Ten Ways Not to Sabotage Your Writing Time
Calm: The best mood to be in when you do any work is calm and focused, so get yourself to that state before you begin work. I do this daily with morning meditations, and I also have a mental ritual I do before every writing session to dispense with distracting feelings. Think of it as clocking in to your writing job.
Check Weather: If you live in an area like I do with unruly weather, check the daily forecast. I use Weather.com to look at the radar map and see if there's any time I might have to stop writing due to thunderstorms.
Clear Out the Cobwebs: If you're thinking about something else while you're writing, you're fighting a mental war on two fronts. End the battle by clearing your mind of everything except what serves your story. I do this by journaling, so I can get all those other, non-writing thoughts out of my head before I begin work.
Comfortable Outfit: I am amazed at all these writers who say they work in three-piece suits, full make-up, etc. If that works for you okay, but personally I work better when I'm dressed comfortably. My standard writing uniform is a large T-shirt, leggings, and soft socks. I put my hair up to keep it out of my face. Occasionally I wear some of my old scrubs, too.
Electronics Off: If you can't stay off your smart phone, shut it off and put it out of reach. Same goes for the television, stereo, e-book reader, video games and any other distracting electronic device. This is your work time; use only the computer on which you're writing (exception: if listening to music helps you write better, turn on the stereo -- but try to keep it low.) Also, stay off the internet.
Goal Set: Have a clear idea of your writing goal for the day. You can go with a wordcount or number of pages. Time also works -- such as committing to writing for two hours (and take breaks!)
Healthy Snack: Working while you're hungry can be distracting and make you cranky, so have a light, healthy snack. A banana or an apple always does the trick for me.
Hydrate: One of the healthy habits I've gotten into is drinking a glass of water before I start writing. There are two reasons for this -- it keeps me from wanting to make some hot tea while I write (making it is the distraction), and it forces me to get up and take a bathroom break after about an hour.
Physical Therapy: Limbering up before you sit down at the computer can make you feel better, increase blood flow and help your overall health. I do my stretches, which are simplified yoga moves, for a few minutes before I begin writing. I also do stretches on my writing breaks. For those of you who are in better shape, here's a ten minute workout for desk workers.
Save Everything: Before you start writing, back up your previous work on a memory stick or other autonomous spot. Also make a mental note to continue to save your work at the bottom of every new page you write. It's a good habit to get into, and if anything goes wrong during your writing session, you won't lose anything.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Tuesday, May 03, 2016
Cast Away
Today I think we should put a message about writing in a virtual bottle, right here. Maybe someday someone will find it and wonder who we were.
Here's mine:
Be valiant.
Robin Bayne: Listen. Revise.
Raine Weaver: Write stories you'd like to read.
Deb Salisbury: Don't give up.
Theo: Find a reason to smile every day. Your writing will be all the better for it.
Shiloh Walker: Worry less
Erin Z.: Never stop dreaming.
If you want to add to the bottle, write yours in comments, and I'll update the post.
Image Credit: exopixel
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
Short Story Prompt Challenge
If you'd like to write more short stories but are coming up short on ideas, here's a list I saw over on Tumblr that offers a weekly prompt you can use:
"52 short stories in 52 weeks
1. A story entitled “A New Beginning”.
2. A story about rising to a challenge.
3. A retelling of a fairytale.
4. A story about three siblings.
5. A story set in London.
6. A story about finding something that has been lost.
7. A story about a journey.
8. A story set during a war.
9. A creepy story.
10. A story featuring a countdown.
11. A story set at a full moon.
12. A story about a contest or competition.
13. A story that takes place entirely inside a vehicle.
14. A story from a villain’s perspective.
15. A story set at a concert or festival.
16. A story that begins with a gunshot.
17. A story set in a country you’ve never been to.
18. A story about a historical figure.
19. A story set in a theatre.
20. A story written in 2nd person narrative.
21. A story set on another planet.
22. A story written from the perspective of someone dead/undead
23. A story about a birthday.
24. A story that ends on a cliffhanger.
25. A story set at the summer solstice.
26. A story about nostalgia.
27. A story that features a song or poem.
28. A story that ends at sunrise.
29. A story opening with the words “F*** you!”
30. A story about a magical object.
31. A story set at sea.
32. A story about a curse.
33. A story set 100 years in the future.
34. A story about loneliness.
35. A story that features a real recent newspaper article.
36. A story written from an animal’s perspective.
37. A story about a scientific discovery.
38. A story set on another planet.
39. A story with only one character.
40. A story about a secret.
41. A romance that ends in tragedy.
42. A tragedy that ends in romance.
43. A retelling of a recent Hollywood movie.
44. A story that takes place the year you were born.
45. A story about a near-death experience.
46. A story about anger.
47. A story about a magic spell.
48. A story set in a strange small town.
49. A story about justice being done.
50. A creation myth.
51. A story set at Christmas.
52. A story entitled “The End”."
I usually write short stories to test-drive my world-building, but I've also used them to help build characters, tell a story from a different POV, or explore a particular theme or myth. Give one of these a shot, see what you come up with on the page, and you might surprise yourself.
Source: Writing Therapy
"52 short stories in 52 weeks
1. A story entitled “A New Beginning”.
2. A story about rising to a challenge.
3. A retelling of a fairytale.
4. A story about three siblings.
5. A story set in London.
6. A story about finding something that has been lost.
7. A story about a journey.
8. A story set during a war.
9. A creepy story.
10. A story featuring a countdown.
11. A story set at a full moon.
12. A story about a contest or competition.
13. A story that takes place entirely inside a vehicle.
14. A story from a villain’s perspective.
15. A story set at a concert or festival.
16. A story that begins with a gunshot.
17. A story set in a country you’ve never been to.
18. A story about a historical figure.
19. A story set in a theatre.
20. A story written in 2nd person narrative.
21. A story set on another planet.
22. A story written from the perspective of someone dead/undead
23. A story about a birthday.
24. A story that ends on a cliffhanger.
25. A story set at the summer solstice.
26. A story about nostalgia.
27. A story that features a song or poem.
28. A story that ends at sunrise.
29. A story opening with the words “F*** you!”
30. A story about a magical object.
31. A story set at sea.
32. A story about a curse.
33. A story set 100 years in the future.
34. A story about loneliness.
35. A story that features a real recent newspaper article.
36. A story written from an animal’s perspective.
37. A story about a scientific discovery.
38. A story set on another planet.
39. A story with only one character.
40. A story about a secret.
41. A romance that ends in tragedy.
42. A tragedy that ends in romance.
43. A retelling of a recent Hollywood movie.
44. A story that takes place the year you were born.
45. A story about a near-death experience.
46. A story about anger.
47. A story about a magic spell.
48. A story set in a strange small town.
49. A story about justice being done.
50. A creation myth.
51. A story set at Christmas.
52. A story entitled “The End”."
I usually write short stories to test-drive my world-building, but I've also used them to help build characters, tell a story from a different POV, or explore a particular theme or myth. Give one of these a shot, see what you come up with on the page, and you might surprise yourself.
Source: Writing Therapy
Saturday, November 14, 2015
NaNoNag #2
Before I get to my second National Novel Writing Month nag I want to celebrate a little quilting finish line I just crossed:
I've been working for a few weeks now on this tote, which will be a holiday gift for the mother of a family friend who admired my needlework. When I began this project all I really had to go on was the mom's favorite color (purple), fabrics, laces and ribbons I bought from FancyCrazys, RavioleeDreams, and AbbyandEllie on Etsy, and some vague ideas on what I wanted to do.
