Today I realised something interesting. As somebody who is not a writer, I used to think that writing a full-length book must be a feat of tremendous stamina, and that it's only really possible to write a book if you have a lot of devotion. And then I did a little calculation: if you add my post counts from GD and L19, I have almost 180 posts. Supposing that, on average, it takes about 3 posts to fill a page in the average novel format, that means that in just a little bit of spare time I have already written about one third of a novel, and it didn't even feel like an effort at all! In fact, those here who "live in sente" have probably already written the equivalent of at least one full-length book! How does that feel?

Of course, this story completely neglects the process of getting ideas, structuring them, proofreading, publishing, and the like. Also, if, as they say, book-writing is like running a marathon, the hardest part will probably only hit you in the last few "kilometers". Maybe those who have actually written full-length books can tell us: did it feel hard? If so, was it really much harder than spicing up that L19 post count? I'm really curious now!

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My name is Gijs, from Utrecht, NL.

When in doubt, play the most aggressive move

This reminds me of National Novel Writing Month. Both enforce the idea that, with either sufficient time or sufficient endurance, it is surprisingly doable to write a book's worth of unedited, unplanned content.

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Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].

I have probably written enough for a book, but none of it is interesting enough for people to actually buy

Part of writing a book is, of course, volume of content... But quality of content is another important factor...

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be immersed

Yes, but verbosity is a reasonable first step. It seems easier to work on quality if you can write a lot, than trying to write the Next Great Book after a few sentences a year.

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Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].

I've done NaNoWriMo twice

There are such things as open-source books written by groups of people. It would be interesting for us all to put one about go together, but it would be a lot of work, esp. for the one or two people who end up being editors. And we would have to figure out what exactly we want to write about, etc.

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That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.
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My (sadly neglected, but not forgotten) project: http://dailyjoseki.com

I tend to be a verbose writer. I've never been able to just jot down finished stuff. I think this is true for the vast majority of writers.

So, I like the idea of lots of tailings. Look at the amount of stuff that gets thrown away in gold mining. I believe that if you write consistently, and in enough quantity, you'll have a better chance of discovering the nugget that will become something worth reading.

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RazorBrain


- Another One Bites the Dust
- BOOK REVIEW: How Not To Play Go
- Finally, a DGS Client for the iPhone

If I sit at a piano for an hour and bang on the keys, I will have played enough notes for a concerto!

gdksjalghkjagnjangfjkaioj; eiojej42utirkgajdmlje tsagj4m 9034it09m4auitm dkgfjaio m4m4w3tiu0i9wi dkoj g 39tm voigu340tk04ei gfofdjtiog4ujt90oa w90fjka309o t09reuj9ofdj ioesagfj m u0iotj0g9i rgri9og sjvgj 490j 90oekjg4kjiosjkoirki90orujeg9 40ig904ig9oerkjgifkjfog j490 4it904i 0pt4ir ksdo gfeirk jiops 3kjwa0p;i039i490oi9gorik gosjdojwreai04u9 04it9r irsjviorg80oiut438ivdosfjkesjfm 94 t490tv m03tu4039 uj vkgjamog jioarjgv ioarugv iu8t0i34 u90t4 u0958 4095[u a490[ks j ati940ti4309548u39m05[u49 maigug r9i490tu349 t809 3 it094ui3t9iu094iutri9o eigfds9paoitg9 43

I think more people find starting difficult than the last few pages. Of course, it's a misnomer to talk about the last few pages, since there's usually substantial revision--the last words you write are replacements for earlier words.

A story, which might be apochryphal. A friend of James Joyce stopped by his place and found him slumped over his desk, looking exhausted. Knowing Joyce's habits (17 years to write Finnegan's wake), the friend asks "how many words today, James?" and Joyce replies "seven".

"That's great." "But I don't know what order they go in!"

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Occupy Babel!

Yep. Trust me, it's not just how much you write. It's the quality, but also writing something that fits a need.

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My blog about Macs and more: Kirkville

kirkmc wrote:

Porn.

Then again, it's possible to go wrong writing about sex too. (Warning: passages may not be safe for work.)

