the last honest newsletter?
Hi again from your dear friend Madi,
Today, I'm just updating you on the fact that I'm slowly going insane.
But first, been thinking of naming this newsletter 'The Last Honest Newsletter'.
I mean, do you get anything else in your inbox that isn't trying to market you something? I'm not trying to build my email list. I don't have a schedule or a theme. I'm just me, striking from the darkness like lightning every now and then.
Another name idea: 'Call it Anything'. (thanks Ethan for the name)
If you have a preference, reply to this email and let me know. ❤️
Anyhow, about going insane:
I'm in it again. Back to 12 hour days. Back to write edit write edit write, wtf, is this book even getting any better? Should I go back to my day job? What was I thinking, me? Thinking I could write. What a pompous idea from a foolish little girl.
Been sucking the soul out of every writing book I can get my hands on. Here's some of the contradictory advice:
- Pick one POV (like first person, third person) and stick to it.
- Play with all three POVs, sometimes in the same paragraph. It's how real humans talk.
- Chop your prose down to the stumps. Leave no sap or syrup behind.
- Your imperfections are your magic. Let them drip all over the page.
The thing is, all four of those bullet points are correct.
So it becomes a game of when to listen to them. When to listen to you. Sometimes they're right. Sometimes you are. (oh look I'm using the second person! Take that, POV purists!)
Yesterday I didn't know what 'second person' was. Does this knowledge make me a better writer?
I can't tell if I'm actually improving. Sometimes I get so frustrated that I take myself on a walk, like a dog, and make myself recount all the writing techniques I've learned and applied this week.
Sometimes I feel like I'm going mad.
My book's intro is the weakest part. So I've re-written the first 30 pages multiple times in the last few days. I have to pit each intro against each other in Claude.ai to ascertain that they are truly improving version-over-version. (Claude assures me that they are)
I think this is what it's like to be obsessed. And still, I feel like I'm not doing enough. Should have written my first book when I was 16 like Sarah J Maas did. Now I'm just Grandma Taskett playing author in her dusty attic, next to her antique dolls and taxidermy cat collection.
Effective Worldbuilding in One Sentence
Speaking of Sarah J Maas, I just read The Assassin's Blade, and with one single sentence, she brought to life an entire region.
"Her legs strained against the sliding sand, but it was a welcome freedom after the harrowing trek through the Singing Sands, where each grain had hummed and whined and moaned."
Maas could have spent paragraphs, even a whole page, telling us about the Singing Sands, and many authors would have done so, but in just a few words, she made it feel real.
If you're not a writer, let me tell you, this is actually really hard to do.
She cut to the stump, and left no sap.
Loves yaaass,
Madi
PS: my favorite artist released a deluxe version of her album, and I AM GONNA DIE I LOVE IT SO MUCH. Check out this song and feel it out for yourself.
PPS: NAME IDEAS. You never reply. Today is the day. Do you prefer 'Call it Anything'? 'The Last Honest Newsletter?' Or should I keep it unnamed?