I gave myself permission to do whatever I liked without worrying about rules, traditions, or what I've seen others do with their crazy quilting. Some of my ideas came out well and added to the experience library in my head. Others didn't translate the way I envisioned them, but that also helped me learn. I don't think I'll ever master a perfectly even herringbone stitch, or make a seed-beaded cretan stitch look like anything but an ornate zipper, but I will keep practicing and trying new approaches.
Part of being a creative person is the opportunity to learn and grow by doing. I can (and have) talk about my needlework all day long, but I'm not really a quilter until I'm actually doing it. That's why I go from one project to the next. Each day I spend a couple of hours being a quilter. It's not everything I am, but it's a big part of who I want to be.
Now change the quilting to writing, and consider yourself nagged.
I've been working for a few weeks now on this tote, which will be a holiday gift for the mother of a family friend who admired my needlework. When I began this project all I really had to go on was the mom's favorite color (purple), fabrics, laces and ribbons I bought from FancyCrazys, RavioleeDreams, and AbbyandEllie on Etsy, and some vague ideas on what I wanted to do.
I gave myself permission to do whatever I liked without worrying about rules, traditions, or what I've seen others do with their crazy quilting. Some of my ideas came out well and added to the experience library in my head. Others didn't translate the way I envisioned them, but that also helped me learn. I don't think I'll ever master a perfectly even herringbone stitch, or make a seed-beaded cretan stitch look like anything but an ornate zipper, but I will keep practicing and trying new approaches.
Part of being a creative person is the opportunity to learn and grow by doing. I can (and have) talk about my needlework all day long, but I'm not really a quilter until I'm actually doing it. That's why I go from one project to the next. Each day I spend a couple of hours being a quilter. It's not everything I am, but it's a big part of who I want to be.
Now change the quilting to writing, and consider yourself nagged.
Monday, March 02, 2015
Epigraph
Into whatever houses I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of the sick. -- Hippocrates (466?-377? B.C.)
-- epigraph for StarDoc by S.L. Viehl
Last week in comments I mentioned that Tennessee Williams used the last line of my favorite e.e.cummings poem as an epigraph for The Glass Menagerie, and promptly got three e-mails asking me what epigraphs are and why writers use them.
To put it simply, the epigraph is a very brief preface, usually in the form of a line or two, placed at the front of a book or chapter by an author. Epigraphs are almost always a quotation of someone else's work, and are frequently borrowed from verse or text that has some relation to the story or some personal significance to the author (or both.) Epigraphs became popular back during the early eighteenth century when printing processes had evolved enough to make mass-produced books less expensive and more accessible by the general population. Authors and publishers knew many of these folks didn't have extensive backgrounds in literature so they used the epigraph to give the reader a preemptive shove in the correct thematic direction.
Why do writers use epigraphs? Lots of reasons that have to do with our love of words and wisdom from other writers. Epigraphs could also be interpreted as the copy we would write for our stories (if publishers ever let us.) I can't dismiss how very cool they look at the front of a book, either. Epigraphs quoting Scripture, poetry and classic literature are common, but there are plenty of other forms. I used the definitions of genetic terms as epigraphs for my Kyndred novels. Quotations by Kafka and Nietzsche are particularly, ploddingly popular among the literati, but Pulitzer Prize winner Jeffrey Eugenides coolly opted to use lyrics from a Talking Heads song for The Marriage Plot.
Up there you see the very first epigraph I published, which I did not place in the front pages of StarDoc but used to open book's first chapter. This was deliberate; I wanted the statement by Hippocrates to be the very first words of the story that the reader saw. Yes, it was that important. StarDoc's epigraph doesn't simply describe the main character's goals and conflict or what drives the plot for ten novels, or even give a big hint about the series. Those sixteen words are the series.
Other writers with interesting epigraphs:
E.M. Forester was famously, fabulously brief with the two-word epigraph for Howard's End: "Only connect . . ."
Going for the ego gold F. Scott Fitzgerald decided to quote himself as an epigraph for The Great Gatsby: "Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry 'Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!'" (It's a line he wrote for Thomas Parke D’Invilliers in This Side of Paradise.)
Ernest Hemingway made John Donne pull double duty when he used him for the epigraph and the title of For Whom the Bell Tolls: "No man is an Iland, intire of itselfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Manor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."
Mario Puzo was extremely cold and direct with his Balzac quotation epigraph for The Godfather: "Behind every great fortune there is a crime."
Mark Twain is the author of my all-time favorite epigraph, which you can find (if you dare) in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. By Order of the Author Per G.G., Chief of Ordnance."
If you want more examples of book epigraphs, visit Epigraphic, a Tumblr blog devoted to them.
-- epigraph for StarDoc by S.L. Viehl
Last week in comments I mentioned that Tennessee Williams used the last line of my favorite e.e.cummings poem as an epigraph for The Glass Menagerie, and promptly got three e-mails asking me what epigraphs are and why writers use them.
To put it simply, the epigraph is a very brief preface, usually in the form of a line or two, placed at the front of a book or chapter by an author. Epigraphs are almost always a quotation of someone else's work, and are frequently borrowed from verse or text that has some relation to the story or some personal significance to the author (or both.) Epigraphs became popular back during the early eighteenth century when printing processes had evolved enough to make mass-produced books less expensive and more accessible by the general population. Authors and publishers knew many of these folks didn't have extensive backgrounds in literature so they used the epigraph to give the reader a preemptive shove in the correct thematic direction.
Why do writers use epigraphs? Lots of reasons that have to do with our love of words and wisdom from other writers. Epigraphs could also be interpreted as the copy we would write for our stories (if publishers ever let us.) I can't dismiss how very cool they look at the front of a book, either. Epigraphs quoting Scripture, poetry and classic literature are common, but there are plenty of other forms. I used the definitions of genetic terms as epigraphs for my Kyndred novels. Quotations by Kafka and Nietzsche are particularly, ploddingly popular among the literati, but Pulitzer Prize winner Jeffrey Eugenides coolly opted to use lyrics from a Talking Heads song for The Marriage Plot.
Up there you see the very first epigraph I published, which I did not place in the front pages of StarDoc but used to open book's first chapter. This was deliberate; I wanted the statement by Hippocrates to be the very first words of the story that the reader saw. Yes, it was that important. StarDoc's epigraph doesn't simply describe the main character's goals and conflict or what drives the plot for ten novels, or even give a big hint about the series. Those sixteen words are the series.
Other writers with interesting epigraphs:
E.M. Forester was famously, fabulously brief with the two-word epigraph for Howard's End: "Only connect . . ."
Going for the ego gold F. Scott Fitzgerald decided to quote himself as an epigraph for The Great Gatsby: "Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry 'Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!'" (It's a line he wrote for Thomas Parke D’Invilliers in This Side of Paradise.)
Ernest Hemingway made John Donne pull double duty when he used him for the epigraph and the title of For Whom the Bell Tolls: "No man is an Iland, intire of itselfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Manor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."
Mario Puzo was extremely cold and direct with his Balzac quotation epigraph for The Godfather: "Behind every great fortune there is a crime."
Mark Twain is the author of my all-time favorite epigraph, which you can find (if you dare) in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: "Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. By Order of the Author Per G.G., Chief of Ordnance."
If you want more examples of book epigraphs, visit Epigraphic, a Tumblr blog devoted to them.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Just Write
Everyone can come up with a reason not to write: family obligations, the day job, writers block, the Internet, or life in general. Porfessional writers can add another hundred or so excuses revolving around the biz, promo, production work, wrangling contracts, etc. Writing is easy to put off, too. We make bargains with the work: Next month I'll have more time or I need to take this class/go to this conference/study this how-to so I can be a better writer or the ever-popular, one-size-fits-all Let me deal with this more important thing and then I'll get back to you.
