Sometimes, a novel veers off on a tangent, and that tangent becomes more the novel than what I already had.

So I'm about three-quarters into this novel. I have worked out the scenes, premise, people, actions, dialogue.  I'm still smoothing out the rough spots, finding the better words, cutting out any sentence that I feel doesn't add to the effect of the story itself. All that stuff.

I know the big main action of the story, and I know the beats it needs -- and I still am discovering new things about the story every day that I sit down to write.

And then...after researching a location, reading books on it, watching DVDs about it...I throw out 50 pages, because I return to that one edict that is more true than not:

Write what you know.

I never want to write what I know. I want to explore beyond what I know and be in those places and with those people I don't know.

And then, something within me reins in the impulse to ignore what I know.

All this to say, the novel -- after working for months on it, and moving slowly forward -- suddenly took off this week in a direction I hadn't anticipated. I can write fairly quickly through this part of it because it's about something I know -- and believe in, which is also important to me when writing fiction.

Drives me nuts that writing goes this way sometimes -- but I just go with it as it arrives.

I know some of you reading this have arguments against "write what you know," but I suspect most of them are based on "write what you know" as being too limiting.

I think "write what you know" is liberating -- it's accepting that what a writer has experienced, understands, and been part of, is plenty for a lifetime of fiction. It doesn't mean "don't research," and it doesn't mean "don't discover anything new."

But I do believe it means what it's meant to mean to each of us who approaches this old hoary truth.

Write what you know.

* * * *

A friend wrote me and asked me, essentially, what my favorite novels are, from among the ones I've written.

I think my best are Neverland, The Hour Before Dark, The Priest of Blood, The Queen of Wolves, and Mordred, Bastard Son.   

These are my favorites of the novels, mainly because I don't believe anyone else could have written them but me and I also don't think they need any revision whatsoever (I can't say that about the rest of my novels. If someone asked for a revision of You Come When I Call You, and I had the time and inclination -- and pay -- I'd do it, but as it is, I cut hundreds of pages from that novel before its pub date to make it more streamlined, and I think I probably should add those pages back in. To some extent, it became _less_ streamlined as a result of shortening it to a mere 170,000 words or wherever it ended up). 

These five books are completely from what I know, and I didn't play off the idea of genre or the convention of the novel for their effects (it could be argued that I annoyed genre purists with those novels -- because I certainly heard from some of them about how I wasn't playing by the rules with those stories); nor do I feel they need to be changed one bit from the way they turned out.

I also think they have the strongest emotional centers of any of my work, and it's easy to forget how an emotional connection to a novel is vitally important. This is why when readers absolutely hate a novel, the novel worked in ways that none of us may be aware -- just as it worked for those who love the particular novel. An emotional response from the readers is an acknowledgement of the emotional power of the work itself.)

With all my other novels, I'd be happy to go back and revise them extensively. I won't -- yet -- because I feel as if they're fine as they are, but with the five listed above, I don't think any amount of further revision would improve those novels.

Out of 23 or so books, five of them as "my favorites of my own work" doesn't seem too self-congratulatory.  I loved the experience of working on just about all my novels, but I  just don't feel the strong connection I do to these above-listed ones. 

Some of them -- like You Come When I Call You -- were ambitious, and others, like Naomi or Nightmare House, were written week-by-week as e-serials for my newsletter so they felt more experimental in nature to me. So, I have good memories of writing those books. 

But I feel that Neverland, The Hour Before Dark, The Priest of Blood, The Queen of Wolves and Mordred, Bastard Son were unique to me, my perspective, and my experience in life. If you missed any of those, please pick them up when you get the chance. 

I imagine some of my horror readers skipped over Mordred because it has a gay protagonist and it's Arthurian fantasy by genre-- but I think there's enough horror in that novel to satisfy them, as well as some dark fantasy elements they'd enjoy. Same goes for The Vampyricon novels -- if you think it's just a vampire trilogy, I think you'll miss out on something that you won't quite find in another dark fantasy.

The one I'm finishing up now feels much better to me than most of my novels -- as if it's up there with those five books that I feel are among my best.  The title of this one changes, so I'll keep it all a secret until it's done and in. 

In terms of its genre, I'm sure it can be sold in suspense, gothic, horror, or even dark fantasy -- it has elements of all of these. It's also a love story, and a tale of how the things we do in youth may damn us. Or free us.

Realistically, I'll be surprised if it comes out in the fall -- it's the middle of March as I write this entry, and I doubt I'll be able to turn this in until late April.

Please pardon any typos here -- it's very late, I've had a long night of writing, and I'm just ready for bed at this point.

Best,

Douglas Clegg
http://www.DouglasClegg.com

The Jobs Meme for Writers

How many books have you written? 

More than 20.

How many copies of your books are in print? 

You're going to make me count them and then add them all up?

How many of your books did you write on a Mac? 

None. I own an iPod. And a Sony Walkman Mp3 player.

When did you buy your first Mac? 

I am a heathen. However, I bought my first Big Mac in about 1975 or thereabouts.

The Jobs Meme for Readers

How many books do you read a year? 

More than 40, fewer than 100, depending on the year.

When was the last time you bought a new computer? 

Three days ago.

When do you expect you'll buy your next computer? 

Sooner than I'd like. Probably within 18 months.

When do you expect you'll buy your next cell phone? 

I'd like to say never, but probably in a year.

On a scale of 1-10 how important do you think it is that we support reading and literacy? 

10 (assuming 10 is highest importance and 1 is lowest.)

I'd prefer a literate country and world to one that's just good at toggling gadgets.

I got an email from a writer friend -- and given that I've dealt with this problem at times, I thought I'd address it here so it might help other writers:

Dear Mr. Clegg,

Between email, my website, and my blog, I am exhausted or else depleted by the time I sit down to try and write at night. How do you do it?

* * * * *

My short answer is: 

Ignore everything that takes you off your path and diverts your energy to projects that won't make you happy in the long run. 

Long answer:

Once, years ago, I was given a massage by an excellent masseuse from Sweden. She was in her late 60s, and I didn't think she'd be strong enough in terms of her technique. Well, it was the toughest massage I've ever endured -- and a great one. I asked her if she didn't get exhausted after each massage (she had at least three clients in succession before me.)

She told me that she gets more from doing it than the client gets from it. "I work on my strength training," she said. "Then I'm stronger after every massage. But if I didn't get more out of it in giving a massage, then I would stop doing it."

I thought about this, and began to think about writing this way. The more I write, the stronger the writing muscle gets. Sure, I get tired and feel played out at times, but if I keep getting back and working on character, plot, story, setting, and the research and imagination involved -- my sense of writing and my abilities grow stronger.

Having said that...

Basically, I don't do anything that makes me feel so depleted that I can't write. If blogging wasn't fun and light for me, I wouldn't do it -- and there are certain times of the year when I don't blog at all. Six months can go by without an entry.

I don't check email a lot -- but when I need a break from writing, I take a few minutes and check what's there, after an assistant has gone through it to weed out crackpots, junk mail, etc. If I don't know how to respond to something, I just don't respond to it. If I have a quick answer, I respond the minute I read the email. Now and then I post a note on one message board online -- just one.

Bottom line: write what makes you happy, and cut out everything that doesn't. If you're not gaining strength and stamina from the work you're doing, find other work.

I hire web designers, video-makers, video distributors, publicists, etc., when I need to -- life is too short to spend on what doesn't bring in the most happiness and sense of fulfillment for me with regards to work.

Hope this helps -

Best,
Douglas Clegg
http://www.DouglasClegg.com