This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Lindsey Palmer's debut novel, Pretty in Ink, is a fun satire on the world of women's magazines. Here, she talks about why inspiration is overrated and the importance of reading when you're a writer, as well as giving us three excellent book recommendations.
Where do you find inspiration for your books?
I actually don't much believe in inspiration; rather, I believe in curiosity. Maybe a couple of times in my life I've found myself in the presence of the so-called muse, feeling true and divine inspiration that sends me scampering towards the keyboard to write. But more often, I find myself oddly obsessed by a particular issue, or group of people, or setting, or scenario – I think about it and think about it and think about it some more, to the exclusion of other things I should be thinking about (i.e., my to-do list, what I'm supposed to be teaching my students that day, why the heck I left my apartment and walked two blocks to the left), and unable to shake this particular idea or question or thought from my head. Then I know I've landed on a topic to write about. I write to explore, to work things through, and to better understand this funny, weird, nonsensical world where we live, so it makes sense that if an idea keeps plaguing my thoughts, it's one worth navigating through writing. Plus, if I'm going to devote several hundred pages to a particular subject – if I'm going to stay with it for the stretch of time it takes to plan and draft and revise and polish a novel – it has to be a subject that will sustain my interest and curiosity.
And where do these subjects of interest and curiosity come from? Anywhere. They could be from my everyday life, from snippets of conversations I overhear on the subway, from something a friend mentions to me, or even from my dreams. Once I've landed on a topic I'm interested in writing about, I'm a big believer in the daily grind over inspiration. If I waited for another visitation from the muse, I might never sit down to write again. Instead, I commit to write on a regular basis for certain blocks of time (usually the few hours until my laptop dies, since I'm always forgetting my power cord). What has worked for me in getting the job done is treating writing like a job. And just like any other job, some days feel great and other days are a struggle, but the point is showing up and maintaining the rhythm of the regular practice. I believe inspiration is overrated for a writer; passion is important, but so are commitment and hard work.Can you tell us a little about your average writing day?
On the rare and delicious day that I can devote fully to writing, I’ll usually walk ten minutes to this wonderful, light-filled spot in my neighborhood called Kos Kaffe, often accompanied by my boyfriend. We’ll hang out and drink coffee together, and then when the caffeine starts to kick in, he’ll leave me be and I’ll get to work. I’ve usually thought a bit ahead of time about what I’ll be writing, but some of it I’ll take as it comes. I’ll spend about 50 percent of my time getting words onto the page, 10 percent on thesaurus.com, 10 percent eavesdropping on fellow café dwellers’ conversations, and 30 percent messing around on the Internet and/or berating myself for messing around on the Internet. Even with my not-so-laser focus, I can still usually bang out five to ten pages of not-terrible writing in a sitting, before I start to get antsy. I’ll spend several days following this type of pattern, and then I’ll backtrack on those pages and begin tinkering.
What female writer has inspired you?
Mona Simpson is one of my favorite writers of all time. Stumbling upon Anywhere But Here was like discovering an entirely new way that language could be used. I always read Simpson’s books at half speed because every word is so elegantly chosen, and every clause is gold.
Can you give us three book recommendations?
I tore through the fabulously funny and delightful Where’s You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple; the format, a series of letters and emails and other documents, is fresh and imaginative, and the characters are sharp and intriguing.
For a super-fast, super-fun read, check out Jessica Anya Blau’s The Summer of Naked Swim Parties. I read it cover to cover over the course of one lovely, lazy beach day (which, incidentally, may or may not have left me with a killer sunburn since I was too engrossed in reading to reapply sunscreen). The 14-year-old narrator drew me in completely to her world and her outlook, transporting me back to the bittersweetness of my own teenage summers.
I haven’t yet read Emma Straub’s The Vacationers (I’m thrilled that it’s due to come out on May 29th, which is my birthday), but her previous books, Other People We Married and Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures, were both two of my favorites, and the buzz on the new one is that it’s her best yet. Straub writes with graceful wit and sensitive insight, plus she hosts readings at great bars in my neighborhood and gives away her book to the person who can invent the best literary tattoo (full disclosure: my idea of inking Little Women’s the March sisters, Mount Rushmore-style, won me the book).
What is your writing process? Do you plan first or dive in? How many drafts do you do?
I do plan, but in a very haphazard, random kind of way. If I’m considering writing about something, usually it means that something is on my mind most of the time. So without quite meaning to, I’ll be working through my ideas and developing characters and building points of conflict. I’ll often dream certain scenes that I end up putting on paper. Because of this daydream-pondering, I do usually have some idea of where I’m headed when I eventually sit down to write. But there’s never anything as formal as an outline in place to guide me. In fact, I aspire to plan even less than I do now; I’d like to rely more on instinct, since I think the best work often comes from taking the kind of risks that you can’t plan for ahead of time. All of that said, my editing process is much more deliberate and intentional. I write many drafts, editing as I go along, and also rewriting the whole thing again and again when I’m done, probably three or four times. Writing for me is about 20 percent writing and 80 percent editing and revision.
What advice can you give to our readers who want to write a novel of their own?
Read – a lot. I meet a lot of aspiring writers who, when I ask them their favorite books, admit that they don’t read much. You need strong models to write well. Filling your brain with powerful words and well-constructed sentences, with well-developed characters and vibrant scenes, gives you the tools to begin creating these elements yourself.
What are you working on at the moment?
I’m revising my next novel, tentatively titled If We Lived Here, which will be released in April 2015. It’s the story of a couple about to cohabitate for the first time, and they embark optimistically on a home hunt that quickly devolves quite disastrously.