tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66116946743161139492024-03-18T23:23:10.912-04:00The Reddest Pen.A blog on writing.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-39408987498151323202015-02-02T22:32:00.002-05:002015-02-03T09:55:45.179-05:00Start Now<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222;">“</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">The
hard part is getting to the top of page one.”—Tom Stoppard.</span>
</span></blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">That's it.</span> </b>Start
now. There is a lot to be said about technique and process
and the art of what's interesting, but you'll never learn any of
these things if you don't actually just start writing.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
One of the best favors I ever did
myself was <b>decide to start writing</b> at sixteen. I liked
sitting down with something to drink and some music, and making
something that wasn't there before. I even managed to bang together
a few coherent sentences, I think. Moving on from writing isolated
scenes that didn't go anywhere, I started a bigger project that
didn't go anywhere either, but I was writing, and writing was fun
enough. A year and a half later I pieced together a short story that
wasn't very good, but it was the sort of thing I wanted to read but
couldn't find, and it had potential. That story was the beginning of
my first novel.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Now, at twenty-six, I've re-written
that novel three times, revised it even more than that, and worked on
a bunch of other projects along the way. After everything, and with
much help, the novel is fit to read, and I'm even happy with how it
turned out.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
If that time frame is enough to scare
you off, then you want to write for the wrong reasons. But that
might be unfair of me. It may not take you ten years to write
something good. Those weren't ten years of nose-to-the-grindstone
writing, and starting at sixteen is its own disadvantage in terms of
life experience. <b>Your trajectory will undoubtedly be different
than mine.</b>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Age is not the issue</b> either
way. You can't be too early, or too late. My friend, who is
sixty-five now and a retired teacher, has been walking this writing
path alongside me the past eight years. The fear of wasted time
weighs heavier on him than me, but he's getting there all the same,
in spite of the doubts.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Whatever it is that you want to do, if
it's write a novel, or a podcast, or make a comic, or open a bakery,
you're never going to know
everything you need to know. You're never going to get any
closer by <b>daydreaming about it</b>. The fastest, most effective
way to learn is to do. This doesn't mean you have to sit down at
chapter 1, page 1, “It was a dark and stormy night...”, and start
sprinting through the pages. But <b>decide what you need to do</b>
to get moving, and then do that. If you want to sketch out a few
plans, then sketch them out, but
start.<b> </b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>The hours add up. You learn. You get better. </b>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'm
not as good of a writer as I want to be, but when I look back at work
I wrote two years ago, five years ago, I see how far I've come. I
don't know if I can say I understand this whole writing thing, but I
understand it better than I did.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
When
you sit down to write, the tendency is to do it to find out if you're
any good—if you have some hidden writing aptitude. But the reality
is if you like writing at all, if you're interested, if you want to
make things, that's all the aptitude you need. It's always hard at
first. The words are slow and strange. Sit down knowing you're not
going to get it right the first time through. Sit down, instead,
with a mind to learn. Take your small victories to heart. Be proud
of your time spent working, but know you still have more to do and
farther to go. <b>Know that tomorrow you'll always be glad
you started now</b>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-31087472140329544252014-12-11T14:29:00.000-05:002014-12-11T14:30:51.369-05:00Charles Reznikoff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHye2oF-cy2ii0X46HMTidRhaJJEHTMIPLBu1QYBU1yjc4kAiBkrnSlNGA0taQ9TAWTnb-dchxb9u-r5yFoxdc9LyyIVQpnDKMrXM_I1HR7Erlspz7AV3PzpfPHu11VGbrWN3jfprpR7o/s1600/IMG_0570.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHye2oF-cy2ii0X46HMTidRhaJJEHTMIPLBu1QYBU1yjc4kAiBkrnSlNGA0taQ9TAWTnb-dchxb9u-r5yFoxdc9LyyIVQpnDKMrXM_I1HR7Erlspz7AV3PzpfPHu11VGbrWN3jfprpR7o/s1600/IMG_0570.jpg" height="135" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-68614796862072931212014-10-14T16:29:00.001-04:002014-10-14T16:29:38.449-04:00Revision & the Diagonal Rule<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“The goal is perpetual motion. […] At every corner you leave
yourself an alternative. You move
diagonal. You turn the wheel when you
hit a red light. You don't drive down Broadway to get to Broadway. You move diagonal, you're gonna get perpetual
motion. That's what you want.”—<i>Copland</i>.</blockquote>
<div class="Standard">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Reading your work</span></b>
as if you hadn't written it has a lot to do with being forgetful. That's why you want to put a project out of
your mind for a period of time before you pick it up again, to foster impartiality. The challenge of revision, however, only
partly depends on distance. What the
task really comes down to is asking questions.</div>
<div class="Standard">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
<b>What am I trying to do with this moment? What does this bring to the story? Does it fit?
<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
You should be able to justify any part of your story. If you look at your writing and feel lost, it
is likely because you cannot answer these questions. Consider them at every level, from the broad movements
of your story down to the individual images.
You'll usually know when you've written something wrong, because you
won't be happy with it. This should help
you explain why. That, or beat off the
perpetual self-doubt that plagues our fugitive kind.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
Sometimes once you've identified a misstep in your writing, a
solution quickly presents itself. You
make the change and continue. <b>Other
times, you struggle.</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
In these moments remember: <b>there is more than one way your
story can come together</b>. Unless you
enjoy staring out the window for twenty minutes at a stretch and sucking all
the momentum out of your process, take the block as a sign. Instead of forcing the issue, come at the
problem from a different angle. Move
diagonal. Surprise yourself, even, but
keep your goal in mind. Whether for
sentences or a whole scene, try out enough approaches and one is bound to
stick.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
Don't be afraid to do something you didn't expect, even if
you're not sure where you'll end up. <b>You
try things.</b> That's your job as a
writer. Let your writing push out into
the dark. You'll be pleased how often
you can bend what at first seems like a tangent into the overall scheme of your
work. It is all you, after all. <b>Let your brain make its subtle connections</b>—your
storyteller's intuition. Blind
intuition, misguided maybe, but at least you're moving. <b>Inertia
kills creativity</b>. I'll gladly write
500 words to cut them all when I find 30 that are gold. Prospectors dig in the dirt their whole lives
and don't enjoy that sort of return. I'd
rather keep typing and get close than stare out the window and have nothing to
show for it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
Sometimes your goal is itself the problem. You may need to rethink what you initially
intended. It seems silly to have to say
it, but your first thought is not always your best. Here we stumble across that famous line “<b>kill
your darlings</b>.” Some struggles <b>are</b>
worth the fight. Anyone who has
fruitfully banged their head off a keyboard feels this in their aching
bones. You don't have to cut out the
things in your story that excite you just because they're flawed, but if you
can't make them work, you have to be honest with yourself about it and let them
go.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
It's a shame if an otherwise good idea doesn't fit in with
the rest of your story, or you can't quite find the right shape for it, but you
shouldn't be distressed. You're a
creative person. You can drum up a
thousand thousand such ideas. You got
this far, after all. Why wouldn't you
have more in you? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
The core of this whole strategy is that it lets you to see
just how many ideas you can generate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
In short, don't railroad your work. Don't feel tied to any draft or plan. Jag.
Move diagonal. If you surprise
and excite yourself, there's a good chance you'll do the same for the
reader. The opposite is also true. If you're bored with your work, consider that
a red light and turn the wheel.</div>
<div class="Standard">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="Standard">
<b>Try it.</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-44877296455226537932014-09-22T23:49:00.001-04:002014-09-28T13:29:26.896-04:00Revision<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“Throw up into your typewriter every
morning. Clean up every noon.”―Raymond Chandler.</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Revision is your safety net</b>.</span> It
will keep you from splattering on the ground. Revision introduces
you to yourself as a writer. You get to know your tendencies, good
and bad. We all misstep. Account for this in your process, and
don't be ashamed of it.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I have learned the most about my
writing through the trial and error of revision. When you're inside
of a draft, a first draft especially, you can't see it for what it
is, just maybe what you want it to be, if you even know what that is
yet. It is only when you step back that you can take the measure of
what you've done.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sometimes writers eschew revising their
work <b>to preserve its authenticity</b>. They argue that whatever
else their draft might be, it is true. They have captured something
raw and from the gut, or heart, or whatever organ was liveliest at
the time of composition, and their work should
remain untouched to maintain that experience. In fact, they
are not wrong in this. Not wrong in principle.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I've tried writing straight out of the
emotional moment. Tried riling up my gut and sicking it on the page.
