TDH: Portfolio » Stephen King

Yes, Blogging Does Indeed Kill Fiction Writing

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:34:08 +0000

It’s not just me that realized how blogging stinted my writing, it seems. My colleague Andrew writes about how blogging killed his fiction writing, something I certainly can relate to! You might remember that I started publishing short stories from the world of Orn to get myself started writing fiction again.

It worked. I am writing fiction again, with a lot of ideas in the pipeline. Sure, I’m still struggling with the fact that other writing fills some sort of need, which makes me less hungry to jot down stories, but on the other hand, I’m spending more time thinking about what fiction I want to write with the time at hand.

Welcome to reality, no one, not even Stephen King, can write all the time. I felt really sad when I reached that conclusion…

Anyway, do chip in and tell Andrew how blogging is affecting your writing in the comments!

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Relaxing Gameplay

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:48:11 +0000

I’ve learned something these last two weeks, time spent resting and trying to keep up with the essentials in work and life. Being ill can hit you hard, and although I didn’t have to go to the hospital or anything, it sure can be a bit more than a nuisance nonetheless.

But I’ve learned something, and that’s good. Something to help me relax and unwind, when my mind doesn’t want to, and books won’t do it for me.

Stephen King, whose On Writing I’ve mentioned before, said that you shouldn’t have any distractions in your writing area. In fact, I’d say that software like WriteRoom and DarkRoom rely on people like you and me being too undisciplined to stay focused on our writing, rather we’re checking our e-mails, feedreaders, and watch people get hurt on YouTube. He’s right, of course, but what’s funny is that he mentions videogames as something that shouldn’t be in your study, or wherever you write.

Well, I’ve learned that I now can play videogames to both relax and unwind. It’s almost meditative, which is a true eye-opener to me.

Maybe I’m slow, but leisure gaming have been something I’ve been torn about for a long time. In 1998 I started to review games for a living, and I did that up until Spring 2007, when I sold my sites – videogame sites which I ran, edited, and ruled. It might be hard to grasp, but reviewing games is hard work. You’re constantly under pressure, especially when doing it for an online publication since being early with a review will show in your stats, and when you’re done you’ve got to move on from the game since there’s another five gathering dust on your desk.

Crazy. A crazy fun world for a kid, a games reviewer turned acknowledged games writer – but a world that was getting older each year.

So I’ve had a pretty conflicting view on games these last few years. They’re fun, but they’re also a firm reminder of work.

Learning to play videogames again feels great! It didn’t happen over night, of course, but during this time of an illness not wanting to let go, I had to do something to unwind, to stop me from feeling the pressure of things I knew I was supposed to do, but shouldn’t due to health issues.

I’d like to thank the developers of Eternal Sonata and Super Mario Galaxy. You’ve helped me relax and unwind, and you’ve returned to me that lovely state of mind where I can just turn everything off and jump into a whole different world. I’ve been doing that with books and writing for a long time, but sometimes you just need a quick fix with no need to actually perform, as in writing, or to take in techniques and that whole new language, as in reading.

Videogames are doing that for me now.

And that’s why I’m going against Stephen King on this one. Taking a 30 minute break for a few quick rounds in a game is a good thing for me.

It might be the same for you.

The cast of characters from Eternal Sonata, available on Xbox 360

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Getting back to writing fiction – for you

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 11:00:13 +0000

Ladies and gentlemen, with this post I’m pleased to announce that I’m writing fiction again.

That is largely to the credit of none other than author Stephen King, I’m sure you’ve heard of him. I don’t know the man nor belong to his horror loving fanbase. In fact, from what I’ve read by him I prefer his short stories. That makes his importance in this matter pretty fascinating, if you ask me.

And On Writing (get it from Amazon [aff], it’s worth it), the semi-biography where mr King gives his views on the craft, is what largely spurred me back to fiction. You might not know it, but I’ve written a lot over the years, starting back in the 90s with short stories and a few novel projects. Most of it belongs where it is, in a virtual drawer on a CD-ROM, but some actually made it onwards. I’ve published a few magazines over the years, worked with other editors, and of course put the internet to fair use.

