This Writing Life 6: The One Rule to Writing

There is a plague of doubt that affects all writers.

Some are affected once in a while. Others are affected on a daily basis.

You sit down at your computer and you stare at the blank screen and as you begin to type you wonder: “Am I doing this right?”

Well have NO FEAR, because today, and TODAY ONLY, Erik will reveal to you the ONE TRUE RULE TO WRITING!

That’s right! There’s one rule and one rule only and today, for FREE, Erik will share it with YOU!

Does it Matter What I Write?

NO!

Whether you’re a blogger, a poet, a playwright, a scriptwriter, a novelist, a journalist or any other kind of writer there is only ONE RULE.

Does It Matter How I Write?

You weren’t listening to the last question, were you?

NO!

It doesn’t matter WHAT you write! It doesn’t matter HOW you write! It doesn’t even matter what LANGUGE you write in, THERE IS ONLY ONE RULE!

How Do You Know this One Rule?

Really? We have to get into this?

Sigh.

Fine.

I formulated the ONE RULE TO WRITING after years of talking to wannabe writers at various conventions. It came into full bloom a few years back at the Ad Astra Convention (and if you are a writer of genre fiction in or near Toronto, you should go to this one).

And I should mention, I was hardly the first to figure it out.

I was on a panel about writing groups. The other three on the panel were very much pro-writing groups. I was there to take the negative. I figured people could use my experience to learn what to avoid. (That will be another blog post)

Two of the other three didn’t show up.  The one who did was Brandon Sanderson.

He and I talked for a bit before the panel started, and we switched formats because really, no one was there to see me. So I interviewed Brandon and he is excellent to interview. At one point we were asked if there were any rules to writing. He said there were none, I said there was one, and when I said what it was, he agreed with me.

Now, back to the rampant hyperbole…

If the One Rule Is So Amazing, Why Are You Giving It Away For Free?

Because writers all over the world deserve to share in the ON RULE!  It is the great secret to ALL WRITING. Without it, THE LITERARY WORLD WOULD NEVER HAVE EXISTED!!!

Is that too many capital letters and exclamation points?

NO!!!

The rule is too important not to share! Why, I'm not even going to ask that you go buy my books, Small Magics and Cold Magics, before you learn it (though if you wanted to, you could... just saying).

So When Are You Going to Share It?

AS SOON AS I RUN OUT OF RAMPANT HYPERBOLE!!!

And That Would Be When?

NOW!

Sit down.

Brace yourself.

Be prepared for the BRIGHTEST LIGHT OF INSPIRATION you have ever seen to go off in your head!

THE ONE RULE TO WRITING IS….

(Isn’t the anticipation killing you?)

THE ONE RULE TO WRITING IS….


You must finish.

Really? All This for That?

Yeah, it was more fun this way.

But "You must finish," it is the only rule.  Because no matter what you write about, no matter what genre or medium you write in, no matter what method you use to write (and that will be next week’s blog post) if you want to actually call yourself a writer, you have to finish your work.

I have met lots of people still working on that novel after 10 years, still working on those poem or short stories or screenplays that never, ever get them done.  They are not writers.  They are wannabes. They could become writers easy enough, but they haven't followed the one rule.

The difference between being a writer and not being a writer is finishing your work.

So follow the one rule.

Finish.

Next Week: Outliners vs. Pantsers or The Many Styles of Writing Stuff

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Now THAT was a Book Launch - Cold Magics at Ad Astra

I don't think I've had that much fun in months.

For those who have not been following, I launched my new book Cold Magics at Ad Astra, April 10, 2010. The convention itself was excellent, the people were great as always, and the book launch went amazing. Our posters, package invites and word of mouth seemed to really do the trick, because we had a packed house. Our chocolates and prizes were well received, especially the "Moose Jaw Style Candlelight Dinner for Two" (No, I'm not telling you what it is).

Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me. Fortunately, my ever-helpful and stunningly talented editor (and now DMP associate publisher) Gabrielle Harbowy did. So some pictures will appear below.

Before that, however, there's some Thank You's that need to be said.

First, to all the folks at Ad Astra. Thank you so much. You were great as always. The party would not have been nearly the success it was without your help.

Also, thanks to Scott and the rest of the security team, with whom last year I inadvertently started a tradition. At Ad Astra 2009, I went to the green room where Scott was working security. We talked, and it turned out he forgot his book. I sold him a copy of Small Magics, and it became the communal book for all the security at the green room. This year, Scott found me on day one of the convention and bought a copy of Cold Magics, which became this year's communal book. I'm only sorry I won't have a new one out for next year (at least I don't think I will, but talk about an incentive to write faster!).

Great thanks are due to Marie Bilodeau whose book, Destiny's Blood, is due out with Dragon Moon Press this summer, and whose chocolate helped bring the party to life. Mmmmm. Also to Gunnar, a friend who showed up with even more chocolate -- dark Mayan spiced chocolate from Soma -- and gave it to everyone at the party. Thanks Gunnar!

I also want to thank Chris Jackson, who was my table-mate for the weekend, and was selling his first DMP book (though not his first book by a long shot!) Scimitar Moon. I am reading it now and it is great. I highly recommend it. Chris was good fun and good company for three days of selling and talking.

Thanks to Gabrielle Harbowy, editor/associate publisher extraordinaire for being there, helping with everything, and taking some pictures since I so cleverly forgot the camera. We didn't get a crowd shot, but the place was packed!

And, of course, my great, great thanks to Gwen Gades at Dragon Moon Press, for taking a chance on Small Magics, and for keeping the series going with Cold Magics. Without her, none of this would have happened.