Those bargains work because the writing can't talk back, or send us a text, or encourage us to give it another go, or even remind us of the empty promise we made. Writing simply waits in silence wherever we abandoned it, stuffed in a file, stowed on a hard drive or tucked in a notebook. It always waits, even when we completely forget about it.
I thought I'd toss out a challenge on the blog to see if any of you want to join in. Starting today I'm going to devote my Thursdays to writing something new -- flash, poetry, a scene, a short story, or whatever appeals to me -- and then post the results online before midnight. In other words, just write something new once a week and put it out there for the readers. The length will be whatever I can write in 24 hours.
Why do this? I have a couple of reasons, but the primary idea came to me when I read Anne Frasier's Blood Moon, a short fiction piece that she posted on her blog. I thought it was exceedingly cool, and it reminded me of how as a rookie I used to post a new short story on my old web site every month. Some of those stories turned into novels and novel series, but that wasn't the point -- having fun and trying something new was.
No matter how lame, silly, unprofessional or otherwise flawed it is, I will post whatever I write today online in my Google Docs account, and add a link to it to this post, before midnight EST tonight. I invite you to do the same, and if you do take up my Just Write challenge and want to share your results when you're ready please post a link to your Thursday fiction in comments.
My link: Click here to read.
Image credit: Ivalin Radkov/Bigstock.com
Those bargains work because the writing can't talk back, or send us a text, or encourage us to give it another go, or even remind us of the empty promise we made. Writing simply waits in silence wherever we abandoned it, stuffed in a file, stowed on a hard drive or tucked in a notebook. It always waits, even when we completely forget about it.
I thought I'd toss out a challenge on the blog to see if any of you want to join in. Starting today I'm going to devote my Thursdays to writing something new -- flash, poetry, a scene, a short story, or whatever appeals to me -- and then post the results online before midnight. In other words, just write something new once a week and put it out there for the readers. The length will be whatever I can write in 24 hours.
Why do this? I have a couple of reasons, but the primary idea came to me when I read Anne Frasier's Blood Moon, a short fiction piece that she posted on her blog. I thought it was exceedingly cool, and it reminded me of how as a rookie I used to post a new short story on my old web site every month. Some of those stories turned into novels and novel series, but that wasn't the point -- having fun and trying something new was.
No matter how lame, silly, unprofessional or otherwise flawed it is, I will post whatever I write today online in my Google Docs account, and add a link to it to this post, before midnight EST tonight. I invite you to do the same, and if you do take up my Just Write challenge and want to share your results when you're ready please post a link to your Thursday fiction in comments.
My link: Click here to read.
Image credit: Ivalin Radkov/Bigstock.com
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
The Center Will Not Hold
While writers obsess over beginnings and endings, to the point that we'll rewrite them five hundred times to perfect them, story middles rarely get such attention. On the contrary, middles are frequently regarded by writers as the Sargasso Sea of storytelling, aka a part of the work that has to be slogged through from the hook of the beginning to the big finish of the end. The problem with this attitude is that it shows in the work; I can't even count how many books I've read that started out well and ended even better, once I waded through 200+ middle pages of filler.
The middle of any story should offer more to readers than characters doing basically nothing but killing time and wordcount. If you find your crew standing around chatting in housekeeping dialogue, thinking extensively in backstory, being served obvious red herrings, or yawning their way through a series of remarkably similar sex/action/suspense scenes, you've likely got a problem. To avoid boring anyone to the point that they give up and chuck the book in the library donation box, writers need to craft the story center to hold onto the reader's attention. Here are some ideas on how to do that:
Conflict Development: Rather than regarding your main conflict as a big problem introduced in the first chapter and resolved only in the last, see it as a stream that runs through the length of your story. Plotters, you can work out a timeline of events that chronicle the development of the conflict to give yourself a map of that stream to refer to when you're writing. Pantsers, look for opportunities to do the same with your stream as you write your way through the story.
Character entrances: Just as we don't meet everyone significant in our lives on the day we're born, there is no rule that says every character in the book has to be introduced in Chapter One (and if there is, someone should put it out of its misery.) Using your story center to introduce some members of your crew adds dimension and interest, and is more logical anyway.
Mid-story twist: The big twist at the end of any book is classic and much beloved, but as a writer you don't have to be exclusive to it. Why not have two (or more) twists, with one (or more) occuring in the story center?
Multiple goals: I think one of the downsides to the Goal/Motivation/Conflict school of storytelling is it turns characters into little goalies incapable of anything but motivationally dancing around in front of that big conflict net. You have more than one goal in your life, yes? So should your characters. And while you can reserve the big goal score for the end of the story, why not give them other, shorter-term goals to work on as well? These can add great interest to your mid-story.
One final thought on writing the middle of your story: if you're not excited about it, it may come through in the quality of your writing. Giving yourself something important, exciting and satisfying to write about in the story before you get into the final chapters will help hold onto your attention, which increases your chance of doing the same with your reader's.
Monday, December 30, 2013
New Writing Year Ten
Ten Things for Writers to Do for the New Year
Get to know your characters better by creating a character palette or making up some character trading cards.
Try a new/free online writing service like Hiveword (see my write-up on it here.)
For your next book writing project make up a novel notebook.
Outline your next novel.
Take the paranormal romance novelist's test.
Buff and polish up your queries (and learn what you shouldn't be sending out.)
Create a submissions log book and hunt for some new markets (for a nice variety I recommend the excellent and regularly updated listings over at Ralan.com.) Before you jump on any sub op, however, be sure to read the fine print.
Reinvent something that bugs you (like I did with the BookLoop.)
Unclutter or make some changes to your writing space.
Be valiant.
Get to know your characters better by creating a character palette or making up some character trading cards.
Try a new/free online writing service like Hiveword (see my write-up on it here.)
For your next book writing project make up a novel notebook.
Outline your next novel.
Take the paranormal romance novelist's test.
Buff and polish up your queries (and learn what you shouldn't be sending out.)
Create a submissions log book and hunt for some new markets (for a nice variety I recommend the excellent and regularly updated listings over at Ralan.com.) Before you jump on any sub op, however, be sure to read the fine print.
Reinvent something that bugs you (like I did with the BookLoop.)
Unclutter or make some changes to your writing space.
Be valiant.
Saturday, June 08, 2013
Closer
Photography has taught me a lot about writing. Through the camera's lens I see the world and use its functions try to capture my vision of it as a permanent record. But not everything I see properly translates that perspective. For example, this picture:
This is a leaf on one of my rose bushes, covered with early morning dew. At first glance it's okay but really nothing special. Yet when I focused the camera a bit closer, more details came out, such as the structure of the leaf, at points magnified by the dew drops. The colors also seemed more intense, and new things became apparent that I didn't notice when I snapped the first pic. I couldn't see the very tiny drops of dew surrounding the larger ones until I zoomed in and snapped this:
Getting closer gave me a better perspective and allowed me to bring out more of what was special about this otherwise ordinary sight. The delight of that made me decide to go in even closer (via Photoshop) and isolate the universe contained in just one dew drop:
Not much of a universe, is it? That's because I went in too close and blocked out everything else and ended up with a kind of fuzzy circle that is even less interesting than the first photo. Worse, if that's all I showed you, you probably wouldn't know what it was.
Everthing you write should present mental snapshots to your reader. If you keep your distance and don't focus, all they get is a very general (and typically blasé) idea of your vision (which is the first photo). On the flip side, if you focus too much and zoom in too close, the reader has no context and probably won't recognize anything (as in the third photo). So story that emulates the middle photo, where you see the obvious and some of that which is not so obvious, is the ideal balance.
