Bloggers can’t be choosers: when to blog and when to write fiction

While blogging has yet to be included among Pulitzer Prize categories, Ken Wheaton has blogged enough to know the finer points of the form. For the writer of diverse blogs such as Adages, The Word O’ Wheaton and The Non-Dating Life, blogging falls somewhere between automatic writing and the chiseled prose of Flaubert. He told Stacked Up that he won’t bother opening WordPress unless he’s inspired by a specific act or event. But once he starts typing, he goes gangbusters.

“I think a blog can suffer if there’s too much editing,” Ken said. “There’s a flow you get from writing quickly.”

Conversely, Ken described his fiction-writing as a slow, thoughtful process that requires entering another world. And that means he doesn’t sit around waiting for thunderbolts to strike. He explained, “With fiction, if you’re the type of writer who who only writes when inspired, you’ll never be able to finish a novel, because it’s a slog.”

Given the inspiring subject, we asked Ken to post his thoughts about his Stacked Up shoot. So, without further ado, we give you Ken Wheaton:

So there it is, a Saturday morning and I’ve got a video crew coming into my massive 500-square foot apartment. Video sometimes makes me nervous. Add to that that I’m a first-time novelist and when I agreed to do the gig I had no idea the first few videos on Stacked Up would be with some heavy-hitters who are not only well-known, but live in proper homes with separate rooms and space for their stuff. Me? I’ve got books double-stacked on two shelves, some hidden in another room and monkey stuff hanging around all over the place.

And, of course, it’s Saturday morning. What was I thinking when I agreed to Saturday morning. I said I wasn’t going to drink Friday night. Swore up and down. But, well, there was a tinge of hangover there if I’m going to be completely honest. Still, the apartment was as clean as it tends to get. I showered, had some coffee, brushed my hair and teeth, put on clothes that wasn’t too casual but wasn’t too, I don’t know what I was thinking.

And that becomes readily apparent when you see the video. I’ve been told in the past not to wear stripes or busy shirts because such things dance. And I wear a checked shirt. And boy is it dancing. And while I thought I was being casual and cool, I’ve totally got a case of the mumbles. Hell, at times it looks like I’m doing a bad job of trying to pass a lie-detector test, what with the shifty eyes. After it’s all over my wife, who’d been in the bedroom listening the whole time and trying to type quietly, tells me I loosened up quite a bit toward the end, but that the first fifteen minutes were, to put it politely, stiff.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have worried so much about those drinks on Friday night. Maybe I should have had a couple that morning. Christ. Now I sound like a drunk, don’t I? –Ken

In all fairness, Ken, we agree that 10 a.m. was early. Especially on a Saturday. We belted back a couple of coffees before we got to your apartment. In retrospect, we should have asked you the monkey question earlier, because you lit up when you answered that one. But we love your episode! There are some great books in your stack. You’re a rock star! Now go autograph some books.