The problem I saw when I looked back, though, was that while my work
certainly seemed like it came from an emotional person, <b>it did not
evoke that emotion in a reader</b>. It did not craft the scene in a
precise and believable way, or even in an interesting way. Some
smart, cold editing helped to fix that. So did throwing out a great
deal and trying it over again with a sober stomach.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Who are you writing for? </b>If at
least part of your answer is “other people,” you owe it to them
to make your work as good as it can be. The first draft can always
be for you. Wholly for you. Either just the experience or that
separate saved copy on your desktop, every feeling and intention
captured in time. But thereafter, roll up your sleeves.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This doesn't mean you have to revise
your work until it is without blemish. A worthwhile goal, that, but
nonetheless unobtainable. <b>There is no perfect in art</b>, only
better for me or better for you.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Eventually you have to call it – time
of death, date/time, and move on. If the story doesn't get
published, maybe in five or ten years you open up its drawer and
discover now you know how to breathe life into it. Either way,
wrestling with the peice has made you better. You're stronger now
than when you began the struggle.
Always.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So struggle mightily and mindfully.
Don't be complacent in your process and call it authenticity. Don't
shrug off honing your work out of some half-baked sense of snaring
“true emotion.” That sort of dull writing never cut straight to
a reader's heart and left a mark.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The best short story I ever wrote I
revised three or four times over the same number of years, adding to
it and rearranging and thematicising – all the proper
embellishments any good student of the craft should fritter away at.
Intending to look over what I had done, I started reading the first
draft by mistake. That draft was the best of them all. Flawed, but
the cracks were so thin they took nothing away from the rest. It was
compact, simple, and playfully succeeded at what it set out to do.
This, a story I wrote in two days? But I took the time to know it.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And there you have it. <b>Not wrong in
principle.</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-67701655047225774022014-09-03T21:31:00.000-04:002014-09-09T12:38:31.833-04:00Writing Rules<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“These are my rules. I make 'em
up.”—George Carlin.</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Nothing beats good
writing</b></span>. If you write something and it works, <b>it
works. </b>End of discussion.
Doesn't matter whose rules you break along the way. And there are
plenty of dumb rules writers regularly kick down like rotting fences
in the path of their creative wanderings.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Never
start a sentence with a conjunction. </i>Clearly
hyperbolic. But start too many this way, and the reader will wonder
if you forgot there was any such thing as a comma. <i>Do
not write sentence fragments, use exclamation points, or modify
dialogue with adverbs. </i>“Ha!
As if!” he whispered contemptuously, scrawling his seditions with
a broken pen.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Some writers in their early development cannot see the arbitrary
nature of these barricades and go through all the painful contortions
of avoiding them at every turn. Rest assured, no one owns these
rules, and you will not be fined for breaking them. In fact, break
down the right ones in the right way, and you might be celebrated for
your originality. Then again, some of these obstructions are more
like guardrails along a cliff. Indiscriminately leap over every one,
and you can find yourself falling a long way.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I
admit these grammatic examples seem trifling, or at least they should. More substantive rules
have become so ingrained we hardly think about them. We consider
them conventions. If you spend the first third of your book
following a specific character, the reader assumes the story will
follow them for its duration. Hitchcock famously breaks this rule in
<i>Psycho</i>,
killing Janet Leigh's character off soon after the movie's plot seems
to have been established. From there the film jolts in an
unpredictable and fascinating direction. But then no one remembers
that cinematic flop.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Intrepid writers
</b>in search of some structure on which to hang their story frequently
seek out new rules, however arbitrary or absurd, and add them to
their sacrosanct vault. They don't just pick them up as they stumble
along; <b>they mine for them</b>. Each clanging of the pick and scraping of
the shovel sounds out the same. “What's the right . . . ” <i>clang.</i>
“What's the best . . .” <i>scrape.</i> Book length, chapter
length, narrative perspective, balance between narration and
dialogue, number of characters? Can I divide a book in two? What
about three? Should the sections be the same length? If I have a
prologue, do I also have to have an epilogue?
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The labor grinds
right along. Back breaking, anxious effort that avoids the only rule
that ever mattered: <b>the story only exists if you write it</b>. No
answer ever satisfied like the thing itself. What is right and best
is a matter of the story at your fingertips, not what everyone else
has done. Many books may be eighty-thousand words, but that doesn't
mean yours has to be—or even can be. Their hearts are in the right
place though. They simply want to get it right, and not do anything
that might rule them out of the running for publication.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>There is no one
right way for a story to be.</b> You have to decide. Good writing is
undeniable, whether it charts an unheard of course or tracks along a
premise that has been stamped into the ground. Don't let your work
be <a href="http://thebestamericanpoetry.typepad.com/the_best_american_poetry/2008/11/the-laughing-he.html" target="_blank">clubbed into dank submission</a>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Write well enough,
and you make your own rules.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-54156865553462027382014-08-19T22:58:00.000-04:002014-08-19T22:58:00.751-04:00Post Draft Anxiety<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“I need a fix 'cause I'm going
down”—The Beatles</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Every time I finish a
draft</span></b> of a longer project, first or final, and put it away
to cool, I never know what the fuck to do with myself. This hits
especially hard on the weekend, when I have no contractual
obligations to anyone. It's not exactly boredom. It's a combination
restlessness and fatigue. I'd like to be content with reading or
watching something all day, but I guess if I could do that I never
would have started writing in the first place. I just can't get my
mind to sit still. Any time I spend not writing makes me feel like
I'm screwing around the week before a paper is due.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'm not complaining. Or at least
that's not the reason I'm writing this. Maybe you feel the same way
sometimes and it's worth knowing other writers struggle with the same
<b>post-draft anxiety</b>. Right, because I'm so talented and
successful.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I have two projects laid out on the
cooling slab now: a screenplay and a novel. The novel is with my
personal editor and trusted reader, KP, who has worked with previous
drafts of the same story. The screenplay, a re-write of a late
undergrad project, is waiting on my hard-drive for a second pass. I
just finished the screenplay. I suppose a great deal of my
restlessness comes from my excitement about both projects. That
excitement, without a proper outlet, turns back against me, and then
here we are kicking around the bottom of nowheresville.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Then I suppose there is the fear, but
that's much deeper. <b>Fear of bad writing</b>, wasted effort, and
more painful toil if the work is ever going to be good enough.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But even that is only anxiety. Bad
writing is always unappealing, especially your own when you are
forced to see it for what it is, but <b>no effort is ever wasted in
this art</b>. As long as you are attentive to understanding your
missteps and work to correct them, you are always moving forward.
Sometimes things click, and you actually feel your writing improve
from one project or draft to the next. You can hold more of what you
have to do in your head at once, and better intuit how the task must
be done. But mostly writing is a game of inches, and you only see
your growth retrospectively.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
As for the pain, don't worry, there are
no writing injuries. No one ever went blind on account of a rambling
plot and misplaced character motivation, though we may wish it on
others fiercely when reading such faults in their work.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
There is a significant sting when you
first see those red hashes on your manuscript, but that does not
linger long. As soon as your mind returns to construction, any
temporary damage is quickly repaired. Then again, when you are on
your own it can be much harder to get out from under, not knowing
which way to go. You have to be prepared to make hard decisions.
Keep your old drafts and you can always put any cuts back in.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The challenge in this lost and
scrambled state is not to dive straight back into the familiar.
Leave your work to cool or you'll never get anywhere with it. Yes,
the characters all feel close. Yes, the setting feels rich in your
head. That's part of the problem. You know it all so well now that
you won't be able to put yourself in a position to be introduced to
any of it for the first time. You'll remember too well what you
<b>wanted to do</b>, or what you <b>thought you did</b>, and this
will obscure what you <b>actually did</b>.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's
hard enough to see your work as a reader. Give yourself a fighting
chance.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Starting is always difficult, but
that's the best medicine to calm your brain. It doesn't have to be
serious. It doesn't have to properly start or come to an end. Write
an unconnected scene that breaks every writing rule you can think of.
