Not-so-super stitions by Eric Beetner

 Since we just wrapped "spooky season," do you subscribe to any writing superstitions? Any mythical or spiritual practices that help your process?

Superstitions are loosely defined, I've found. Do I have habits? Sure. Preferred processes? Yes, indeed. Nothing I'd call a superstition, though.

I've written all of my books at the same desk. Does that mean I would suddenly freeze up if I moved to a different space? Doubtful (not that I'm going to test the spiritual waters) I write with the same word processing program, the same font, the same spacing. All of this could be considered a superstition, if I were so inclined. As a Atheist and someone not comfortable with any of the woo-woo stuff surrounding things like astrology, religion, good or bad luck, I don't see any of it as 100% crucial to my process.

I have mixed things up now and then. When writing a particularly dark screenplay once, I broke my general habit of writing in silence and I wrote to a very dark soundtrack of instrumental music. Did it truly change how the project came out? Not sure.

I intentionally change up small things about books from time to time simply to stop myself from being repetitive. There is an entire book where I never used speech tags. No he said or she said. Not a one. Still odd to me that nobody has ever seemed to notice they were missing. At least nobody mentioned it, ever. Small tricks like that, or even just moving from first to third person, mixes up the rhythm of the writing so the next book doesn't sound exactly like the last book.

On the flip side of that is books in a series where I WANT them to sound and read similar, means keeping the same set of parameters when I write. This doesn't mean burning the same scented candle, though.

Mostly I rely on my past writing, my experience in putting down hundreds of thousands of words. I believe in practicing my craft more than any secret mojo to make the words flow. I do find that new writers are very often looking for a secret or a trick to making the work easier. If you find something that gives you that placebo effect and you call it superstition, then by all means, keep doing it.

I will say this, any writing session is made discernibly better when one of my dogs sits with me. I was worried when my dog Maybel passed away after my fifth novel. I worried that she was my secret talisman, my muse with a smooth red coat. It turned out, she was merely a faithful companion who put me at ease and never complained when I focused on the keyboard for hours instead of scratching her ears. She was the closest I ever came to a superstition. In the end, she was just a good girl.