Quote For Today

"It is better to write a bad first draft than to write no first draft at all." --Will Shetterly

Don't stress too much if you aren't writing the perfect story, or if editing isn't going great. Just remember that you're doing something and that's better than doing nothing. Keep your chin up!

The last impression

Hook the reader early and often. I've noticed that writers and editors teach the importance of the early hook. In my writing group we've discussed how important that hook is, considering books that have no hook and evolve slowly. Indeed, editors who have spoken to our group insist that it is crucial to grab a reader's attention quickly.

In the main story I'm writing at the moment I came to the end of a scene and suddenly found that I couldn't end it. The intensity I try to build fizzles and the running scene lurches to an ugly end. With all the emphasis on setting up the scene my brain has tried to end it with the same energy and failed. Read it here.

This is only one example. Other times I've been writing and found the same problem: I'm on a roll, feeling the words come out just right, and then writing a lame sentence that leaves the whole feeling injured. Currently, what I do is edit it a few times to rescue it. If that fails then I leave it and come back later, but some things get so stuck in my head that I can't seem to think of anything else. Does anyone have any different ideas? What do you do when a word, phrase or sentence is out of sync with the rest of the scene?

Minimal Writing

I haven't tried this writing technique but, even if taken as a jest, I admit it sounds intriguing.  Soon maybe I will post the result.  Happy Halloween, everyone!

"I asked Ring Lardner (a blacklisted U.S. journalist and author) the other day how he writes his short stories, and he said he wrote a few widely separated words or phrases on a piece of paper and then went back and filled in the spaces."  --Harold Ross (1892-1951), founding editor of The New Yorker. 

Writing Every Day

Since starting to write last January, this has been my biggest challenge. There are so many reasons not to write in a day, excuses leap to the tip of my tongue. Some days it's to spend time with the family, or because I had yard work, or felt too tired. Maybe the house was too noisy, or I had to take a phone call. Perhaps I blamed it on the easy target, the so-called "writer's block."

Such excuses and their endless siblings may have validity but the block honest habits from forming. There may be a day when writing won't or shouldn't happen at all, or must be cut short. As a new writer I feel that such excuses crop up all too frequently. Yet Stephen King wrote that fantasy writers should aim for 1,000 words a day, six days a week. So, I have to start making a habit from writing and I'm looking for the best way to do it. One tip I picked up was to end each writing session in the middle of the action, making sure no following session starts with a blank mind. Another idea is to figure out which part of the day (you need to do some experimenting here) your mind works best in and set aside some time then to write. Also, having a notebook (paper or electronic) handy for ideas will help when you sit down to write at length. A journal can even create the impetus to write each day, and lengthier projects can go from there.

My idea so far is keeping up a regular blog (I have two). I haven't written each day but I'm getting better. What ideas does anyone else have to help them write regularly?

Quote For Today

“Words—so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.”

—Nathaniel Hawthorne

Remember this, whether you're feeling the full-throttle of your craft or doing molasses-slow editing, how powerful you can all be!

Pratchett: Wonderfully Absurd

Recently I've been reading some of the Discworld books, by Terry Pratchett, with my family. The series in question starts with Wee Free Men and follows the adventures of Tiffany, a 9 year girl who may or may not be a witch. What I've found in Pratchett is a writer with a strong sense of the absurd. There is a similarity between his writing style and that of Douglas Adams. Humor that surprises laces nearly every page of the novel, stitched into the fabric of the story seamlessly.

Humor aside, the heroine is brave, resourceful and nearly fearless. There are plenty of fantasy creatures in a setting that is comfortable in its unfamiliarity.  I admire his ability to tell a story that is enjoyable and deeper than it first appears, with a great sense of humor amid the seriousness. I would love to be able to tell a story as simply and enjoyably.