This is a leaf on one of my rose bushes, covered with early morning dew. At first glance it's okay but really nothing special. Yet when I focused the camera a bit closer, more details came out, such as the structure of the leaf, at points magnified by the dew drops. The colors also seemed more intense, and new things became apparent that I didn't notice when I snapped the first pic. I couldn't see the very tiny drops of dew surrounding the larger ones until I zoomed in and snapped this:
Getting closer gave me a better perspective and allowed me to bring out more of what was special about this otherwise ordinary sight. The delight of that made me decide to go in even closer (via Photoshop) and isolate the universe contained in just one dew drop:
Not much of a universe, is it? That's because I went in too close and blocked out everything else and ended up with a kind of fuzzy circle that is even less interesting than the first photo. Worse, if that's all I showed you, you probably wouldn't know what it was.
Everthing you write should present mental snapshots to your reader. If you keep your distance and don't focus, all they get is a very general (and typically blasé) idea of your vision (which is the first photo). On the flip side, if you focus too much and zoom in too close, the reader has no context and probably won't recognize anything (as in the third photo). So story that emulates the middle photo, where you see the obvious and some of that which is not so obvious, is the ideal balance.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Unhook Me Ten
Ten Things That May Indicate You've Written a McOpener
McBriefing: The lengthy line of dialogue you employ as your opener thoughtfully includes everything Bob and the reader need to know, thus rendering the first three chapters entirely unnecessary.
McDisneyish: You begin a story that could not be considered a fairytale by anyone, even crazy people, with any cutesy variation of Once upon a time . . .
McEuw: The analogy that kicks off your story compares a character to something highly unpleasant and uncomplimentary to them; this so everyone will have it straight from the start who the bad guy is.
McHiHowAreYa: You don't bother to write a first line at all but instead begin with a self-introducing character who sounds like they're standing at the podium during the meeting of any twelve-step program, i.e.: My name is Yada Yada, and I am a . . .
McInterruptus: You start at the promising midpoint of an intimate moment between characters, which on page two will come to a screeching halt due to a tragic accident, discovery by vengeful parent or spouse, or the arrival of the authorities to arrest (erroneously, of course) one of the lovers.
McLocal on the 8s: You've delivered a beautifully written, artfully descriptive, wholly lyrical narrative of that most riveting element of all stories, the current weather conditions.
McRambler: Your first line natters on and on like your Grandma Rosemary after she's had a few highballs at the family Thanksgiving reunion; it finally stutters to a stop somewhere in the last paragraph on the third or fourth page of your story. Bonus McPoints: As a kick of your heels at convention, you don't end your first line with a period.
McRIP: Someone expires in the first paragraph under strange circumstances, by a bizarre method or without any explanation at all. Bonus McPoints: deceased character will be the most interesting member of your cast.
McSlapdown: Assured that all authors are superior beings who must never apologize, explain or have any sort of congress with the great unwashed masses, you cleverly craft your first line to poorly veil your contempt for your reader, their beliefs, their politics, their life situation, or all of the above.
McWhattheheck?: While your first line contains several words in a foreign language, takes up at least one paragraph and possesses flawless iambic pentameter, no one, not even you, is quite sure exactly what it describes.
McBriefing: The lengthy line of dialogue you employ as your opener thoughtfully includes everything Bob and the reader need to know, thus rendering the first three chapters entirely unnecessary.
McDisneyish: You begin a story that could not be considered a fairytale by anyone, even crazy people, with any cutesy variation of Once upon a time . . .
McEuw: The analogy that kicks off your story compares a character to something highly unpleasant and uncomplimentary to them; this so everyone will have it straight from the start who the bad guy is.
McHiHowAreYa: You don't bother to write a first line at all but instead begin with a self-introducing character who sounds like they're standing at the podium during the meeting of any twelve-step program, i.e.: My name is Yada Yada, and I am a . . .
McInterruptus: You start at the promising midpoint of an intimate moment between characters, which on page two will come to a screeching halt due to a tragic accident, discovery by vengeful parent or spouse, or the arrival of the authorities to arrest (erroneously, of course) one of the lovers.
McLocal on the 8s: You've delivered a beautifully written, artfully descriptive, wholly lyrical narrative of that most riveting element of all stories, the current weather conditions.
McRambler: Your first line natters on and on like your Grandma Rosemary after she's had a few highballs at the family Thanksgiving reunion; it finally stutters to a stop somewhere in the last paragraph on the third or fourth page of your story. Bonus McPoints: As a kick of your heels at convention, you don't end your first line with a period.
McRIP: Someone expires in the first paragraph under strange circumstances, by a bizarre method or without any explanation at all. Bonus McPoints: deceased character will be the most interesting member of your cast.
McSlapdown: Assured that all authors are superior beings who must never apologize, explain or have any sort of congress with the great unwashed masses, you cleverly craft your first line to poorly veil your contempt for your reader, their beliefs, their politics, their life situation, or all of the above.
McWhattheheck?: While your first line contains several words in a foreign language, takes up at least one paragraph and possesses flawless iambic pentameter, no one, not even you, is quite sure exactly what it describes.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Hunting Metaphors
I went with my guy and the kid to a flea market this past weekend, but the allure of cheap plastic clogs, temporary tattoos and cardboard bins of slightly dusty, almost-designer handbags couldn't compete with all the stuff waiting beyond in the fields behind the warehouses. I left my loved ones nibbling on boiled peanuts and headed for the really gritty outdoor section.
There's about an acre of everything you've ever seen set out at a garage sale, donated to a thrift store or abandoned to quietly rust in a field, multiplied by dozens, even hundreds. While I always love getting the perfect beautiful shot, I'm also drawn to things that are not so perfect; things left behind, things that were forgotten, and other debris piles from the past.
This is the kind of place where my camera and I mine for descriptions, by taking shots of interesting/ugly objects to study later, but this time I hit a metaphoric goldmine. Everywhere I looked I saw something that defined something else for me, so much so that I took out the notepad in my purse and started taking notes.
Here are a few of the snapshots, and what they made me think (to find out what that was, place your cursor over the image. To see a larger version, click on the image):
I spent a lot of time photographing the glassware tables. On this one everything felt brittle, crowded, transparent, uncomfortable, as if one wrong move would sending everything crashing. Everything here wants to see and be seen. Glassy expressions, gaping mouths, dangerous proximities, but nothing real or especially attractive.
Also lots of rusty things to be admired. This conglomeration of old bikes probably hasn't been moved in years. They've been left all jammed together, but when you look at each one it's as if they are wheedling you to give them another chance: "Come on, I still work. Buy me. Rescue me. Take me for a ride again."
I don't know their name, but these are such shy flowers, too bashful to even raise their blooms. I remember all the years I felt like this -- like if I kept my head down and said nothing, I wouldn't get stomped. And yeah, that actually doesn't work. If you listen you can almost hear them whisper, "Nothing to see here, lady, just move along." Still lovely, though, and wistful.
This is back inside, but when I looked up and saw the sunlight sparkling through this curtain of crystal I had to get the shot. Each gem threw its own rainbows and glitter at my head. All the shapes and colors -- how could you choose to take just one? Their dazzle makes you into a greedy kid. You want them all.
The lovely thing about hunting and collecting visual metaphors are the many ways you can use them; they don't have to be assigned a single meaning. The hanging crystals are definitely going in the story I'm working on now; they'll serve very well as part of a characterization. I like the rusty bikes, too, and I think I know just how to use them to illustrate a chunk of backstory.
