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Years ago I had the opportunity to hear Anne Lamott speak. A friend in my critique group happened to have an extra ticket for her lecture and I JUMPED at the chance to listen to one of my favorite authors discuss the writing process. I don’t quite remember the venue, suffice to say a large, old, theater/auditorium somewhere in mid-town Manhattan, and I’d be hard pressed to come up with an exact quote, but I remember nervously handing Ms. Lamott my copy of Bird by Bird, and squeaking out something that was supposed to sound like thank you as I scuttled away. I do remember laughing a lot as she talked about her process. And I do remember leaving inspired to dive into my own writing.
One of the writing tricks/tools that Ms. Lamott spoke about that day was The Observation Deck – A Tool Kit for Writers by Naomi Epel. I may have ordered it that night when I got home, but I think if Anne had said that it was important to eat artichokes and hop on one leg for ten minutes before sitting down to write, I probably would have done that too. (So glad she didn’t recommend that, btw.)
The Observation Deck is a handy-dandy deck of cards that can inspire you to action when you’re feeling stuck or just in the mood for a nudge in any direction. For instance, I just drew a card that reads “Study Opening Lines” – this one is pretty self explanatory, but if you need to dig deeper you can turn to the corresponding book to look up the meaning of the card. The gist of this card is that “You have a world of powerful teachers sitting on the bookshelves in your house right now…” and goes on to give examples of famous first lines from novels and how they resonate with readers. And now I bet you are thinking of some of your favorite first lines of novels, maybe even revisiting the first sentence of your own WIP and wondering how you can make it pack a punch. See? All from a card that helped you think about something different. And sometimes, that’s all we need.
A few summers ago, I turned to The Observation Deck when I was trying to decide what direction to take with my new WIP. I’d been toying with the idea of writing a story about a shy girl who is suddenly thrust into the spotlight after she saves someone. My character was whispering to me at that point and I couldn’t find the inspiration to get the engine started. The card I picked was “Combine Elements” – take two totally different ideas and put them together and see what happens. I’d had this other story in my brain too – about a teenage thief who wanted to reform his ways – but I’d never written from a male POV before and I just didn’t know where I was heading even though that particular character was practically screaming in my head.
So…I put them together.
What if shy girl saves teen thief and he sees that as his opportunity for a second chance? What if they fall in love? What if just when things seem to be changing his past comes back to haunt him and threatens their relationship? That was the day Wren met Grayson…and the day my 2014 debut novel THE PROMISE OF AMAZING was born. Maybe I would have eventually put the two together, but drawing that “Combine Elements” card made it feel like putting those characters together was no big deal and if I wanted to change it up at some point, no harm done. Of course the story evolved a lot from that first seed, but I’m so glad I pulled that card that day, and continue to include The Observation Deck in my little bag o' writer tricks.
So how about you? What are some of your favorite tools/tricks to help you along in your writing process?
4 Comments on Stoking the Creative Fire, last added: 4/23/2013
I don't have a favorite tool now, but it sounds as though I should buy the OBSERVATION DECK toute suite! Thanks for alerting us to a potential game changer.
Great post, Robin. In addition to OBSERVATION DECK as a tip, I think you've got another very important tip in there: "drawing that “Combine Elements” card made it feel like putting those characters together was no big deal and if I wanted to change it up at some point, no harm done."
To me, that is one of the most important writing tips. There is no harm done by writing something. I think that fear stops so many people. Don't be afraid to write the wrong thing. That is what new files are for.
Thanks for sharing an exciting resource, Robin! The OBSERVATION DECK sounds very helpful! Combining elements can definitely be exciting. So wonderful that you drew a card that set you on the track to writing THE PROMISE OF AMAZING!
I think my favorite trick is just the simple writing question, "What if?" For me, that question can sometimes jump start an idea.
I love Anne Lamott too and I will look for the Observation Deck. Combining Elements is a great idea. I also use the 'what if' exercise. Sometimes I play the 'why' game with myself -- why would a MC, or even a person on the news, or a character from history, do something? It spins off ideas for me.
I despise a story with weak characters. No matter how many car races or love-stories the author throws in, a novel is boring unless it centers around vivid, interesting characters who are changing and growing in unexpected ways to respond to their situations--or sometimes resisting change and growth, like Scarlett O'Hara in GONE WITH THE WIND. I loved Katniss Everdeen in HUNGER GAMES for defying the Capitol to protect her sister. Though mostly I hated Bella Swan in TWILIGHT for being so passive and whiny, at least she had the guts to love a vampire.
Young adult literature is so particularly compelling partly because kids by their very nature are always changing and growing and on cusp of such critically important changes. They are constantly being forced to make choices about their own characters. As GraceAnne diCandido, my literature instructor at Rutgers used to put it, the central question of a young adult novel is "Who am I and what am I going to do about it?"
How do you create your own unforgettable characters? Or is there a character in recent literature that you find especially compelling?
0 Comments on The Role of Character as of 4/15/2013 5:38:00 PM
Confession. I'm a victim of the Palmer Method. I went to Catholic School and learned to write cursive in those notebooks with the dotted lines through the center. I spent many an hour looping my ds, ps, and qs to just the right height, my wrist never touching the desk. Somewhere along the line, I rebelled, and now even I have a hard time reading my scrawl.
But that doesn't stop me from filling up notebooks. Recent circumstances have led me to a block of time here, a block of time there, and a lot of travel in between. Firing up a laptop became cumbersome and my writing time dwindled. I knew I needed a different approach, so I went back to basics. Marble notebooks.
I bought one in hot pink for my WIP. It makes me happy to open it up and write in it. It's completely portable and I'm finding a different connection to my writing in putting pen to paper. Typing up my scrawl a day or two later gives me another opportunity to add emotional depth and description I missed in my first go round.
I'm liking this notebook thing.
Anybody else out there going Luddite on their drafts?
Can you believe kids aren't even taught cursive anymore??!!
I collect notebooks. And we're not talking fancy ones...character ones, special colors, special paper, ones I'm just drawn to for whatever reason...there's definitely a different connection with pen to paper vs fingers to keyboard. There's an intimacy there that sometimes gets lost click clacking away. (although that's a nice sound too...)
If I'm stuck at a certain point, I sometimes jot down a question(or two or three) at night before I go to bed then write a little in longhand in the morning. It's definitely a great way to get "unstuck".
Long Live the marble notebook!!!! (I always need a new stash when school begins too!!)
Hello Judy, I fill out my notebooks every 2-3 months. Love scribbling and hearing the scratch of 2B pencils on smooth paper. Typing the draft into the laptop does help me revise the ms. It's great to meet fellow-notebook writers!
Nice to know others grab paper and pen or pencil sometimes too. I prefer q pencil any day. Maybe it's because it takes me back to school days when I loved a writing challenge best of all. Pencil was the tool, long before stories and reports were required to be in pen.
I'm not much of a laptop writer. I always start my drafts with pen in a cheap, lined notebook (preferably a pretty color). I don't switch to the computer until I have a few drafts on paper. I need that tactile satisfaction!
I've always loved paper, notebooks, pencils and pens. As a child, one of my biggest treats was to be given money and taken to a stationery store. Now, when I'm stuck finding the perfect word, I turn from keyboard to pencil and paper. What fun to make messy lists and scribble out the wrong choices!
Robin, I collect notebooks too, but I've always collected small ones to jot notes down when ideas occur on the fly. I bought a few in Italy that I particularly love.
But now I've begun a new love affair with the marble kind.
Gale, I still love stationery stores. And I, too, get real satisfaction from crossing out. I only write on one side of the paper, so I can blacken out what I don't like as deeply and completely as my hand and brain need.
I always adore a new notebook! It's empty pages seem filled with possibility!
But I do find myself starting a lot of drafts in a file on my computer now. I guess it just depends what I have around.
(I have written first drafts in crayon too. When I have found myself inspired with no pen in sight. I guess a writer writes with whatever material they've got! :o) )
We all have our tried-and-true recipes that we return to time after time for potlucks, dinner parties, or family meals. But what is your recipe for writing success?
Be open to revision, and then be courageous and submit!
Reach out, make friends, and support other writers.
