Amanda HockingMy Writing Analogy
When I finish a book, I always expect there to be a sense of pride and accomplishment or sadness and emptiness at leaving the book and its characters behind, particularly at the end of the series. But almost every time, I feel nothing. Not like “numb” nothing, but like… just nothing. I mean, I love writing, I love the world and characters, otherwise I wouldn’t spend so much time there, but when I’m done, I’m just… done.
For me, writing is the same as having to pee really bad. Like holding-it-for-the-last-hour-of-a-really-long-car-ride bad. There is an intense urgency and immediacy when I write, like I need to get it all out this second or the world might end.
And then there is something very satisfying in the act of the writing (much the same way there is in peeing after holding it for a really long time), but then when I’m done, I don’t feel proud or sad. It’s just something that I had to do, and I did it, and now I’m moving on.
That is best analogy I have ever come up with on what writing is like for me. It’s like a biological function that I need to do in order to exist, and while I enjoy it most of the time when I’m done, when I’m done, I’m just done.
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Katie Cross says: That pee analogy won my loyalty for eons, just so you know.
I just finished a book, and someone said to me, “Wow? Did you cry?”
And I said, “No. No, I just… finished.”
It was about as climactic as finishing loading the dishwasher. All I did was finish. There was no trumpets, and I don’t think there should be. For a writer, it should be just another daily life movement.
Are you always writing or do you go through phases of it? It seems like you are done the Watersong series and are just waiting for the last 2 books to be released. Or are you still in the editing process? What are you up to these days? I know you don’t want to say anything specific but I was just curious if you were working on something new – if you are constantly writing, or if you are taking some time off and relaxing more?
I’m a fan of your books! I hope you do finish My Blood Approves someday, though I think it ended well as it is now in case you never end up going back to that world.
so this may not be relevant to the current blog contaent but my son and I was talking the other day and he asked hey mom what are they going to do the next Hollomon book and I told them I thought the last thing I read was that it was going to be picked up by a graphic novel to finish the story but I haven’t read anything else about it so we were just wondering when the next book will be published if it will be publish a story when the story will continued? Thanks so much adoring fans Bleu and Phoenix
I think you are my Tyler Durden. I love these little random things that get us deep into your head, but they always come with some anxiety as I always understand them. I can’t decide if being REALLY crazy or being unoriginal would be worse.
You took this picture of your desk covered in Red Bull cans and I had already scheduled a blog post called, “Dear 8 Ball: Do You See A LOT of Red Bull in My Future?” With a picture of my desk that looked JUST like that. I deleted it–I even made the same joke about needing a sponsorship 😉 It was really depressing AND THEN IT GOT WORSE because I was writing about me being nocturnal until I read yours. There was some serious head desking for a while there and this–this need to write thing. I understand that. It is something I would never talk about though, because I always thought it made me sound BROKEN. Like not feeling overly attached to fictional characters somehow devalued what I was doing when really I simply just have another thirteen thousand things I still want to write.
It’s like a biological function that I need to do in order to exist…
That’s how I also feel about writing. I can’t imagine not writing. I write novels, poetry, song lyrics, fan fiction…I just can’t imagine a life where I’d from one second to next knowing I’d never write again. Glad you enjoy the process Amanda and being done and satisfied isn’t a bad way to finish the process.
I can definitely see this side of it. I feel good when I complete a book, but I don’t feel like jumping up and down, or crying, either. I’m happy, but tired. Usually very tired. It can be a draining process, especially pushing to get it done.
Totally agree with your thoughts. Sometimes writing isn’t even something you enjoy, particularly when you’re writing an traumatic scene, but something you have to do.