Remember, remember this bloke in November
October 23, 2013 11:27 AM Subscribe
For those of you thinking of taking your first whack (or second, or tenth) at Nanowrimo next month, take some inspiration in the story of John Creasey.
Seventeen year old John Creasey had amassed 743 rejection slips by 1925, but he would persist until his first book was published in 1930. He would quit his day job five years later to become a full time writer and would continue writing until his death in 1973. In those forty plus years he spent as a a professional author, he wrote over 500 books under nearly two dozen different pseudonyms and in a variety of genres including Westerns, Science Fiction and Mysteries. His most popular novels dealt with crime, so it's probably no surprise that he also took the time from his busy schedule to form the Crime Writers Association in the United Kingdom.
Seventeen year old John Creasey had amassed 743 rejection slips by 1925, but he would persist until his first book was published in 1930. He would quit his day job five years later to become a full time writer and would continue writing until his death in 1973. In those forty plus years he spent as a a professional author, he wrote over 500 books under nearly two dozen different pseudonyms and in a variety of genres including Westerns, Science Fiction and Mysteries. His most popular novels dealt with crime, so it's probably no surprise that he also took the time from his busy schedule to form the Crime Writers Association in the United Kingdom.
David Foster Wallace, believe it or not, also wrote drafts longhand. Talk about a cramp.
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:49 AM on October 23, 2013
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:49 AM on October 23, 2013
And not just the speed, but how do they do that without absolutely killing their hand?
Maybe they're using fountain pens? You don't have to grip them as hard.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:54 AM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Maybe they're using fountain pens? You don't have to grip them as hard.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:54 AM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
And not just the speed, but how do they do that without absolutely killing their hand?
Because British. Stiff upper lip. Can't complain, mustn't grumble. Keep Calm and Carry On.
posted by IndigoJones at 12:01 PM on October 23, 2013 [3 favorites]
Because British. Stiff upper lip. Can't complain, mustn't grumble. Keep Calm and Carry On.
posted by IndigoJones at 12:01 PM on October 23, 2013 [3 favorites]
One hand is probably massively muscular and toned compared to the other. Maybe the real life equivalent of a kung-fu grip.
In all seriousness, Mr. Creasey's career is amazing. Some people are just burning to write, and overcome any roadblocks in their way. He reminds me a bit of Walter B. Gibson, who wrote more than 300 Shadow novels for the eponymous pulp magazine. They say that Gibson had multiple typewriters in different rooms of his home, with different novels in progress on each of them. He'd type up a storm on one, then walk into a different room and work on a different book, and so on, repeating the process whenever he got bored.
posted by Kevin Street at 12:11 PM on October 23, 2013 [5 favorites]
In all seriousness, Mr. Creasey's career is amazing. Some people are just burning to write, and overcome any roadblocks in their way. He reminds me a bit of Walter B. Gibson, who wrote more than 300 Shadow novels for the eponymous pulp magazine. They say that Gibson had multiple typewriters in different rooms of his home, with different novels in progress on each of them. He'd type up a storm on one, then walk into a different room and work on a different book, and so on, repeating the process whenever he got bored.
posted by Kevin Street at 12:11 PM on October 23, 2013 [5 favorites]
I'm in. Gonna write a YA novel where a bunch of teenagers swear like sailors. Other than that I have no idea.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:16 PM on October 23, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:16 PM on October 23, 2013 [5 favorites]
Yeah, I'm going to give it a shot again this November. I've got some vague ideas about fantasy tropes I'd like to subvert, and a couple of characters chomping at the bit, and I'm sure it'll be a grand mess.
The thing I love most about NaNo is that it's reintroduced the concept of writing as a recreational activity. I don't want to be a writer, it looks like a miserable career. The process of writing, however, is an absolute blast when I divorce it from any ambitions, or any thought of my audience. Plus, I get to add ninjas whenever I get stuck.
posted by MrVisible at 12:35 PM on October 23, 2013 [10 favorites]
The thing I love most about NaNo is that it's reintroduced the concept of writing as a recreational activity. I don't want to be a writer, it looks like a miserable career. The process of writing, however, is an absolute blast when I divorce it from any ambitions, or any thought of my audience. Plus, I get to add ninjas whenever I get stuck.
posted by MrVisible at 12:35 PM on October 23, 2013 [10 favorites]
I'm in. Gonna write a YA novel where a bunch of teenagers swear like sailors.