What are the ingredients that led to your writing success? (Whether your success is writing your first draft, conquering revisions, submitting a manuscript, or celebrating your published book!)
I’ll start the recipe and you can each list your choice ingredients….
Recipe for Writing Success
-1 clever idea
-10 lbs. of elbow grease
-5 cups of constructive critiques
7 Comments on Recipe for Writing Success, last added: 3/12/2013
Keep adding rejections till you get to 100 or more-- fold them in to the batter slowly but steadily (and don't get discouraged every time you add a rejection to the bowl... every rejection gets you one step closer to an acceptance-- and if you think rejections are a good thing, you'll keep submitting, which is the only way you can get published anyway! :o) )
The best fiction is like a pyramid mostly submerged in water; only the very top pokes above the page but it must give us the sense that we will find a solid, three-dimensional creation no matter how far down we dive to explore it. This is true whether you're writing about aliens with three genders and lavender tentacles, twelfth-century Scots clansmen in kilts, or just a bunch of kids hanging out behind a 7-11 in Cranford, NJ.
The question is, how far do you have to go to create that sense of reality, of faithfulness? When it comes to research, no one could say I'm a shirker. My WIP is a fantasy novel based on Jewish folklore, so for years now I've been reading everything from the Biblical books of the Prophets, medieval wonder tales, the novels of Isaac Baashevitz Singer, Hasidic tales of the Holocaust, collected Jewish folk tales and Apochrypha, scholarly treatments of ancient Jewish magic and the like.
But now that I've gotten my characters to my fantasy world, I'm having trouble imagining myself there and I couldn't figure out why...until I read Jane Yolen's wonderful essay, Turtles All the Way Down (first published in Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction, edited by Isaac Asimov and published by St. Martins Press in 1991). The prolific Yolen, no slouch at building worlds herself, suggests that we base our fantasy worlds on landscapes we know intimately. "In fantasy, outer landscape reflects inner landscape…. If the place is real enough, then the fantasy creatures and characters--dragon or elf lord or one-eyed god or the devil himself--will stride across that landscape leaving footprints that sink down into the mud. And if those creatures are also compelling, having taken root in the old lore and been brought forward in literary time by the carefully observing author, those footprints in the mud can be taken out, dried, and mounted on the wall."
How do YOU make your writing come to life? How do you build a world?
5 Comments on Building a World, last added: 3/21/2013
Ariel, I don't write fiction/fantasy, but in picture books, one of the things that's always fascinated me is the mechanics of how a writer slips into fantasy and then back to reality. Neat trick and difficult to do successfully.
I'm not sure how to do it successfully, but I think you have to really believe in your world. And just like real life, it has to conform to it's rules and constraints. As to the outer landscape reflecting the inner, that should be true in most novels -- the conflict must be one that readers can relate to; the setting provides a framework through which characters move, stumble and grow.
I think a lot of it is being willing to create the part that doesn't immediately go on the page, not to get too crazed about filling page counts. That's probably a lot harder to do when you're under contract.
To date, I've never dabbled in fantasy. But that doesn't mean I never will. I think there are common elements in world building with contemporary fiction. You still must paint a setting picture. You still must engage the senses. And yes, you still need to know what to leave out!
Really interesting question, Ariel! Jane Yolen's suggestion about basing our worlds on landscapes we know intimately makes a lot of sense to me. (Perhaps because my favorite fantasies often have a clear real world base...)
After a week's vacation in the "Land of Enchantment" (New Mexico), I have come home inspired and ready to write.
My only challenge... How do I recreate the diverse and magical spirit of this environment as a setting for a story?
Literature has long been inspired by place. The Grapes of Wrath, Gone With the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird- each of these transports us to a very specific time and environment.
Much is involved in scene setting. To give a true sense of place, one must incorporate the following: physical environment, people, culture, language, and history. It is challenging to not let your setting interfere with (or upstage) your plot. It must be seamlessly woven in between your characters' actions and dialogue.
As I sort through my photos, maps, and free brochures, I think of the people I met, the cultures I experienced, the landscapes I hiked through. I'm not ready to resign my memories to a scrapbook or picasa gallery just yet.
But I am ready to share this adventure through storytelling.
What are some of the ways you incorporate a sense of place into your writing?
Are there certain children's books/authors that you feel do this exceptionally well?
8 Comments on Weaving a Sense of Place, last added: 4/12/2013
I can think of a couple of historical fiction novelists who did a great job of incorporating setting with plot and character - just about anything by Scott O'Dell and then there's Elizabeth Speare's THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND.
Setting is my Achilles heel!! Such a hard thing to pull off seamlessly. I think the important thing to do, is not to make it seem like a 'list' of objects or quirks that place you in a scene. You need to pull out what's unique and create a real backdrop. Stephanie Perkins does an awesome job with setting in both her books ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS and LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR. She captures both Paris and San Francisco in such a subtle way but you still get the flavor and feel of both - almost as is they are characters in the novels themselves.
I really enjoy a fun and unique setting-- like Alecatraz in Al Capone Does My Shirts. I agree with Robin that setting is a hard thing to do well. As long as it fits in perfectly in the background, it is wonderful-- but if it starts to become like a list or overwhelm the plot, I find myself feeling annoyed as a reader.
When I work on setting, I literally close my eyes, lean back in my chair, and watch my characters move through their environment. I watch them doing mundane activities as they move through their day. Move from room to room in the house, classroom to classroom in the school, etc. I try to become as familiar with their environments as I can before I write the scene, then incorporate what I learned as organically as I can.
Judy, I love your visualization exercise. Instead of forcing the characters to fit a certain mold, you sit back and see what unfolds in your mind's eye. We could all do more of this when writing.
"He's such a character," someone says. Well, aren't we all? Or are we? Some fictional characters seem to have stepped out of real life right into the book. They are made to order for an exciting story. The writer has only to change their name. Other people in real life are so dull they couldn't even make it into a newspaper story. How does a writer construct a character? Does she, like Laura Ingalls Wilder, develop sweet, charming characters out of three or four people in her life? Or like Carl Hiaasen, does she create bizarre characters that emerge from the Florida Everglades like alligators with a bad attitude? Characters drive the story. If a reader doesn't fall in love with them or find them creepy, or frightening, or funny, or thoroughly distasteful, he'll drop the book and log on to Facebook. Lots of characters there.
To me, character is the heart of any story. Once I know my characters - what they truly want and their fatal flaws - well, then I'm off and writing! Before that, though, I have to admit, I flounder a bit.
Yes, wonderful characters are so important to fiction! And by wonderful, I definitely don't mean they have to be nice! A wonderfully bad character is wonderful too.
All of you, I'm sure, have read a book so exquisitely crafted that at the story's end the main character seems to be shadowing you. You feel like asking him to sit down and tell you more. This can't be all, you say. I just finished "Old Filth," a highly praised 2005 novel by British writer, Jane Gardam. It could easily be a young adult book, so I'll use it as the subject for my comments. Gardam's work encompases Edward Feather's long life, starting at the end, then switching to the beginning, with his birth in Malaya, then to his miserable seven-year old existence in Wales, then to teenage years, back and forth, each chapter revealing a piece of the puzzle Feathers was. Nevertheless, it is a perfect page turner; only in the last pages of the novel are the multitude of mysteries that make up Feather's life resolved. What I'm sure Gardam did prior to writing was to create a very thorough biography (not just a character sketch) of Edward Feathers, and probably biographies of all the story's characters. Her meticulous character development paid off. I'm afraid I have been careless, writing and hoping my characters catch my reader's attention with minimal effort on my part. I could improve. Vastly.
3 Comments on The Character Who Will Not Leave, last added: 11/13/2012
Writing memorable characters is such a challenge! How wonderful that you found a book to provide you with such inspiration! Good luck achieving your goal!
I like to inject a fair amount of humor into my work. I don't write a lot of slapstick or ROTFLMAO stuff, but I hope my readers are giggling frequently. Lately, due to some personal circumstances, I've had a hard time writing at all, let alone writing funny.
I needed a way to combat my writing inertia and get me and my characters out of their gloom. So I invented a writing exercise. At least, I don't know of anyone else who has done this before. Oh, except maybe Second City and other improvisational acting troops.
