Tag: novel

• October 25, 2017

  Permission to Write Something That Sucks

  

  It’s been one month since I’ve looked at my novel draft. Despite setting myself a lofty goal of completing a first draft by the end of the year, I stalled out. As much as I would like (and have tried) to blame my characters or my word count goals or the ergonomics of my keyboard, I can’t.

  I’ve been purposely avoiding it, worried that I’ll mess it up if I write another word. Several times this year, I considered throwing it all out and starting over. Starting is easy. But soon after those well thought-out, well-polished early chapters, the novel started to morph into something else and it wasn’t pretty. It was clunky.

  This is hard for me. I’m a perfectionist. I don’t want to commit to paper words that I may have to scrap later. My instinct is to edit as I go — and it’s killing my novel. I can’t go on expecting amazing words to flow from my brain to my fingers. That expectation is suffocating my inspiration and strangling my productivity. Perfection requires iteration; it doesn’t happen on the first try and anyone who thinks so isn’t likely to be a success at writing novels.

  So, I’m giving myself permission to write something that sucks.

  I’m giving myself the go-ahead to write cheesy dialogue when necessary and sloppy exposition for the sake of continuing the story. Now is not the time to fuss over the language or to worry about continuity. Now is the time to write wildly. I’m going to completely alter my protagonist’s backstory and motivation mid-draft, and that’s okay. Logic is for second drafts.

  For the next nine weeks, I’m giving myself carte blanche to do what it takes to finish this draft of my novel, because the alternative is not writing at all and that’s just not who I am. If you’re like me and stuck in perfectionism paralysis, I give you permission to write something that sucks, too.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker who is trying to be better about taking Anne Lamott’s tried and true advice. Follow me on the Twitter machine and subscribe to my monthly newsletter for exclusive content and recommended reads.
• February 5, 2017

  My Solo Writing Retreat to Vashon Island

  

  It was a dark winter’s night when I drove onto the ferry from Point Defiance to Tahlequah. I was off to nearby Vashon Island for a day-and-a-half solo writing retreat to start my novel. On the short trip from Tacoma to Vashon, I tried not to think too much about the enormous task I was about to undertake and instead focus on the surreal sight of the ferry dock disappearing into the mist.

  It may only be a fifteen-minute ferry ride away, but Vashon feels far away and remote. In contrast to the cities surrounding it, it is home to only a few thousand people, spread out over a densely wooded area about the size of Manhattan. After I told her about my goal of finally finishing a novel over the next three years, my amazing spouse bought me two nights at an Airbnb for my birthday. So, I packed up my laptop, a few books on writing, and a bag of snacks and hoped inspiration would follow.

  I have often found that I need to leave behind familiar spaces to start something new. Working at home, it’s easy to get distracted by thoughts of laundry that needs washing or what to make for dinner or a thousand other domestic considerations. Even though I was only a few miles away from my house, the process of packing up, of traveling, of arriving on an isolated island, sparked my subconscious to get to work.

  I woke at daybreak (not a spectacular feat at these northern latitudes), made a cup of tea and setup my laptop. My retreat was a small Frank Lloyd Wright-style cabin with wood-paneled walls and a clean, modern aesthetic. A desk was built into a wall of windows overlooking Puget Sound to the north. Nearby, I discovered a turntable and a collection of LPs. I put on a Crosby, Stills and Nash album, gently lowered the needle onto the record to set it spinning and opened a new Word document.

  

  I’m not sure if it was the view, the curl of steam coming off my tea, the crackle of vinyl or the fact that my brain had been secretly preparing for this trip for three weeks, but for some reason, the words started flowing. I wrote twenty pages that day — my entire first chapter — which is far more productive than I’ve been in months. To be fair, I didn’t dream up the premise then and there. This is my fourth attempt (or is it the sixth?) at a novel idea I’ve been playing with for years. But this time, my fingers moved at the speed of my ideas and the ideas themselves were significantly better. I left on the twelve o’clock ferry the next day with a good start on my manuscript, a few pages of character notes, and a severely depleted snack bag.

  Retreats are amazing like that. They give you uninterrupted time to focus and the time leading up to your departure gets the gears turning in advance so that you can be creative right out of the gate. But the retreat is not what’s important. What’s important is what happens after the retreat. One day of productivity and inspired writing does not a novel make. You have to sustain it the next day, the next week, and for months on end. The retreat is the beginning, but once you arrive back home and realize that the laundry still needs to be done, the challenge is keeping the momentum and not succumbing to the inertia of the everyday.