Might be just the thing. I joined the Navy two weeks past my seventeenth birthday. I blushed a lot the first year or so.
posted by CincyBlues at 12:35 PM on October 23, 2013
Might be just the thing. I joined the Navy two weeks past my seventeenth birthday. I blushed a lot the first year or so.
posted by CincyBlues at 12:35 PM on October 23, 2013
Plus, I get to add ninjas whenever I get stuck.
This may well be the best piece of writing advice I have ever read.
posted by davejay at 12:46 PM on October 23, 2013 [7 favorites]
This may well be the best piece of writing advice I have ever read.
posted by davejay at 12:46 PM on October 23, 2013 [7 favorites]
"I don't want to be a writer, it looks like a miserable career. The process of writing, however, is an absolute blast when I divorce it from any ambitions, or any thought of my audience."
That's pretty much the exact opposite of my feelings. I've wanted to be a writer since junior high school, and often daydream about stories and characters. (Especially before falling asleep.) But actually writing them down is a process of horrific ego abuse. When I read my own writing it's so awful and trite, I want to burn the computer to hide all traces of evidence and stab my eyes out. Alcohol helps dull this feeling, but there's no way I could be drunk for all of November.
posted by Kevin Street at 12:46 PM on October 23, 2013 [8 favorites]
That's pretty much the exact opposite of my feelings. I've wanted to be a writer since junior high school, and often daydream about stories and characters. (Especially before falling asleep.) But actually writing them down is a process of horrific ego abuse. When I read my own writing it's so awful and trite, I want to burn the computer to hide all traces of evidence and stab my eyes out. Alcohol helps dull this feeling, but there's no way I could be drunk for all of November.
posted by Kevin Street at 12:46 PM on October 23, 2013 [8 favorites]
Oddly enough, writing things like this on the Net like this doesn't provoke the same feeling. Maybe because it's more like talking than formal prose.
posted by Kevin Street at 12:48 PM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Kevin Street at 12:48 PM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
In NaNoWriMo, as in gamemastering, the maxim holds: "When in doubt, ninjas attack." You can always figure out why later.
posted by Scattercat at 1:22 PM on October 23, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Scattercat at 1:22 PM on October 23, 2013 [2 favorites]
The past three NaNoWriMos, my friends and I did this: @FakeNNWMTips. It's not going to happen this year, though.
It turns out there was no advice so absurd, idiotic, and obviously wrong that we could make up that didn't have someone replying with, "Great idea! I'm going to do that next year!" or worse, "I'm already doing that!" It was frustrating and depressing.
Also, by not doing it, I don't have to pay attention to NaNoWriMo at all, and I say this as someone who participated and "won" in 2002. (My prize: a godawful "novel" no one needed that I haven't looked at or thought about since December 1, 2002.)
posted by Legomancer at 1:28 PM on October 23, 2013 [2 favorites]
It turns out there was no advice so absurd, idiotic, and obviously wrong that we could make up that didn't have someone replying with, "Great idea! I'm going to do that next year!" or worse, "I'm already doing that!" It was frustrating and depressing.
Also, by not doing it, I don't have to pay attention to NaNoWriMo at all, and I say this as someone who participated and "won" in 2002. (My prize: a godawful "novel" no one needed that I haven't looked at or thought about since December 1, 2002.)
posted by Legomancer at 1:28 PM on October 23, 2013 [2 favorites]
But you did write a novel. That's a real achievement that no one can take away from you.
It's hard to be objective about one's own writing. (Believe me, I know!) But actually doing it takes you out of the category of Wannabe and puts in the category of Writer. Good or bad, you've accomplished something that thousands of wannabes like me can't do. That's worth a lot.
posted by Kevin Street at 1:33 PM on October 23, 2013 [2 favorites]
It's hard to be objective about one's own writing. (Believe me, I know!) But actually doing it takes you out of the category of Wannabe and puts in the category of Writer. Good or bad, you've accomplished something that thousands of wannabes like me can't do. That's worth a lot.
posted by Kevin Street at 1:33 PM on October 23, 2013 [2 favorites]
I'm in again. Even though most of my Nanowrimo efforts were never touched again once I won or lost for that year, I still had a blast writing them.