So here's what I do when the funny is missing. I put my characters in ridiculous situations and see what happens. Like an audience calling out ideas to an improv troop, I don't spend a lot of time thinking of circumstances. I work with any idea that pops into my head and go for it. I'm not looking to use what I write in my novel, I'm just trying to make myself laugh -- at my characters or with my characters.
My MC has tripped into a ring at a three ring circus and found himself face to face with a lion. He and his love interest witnessed a nun boost some cash from the poor box and followed her around town as she made some purchases. His entire group of friends spent the night in one hotel room -- oh, wait, some of that may end up in the novel.
The point of this exercise is to relax and be silly. No one has to see it but me. Unless, like Julie said in her last post, I save it for some added value down the road.
5 Comments on Writing Funny, last added: 12/8/2012
Judy, Thanks for the great tips on bringing joy and humor back into your work. When you have been picking apart the same manuscript for what seems like an eternity, it's refreshing to take your characters on a little field trip. It wakes you up, and them as well!
How do you enter the magical world of your young readers?
To get into the right mindset, I think back to how I felt as a child. I also get lots of ideas from my students (I teach elementary art).
But how do you tap into that world if you don’t interact with children on a daily basis?
One resource is Edutopic’s list of winning student blogs by children ages 6-13. It’s a great way to research how today’s kids spend their time, what they care about, and what they find funny. (Notice how many of the blog titles include the word, ‘Awesome’.)
Another resource I love is the New York Times’ blog, “Kids Draw the News.” On this site, children submit illustrations to accompany articles on current events. It’s a great way to discover how children view the world. Plus, their illustrations are a hoot!
What resources help you enter the world of young readers?
5 Comments on “Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning. ” ― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan, last added: 1/15/2013
Sharon, Well done! Great resources. I especially liked the video and drawings for the newspaper.
Get involved in a project with kids to get inspiration. I volunteered to pack health kits at my church on Saturday. I sat at a table with children who wrote positive messages and drew pictures on cards to include in the kits. It was an eye opening experience to sit by children and take in their comments.
Sharon, You're a great resource person for us! I checked out some of the kids' blogs - must be a lot of parental help for the youngest ones? - but what I enjoyed more was the NY Times blog with kids drawing the news. There, you see unfiltered kid imagination - loved the "Frankenstorm."
Oh wow, Sharon! Thanks for sharing these awesome resources! (Eek! Guess I use "awesome" a lot too!) I am especially excited about kids draw the news. Can't wait to see what my boys draw for headlines like these!
5 Misconceptions I used to have about writers and writing:
1. I used to think all writers were rich.
Now I know that most writers barely make a living from their work - so cash-wise they're poor.
But they're also rich: Rich in having time to do the thing they love, the pleasure of knowing they're doing work that their innermost core calls them to do, flexibility of working space and flexibility of working hours.
2. I used to think a writer could write anything they wanted.
But I soon found out if you want to be published by a regular publisher you need to take into account the word count publishers are looking for (especially for younger readers) and if you want to use your writing to express your ideals and be published by a regular publisher its better to do this subtly. (Of course with e-boooks you can do what you like!)
Bella Donna's favourite meal
My first book published was very close to my heart and expressed my life view and because it got published relatively easily I thought I could do that all the time - but my manuscripts then started to turn a bit crusader-ish and got turned down. I still want to share what I believe in but I put it within a fun story. My Megan Rix books are all about how amazing I think animals are. In November I took part in the World Vegan Month and blogged for Animal Aid. I realised that my characters in the Bella Donna books (apart from the cats) only ever eat vegan or vegetarian food - and that's how I'd like to be (I count myself as a nearly vegan as I can't always manage it.)
is Munchkin
3. I used to think once your first book was published it'd be plain sailing.
Hohoho! How wrong could I be. But not having my second or third novel manuscripts published was the best thing that could have happened because it meant I learnt to diversify and write for a range of ages and media and publishers rather than just one slot.
4. I used to think the writing life was easy.
Risotto
LOL!
5. I used to think you needed an agent.
But that isn't true. I think I'm up to my fifth agent now - one for children's books and one for adult non-fiction. I like having an agent because it lets me have more time to write and also gives me professional back-up, editorial help, sorts out my contracts and makes sure my finances are in order. But my first three books were published without having an agent so it isn't always true (and certainly not true now when you can publish yourself.)
What misconceptions did you have or maybe you went into writing with your eyes wide open - and if you did then good for you!
I believed number 3! Took me ages to get my first book published, but I told myself the struggle and sacrifice would be worth it, since from then on it would all be "onwards and upwards" as my late agent used to say. Hmmm.
I don't think I ever believed number 1... Some authors are rich, in the same way other people win the lottery, but I bet there are a lot more lottery winners than rich authors!
I thought most writers wrote novels. In fact, there are far more non-novelists who are professional writers than novelists: writers of picture books, non-fiction, plays, poetry, screenscripts, opera libretti... Novelists just get (demand?) most attention, particularly literary novelists.
Keep your plot unpredictable.Easy for you to say… I picked up a great tip on this recently.Use your critique partners – not just for review, but for breaking through plot bottlenecks. Try this exercise:set the stage (your MC had a huge fight with her best friend), and ask your critique partners what might happen.
Wait for the first answer (she storms off and refuses to
talk?) and avoid this at all costs: the predictable plot.
Delve deeper, seek alternatives. Brainstorm more answers with your partner. Does your MC tell other friends her side of the story, so that the basketball team shows its divided loyalties? Maybe. Does she cry on a badboy’s shoulder – the badboy her friend has crush on? Or maybe she’s so upset, she steals her father’s car to get as far away from the fight as possible… What happens then? Where does she go? That’s what everyone wants to know and where you should drive your plot.
You’re the writer, the creator, the omniscient presence, the grown-up. You drive. Drive your main character crazy. Test her, push her, force her to learn through doing, just like real life.
Remember: “Your main character is not your best friend.” You are not only allowed to put this ‘person’ into uncomfortable situations, you are supposed to. That’s your job.
Keep at it: tease, challenge and frustrate your characters. That’s when you’ll see what they’re really about. At some point you’ll be able to take your hands off the wheel and let them lead you on their journey of self-discovery and change.
Then you’ll have arrived at an interesting story.
5 Comments on Drive Past the Predictable, last added: 1/30/2013
Lots of good advice here, Julie! I am thinking and wndering a lot about your basic premise though: Avoid a predictable plot at all costs. While I agree that a predictable plot can be a bad thing, I wonder, can a super-unpredictable plot be bad as well?
Recently I read a book (for grown ups), that went off in such an unpredictable direction in it's final section. As a reader, this really annoyed me (as it didn't seem to fit with the rest of the book).
Also recently, I was watching a television program , I said, "Their car is going to get stolen". "What?" exclaimed my husband... but sure enough, a few seconds later it did. Being able to predict this (but not too easily) gave me a fun sense of satisfaction as a viewer.
So, I guess I agree that you want to avoid being TOO predictable (but young readers can enjoy making a prediction that comes true too :o)!
Besides keeping your plot unpredictable, it's also important to keep your character imperfect. A quirk or habit will make your character much more believable and interesting!
I am guilty of "good" first impulses. I have to work at letting my characters be unpredictably bad. But, when I do let them make mistakes, it's so much more fun for me as a writer!
Like many writers, I suffer from a dreaded writerly disease: trying to write it right the first time. I agonize over sentence structure, search my thesaurus for the perfect synonym, and doubt every plot line.
So when I came across this New York Times Magazine Article that reminded me how important it is to be wrong -- and "to be wrong as fast as you can," I considered once again how overrated right is. In the article, Hugo Lindgren reviews a list of ideas he's had throughout the years and wonders why he hasn't written them. He recounts a Charlie Rose interview with Pixar's John Lasseter:
Pixar’s in-house theory is: Be wrong as fast as you can. Mistakes are an inevitable part of the creative process, so get right down to it and start making them. Even great ideas are wrecked on the road to fruition and then have to be painstakingly reconstructed. “Every Pixar film was the worst motion picture ever made at one time or another,” Lasseter said. “People don’t believe that, but it’s true. But we don’t give up on the films." We've all heard it a million times -- the stories of successful writers slogging through page after page of mediocrity, never giving up. And that is the real difference between success and failure. Never giving up. So as I finish what I hope is my last major revision of this novel, I'll welcome making mistakes that can be fixed. I'll keep my eye on the light at the end of the tunnel and take the express.
