As a writer you experience many “A-Ha! Moments” and you
always wonder why it took so long for you to discover them. My belief is that
many of these moments are hidden to us as writers simply because the Muse is
either busy helping that 9-year-old poet on the other side of town write a poem
for Mother’s Day or she is hiding in my back closet laughing at all the stuff I
wrote decades ago.
Like most authors, I’ve had many of these moments.
Like when I finally discovered that it is okay to finally accept that the novel you just started is simply a pile of bull crap and you find the courage to finally accept it and move on. So many times we think we need to finish something simply because we started it. Well, that’s not the case no matter what your mother or father told as you grew up.
Or when it finally dawns on you that you should simply write and stop editing as you go. If the words are flowing, don’t slow down. And the next day, don’t go back to chapter one and started editing. Keep writing. You’ll know when it is time to actually edit.
And another one of those moments came when I discovered that it is sometimes good to stop writing before you run out of words. It makes you want to get up the next morning and keep writing.
But most importantly? Write for yourself. Don’t write a novel about vampires or zombies just because that seems to be the “in” thing to do. Write to please yourself, not others. If you follow that simple rule, you can’t go wrong.
Stan Swanson is a Bram Stoker nominated editor, author and coauthor of eight books including FOREVER ZOMBIE, WRITE OF THE LIVING DEAD, RETURN OF THE SCREAM QUEEN and THE MISADVENTURES OF HOBART HUCKLEBUCK. His newest novel, MY BOYFRIEND’S A ZOMBIE (written with Araminta Star Matthews) will be released late 2013 or early 2014. He is also publisher and editor of Dark Moon Books and co-publisher/editor of DARK MOON DIGEST, a horror quarterly anthology.
Like most authors, I’ve had many of these moments.
Like when I finally discovered that it is okay to finally accept that the novel you just started is simply a pile of bull crap and you find the courage to finally accept it and move on. So many times we think we need to finish something simply because we started it. Well, that’s not the case no matter what your mother or father told as you grew up.
Or when it finally dawns on you that you should simply write and stop editing as you go. If the words are flowing, don’t slow down. And the next day, don’t go back to chapter one and started editing. Keep writing. You’ll know when it is time to actually edit.
And another one of those moments came when I discovered that it is sometimes good to stop writing before you run out of words. It makes you want to get up the next morning and keep writing.
But most importantly? Write for yourself. Don’t write a novel about vampires or zombies just because that seems to be the “in” thing to do. Write to please yourself, not others. If you follow that simple rule, you can’t go wrong.
Stan Swanson is a Bram Stoker nominated editor, author and coauthor of eight books including FOREVER ZOMBIE, WRITE OF THE LIVING DEAD, RETURN OF THE SCREAM QUEEN and THE MISADVENTURES OF HOBART HUCKLEBUCK. His newest novel, MY BOYFRIEND’S A ZOMBIE (written with Araminta Star Matthews) will be released late 2013 or early 2014. He is also publisher and editor of Dark Moon Books and co-publisher/editor of DARK MOON DIGEST, a horror quarterly anthology.
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