Write a poem. Take up an old rag of yours and finesse part of it
into a pleasing shape. Pick something your writing lacks and chip
away at it in your workshop. No one will see any of these things if
they come to nothing, and it's just as well if they don't. You do it
because you have to write. <b>Writing is your fix.</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Sorry if this came
to nothing.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-40895409346138473712014-08-06T23:06:00.000-04:002014-08-06T23:12:44.404-04:00The Prejudice Against Genre Fiction<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“You eat what you
like, and I'll eat what I like!”—Yukon Cornelius</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Genre is a four letter
word</span></b> in some literary circles. It's tossed about with
derision. Those works unfortunate enough to fall under the label are
condemned as inferior, the playthings of lesser minds and lower
sensibility. Not such a grave sentence, maybe. Some of us are not
the least ashamed to relieve the burden of our sensibility by
dragging them along in a sack. But the word is tragically misapplied
when used this way.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In the first place, <b>e</b><b>verything
is a genre.</b> “Genre” is simply any collection of works that
share enough of a family resemblance for them to be reasonably
grouped together.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
For instance, stories with a central
character who navigates challenges, gains allies, learns skills, and
acquires knowledge on the way to overcoming a final obstacle are a
genre. We refer to them as Fantasy, especially if they trade in
magic and archaic landscapes. But contemplative, closely
interpersonal stories guided largely by themes rather than action or
plot that line the Literature shelves <b>are a genre as well</b>.
Maybe you couldn't pick them out straight away by their covers, but
that does not somehow set them apart.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>But literary fiction is broader than
that,</i> they say.<i> You
can't just wrap it up in one so-called genre, that's what makes it
exciting. </i>Yes, the Literature
section can have a great deal of variety, notably because it so often
robs the nests of other genres. Magical Realism, Science Fiction,
Fantasy, Mystery; Literature drops down with its heavy talons and
plucks its choice from each. What is The Road (2007 Pulitzer prize
winner) but a sci-fi horror—the struggle for survival in a burned
out world where cannibals and blood cultists are the only visible
survivors.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So when anyone snidely says “genre,”
what they really mean is “those other genres.” Those few genre
books that enjoy an elevated literary status are the exceptions. But
this sort of thinking begs the question while ignoring its own
conclusion. <b>There is not one kind of fantasy novel</b>, just as
there is not one kind of literary novel—clearly, or there would be
no fantasy novels in the Literature section.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yes, there are plenty of cliché, one
dimensional fantasy novels. Go to the appropriate aisle in your
bookstore, pull a book off the shelf at random, and there's a good
chance you'll have selected one of these books. <b>They're popcorn
fiction.</b> One piece tastes like the other, and after you've had a
handful you probably can't remember much about any of them, or which
was which. But the same can be said of books shelved in the
Literature section. Slow, run-of-the-mill, “my mundane/tragic life
makes it hard to be happy” novels are published every year—books
that try very hard to be big serious stories, and throwing their
weight around, fall all over themselves and land in a heap.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
If our literary regents bent their
astounding linguistic potential to the task for a moment they might
say “plot fiction” is the real offender. <b>But since when is there
anything wrong with a story that's headed somewhere?</b> Where
the story goes and how it gets there is only part of the thrill, though. A
good plot is a mode of conveyance, and there are all sorts. Bullet
trains cover more ground than roller skates; maybe one is more direct
than the other, and the scenery goes by faster, but it's who's inside
them that makes all the difference.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I suppose there is little sense trying
to talk the literary faithful out of their prejudice, sad though it
is to see. But they like what they like, and only what they like,
and if you like something else, you simply have poor taste. For my
part, there are too many fantastic novels across every genre to think
of excluding any of them from consideration. And anyway, who the hell doesn't
like popcorn now and then?</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-81674132826599498862014-07-22T18:22:00.001-04:002014-07-22T18:29:37.531-04:00Popular is not Good<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="Standard">
“A work of
art? It has no invention; it has no order, system, sequence, or result; it has
no lifelikeness, no thrill, no stir, no seeming of reality; its characters are
confusedly drawn, and by their acts and words they prove that they are not the
sort of people the author claims that they are; its humor is pathetic; its
pathos is funny; its conversations are -- oh! indescribable; its love-scenes
odious; its English a crime against the language.”—<a href="http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/HNS/Indians/offense.html" target="_blank">Mark Twain </a> </div>
</blockquote>
<div class="Standard">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>There is a difference between
popular and good.</b> </span> A lot of people
like books that are riddled with all kinds of problems from story to style,
right down the list. It's not that these
works don't conform to some kind of entrenched, literary credo of correct
storytelling, it's just that they don't function well in terms of, say,
character motivation, or consistently delivering meaningful sentence.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
Many people detest the most popular of these books—you know
the ones—but not only on account of style.
Bad books can be had by the cartload, and are otherwise ignored, but
somehow <b>these books</b> <b>excel at bringing up bile</b>. People hate them because others claim to love
them so ardently, and they have to keep hearing about it. The conversation gets stale. For you, maybe it's sports. For someone else, it’s <i>those damn books</i>. This reaction is only fair. Turnabout is fair play, after all. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
Of course no one is harmed by bad writing. Bad ideas, maybe, but not bad writing—that
is, so long as a story or series doesn't start well and slack off towards the
end. But let's face it, these books
enjoy their popularity <b>because they have reached a critical mass of
expressed interest.</b> Put enough
copies of a book on a prominent shelf and mention it enough times online, and
people begin to wonder if they're missing something worthwhile. People like to have something to get excited
about together.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
<b>The merit of a book is not determined by how many copies
it sells. That is a matter of business
and circumstance, not craft. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
Don’t put a match to any books just yet, though. It's unlikely their popularity is based on
charlatan hawking of otherwise worthless texts.
There has to be something about any popular book, however flawed, that
got it started on its way to deification, or at least the New York Times
bestseller list. There must be at least
a glimmer of real quality in a book’s premise, its protagonist, its conflict,
its environment, or its tone that attracts a reader's interest. That always has value, and deserves
recognition.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
Let's be clear. No one
can tell you what you like. If you read
anything that does something cool to your head, it doesn't matter what section
of the bookstore it's shelved in, what press did or didn't publish it, or where
it ranks in sales or notoriety. <b>Your enjoyment is never wrong</b>. But understand it is entirely possible that you like something that isn't very well done, even if you're not alone in
your admiration.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
What does any of this matter?
If you're an idle reader and like to turn your brain off and skim along, I suppose nothing. But
if you’re really interested in reading something worthwhile, and especially if
you have aspirations of writing yourself, consider listening to the thoughtful
criticism of work you've enjoyed, and works you’re considering. Ask any person offering that criticism, and they likely have a short list of fantastic books by authors you've never heard of, or never considered. Delve. Explore. The reward is worth the effort.</div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
<b>In short</b>, if you're only reading the top bestsellers or following the
latest trend, you're missing out.</div>
<div class="Standard">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-85026247176657490642014-07-10T22:01:00.001-04:002014-07-10T22:01:49.790-04:00Writing Sex<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“I think it could only be a
masterpiece of pornography, but not a masterpiece which was
pornographic. [. . .] You can get
as dirty as you want, but not also excite people because exciting
people during the course of a story—exciting them sexually—is
changing the subject so completely that you have no more narrative
form.”—<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jBrhI_qqAY" target="_blank">Orson Welles</a></blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Sex stands out
</b></span>prominently whenever inserted into a narrative. It has to be handled
with care.<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I've read a lot of badly written sex.
A lot of sudden, unnecessary, over the top sex that goes on for too
long, or is otherwise eye-rolling. This is the case in developing
and popular fiction alike. People have sex, and they should have
sex, and plenty of it, and sex should be in your writing, <b>but only
when pertinent</b>. Too often when writers delve into a sex scene,
it seems like a personal fixation rather than an appropriate part of
their story. One of those little darlings—a
shortcut to get a rise from the reader <b>in place of more
substantive content. </b>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This
fits into a larger discussion on subject and focus—the question of
what a scene or story is “about”—but <b>bad sex</b>
is so often a stumbling
block it deserves to be taken aside and roughly whipped.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
If you're writing an erotic sexventure
or if your story features sex as a prominent theme, by all means, oil
up and dive in. Unload all the juicy details your little heart
desires (Goatboy, you big old shaggy
smelly thing). But if your story isn't otherwise erotic,
carefully consider the tone you set as well as how much of those
moments to actually include on the page. Take a few queues from the
world of film. A look, a kiss, and a soft dissolve do wonders in
maintaining your narrative and exciting your readers without becoming
a distraction.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
If
you decide to have sex, <b>don't think you're cute and don’t
try to be clever</b>. Sex isn't the place for devices like metaphor
or analogy. They will always come off as silly. Pet names for
private parts are a non-starter. “She guided my little dingy into
her watery cave” is a train wreck every time, if you catch my
driftwood, by which I mean penis.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
That's right, if you're going to be
specific, get your terms out and use them. All the good ones are
four letters or less, so you have no excuse. They’re easy to type.