3 Comments on Wrongs and Writes, last added: 2/3/2013
So true, Judy. And so wise. I recently heard an interview with Michael Chabon at the end of the audiobook of The Yiddish Policemen's Union in which he revealed that he had written a 600pp first draft of the book with a first person narrator. He threw it out and kept 30pp. And he was so nonchalant about his efforts! It reminded me that what we see in a book is the tip of the iceberg.
Advice I need to follow. Too often I agonize over sentence structure and the perfect word in a first draft. I should just get the ideas down and leave the angst to later.
Truer words were never "written." A certain amount of discipline is necessary, but getting it all out is far superior to getting hung up on the first paragraph...and going no farther.
Mo Willems and his pigeon. Smile material. Masterful picture books! In 2011, Mo was invited to give the prestigious Zena Sutherland Lecture. He titled his talk "Why Books?" Here are some highlights:
"Always think of your audience; never think for your audience."
"If I re-read one of my manuscripts and I understand exactly what is happening, then the manuscript has too many words. And if I look at the images without the words and I can fully understand the story, there are too many drawings."
On enhanced digital books: ". . . after we turn them on, they don't need us. Turn it on and leave the room, and the book will read itself."
On real books: "But a real book is helpless. It needs us desperately. We have to pull it off the shelf. We have to open it up. We have to turn the pages, one by one. We even have to use our imagination to make it work. . . . So maybe books work because they make us work. Maybe we need them for needing us, just like we need real friends, not the digital imitations on Facebook."
Well said. Do you agree?
Photo credit: Marty Umans
6 Comments on Mo Willems - "Why Books?", last added: 2/19/2013
Love Mo Willems, of course, and thanks for this post! Also, real books are clearly superior for me, but Mo Willems describes WHY better than anything I've ever read.
Thanks for stopping by, CL. Yes, I think Mo gives us a great reason to favor "real" books. With digital books, we don't have the same connected relationship.
I completely agree. While I've been reading a bit more on my Kindle lately - I can throw in in a bag and travel easily, knowing I won't run out of anything to read -- I still prefer a real book. And a large part of it is the page turn. I look forward to turning a page.
The reasons for loving a good page turn when reading a PB are obvious, but I feel the same way about novels. I can't wait to see what the next page brings.
I miss that feeling on my Kindle. Maybe it's because the page turns are too frequent. Maybe a tap isn't as satisfying as a turn.
I too agree. Nothing compares to the feel of a real book, no matter what cool gadgets the future brings. I'm glad there are many who feel the same. And I love Mo Willems' take- it's nice to know books need us, too!
On Tuesday this week, I felt like a proud godparent. Two talented writers that I've been working with (and 13 others, that I haven't!) launched their anthology, Writes of Passage. I stood in Foyles Charing Cross with a glass of white wine, a label on my front declaring me to be a tutor and watched as agents and editors hustled to speak to 'our' writers.
Julia Green and agent Jodie Marsh
These students will always be special, as they are the first ones I tutored on the MA Writing for Young People at Bath Spa Uni. I say tutored, because that's what it says on my pay slip. But that isn't really what it felt like. They already had talent, technique and an excellent work ethic. So, I felt more like a mentor. My job really was to drink tea, read attentively and listen while they found solutions.
I love the idea of mentors. I have been very lucky as a number of writers who's careers are further along than mine have taken the time to listen, to give advice and say 'that's normal, we all feel like that'.
My own MA tutor, Julia Green (who has a new book out like month Bringing the Summer!) was such a graceful mentor. She told me I had to re-write the first half of my novel which such kindness that I left her office grinning, not crying.
Me and the anthology editor, Sarah Benwell
Other writers have given me wonderful pieces of advice; Marie-Louise Jensen told me about the Scattered Authors' Society, through which I've come to know some wonderful writers. Liz Kessler has been fab at making this industry feel like fun when it can so easily grind you down (see her post on her love affair with Twitter, somehow everything she works on feels like that). Actually, there's lots of great Liz-advice to choose from, but my favourite was during a discussion of commercial books: 'write whatever you want, but then stick wings or a tail on it'.
15 Comments on Writing Mentors - Elen Caldecott, last added: 5/17/2012
Mine was Vivian French, who taught a module on children's writing on a course I did at Bristol (the Certificate in Creative Writing - now sadly defunct). Without her enthusiasm, encouragement and generosity, I would never have got started on writing for children. I teach writing classes now in the community, and they are very much influenced by the teaching I had on that course - in particular from Julia Green, always so nurturing and appreciative!
Paul Dodsgon - I won a place on a mentoring scheme at Exeter uni, and he took my rather turgid travelogue and supported me while rewrote the whole thing about 5 times, making it the book the best book I can possibly make it (and it has had some wonderful reviews, so it was worth it!).
It was his honesty that made a difference - if one bit worked, he told me so - and then listed all the things that didn't. But he always believed I could do it - so I did!
Actually Liz Kessler has been rather fab to me too and I have secretly (and totally without her permission) appointed her my unofficial mentor. I also love her writing which helps - you have to have confidence in your mentor. It's so lovely to think that someone has taken the time to read over something I've written and is willing to help me onwards with it.
Che Golden said, on 5/17/2012 3:16:00 AM
Steve Voake mentored me on the Bath Spa MA course. No matter how bruised and shattered my confidence was, I always left his office smiling. The support and the encouragement of a well-respected author can make all the difference to a writer just starting out. We need more mentors! And they need to give out their mobile numbers which, for some bizarre reason, Steve refuses to do. I don't understand it, I promised I would ration myself to 20 calls a day?
Mentoring must be an incredibly satisfying thing to do - to watch and nurture talent, to see it blossom. Congratulations Elen, on a job well done.
What a wonderful programme the MA Writing for Children is! Congratulations to all anthology contributors. I there any way I can obtain an electronic copy? It's not on Amazon and I live in a land far, far away...
Island Writer - hello! No, the anthology isn't really intended for sale. What happens is that the publishing world is sent a copy in advance of the launch, then, at the party there's a bit of 'speed dating' going on to see who'd like to read more. It's an exciting way to do it!
Love this post! For me, the idea of 'writing mentors' is part of the whole thing that I love about the writing community - that we are all beginners at some point, and when we are, we gain knowledge and inspiration from others. Then when we get to their position, we pass it on to the next wave of people entering the business. It's very 'pay it forward' and I love it.
And THANK YOU for the lovely comments, both from you and from Abie. Am very honoured to be appointed 'unofficial mentor'! :)
Julia Green was my first mentor too - she was wonderful! I still tell everyone who asks that the Bath MA was the best thing I've done for my writing career ...
As a writer of contemporary YA fiction, I find myself creating a lot of romantic plot lines. I'm currently digging deep to finish a second round of revisions, and one of the things I'm looking to clean up is parts where I'm 'overdoing it'. My problem is characters who over analyze their feelings...maybe too much heart-thumping, breath-catching, lip-biting, sighing, staring deeply into each others eyes...you get the picture. Then I'll read some current YA and growl in frustration because it feels like all I'm reading about is
lip biting,
breath-catching,
heart-thumping kisses,
and wonder where am I going wrong?
See, my first kiss was amazing. No awkward nose-bumping, no fumbling. He was the boy next door (okay, not right next door, but close enough), two years older and suffice to say, had skilled lips. Being kissed by someone with experience was like getting a hit of the most delicious, pleasure-inducing drug imaginable. If I'd only known the side effects - confusion (Does he like me?)...despair (Why is he ignoring me?)...desire (When can we do that again??!!)...I would have run in the other direction.
Yeah, right. A kiss in NOT just a kiss for me. It's a life altering experience.
And so began, as kd lang sings, this constant craving for those yummy feelings that come with the territory. Romance - even just the hint of it - is an essential part of a book for me. And it's part of who I am as a writer. Most stories I've written have some element of l'amour in them. Does that make me a sap?
Over the years, some of the most biting editorial remarks I've received regarding my writing have included words like "melodramatic" and "cheesy" - yeah, ouch. My cheeks are reddening as I type this. Not exactly buzz words you want on your jacket flap.