Building a story

Several time since I started writing again I have found myself stumped in the middle of a seemingly great idea.Rather than eagerly typing away I would be tensely poised over the keyboard, motionless. The vigor of the story was lost, it's life drained away. Some times I have forced myself to keep going and other times the story has been left alone. Cut off, the file dwindles its way down my list of recently updated files.

This has been a challenge for me to overcome, or even to figure out what was happening. In some cases the fault was with the story but I realized just the other day that a major problem was in the characters themselves. I was so caught in the story and anxious to give release to the creative pressure, I had not fleshed out in my head who the story was about in enough detail to fuel the writing.

Once upon a time I never started a new story until after sitting down with a friend to hash out characters. We uncovered through our conversations some of their background, strengths and weaknesses, and motives. In doing so we also laid out general lines where the story would go. Even the breadth of geography for the start of the story would be uncovered. Which isn't to say that nothing ever changed after that first meeting or two (or three), but a beginning was formed.

And so, I am beginning a new story, one with characters and depth I've already fleshed out. They are shadows, and they will change in the telling. But I hope this is a breakthrough for me.

What do you you need to get started with a story? How do you get ready? Any thoughts out there?

Words Are Sacred

One of my favorite quotes, courtesy of a journalist acquaintance, just happens to be about writing. Tom Stoppard, a British playwright, said, "Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little." Regardless of what we write or how often, there is no telling what the impact of our words will be on another human being. Earlier this evening my wife pulled out a single sentence from an eleven page story and told me it was a great sentence. The words meant something to her.

And so, with the right words in the right order you just may nudge the world today. Entering this weekend, I leave you to that quote and your own thoughts.

Repackaging A Story

Recently I took another spin at editing a short story from a couple of years ago.  Actually, the story is one that a friend and I developed over quite some time.  The story inspired an ink drawing by my friend and the short story is an attempt to give some background on the drawing; in other words, this short story is based on a drawing and is actually part of a much larger story.  It's repackaging a long story into a short one, and it wasn't easy.

The challenge was to give enough detail to engage the reader in both the words and the ink.  There must be enough detail to make sense but not so much as to give things away.  At the same time, some things will not make as much sense without knowing the larger parts of the history behind the character.

The character, a priest-turned-sell-sword, is named Kalkin after a character in the great book, Lord Of Light, by Roger Zelazny.  The drawing is one of my favorite in part because of the background it represents; however, it stands on its own.  A framed copy hangs in my house.  I've included a small version of the original drawing and a link to the story, which begins,

"At the edge of the valley the Dark God emerged.  Pools like black ink welled up from the stony ground of the foothills and began to run together and merge.  A thunder of wings carried a fearful flock of screaming birds away from the growing obsidian stain.  The trees where they had roosted began to wither, smoke oozing from beneath their gnarled bark.  Drawing himself upward the Dark God rose from the pitch and stood upon the blighted spot.  Everything around Him held its breath; even the wind was stilled.  He bent his mind across the valley, seeking a soul.

A multitude of auras brushed by the feathery edges of his unimaginable mind until one reacted against him.  A single aura blazed up as it was touched, as if a blue curtain of fire was drawn to avoid his will.  As, in fact, it had been.  The Dark God's touch withdrew.  Malice boiled from the Being, spilling from into the lowlands and across the plain and seeping into every other living being, but one.  Every soul recoiled from the iron tang of their own mortality--the fear of death and the chill of its hopeless approach.  The bitter knife only failed to penetrate one soul.  The god could taste its essence like a bold liquor, and his mind was bent on savoring that one man's eternal dying."

Read more ...

How To Keep It Going

A recent suggestion from my group at Inkwell was to write about an experience that helps us through the bad patches of writing.  Something has to keep us going when even our hearts aren't in our writing, right?  We all need some happy place to help shelter us through the rough days.  One such experience was in college; I keep the paper I wrote not for the grade but because of what went behind it.


For years I held myself back because I didn't really believe that I could be a writer.  Any chances I got in school were too conformist: so many pages long; margins and font set just right; a type of writing; a voice.  Those assignments inspired all the passion of a paint-by-numbers picture.  Taking a leap into an old desire I signed up for an advanced writing class in college.