I have written 8 books so far and now I am writting the 9th one. Writting a book requires a lot of dedication and patience. Because it has often occured to write an entire chapter and at the next moment to tear it apart, because I don't like it. It is a very difficult task because you need to write at the exact moment when you have inspiration, otherwise all you would write is a piece of crap. Sometimes it happens to have inspiration weeks ahead, or like this year, I haven't had an inspitration for writting for 6 months! It is an awful feeling, believe me

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Stefany, web programmer

Yeah, I've... attempted... NaNo twice. Perhaps this year. Regardless, it's been said before, but I'll say it again: A published collection of polished Malkovich games would be worth reading. Sure, most of it would also be available online, but it'd be something of publishable quality, especially after significant editing.

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Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].

Yeah that might make interesting reading. We'd have to get someone super-strong to review them first. "What Go Players Think (and why they're wrong)"

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That which can be destroyed by the truth should be.
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My (sadly neglected, but not forgotten) project: http://dailyjoseki.com

Hmmmm... This looks interesting

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"There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level." -- Bruce Lee

[Note, I'm not trying to upset the OP-- I've re-written this a few times, but the "tone" over the net still feels harsh. Its not meant to be that way at all. Maybe this disclaimer at the top will take the edge off... but since some of it is a direct quote from one of my English professors (with expletives removed) its not completely me anyway.]

I don't think that is necessarily true. Waiting for "inspiration" can become the refuge of the lazy artist. You want to be writer? Write everyday. You want to be a photographer? Photograph everyday. You want to be a painter... a musician... a programmer... well, do it everyday. Yes some days are better than others. Also, if you have those awesome inspiration moments and can't create at the time, get as much of the "feeling" you can captured somehow (small bit of writing in a notebook, a quick sketch/doodle, pull out your cell phone make a picture, whatever). Hopefully, you will be able to spark the idea again with that as kindling.

Creativity isn't inspiration based, its work based. Start working and the creativity and inspiration will come. Sure, some days everything will be complete and utter crap-- oh well, that is life, learn from it, move on.

And before anyone jumps on me ... Yes, I understand those moments when everything just aligns, and your work flows effortlessly. But I also understand, even on days that are super blah, you can make good work. It just hurts more, and it is easier to be distracted from it, and it actually feels like work.

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Photo Blog:
http://blog.lunchisoptional.com

This also applied to studying go if you want to be 5 dan.

EDIT: I wonder how many go books I have "written" based on the premise of the original post.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

Yes, this is what I have heard from several writers, you must treat it as a job if you want to get anywhere. Writing (and painting, playing music etc) is not that different from eg programming, and what programmer would keep his job if he only coded when inspired?

/Mats

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mohsart - games & books
http://spel.mohsart.se/

Posing on a forum is like having a conversation with friends.
writing a book is like giving an important lecture, presentation or speech.

The two big hurdles are; One, to set the first step and decide to actually write and publish a book. Two, to polish the result (editing)

When I wrote "The Next Move" I think I spend around 50% of the time to polish and edit the content.

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Laurens
Go school: freegame's Teaching School
Author of: The Next Move a book for 15-3kyu players.

Yup. Writers write every day. They don't wait 6 months for inspiration to fall on them. Just as sumiyaka said, creativity is work based. But I think Stefany is quite young and probably she has not made this experience yet.

Gaius, you've found the secret weapon of novel writers It's like climbing a mountain, really. You do it one step at a time. When you look back, you can't believe yourself how far you got. But there are two gotcha:
- You have to keep doing it. For months. And it's not easy. Many people never make it past chapter 1 or chapter 5 of their novel. They keep proofreading the first pages to cover away from the fact that they have no idea how to keep going, or they start working on another, much cooler idea.
- Writing a novel is not just putting words on paper. It's about putting them right, and it's very tough. It's not just a matter of style. There's the whole plot architecture stuff, and so on. There's a great deal of experience and know-how involved. You can expect to spend on a novel at least double the time you spend actually writing. And even if you know what you're doing, sometimes you'll throw away weeks of work. Sometimes you'll end up throwing away the whole novel.



The nanowrimo encourages you to first write and edit after (to pass the "forever editing first chapter" hurdle). But the content is not necessarily unplanned. Many, many writers spend months planning before entering nanowrimo.