  I’ve never managed to keep up that momentum after a solo retreat. It has always evaporated. But this year will be different. Because this year, I have a deadline. My retreat was only one day, but I have 328 more days until I need to have a completed first draft. The retreat is over, but the work is just starting.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer in Tacoma, WA working on his first novel. You can get first dibs on excerpts from his novel-in-progress by subscribing to his monthly email newsletter. You can also follow him on Twitter. Thanks for reading!
• January 9, 2017

  Revenge of the Birthday Resolutions

  

  Today is my birthday. And five years ago, it was also a day when I couldn’t think of anything to write about. My blog was just getting off the ground and I knew I needed to write about something to keep myself in the habit and grow my small audience. I was drawing a blank, so I decided to take a risk and talk about something more personal. For years, I’ve been making birthday resolutions instead of New Year’s resolutions and that year, I shared my resolutions with the blogosphere. Five years later, that first blog about how I wanted to grow and change is one of my most viewed posts.

  Most of us make resolutions this time of year. We want to lose weight, cut back on the amount of time we spend on Facebook, put more money into our savings, but most of those resolutions are quickly abandoned.  It’s hard to change the course of a river once it’s found a course and human beings are no different, in my experience. Perhaps it’s no surprise that 88% of resolutions fail.

  Historically, I have struggled to keep my resolutions (except for that one time when I resolved to move across the country — that one worked out), but I’ve found more success when I limit myself to one or two, put them down in writing and hold myself accountable by telling people what I’m trying to accomplish.

  So, as I mark another year of wandering around this crazy world, I’m making one resolution. Just one. Possibly the most ambitious pledge to myself that I have ever made and the one that will have the most potential impact on my literary career. In light of that, I have also resolved to give it the time it deserves, by setting myself a three-year deadline.

  Okay, enough build-up. Here it is:

  I will complete a final draft of a novel by the time I am 30 years old.

  I have tip-toed around writing a novel for the better part of a decade and have little to show for it. Half a dozen unfinished (read: barely started) novels are cluttering my hard drive, but I have never devoted the time necessary to seeing any one of them through to a final draft.

  Writing a novel is big. Bigger than any writing project I’ve ever embarked upon. But I think that now is the time. I think I’m finally up to the task. I am fortune to have a loving spouse and a supportive web of friends and family to urge me onward. I’ll be documenting the ups and downs of the process from the initial idea to final draft right here — and I’m grateful to have you along for the ride.

  The clock is ticking. Wish me luck.

   — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer and soon-to-be novelist in Tacoma. You can find him on Twitter.

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• February 22, 2016

  A Bookish Getaway

  

  If you didn’t know me, you’d be inclined to think that the trip Stephanie and I took to the Oregon Coast last week was a disaster. I was sick the entire time. Our phones had limited reception. It was cold and windy. Fog obscured our view of the ocean. Rain poured. The road leading to our bed and breakfast washed out. For any reasonable person, it would be a wasted weekend. But not for me.

  You see, on our way to the coast, we stopped at Third Street Books in McMinnville and each picked up a novel. I chose Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel and Stephanie selected All the Old Knives by Olen Steinhauer. So, when we got to our destination, felt the chill in our bones and heard the drumbeat of rain on the roof, we pulled out our books and dove in.

  Not since our honeymoon have we had the time and unbroken solitude from civilization to truly get lost in an imagined world of words. Maybe it was the sound of the rain or the chilly weather, but we each tore through our books in less than two days. It reminded me of being a kid and burying myself in a good book for days on end. With all the distractions and responsibilities of adult life, it’s hard to find time to read for fun. It’s something I wish I made more time for — a rejuvenating practice that we would all be better for.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer in Tacoma, WA. He and Stephanie are now reading each other’s book choices. You can find him on Twitter and join his mailing list.
• December 3, 2015

  My Greatest Competition

   

  

  Almost a month ago, a set out to write 50,000 words as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). It’s a daunting challenge and not just because I’ve failed to reach my goal four years in a row. I have never written such a long piece of fiction in such a short period of time. It’s also intimidating because every year, I have to face the specter of my previous attempts. In a way, I’m competing with the four other versions of me who have embarked on this voyage of literary abandon.

  November was a crazy month for me. Between family commitments, holidays and some long days at work, I’ve been extremely busy. Like most writers with some semblance of a social life and a full-time job that isn’t writing a novel, writing becomes harder and harder to squeeze in. Writing time is often cut back in favor of other activities, chores, sleep etc.

  So, the week leading into Thanksgiving, I took a look at my word count and realized that there was no way I was going to reach my 50,000-word goal this year. Instead, I looked at my stats for the last four years. In 2011, a few short months after launching this blog, I wrote 15,621 words. In 2012, just 6,217. In 2013, I wrote 12,100. Last year, I cranked out 22,615 words. I decided that If I wasn’t going to crack 50K, I at least wanted to beat my personal best. I set a goal of reaching 30,000 words by the closing hours of November 30.

