A visit to Don Miasek's studio. Don is the author of Pale Grey Dot
My characters never stay in one place, and as it turns out, neither do I. As much as I enjoy sitting at home with my mouse in one hand and a hot chocolate in the other, most of my typing time is spent across the Greater Toronto Area, writing alongside others.
Much of Pale Grey Dot’s creation took place in coffee shops and bars, and often with fellow writers. This can be online, but the best are in-person. Half the time is eating and drinking, half is chit-chatting, and half is in writing sprints. By the way, writers cannot do math.
The chitchat varies—sometimes we’re talking shop, swapping writing tips and giving each other advice—and sometimes it’s random nerding out about D&D, Star Trek, videogames, and other parts of geek culture. Are the Star Wars prequels any good? How does Voyager rank among the others? I assure you I’ve fought all those fights and more!
The sprints themselves, though? Lips sealed, heads down, and hands on keyboards for half an hour. There’s a psychology to this called body doubling that helps with productivity. Basically, if everyone else in the group is working, you feel compelled to do the same. It’s peer pressure, but for the forces of good!
If I’m not sprinting at a bar, then it’s with the Toronto Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Group. One of our most popular events are writing sprints. This can be online, but the best sprints are at the MaRS building near the University of Toronto. There’s no alcohol since it’s a public space, so we actually have to focus on the writing.
But as great as writing sprints are, they only last an afternoon or evening. Sometimes you need to go big, and that’s where writing retreats come in. I usually attend about three a year with a dozen others. In addition to writing, drinking, and talking shop, this gives us a chance to visit new cities. It may be Niagara-on-the-Lake, or Collingwood, or Lindsay, or others. The worlds in Pale Grey Dot may not have beautiful nature trails, but Ontario sure does.
So that covers the writing locations, but not the editing. For that, it’s back to the bar! We meet weekly at a local Toronto pub for a review session. Fifteen of us cram around a table in the bar, and we take turns reading out 2000 words of our latest work and getting it reviewed by the group.
A group selfie of Don Miasek (front left) having dinner with eleven other writers.
This was absurdly helpful. In addition to having a host of writers point out any niggling flaws, wonky sentences, or questionable plot points, it gave me a chance to review others. I saw what works and what doesn’t. Did this submission contain a thousand words of exposition before getting to the plot? Hmm, I better not do that! Oh, did that story somehow get me invested in the protagonist with just a few well constructed sentences? I learned so many little tips and tricks over beer and burgers.
And last but not least, yes, I do occasionally work at home as well. Even the ESS operatives need to return to the Tower on occasion. Note that Grimlock and Shockwave normally hang out in my foyer, but they made the trek over to my desk for this photo.
Before writing this article, it hadn’t really dawned on me just how far the writing process has taken me. Literally, I mean. Here’s to a dozen more books to write and places to visit.
Books by Don Miasek:
Turnstone Press Ltd.