If you don’t have it in you to plainly write the mechanics of a
sexual act, that act has no business in your story. On the other
hand, you'll be pleased how far generality—bodies rather than body
parts—can take you. “She pulled him against her.” Like that.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Your sex doesn't have to be
titillating. Make it uncomfortable. Make it bizarre, a joke, sweet
even, if you should be so perverse. But above all,<b> make sure it
belongs in the context of the story you are telling, even if it is
just a cheap thrill.</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-54128067690353230982014-06-16T14:06:00.001-04:002014-06-24T18:22:30.865-04:00Having Your Writing Critiqued<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“There are only two people who can
tell you the truth about yourself – an enemy who has lost his
temper and a friend who loves you dearly.”—Antisthenes </blockquote>
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Shut up and listen.</span></b>
That's the first and best thing you can do for yourself when
sitting down to hear someone's critique of your writing. You've given
them your work to see what they think, so give them free rein to
tell you.<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
There is nothing gained by defending
your work against someone who is trying to help you. Every critique
is a learning experience, a chance to better understand your writing,
flaws and successes alike. Treat it as such.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
If you have specific questions for your
reader, write them down ahead of time and wait until you are well
into what should be a one-sided conversation before you bring them
up. Don't ask your reader to watch for anything before they've read
your work. <b>You don't want to influence their reading</b>. They
have to come to your writing fresh, just as they would anything off
the shelf. Say as little as possible to them about what you've
written. It is for them to tell you what you have done.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
With that in mind, <b>keep your
questions open ended</b>. First ask, <i>what did you think of this
character</i>, before
specifying, <i>did you find them funny</i>.
The most of what you should say during the critique is <i>why, why
not, </i>and<i> can you tell
me more about that.</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Not everyone offering you a critique is
a master at the craft. Even editors and writers with endless
bestsellers and lavishly awarded works can be uncertain what needs to
change in a given draft, or how. The best readers will critique your
work with an eye for helping you achieve your vision instead of
manipulating it into something they want to see. If your reader does
not appear to make an effort to understand your intent, consider the
value of their advice accordingly, but <b>do not disregard their
reactions</b>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Your reader's reactions to your work is
the single most important feedback you can ask for, whether or
not they have any interesting suggestions. Faults may not be where a
reader thinks they are, but that does not mean nothing is wrong.
Sometimes a moment would otherwise work if it were better supported
earlier in the story. But if your reader was confused, or put off,
or bored, it falls to you to discern why that might be and what you
can do about it. <b>Every comment is a question you have to answer
to in your writing.</b> If you don't have good answers, you have
work to do.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
There is such a thing as bad advice.
<b>Listening to everybody is as mindless as listening to nobody.</b>
What you do with your work is up to you, but the better you know your
work, the easier it will be to tell the good advice from the bad.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
As a last word on intent, what you
first wanted from your writing is not always what needs to happen for
it to be the best it can be. Despite what your intentions may have
been, not only may your execution have been poor, but the intentions
themselves may lack merit. What is most interesting about your work
is not always what you assumed. <b>Sometimes you have to do what is
right for the story, not your ego. </b>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-11045763624532101522014-06-10T00:05:00.000-04:002014-06-10T00:05:52.757-04:00How To Critique Someone's Writing<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“A brave man is a man who dares to
look the Devil in the face and tell him he is a Devil.”—James A.
Garfield</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Writers need help.</span></b>
Its hard to see your work for what it is. But a bad critique can
make you confused and miserable, and the vapid reassurance of a pat
on the back can be worse than no critique at all, leaving you without
any sense of direction, more uncertain about your writing than when
you handed it out, because you know it's not as good as you want it
to be, but can't figure out why.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
When you sit down to talk with someone
about their work, <b>try this:</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>1.</b> <b>A brief description of the
story</b>. One or two sentences free of evaluation. This can be
difficult with poetry or novels that resist a concise summary, but
your impression of the work is sufficient. This is a conjuring
trick. It draws a shape around you and the writer in the form of
their story and says, we're starting. It also gives the writer your
snapshot of what they've written, which hopefully they recognize.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Ex: “This is a moody piece, mostly
about a young woman with a troubled past. Older now, and perhaps
stronger, she returns home for her mother's funeral, confronting the
demons of her family and former relations.”
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>2.</b> <b>Tell them what they did
well</b>. Anyone who gives you their work is looking for <b>validation</b>,
even if they swear they want you to tear their work apart, so
validate their good work. This is not a matter of what you liked, though your preferences are worth discussing. <b>The reason</b> you
found something effective is a far more valuable insight.
Help the writer see where their strengths are. This can be difficult
because you may have to set context aside, but if the ending of the
story, screenplay, or poem seemed like a real ending, tell them so.
Do this every time, even if you're reading a revision for the third
time. Hopefully you'll have more good things to say each revision.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The goal is to coax the witter into
lowering their defenses, and helps put them in a mindset to
participate in the critique rather than brace for it. You're not
trying to hurt them. If they've done anything well, there's hope.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>3. Highlight problems and pose
questions. </b>This is the real
meat of the critique, and will likely take the most time because it
lends itself to discussion. Keep in mind you don't have to
diagnose the writer's work with surgical precision, nor do you have
to have the remedy for the problems you find. You're only trying to
help someone understand their work and figure out where, if not how,
to begin improving it. If you do have suggestions, by all means,
offer them. You might consider making a list of the biggest issues
in the work, and work into the details from each of those.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
When posing questions, <b>do not ask
the writer</b> what they were trying to do, or meant by a particular
passage without first telling them what you thought based on what
they wrote. If you don't know what to think, try to describe what
about the given passage defeated you.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Trace your experience as a reader.
Show the writer where the story and their writing went astray for you
in contrast to where it was tracking well. This is valuable
information. You don't have to walk them step by step through their
entire story. The longer the work, the more taxing this would be.
Keep to the broader strokes. What you leave out, they should be able
to pick up based on your conversation and their freshly marked
manuscript.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>4. List bad habits to watch out for
going forward</b>. Just as you drew the writer's attention to their
successes, point out the reoccurring weaknesses. You'll undoubtedly
touch on these as you go through the story, but it's valuable to
reiterate.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>5. Final summation / marching
orders. </b>For any writer,
dealing with the pros and cons of their work can be a taxing
experience. Help send them on their way by reminding them of the
strengths of the work and underscoring the major aspects you feel
(and hopefully the writer agrees) they need to develop. This should
take no more than a few minutes. Thirty seconds if you can help it.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
At
last, hand the manuscript back, tell the desperate fool, “Good
riddance,” and wash your hands of them. Or thank them for looking
to you for guidance. Whichever seems more appropriate based on their
reception of your critique.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-75761610174440168352014-05-26T19:42:00.001-04:002014-05-27T10:52:34.266-04:00Character Development<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in;">
1. Emotional or intellectual</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in;">
2. Physical</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in;">
3. Their relationships with other characters</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in;">
4.
In the eyes of the reader<i> </i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">What does it mean</span></b>
for a character to develop? And is that development necessary for a
story to succeed?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Some writers and instructors hold up
character development as the focus of any good story. They are
advocates of the <b>epiphany</b>, a
turn in a character's inner life that divides them into who they were
before and who they are after. There is no question that this kind
of personal realization has its place in storytelling, but it's
hardly the epitome of the craft, and it certainly isn't necessary.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Self-styled literary writers have wrung
out the epiphany in their novels and short stories until the trick
has dried up and become stale in its predictability. Not uniformly
so, there is always outstanding work, but it's gotten so that many
writing programs have forgotten the flavor of any other kind of
writing. Ask yourself, how many of your favorite stories have an
epiphany as their climax? How many use it at all, and was it even
the most interesting part of the story?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Character development <b>does not have to
be pronounced</b>. Big, dramatic change isn't a must, but neither are
little changes either. Take your lead character and spin them
through a few challenges, or stroll alongside them during an moment
in their life. Write them as just exactly the same person at the
finish as you did at the start. I have it on good authority that, in
spite of every superstition to the contrary, neither you nor, more
importantly, the story will be consumed by fire the instant you type
the final word.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In any event, <b>characters always
develop</b>. Contrary to your best
efforts, they do so. It happens because of the most crucial element
of this discussion: <b>the reader</b>.<br />
<br />
Every new character you write, you introduce to the reader for the
first time, and each subsequent page is an opportunity for the reader to get to know that character a little better. Even if you
write a totally unoriginal character like a lone gunman of few words
who rides into some downtrodden town and doles out justice in hot
lead, the reader doesn't know what he's going to be like as he crests
that first hill at daybreak. They don't know what few words he will
say, or how he'll say them. Or if he'll talk differently to the
barkeep than he did the stable boy. Anyway, no character is ever
totally unoriginal if they are <b>authentically rendered</b>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>All reading is discovery</b>,
and as we discover the characters of a story, they develop in our
minds. Maybe some of those developments change our impression of
them. Maybe not. But on page 800 or the fourth book in a series,
the process continues. Each event and interaction, every moment of
quiet contemplation, represents a choice. The decisions your
characters make constantly redefine them.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-57366173364990672872014-05-19T16:04:00.003-04:002014-05-20T12:09:12.907-04:00Where Do You Get Your Ideas?<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“A writer is someone who has taught
his mind to misbehave.”—Oscar Wilde<br />
<br />
“Take, take, take.”—The White
Stripes</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">A common question</span></b>
many authors sneer at, likely because the answer isn't nearly as
simple as the question is innocuous. As if there could be any one
place a writer gets their ideas.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I once told the editor of my former
English department's newsletter, a man who wanted to publish one of
my poems, that, in fact, I had not written any of my own work. I
admitted to him confidentially that I had unearthed the various
stories and poems at the end of a long stone wall beside a big oak
tree. The scribblings were folded into a box under a rock that had
no earthly business in that Maine hayfield. A piece of black,
volcanic glass. I threw myself on his mercy for my literary
treachery. If he believed me, I was pardoned, but my work was never
featured in the newsletter.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Stephen King takes the opposite
approach, <a href="http://stephenking.com/faq.html" target="_blank">saying he gets his ideas</a> from “<b>everywhere</b>.”