  Sadly, I didn’t make 30K either. But I don’t view it as a complete failure. Over the course of 30 days, I wrote a grand total of 28,521 words — that equals 127 pages of very usable material going forward. And that’s what counts. If you take NaNoWriMo seriously, you don’t just write for those 30 wild days. You use it to form a foundation for your writing from December 1 to October 31. I think I accomplished that. I wrote 12 short story drafts during the last month. With edits and polishing, I think my collection stands a chance of getting published.

  If that isn’t a victory, then at least I beat myself. And that’s oddly satisfying.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer in Tacoma, WA. He just finished a month during which he attempted to write a complete novel. You can find him on Twitter.

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• October 29, 2015

  Fifth Time’s a Charm

  

  For four years in a row, I have participated in the madness that is National Novel Writing Month. Affectionately known as NaNoWriMo, I have endeavored to write a complete novel — 50,000 words — from beginning to end in the span of 30 days. Every year, I have failed to reach my goal.

  To be fair, you can’t really “fail” at NaNoWriMo. Just making the effort to write during the month of November is a feat in and of itself. But for me, it’s just not good enough. I want to get to “The End.” Those beautiful, elusive words are calling my name. This year, I hope, will be different.

  This year, I’m playing to my strengths. I’m following the age-old advice to do what you’re good at and write about what you know. So, instead of a traditional novel, I’m going to write a series of linked short stories about my adopted hometown, Flagstaff. Set during the first week of the devastating Schultz Fire that burned 15,000 acres north of town in the summer of 2010, my stories will focus on a handful of characters and how their lives are impacted by the wildfire.

  This is a story I’ve been wanting to tell for a long time. Over the last five years, I’ve sat down twice to attempt to write it as a novel. It wasn’t until late-September that it occurred to me that the notes I had sounded more like a short story collection than a cohesive novel.

  On November 1, I’ll kit the keyboard and start my fifth attempt to finish a novel-length work during NaNoWriMo. I’m really excited to see if I can do it. Here’s hoping the fifth time’s a charm.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is writer and lover of short fiction in Tacoma, WA. During the month of November, you’ll be able to find him pulling out his hair and overcaffeinating. You can also find him on Twitter.
• March 30, 2015

  The Value of a Truly Terrible Book

  

  I have a lot of books crammed into my little office at home and I’d estimate that I’ve only read about two-thirds of them. The rest are books that I just haven’t gotten around to yet. I’ve spent years collecting these books and dragging them halfway across the country on the off chance that on some rainy day, I’ll pull one off the shelf. This is the story of one of those books.

  Ten years ago, I saw the film Sahara. It was an action-adventure about Dirk Pitt, a marine engineer and adventurer who saves the day and discovers a missing Civil War ironclad in the sands of Africa. It was thrilling stuff and despite being universally panned by critics, I liked it. So, I went down to Bookman’s and picked up a copy of one of novels the move was based on, Valhalla Rising.

  And it sat on my shelf for the next ten years. Unread.

  Then, about a month ago, I picked it up. I remembered liking the film and I liked that there was a viking ship on the cover, so I started to read. And it was awful. What the movie version of Dirk Pitt glossed over, the book revealed in agonizing detail. Pitt in the novel can do no wrong. Everyone around him worships him. Women fling themselves at him and he refuses their advances with long, sexist soliloquies about how he likes to have women cook and clean for him.

  The plot is worse: full of impossible twists and turns, leaping from one world-ending crisis to the next (along with some unfortunate villainous plans that are eerily reminiscent of 9/11 — the book was published in August 2001 and features both planes crashing in Manhattan and a separate plot to destroy the World Trade Center). It is completely ridiculous from beginning to end. It’s also not about vikings.

  I really didn’t like Valhalla Rising. I didn’t like the characters, the plot or the dialogue. Even the descriptions were poorly written, spending paragraphs explaining the horsepower of a WWII transport plane’s engine or the exact chiseling of Pitt’s face.

  Still, I think there is something to be learned from this book. As a writer, I am often tempted to read the greats. When I read the masters of literature, I am struck by the complexity of their masterpieces. It can be hard to deconstruct an excellent work, because all the pieces are so carefully laid into place that I can’t see how they fit together.

  On the other hand, when I read a really bad book, I can see the gaps. I see where the author tried something that didn’t quite work; where a line of dialogue fell flat; where a plot line was left dangling. Sometimes, I learn more from failure than from success.

  Every writer should read a truly terrible book from time to time. It’s a good gut check of your own sense. You can critique as you go and you will be amazed by how many lessons you learn.