Our assignments were left so open to us that most of us had to ask three or four times the first week to make sure we understood the rules--which, boiled down, were to turn the assignments in on time without cheating.  Having a sudden freedom to write, I sat down with assignment number two and felt ideas rushing into my mind.  I scrambled for a pen and some paper and the words streamed down my arm and across the pages.  I was writing for myself instead of not for a teacher.  My grade didn't matter (okay, it did a little) because it was my story.  I owned that story; or, rather, it owned me.


I knew then that I could write.  It hasn't been a clear and easy path since then, of course, but I can go back there when needed.  Anyone else have an experience like that to share?

Favorite book?

What is your favorite book?  Answering that question was a writing prompt that originated from the Bloggers United group over at Inkwell.  There are many ways to define a "favorite" book but in the end I picked the one two that always rise to the top: Pride and Prejudice, and the Heaven Tree Trilogy.  Each of these took some effort for me to start and appreciate, because I they were beyond the main genre of my youth (neither book offered dark sorcery or hyper drive starships, if  you can believe that!).

1.  Pride and Prejudice was a departure from what I normally read, but as a freshman in college I picked it up. Struggling through the first ten pages, I dropped it in disgust and moved on.  It was Christmas Break and there were better things to do.  But the book called out and I picked it up and--tossing it aside at the same page as the first try.  At least half a dozen times I picked it up, each time wondering as I set it down unfinished how it had managed to achieve even mediocre reviews.

There is no better explanation for why I started over for a seventh time other than a competitive nature to at least have the book read when I told my siblings how wrong they were about the book.  How wrong I was.  Something clicked.  Primarily the story of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, the book traces layers of pride, judgement, forgiveness and love.  The characters are strong and the dialog is laced with human emotions that feel real.  Although the society of Victorian England is not something I can relate to deeply, the characters are.  I worked hard to finish the book and ended up embracing it.

2.  While still a freshman in college I dove into The Heaven Tree trilogy, by Edith Pargeter (who more commonly writes mysteries as Ellis Peters).  Set in the 13th century, the trilogy primarily focuses on Harry Talvace, an idealist and artist who does not fit well into feudal society; Harry's son and namesake; Ralf Isambard, Harry's mentor for the construction of a spectacular church; and the retired courtesan Madonna Benedetta.

While the book's first chapter, and a little more, move slowly the provide the groundwork to understand the artistic passion and moral strength of Harry.  The story is really about passion: artistic, moral, romantic, and political, delving into positive and negative aspects until they blur together at points.  Historical and geographic settings are as well crafted as the story itself.  Perhaps the main reason I love the story is the writing.  There is such a grand scale of things that it would have been easy for the book to get bogged down with adjectives and redundancy.  Instead the book strikes such a balance that Pargeter restores the meaning and impact of our oft abused language.

Note: I could easily throw two others into the mix.  In fact, I think I will have to do a follow-up to this post to handle them, which inspire me in different ways.

My new Goal

Ugh, could it really have been so long since my last post? Worse yet, has it been so long since I made any progress writing, well, anything? Sometimes life just gets busy, and there's no way around it.  And I don't want to find a way around things like spending time with my family during my normal writing times because other responsibilities came up.  So I have been thinking about some goal to help me.  Something to keep the momentum going.

What I need to do is write every day.  Even fifteen minutes of writing (no including the time it takes to get my computer going) a day would help.  Writing each day will help keep the ideas fresh and the details synced.  Even doing just that little would mean over two hours a week. And most weeks I will get my night to put everything else aside and go write (or edit) for a few hours.  Two things which I commit to: giving myself time to write, and writing to keep the ideas fresh.

