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[chomp]

I went to Ikea this weekend and had to wait to pick up an item, so I sat down. As I was waiting, I saw someone--a kid, most likely--had written this on the side of the waiting area with one of the free pencils:

I hate my brother and Ikea.

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Hey, I can't seem to get your address, so these are the answers to the questions the student had. I hope you don't mind me posting them here. At any rate, here they are:

QUESTIONS FOR THE WRITER:

What do you do when you reread what you’ve written and
you don’t like it except for the original theme, but
you don’t want to rewrite it?

You put it away for a while. Sometimes after a few weeks or months, you can look at something you wrote and see just a few things you need to change and change those. Sometimes you see more flaws than before, and have to scrap it, but you can still use the ideas in another story.

Revising old drafts is an important skill to have as a writer. Nothing ever comes out perfect, and all the novels you've read are often fourth or fifth drafts. It was also the hardest thing for me to learn to do. I just had this idea that things should come out perfect the first time through, and if it didn't, I should scrap it and start on something else, as I've obviously failed at what I set out to do.

How does you deal with writers block?

Everyone deals with it differently. It's likely a brain function: some writers get it badly, others can't even imagine it: they just set out to write something and write it. The only thing that's worked for me is to set aside time to write, and not beat myself up if I can't write, or don't write what I supposed to. Just being in the habit of writing all the time can draw you out of block...sometimes. Other times, I just have to suffer through it. I wish I could be more helpful in that respect.

Could you possibly give me some pointers for writing a fiction novel?

What works best for me is to get a basic outline, and be unafraid to change it as things suit. You should try out as many different ways to write, until you find the one that works for you, though. Elmore Leonard often spends months researching all the details, then just sits down and writes, having no idea how it ends. Other writers plot out the details, so they have a structure or a framework: that way they can sit down and write a scene, and not feel the next time that they don't know what happens next.

The best thing to do is steel yourself with the knowledge that while you think you know how it works out, a lot will change when writing. Characters do unusual things. Sometimes you don't write one scene the way you wanted, or it just seems flat -- that's okay. Just keep writing. The important thing is to finish it.

I know it’s not a lot of questions, and I’m not taking
advantage of this opportunity, but I can’t think of
any other questions, and these are the main things
that I’m worried about right now.

I don't mind. I wish I could be more helpful. The biggest trick in writing is to treat it like a skill. There's a lot of people out there that think they have a book in them, but never do anything about it. It sets up this concept that most people have about writing that it's something we all have inherently. if they ever really worked at it, they could be the next Vonnegut. The fact that you don't sets you above a lot of people. I bought into it for a long time, and when I started thinking of writing like pottery, it helped me. We all want to make these smooth, beautiful pots, but we end up having to make a lot of lumpy ashtrays at first. But no moment writing is wasted! And it's all much more rewarding in the end.