Finally, thank you to everyone who attended, who bought books over the weekend, and who made it a truly great evening.

Look! Pictures!

The Dragon Moon Press Team: From left, Erik Buchanan, Gabrielle Harbowy, and Chris Jackson

Author, with books. Very cool moment.

Gabrielle and I, just before the launch started (hence the slightly manic smiles).

The reading! They laughed at the funny bits and clapped when I finished! Life is good.

Erick Fournier. Actor, fight guy, and cover model for Small Magics and Cold Magics, brandishing his copies of the books. Thanks again, Erick!

Ad Astra Schedule

For those of you who are attending Ad Astra (and I recommend you do -- it's a good time) here is what will be taking up my time this weekend:

Fri 9:00 PM Ballr. East Working with Smaller Presses

Gabrielle Harbowy, Chris A. Jackson, Brett Alexander Savory, Derwin Mak, Eric Buchanan

Is a smaller press the right choice for you? How does a small press work? How can you find them? Panelists will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of working with a smaller press.

Fri 10:00 PM Ballr. East World-Building – A Balancing Act

Erik Buchanan, Ed Greenwood, Rob St. Martin

How do you research a world that doesn’t exist? How important is world-building to a story? Can too much emphasis on world-building hurt other aspects of the story? How can you find the right balance of story elements?


Sat 11:00 AM Ballr. East Editing Your Own Work

Gabrielle Harbowy (m), Rick Wilber, Jana Paniccia, Erik Buchanan

Authors and editors share tips on how to spot the problems that are so easy to miss in your own work, how to add a bit more polish to your writing, and how to prepare your draft so that editing goes as smoothly as possible.

Sat 4:00 PM Ballr. East Autograph Session

Sat 5:00 PM Ballr. East Autograph Session (to 5:30)

Sat 10:00 PM ConSuite Cold Magics Launch (to 1am)

(just to make sure people notice)

Do come to the book launch, if you are coming. I'm looking forward to doing a reading, and looking forward to people seeing the new book.

Erik at Ad Astra

Was looking around the web one day...

All right, I was looking to see how many mentions there were of my name. This is a valid marketing exercise and should in no way be construed to be me desperately attempting to stroke my ego by finding signs of my popularity.

Really.

No, really.

Anyway...

I discovered Nick's Musings, which is a blog by a literature student from Waterloo. On there I found this post about Ad Astra, which featured some great pictures of panels, including this one of me:




















Nick, great photo. I especially like that you caught Small Magics in the shot, too.

Great Weekend!

I just finished up at Ad Astra, and I want to say, I had a blast!

As with every con I've been to (all three now) folks were friendly and fun, panels were great, the other speakers lots of fun to discuss and argue with, and everyone very nice. Some great costume work, too.

So, lots of fun was had, lots more to be had. My next goal is Worldcon in Montreal in June, and I'll be blogging more about that soon. And now, I need a nap and then, I need to do homework.

Ad Astra - Quick Saturday Blog

Having a great time so far at Ad Astra. I actually had people at my reading of Small Magics! It was amazing. Especially when you realize I was opposite the guest of honor meet and greet and the pajama party. I damn near left myself.

And I had my camera in my pocket and was going to take pictures but I forgot. Sigh.

I had a great time. I met the woman who will be editing my next book for Dragon Moon Press: Gabrielle Harbowy. Nice woman, great sense of humour was willing to listen to me ramble on for far too long.

Got to hear Douglas Smith read one of his short stories. He's amazing. Great writer. Has his first novel nealrly done and I can't wait to read it.

(Word of advice to folks out there: long periods of low sleep + too much caffeine = babbling idiot)

Today, I've got a panel in the morning and an autograph session in the afternoon. Then I get to come home and miss entirely the evening sessions in favour of grinding out this report which we should have done far more on by now. Oh well.

Off to shower and shave, then off to the Con!

Ad Astra, Bookmarks and Marketing

Well, another long weekend filled with work. Fortunately, half of it was for myself instead of for class, so that was nice.

Built a bookmark to help push Small Magics at Ad Astra next weekend. My reading is at 9 p.m. Friday night, and I'm hoping to bring in some people. I'll also be doing a signing on Saturday at 4 p.m. I'll be bringing copies of Small Magics, so if you want one, here's a place to get it.

The bookmark is pretty cool:



Not bad for 8 hours work on Gimp (open source image manipulation software. Not Photoshop, but mighty good). Now the issue is, can I get them printed on time for Thursday evening, which is when they are stuffing them in the package. Got a call out to a print shop near my work, so we'll see what happens.

Very much looking forward to Ad Astra. I haven't been since Sandy McMaster and I did a stage combat demo there year and years and years ago. Should be lots of fun, a good chance to promote the book, and I get to do signings and all that other fun stuff.

Also, while surfing for ideas for the website at work, I came across a couple of interesting sites. One — Browsershots — allows you to see what your website looks like on a bunch of different browsers from all over thee internet. Mine looks mighty similar in all of them, so I'm quite pleased. Another — WebDistortion — is by an Irish web designer and is giving me some interesting ideas for when I resdesign my website, or possibly when I hire someone else to do it. I'm kind of busy and those things take time. Also some good articles on web marketing.

And finally, a fun little piece on why you get all your best ideas in the shower, and how to retain them.

And that's it for me. From Sunday night to Thursday I had a grand total of 16 hours sleep, so I'm now playing catch up.

Hey, only three more weeks of classes left, then a week to recover, and it's time to start editing Cold Magics (the blurb is halfway down the page). I'm looking forward to it almost as much as I am looking forward to getting started on my next writing project.