So Paper Waiters, I know there's a fine line between true romance and mawkish romance, but how do you know when you've crossed it? What are some good, contemporary YA romances that have gotten it right?
*photo credit Alfred Eisenstaedt (photographer of The Kiss)
6 Comments on A Kiss is Just a Kiss (NOT!), last added: 5/23/2012
I certainly wouldn't call THE FAULT IN OUR STARS a romance, but I think John Green got the emotional details about kissing and love quivers just about right.
Gale, Totally agree!! I LOVE TFIOS! I think in other less skilled hands the whole book may have been more melodramatic. I especially loved the scenes in Amsterdam. One of those books that will stay with me for awhile!!
And Robin, I know just what you mean about writing it right. I vividly remember those first kisses. And I don't really know how you can go over the top -- because they were over the top!
But good writing is all about balance. And we sure do know that just 'cause it happened, doesn't mean it translates to fiction.
And does it mean anything that I didn't log in here and so blogger is asking me to prove I'm not a robot -- and one of the words I must type in is obscene! Literally. The word is obscene.
Getting a kiss scene right is REALLY hard. So good on you for trying to recreate those feelings so a reader can imagine themselves in that moment too. I think anything by Sarah Dessen is usually pretty honest and well done.
JA - Obscene, lmao!! Getting the balance is so key. I think that's where I"m trying hardest - enough to make it poignant and real, but not to much so it's considered purple prose!
Woodwork - So true. It is really difficult to get a kissing scene just right!! Sarah Dessen is one of my favorite authors, and yes, she gets it right!
I think it's all about the skill of the writer--at that particular point in time. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor is very lyrical but also sensual, dreamy and romantic. Her previous work I found terribly over-written.
This year I have made progress on several projects, although I haven’t written as much as I intended. As the summer looms, and the inevitability of children rushing through my house all day approaches, I realize I will get even less done each day than I do now. How can I write more, and write it faster?
Many authors measure their progress in words per day. This doesn’t seem to work for me. I need to be a more ‘effective writer.’
Here’s what I need to work towards:
1.Plan. Outline. Draw a mind map. Looking ahead can save a lot of looking back and rewriting.
2.Separate writing from editing. Effective writers WRITE, without looking back. Just get through the first draft, not the first chapter. Edit through the dross and the good stuff in a second stage. (This is a biggie for me.)
3.Write every day, even just a little. Just one more page keeps the story moving forward. Over a year, a page a day is a novel’s first draft. (Reportedly, Stephen King writes even on Christmas Day. Wow. What discipline.)
4.Finish what was started. Don’t let good ideas rest in peace in the file cabinet. Resurrect them! Complete what was once a passionate and inspirational project.
5.Set deadlines. Deadlines demand a finished piece. (This is one of the many things a critique group is good for.)
6.Write first. Volunteer last. Instead of structuring free time around, say, school library volunteer work, and squeezing in writing, structure time around writing. Give up other activities and give in to the dream of writing. Then a book I write might appear in the library.
Summer, with frequent interruptions (whether children, visitors, or vacations) can be a tough time to be productive. But if I try, maybe I will make more progress than I expect.
How do you keep productive? Any tips?
5 Comments on Words Are Not Enough, last added: 5/28/2012
Yes, and I have had a lot of difficulty with #6 this year. I keep volunteering -- which can be a good thing, but it has taken a toll on my productivity. It's time for me to be more productive on the writing front.
Yes, #6 is one of the most important keys to success. You should consider your writing a JOB. Others might not understand, but it's the right thing to do. Years ago, I remember saying no to volunteering in a school library because I needed every extra minute of my time. I had three little kids and was working on(ironically enough)an MLS, but graduate school was my job at that time.
I agree about number 6. And when you don't have a full time "job" -- that really is the hardest one to keep. You can make the commitment to write every day, and even if you only get 100 words down, you move forward. But if you let everything else come before writing, and you only get 100 words in every day, it sure will take a long time.
I am at the end of a major volunteer job and I can't wait. I will now look for volunteer work that has specific hours and specific tasks that I can plan around my writing time.
Judy -- planning around the writing time is key, and what I failed to do this year. I resolve to live by a new system...And I agree Gale, that it is a job -- and without considering it one, it will never become a paying one. And people do not understand, but I wonder if that's largely my fault for not setting out the priority clearly enough.
"Tt was a dark and stormy night." This opening line in Bulwer Lytton's "The Last Days of Pompeii," is considered a literary joke. For years the sentence has been used as an example of how not to open a novel. Today one must start in the middle of the action. Hook the reader, expecially the younger reader. No more scene painting. Description is to be used like salt or vinegar. Sparingly.
I'm not so sure I agree with this. Wouldn't a good opening paragraph with time, place, weather, scenery, be beneficial to the reader? Guess not. Like a TV viewer surfing channels for an eyecatching flick, the young reader wants the first line to pull him in. "Lights, camera, action" works best.
So I've been examining my manuscript for the eyecatcher. Apparently it is not a teenage farm girl in front of a hot stove. Guess I have to trot out the dead body a little earlier.
6 Comments on Dark and Stormy Doesn't Do It, last added: 6/6/2012
I don't think that means no more scene painting. I do think description must be as important as action.
Does the reader, for instance, need to know that the hero's hair is brown? Probably not. But does the reader need to know that the hero's hair keeps falling over his left eye, leaving him peering through clumps as thick and greasy as old french fries? All right, maybe that's not the most picturesque prose, but my point is that description should still move the story forward is some way.
One of my favorite books is Jennifer Donnelly's A NORTHERN LIGHT. Her description is so beautiful I found myself pausing and savoring her passages. Here is the beginning:
"When summer comes to the North Woods, time slows down. And some days it stops altogether. The sky, gray and lowering for much of the year, becomes an ocean of blue, so vast and brilliant you can’t help but stop what you’re doing-pinning wet sheets to the line maybe, or shucking a bushel of corn on the back steps-to stare up at it. Locusts whir in the birches, coaxing you out of the sun and under the boughs, and the heat stills the air, heavy and sweet with the scent of balsam.
As I stand here on the porch of the Glenmore, the finest hotel on all of Big Moose Lake, I tell myself that today-Thursday, July 12, 1906-is such a day. Time has stopped, and the beauty and calm of this perfect afternoon will never end. The guests up from New York, all in their summer whites, will play croquet on the lawn forever. Old Mrs. Ellis will stay on the porch until the end of time, rapping her cane on the railing for more lemonade. The children of doctors and lawyers from Utica, Rome, and Syracuse will always run through the woods, laughing and shrieking, giddy from too much ice cream.
I believe these things. With all my heart. For I am good at telling myself lies."
Description used sparingly? No. Used beautifully? Yes.
Linda, As I remember your beginning, it's not just the description of a girl over a hot stove, but the emotions of that girl who is slaving away in the hot kitchen cooking for her large family on her BIRTHDAY and she knows no one will probably remember her important day because her mother is giving birth at home. It's description, yes, but you link it with a character's feelings.
No only do you show the MC's emotions on this her birthday in such a busy house, but you show the characteristics, actions and emotions of her siblings in the busy morning.
Judy - loved the fascinating description from NORTHERN LIGHT.
I also remember your opening as engaging -- introducing a main character that I was sympathetic to, and giving me appropriate detail about her life.
I think one of the problems with description is that it can lead a writer down a wrong turn, i.e., away from the plot. As long as the description is supports the action, through character insight (Judy's hair 'thick and greasy as old french fries' is a good example) or establishing the relevant setting (A Northern Light) it's not only useful, it's critical to a good story. If the description is woven in as the action occurs, the description is almost invisible, like a polished window through which you view the action.
All right. I'm going upstairs and reading the first chapters of my three favorite books...when I was 12. Description...I love it. But it has to bind you to the main character, immediately.
In "My Life's Sentences" a brilliant article about writing, (New York Times, 3/18/12) Jhumpa Lahiri claims: "They (sentences) remain the test, whether or not to read something. The most compelling narrative, expressed in sentences with which I have no chemical reaction, or an adverse one, leaves me cold." So what sort of sentence keeps the reader hooked?