Will it be enough? Is fifteen minutes a day enough, or will I just be wasting my time?  Any thoughts out there?  I'll find out soon enough, I suppose.  :)

Balance

You all know those big scales in a doctor's office.  There's a square, black pad of ribbed rubber to stand on, with a single metal bar rising up against the wall.  One cold arm reaches out, almost daring you to find your weight.  After removing your shoes (because they weigh at least eight pounds) your carefully step up.  And then you wait so the scale settles down and doesn't mistakenly add a few pounds.  Finally, the moment comes to balance the small, white triangle.

Moving the large weight into position you begin tapping the smaller one.  Back and forth you nudge it, trying to find that sweet spot were the arm sits balanced.  A tap to the right and the arm flies too high, then clanks sharply against the bottom after a left-tap goes too far.  Tap. Tap. Tap.  Finally you begin to start guessing a number, averaging a weight that is over the balanced middle with one that slipped a little below.

So much like writing.  The little square of the computer screen or pad of paper provides the measure.  Somewhere in your head is a small arm with sliding weights and the search is on for balance.  An extra comparison or sloppy adjective sends the overweight bar crashing down.  On the other hand, skimp on the dialog and the story loses too much weight.  You add a phrase here, and adjust the tense there.  Each time the arm rises or falls.  A single word may sound wrong or an entire page may stumble aimlessly.  Tap. Tap. Tap.  Somewhere is that sweet spot with balances between writing enough to create a compelling story without writing so much that readers are force-fed every detail.   Even-handed rather than heavy- or light-handed.  The right tense, voice, dialog, description, comparison, length, hook,... the list is a long one.

Balance in a story may be the hardest thing for me to find.  I'm still trying to understand when I've found it, let alone how I got there.  Even this early in my "career" I enjoy when the words flow seamlessly from thought to reality, just as I struggle when they clomp out of my head and stumble onto the page--which happens more often than not.  Talent and experience, however, help us nudge our work closer, faster, towards a great story.  And so we all go: learning; crafting; applying.  Tap. Tap. Tap.

Writing prompt

At my first meeting with my writing group the group leader brought a box of writing prompts. I picked out a picture of a man and his dog, sculpted to appear as if walking into the wall with only the back half of their bodies visible.  This was my first experience using a writing prompt and it wasn't easy.  The following is what came out, written in one sitting and without edits--I don't have a story to use this in so I wanted to leave it in "original condition:"


'A vanishing night.  That's what his dad would have called a night like this one.  Thornton looked around at the fog and drew his patched coat closer around his neck.  It was like being on a stage with the curtains drawn, he thought.  The normally intrusive city noises were cowed into submission and street lights that usually glared through the night's depth were mere ghosts that wavered through the misty sheets.


"Heel, Slate."  At his command a short-haired dog obediently padded over.  Together they turned beneath a lamppost and trudged down Oak Avenue, the name on the sign the only actual tree on the street.  Reaching out, Thornton let his hand slap against the rough limestone corners of each set of stairs leading up to another building--another sagging pile of dark apartments.  At number seven he turned and rose up the stairs, grasping for the key in his pocket.  Around him now a few squares of yellow light peered blearily at him and he bit back the urge to start shouting at them, if only to hear a voice in the darkness. ...'  Read the rest.

I'm A Writer

Since joining a local writing group I've shied away from identifying myself as a writer.  There are people in the group who write--it's what they do, the creative outlet that drives them.  They talk about writing weekends, editing groups, publishers and seminars.  Most of them have investigated publishing houses or agents and have at least one manuscript they are polishing up to shop around.  They are writers; I'm a hack.

Recently I read something that changed my mind.  In his book The First Five Pages, Noah Lukeman wrote, "You may feel uncomfortable thinking of yourself as a "writer." This is commonly encountered in new writers. They will often duck the label, insist they're not writers but have only written such and such because they had the idea in their head... Despite popular conviction, a writer doesn't need to wear black, be unshaven, sickly, and parade around New York’s East Village spewing aphorisms and scaring children... All you need is the willingness to be labeled "writer," and with one word you are a writer."

