Sometimes I go on bike rides with my children. We start out in the neighborhood, then head to a nearby greenway.
The only bad thing about biking with my ten year old daughter is that she scares the crap out of me.
I review safety before we start biking, but one thing happens every time. We’ll cross a road in our neighborhood and she’ll look carefully to the right and left, but never behind her. Not until I start doing my alarmed mother bird squawk, that is.
This is, I know, because she’s a child. She’s looking for danger that’s ahead and to her sides. But what about a car coming up from behind her and making a turn?
My 14 year old son, I’ve noticed, does make a quick check behind him. This has only happened for the last few years, though…and I think he’s consciously thinking about it.
For adults, it comes naturally. I’ve watched adult pedestrians in downtown Charlotte turn to look for cars from any direction they might be coming from…without even pausing in conversation.
How many hours does it take before something we once had to think about comes naturally? I’m not sure. But I know the more we practice anything, the better we get.
This has most recently come to my attention as I’ve revised an old book of mine. I’ve noticed bits of wooden prose, stilted dialogue, and distracting paragraphs that went off on tangents.
My edits these days are for totally different things…for the most part I’ve figured out the stuff that used to trip me up so badly five years ago. That’s totally due from frequent writing. We naturally improve. Some of the writing craft that we have to constantly think about at first, becomes second nature.
As a writer, do you notice your improvements? Do they help you stay motivated?
They sure do. I’m in the editing stage and identifying gaps I never say before and plugging them. Its a lot of fun. After a while you get to know your story and its characters, their interactions, and what works and what needs to be adjusted or dropped altogether.
And thanks for stopping by today!
Yeah, my writing has gotten better over time. I’m much better at using clauses than I used to be! :)
Elizabeth – I love the way you describe your “alarmed mother bird squawk!” I think that’s a language all mothers have in common…
It’s interesting that you’d bring up this whole notion of things we get better at and find easier – just from doing them. There’s a lot of research that suggests that once we do something often enough, we think about it differently. Take driving. Brand-new drivers focus a lot of attention on the mechanics of driving. Experienced drivers think about driving in a more high-level way. The mechanics of driving are automatic (no put intended ;-) ) for them. I wonder if the same is true of writing. Writers who are just plunging in think about that task differently from the way experienced writers think about it. Hmmm…interesting point!
I’ve just re-edited the first book I wrote/had published, and yeah, there is growth to be sure. (and again, you jumped ahead of me; that’s my post–already scheduled for upload–on Monday.)
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
Yes, I notice too. I explore the emotion of the characters more now.
Every Savage Can Reproduce
I’ve been thinking of pulling up an older ms too. I know of several things I’m going to have to change up because I’ve learned a ton since then. And I know those from memory – I’m sure when I read it, a ton more are going to come to light!
What’s funny is after 30 years of writing, yeah, I will find tough spots in old work which I suddenly know how to handle… but I also will sometimes look back and think “Geeze, where did that come from? I wasn’t that smart back then! This is good.”
Generally, though, I think the thing I’ve learned most over all these years is not a matter of prose or editing, but timing and structure. I know how a joke works – and how it’s first cousin, suspense, works.
I noticed differences from my first book to my second. (And I think I created a whole new set of mistakes for the second one.) Never gone back to read the first one though. I think it would depress me.
Interesting. I notice my improvements. I’m not sure I consider improvements motivators, but improving is a motivator. Actually just writing is a motivator.
When I spent a week in London, I had to train myself to look right first – like a repeated mantra – when crossing streets.
I’m definitely seeing progress — I think it would be tough to stay motivated if I wasn’t. Being consistent about writing has been the best single thing for my abilities. And it’s always good to know there’s light at the end of the tunnel :)
LOL! Scares the crap out of me…I have totally been there. I look back and see a steady improvement, so that’s good. :)
Edge of Your Seat Romance
Great connection! My martial arts instructor used to say it takes 1,000 repeats of a move until it is in your muscle memory. I wonder if the same thing applies to writing? Since it’s the brain instead of muscle memory, I’m not sure but I do know the more I write, the easier it becomes.
This is very encouraging – I’ve taken part in NaNoWrimo every year for 5 years, and I’ve felt it was easier every year, but I wondered if my writing was getting more and more sloppy and careless – it didn’t occur to me that I might be getting better at doing it! This summer I even took part in ‘Camp NaNoWriMo’ during July and wrote an ‘extra’ novel which is already almost at the final edit stage. I don’t know when writing a novel became less of a slog and more of a pleasure, but it definitely has happened.
ps re yesterday’s post – Elizabeth, how interesting that you quoted from my favourite poem! – my favourite lines are the ones about not being Prince Hamlet…
This one of the most encouraging things I’ve seen in months. It’s something I’ve forgotten and this lovely little story and reminder were really heartening at a time when I needed to hear it. Thank you for this post!
Looking back, I do notice improvements. I just forget to look back when things get hard.
Stephen–We’re plugging gaps, for sure! And…sorry it took me a while to come by the blog. I don’t know why I didn’t realize it had moved!
Christine–Great to see the improvements, isn’t it?
Enid–Which is always fun!
Margot–It’s quite a squawk! :)
I wonder, in some ways, if more experienced writers maybe even *don’t* think about the task at hand. Maybe so much of it just starts coming naturally. I’d like to think it gets even easier as we go!
Alex–Don’t let it get you down! It should be inspiring. :)
Terry–Ha! It’s the separated at birth thing again with you and me. :)
Jemi–It’s great to see how far you’ve come!
Bluestocking–That writing habit is a tremendous help, isn’t it?
The Daring Novelist–I did find a whole paragraph of description and wondered if I wrote it! Because I’m not great with description. I must have worked really hard on it…it was pretty good!
Raquel–I have 2 white hairs. :) One for each child…
Heather–It sure sounds similar, doesn’t it? I still have so many frustrations when I write, but the big picture is that I’m better and faster.
Sheila–Same thing happened with me a while ago and I wondered why I was just flying through writing books. Thought it was because I wasn’t working hard enough on each scene/chapter, etc, but it’s that it just came easier!
Love those lines! Great, great poem. I’m glad there are other Prufrock lovers out there!
Julia–Good point! Improving is a great motivator. And, I studied abroad in London in college…almost got run over numerous times. :)
Amanda–Thanks for saying so. :) It’s easy to see all the stuff we’re messing up. I frequently get frustrated looking at all the areas where I want to improve..but every time I see how far I’ve come, I feel better. :)
You live in a different world than I do – I notice all the time that adults never check in any direction before crossing a street – like they want to get hit. I’ve become a lot more aware of using passive voice in my stories, and how to get rid of it. I read some of my old stuff now and ‘gag.’