Is this the key to progressing as a writer?
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- A deep dive into specific tactics for discovering and focusing on what will best move your fiction writing career forward.
Resources mentioned (affiliate links):
The One Thing - amzn.to/3N0Swuz
Atomic Habits - amzn.to/3MYYZpI
Well said. Hear, hear.
A domino that made me start thinking about trying to write something was after my parents met my teacher from when I was eight years old. She'd been the teacher of hundreds of pupils after me, but she had kept a story I wrote and read it to every class through the decades as an example story until her retirement. It was quite astonishing to hear, and I have written and published more than a million words since then. It is possible that I would have done that anyway, but it sure got me thinking.
A fantastic story! Are there any other particular dominos that you could also share? I imagine they aren't as prevalent as something so kind and gratifying in your formative years, but it may be more eye-opening for us!
@@gavenace3667 The real trigger for me was that I read three astonishingly good science fiction short stories back to back. It made me want to know if I could write one equally good. Seven hundred pages later it had become a very long short story. The built up creative pressure inside that I didn't know I had made me write obsessively from 2012 until Covid.
@@andreasboe4509 Very good to note! Thank you for sharing!!
wow, that definitely is the sort of boost that can keep you pushing forward!
The geometric concept can work in the creative process too. I started my novel with an idea. It turned into a paragraph, which set up enough to make a chapter, which went on to make an arc, which spawned two more arcs. When that first kernel of an idea struck the ending and it the ground, the boom reverberating through me was unexpected.
Of course though, it's as you say. Another way I can look at it, that is likely more accurate, is every day I showed up and put the same amount of work until I got to the end.
I was listening to a video about a paper debunking 'willpower is limited' tests, partly that they didn't have an unbiased control group. The new paper showed willpower is as limited as you believe it is, that if you believe it's limited then it wears out but if you believe it's unlimited it doesn't.
Perhaps it's ironic that point four says your willpower is limited but later in the video point six said whatever you think is your limit is your limit.
It seems exactly the kind of trick that the subsconscious likes to pull, old evolutionary pressures coming up with reasonable sounding excuses to convince you to quit. It tries to get you to save up energy, which would be great for our survival if we still lived in a state of nature. It comes up with terrible ideas like "Well you missed today and broke your streak, may as well give up now entirely" and "Just one wouldn't hurt"
I'll have to look into that, thanks. Could be a great topic for another video. Willpower being limited might be more true statistically than for any given individual.
It makes me think of a story Arnold Schwarzenegger told in The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding, where another top bodybuilder asked him to spot him at squat. Guy finished 10 reps and wanted to rack the bar, but Arnold wouldn't let him. He said he had more in him. And he was right, when forced to, the guy cranked out ten more reps. Arnold said that the pain of leg exercises makes you think you're done before you are. I never tried it with squat because balance and vision starts to go and that's dangerous, but I did with leg press, and I found that indeed, with that in mind, that it was a false limitation, I really could do twice as many as I thought, especially when I paused to breath. It just hurt.
Similarly, if you remind yourself that you have the choice to push ahead, then willpower holds longer.
Lie six, big is bad. How do you eat an elaphant? One bite at the time.
That domino story is also fun to reflect on. I belive many can see it in their every day life, helping some understand action and reaction.
Very good analogy!
Yep, that's what I tend to focus on, too. You can look up every once in awhile to reorient yourself, but most days it's head down, one step at a time
Another excellent video that resonates with me, especially the reminder to focus on achieving a few specific tasks throughout your day with a narrow focus rather than attempting several broad tasks only to find superficial results in each. Definitely going to rewatch this when I need a little boost of motivation to get the dominoes falling. Your videos and creative input are very much appreciated.
Thank you!
You bring up a great point I wish I had thought up: the feeling of satisfaction by achieving something. That's a great reason to take small, concrete steps, to keep getting those small wins instead of waiting years for the big ones.
I'm taking a note about this...
Bloody hell, did I need this today.
And every day.
For the past four years.
haha I know what you mean. It's such a long journey and the temptation is always to look up and ahead
To provide a different perspective on the variables of the domino (exponential to linear) outcomes, I would say that there is little correlation in the accolades of writing (if any are achieved). However, what I have found within myself and throughout my writing journey, there is an exponential amount of improvement in habit, amount, frequency, quality, and ability to take on increased challenge. Which harkens to the fact that as writers it is best to find the validation and the root reason within and through growth. So may I suggest that we not look at the amount of books, sales, fans, and so forth but instead at how far one has progressed in every aspect of their writing journey.
