#piniet

Y’know, there’s some irony in this, in that here I am, reviewing an episode about the writing process and dealing with deadlines and a time crunch, when my whole day has been all about deadlines and I am literally writing this review as part of a time crunch!

Okay, B-plot! Eda and Lilith go for the same prize, sibling rivalry, it turns out to be scam, they work together, mutual understanding, more emperor buildup, there’s some connection and affection, yadda yadda yadda, you know what this is all about.

All right, now onto the GOOD stuff!

Sooner or later, nearly every writer succumbs to the temptation to go all Stephen King and writer a story about being a writer, and this definitely was that. And it had me CACKLING!

So hey, let’s talking about the writing process.

See, while the standard view of the diligent writer is what was presented in the show (board of notes that looks like something out of a conspiracy theorist’s house and an old-fashioned typewriter), the fact is that it’s very different for everyone. For me, I’ve tried the note-taking thing, and it just doesn’t work for me. Every time I try to write out an outline or deliberately plan out my plot ahead of time, it...doesn’t work out right. It’s been a long time since I’ve made use of any kind of notebook, and I’ve never used a note-board.

But other people rely on them, and that’s okay! We all have our methods. Some plan things out meticulously ahead of time, others wing it as they go, others sort of split the difference.

I’m one of the latter. What I like to do is daydream a handful of big moments and sort of work out how to get there as I go along. I’ve often compared it to taking a road trip: you know all the stops you’re going to hit, you have a vague idea of how to get there, but the actual journey is an adventure, and there are just some things you can’t plan for, things you never see coming and just sort of occur to you as you’re writing. Sometimes they make the story better, sometimes it doesn’t turn out so well, but in the end it’s all part of the adventure. Neil Gaiman has often described the first draft as being where you sort of stick all your ideas together, both of the ones you’ve planned out and the ones that just sort of come to you, and in the second draft you make it look like you knew what you were doing all along.

Also, the bit about Luz and King having completely opposite ideas of what the story should be but somehow having this great chemistry even though they kept fighting? That’s also true. Sometimes two collaborators will not get along, but just something about them brings out the best in each other. The hosts of Myth Busters weren’t friends who really didn’t get along, but they still brought out the best in each other through their clashes. John Lennon and Paul McCartney fought all the time but still wrote some of the greatest songs of all time together, and yet their solo careers, while by no means bad and did have some great stuff, aren’t as popular as the stuff they wrote in the Beatles. By the same token, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett got along great but still had that same chemistry, and Good Omens is one of the most popular things either man ever wrote. Just by trying to adapt to your co-writer’s style and having them try to adapt to yours can bring out things that you never even knew you had.

Also, I was giggling about how Luz wanted to write mushy shipping fluff while King wanted violence and mayhem. Like, hello the two braincells who run my entire creative process. So that’s what it looks like.

But it’s not all fun and games. The whole bit about how King went from a nobody, to the toast of the town, only to get discarded is also true. I mean it was highly exaggerated, but it happens. Hell, it’s happened to me. IM and RD both used to get around sixteen reviews per chapter and were talked about everywhere, now they get a mere fraction of the attention. That’s part of the reason why I’ve been expanding out into original fiction, to try to regain some of that momentum. Getting forgotten sucks. Not having your hard work appreciated like it used to be sucks. I know it’s just part of the beast, but it still sucks.

Also, John De Plume looks like Markiplier cosplaying as Gustaf from The Hollow, just sayin’.

And then we get to the end, in which Luz and King are threatened by a literal time crunch. You know, we writers hate deadlines, and often are very stressed out by them. But funnily enough, as annoying and stressful as they are, you also learn to kind of love them. Like, sure, it’s giving you a headache and no fun, but you miss them when you don’t have them, and you have to admit, they do help. 

So basically if a lizard agent came up to me with one of those contract...I’d probably sign. Just sayin’.