"Certain sentences breathe and shift about, like live matter in soil. The first sentence of a book is a handshake, perhaps an embrace. Style and personality are irrelevant. They can be formal or casual. They can be tall or short or fat or thin. But they need to contain a charge. A live current, which shocks and illuminates ... Sentences are the bricks as well as the mortar, the motor as well as the fuel. They are the cells, the individual stitches. Their nature is at once solitary and social. Sentences establish tone, and set the pace."
How does Jhumpa Lahiri create the sentences in her fiction? "After an initial phase of sitting patiently, not so patiently, . . . they begin arriving fully formed. . . I hear sentences as I'm staring out the window, or chopping vegetables. They are pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, handed to me in no particular order."
Later, they are "sorted, picked over, organized, changed. Most will be dispensed with. All the revision I do - and this process begins immediately, accompanying the gestation - occurs at the sentence level. It is by fussing with sentences that a character becomes clear to me, that a plot unfolds. . . As a book or story nears completion, I grow acutely, obsessively conscious of each sentence in the text. Each sentence is "confronted, inspected, turned inside out."
Does her writing process seem unusual? Or do you also work this way?
7 Comments on Sentences That Breathe, last added: 6/19/2012
...oops, sorry, I was staring out the window waiting for the right sentence to come to me.
Sigh.
That sort of effortless sentence building doesn't always happen for me. Sometimes I even feel like I'm birthing my sentences - minus the epidural. I "sort of" understand - some of the best thoughts come to me when I've allowed my brain to play while I focus on some other task. But it is rare that I receive complete sentences from some otherworldly source. Sounds like a really cool way to write though!
Gale, I might occasionally get a line for a character to speak, but that isn't something that comes until after I have fleshed out the character or plot in my head. I did write down a random sentence that came to me in a dream once, but I've never thought of a way to use it. Maybe that will be revealed in yet another dream. :)
Robin and Linda, Yes, her method of working from random sentences wouldn't agree with my organized mind. When I sit down to write, I like to have an idea about where I'm going before I start building sentences.
But it surely works well for her! I love Jhumpa Lahiri's fiction.
Sometimes images or phrases do float to the top of my consciousness, but I try not to get over-attached to them for that reason. You know what they say about editing: "kill your darlings!" generally the hardest part of writing a novel for me is keeping the whole thing in mind while I'm working on the parts.
Sometimes images or phrases do float to the top of my consciousness, but I try not to get over-attached to them for that reason. You know what they say about editing: "kill your darlings!" generally the hardest part of writing a novel for me is keeping the whole thing in mind while I'm working on the parts.
Wow! Her sentences about sentences are so very beautiful!
Every once in a while, I "hear" a sentence and think it should be part of a story. But for me, these sentences never seem to go anywhere. (They often sound to me like they should be part of a story for grown ups... and I rarely write stories for grown ups.)
For me, I think I often think in stanzas. Every once in a while, one will arrive fully formed, but more often I have to work hard to get them out. And when I am fussing, it is often with individual words to make sure those stanzas read as smoothly and as perfectly as possible.
Thanks for sharing! So very interesting to read about different writers processes!
I wish those fully formed sentences would float my way!
I did however, relate to the jigsaw puzzle metaphor. Often when a sentence doesn't work, I'll fiddle with it until it works and voila! I get the same rush as finding that perfect puzzle piece.
I am considering further revision of a book I wrote some years ago. Well, that's a lot of time to think of changes. One of the problems with the novel is that I had placed the story in a contemporary setting. Each time I revised the manuscript, technology, such as phones, fax machines, cell phones, cars, and all their possibilities had changed, and I had to bring the manuscript up to date, leading to other changes, ambiguities and incongruities, etc., etc. I think in my next revision I will place the story in 1980, and by doing so, eliminate some of these stumbling blocks. Now, in your opinion, will this make it a historical novel?
0 Comments on What Constitutes Historical? as of 1/1/1900
Melinda, I found a link that may be helpful. http://historicalnovelsociety.org/guides/defining-the-genre/ It states 50 years in order to be historical.
I guess you just set a story in the year you want and go with it. A reader should be given some clues of the year or a statement that makes it obvious.
I do understand your frustration with the contstant change in technology. That must make revision a bear.
I agree with Linda A. The 1980s are too close to be considered historical.
And I totally get what you are saying about technology. Frankly, technology changes so fast, you might have to revise from one draft to the next , even if both drafts are written in one year!
That said, I wouldn't let those changes keep you from using a current setting. If there is no reason to put your story in the 1980s, then move it to today. Keep the technology as simple as possible. Or maybe invent some names of your own to keep things from getting outdated?
I found an interview with an editor that I wanted you to know about. Check here for her comments about setting a story in the 1980 or 1990s. http://carolbaldwinblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/insights-into-editing-conversation-with_30.html
About a month ago, I watched the movie Letters to Juliet with a group of my friends. When I originally saw it on the big screen, I was swept away with the gorgeous Italian countryside and of course, the romance. Who doesn’t love a story about star-crossed lovers who meet again and reignite their passion? Or of someone in the wrong relationship who is suddenly thrown together with a person who is truly right for them?
The ladies I was with apparently. As the credits rolled, more than a few of them thought our choice for movie night was entertaining but somewhat cheesy.
Oddly enough, I agreed. For me, what had been magical on the big screen came across as slightly unbelievable and forced in my friend’s living room. But what had happened? Maybe since I wasn’t distracted by the larger than life gorgeous scenery and hot buttered movie popcorn, I had the chance to dissect the plot? Was my mood different? Or was I affected by my friends reactions? I’m not entirely sure but the question that remained with me, especially as a romance writer, is how do you let a character express their feelings without making it seem cheesy or forced?
Romance is different to all people, isn’t it? What may come across as mawkish to one person might ring true to someone else. If I’m writing something from the heart and a person deems it cheesy – does that mean I'm trying too hard? Or is it just a matter of opinion? And the bigger question is this – if the literary world can accept dystopian societies where kids fight to the death, angels and demons battling over doomed love, and any number of dead girls reflecting on their life who are given the chance to make it better - why is the act of falling in love and forging a relationship so hard to believe?
Are we all just too cynical for a dose of cheesiness now and then?
3 Comments on Romance, Hold the Cheese., last added: 9/8/2012
Great questions, Robin! I definitely think romance can be a challenge when it comes to the cheese factor. I think that the writer has to work extra hard to make the act of falling in love and forging a relationship believable. Perhaps if it is too formulaic, it can come off as cheesy.. I often like to reaad love stories in the context of other stories. I love it when a romance starts to develop in one of my favorite mystery series. For me, when there are lots of other interesting plot lines going on, a bit of romance feels fun. I definitely think that writing romance is tough, but when it's done well, it's awesome. And you do it awesome!
I think writing about love and striking the right balance is as hard as writing about death. In both cases, you run the risk of being too over-the-top, but at the same time, you can't write flat prose that doesn't engage the reader's emotions.
Hats off to those who can do it, and Robin, I agree with Brianna, you do it well!
I most definitely think there are as many different tastes in cheese as there are missing parents in YA.
But when you think about it, love is so private, so personal. I almost feel guilty writing down my characters private moments. It's like I'm invading their privacy. And who isn't just a little bit cheesy in private?
In an attempt to understand how to handle plot, back story and character development, I am rereading Carl Hiaasen's books for children: "Hoot," (Newbery Award,2003) "Flush," "Scat," and "Chomp." There are three elements common to his work. One, the main character, always a decent kid, is confronted by a problem or challenge developing either from a family or school situation. He immediately elicits reader sympathy as he moves to solve the problem by himself, often against overwhelming odds. Parents and adults are present, but they are often feckless or have their own problems, or, are sometimes part of the problem. The main character loves and respects his parents but does not ask for their help. He is often protective of them. Supporting characters are edgy, weird and raunchy, definitely "over the top." Second, the plot moves quickly from the first chapter, often from the second page, and there are several threads, all connected with the main plot. As one plot solution develops, another problem arises, and another, until the final solution is reached. The bullies are "taken out," but they return again and again to attack the main character. Third, back story is inserted sparingly and intermittantly, often in a short paragraph, always from the protagonist's point of view. It is rarely presented in dialogue. Hiaasen's books feature south Florida environmental issues, and additional information is always necessary. It is done so well, the reader scarcely realizes he is reading it. I think these three points alone make Hiassen's work appealing to middle graders...and obviously to the Newbery Award Committee.