I don't know whose answer is more unhelpful, but his is closer to
the truth.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Yesterday a middle school aged girl
asked me, wasn't it true writers get most of their ideas from dreams?
Never mind what I was doing talking to a middle-schooler, but the
prevailing interest in the question surprises me. (I wasn't doing
anything talking to the middle-schooler, just having lunch with my
friend, her relative through marriage. She isn't married, he is.
Never mind.)</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Being a writer isn't something you
are born with</b>. You don't wake up one morning with a headache and
a little case of being a writer. You don't have special story
dreams, or invent a whole world halfway through breakfast. What you
do is teach yourself to pay attention to things that are <b>interesting</b>.
An artist might watch for interesting images; a musician listens for
interesting sounds. Ideas don't pop into your head so much as you
stumble over them in your reading, watching movies, or just walking
down the street. What you have to do is know to stop and pick the
thing up, wherever it comes from, so you can play with it later to
see if the idea goes anywhere.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>All writers are forgers</b>.
There's no need to be ashamed of that so long as your thefts are
piecemeal. If you spent your whole life on a lonely island, what
chance is there that you could write anything beyond the limited
scope of the horizon and your own meager thoughts? You wouldn't even
have any youthful fairy tales to populate your imagination. What you
have to do is “<b><a href="http://thereddestpen.blogspot.com/search/label/Authors%20Advice" target="_blank">stuff your head</a></b>,” <a href="http://thereddestpen.blogspot.com/search/label/Authors%20Advice" target="_blank">as Ray Bradbury said</a>.
Dive in to anything that interests you, and then when you sit down
to write, or even if you're just daydreaming, you'll start shuffling
the pieces around until you hit on something that excites you. You
won't be able to help it.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Don't forget to <b>play</b>—that's key.
Misbehave. Surprise yourself. Take what the other guy did and do
just the opposite. Pluck a quote from <i>The Shawshank
Redemption</i> and twist it to your own purpose. See what happens. Just maybe leave the antics out of your
correspondences with publishers. Such people often have no sense of
humor about the seriousness of their work.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-64688046688585305202014-05-05T12:28:00.000-04:002014-05-12T10:58:04.025-04:00Tenth of December<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
"Two fallacies that need to be
debunked. One is, 'To be a writer you have to get an MFA.' False.
Two is, 'If you get an MFA you'll be a published writer.' False."—George Saunders</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmKKofJOyAE" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtZvxVuyvl-SLmuqC5ObV0TwriXIiPyOD5fpaV6PokiChtaNDmuKsofebg_7B5cxHGsbDOLtri7qYyopyiEKWx7HWDzFwlwt_yMRYt1hQ_QyX_BHz5dRW8EawHfHF1AaDdlAYiWG1kR7Y/s1600/George+Saunders,+Tenth+of+December.png" height="223" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmKKofJOyAE" target="_blank">George Saunders, “Tenth of December,”Talks at Google</a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>George Saunders reads</b></span> a near-sci/fi
story from his latest collection, <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13641208-tenth-of-december" target="_blank">Tenth of December</a>,
and answers writing questions. Literary circles consider his work to
be outstanding. Maybe worth a look. His advice, at least, seems
sound.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
At this reading he talks about editing,
and honoring the readers intelligence to keep a story interesting.
"As a general writing principle, you're main job is to do
something, and then notice it, and then adjust accordingly. And then
notice a thing that you've done, and adjust accordingly. Kind of
rinse, lather, repeat, you know, a million times."</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
George addresses other questions such
as what makes a good writer, and how a writer approaches truth in
their fiction, “one phrase at a time.”</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-70003402142795428442014-04-28T23:03:00.000-04:002014-04-30T12:23:08.339-04:00Unity in Imagery<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“. . . the unity of effect or
impression is a point of greatest importance. . . . without unity of
impression, the deepest effects cannot be brought about.”—Edgar
Alan Poe.*</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Obviously you want</span></b>
to maintain tone in your writing to establish atmosphere. You don't
write a somber scene in which your leading character's thoughts
“scamper” through their
head when they hear the “cheerful” ring of the telephone. You
could make a case for cheerful because it juxtaposes with the mood of
the scene, but only if it appeared without the other misstep.
Scamper is the real offender here. There is something light and
playful about the word that nudges the reader off course emotionally.
Just think of how totally you would be thrown out of the scene if
the <b>character </b>scampered over
to the phone. The difference is a matter of degrees.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Your imagery should support the scene
as well. However clever or accurate you may think a given simile, if
it distracts from the intent of the scene, it probably has to go.
But it's also a good idea for your images to support each other.
<b>This is to eliminate clutter</b>.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Developing writers have a tendency to
jump around with their imagery. He exhaled smoke like exhaust from a
rusted Buick. It was the color of sour milk. The crowd moved like a
school of fish. Things like that. Those images could well fit the
atmosphere of the scene, but not one of them ties into the other.
They're disjointed. The reader is jerked along from one to the next
and doesn't know how they add up.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
When you write <b>concurrent images</b>,
it helps make a scene feel solid. As an example, I wrote a scene set
in a jazz club that has an entrance like a cave. The music inside
ripples, builds into a wave and comes crashing down on everyone.
Later, a musician cups a hand like a great shell to his ear to catch
what his bandmates are saying. A thread of water related imagery
runs through the scene, cementing the sense of place. I stumbled on
the idea because I happened to have named the club The Blue Room.
You should look to your scene when possible to suggest a direction
for your imagery. <b>Use every part of the writing buffalo.</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's actually easier to work this way
than a helter-skelter approach, because once you have your first
image you've given yourself something to build on. Now you'll know
whereabouts to reach for the next one instead of having to start from
scratch each time.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
*Quote from <a href="http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/fms/Colleges/College%20of%20Humanities%20and%20Social%20Sciences/EMS/Readings/139.105/Additional/The%20Importance%20of%20the%20Single%20Effect%20in%20a%20Prose%20Tale%20-%20Edgar%20Allan%20Poe.pdf" target="_blank">“The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale”</a> </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-13891644002278252662014-04-22T00:54:00.000-04:002014-04-22T11:27:22.769-04:00Ways to Show: Association and Atmosphere<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“It was a dark and stormy night . .
.”—Edward Bulwer-Lytton</blockquote>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Showing is</span></b> a
difficult technique because what is often most important to you as
the writer, that which you want understood about a moment or a
character, is left <b>unsaid</b>. You leave it up to your readers to
put the pieces together. Done successfully, this pulls them into the
story because whatever they do put together is theirs, it belongs to
them. Unfortunately this can feel a bit like jumping out of a plane
with a chute you made yourself, often the night before, in the dark,
but know it's worth it.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Also know showing may be a bit too
broad to call it a technique. It's more of a <b>method</b> or an <b>approach</b>.
There are a lot of ways to show. Characters pulling faces at one
another is probably the most fundamental, but it only conveys so
much. Sometimes you may want to evoke something more nuanced than a
frown, or write something a bit more fun—and what if you're
writing a somber character who already frowns all the time? What
then?
