F. P. Dorchak

Speculative Fiction (New Weird) Author

All Writing Helps All Writing

Surrendering To The Role

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It’s funny how things in life work.

If we’re observant.

I don’t know how many of you really notice all the “coincidences” and synchronicities that abound out there, but I do my best to remain open to them…and I notice a lot of them in my life, so they have to exist in others’ lives. In fact, I believe they exist in all our lives.

After posting my Short-Lived Modeling post, one of my brothers tweeted a snippet from an interview with Bill Duke—which I added to the comments of my modeling post. It totally applies to the acting class I described there…but the more I thought about it, it also applies to writing.

Sorry about repeating some of the discussion from previous posts, but in my current WIP I’ve written about how I was initially embarrassed about the work, because I had to write graphic sex scenes. “Had to,” mind you. That I had gotten over that and was finally really “taking ownership” of the work in all of its psychic entirety. And this is true…but while going back over it (again and again…), I’d begun to question whether or not I’d truly surrendered fully to the story itself.

You see, in my life, even in my way of thinking—to which only I am truly privy to the actual images and thoughts I think—I never use certain words and rarely use others (you’re gonna see the “C” word, the “P” word, et cetera and some “very uncomfortable scenes”…)…yet in this WIP I have to. Or should, but in one or two instances actually found myself “pulling their punches,” goddammit.

And that bugged me!

Because I feel that this novel will severely kick ass, and if I lessen anything about it, I’ve cheated the story.

As I reworked this stuff, I kept thinking to myself, WWSK do?

WWSK?

What Would Stephen King Do.

He’d go there, I told myself. He would. But he would do it so it would fit the story, in that it wouldn’t seem like just some foul-mouthed punk trying get people’s “rocks off.”

So there are scenes, there are words that will offend the easily offended in this novel. There are scenes and words that will certainly raise the eyebrows of those who know me…because, yes, I’m “going there.” And I’m trying my damnedest to do it in the “best fit” for the story.

Because, in the end, it is all about the story.

I have to fully surrender to the story.

I have to “go there” and shock and anger and enlighten and entertain, and do what this story needs me to do without short-changing it a single shilling. I cannot cheat the story, cannot cheat the characters. I began this book in 1997 and it’s been on my mind ever since.

Should I publish it?

Ever?

What will people think about me if I publish it?

I just can’t care about that last one, the story is that important. But, also because of one other thought that continually echoes in my head, largely because of my wife:

How will you feel if you don’t publish it?

To be truthful, I don’t know that she ever voiced these particular words…but she uses similar wording for similar situations…

Do you really want to spend a portion of your life to get this [INSERT ITEM]?

Do you really want to spend a portion of your life doing this [INSERT ITEM]?

How will you feel if you don‘t do it?

So, now, I’m making up words my wife might say!

But, for the past 16 years these thoughts have whirled about in my head like an angry wasp. And nearly everyone I’ve bounced this stuff off of all say the same thing: if I feel so strongly about the story, I should do it.

Of course, I knew this.

But, you see, I was partially worried about how I would be perceived, much like Vladimir Nabokov agonized over, when he published Lolita. Now, my novel is nothing even close to what Mr. Nabokov wrote about, but I found the synchronicity of my discovery about his anguish too “coincidental” to ignore (I only found out about this last year, when I was “agonizing over” whether I should or shouldn’t publish this WIP).

And another thing:  when I made the decision way back in 1997 to write this novel, I considered this (also as I’ve previously stated elsewhere): I wanted to write something that would stretch my abilities as a writer. I’d written all kinds of paranormal and supernatural material. Graphic violence, that kind of thing, yeah, I “went there” in a pretty gnarly story or two that will most likely never see the light of day…but I’d never written about sex, and I thought, gee, sex is such a beautiful thing, in and of itself, why are we all so uptight about talking about it, reading it, et cetera? And I don’t mean the crass and degrading porno versions of it, but the loving, caring organic beauty of the act between people?

Not that I knew exactly what I’d be writing about…because, I didn’t, truly didn’t know what I was going to write about (I don’t outline)…but when I came up with the log line for what I was about to attempt to write, I knew there had to be some sex scenes involved. And, once I became engrossed in the actual writing, well, it became evident pretty fast that yeah, I really couldn’t avoid “going there” in getting this story out.

