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Letting your ideas ferment.

Okay, this is dangerously close to being TWO "writing advice" posts in a row, and I don't know if I could stand myself.  So rather than "advice" I'm simply going to tell you something I'm doing and how it came about and it's up to you to decide if you want to take it as advice or not.

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you may have seen me spout off about the fact I'm writing a fantasy novel.  You know, fantasy? Swords and wizards and quests and whatnot?  That.  I pitched the novel to a very special, cool publisher and they said, "Yeah. That.  Do that!"  The pitch was quick and focused and cut to the crux of ther goodness that was my fantasy novel.  The simple fact is this: If I hadn't been stewing on the idea for three years. (THREE YEARS!) the pitch could have easily been a scattered mess.

Now I can't get into details quite yet, so forgive me for trying to make a point with a wad of blurry vagueness.  Here goes:

When I originally had the idea, it was way way way too complicated.  I had a "magical thingy" and I'd made it way too complicated.  They say a camel is a horse designed by a committee.  I had a camel and needed a horse, but in those early days I just got way too fancy with my idea.  I boiled it down to the core of what I thought was good about it.  I also suffered from indecision in the form of ... characters?  Does one character have this magical thingy?  Lots?  Also the setting.  Modern urban fantasy?  Do I create my own world?

A steak isn't a meal.  It might be the centerpiece, but what goes with it?  How will it be seasoned?  Steak fries or baked potato?  My fantasy novel was a steak without side dishes.  (Now I'm hungry.)

And we wouldn't be talking about it now if I'd decided to rush my half-baked ideas onto the desks of editors.  A writer must be able to recognize when an idea -- even a GREAT idea -- is not ready.  Be smart enough to reign it in.

Obviously, circumstances don't always allow this.  If a comic book script is due ... then baby it's DUE.  Those mofos come out each month.

But when possible, let an idea ferment.  Let it stew, bake, simmer whatever.  Then be ready to go when it's time to put it on a plate and serve it.

Give yourself permission to suck!

I don't generally do "advice for writers" on this blog because most good writing advice is common sense stuff that's been said a thousand times before and usually by people who are more entertaining about it than I am.  But recently on Facebook, somebody asked me about writer's block. 

I don't believe in a mysterious force that "blocks" anyone from writing, but I do believe we can be haunted by our own self-doubt, resulting in bad thoughts that keep us from writing.  I mean, if you're sitting there, typing away at your great American novel, and suddenly you're thinking, "Hey, this is a steaming pile of yak crap" then that's probably going to make you not write so much.  It is an understandable human urge to STOP producing yak crap.  Who wants to be responsible for that?  Yaks maybe.  Not authors.

So maybe you're thinking the solution is to get over it and somehow find some confidence that you really are a good writer and once you find this confidence, you can keep writing and joy will return to fill your heart with joy juice.

Welcome to WRONGTOWN.  Population: YOU!

The solution is to go ahead and be the shittiest writer you can be.  Oh, I don't mean you should go out of your way to write badly. You don't want to end up like Emerson LaSalle.  I simply mean to give yourself permission to be bad.  Just write, let the words come out.  They don't have to be good.  You can come back later and make them goodlier.  That you'll need to revise is hardly an industry secret, but few rookie writers have had it put to them exactly like this:  Go ahead and suck.  We won't call you on it.  We won't even know.  Call it draft zero.  So when you think, "Wow, I am sucking at light speed" don't sweat it.  You have permission.

Will this work for every writer all the time?  No.  Nothing does.

Circumnavigators!

When I was sixteen my high school history teacher took a group of students around the world.  I was one of them.  It was awesome.  I love to travel.

Anyway ...

A few years ago, for some reason, my son said he wanted to go around the world.  My wife said, "you have to be at least 10 years old to go around the world."  I have no idea how she came up with this number, and I suspect she was just putting him off, so she wouldn't have to tell him no.  I mean, 10 was a few years off and he'd forget by then, right?

WRONG.

The boy is nine now, and somehow, over the past few years, "you have to be ten to go around the world" has become "we will go around the world when you're ten."  I guess that's why he and his mother came home a few days ago with a stack of travel guides from the library.  The boy has gone through a stack of post-it notes, marking sights of interest.

And I guess that's why I was online yesterday investigating airfares and thinking what an itinerary might look like.

A tentative guess:  Fly in to Dublin.  Then to London, Paris, Milan, PADOVA!, Venice, Vienna, Prague, Warsaw and Moscow.  Airfare from Moscow to Hong Kong is surprisingly reasonable.  Then some kind of ship or boat or ferry or junk or something from Hong King to Japan and then fly home.

This will all change about 400 times as we price things, bargain hunt and get taken by whims into new directions.  Frankly, it might not happen at all.  But we're looking into it in a serious way.

And while my wife and I earn a reasonable living, we ain't rich folk.  We will be traveling coach and keeping our eyes open for deals.

Anyone out there with advice?  Let's hear it.  Ways to travel cheaply, useful websites, helpful travel books, must-see attractions, European rail travel info, you name it.