Chris Baty Quotes & Sayings

Rereading parts of your novel while writing is like doubling back at rerunning parts of a marathon midrace. — Chris Baty

fiction writing can be a blast when you set aside debilitating notions of perfection and just dive headlong into the creative process. — Chris Baty

A novel rough draft is like bread dough; you need to beat the crap out of it for it to rise. — Chris Baty

I tend to celebrate crossing over with a meditative ceremony where I print the book out and neatly stack its pages on the floor. When everything has been properly laid out, I take a few steps back from the work, close my eyes, and offer up my thanks to the writing powers for another bountiful harvest. At which point, I get a running start and dive headlong into my word-pile, rolling around and snorting like a pig. And then I fall asleep for three days. How you celebrate is up to you. But — Chris Baty

The roar of adrenaline drowned out the self-critical voices that tend to make creative play such work for adults. — Chris Baty

If you have a million things to do, adding item number 1,000,001 is not such a big deal. When, on the other hand, you have nothing to do, getting out of bed and washing yourself before 2:00 P.M. feels like too much work to even contemplate. — Chris Baty

The biggest thing separating people from their artistic ambitions is not a lack of talent. It's the lack of a deadline. Give someone an enormous task, a supportive community, and a friendly-yet-firm due date, and miracles will happen. — Chris Baty

Don't be offended if you encounter some good-natured ribbing; the idea of
writing a novel in a month deserves to be laughed at. — Chris Baty

Despite what you may have learned last month, sustained writing is best accomplished as part of a balanced lifestyle, one that includes things like grocery shopping and speaking in complete sentences with your significant other. No — Chris Baty

A deadline is, simply put, optimism in its most kick-ass form. It's a potent force that, when wielded with respect, will level any obstacle in its path. This is especially true when it comes to creative pursuits. — Chris Baty

Just think of the acclaim! The feelings of satisfaction! The vastly increased dating opportunities! — Chris Baty

There's a book in you that only you can write. — Chris Baty

There's an old folk saying that goes: whenever you delete a sentence from your NaNoWriMo novel, a NaNoWriMo angel loses its wings and plummets, screaming, to the ground. Where it will likely require medical attention. — Chris Baty

My only explanation for our cheeky ambition is this: Being surrounded by pet-supply e-tailors worth more than IBM has a way of getting your sense of what's possible all out of whack. The old millennium was dying; a better one was on its way. We were in our mid-twenties, and we had no idea what we were doing. But we knew we loved books. And so we set out to write them. — Chris Baty

Instead, we spent our downtime prodding at lifeless characters and wondering how long a human body could subsist on a diet of ramen and Coke before liver function ceased entirely. — Chris Baty

here's the thing: However attractive the idea of a writer's retreat may sound, having all day to poke around on a novel actually hampers productivity. — Chris Baty

In the context of novel writing, this means you should lower the bar from "best-seller" to "would not make someone vomit." Exuberant imperfection encourages you to write uncritically, to experiment, to break your time-honored rules of writing just to see what happens. In a first draft, nothing is permanent, and everything is fixable. So stay loose and flexible, and keep your expectations very, very low. — Chris Baty

The quickest, easiest way to produce something beautiful and lasting is to risk making something horribly crappy. — Chris Baty

If you spend enough time with your characters, plot simply happens. — Chris Baty

We're slammed at work and busy at home. Throw in an occasional outing with friends or significant others, and we're ready for bed at 10:00 PM every night. Really ready for bed. There's barely enough time in a day to cover all our mandatory obligations, so optional activities like novel writing, journaling, painting or playing music
things that feel great but no one will ever take us to task for shirking
are invariably left for another day.
Which is how most of us become 'one day' novelists. As in, 'One day, I'd really like to write a novel.' The problem is that that day never seems to come, and so we're stuck. — Chris Baty

When your novel first peeks its head into the world, it will look pretty much like every newborn: blotchy, hairless, and utterly confused. — Chris Baty

You are doing this because you are fantastic and brave and curious. And, yes, you are probably a little crazy. And this is a good thing. — Chris Baty

Today's tangents will become tomorrow's arcs, and unforeseen connections will tie up your loose ends in a way that will make you want to slap your head and holler at your accidental brilliance. — Chris Baty

The world is a lot more fun when you approach it with an exuberant imperfection. — Chris Baty