So, the thirty-eight-year-old me decided, I needed to write this book, to get past the embarrassment of writing about something that (at the time) did, indeed, embarrass me. To be the kind of writer I wanted to be, the kind that writes from the heart, the gut—that surrenders to the role—I had to be able to “go there” as stories demand.

I had to be able to get the job done.

Do my job.

And, I figured, if I could write graphic sex scenes…then I could write about anything!

I didn’t and don’t want to be known as a writer of erotic fiction (I do have four other novels out there)…though there is nothing inherently wrong with writing erotica (the genre genuinely doesn’t bother me), that is just not my goal. What I would like to be known for (in so far as all this goes) is that I’m good writer. I get the job done. I entertain, I make people think. Get them to see the other side to Life and the things people do or don’t do. That my readers get lost in the stories and forget they’re reading.

That they can see themselves or others they know in my work.

That is my endgame, that is whey I’m “going there” in my WIP, why I will (hopefully!) make readers cringe, be a little uncomfortable, get angry, cry, or whatever when they read this novel (I get all these ways writing this WIP, so if I do, surely others will, as well!)—which, again, I know I’ve repeated myself some in this post, this is the most mainstream effort of mine to date. I simply have to surrender to the role of this story—

There’s just no other way.

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Unearthing the Bones: The Order of My Work

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I Have Skeletons To Unearth. By American Museum of Natural History (http://adsny.com/nyindian/nyindianintro.html) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
Yes, I Know Where the Bodies Are. By American Museum of Natural History (http://adsny.com/nyindian/nyindianintro.html) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
I’ve been writing since I was six years old. That’s a long time, considering I’m in my early fifties. Admittedly, between the age of six and 26 that was sporadic, but in 1987, I got serious and began writing every day. I began (or should say continued) with short stories. Short stories and prose poems were where I began. I’ve lost track of how many I’ve written (I know it’s over a hundred, perhaps more toward 200?, is about all I remember), but only have a handful actually published. Someday, my plan is, is to published the better of those into a collection.

As I began indie publishing my novels, I thought it might be interesting to list out the order of the books, as I wrote them. So, that is what I’ve done here. I have also included in this list those novels I have not (and will not, as the case may be) publish, just to show the order of their creation, including my age when I began them. A couple of titles I will not give, since they are still works-in-progress that may or may not be actually released, or are novels I may yet return to, with titles that are more unique than what I already see out there. I thought, that might be an interesting point of view. How old was I when wrote Sleepwalkers? ERO? Was I your current age? What kinds of thoughts do you think of, now, at your age…that I might also  have been thinking? Do my works portray an expected state of mind, in my progression through time and aging?

Note: only the hyperlinked novels are released. The rest are unpublished.

So, here is my chronological list of novels, listing the years it took to write them. 1993 was a banner year for me.

Updated June 16th, 2015: Voice had been updated, #7, below. It is to be published July/August 2015.

  1. Satan’s Stairs, 1987 – 1990 (26)
  2. Village Idiot, 1990 – 1993 (took 2nd in a 1993 writer’s conference contest; 29)
  3. (Title hidden), 1993 (first draft only; 32)
  4. Second Coming, 1993 (incomplete first draft; 32)
  5. Reunion, 1993 -1996 (32)
  6. Sleepwalkers, 1993 – 1997; 2001 (32)
  7. Voice, 1997 – 1999; 2013 (36)
  8. Psychic, 1994; 2000 -2005; 2014 (33)
  9. The Uninvited, 2001 – 2004; 2013 (40)
  10. ERO, 2006 – 2008; 2013 (45)
  11. (Title hidden), 2011 (incomplete first draft; 50)
  12. (Title hidden), 2012 (first draft; possible series; 51)

Yes, I was—and continue to—write a fair amount. I take my writing seriously, and do try to write every day, but don’t beat myself up about it if I miss a day or so. I work a full-time job, so all this is part-time effort. A couple hours a day, and some (or not) on weekends. I’m less anal about the weekends the older I get. I do need some time off, you know.

