How I Practice At Being A Fiction Writer
Further thoughts on why I'm starting Fiction Notes
I hear the same advice every time I ask the question, how do I become a better writer? Here it is: Read. Write more. Practice, and you’ll get better. That’s good advice in the sense it’s true, albeit not very specific. Read more what? Write more, sure, but how?
A few weeks ago, I came across an essay by economist and writer Tyler Cowen titled How I Practice At What I Do. In it, Tyler lists the things he does to grow as a writer and thinker. It’s not even a very long list. Just twelve practices, and a few non-bulleted things Tyler doesn’t do, but probably should. The essay ends with this statement:
Recently, one of my favorite questions to bug people with has been “What is it you do to train that is comparable to a pianist practicing scales?” If you don’t know the answer to that one, maybe you are doing something wrong or not doing enough. Or maybe you are (optimally?) not very ambitious?
The question, together with the sheer counter-intuitive simplicity of Tyler's post, got me thinking.
What is it, exactly, that I do to become better at what I do? What is my equivalent of a pianist practicing their scales? Could I even come up with such a list?
It turns out that I do have a whole bunch of things I do to try and improve at writing fiction. Here's a few of them:
1. Like Tyler Cowen, I write every day. I write in the mornings, with the goal of 1000 words per day, and don't turn on my phone until I am done. It's 45 minutes on, 15 minutes off. Then another 45, followed by a thirty-minute rest and one final hour-long session. That's the routine as of right now, but it changes every few months.
2. I meditate every day, as soon as I wake up and right after taking a shower.
3. I read every day, and read a lot. I read fiction and non-fiction and take notes on both. When it comes to fiction, I mark passages, words, phrases that catch my attention for later study. I use the short-code PH (phrasing), DC (description), and ST (structure) so I can refer back on each note easily. When I'm finished with a book, I transfer all notes to a system I like to call my Fiction Encyclopedia–a weird offshoot of the Zettelkasten Method. I look at it when I'm planning a novel, or I'm stuck on a specific section, or when searching for the right phrasing to capture a particular feeling, sight, sound, action, etc.
(Some of my notes on “The Starless Sea”, by Erin Morgenstern. For those curious, I use Roam Research to store all my book notes. Also, shout out to Azlen Elza for the CSS Theme.)
Fantasy juggernaut Brandon Sanderson said in a recent live-stream that humans are not necessarily good at coming up with original ideas, but instead are spectacular remixing machines. And he is right. The best artists are just experts at stealing the best ideas from what they see, read, listen, suffer, etc.
4. Every time I sit down to write, I set an intention. What I mean by this is that I journal on exactly what I'm trying to write, right before I actually start writing it. I find it helps me sharpen my focus, while still allowing enough space for that creative wandering so necessary when crafting a scene.
5. I listen to musicals (yes, musicals.) Asides from being one of the greatest artistic inventions to ever grace the face of the earth, musicals are novel-length stories distilled into their most powerful, beat-by-beat, note-by-note form.
6. As I mentioned earlier, I stay away from my phone as much as possible. I think of the (creative) mind like a lens to focus rays of attention. And I know phones to be attention-stealing devices. So... yeah. No phone.
7. I exercise at least 3 times a week. For me, it's boxing, tennis and weight-lifting. I golf occasionally, too. This is a huge topic, which I'm not going to expand on right now. Let's just say the more I exercise, the better I write.
8. I talk about writing with fellow writers (or with anyone that can bear hearing me rant about the subject.)
I was lucky enough to attend Sarah Lawrence College, where I met a whole bunch of like-minded people. Nowadays, late-night talks over beer have turned into texts and hour-long phone conversations (I'm writing this during the Covid-19 epidemic), but it works just the same. If you don't have your own cohort of people to talk to about writing, there's a lot of places online you can go to, from forums to Facebook groups to Twitter. Or you can just subscribe to this newsletter, or hit me up on twitter. I’ll be more than happy to chat =)
9. Whenever a writer-friend says they are working on something new, I volunteer to take a look immediately.
What I've found is that when I just read fiction by people I don't know, I tend to just focus on the story. But when I read something a friend of mine has written, this forces me to pay way more attention to the prose, so I can later give them my thoughts. (All writers expect some sort of feedback, after all, be it extensive or just whether you liked the piece or hated it, even if they say they don't.)
10. I sound out how conversations might go in my head, even as they are happening, and compare and contrast where I thought the conversation was going versus where it actually went. This I can't help doing. I sometimes end up finishing other people's sentences, which is not something nice to do, especially when that person is yelling angry words at you.
11. As someone who both writes fiction and works on film, it's hard to read a book or watch a show or movie to wind down. So I force myself not to write and go out and meet friends and do interesting things (not as easy during Covid.) Rest is important. Living an interesting life is not only important but vital to good writing.
On the same note...
12. I sleep eight hours a night. Without this, everything else falls apart.
Here's a list of things I don't do–or don't do enough of–and probably should:
I don't write longhand. I've been considering this as a way to write two novels at once without the stories cramping each-other out.
I don't read enough classics or literary fiction (or widely enough.)
I don't study visual art. Or listen to enough music. I don't read poetry. These are all things I know I should do but don't.
I don't write about writing. I don't teach.
Until today, that is.
Why am I launching Fiction Notes?
In his essay Learn Like An Athlete (which prompted Tyler Cowen's How I Practice at What I Do), David Perell explores the question of what it would look like to follow LeBron's path from rookie to all-time star player on knowledge (or creative) work.
On the topic of training and practice, he writes:
Better training has brought big improvements to the quality of athletics and also chess, and many of those advances are quite recent — when is the intellectual world going to follow suit? When are you going to follow suit?
I'm starting this newsletter both as an answer to that question, and as a way of fixing the I don’t write about writing section of this very essay.
Tiago Forte summarises the point splendidly when he says that "writing is not the outcome of thinking; it is the medium in which thinking takes place." And if you don't necessarily like Tiago's approach to things, I offer the words of historian David McCullough:
Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That's why it's so hard.
I know that I've learned a whole bunch of things over the years being a writer, but do I necessarily know them well enough to be able to teach them? That's a question I'm going to try and answer for myself as I continue to write this newsletter week after week.
If you're interested in watching me try and share my thoughts on the craft of writing fiction, I invite you to subscribe. I won’t lie. This is primarily going to be a selfish exercise. The goal is for me to learn more about fiction. To add another bullet to the how I practice at being a fiction writer section of this essay. Doing it publicly is just the best way to make sure that I… well, do it. Writing is hard, guys. Making a commitment to strangers on the internet makes it a little easier.
So thanks for reading and see you next week!
Hey there! I hope you enjoyed this edition of Fiction Notes.
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