posted by maurice at 1:38 PM on October 23, 2013
posted by maurice at 1:38 PM on October 23, 2013
This would be the tenth year I've tried Nano. Tenth time's the charm?
posted by Elly Vortex at 1:42 PM on October 23, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Elly Vortex at 1:42 PM on October 23, 2013 [3 favorites]
For some reason I read a bunch of John Creasey's "Gideon" novels when I was a kid. I probably haven't looked at one of those in 40 years but I remember them fondly. I'm not sure if I want to look at some of those books again or just stick with the memories. Probably the latter.
posted by maurice at 1:43 PM on October 23, 2013
posted by maurice at 1:43 PM on October 23, 2013
That's worth a lot.
No, not really.
posted by Legomancer at 1:59 PM on October 23, 2013 [4 favorites]
No, not really.
posted by Legomancer at 1:59 PM on October 23, 2013 [4 favorites]
Is this place where we appreciate the irony of an event devoted to long form writing having its name abbreviated to within an inch of its life?
posted by dry white toast at 2:04 PM on October 23, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by dry white toast at 2:04 PM on October 23, 2013 [3 favorites]
Na.
(Now with extra sodium, for that sarcastic bite!)
posted by MrVisible at 2:10 PM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
(Now with extra sodium, for that sarcastic bite!)
posted by MrVisible at 2:10 PM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Over 500 books!
Crap, I'm exhausted, and I've only started the second para.
Ninjas for me.
posted by BlueHorse at 2:17 PM on October 23, 2013
Crap, I'm exhausted, and I've only started the second para.
Ninjas for me.
posted by BlueHorse at 2:17 PM on October 23, 2013
The princess paused for a moment, aghast at the broken city that lay in front of her, before gripping the parapet and balancing on the balastrude. She brandished aloft the burning Sceptre of Wires and called to the paladins in the square below. "HEY!" she cried. "FUCK YOU GUYS OK? SERIOUSLY, FUCK YOU. ASSHOLES."
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:40 PM on October 23, 2013 [11 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:40 PM on October 23, 2013 [11 favorites]
how do they do that without absolutely killing their hand?
I may be from the last generation to have the ability to answer this question, but cursive penmanship, properly taught and practiced, does not kill your hand. It may indeed have a bit to do with the type of pen, e.g. today's gel tips are intended to make ballpoints flow better, and pens like the Parker 51 were the hot new tech of their era.
I have forgotten most of the calligraphy I learned, though, in the course of hours of every day spent keyboarding, and yes, writing now kills my hand.
posted by dhartung at 3:20 PM on October 23, 2013
I may be from the last generation to have the ability to answer this question, but cursive penmanship, properly taught and practiced, does not kill your hand. It may indeed have a bit to do with the type of pen, e.g. today's gel tips are intended to make ballpoints flow better, and pens like the Parker 51 were the hot new tech of their era.
I have forgotten most of the calligraphy I learned, though, in the course of hours of every day spent keyboarding, and yes, writing now kills my hand.
posted by dhartung at 3:20 PM on October 23, 2013
Reportedly Creasey wrote between 7,000 and 10,000 words a day with a special typewriter, which was equipped with three extra keys.
I am dying to know what the extra keys were.
posted by mittens at 5:13 PM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
I am dying to know what the extra keys were.
posted by mittens at 5:13 PM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
I get between 1000-2000 words in a session before my hand cramps up. I've written three novels longhand, so far. I don't find the action of typing any more comfortable, really.
posted by restless_nomad at 5:27 PM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by restless_nomad at 5:27 PM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Alcohol helps dull this feeling, but there's no way I could be drunk for all of November.
Now we see the true trials one must face.
But you did write a novel. That's a real achievement that no one can take away from you.
Not true! You can work every single day for three years on something everyone tells you is going to be a hit and then have it killed at the last second because of forces beyond your control and be unable to publish it for the next few years. Seriously, it only takes like a weeks worth of conversation to totally take that away from you! Like it never hapoened!
I'm planning on being drunk this November, and for the foreseeable future.
posted by The Whelk at 5:53 PM on October 23, 2013 [2 favorites]
Now we see the true trials one must face.
But you did write a novel. That's a real achievement that no one can take away from you.