Thanks to all of you who follow my social media and who’ve read any of my work. I do appreciate your time and effort spent on my words. I love playing with them. Thank you for sharing my fun!

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All Writing Helps All Writing

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Writing
Don’t Write Yourself Off! Write, My Friends, WRITE! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

All Writing Helps All Writing

I use this in my e-mail signature block, but I also recently used it in response to a discussion on fellow blogger/writer/ex LA book reviewer Joe Ponepinto’s blog, The Saturday Morning Post. However, in my discussion of its meaning, I didn’t do a really great job in explaining it’s origin. I’d also thought I’d already written up something on it, but didn’t find it in my search of this (my) blog site. So, thought I’d go in to better depth here.

When I say this trite little phrase, though I do mean some of the obvious conclusions that many would take issue with, I actually meant on a Zen level. There is an energy to all things, and writing is no exception. But, let’s take Life as an example. Everyone’s life has an energy to it. The driving Life Force behind all of life and the Universe. It’s that energy that powers Life, to beat that dead horse. But it’s up to each individual to wield that energy in their own, unique way. Each of us has a personality, a specific feel to it each and every individual of us out there. So, it’s up to us to wield that energy, to live our lives, as we do…but behind it all is that driving Life Force.

This is what I mean by All Writing Helps All Writing, and my response to Joe’s post that behind all the different types of writing out there, the one thing all those different types of writing has, is (anyone?)…writing.

Writing, the high concept definition unapplied to technical, long or short form, et cetera, is its own energy, and it is up to the writer to apply that energy, that driving Writing Force. Sure, there are obvious structural, mechanical, and ideological considerations to consider between the different versions of writing, but it’s all still writing, and my point was to use the driving Writing Force to our advantage by understanding this “fine line” definition concept. Just because you’re doing tech writing doesn’t mean all that time tech writing cannot still be “incorporated,” “assimilated,” or any other “-ed” word into your other forms of writing, say, as Joe did, in his novel writing. Yes, you are structuring and morphing your novel writing in a different way than straightforward tech writing, but it is the Writing itself (capital “W”) that I’m asking writers to tap into. To tap into the very essence of Writing itself, which is the energy of the scalar quantity, to the sitting down and putting fingers to keyboards, pens and pencils to paper. To engaging the mind and body into the employment of Writing in and of itself, the version of writing to be damned. It doesn’t matter, at this level, what type of writing you’re doing, it only matters (again, at this level of discussion) that you are writing…that you are engaging your being, your soul, into the very act of expression, and what a form of expression it is! You are taking a mental act and transcribing it into physical expression! Just like with any other activity that starts in the mind and finds its way into physical expression (art, construction, etc). So, in doing this, you are allowing the Act of Writing to become second nature to you…able to wield the power and mastery of Writing in all its forms in whatever form of Writing you chose to employ.

Now, you can also use the various techniques of each form/version of writing to other forms, also in my humble opinion, if you allow yourself to do so, and by this I do mean using tech writing skills in your novel writing.

To just pick a couple tech writing skills, for example, consider these: usually in business settings, tech writers are not only asked to create straightforward descriptions, they are also asked to create them yesterday, using the least amount of words, and not usually given ample amounts of time to polish said words (I find many do not give tech writers—the words—the credit they deserve; all you have to do to see what I mean is to [try to] read your manual on how to use your DVR, toaster, or what-have-you). So what I’m saying here, is to transfer those skills to all of your other writing: learn to write more efficiently! To write faster, but not so fast as to suffer the outcome. If you write faster, more efficiently, you can therefore write more, your output increases, as does (as is the intent) your overall ability. Since one has to always pick and choose their words wisely, any writing should and will improve this capability. Does it really matter what words you’re picking, whether in straightforward tech descriptions, or in creating a piece that gets a novel to think and consider the world around them? No, not at this level of discussion…all that matters is that the writer is doing this. That this particular capability is being exercised.

It’s like any repetitive exercise that is done for sports. Doing weights strengthens the body so that when the body is employed in running or throwing, or whatever, the basis of weight training is realized through the creation of the conditioned body (and mind—weight training and everything else I can think of are always mind/body) and the employed act becomes ingrained and second nature.

I hope this helps better explain my position.

All Writing Helps All Writing.

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