From an NPR story on the new book “Magicians,” which sounds pretty sweet:

The author says he used to care about being a “literary novelist,” but now all he cares about is telling a good story.

ME TOO.

Me. Freaking. Too.

I don’t want to go into a rant, because that’s too easy. It’s too easy to blame other people for my former pretentious hangups. The truth is, I lost sight of what is important to me. But now I have it in mind again, and I’m working harder than ever to achieve my goals:

  1. Tell stories that people enjoy.
  2. Positively impact the lives of young people through my writing.
  3. Earn a living off the work I love doing.

With that in mind, I have started to tweak the website (moving the writing out of the blog and onto separate pages, as well as integrating the Amazon store like I said I would linking to my Amazon Author page) which means I’m not sure a real redesign is necessary… So much for that reward. Maybe I’ll just gorge on Yagööt instead!

That is, IF I reach my goal…

Word Count – Aug 11, 2009:
7,831/50,000

That doesn’t include everything I wrote today, but it’s still a little behind where I ought to be. Then again, it’s farther than I would normally be without this challenge!

Can I write 42,000 more words in the next 20 days? We’ll find out…


7 responses to “All I care about is telling a good story”

  1. Sonja Avatar

    I also came to the conclusion that a good plot was not actually a detriment to a novel LOL. The last novel I started working on was just pure fun. One of these days, I will finish it.

    Good luck with your mission.
    .-= Recent post by Sonja: $50 photo =-.

  2. Eric Avatar

    I tend to need literary depth in a book, and also that depth of language. But a good plot is a necessity for any book, and I don’t know where people get off thinking that isn’t the case for literary fiction. In my canon, if it’s not interesting, if I’m not swept along, it’s out. Delillo’s Underworld was too threadbare for me to finish.

    That being said, I am a lit-snob, and the Magicians excerpt didn’t impress me in the least. But it is an intriguing idea.

    I’m rooting for you. And catching up (4100, started about a week ago).
    .-= Recent post by Eric: On Commas =-.

  3. Kristan Avatar

    Eric-
    Haha, it’s okay to be a lit snob if you can recognize that not everyone need be. You’ll probably hate all my books though, lol.

    Yikes! Now it’s a race… ;P

  4. Jon Avatar

    I agree! What’s the point of being literary if you can’t have fun doing it? Let the literary people have their Updikes and Pynchons and what not, let’s at least have fun writing, right?
    .-= • Recent post by Jon: The Job Search! =-.

  5. Sonja Avatar

    You are cruel! Three days and no update! What happened to “Every day this month I will blog my word count”? I am fascinated by your attempt, and you are denying me my voyeurism!
    .-= • Recent post by Sonja: Plausible deniability =-.

  6. Kristan Avatar

    Sorry! I was traveling home to Houston. I plan to update tonight. I wouldn’t want to deny voyeurism. :P