Keeping a photographic metaphor journal can be a fun way to collect your visual trophies. If you're not into taking your own photographs, look for images online you can print out or cut out from magazines. If you don't want to keep a paper journal, put together a video or slideshow (everyone does music playlists for their stories, why not a video playlist?)
If you'd like to see more examples, I uploaded the best of my shots from this day and made a Visual Metaphors online photo album here.
There's about an acre of everything you've ever seen set out at a garage sale, donated to a thrift store or abandoned to quietly rust in a field, multiplied by dozens, even hundreds. While I always love getting the perfect beautiful shot, I'm also drawn to things that are not so perfect; things left behind, things that were forgotten, and other debris piles from the past.
This is the kind of place where my camera and I mine for descriptions, by taking shots of interesting/ugly objects to study later, but this time I hit a metaphoric goldmine. Everywhere I looked I saw something that defined something else for me, so much so that I took out the notepad in my purse and started taking notes.
Here are a few of the snapshots, and what they made me think (to find out what that was, place your cursor over the image. To see a larger version, click on the image):
I spent a lot of time photographing the glassware tables. On this one everything felt brittle, crowded, transparent, uncomfortable, as if one wrong move would sending everything crashing. Everything here wants to see and be seen. Glassy expressions, gaping mouths, dangerous proximities, but nothing real or especially attractive.
Also lots of rusty things to be admired. This conglomeration of old bikes probably hasn't been moved in years. They've been left all jammed together, but when you look at each one it's as if they are wheedling you to give them another chance: "Come on, I still work. Buy me. Rescue me. Take me for a ride again."
I don't know their name, but these are such shy flowers, too bashful to even raise their blooms. I remember all the years I felt like this -- like if I kept my head down and said nothing, I wouldn't get stomped. And yeah, that actually doesn't work. If you listen you can almost hear them whisper, "Nothing to see here, lady, just move along." Still lovely, though, and wistful.
This is back inside, but when I looked up and saw the sunlight sparkling through this curtain of crystal I had to get the shot. Each gem threw its own rainbows and glitter at my head. All the shapes and colors -- how could you choose to take just one? Their dazzle makes you into a greedy kid. You want them all.
The lovely thing about hunting and collecting visual metaphors are the many ways you can use them; they don't have to be assigned a single meaning. The hanging crystals are definitely going in the story I'm working on now; they'll serve very well as part of a characterization. I like the rusty bikes, too, and I think I know just how to use them to illustrate a chunk of backstory.
Keeping a photographic metaphor journal can be a fun way to collect your visual trophies. If you're not into taking your own photographs, look for images online you can print out or cut out from magazines. If you don't want to keep a paper journal, put together a video or slideshow (everyone does music playlists for their stories, why not a video playlist?)
If you'd like to see more examples, I uploaded the best of my shots from this day and made a Visual Metaphors online photo album here.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Quantum Writing Part II
For each of your projects you now have a one-page outline, a notebook, folder or file for the paperwork, and a dedicated space for all research and reference materials. From here you can go three ways, depending on how you like to work your writing plan:
1. Write a detailed synopsis for each project.
2. Write chapter summaries for each project.
3. Work off the one-page outline for each project.
I don't like guessing what to write, and there is no such thing as too much planning for me, so I always go with #1 and a modified version of #2 (once I have the synopsis written, I divide it into approximate chapters.) This also automatically generates my daily task list, which we'll get to after we cover the other options.
If you're not interested in writing a synopsis for the project, you can put together chapter summaries based on your one-page outline. You can get as detailed or keep it as simple as you like, but you're basically answering this question for each chapter: What happens now?
Writers who don't want to fiddle with a synopsis or chapter summaries can write based on the one-page outline, which is probably the best choice for you organic writers out there.
Once you've decided on your writing plan, you are ready to make up your session task list. This is when decide exactly what part of the story you want to work on for each project during one writing session. To start off I strongly suggest doing a list for just one session at a time; it takes a while to get used to giving yourself defined writing assignments each day, and you may want to adjust the amount of work you're planning to accomplish.
Here's a session task list with just writing goals:
Project A -- Chapter 1 Scene 2 (Simone receives a cryptic message, knocks out courier, arms herself and rides to chateau)
Project B -- Chapter 6 Scene 4 (The colonists build a temporary shelter out of fuselage, discover new monster in caverns)
Project C -- Chapter 11 Scene 1 (Doyle takes Kit to Rumsen Main, where she is questioned and drugged)
If you'd rather not write on every project, you can write one and perform other tasks on the other(s):
Project A -- Chapter 1 Scene 2 (Simone receives a cryptic message, knocks out courier, arms herself and rides to chateau)
Project B -- Edit/research Chapter 5 (Estimate amount of food and water needed by colonists to survive, possible treatment for unknown venom, weight of fuselage)
Project C -- Type ins Chapter 10 Scene 3 (correct manuscript according to editing changes and rewrites)
Organic writers who don't want to plan anything can still assign themselves goals. If you have two projects and four hours in a session, estimate how many pages you can reasonably expect to write in that period of time, divide it by two, and that's your quota for each project.
When you've decided which writing tasks you're going to tackle for that session, then you just pick which one you want to start on first. This is a decision you make based on how you work, too. If you're not feeling too confident, you might start off with the easiest project first as a warm-up. If you tend to get crabby and tired toward the end of a writing session, save the easiest for last.
Work on each task straight through without backtracking or second-guessing yourself for the length of time you've allotted for that project. If you're working three projects over three hours, work for fifty minutes straight and then take a ten minute break before you begin the second project/task. During that ten minute break, don't think about anything, Make yourself a cup of tea, walk around, stretch, or whatever works best to help clear your mind. At the end of the break move on to the next item on your task list and repeat.
This sounds so easy, but of course it's really not. If things are going really well with your Project A, you're not going to want to move on to Project B. If things with Project B suck, you'll be tempted to shove it aside and work on Project C. The key here is to resist the urge to short or overextend yourself on any one task. Unless you are writing the most brilliant prose (or the most malodorous) ever to grace the page, it's best to stick to your writing schedule.
Sometimes you will need more than a ten minute break to shift project gears, and this is when focus breaks and project cues can be helpful. I mentioned a focus break yesterday in comments; it's something I do when for whatever reason I'm not ready to write during a writing session. I leave my writing space and do a short-term chore I dislike, such as folding laundry. That helps motivate me to get back into a writing frame of mind.
Project cues are something writers do to get their heads in the right place for a project. I usually listen to a song that I associate with the project and visualize the story over again. I also use sensory cues like scented candles or flavored teas. Occasionally I'll change my clothes (I used to put on my old scrubs whenever I worked on any of the StarDoc books; just wearing them put me into more of a medical frame of mind.)
Some other tips:
While you're working on each project, keep a blank notepad nearby to make any notes for unexpected editing changes or research needs. Once you've finish with that project, add the notes to the editing section of your project file/folder/notebook.
If you hit a stumbling block on the page and you can't get past it because you need to be in a different mood, or you need to do some research, or you just need to think about it, note the problem in brackets like this [describe the hotel in Avignon] and move on.
If you feel you're stretching yourself too thin, you're probably trying to accomplish too much each day. Adjust your task list or cut your writing time back an hour or two. You can also give yourself a couple of days to work on one project only, and then when you feel more relaxed, try the quantum approach again.
Don't think about the enormity of working on more than one project at the same time. Don't question your sanity. Don't decide you can't do this. Don't think about failing. Try not to think about anything at all but the work at hand and completing all the items on your task list. When they're done then you can go sit in your worry space and beat yourself up for an hour or two.