4 Comments on Learning from an Expert, last added: 9/19/2012
Good post Linda! It is always interesting to evaluate the structure of a piece (novel, pb, or otherwise) and to try to apply that constructively to one's own work. It's not necessarily a bad thing to have a 'recipe' -- after all that's the basis of many good meals...
Reading as a writer is so useful. But with a good book, I find it hard to do. I get lost in the story. So I've found the best way is to allow myself to read for pure pleasure and then to go back and dissect.
Great job learning from an expert, Linda! Like J.A., I often like to read for pure pleasure first and then go back to dissect. (When a book is truly amazing, I find myself compelled to reread it as soon as I finish. :o) )
In our village in Ireland this summer, a 58 foot fin whale swam into our harbor, settled in to a corner where shore meets pier and rested in shallow water. The chest-high cement wall along the pier overflowed with villagers craning their necks to see over and down towards the water below.
With her nose into the apex of cement walls, able to submerge just inches beneath the surface, she rose and blew, spraying seawater from her blowhole and puffing every few minutes. It was a fascinating spectacle. How often can you watch a whale, and see its face, with protruding gray balls for eyes, and a white horseshoe mouth bigger than my kitchen, up close, for hours on end?
Sadly, it was soon apparent that our whale friend was not well. Muddy red water let everyone know that Fineena, (Irish for ‘beautiful child’, the name dubbed her by locals) was bleeding internally. No one, not the veterinarian, the whale specialist, nor the fishermen could help. This was real life, not a children’s story. Fineena lay ill for three days before dying, enduring tidal shifts which left her slick black skin half exposed above the water, scratched ragged from a gale-force storm which tossed her helplessly against the cement pier and rocky bottom.
Simultaneously macabre and inspirational, from a writer’s point of view, I wonder where I should take this story. Children’s reactions were as varied as their accents. One teenage boy broke into tears. Others watched wide-eyed with obvious questions. Some just accepted it, with “That’s nature.”
Can I use this emotive experience to write a happy picture book ending for Fineena? Can I use the powerful death scene I witnessed in a middle grade novel and how? Her behavior brings up so many questions and infinite story possibilities. Why did she choose our village as her final resting place? Why not the shallow creek where the seal colony lives, or another of the limitless, uninhabited coves nearby? Fineena swam past hundreds of boats with low keels, their thick-roped moorings stretching from the water’s surface to the bay floor, creating an underwater maze. How did she manage to cause no damage? Why was she so determined – was it something about the echo of human voices across the water?
I wrote my initial impressions as the story unfolded. When I look back at that draft, I am struck by the richness of detail and emotion, and authenticity. The voice, using the point of view of the whale, is much more powerful than my remote efforts. So writers, you’ve heard it before: write it down, right away! Take copious notes. It matters. Readers will feel it.
I don’t yet know what my final choice will be for the story, but it feels like a story worth sharing.
8 Comments on Fineena's Final Choice, last added: 9/19/2012
Seems life may have handed you a great story. The telling of it will probably not be easy because there are so many decisions to make, but if you don't lose the emotional elements of that first draft, you'll be fine. Go for it!
So sorry to hear of the whale's death. I am glad you took notes about what you witnessed. Remember, you can change the ending if you prefer. Have you asked other authors who have published traumatic stories based on life if they let their notes set a while before writing it up or if they dashed it off while emotions were raw?
This would be a wonderful story. As to the not-happy-ending, the classic Andersen's Little match Girl is a reminder that such can be the most powerful.
What a powerful post, Julie! Sometimes with a story like this, I wonder if distance might be what is needed. You can try to use this immediately in a variety of ways, but it seems to me that is is likely to inspire your writing in direct and subtle ways for quite a while to come.
Thanks Mirka -- Little Match Girl is a good reminder that sad endings can be very effective, and appropriate for kids. And Judy and Brianna, I think I'll try both -- writing something now to see how it works, and then later, another version. I'm sure I'll draw on it for the emotion and action in my WIP Novel (which I have got to get back to...)
Last week my daughter's teacher sent out an e-blast letting us know what the children would be learning the upcoming week. As I scanned the e-mail I noticed in their Writing lesson they were going to learn how to "put said to bed". The image I kept getting was of poor little said, being sent to bed with no supper. I wondered if said would be the type of word who kept looking for ways to stay awake, rubbing its eyes, asking for water and maybe needing an extra blanket or two.
I was impressed because I don't remember learning something so fun in my own fourth grade class. I remember doing a report on the natural resources of Alabama.
But then I thought, is this really the right lesson for a writer?
Said gets a bad rap, doesn't it? Use it too much it gets redundant and boring. Don't even think of spicing it up with an adverb (shudder) because the literary police will actually come knocking on your door and ticket you for lazy writing. "Then of course there are using other words in its place," she scoffed.
Just the other night I had a conversation with my daughter that went something like this...
G - "Mom, what's another word for said?" Me - "What do you mean?" G-"You know, what can I use instead of said?" Me - "Um, hmm, well, you see..."
No, really, try and answer that question easily. It wasn't that I was stumped, but I had to ask her what was going on in the scene. And then suddenly I was getting into dialogue mechanics* and the tone of the scene and what point did she want to get across and really all she wanted to do was finish her work, watch some Phineas and Ferb and then go to bed herself.
To be clear, I don't have a problem teaching fourth graders to find different words for overused ones. I get it. This is for creativity, not creating a Printz-worthy masterpiece. It expands their minds, makes them think. As I revised some of my own writing this week, that little phrase kept going through my head. And while I didn't put said to bed on every page, I did give it some warm milk and made the suggestion on quite a few. The result was tighter, more concise dialogue.
Maybe not a bad lesson for writers after all.
So how about you? Do you have trouble putting said to bed?
*For a great lesson on dialogue mechanics and the word said please refer to the book Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King.
7 Comments on Put Said to Bed, last added: 10/1/2012
Oh, my daughter's 5th grade teacher did this, and it drove me crazy! She sent home a list of synonyms from "advised" to "zinged" and told the kids they would only be able to use the word "said" twice per page. My daughter already knew this was bum advice, and asked me what I thought.
I said she'd have to follow the teacher's instructions, but that professional writers use "said" quite a lot, and that outside of this assignment, so should she.
It just made me wonder if the teacher read much published fiction herself.
Marcia - I feet the same way. I like that the kids are getting to think outside the box, etc, but no, people cannot "laugh" sentences, no matter how happy they are!!
I definitely saw this when I was a teacher. And yes, it drove me crazy. "Said is dead" is a fun phrase and it seems to make sense (if you're not a writer) that the more word variety the better.
When I taught Writer's Workshop, I always tried to teach writing to my students as one writer to another. Sharing what I had learned so far and what my most important writing teachers-- great authors-- had taught me. But most teachers are not writers. So it is challenging...
I think it is awesome when teachers get to participate in programs like the National Writing Project-- I got to do Connecticut Writing Project and it was wonderful! Also, books about writing by teachers who write like Nancy Atwell-- In the Middle-- Lucy Calkins, Ralph Fletcher and Barry Lane-- can be wonderful guides for teachers. They certainly were for me!
Some writers have an idea and just start writing. Some writers like to do a bit of plotting first. A few of them like to do a lot of plotting.
And then there’s me. I plot, a LOT. In fact, I plot so much that the plotting is the longest part of my whole process. But the great thing is that once I’ve finished plotting, all I’ve got to do is write the book! Oh, and then edit it. And think of a title. And – ok, so writing a book has quite a lot to it!
So here is an insight into how I write my books.
The very first thing is the IDEA. This can come from anywhere and anything. Quite often, it is a place that inspires my ideas. This was the case with Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist. I visited a place called St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall, and found it so magical and mysterious that I knew it had to feature in an Emily Windsnap book! The actual place itself isn’t in the book, but it gave birth to the whole idea. Here it is.
Looks like quite a magical place, huh?
