For the first quarter of 2015, as I liked to quip, I didn't do anything but write and run – and when I was running I was writing. However, I did (rather unprecedentedly) tweet occasionally. It provided a 90-second break from work, and allowed the truly die-hard to keep up with progress updates on the new book. Taken together, I think perhaps they present a decent little window into the process, or at least the mental contortions, of novel-writing. (Some excellent embedded tunes down there, too.)
"[The novelist's] main problem, and one we share with all other earthly creatures, is what [happens] next." - adapted from Jim Harrison
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) January 16, 2015"The pro knows it's better to be in the arena getting stomped by the bull, than up in the stands or out in the parking lot." - S. Pressfield
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) January 19, 2015"The years have taught me one skill: how to be miserable. I know how to shut up and keep humping." - Steven Pressfield, _The War of Art_
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) January 20, 2015If you ever need to write an over-the-top battle scene, I commend you to http://t.co/IFLIReIj5w & at the chorus see how loud your sh%# goes.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) January 22, 2015Today's action set-piece seems to call for a certain, oh, aesthetic nihilism in its soundtrack: https://t.co/bfR7EJUnx2 (viz. the chorus :^)
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) January 26, 2015Today's featured track from the ARISEN : NEMESIS development playlist: Flyleaf, Call You Out - http://t.co/6ve9Jufpa4 - awesome!!
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) January 27, 2015Act One of ARISEN : NEMESIS is in the can. I do believe (though I'm of course in the worst position to know) I'm doing my best work - ever.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) January 30, 2015Playlist selection from today's ARISEN : NEMESIS story work session (i.e. 10k run): FF5 - Sweep The Leg: http://t.co/CVWsNTDG59 Proper 'ard.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 3, 2015Murakami says (http://t.co/7vmLVIdKgi) it's down to * talent * focus * endurance. 1 you can't do much about. Right now, focus is EVERYTHING.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 5, 2015Been planning ARISEN: NEMESIS for 2 years. Now EXECUTING: 41,902 words and rolling. Play it again: http://t.co/fF0AF4SvOf - I have, all day.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 5, 2015Mamet: "The total art of the dramatist - to make the audience want to know what's going to happen next." Today: 3,856 words of WHAT'S NEXT?!
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 6, 2015Graham Greene was a 500-word-a-day man. Stephen King, a blistering 2k. Me, today? 3,682. Muahahaha. "Real artists ship." - Steve Jobs
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 9, 2015It would hardly be an ARISEN writing day without some Hollywood Undead: http://t.co/TDvCj7Az2I As hard'n'heavy as it is apposite!
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 10, 2015Pretty nearly literally writing for my life - the Man in the Arena, "face marred by dust and sweat and blood": http://t.co/xkYThx90jn
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 11, 2015Today's OTT-action-set-piece-writing fuel: Animal Alpha - http://t.co/ErLh8UPPyb - first heard them on Død Snø soundtrack - Nazi zombies!
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 11, 2015This book looks like 131,143 words. I'm over halfway, 66,939 - according to good ole Scrivener I only need write 3577 a day to hit deadline.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 15, 2015Cool Things From My Research for today: Drone Spotting Survival Guide - http://t.co/Eg0vnu5yWR - no doubt popular in Horn of Africa lately.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 19, 2015More just-in-time research - Mike Vickers pits PKM vs. minigun vs. Toyota: https://t.co/PebptCUym2 I love my job.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 19, 20154,600 words Friday - almost another 5k day to match last week's. That's a 75k-word novel every three weeks - with weekends off!
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 21, 2015"A novel is a large, complex, fluid and difficult-to-manage undertaking." - @DonMaass (http://t.co/rnVkwbw5Gi) Yes. Quite.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 23, 2015"The pro prepares to absorb blows and to deliver them - to take a beating when he has to, and go for the throat when he can." - @SPressfield
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 23, 2015It's one of those "take a beating" days.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 23, 2015This is my 10th book in less than 3 years. I think the focus just switched from 'focus' to 'endurance' (re: http://t.co/OP6ejGZXpv ).
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 24, 2015Wrote a 2400-word chapter today that was zero gunplay, all dialogue - and dramatic as a plane crash. @DavidMamet would be pleased.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 24, 2015Act Two of ARISEN : NEMESIS is in the can. All that remains is the world-on-fire, balls-out, maximum-peril, cataclysmic climax & conclusion.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 25, 2015As with COUNTER-ASSAULT, I'm finding again the problem with writing a large, complex assault: you have to actually plan the damned thing!
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 26, 2015If anyone needs to take down a fortress, I've got a great assault plan: infil, actions-on, base of fire, TOT, terrain, maneuver, C2, RVPs…
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 26, 2015I've cracked Act Three - the usual way, on my run. Only took 10k and 36 voice notes on the MP3 player - including record-smashing 4m30s one!
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 27, 2015Today's output: 5,072 words - of NOTES! I visualized the entire Act Three epic battle on a single run. All that's left is to write it down.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) February 27, 2015One of those clockwiserly winds in Hyde Park - headwind all way round. On upside, now know how to make classically tragic ending redemptive.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) March 2, 2015That fugue state, writing pure action, raucous music pumping, no idea what's going onto the page, conscious only of the key being pressed.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) March 3, 2015Final battle logistical problem: my Mk47 gunner can't see the guard tower. Solution? Now they have a quadcopter drone. Writing superpowers.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) March 5, 2015Blasting through cataclysm that is Act 3 - not least because drive slowly failing! Like being pinned down & primary weapon starts jamming…
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) March 9, 2015If you got Third Act problems I feel bad for you, son. I got 99 problems - and being interrelated and combinatorial, seem totally insoluble.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) March 12, 2015Soundtrack for my comeback day - after getting my ass just HANDED to me by the book yesterday: Flyleaf, The Kind. http://t.co/Xf1iY9XrGV
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) March 13, 2015"This book pretty near over. All that remains now is to perform the unperformable miracle you have to always do at the end." - Hemingway
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) March 15, 2015Desperately lunging for the finish-line tape, I just did a 6,000-word Sunday. Lifetime record - and not just for Sundays…
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) March 16, 2015Act Three: 33k words & counting. Thought this story was too complex to breathe, never mind stand. I MAY PULL IT OFF. https://t.co/I5dIqf4T0d
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) March 16, 2015SF guys never leave a man behind. Big problem for me, as every time one gets killed they all want to go back. I need them to escape! Dammit!
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) March 28, 2015That moment of literal insanity near end, when I think the whole book is irretrievably broken. Blessed with trusted readers to reel me back.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) March 30, 2015Done. 137,938 words - in eleven weeks. (I do not recommend the practice.) But I think this book may be something special. We shall see!
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) March 30, 2015The nice thing about that stage where you hate the whole book and everything in with a burning passion: it makes cutting a lot easier.
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) April 2, 2015Salvation. Vengeance. Vanity.
NEMESIS
ARISEN : NEMESIS launches on April 30th. pic.twitter.com/OF1N3ta79Z
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) April 14, 2015A day early! Hope you all have as much fun with it as I did. 
Love, m http://t.co/85oxnPTBBG
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) April 29, 2015ARISEN : NEMESIS at #147 on Amazon overall, #1 in the Post-Apocalyptic & Dystopian genres. Thanks, faithful readers! pic.twitter.com/jzJg8FOX4h
— MichaelStephenFuchs (@michaelstephenf) April 30, 2015