To further explain the aforementioned elements of the writing journey, each is important to become a good, consistent writer. Habit would be best to label a specific time (when and where, even how) for your writing. Amount would pertain to the number of words you can write within a day (or other timeframe) most often. Frequency is more focused on how often you do put words onto the page (either in the day or other timeframe), which will likely go hand in hand with habit but not always. Quality is how clear, concise, creative, and perhaps meaningful your writing is (how will others love and understand it best?). And the ability to take on increasing challenge explains itself as you becoming more willing to take on, perhaps, more constraints, more complex characters, or even more outlandish ideas in general that may be hard to explain. Moreover, there may even be more elements that you find have improved in your writing as well and please do share them with us, shine your light!
If you are still interested in what I have to say, for some reason, then I can say there over the seven odd years I have been writing there has been an improvement in every element I have listed. My habit had once been poor as I would try writing whenever and wherever I could when inspiration struck. Obviously this proved rather fruitless. However, over the years, with experimenting, and gaining a good balance in life, I have two to three places I write at and often at certain times in the day. Coffee shop, often in the morning or after work. Home in a living room (without a tv) on the couch. And the school I work at as a substitute teacher.
With such a developed habit this then increased how much I could write in a day or setting and also increased the frequency at which I write as I often used to take weeks or even months off. But so too had challenging myself to write more in a day developed the habit I have now. Though there are times when I do fall into a heavy slump and take days or weeks off still, which I have to then gradually work in how much I write in a day, at what frequency, and with my current habit.
As for the quality of my writing it has increased with so many words, both written, read, and (what I find to never be mentioned) spoken. When I began writing my third ever story, I got confident to share it with some people. One told me that I was being way to descriptive and rigid, which was very true. It was so horrific that with every door my characters walked through I would also provide which type of wood it was made of...not great. Yet now, I keep my writing both concise, but with room to provide a bit of poetic beauty and meaning. Which obviously consisted of challenging myself and I still find ways in doing so today, either with world building, deeper meaning stories, playing with paragraph and sentence structure, and so on.
I totally agree that the important things are the ones you described. Personally, though, for me, those things weren't a geometric increase, but pretty linear. There were breakthrough moments, but also plateaus. I think it's exactly because it's artificial that external success can be geometric/exponential. The current example would be Chappell Roan. She's been working for some number of years, slowly growing fans, then she got noticed, then that notice turned into more notice, and she exploded, becoming famous with a month. It's not that she got that much better; it's just that she got people's eyes. The problem of course is that you can't bet on ever getting anyone's attention, so like you said, the important thing is to focus on the writing itself.
@@JAlanRyker very good point, it most likely is linear less than exponential. Or maybe a bit of both but in separate stages sort of like how weightlifting often is. Fisting getting into it(or back into it) you’ll gain a good deal of strength and muscle rather quick, but slowly plateau to a smaller linear progression.
@@gavenace3667 Yes, that's so funny because that's just how I was thinking about it. Fast at the beginning, then tapering off, but with occasional spikes of progress followed by plateaus.
Ryker, I love your way of thinking. The story about the Dominos is great. Maybe you can make a video about this stunning idea alone. Thank You for this awesome inspiration!!!!
Thanks! Maybe I will. The content of this channel is definitely crowdsourced, because this is the 3rd video concept I'm taking away from the comments of this video alone!
This video couldnt have come at a better time!!!
The Domino Effect is a great example in terms of mini achievements encouraging pursuit of increasingly larger ones.
It all starts with a story idea and continues from there.
I’ve found I can only world-build so much before realizing some aspects don’t fit the original story idea, which often changes key plot points 😅 So for me, it’s almost like I gotta hold a domino from falling while I figure out why it’s falling 😂 (so that I have time to reel things back before diving off the deep end into worldbuilding syndrome)
ahhh I can see that! One of the two has give way to the other as the source of truth. Interesting!
Excellent insights. Never heard of that book.
For awhile I was consuming these books like chewing cud, so that I couldn't even tell you most of them, but this one was memorable
I've long known that Focus was the most important thing... And I've long known that lack of focus is my biggest problem!
It's an issue that's only gotten worse with age, even though I have far fewer distractions big and small keeping me from writing more often.
Sorry the movie funding fell through, and I hope it's only a temporary setback.
My focus has really reduced. A big part for me is the ability to call up a video / reddit thread / article about any obscure interest I have at a moment's notice. It's so much easier to do that than settle into boredom.
Thanks. Luckily, while there's nothing I can do about it, there's a smart, driven director shopping it around in LA.
@@JAlanRyker - Yes, my 'writing station' is my Mac connected to a 50-inch screen... which means that to write I have to decide to not look at email, facebook, youtube, or any of my streaming services. Distractions abound.
You kinda look like Peter Dinklage.
I'm 6'6, so that would be fun buddy picture