Quantum writing may or may not work for you, and the only person who can decide that is you. I suggest that you try it for a week, and then at the end of it look at what you've accomplished by counting the total number of pages of new material you've written for all your projects. Once you've done that, read what you've written, too. This is not just about knocking out a lot of pages on a lot of different projects, it's also about getting quality work done in a timely manner.
Working on more than one project at once can also cause you to burn out faster than the one-project writer, so be good to yourself. Eat healthy, take plenty of breaks, get a good night's sleep and do whatever else you can to make sure you're keeping your creative batteries charged.
And that wraps up this workshop -- any questions?
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Quantum Writing Part I
Okay, now imagine that writing a novel is playing a game of chess. One playing field, one set of chess pieces, and a whole lot of moves to make. It's enough to keep anyone busy. But what if you could play three games of chess at the same time?
With the right amount of planning and prep work, there is actually very little difference between working on one project and working on two or three simultaneously. It does take more time to finish multiple projects (no writer trick in the world can eliminate the actual work involved) but there are many potential benefits, from eradicating boredom and writer's block from your life to becoming a more efficient and productive writer.
If you're a one-story-at-a-time writer and would like to try this, I have a few preliminary suggestions:
Be conservative. Start off with two projects first (once you get in some practice, then you can try juggling three or more.)
Know your projects. This is not a technique you want to try with a vague idea or a glimmer of story; you want solid, strong, well-thought-out ideas that excite you on the creative level.
Have faith in yourself. If your main writing obstacle is fear, waffling, self-loathing or something along those lines, doing this is probably going to double it. The only way I know how to combat this is to give yourself permission to try this no matter how it turns out. Do it the first time just for fun.
Organize your life. Clear out your writing space, stock up on the office supplies you need, and communicate your plans to your family and loved ones. Eliminate all unnecessary distractions, and make a vow to avoid things that will lure you away from the work.
Once you're in a good place and feel ready to start, write up a working title and a one-page outline for each project (this is also the way to check and see if your idea is clear, strong, and appeals to you.) If you've never done a one-page outline, try my ten point novel template or Alicia Rasley's thirty minute novel outline technique. At this point you want to use broad strokes for outlining to avoid getting mired down in a lot of endless details (you will have time to get more into the details once you start working.)
Set up project files, fiction folders, novel notebooks, or whatever you use to keep your story paperwork organized while you're working on it. Once you have that ready, set up a drawer, box or other contained space where you can put reference materials related to the project (for each project I'm working on I dedicate a shelf in a bookcase near my writing space.) The idea is to have everything you need for the project in one place so you don't have to look around for things while you're writing.
The final prep step is to divide up your dedicated writing time between the projects, and this is where you tailor your time to suit your process. If you prefer to work on one project per day, designate days of the week (i.e. Monday - Project A, Tuesday - Project B, Wednesday - Project A, Thursday - Project B, etc.) If you're like me and you feel comfortable working on different projects during the same session, divide your writing time into hours (i.e. Monday - Project A 9-11 am, Project B 1-3pm; Tuesday - Project C 9-11 am, Project A 1-3 pm, etc.) If you've never tried this and don't know which will work for you, try a test run of each method for a week and find out which one makes you more productive.
A side note on dedicating the writing time: I know it's difficult for those of you with day jobs and/or busy home lives to find the time. If you don't have the time now to write, you'll have to pass on this. Or you might make the time, which means giving up something. Waking up an hour earlier is the simplest way to do it; if you get up before everyone else does that gives you an hour to write in peace and quiet. If you're spending an hour or two a day texting people, tell your friends you're going to take some time to write and turn off the phone. You can also sacrifice watching your favorite television shows to make time to write (if you're worried about missing something, record the shows while you're working, and hold onto the copies as a reward for yourself when you finish the manuscript.)
Tomorrow we'll talk about how to handle the work of quantum writing, how to get into the create-as-you-go zone (and stay there), and some ways to troubleshoot and self-correct common problems. Until then, any questions?
Image credit: © Tino Mager | Dreamstime.com
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Color Idea Cards
Wal-Mart sells Glidden paint and keeps a nice, simple display of single-color cards showing the different shades you can buy or have mixed up. Scattered among these were also some very cool color idea cards. These cards, which are illustrated with gorgeous photographs of landscapes, flowers, fruits and even this adorable kitten here, have example pics of finished rooms and decor items along with info printed on the reverse side. They cover everything from how to use a color, how to combine it with other shades, the effect it has on people, what it means if you really like it, etc. etc.
On the back of the solid color paint chip cards (which Glidden made the same size as their color idea cards) the manufacturer put a photo of an attractive room painted in the same color with two accent colors, and listed all three with a small square swatch of the color, the shade name and stock number:
This is one of those little brilliant ideas someone thought up for people who want to use more than one color but aren't sure what to pick, how to coordinate them, or what they'll look like together.
I love cards of all types, so I picked up a bunch of the idea cards along with the specific color cards I wanted (here's a pic of the full spread.) Glidden's cards are small enough to tuck in the pocket of a binder but large enough to give you a decent feel for the color or color theme. I also like them being loose so I can shuffle them around and put them in different combinations to design my own palettes. Someone mentioned photo brag books in comments to another post, and I thought those would also make a perfect holder for these cards.
Here are two more of Glidden's color idea cards:
Glidden has also inspired me to start making some of my own color idea cards, too. I can use photographs I've taken or interesting color-themed images I find in magazines, catalogs or online, and customize them with notes on the back of how I want to use them, different synonyms and metaphors for a particular color or theme and so forth. I know it can't hurt, especially when I'm wrestling with imagery or description in the story.
Friday, January 28, 2011
28th of Snowfall, Year of the Vulture
The Fantasy World News Network is an automated generator that uses word replacements to transform our planet's news into headlines from a mirror-universe world, where things like the month of January are called Snowfall and personal computers become valesylvers. The host site also has another headline generator that does the same thing with a SF spin here.
Making up newspaper headlines is fun, and good practice for learning how to condense ideas and make them attractive (like a story premise you might mention in a query letter, or a tagline for your upcoming release.) The trick of writing a great headline is to offer just enough information and provocation to make the reader want to keep reading:
Improve Your Love Life and Lose Weight (Have That Secret Baby!)
The Scroll That Makes You Immortal -- Or Dead -- in 3 Days
Mayan Miscalculation Means New Date for Apocalypse: Tomorrow
If you want to use headlines as a way to create a non-traditional outline of your story, write up one for each scene or chapter that provides a quick overview or general idea of what happens in them, i.e.:
Faceless Vampire First Kidnaps Then Infects World's Fastest Surgeon
Socialite Slashed by Ghost While Sleeping, Spell Breaker to Investigate
First Day of School, Worst Day of Life
Headline-writing is also a great way to explore the unfamiliar territory of copy-writing, which sometimes authors are called upon to proof for their back covers. When you've got space for only a couple of paragraphs, being able to relate your story in a brief but alluring way is a handy skill, especially when the copy you get is less than stellar.
The other great thing about headlines is that they're kind of like writing haiku -- the more often you write them, the better you get. While I was putting together this post and making up headline examples, a tagline I've been trying to think up in more conventional ways finally popped in my head:
It's After Midnight -- Are You Ready to Ride?
Now it's your turn: what would be a fun headline for what you're working on right now? Let us know in comments.
Related links:
Copyblogger has a post here that defines the different types of headlines and why they hook a reader's attention.
Melissa Donovan's Writing Exercises for Titles and Headlines explains how to write them and gives you some exercises for practice.
Making up newspaper headlines is fun, and good practice for learning how to condense ideas and make them attractive (like a story premise you might mention in a query letter, or a tagline for your upcoming release.) The trick of writing a great headline is to offer just enough information and provocation to make the reader want to keep reading:
Improve Your Love Life and Lose Weight (Have That Secret Baby!)