He had me pegged.  Just an hour before I had spewed the same excuses.  For the next few weeks I pondered my seriousness in wanting to write, learning the craft, and sharing what I write.  Finally, I can say that I am a writer.  Maybe not a good writer and certainly not a great one, but I am a writer.  Some things have definitely changed.  I am not writing to be published (although I wouldn't cry if a book landed on store shelves someday).  I am writing to write, and no one else has to like it (although it would be nice if someone eventually liked something).

Thanks Noah.

Silent Partner

Time to take a moment to thank my wife. Not only did she find out about the writing group at our local library, she supports me every week as I sit down to write. There is no way I could be doing any of this without her support. 

Keeping a night clear for writing isn't always easy. A lot of things happen that crowd my weekdays. However, knowing that there will be a night in the near future helps keep the thoughts flowing. If I had to wait until a time opened it would be hard to keep the intensity, but like a flame being covered the busy nights would douse at least a significant portion of the stories. It means I try and make other nights a little easier for her (try, if not always succeed). Without my silent partner it would be the writing that was silenced.  So, here's a cheer to my partner, and every other person who has supported a friend or loved one in their goals.

Writer's Block

There are times when it is hard to put into words what is inside the brain, trying to get written.  A mental barrier forms between the images or thoughts in our head and the keyboard or pen under our fingers.  There are different problems but the wall of Writer's Block is real, and makes more sense to me now than ever before.

Something that I've used to excuse laziness as much as anything else, I have recently realized that, even when I know exactly what I want as the result, putting something down on paper is not easy. Getting from the right idea to the (near) exact words can be like maneuvering the turns and dead ends of a maze. As I lay in bed this morning trying to work through an idea, that thought popped into my head and felt right. Maybe a good writer doesn't have new ideas; maybe a good author merely shows us the way from one idea to another. Sometimes while hurrying down an open writing path I bump against a dead end. Maybe I can push through and find the right way out and maybe I have to turn around and go back, look for another path that will lead in the right direction. Is this just me? Maybe. But I know the difference between being lazy, finding the right footing, and being unable to describe a story that my brain can see but not describe.

Writing Night

Tonight is writing night.  In fact, every Tuesday night is my night to write (thanks, honey!).  What I've found in my short stint as a wanna-be writer is that I can't force a subject if I want to have my heart in the words. Maybe that will change over time, but I don't think it will.  The key thing for me these days is to find a stream of ideas that I can send flowing out through my fingers.  Tapping a well of ideas is a good start but forcing it is like hauling thoughts out by buckets and dumping them onto the page.  They might pool together but they don't create anything interesting.  Tonight I'm trying to capture something worth writing.

There are streams inside my brain.  Most of the time one will surface and the words flow easily (if not always well).  Twice I have been able to find a way to stir the pooling water into a moving force.  Each time I had to go through a rough time of writing and re-writing, or even discarding large parts of the story.  But there are good ideas there, and it's been fun to dig in and find them.  So far, it's been a fun and rewarding experiment.  Writing nights are giving me time to be "artsy" and I'm loving it.

Why I Started Writing

For a long time I have wanted to write, but for dozens of reasons--none of them very good--I never did. I'm not talking about an occasional email to friends or family, either. For once I am listening to my wife and taking a chance at seeing what comes out of my brain once I let it take control of the keyboard.

So far, it's been a mixed bag.

About six weeks ago I started meeting with a group at the local library, and doing a little more at home. My writing is very much a work in progress, since having a good idea and writing a good story are two distinct things. I've got cupboards full of ingredients but no one would call me a cook. Likewise, just having ideas does not make someone a writer.

Here is where my adventure begins. Maybe some practice, reading and constructive criticism will help. In this blog I'll dump ideas, thoughts, lessons-learned and maybe parts of some stories. I want to see if the desires to write can be sated with an appetizer or if they will become a full course meal. Thanks to my wife for helping me through this first step.