So, OK, I’ve got the idea. It’s a brilliant starting point, but that’s all it is – a start. So then I do all sorts of things to try to develop the idea. The first thing I do is either go to the place – if it’s somewhere real that I can actually get to – like Cornwall, or even Bermuda, or in the case of my brand new Emily Windsnap book, the arctic landscape of the north seas. If it’s not somewhere I can get to (for example a frozen land that you can only get to by crawling through a hole in time) then I have to research it online or in books – or purely in my own imagination.
At this point, I need a nice notebook! Here are a few of my notebooks…
I LOVE this stage. I wander around, staring into space and scribbling notes in my lovely book. And the best thing about it – I can call it work!!!
After a few weeks of doing this, I’ll come to a couple of realisations. The first realisation is that I’ve got a LOT of notes and thoughts about my new book – which is good. The second realisation is that I’ve got NO IDEA how any of them fit together. Not so good.
So here’s what I do next. I type up all the notes from my notebook, and then I cut them up into pieces! Yep you heard right. I cut the whole lot into a hundred tiny pieces. (Actually, for the latest book, it was more like 150 – but who’s counting?) Each separate idea goes on a separate piece of paper. Then I spread the ideas all over the biggest table in the house, until it looks a bit like this…
Then I go and make a cup of tea (see the cup in the top left corner?) and I sit staring at the enormous amount of tiny pieces of paper and wonder how on earth I’m ever going to piece them together.
This is usually the time when I suddenly remember all sorts of important things that need doing. Put the washing in, clean the bathroom, phone my mum, check out my emails etc etc etc. At some point, though, I realise I’ve exhausted all my excuses and I really need to figure out the next step.
So I take a few deep breaths and I sit down and I start reading through all the notes. And then something a little bit magical happens.
It starts to fit together!
This piece goes with that piece; this idea has to happen before that one; these three all say the same thing so I can throw two of them out; these two have to happen at the beginning; this one belongs at the end. And so on and so on, until, after maybe a few hours or maybe a few days, a pattern begins to emerge. The story is taking shape.
Once I’ve figured out a rough shape for my notes, I work and work on them, building them up, adding more detail, figuring out the nooks and crannies of my story. Once I think I might have enough notes to make a whole book, I break it into chapters. If I seem to have roughly the right number of chapters, it means I’ve got the plot sorted! Yay!
At the same time as the plot is taking shape, I like to try a few more tricks to figure out what’s going on. This is where I’ll spend an afternoon ripping pictures out of magazines to get a better picture of my characters, or doing big mind maps to come up with more ideas about my story.
Here’s a mind map I made whilst writing Philippa Fisher’s Fairy Godsister.
Anyone who knows this book quite well might notice that only a few of the ideas here actually made it into the book! This is something that happens quite a lot when writing a book. One of the things you have to learn to do is recognise that not all of your ideas fit into the book. Sometimes it’s the ideas you like the most that don’t belong – and it’s hard, but you have to cut them out!
So eventually, I’m happy with the plot and I’ve got to know my characters pretty well. It’s time to write the book!
The good thing is, I usually do this fairly quickly. I’ll usually aim for around 2,000 words a day. I do sometimes make changes along the way. The plot outline is there to help guide me – but every now and then the characters want to take a little diversion along the way.
But after a few months, I get to that wonderful moment where I reach the two words that give any writer a wonderful feeling.
The End
And I do actually write ‘the end’. It gets taken out before the book is published, but I like the feeling of writing it. Except that it isn’t actually the end quite yet. Oh no-ho-ho! The end of writing the first draft means the beginning of the editing.
Luckily, I have BRILLIANT editors and working with them is great fun. Here’s an example of a page of my writing that’s in the middle of the editing process. The black type is my original draft, the blue type is my editor’s notes, and the red ink all over the paper is my re-written thoughts after reading what my editor said.
Bear in mind – not every page ends up looking like this! But quite a few of them do. Sometimes it can be quite a job figuring out how to type up all the changes I’ve made, as there are so many squiggles and arrows and numbers that all made perfect sense when I was writing them but take a bit of imagination to unravel later! Other pages just have smiley faces on them or things like ‘Ooh lovely!’ or ‘I like this!’ That’s because my editor is really, really nice as well as really clever!
What happens next is a bit like a tennis match. I write a draft and send it over to my editor. She edits it and then bats it back over the net. And so on and so on until we both agree that we think it’s done.
And then….ta dah…hip hip hooray…woohooo…it’s DONE! The book is written!!
This is the point where I usually collapse in an exhausted but happy heap, and then take a few weeks off before the next job…
PS This article first appeared as part of the US Girl Scouts' Behind The Scenes project, but I wanted to share it with some fellow authors and other adults as well, so I hope you don't mind me posting it here too!
14 Comments on Writing a book the Liz Kessler way (by Liz Kessler), last added: 10/4/2012
A fab post Liz and one I am going to book mark so I can use it when I teach my creative writing class. It answers so many of the questions my students ask.
Lovely - you are the goddess of plotting! I would like to try doing that. At least the cutting up pieces of paper. I'm good at cutting up. I'm not good at planning...
It's great to see how someone else does their plotting - I have huge sheets with sticky notes (solves the wind-blowing-them-away problem), and have always wondered what others do. Love the mind maps too!
Fascinating to see the bread-and-butter (or glue-and-paper) technique of your plotting laid bare, Liz. And that you plot so much! It find it's so tempting just to start writing and see what happens...think I might try your methods and see if it can work for me!
This is fascinating - and a great antidote to those authors who airily say "Oh, I just have an idea and start writing and it goes off in all sorts of directions I never imagined..." I can't work out whether some people really do do this, or whether they just don't want to admit that they have a box file of plotting diagrams hidden in the cupboard... Or maybe some people have their plotting faculty buried deep in their subconscious, and it guides them through without them realising it? Anyway - always interesting to hear how other people do it, so thanks!
Thanks for the kind comments. I had wondered if this post might just send other authors running for the hills, so it's nice to see that it's of interest and doesn't just seem scary and bonkers!
Amazing. Liz this definitely does NOT seem bonkers, but I think I might find it scary if I thought I had to do it that way. Like others have said above, I love your process - but I know it would never work for me.
I find if I plot too much it takes away the buzz I get when I am writing, because I like to discover the story along with the characters. I often know what is going to happen in the end but the journey to get there is what keeps me writing.
C.J. I don't have a have "box file of plotting diagrams hidden in the cupboard." and I have no idea if I have a plotting mechanism hiding in my subconscious... but I have tried plotting it all out beforehand and I just can't make it work for me.
I am in awe of anyone who can construct plot. Plot is my Achilles heel - possibly because I don't understand maths or algebra or logic or common sense or cause and effect. Not really really. And I love your idea of typing out your notebooks and cutting them up into pieces! I shall try that - although I doubt it will help me arrive at a finished plot. Perhaps a poem.
I am in awe of anyone who can construct plot. Plot is my Achilles heel - possibly because I don't understand maths or algebra or logic or common sense or cause and effect. Not really really. And I love your idea of typing out your notebooks and cutting them up into pieces! I shall try that - although I doubt it will help me arrive at a finished plot. Perhaps a poem.
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I don't have a favorite tool now, but it sounds as though I should buy the OBSERVATION DECK toute suite! Thanks for alerting us to a potential game changer.
Great post, Robin. In addition to OBSERVATION DECK as a tip, I think you've got another very important tip in there: "drawing that “Combine Elements” card made it feel like putting those characters together was no big deal and if I wanted to change it up at some point, no harm done."
To me, that is one of the most important writing tips. There is no harm done by writing something. I think that fear stops so many people. Don't be afraid to write the wrong thing. That is what new files are for.
Thanks for sharing an exciting resource, Robin! The OBSERVATION DECK sounds very helpful! Combining elements can definitely be exciting. So wonderful that you drew a card that set you on the track to writing THE PROMISE OF AMAZING!
I think my favorite trick is just the simple writing question, "What if?" For me, that question can sometimes jump start an idea.
I love Anne Lamott too and I will look for the Observation Deck. Combining Elements is a great idea. I also use the 'what if' exercise. Sometimes I play the 'why' game with myself -- why would a MC, or even a person on the news, or a character from history, do something? It spins off ideas for me.