Not true! You can work every single day for three years on something everyone tells you is going to be a hit and then have it killed at the last second because of forces beyond your control and be unable to publish it for the next few years. Seriously, it only takes like a weeks worth of conversation to totally take that away from you! Like it never hapoened!
I'm planning on being drunk this November, and for the foreseeable future.
posted by The Whelk at 5:53 PM on October 23, 2013 [2 favorites]
In some ways you know I think Creasey's example is really antithetical to nanowrimo in that he did something nanowrimo is not at all about: He approached his writing as a trade and job.
There's nothing wrong with the swooning romance of penning a tome, of course, but it's clear from his story that it was a job for Creasey.
Whilst this gels with nanowrimo in the sense of "write at all costs", it doesn't in the sense that he obviously planned his books, took editing and test readers seriously, and wrote - a prodigious volume to be sure, but - at a steady pace, rather than an orgiastic burst.
He was writing with an audience and market always in mind. I don't know. Whilst I love that people want to engage in fun hobbies that they enjoy etc etc. I think there's an awkward fusion often, between the realities of writing, and the particular romance around it. A lot of people who fancy themselves as writers would be horrified if their dream actually came true, I think.
I have worked as a writer (not fiction, thank fuck), and it's a grind. You are always writing for an audience, sometimes have to write nonsense about crap, and always have to write, whether one's muse has packed bags and skipped off to Bermuda or no. This is not to downplay the good parts - and I think that's what I like most about Nanowrimo; the way that it attempts to isolate the good parts, or writing just for yourself, internally, for fun, without regard. The bad parts are the conflation of this kind of writing with the actual practice of writing for an audience and profit in the real world, or its creative merit, etc.
posted by smoke at 6:07 PM on October 23, 2013 [6 favorites]
There's nothing wrong with the swooning romance of penning a tome, of course, but it's clear from his story that it was a job for Creasey.
Whilst this gels with nanowrimo in the sense of "write at all costs", it doesn't in the sense that he obviously planned his books, took editing and test readers seriously, and wrote - a prodigious volume to be sure, but - at a steady pace, rather than an orgiastic burst.
He was writing with an audience and market always in mind. I don't know. Whilst I love that people want to engage in fun hobbies that they enjoy etc etc. I think there's an awkward fusion often, between the realities of writing, and the particular romance around it. A lot of people who fancy themselves as writers would be horrified if their dream actually came true, I think.
I have worked as a writer (not fiction, thank fuck), and it's a grind. You are always writing for an audience, sometimes have to write nonsense about crap, and always have to write, whether one's muse has packed bags and skipped off to Bermuda or no. This is not to downplay the good parts - and I think that's what I like most about Nanowrimo; the way that it attempts to isolate the good parts, or writing just for yourself, internally, for fun, without regard. The bad parts are the conflation of this kind of writing with the actual practice of writing for an audience and profit in the real world, or its creative merit, etc.
posted by smoke at 6:07 PM on October 23, 2013 [6 favorites]
Are we having a Nanowrimo thread this year? I may do this idea I've been considering for a while - only turn it into an absurdist black comedy.
posted by ersatz at 6:29 PM on October 23, 2013
posted by ersatz at 6:29 PM on October 23, 2013
No reason not to. I'm not doing it - I'm in revision hell for at least six months - but I'll cheer y'all on.
posted by restless_nomad at 6:40 PM on October 23, 2013
posted by restless_nomad at 6:40 PM on October 23, 2013
743 rejection slips by 1925, but he would persist until his first book was published in 1930
It just makes sense that the more you practice a skill, the better you become. (Which is not to say some people haven't written many, many books we might all consider crap.) The problem is, a novel can be such a LONG and lonely process, it's hard to soldier on improving your craft long enough to get there. I would think.
What I would like to know, is not only how did he write all these freaking books, but also:
posted by Glinn at 7:21 PM on October 23, 2013
It just makes sense that the more you practice a skill, the better you become. (Which is not to say some people haven't written many, many books we might all consider crap.) The problem is, a novel can be such a LONG and lonely process, it's hard to soldier on improving your craft long enough to get there. I would think.
