Zero to One Column by Chuck Heintzelman

This month I’m going to analyze what I believe to be one of the keys to effective writing: Focus.

Sometimes I feel like a chicken with A.D.D., running back and forth across the yard, madly pecking at the ground, forever distracted by the ten other things needing a good pecking. It’s maddening. Yet while in the midst of this activity I feel productive, a master mutlitasker efficiently managing all sorts of tasks. Afterwards, I usually regret not accomplishing more.

Apparently multitasking may not be as efficient as we think. Googling “is multitasking efficient” fetches a surprising number of articles.

Can we really multitask? Is it possible to aim for two targets at the same time? Nope. Even computers operate by processing one thing at a time, switching rapidly between tasks to give the illusion of multitasking. You could argue that modern computers have multiple CPUs capable of true multitasking, but do we have multiple brains? Not unless you consider the subconscious as a separate CPU, but I believe the subconscious is running an entirely different operating system. One without an easy user interface. Mine’s Windows 3.1, but I digress.

There are three different categories of focus important to a writer:

1. Prose Focus – This is the focus at the sentence and paragraph level, the actual ideas conveyed by your prose.
2. Focus In The Moment – In other words, when you are writing your mental focus is only on writing.
3. High Level Focus – The big picture of what you’re doing or how you’re doing it.

Prose Focus

I have a tendency to ramble, going off in unrelated tangents, focusing on details not germane to the topic at hand. The result is muddled and unclear writing. When this occurs I whip out my bottle of Prose Focus (patent pending), give my writing a few squirts, and voila!–much cleaner.

Focus within the sentence and paragraph is important. This theorem rests on the following assumptions:

• Effective writing is clear. It is easy to follow by the reader.
• Clarity in writing is achieved through focus.

Clarity in writing  has two aspects:

1. Quantity – Too many ideas or propositions at once muddy the waters.
2. Sharpness – Vague writing (without vivid, specific details) leaves the reader unsatisfied.

Since clarity of prose is a constant struggle for me, I have no “words of wisdom” to share. But I can illustrate where I’ve been and what I’m doing at the moment.

My writing style has been a pendulum, swinging from one extreme to another. I began with unfocused and rambling prose. So I broke out Strunk and White and started adhering religiously to the “Omit Needless Words” dictum. I ended up with short sentences and a choppy rhythm. They may have been clearer, but in my unskilled hands they ended up lifeless, boring, and without depth.

Uggh. The pendulum kept swinging back and forth. Each swing bringing me closer to where I am today. (Which is more skilled, but still learning the craft.)

Here is my simple, two step formula for achieving focus within the sentence and paragraph when writing fiction:

1. Mercilessly rip out tangents that don’t add to character or plot or atmosphere. In other words, keep focused on what’s important and eliminate the superfluous.
2. Keep the basic sentence structure simple, but tack on as many free modifiers as you want, honing in on the details, being wary that too many will lose focus.

Here’s an example of how I do #2. Let’s start with the basic sentence “The boy trudged home.” I’d pepper it with free modifiers to become something like:

“Barely able to keep his eyes open, the boy trudged home, dragging his left foot with each step, leaving a broken trail in the dust road behind him.”

This example isn’t going to win any awards, but I like it. And this is where I am today (until that dang pendulum swings again).

Focus in the Moment

Issac Asimov once said “Nothing interferes with my concentration. You could put an orgy in my office and I wouldn’t look up. Well, maybe once.” Although Asimov didn’t live in the day of Facebook and Email, I don’t believe it would’ve been a distraction for him.

While writing, only focus on one thing: Writing.

Yeah, easier said than done.

Eliminating distractions is the key. While writing, don’t search for anything on the internet. In fact, unplug from the net. I have an old computer devoted exclusively to writing. It’s running Linux without X-Windows. I named this computer “Lumpy” (don’t ask).

Even using Lumpy I still catch myself spinning in my office chair, hitting the keyboard of my main computer, and googling for some obscure fact I want to immediately use. It’s a constant battle to stay focused on the writing while I’m writing. But since I started using Lumpy, my productivity has sky-rocketed.

One trick I’ve heard of is to use the letters “tk” as a tag in your writing. These letters seldom come up, so when you’re writing but can’t remember a fact, or want to leave yourself a note to deal with later, type a “tk” followed by a short reminder and then move on.

I don’t use this technique myself, I use square brackets. For example: Let’s say I need to reference the name of Zimbabwe’s currency but don’t know what it’s called, I’ll just write [name of Zimbabwe's currency] where I need it and move on. Later, in the second draft I’ll search for all the [‘s in my text.

High Level Focus

Plotting, career building, character arcs, story structure, world building, pacing, writing education, revision, and series building are just a few of the higher level areas of writing. I categorize everything about writing, excluding the act itself, or the details of grammar and rhetoric, as high level activities. I don’t have the time or experience to touch on all of these, but I can share a couple ways that I’ve lost “high level focus.”

Twenty-six books about writing are crammed into the bookshelf next to my desk (I just counted). Most have been read cover-to-cover, some several times. The reason I mention this is that these books represent a lack of focus for me. Don’t misunderstand, I value continuing education and believe a writer is never finished learning. And I’ll continue to pick up books about writing in the future. The trap, at least for me, was to spend too much time reading about how to write instead of actually writing.

Having the tendency to go off in tangents can happen at a higher level also. It’s another way to lose high level focus. Here’s the “failure pattern” I’ve repeated more times than I’d like to admit.

1. Start. I have a work-in-progress … an exciting story sure to delight millions that are eager to read it.
2. Buy a new book on writing. Lo and behold, I’ve found “the secret” and only if I would have … (structured things differently, used a different process, asked different questions, and so forth) then my work-in-progress would be even better.
3. Start Over. Either start over on my work-in-progress or start a new project. Sure, those millions of readers may get a bit impatient waiting, but since this time I’m doing things “the right way,” it will be totally worth it to them.

It’s a pretty insidious pattern. Replace the second step with “Get a new piece of writing software”, and it’s the same pattern again. Speaking of writing software, I have used Microsoft Word, Wordperfect, Wordstar, Open Office, Dramatica, AbiWord, New Novelist, Writer’s Cafe, yWriter, Power Structure, Power Writer, Write It Now, and I’m sure several other applications that are escaping me at the moment. All in the quest of finding the easiest way to write. All the while losing focus on what’s important. I know this particular failure pattern too well.

The first level of focus was on the words themselves … Prose Focus. The second level, Focus in the Moment, dealt with the act itself. Everything else, this High Level Focus, is of and on the writer himself. Interesting, huh?

Alexander Graham Bell said “Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought into focus.”