writing makes a wishful writer.
Anonymous says
I've gone beyond BIC.
Permanently etched on the white board in front of me:
"Have you written 2,000 words yet today?"
Basil Zyllion says
There is a great book that I HIGHLY recommend known as CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE WRITER'S SOUL. It had a wonderful word in there that I live by very similar to yours. Known simply as "BUTTGLUE."
Joanna van der Gracht de Rosado says
My mama used to say, "If you are dieting and you don't feel at least a little bit hungry, you aren't losing even a little bit of weight." Same thing here, "If you don't give up something from time to time (like SLEEP!) you can't possibly expect to finish your book." But you do need enough shut-eye to be able to function the next day. I have a lights out rule… no computer from midnight – 6 am.
jongibbs says
I do love a catchy acronym 🙂