I stopped writing fiction in 2002, or something like that. It wasn’t so much of a clean break as a drifting off onto other things. My writing shifted from fiction to freelance, and I’ve been doing my fair share of the latter professionally since 1998, so I guess it just escalated. And then, last year, it went to blogging big time, which in turn stilled my decreasing need to write even more. Whereas freelance writing is rewarding, it’s so focused on a single topic per piece, so while I found myself saturated by the amount of writing I’d done, my imagination still hungered.

Getting back to fiction

I’ve played with the idea of returning to fiction writing for quite some time. But, as Stephen King will tell you I’m sure, time is always your enemy in writing. And I couldn’t, or perhaps wouldn’t, take the time needed to get going. Partly due to money, the root of all evil but quite necessary to live a decent life nonetheless. As I’ve gotten older I’ve found needs I didn’t knew I had, which means spending more money. Alas, more money means less time for projects like writing.

Well guess what? Now I make enough money, and have gotten so old that I’ll kick time in the balls and just take it as I please.

There you go.

Introducing the world of Orn

And here I am, getting ready to launch OrnTales.com, a site where my fantasy world of Orn will spring to life, in short stories and more.

I’ve chosen this approach for two reasons. The first is again in compliance with mr King’s thoughts on writing, because like him I need to keep at it all the time, because the edge of my craft will be duller the longer I work on a project. That’s basically his words, and although I don’t presume to be able to say it better I will pipe in that I need to keep the engine running because I don’t know if the battery will be able to start it up again. I could server you platitudes all day, but in short, if I start at story it has to make progress in an almost crazy pace, otherwise I’ll lose interest and heart, which will – even if I finish it – deliver a lesser experience to the reader. More importantly, it will be a much more tedious writing experience for me, and I don’t like being bored.

Second, I want to use the accessibility of the internet for pushing my work out there. It’s a great way for me to move forward, again, if there is a readership eagerly waiting for me to finish the story they’re hooked on. It’s a spur to me to know that my world will stand still, literally, unless I push it onwards. Some would probably say that it could stress me into writing less thought-through pieces, but I’ll tell you that that won’t be the case. You see, although I might make changes in the editing of a story, the actual content – the storyline, characters, and setting – will be the same. I write from an idea, an impulse, a feeling, and go from there, not knowing how it will end or even what will happen next. And besides, I’ll edit my work before it’ll be published online either way. Just a lot faster.

That’s me and my writing. It might not be the way you would do it, or Stephen King for that matter, but it’s what works for me, what makes it tick.

And you know what? That’s what matters.

I hope you’ll enjoy OrnTales.com. It launches tomorrow.

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How to become a great writer in ten minutes

Thord Daniel Hedengren — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 19:51:16 +0000

There’s a lot of people out there who wants to write fiction, either as full-fledged novels or short stories, for a living. Or maybe just on their free time, but they want to get it read, get it published. Some are satisfied with putting their work on the Internet, which is fine of course, but most want their magical words put on a page, in a book, that you buy in a bookstore.

When I think about it, the same goes for most journalists. The web’s fine for starters, but most of them dream about a staff position at a print magazine… But I digress.

Do you know who Stephen King is? You know, the horror writer (well, not only horror but he’s probably most known for his nightly work) that delivers a new brick-sized bestselling monster rather frequently? I’m not a big Stephen King fan, although there’s no denying his talent. His best work is, in my opinion, his short stories but that’s another matter.

I got linked up to an article Stephen King published 1988 in a magazine called The Writer’s Handbook. Or maybe it’s a book, I don’t know for sure and actually don’t really care. Something that comes out more than ones at least, I figured as much from the article.

Anyway, the article is titled Everything you need to know about writing successfully – in ten minutes, which is a rather cocky title. The good blogger Mike Shea has published it on his site and you really should check it out if you’re an aspiring novelist, journalist or just a happy interested amateur. He has his points, good old Mr. King, and the article just takes fifteen minutes or so to read in full.

The article starts out with an anecdote which you may or may not be interested in, but glance it for the big picture’s sake. The real content, the part which tells you how to become a great writer in ten minutes (and that’s ten minutes to read, a lifetime to master, mind you) is composed of twelve good pieces of advice. It’s quite clear the advice comes from a professional, which just gives it all the more effect doesn’t it?

It feels absolutely right to post this link now, since I intend to reveal my own plans and projects over the next couple of weeks.

Happy reading!