Writers on Writing: Daniel Abraham (a.k.a. James SA Corey and MLN Hanover)
I'm epic fantasy author Daniel Abraham, urban fantasy author MLN Hanover, and the James half of space opera author James SA Corey. I've also recently been the comic book script writer for the graphic novel adaptations of Game of Thrones, and a writer and producer on Syfy's new show The Expanse.
Okay, let’s start with the basics. How often do you write?
It varies a lot. I aspire to having a regular schedule, but in practice, it's a little more chaotic. I write probably four or five days a week. More when I'm running tight on a deadline.
Do you try to write a certain number of words each day, for a certain number of hours, or does none of that matter?
I have a weird focus on wordcount. On a bad day, I can do maybe 750-800 words. On a good day, I can do 2,000. On a shitty day, I can do 6,000.
Tell us about your writing tools. What do you do most of your writing with? And do you use different tools at different stages of the process?
First stage outlining, I usually do on paper -- legal pads or lab notebooks. After that, I switch over to Scrivener if I'm working on a solo project or Word if I'm doing a collaboration. The other half of James SA Corey doesn't have a Mac, so Scrivener, despite its many virtues, wasn't something he picked up. Then the final read-through and layout pass, I do in Word.
Any favorite tools you want to recommend to other writers?
The best tool I've got for writing is walking shoes. The thing that's helped me through technical issues most regularly is stepping back from the page and walking around the block a few times. Not with earphones or anything like that. The point is to give your head some time to just hang out with the problem.
Let’s talk about prep and what work you do on a project before you start writing. Do you take a lot of notes and develop a detailed outline, do you just dive right in, or is it somewhere in between?
I do a lot of provisional, tentative outlining. Working through the story as I expect it to be, putting scenes in order, making notes of the things I expect to flow gracefully one into the next. But I'm never completely right, and that's fine. I'll make an outline and use it until it stops being right, then throw it out and make another outline that's closer.
What about the ending. Do you know what it is (or at least what it might be) before you start, or do you figure it out as you go along?
I almost always know the ending when I start. A couple times I've been wrong, but that's not like the outlines. Outlines are always iffy. Endings are usually solid.
Once you get started, how long does it usually take you to complete a first draft?
Depends on the length of the project and the consequences of biffing my deadline.
How close is that first draft to being final? Is it basically there or will you do a lot of revising?
Usually it's close, but it's almost never been all the way there. Revisions are actually something I really enjoy, partly because you can have such a huge effect on how a story reads with relatively small changes to the text. Watching how cutting a few paragraphs in chapter three affects how chapter 20 comes out is part of the fun.
Back to logistics. Where do you do most of your writing? Do you ever change that up?
I've got a treadmill desk, a sitting desk, and a couch. I tend to use whichever one's quietest at the moment.
How do you avoid distractions like the Internet or getting sidetracked by new ideas?
I've used a program called Freedom to block internet connectivity, and while it's been great for keeping me offline, it's kind of a pain when I then need to look something up. I've started just shutting off the wireless on my laptop. The extra step of having to turn it on has been enough to stop most of the reflexive checking for mail and news that otherwise eats up my time.
If you find yourself stuck on project, what do you do?
Take a walk or work on a different project. Or read. Every now and then, I have to go see how other writers have dealt with issues of structure and balance, just to remind myself how many approaches there are, and how many of those can succeed.
Any rituals, gimmicks or cheesy self-help techniques that help you write?
Oh my yes. I have a perverse fixation on word count. Part of what lets me go quickly is having the additional obstacle of a particular length I'm shooting for. So, for instance, almost all of my chapters are 3,000 words long, plus or minus a couple hundred words. When I start a book or a story, I can tell you within a couple thousand words how long the first draft is going to be. It's an axiom. I don't understand how people just head into a story and let it figure out its own dimensions. It's like starting a painting without knowing what size canvas you're on. That's just weird.
Finally, what’s the one thing you wish someone had told you about the realities of writing before you started out?
Writing is like chess, in that you have perfect control of it. There's no chance involved. Publishing is like poker. You can learn how to play and bend your odds one way or the other, but luck is always going to be a huge factor. Don't take the failures personally, just get another chip on the board.
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