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's not always how your character
looks, but what they're looking at that can offer a reader insight. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
When you write, you focus the reader's attention. There is an
implicit agreement between you and the reader that you won't waste their time, which means the things you're writing about are
understood to be important. You don't write optional
chapters. So when a character is sitting in a bar after a break up,
for instance, what they focus on can reflect what's going on internally.
It's a great way to fill out a scene. Maybe they see another poor
shlub sitting at the end of the bar, or a couple talking together
affectionately. Maybe you go for something more subtle: the stool
they're in wobbles because the legs are uneven, so they can't get
comfortable, or a waitress carrying an overloaded tray of dirty
dishes trips over a chair and all the dishes come smashing down.
<b>We're talking about
metaphors here</b>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Experiencing
details through a character suggests an <b>association</b>
with that character, but because it's the reader's attention that
really matters, it isn't necessary for the juxtaposition to work.
Proximity will also do the trick because <b>atmosphere</b>
contextualizes story elements, and I don't mean bad weather. When
you stack up enough concurrent actions and images, the effect becomes
undeniable, especially if the reader knows what the character has
been through. In
both cases, whether through direct association or the context of
atmosphere, you're inviting your reader to feel a certain way,
thereby allowing them to connect with your character. <b>The
trick is to be patient.</b> Also, try not to be too heavy handed. I struggle with that myself.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Try it.</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-51047639607914919772014-04-07T16:07:00.000-04:002014-04-28T16:06:16.740-04:00Show AND Tell<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“If I wanted you to know, I'd have
told you.”—Robert Frost*</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Trying to show
everything</span></b> in your writing can be exhausting, and can lead
to painfully obtuse prose. Maybe you don't want every scene to be a
riddle, and every character's emotions to be a mystery. You're not
wrong in this. It is often the case that if you want your reader to
know something, you have to tell
them. Don't avoid this because of that tired mantra, “show,
don't tell.” Showing is a technique, not writing dogma.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It is expedient to tell your reader
things. Page time matters. Your writing focuses your reader's
attention. You don't always want to distract them from the important
part of a scene with a lot of page time spent on inconsequential
details.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
For instance, if you wanted to write a
scene in an old bar, but the state of the place wasn't relevant to the story, you could spend a lot of time on peeling
lacquer, creaking chairs, and cracked beams, <b>or you could tell</b>
your reader “it was an old bar” and move on to the <b>interesting
stuff</b>. What could be objectionable about that?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Similarly, maybe you want a <b>character</b>
to sit comfortably in one of those old chairs. You could probably
wrangle together a sentence or two about their position and
expression, and maybe you could even make it sound natural enough, <b>or</b>
<b>you could tell</b> your reader straight out and avoid the burden
for both of you. Telling might especially be the right choice here
if this detail is meant to <b>imply</b> something further about the
character. Sure, you could show the comfort in an attempt to show
whatever is behind it, but know that choice moves the desired detail
further off the page and away from your reader. Is that where you
want it? Obscured?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Finally, maybe you want your reader to
quickly know something beyond surface details. There is nothing
wrong with readily supplying that information. For instance: “The
old bar had been through a fire, and there were still scorch marks on
some of the walls. Danny sat comfortably in one of the wooden
chairs. Having grown up poor, she felt at home in the decrepit
surroundings.”
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Or how about something as direct as,
“She was happy to see him, and it showed on her face.” It's not
poetry maybe, but it doesn't have to be.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Of course, saying you can and should
tell your reader things doesn't mean that you can tell them any old
way. “Show, don't tell” has become an adage because it so often
applies to mismanaged writing. Writers can want their readers to
know something so badly, they beat it into the ground. This forces
sentiments and steals the experience of the story from the reader.
You have to maintain a balance. The nature of that balance is up to
you. <b>That's style.</b>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
See <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28876.His_Majesty_s_Dragon" target="_blank">Naomi Novik's <i>His Majesty's Dragon</i></a> (historical fantasy) for a good example of an author who tells often
and well.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>*note: The quote is Frost's response
when asked what the “promises to keep” were in his poem “Stopping
by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Sometimes the audience doesn't get
to know. Sometimes they are better left wondering.</i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-9120128098977698752014-04-03T16:07:00.000-04:002014-04-05T20:18:20.553-04:00Deadlines<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“But I have promises to keep<br />
And miles to go before I sleep<br />
And miles to go before I
sleep.”—Robert Frost.</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">It doesn't have to be
November</span></b> for you to set concrete goals for your writing.
NaNoWriMo is great and all, but if you only put pressure on yourself
one month out of the year to get things done, you're missing out.
Writing is hard work—learning to write is even harder—and it's
always easier not to write instead, to put it off, to day dream about
your characters a little more, to just watch something on the
Internet. Even when you are working regularly, after struggling to
get down 300 words in an hour or two, its always easier to wipe your
brow and say, “enough for today,” than to keep going.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Is it enough? Or are you dragging your
feet?
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Try this: </b>set
a deadline for your project, and stick to it.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Get
rid of the guess work and the excuses, hold your feet to the fire,
and write. Don't set some psychotic deadline like writing a novel in
a week. You'll kill yourself trying to reach it, you won't make it
by half, and then you'll feel terrible. Plan an obtainable goal, and
then strive for it. <b>You'll write more</b>
than usual and <b>you're writing will be better</b>,
because you'll have to cut down on distractions and focus when you're
working or else you won't reach your deadline. <b>You'll also
feel better</b> about the whole
process when you do reach that deadline, because not only will you
have a finished draft, but you'll have kept your promise to yourself.
Even if you do go into overtime, if you've planned appropriately, it
shouldn't be by much. Anyway, life happens. If you've been working
hard to reach your goal, you'll know it, and it won't bother you.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But
maybe you think that kind of pressure would stifle you. Deadline?
The very word sounds like it <b>kills creativity</b>.
No, not for you, you're an artist, a flower blooming in the
moonlight, you need time to be inspired. Okay. Keep doing what
you're doing if it's working for you. Is it working for you?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Set
goals big and small. Make a deadline to write a poem by midnight
every day this weekend, or a short story by Monday. If you have no
idea how long it would take you to write a novel, or if you even
could do such a thing, set a deadline for 50 pages. If you estimate
you can write two pages a day, roughly 500 words double spaced,
that's about a month of work to reach your goal. <b>Keep track of your
progress</b>, and if in a month you find yourself woefully behind
schedule, <b>reassess</b>. Have you worked earnestly enough? Have you
gotten too bogged down in minute details? Maybe you should start
with a smaller project. Or maybe a month is simply too little time
right now.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Calibrate
a new deadline and nail it to the wall over your desk. Be sure its a
<b>nail</b>, though, that
way the you who sits down to write later will get the point. I don't
recommend escalating to writing the date in blood. Blood draws
flies, and you'll have to paint over it each time. I recommend even
less writing it in your own blood. Stick to the more working class
intimidations of . . . you know what, never mind. I may be a little
punch drunk since I recently met my own deadline of April 1<sup>st</sup>
to finish rewriting a novel. Just <b>Try it.</b></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-12798298954101039852014-03-17T13:58:00.001-04:002014-03-17T13:58:02.220-04:00The Process<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“Get it down. Take chances. It may
be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything good.”—William
Faulkner
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I'm sure you've heard</b> </span>this already and
heard it a hundred times until it doesn't mean anything anymore.
Maybe that's a bad way to start an article, but you can't just know
this advice, it has to be part of what you do. It's probably the
single most fundamental element of doing anything creative, writing
especially. It's this: <b>writing is process.</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
So much depends
upon . . .</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
You're going to—and you
should—agonize over a first draft. I'm not telling you
differently. You want it to make sense, you want it to be exciting,
interesting, fun, all that and more. You want it to be like <b>real
writing</b>, and you're not wrong in the least to strive for that.
But know for a fact that you are not going to get there the first
time. <b>Every first time.</b> Become at home with that fact. Own
it. Writing is process. It can suck now if it has to.
You'll make it better later.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Fear of writing the wrong words will
paralyze you. That's what writer's block is, and that's all writer's
block is. When you sit down to write for an hour and barely manage
to drag out three or four sentences, each of which you have no faith
in, it's awful. <b>Don't be afraid to write the wrong words.</b>
Make mistakes. Write the wrong word because it's the only one you
can think of now. If you get a silly idea that seems interesting but
isn't what you intended and you're not sure if it will actually play
out, write it anyway.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
You
cannot judge the merit of your writing until it is actually written.