What I would like to know, is not only how did he write all these freaking books, but also:
An extensive traveller, he twice went by sea and car round the world and virtually commuted between England and the USA. He visited 49 of America's states and knew 47 of them very well. He also knew Europe, north, east, south and west, and drove as far as Moscow through Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.AND he was politically active. And had a family. I think he must be a fiction!
posted by Glinn at 7:21 PM on October 23, 2013
This may very well be the NaNoWriMo thread, under the circumstances.
I don't know what I'm going to write this year. I've been doing it since 2001 and don't want to ruin my record, but...man, it stopped being fun years ago. The closest local friends of mine that did it moved, and I am really tired of my town crowd being nothing but college students who flake out at the first sign of OMGMIDTERMZ, and the last several write-ins I attended--and scheduled--, nobody showed up. At this point I am kind of like "fuck the community, fuck posting on the boards, I'll just write it all alone because apparently that's gonna happen anyway," but that isn't too fun either. Then again, I think I've been doing it so long that the experience is just ABC gum--nothing's interesting any more. I think that's pretty sad. I wish I could come up with some way to make it fun again.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:45 PM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
I don't know what I'm going to write this year. I've been doing it since 2001 and don't want to ruin my record, but...man, it stopped being fun years ago. The closest local friends of mine that did it moved, and I am really tired of my town crowd being nothing but college students who flake out at the first sign of OMGMIDTERMZ, and the last several write-ins I attended--and scheduled--, nobody showed up. At this point I am kind of like "fuck the community, fuck posting on the boards, I'll just write it all alone because apparently that's gonna happen anyway," but that isn't too fun either. Then again, I think I've been doing it so long that the experience is just ABC gum--nothing's interesting any more. I think that's pretty sad. I wish I could come up with some way to make it fun again.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:45 PM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Sex scenes with they veiled TV characters.
That's my plan.
posted by The Whelk at 7:48 PM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
That's my plan.
posted by The Whelk at 7:48 PM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
I always feel like I should do it. I mean, I write for a living, but it's browser-game writing -- a couple of paragraphs at a time, rarely a whole page. I ought to stretch out and do something long-form. But damned if I can think of a single solid plot idea.
I do have a good video game idea, though. And the next version of Unity is supposed to be out soon. So there's that.
posted by rifflesby at 8:05 PM on October 23, 2013
I do have a good video game idea, though. And the next version of Unity is supposed to be out soon. So there's that.
posted by rifflesby at 8:05 PM on October 23, 2013
Sex scenes are good for a whole day's worth of writing whenever you're stuck. "This scene's not going anywhere. Okay, everyone involved is now going to have sex. For about two thousand words."
It's a great way to do exposition, too. All my characters tend to expound at length while in flagrante delicto.
posted by MrVisible at 9:13 PM on October 23, 2013
It's a great way to do exposition, too. All my characters tend to expound at length while in flagrante delicto.
posted by MrVisible at 9:13 PM on October 23, 2013
I'm doing it this year, but only by accident.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 4:32 AM on October 24, 2013
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 4:32 AM on October 24, 2013
I think it would be fun to create a kind of Metafilter nanowrimo novel as a sort of exquisite corpse. Each contributor could write 1,000 words.
Perhaps you could sketch out a skeleton plot with fifty scenes. Each person could choose one and do it however they liked. It would be like the fan-made STAR WARS reshoots. They had a lot of charm.
posted by lucien_reeve at 4:37 AM on October 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
Perhaps you could sketch out a skeleton plot with fifty scenes. Each person could choose one and do it however they liked. It would be like the fan-made STAR WARS reshoots. They had a lot of charm.
posted by lucien_reeve at 4:37 AM on October 24, 2013 [2 favorites]
MrVisible: "It's a great way to do exposition, too. All my characters tend to expound at length while in flagrante delicto."
How do you like working at HBO?
posted by invitapriore at 9:08 AM on October 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
How do you like working at HBO?
posted by invitapriore at 9:08 AM on October 24, 2013 [1 favorite]
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A phenomenally fast writer, Creasey once suggested that he could be shut up in a glass-box and compose there a whole book. He once claimed to have written two books in a week and still spending hald a day playing cricket. Normally he wrote in longhand on specially ruled paper.
As much as I love handwriting things on paper, I just don't see how people like this achieve that kind of volume. I believe Clive Barker writes his 1,000-page tomes this way too. And not just the speed, but how do they do that without absolutely killing their hand?
posted by jbickers at 11:42 AM on October 23, 2013