The Scroll That Makes You Immortal -- Or Dead -- in 3 Days
Mayan Miscalculation Means New Date for Apocalypse: Tomorrow
If you want to use headlines as a way to create a non-traditional outline of your story, write up one for each scene or chapter that provides a quick overview or general idea of what happens in them, i.e.:
Faceless Vampire First Kidnaps Then Infects World's Fastest Surgeon
Socialite Slashed by Ghost While Sleeping, Spell Breaker to Investigate
First Day of School, Worst Day of Life
Headline-writing is also a great way to explore the unfamiliar territory of copy-writing, which sometimes authors are called upon to proof for their back covers. When you've got space for only a couple of paragraphs, being able to relate your story in a brief but alluring way is a handy skill, especially when the copy you get is less than stellar.
The other great thing about headlines is that they're kind of like writing haiku -- the more often you write them, the better you get. While I was putting together this post and making up headline examples, a tagline I've been trying to think up in more conventional ways finally popped in my head:
It's After Midnight -- Are You Ready to Ride?
Now it's your turn: what would be a fun headline for what you're working on right now? Let us know in comments.
Related links:
Copyblogger has a post here that defines the different types of headlines and why they hook a reader's attention.
Melissa Donovan's Writing Exercises for Titles and Headlines explains how to write them and gives you some exercises for practice.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Max Your Dreams
Pepcid AC is advergaming the new maximum-strength version of their product with Max My Dream*, which takes a brief description of your dream and generates a visual interpretation of it. I tried it several times, and while they were right on the money with my I-can-fly! dream, they didn't really nail me witnessing the Apocalypse via incurable plague or the one where I'm conscious during open-heart surgery. For which I'm pretty grateful, actually.
Visualization of a concept is an important part of writing for me. If I can see a scene in my head, I can write it, and my imagination is already pretty well-stocked with faces, places and things. Painting, sketching and photo-shopping also help when I have an idea I want to turn into a visual reference, particularly with settings and characters (as was the case with creating this watercolor from a StarDoc novel scene for a long letter I sent a friend.) Creating art is a great way to get to know the story element you're depicting and serves as a jog for little details that might otherwise slip your mind while you're at the keyboard.
Mood and style are integral to vivid visualization. For mood, I always go to music because it fires my imagination and sets a tone in my head. Instrumental tunes work best for me because I'm not distracted by a singer's voice or derailed by the lyrics. They also offer a wider range of interpretation; often I can use one piece for several different scenes or books. Poetry is also another mood-setter for me, and I have a collection of poems and poets I'll read specifically to tap into different parts of my emotions.
Style is all about the forest, not the trees, of imagery. One thing I really enjoyed about all the Underworld movies was the intricacy and consistency of the dark, bleak dystopian world of the vampires and the Lycan. Here's a still of Selene, the protagonist from the first two Underworld movies, and even something as simple as the marble balcony has that blackened, neglected look to it. Battlestar Galactica (the new series) was another show that offered incredible styling which suited the storyline and bucked the traditional bright-and-shiny Utopian soft-serve SF television shows generally deliver. Battlestar was gritty, realistic and very, very human, especially with the cast choices.
Mood and style are not about perfection, btw, unless you're writing a story about the perfect world of pretty people who all live in palaces. My skin is crawling just typing that line. Sure, I've written my fair share of Pretty People -- most under pressure from editors who didn't like the originals -- but the older I get, the less I want them in my books. They're like Barbie dolls, all smiling and staring at you with those creepy blank eyes. No, give me characters with scars and tattoos and bad haircuts and handicaps. Five foot tall heroes. Heroines who will never ever shop at te 5-7-9 store. And make a few of those Dudley Dastardly mustache-twirling butt-ugly antagonists pretty and perfect instead. Would mix things up a bit if the to-die-for guy is actually the homicidal one, yes?
Some other ways to boost your story visualizations:
Create a visualization journal for your project. Divide it into sections for different story elements: characters, settings, time period, theme and detailing are all good, but tailor it to what you want to explore visually. Then start filling it up with images that illustrate in any manner that particular element -- body models, architecture, paintings, sketches, found objects, fabrics or anything that relates directly to and/or enhances your vision. If there are keywords or notes you want to add, write them as captions to the images. Before you begin writing a scene, go through your journal and refresh your imagination as to the specific look you want.
Build a slideshow of images to follow your storyline. Open it with an image that captures the beginning of your story, and then progress from there (to do one for free online with different formats and theme music, check out Slide.com. The music doesn't seem to play anymore, but you can see the slideshow I made of Darkyn cover art over on the stories blog here.)
Take one location from your story and try to find one that is similar to it in your area. Pay a visit with a camera and notebook, and take some snapshots of details that you can use in your story. Write down notes on things you see that you didn't think of, and pay special attention to things like light, sounds, smells, textures as well as how being in that place makes you feel. This is a shot I took one night recently while getting some visuals on what a small country town feels like after the shops close and everyone has gone home for the night. Feels a little spooky, especially when dozens of bats began pouring out of one restaurant's chimney -- one place I don't think I will be in a hurry to make reservations at anytime soon.
For those of you who like book videos and have the technical means and know-how, consider making a visualization video that relates to your story. Readers are always making dream cast videos, why not do one of your own for your story? Hunt down photos of models or actors who are good matches for your characters and intersperse them with pics of your setting or places that fit into your world-building. Try finding one image for each chapter.
Do you writers out there do anything interesting or fun to help with your story visualizations? Let us know in comments.
*Link found over at The Presurfer
Mood and style are integral to vivid visualization. For mood, I always go to music because it fires my imagination and sets a tone in my head. Instrumental tunes work best for me because I'm not distracted by a singer's voice or derailed by the lyrics. They also offer a wider range of interpretation; often I can use one piece for several different scenes or books. Poetry is also another mood-setter for me, and I have a collection of poems and poets I'll read specifically to tap into different parts of my emotions.
Mood and style are not about perfection, btw, unless you're writing a story about the perfect world of pretty people who all live in palaces. My skin is crawling just typing that line. Sure, I've written my fair share of Pretty People -- most under pressure from editors who didn't like the originals -- but the older I get, the less I want them in my books. They're like Barbie dolls, all smiling and staring at you with those creepy blank eyes. No, give me characters with scars and tattoos and bad haircuts and handicaps. Five foot tall heroes. Heroines who will never ever shop at te 5-7-9 store. And make a few of those Dudley Dastardly mustache-twirling butt-ugly antagonists pretty and perfect instead. Would mix things up a bit if the to-die-for guy is actually the homicidal one, yes?
Some other ways to boost your story visualizations:
Build a slideshow of images to follow your storyline. Open it with an image that captures the beginning of your story, and then progress from there (to do one for free online with different formats and theme music, check out Slide.com. The music doesn't seem to play anymore, but you can see the slideshow I made of Darkyn cover art over on the stories blog here.)
For those of you who like book videos and have the technical means and know-how, consider making a visualization video that relates to your story. Readers are always making dream cast videos, why not do one of your own for your story? Hunt down photos of models or actors who are good matches for your characters and intersperse them with pics of your setting or places that fit into your world-building. Try finding one image for each chapter.
Do you writers out there do anything interesting or fun to help with your story visualizations? Let us know in comments.
*Link found over at The Presurfer
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Gotta Have Faith
I mentioned in comments to yesterday's post that I finally came up with the title for my NaNo novel. I didn't have one until now because I've already changed my mind three times about what I'm going to write in November. After much thought I decided the haunted house story needs to percolate a bit longer; I also briefly arm-wrestled the temptation to write a contracted book early versus having fun (fun and I won; the contract work will wait until it comes up on the regular work schedule.)