Get it down.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>There is no one process. </b>You
write a thing, and then read it, and then either refine it, change
it, or throw it away. Outline, first draft, second draft,
final—whatever. That's a matter of preference. Experiment. Find
whatever works for you, but embrace the principle of process. You
cannot get away from it, and you shouldn't want to. Take comfort in
it. It's your safety net. You don't have to get it right the first
time, or the second. You just have to get it right eventually, and
even then only once.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I
know by the time you write to the end of a project, big or small,
you'll be exhausted and you'll want so badly to be done. You won't
want to write another word because you'll feel there aren't any other
words. Know that isn't true. Put the stack of pages in a drawer and
don't think about it for several months. Rest up. When you're
ready, pick it up again, read it, and think. You wrote <b>something</b>
from absolutely nothing. Now you actually have something to work
with. It should be to your advantage.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The
process isn't just about making writing better, it's also about
making a better writer. Don't avoid it. Don't feel tied to your
outline. Don't be trapped in a draft. There is no such thing as
wasted effort. You didn't carve the words in stone, you wrote them
to be changed. Don't be too quick to give rough work to a friend.
<b>Do your own thinking</b>. As much of it as you can stand, anyway.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
That's
how you get better at this. That's the process.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-83250730910552075962014-03-11T16:09:00.001-04:002014-03-15T19:38:29.440-04:00The Strength of Common Words<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“Poor Faulkner. Does he really
think big emotions come from big words?”—Ernest Hemingway.</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">The thesaurus</span></b>
is bad for your writing. The only acceptable use for the thesaurus
for a writer is to recall that word that you know is exactly what you
want, but can't quite remember. Even in these cases, you should only
draw on the thesaurus in matters of extreme importance, otherwise if
you can't quite remember the word that means the same thing as
“energetic,” for instance, just put down “energetic” and move
on. When you read back over your work you'll find it didn't really
matter anyway; “energetic” plays just fine.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'm disappointed every time I see a
vocabulary post on all the different and better ways to say “<b>happy</b>”
or “<b>angry</b>”<b>
</b>or “<b>sad</b>.”
I understand being excited by language—I feel it myself and
encourage it in others—but nothing says <b>happy </b>quite
like the word itself, or perhaps better yet, a smile or a laugh or an
arm thrown around someone's shoulders.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Context </b>communicates
a great deal. One of the remarkable aspects of writing is that the
<b>total effect</b> of a
story, a scene, or even a thought, is greater than the collection of
words that make it up. Big, ten-dollar words tend to keep me at
arm's length from a story. Sure, I may enjoy the language for its
own sake, but I won't feel close to any of the characters because the
language draws too much attention to itself and distracts from the
story. Maybe you've felt that some.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I had
a poetry workshop with a girl who adored words—obscure, archaic,
flowery words. She wrote gems like “coquettish clouds” and “cast
a pall.” I can't remember much of it because none of the poems
made me feel a damn thing. They didn't even paint vivid images. If
they were about much beyond the language (and I think she wanted them
to be), I couldn't tell. She hid too much behind her fancy words.
Her poems were <b>uninteresting </b>series
of<b> interesting words</b>.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I am
not arguing for anyone to dumb down their language. Write the way
you want to write, that's style. I'm only advising you not to try <b>so
damn hard</b> to punch above your
weight. If you really feel your vocabulary is weak, read some more
good books. Your writing is never going to sound natural if you
always have to stop to look up shinier words. As long as your
writing is sensible, that's what is important. It's enough work to
maintain a consistent tone and focus and pacing through a story
without also worrying about sowing linguistic pearls into your
sentences every twenty to thirty words.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Be clear and write what you mean.
</b>That doesn't mean be stupid and
flat footed. You can still turn word somersaults if you like, but
it's important to know where and when in a story you can get away
with such showy arrangements. If you want a moment to matter to a
reader, trust in a light touch. The common, <b>compact words</b>
that we all know so well are always the ones <b>that knock us
out</b>. We all have so much
invested in such words—they're familiar, so we never see the punch
coming. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I have never in my life been jubilant. Not once. But now
and again, for a little while at least, I have been happy.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-75533917541926202552014-03-03T12:22:00.001-05:002014-03-03T17:31:47.906-05:00Writing Warm-up: Tenderize Your Buttons<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“It shows that dirt is clean when
there is a volume.”—Gertrude Stein, <i>Tender Buttons</i></blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b>When you sit</b></span>
down to write, sometimes you may find it difficult to get into a
writing headspace. Sometimes a warm up is in order to break from the
rest of your day and say to your mind, “Alright, now we're going to
do the thing.”
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Try this </b>to
limber up your language and creativity: <b>tenderize your
buttons.</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Alright-alright,
I'll explain. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Stein" target="_blank">Gertrude Stein</a> wrote this little book
called <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/140/1.html" target="_blank"><i>Tender Buttons </i>(read here)</a><i>, </i>which
was a kind of urtext for Modernist writing. Her writing emphasized
sounds and rhythms rather than meaning. <i>Tender Buttons </i>is
her experiment with <b>automatic
writing</b>. She would sit
down and just let her mind spool out a ribbon of words, one after the
other forming, if not sentences, at least kinds of sentences.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The
thought at the time was that your subconscious would push forward and
take control, spilling out your deeper self in semi-coherent patches.
As it turns out, that's mostly stupid, like most Freudian thinking,
but it does make for <b>a
really fun and freeing writing exercise.</b>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
What
Gertie discovered was that she could never really achieve automatic
writing, in which one word randomly popped up after the next. She
could never totally stop thinking, I guess because she was of
literary mind and, you know, awake. Certain words she associated
with other words, which had <b>definitions</b>
and <b>connotations</b>
that led her mind down familiar paths. Basically, you end up in this
wind tunnel of free association.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>So
here's what you do.</b>
Your writing feels constipated, or you don't want to sit down
because the task seems too arduous, the work ahead of you too
serious. Relax. Just have a little fun with language for a few
minutes to stretch out your brain. Open up a blank doc, and without
any hesitation, start typing. Nope, don't question a single word.
If thoughts form, write those thoughts. Don't be afraid of any of
it. Never mind syntax. Never mind sense. Follow the sounds of
words. Chant, rave, just keep typing. Jump from one thought to the
next. Drum up an obscure word, then follow it, and fast. Don't
wait. It feels good. It feels good to keep typing, to keep moving,
to watch the blank space fill up. All out in a burst. Here's mine:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Flipper
melon wilting in the sun. Sunbird picked away the rind but never
mind the sweet. Can't swim full up anyway. Marching hares,
debonair, james dean metal sling fired the ever wary off into the
world. So long my shining diamond.</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's
just that easy. <b>Now
you</b>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-5517353773300382712014-02-24T13:52:00.000-05:002014-02-25T23:31:37.138-05:00Finding Time to Write: Block it Out<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
“Brick by brick, my citizens. Brick
by brick.”—Roman Emperor Hadrian</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Waiting for inspiration</b></span> is a waste of
time. Creativity doesn't really work like that. You don't wait
around for it to show up, and then get to work. This puts the process exactly backwards, and is
detrimental to a developing writer. You sit down to write, and as
your brain bangs ideas together, interesting things happen. So sit
down already!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
When you're learning this craft, your
writing time can and will be frustrating, difficult, slow, and
exhausting. This makes the prospect of sitting down to write each
day that much more daunting. It becomes oh-so easy to find something
else to do with your free time if you are feeling at all unmotivated
to write. You make deals with yourself. You procrastinate. “Oh,
I'll write some later when I have more energy, more time, when this
show isn't on T.V., after the Olympics are over, it's not like I’ll
get that much done anyway, I'm not in the right mindset,” all that
crap.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
How do you overcome this impulse,
reliably sit down, make progress, improve your writing, and feel
better about the whole process? <b>Try this</b>:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Block out time, and stick to your
schedule.</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
You can not
improve and you will not finish projects without sincere effort.