  So, go ahead, grab that trashy paperback. You’ll probably learn a few things about the craft. Even if you don’t, let it motivate you. If that person can write a crappy manuscript and get it published, you can, too.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer and avid reader of books both good and bad. You can follow him on Twitter. Apologies to Clive Cussler (even though he did appear as a fictionalized version of himself in his own book, which is weird).
• February 11, 2015

  Harper Lee’s Second Novel Will Change Everything

  

  “People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.”
  – Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird

  Fifty-five years is a long time to wait for a second novel, but more than half a century after her debut, it appears that Harper Lee is publishing a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird. Go Set a Watchman is set in the 1950s and follows Scout, now grown, as she returns to the tired old town of Maycomb, Alabama. After mulling the news over for the better part of a week, I still don’t know whether to be excited or nervous.

  Most of us grew up reading Harper Lee’s seminal first novel. It is a masterpiece; a cornerstone of American literature. It’s no surprise to me that Harper Lee was unable to follow it up. Lightning rarely strikes twice.

  So, I find it strange that this second book (or, more accurately, first book, as it was written before Mockingbird) is coming to light now. Now, I don’t know if Lee is being taken advantage of in her old age. I don’t know if the book will even be any good. But no matter what this new book is or isn’t, its publication will forever change the world of To Kill a Mockingbird that we all know and love. Its very existence will change the way future generations will read about the little girl watching her father defend a black man in the Jim Crow South of the 1930s. It will offer a different lens through which to understand the characters and events of Lee’s first book and that worries me.

  At the heart of my concern is a question — at what point does a work of art cease to be the property of its creator? When a book becomes one of the greatest works of literature of an entire century, does the author retain the right to add or take away from it? At what point does it become part of our culture? Something bigger than anyone, even its author? Of course it’s Lee’s legacy, but it also belongs to all of us who have read the book and loved it. At what point should a great monument be left alone to be what it is?

  A new book will hit the shelves this summer and it will change something. Wherever you are, stand up. To Kill a Mockingbird is passing.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer and reader in Tacoma, WA. You can leave your comments below or find him on Twitter.
• November 24, 2014

  Wielding the Red Pen

  

  “You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what’s burning inside you — And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke.” – Arthur Plotnik

  If you want to learn the mechanics of great writing, edit someone else’s writing. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last couple of months. During lunch breaks and weekends, I’ve been on the opposite side of the creative process. In September, I agreed to read my friend and fellow wordnerd Lizy Newswanger’s manuscript. It was the first time I’ve ever edited a novel. I have taken up the mighty red pen before, but never for a project so long, layered and complex.

  I did my best to edit fairly but firmly and advocate for the reader who may not understand the intricacies of Lizy’s imagined world. I corrected typos, identified plot holes, examined character development and made sure that important information had not been lost over a series of rewrites. I even invented a drinking game (whenever the title appears in the text, drink!). But above all, I tried to wield the power of the red pen responsibly to let the author’s voice and story shine through.

  In the process, I not only read a great novel that I hope to someday see at my local bookstore, but I also gained valuable insight into how a story is constructed. I got to peek behind the curtain at a nearly finished book and see how all the cogs fit together. And I was able to do it with far more objectivity than if it were my own words on the page. It was an eye-opening experience.

  Now that she has my comments for her next round of rewrites, I can focus on applying what I’ve learned to my novel-in-progress. And with any luck, we’ll both learn what it takes to get from final draft to published bestseller.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer, editor and serial comma killer in Tacoma, WA. You can find him on Twitter. His short story, The Observable Universe, appears in Creative Colloquy Vol. 1 out now and available at King’s Books, the Nearsighted Narwhal and Amazon.
• November 18, 2014

  Base Camp

  I hit a milestone today. This morning, while pounding out the novel I’m writing for National Novel Writing Month, my word count surpassed 15,700 words. In terms of writing 50,000 words in 30 days, I’m tracking way behind where I should be. But this point is an auspicious one for me. In four years of writing novels in November, the most I’ve ever written is 15,621. Passing that point, I felt a little like Sam standing at the edge of the Shire, realizing that this is the farthest from home that I have ever been.

  High up in the mountains of Nepal stands South Everest Base Camp, a stopping off point for climbers attempting to reach the summit of the tallest mountain in the world. At over 17,000 feet above sea level, getting to the base camp takes six days from the Nepalese town of Lukla and an incredible amount of physical stamina. Climbers must train for years just to be able to climb to the Base Camp.

  Yet, once they reach it, the mountain still remains before them, waiting to be conquered. There is still a long, arduous journey ahead.

  I’m at the base camp of my novel. So far in, but with the greatest challenge still to come. 15,700 words is a huge accomplishment for me, but it’s a far cry from 50,000. This is where I leave the familiarity of the Shire behind. This is where I begin the climb.

  — 30 —

  Jonny Eberle is a writer and climber of metaphors. You can find him on Twitter.