I did all this by blindly following what felt most right. I may pre-plan just about everything about the books I write, but during the decision-making process the comes before all the planning, I've learned to have faith and ride along with my story instincts.
I don't think story instincts are especially logical. Mine cannot be categorized, alphabetized or otherwise organized (I know. I've tried.) I don't know how they work, where they come from or why I got stuck with them, but I've come to trust them, and they've never let me down. My downfalls have come from not following them, and I've stumbled enough times to put my trust where it obviously belongs.
Once I get in line with my story instincts, everything seems to fall into place. Once I made my decision on what to write, I found my title. I also named my protagonists, created backstories for them and figured out their primary conflict. I went online, shopped around and found what I need for my cover art. Other characters have started emerging from nowhere and are telling me their stories. It's a lot like seeing rain drops fall on still waters and watching the ripples form and spread out, and then another, and then two more, etc. I'd like to take credit for what generates that creative storm, but it's a very enigmatic part of my process over which I have no control whatsoever.
The story instincts don't always kick in automatically, and when that happens I feel like I'm fighting the work instead of serving it. Over time I've come up with a few tricks to jump start things, but what mainly works is relaxing, reading and not thinking about it for a day or two. Then when all the noise is out of my head, I pay a brief, polite visit to my conundrum and try to see it with fresh eyes -- and that's when the story instincts generally wake up and go to work.
The theory I've heard that makes the most sense to me about how we acquire these story instincts is saturation via constant exposure. Writers read and write so much that we could be imprinting ourselves with innumerable bits of data that go on to form and guide our choices. It would explain why it's so hard to define story instincts, as they would exist both on conscious and subconscious levels. I just wish they came with an on-switch so I wouldn't have to spend any time driving myself crazy over what should be a fairly simple and logical decision, but maybe that's part of the process, too.
When do you depend on your story instincts? What do you do when you can't tap into them? Let us know in comments.
I did all this by blindly following what felt most right. I may pre-plan just about everything about the books I write, but during the decision-making process the comes before all the planning, I've learned to have faith and ride along with my story instincts.
I don't think story instincts are especially logical. Mine cannot be categorized, alphabetized or otherwise organized (I know. I've tried.) I don't know how they work, where they come from or why I got stuck with them, but I've come to trust them, and they've never let me down. My downfalls have come from not following them, and I've stumbled enough times to put my trust where it obviously belongs.
Once I get in line with my story instincts, everything seems to fall into place. Once I made my decision on what to write, I found my title. I also named my protagonists, created backstories for them and figured out their primary conflict. I went online, shopped around and found what I need for my cover art. Other characters have started emerging from nowhere and are telling me their stories. It's a lot like seeing rain drops fall on still waters and watching the ripples form and spread out, and then another, and then two more, etc. I'd like to take credit for what generates that creative storm, but it's a very enigmatic part of my process over which I have no control whatsoever.
The story instincts don't always kick in automatically, and when that happens I feel like I'm fighting the work instead of serving it. Over time I've come up with a few tricks to jump start things, but what mainly works is relaxing, reading and not thinking about it for a day or two. Then when all the noise is out of my head, I pay a brief, polite visit to my conundrum and try to see it with fresh eyes -- and that's when the story instincts generally wake up and go to work.
The theory I've heard that makes the most sense to me about how we acquire these story instincts is saturation via constant exposure. Writers read and write so much that we could be imprinting ourselves with innumerable bits of data that go on to form and guide our choices. It would explain why it's so hard to define story instincts, as they would exist both on conscious and subconscious levels. I just wish they came with an on-switch so I wouldn't have to spend any time driving myself crazy over what should be a fairly simple and logical decision, but maybe that's part of the process, too.
When do you depend on your story instincts? What do you do when you can't tap into them? Let us know in comments.
Friday, October 01, 2010
Metaphorstory
Would you have known that if I hadn't explained it? Probably not. Does not knowing what the page means to me personally diminish your enjoyment of it? It could, but it doesn't have to. I think it depends on how you relate to symbolism and how often you engage your sense of wonder and curiosity.
It would be great to publish books as colorful and creative as my personal journals, but because everything I write as a novelist is published in black and white, words are my only medium. Metaphors are both paint and brush, mortar and brick, courier and message. Very often we respond on many levels to a story, and not all of them register right away, if at all. In an open mind, metaphors can gain access to many different levels.
Metaphors invoking very common shared experiences can be recycled so much that they morph into a cliche, and it's easy as pie, and like taking candy from a baby to overuse them. Creating your own personal metaphors means really thinking about how your story symbols relate to the experiences of others, and what sort of response they will invoke in readers who have a good working sense of wonder. Employ your senses (colors, sounds and tactile sensations are good metaphor building materials, as we all share the world on the same basic sensory level.)
See? Piece of cake.
Related Link: Literary zone.com has a good post here defining different types of metaphors and gives some examples, if you're interested in reading up on them.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
52% Chick
Perverse and surly wretch that I am, I decided to hunt around and see if I could find some online writing analyzers to play with that would not attract with pitchfork and torch crowd. There are a few of them out there that are fun, and a couple that are actually useful for editing purposes.
For a example, I fed a chapter from my current WIP into Christopher Park's Manuscript Analyzer and discovered that out of 3,757 total words I had 1,107 distinct words, 32 possible adverbs, 139 frequent offenders (words that are overused and/or need to be weeded out.) I really like this widget; it gives me lists I can sort and filter as needed.
I also ran it through this Test Document Readability online widget and found out among other things that the number of years of formal education that a person requires in order to easily understand the text on the first reading via Gunning Fog index is: 9.58 (basically, a tenth grader.)
The fun generators got into kind of an argument over my writing, though. The Genderanalyzer says my blog is gender-neutral (which makes me ridiculously proud) but that I'm probably a woman:
On the other hand, when analyzing a chapter from the WIP The Gender Genie is convinced I'm a guy:
I admit, I'm female. At least 52% of me is. All those rumors about me being male/female/alien are too much fun to completely dispell.
Finally, I tried running PBW through the SEO Analysis Tool (scroll down on page), and among a lot of neat info discovered this:
Title Tag
Title: Paperback Writer
The title tag contains 16 characters which is perfect.
The title tag relevancy to the page content is 100% which is perfect.
I keep telling people PBW is perfect, but they never listen . . . .
For a example, I fed a chapter from my current WIP into Christopher Park's Manuscript Analyzer and discovered that out of 3,757 total words I had 1,107 distinct words, 32 possible adverbs, 139 frequent offenders (words that are overused and/or need to be weeded out.) I really like this widget; it gives me lists I can sort and filter as needed.
I also ran it through this Test Document Readability online widget and found out among other things that the number of years of formal education that a person requires in order to easily understand the text on the first reading via Gunning Fog index is: 9.58 (basically, a tenth grader.)
The fun generators got into kind of an argument over my writing, though. The Genderanalyzer says my blog is gender-neutral (which makes me ridiculously proud) but that I'm probably a woman:
On the other hand, when analyzing a chapter from the WIP The Gender Genie is convinced I'm a guy:
I admit, I'm female. At least 52% of me is. All those rumors about me being male/female/alien are too much fun to completely dispell.
Finally, I tried running PBW through the SEO Analysis Tool (scroll down on page), and among a lot of neat info discovered this:
Title Tag
Title: Paperback Writer
The title tag contains 16 characters which is perfect.
The title tag relevancy to the page content is 100% which is perfect.
I keep telling people PBW is perfect, but they never listen . . . .
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