Sincere effort starts with time management—getting your butt in
that chair. But don't fret; you don't have to kill yourself slaving away. Anyone with
an artistic disposition is likely taken with the idea of working only
once the sun goes down and toiling through the night fueled by little
more than coffee or alcohol, and passion. If you're struggling to
meet a deadline, you may have to burn the midnight oil, but
otherwise, write when you would normally be awake. Writing is
thinking. Every person I know thinks better an hour after breakfast
than they do at 3 am.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
One to three hours
<b>regularly set aside</b> to write pays dividends. 1½ to 2 hours
is probably a sweet spot for most people, but if all you can spare is
45 minutes, then get your 45 minutes. My first semester in college,
I would wake up at 6:30 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so I could
write for a little less than an hour before class. It was not much
time, but I always felt better about the rest of my day knowing I had
put it in, even if I didn't get another chance to write.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<b>Decide</b>
ahead of time when you will write and for how long. Write it down if
you have to, but when the appointed hour rolls around, no matter what
you're doing, get your butt in that chair and get to work. <b>Don't</b>
let yourself be distracted. <b>Don't</b> pop online for a few
minutes here or there. <b>Concentrate</b>. This is your writing
time. Use it to write, even if you're just writing ideas. It
doesn't have to be the same time every day. It doesn't have to be
the same duration. If you have to skip days, that's fine, but write
when you can. I know this sounds overly simple, because it is, but it still works. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Start
promptly and, just as important, <b>stop when the time is up</b>.
Finish your thought, save, and get on with the rest of your day. You'll feel secure in the knowledge that however much you wrote, and
however good it is or isn't, you were there and you were working.
<b>You put your time in, and you'll be back tomorrow. </b>
Now you're free to do whatever you want, guilt free. By the end of
the month, you'll have real progress that you can be proud of.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Pick a time, sit
down, and do it.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-74375623497777781962014-02-17T15:49:00.000-05:002014-02-17T15:49:16.693-05:00R.A. Salvatore: Writer's Block and Being an Author<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"If you can quit, quit, because if you can quit, you're not a writer."—R.A. Salvatore </blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">R.A. Salvatore</span> was my fantasy youth.
Anyone who loves sci/fi or fantasy has their first novel that opened
the genre to them. For Salvatore, as with many other fantasy authors
of his generation, that book was <i>The Hobbit.</i> For me, that
book was <i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50027.Homeland" target="_blank">Homeland</a></i>, which
started <i>The Dark Elf Trilogy</i>.
The adventures of Drizzt Do'Urden and his friends throughout that
trilogy and the many to follow didn't just make me a fantasy
enthusiast, they made me a <b>reader</b>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In this clip, Salvatore
gives his seasoned perspective on <b>writer's block</b>: “There is no such
thing as writer's block. You know what writer's block is? Writer's
block is lack of confidence. […] Forget it. Sit down and start
typing. Type. Type. Type.”
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Having written more books than years
he's been alive (55), more than twenty of which have been New York
Times best-sellers, doesn't mean Salvatore is the final word on
writing, or even on writing fantasy, but it does mean maybe you
should listen to what he has to say if you're interested in a career
as a working author.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQGiaHlKghI" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3mjD-HpNv3JRIxn6_tusUP5_17CkY1mSzyoNPM5qthiKWIPVSaXITYL4_yCTUr2vMmtQqbda77XsmKrE3SKj1lIYWT3QHZ_G8f0SUsM_clgwYRTdA53i1tVh-oKGTIMkMSU7fVE-fomw/s1600/Bob+Salvatore+pic.png" height="194" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Thanks for the adventures, Bob. And the nostalgia every time I read, or re-read, one of your books.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<i>Do you have any books that started you as a reader, in fantasy or any other genre? </i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-56911119883651607322014-02-10T17:12:00.001-05:002014-02-11T15:52:24.472-05:00Crying and Writing<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
"I'd try to make you sad somehow</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
But I can't so I cry instead."
—The Beatles, <i>I'll Cry Instead</i></div>
</blockquote>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">If you're crying</span></b> when you're
writing, are you doing it right?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In a word, <b>no</b>. Your emotional
state when writing is not an indicator of the quality of your work or
the emotion that will be evoked in a reader. Your crying does not
mean a reader will find your work moving. Your laughing does not
mean a reader will find your work funny. Being emotional is not the
same as effectively communicating that emotion.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
This <b>isn't to say</b> that if you
<b>are</b> crying when you're writing, you're doing it wrong. There
are several reasons you might be emotional during a project. Maybe
you're reliving some difficult experiences, either to record them or
borrow from them. Maybe you're just an emotional person and you're
trying to really empathize with your characters. This is all
especially acceptable during a first draft, when you're just trying
to drill into a story and feel it out.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
My worry, though, is that writing is
not like acting. <b>It's not performance art</b>. No one can see
the tears on your keyboard. I've sat through many readings of poetry
and short stories in which the writers have forced undeserved emotions onto the reading of their work. If you cannot help but get
emotional when you consider your work, of course you won't be able to
tell if it's any good. <b>You're too close to it</b>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In order to judge the quality of your
writing, <b>you have to be able to step back</b> and look at what you
have done <b>dispassionately</b>, like a passing reader who happened
to pluck it from a shelf. Revision. Rewriting. Rethinking. These
are the tools of the trade. They are how you learn to write, and how
you (eventually) write well. You hammer out your ideas, get some
distance on them, and then sit back down, dry eyed, and see if you
can make anything of it.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Hopefully you'll find good things in
your writing, even if it's just parts of conversation or pieces of
description. You'll know these because you've read good books before
and recognize competent work. But when you come across less
effective sections of your work—too heavy handed, lacking character
motivation, overt expositional dialogue, boring, etc—if you can be honest
with yourself when you see these flaws and diagnose them, right
there! <b>You're doing it right</b>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
As a writer, you're always going to be
bias about your own work. You have to learn to compensate for this
bias, or at least be aware of it. Everything you write is going to
seem that much better to you (or worse, depending on your
inclination, or just the time of day) <b>because you wrote it</b>.
This is what makes learning to be critical of your own writing, and
thus learning to write, so difficult. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
That is why we all need a good
editor—another pair of eyes on our work to tell us when we're full
of shit, and when we've done something really well. The perspective
of a serious reader is invaluable. If you sincerely can't tell what
is good and bad in your writing, ask someone with a critical eye to
read it for you. Have a friend who thinks the <i>Sherlock </i>finale
wasn't so good for reasons 1, 2, and 3, but still enjoyed other parts
for reason 4 and 5? They're probably a good place to start.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6611694674316113949.post-17350702993299895312014-02-03T15:13:00.000-05:002014-02-03T15:19:39.913-05:00Read This: His Majesty's Dragon<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“'Very well, but do hurry,' he said.
'I would like to go up to those mountains. And I could just eat
those,' he added, looking at a team of carriage horses standing
nearby[. . .].<br />
'Oh, no, Temeraire, you cannot just
eat anything you see on the street,' Laurence said in alarm.”
—Naomi Novik, <i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28876.His_Majesty_s_Dragon?from_search=true" target="_blank">His Majesty's Dragon</a></i></blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">What
would it be like</span></b> to have a baby dragon, fresh out of the shell,
choose you as his lifelong companion? How would a person feel if
this choice meant you had to abandon all your life's ambitions, from
career success to marriage and family, and join the Aerial Corps in
service to king and country? Captain
Will Laurence, a man of duty and propriety, formerly of the HMS <i>Reliant</i>,
discovers that while this charge is at times deeply painful, it is
also the most wonderful thing that could have ever befallen him.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Set
during the <b>Napoleonic War</b> in a Europe where dragons, while not
exactly commonplace, have been harnessed, bred for speed and size,
and incorporated into the military as the Aerial Corps, Naomi Novik
fully imagines the impact and use of dragons in a society, right down
to the massive amount of livestock that must be kept on hand for
their feeding. Oh yes, dragons eat a great deal—something Laurence
learns all too quickly as baby Temeraire strains the provisions
aboard the <i>Reliant</i>,
at least when he isn't sleeping,<i>
</i>as they sail fast for
home.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Though
some of the book may be dedicated to Temeraire and Laurence training
with the Aerial Corps in Scotland, as well as subsequent battles with
Napoleon's forces, <i>His
Majesty's Dragon </i><b>is not</b>
<b>about</b> dragon battle
tactics. It's about the journey Laurence and Temeraire make together
into the clandestine ranks of dragon riders, where the usual
stiffness of British society falls away, and women find equal footing
among their male counterparts, a state of conduct Laurence struggles
adjusting to. But more significantly, the story follows the
development of Laurence's touching kinship with a creature as
extraordinary as Temeraire. He never knew anything could be so dear
to him as his own dragon.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The
two of them are really lovely together. <b>It's worth a look</b>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
I'm
not alone in my appreciation of Novik's Temeraire. Last I heard,
<b>Peter Jackson</b> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/books/11novi.html?_r=0" target="_blank">bought the film rights to the series</a>.
If my word isn't good enough (and there's no reason it should be),
maybe you'll take a hint from Pete.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08587217271539277141noreply@blogger.com0