I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since my last post. I've been busy with everything but writing. When I finally went back to Assignment #2, guess what? Nothing had happened! An elf had not come in the night and advanced my plot. (He hadn't made me any shoes either!)
Nope, I've hit a brick wall. My face, at first just ghostly, turned the writer shade of pale. I'm trying not to over-react. Writing's funny in that way. It's easy to psych yourself out, to try so hard that you create what you fear: writer's block. So, I'm just taking deep breaths and acting nonchalant whenever I get around paper or a keyboard. (Whistling past the graveyard.)
It's funny how writing requires that you monitor your thoughts and fears. I think inside the head of every writer there must be a saboteur who would just love to fling shoes in the loom--or the metaphorical equivalent. Why is that, I wonder?
I'll get back to work on Assignment #2 tomorrow.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The Plot Simmers
I have a new assignment: write a story based on a word list. Some of the words--float, candle, cup--suggested a ghost story set in a 16th century English tavern. (That's word association for you.) I came up with a protagonist who is a 14-year-old ghost of an American boy. Through some mix-up in the cosmos, he gets sent to the wrong place at the wrong time and wants to go home to haunt familiar time and territory. His first problem is how to move around in the absence of gravity. At first, all he can do is float around in the rafters.
I need three "skeleton" scenes (no pun intended): 1st: at the one-quarter point, the ghost must be thrust out of his comfort zone. That's the easy one. I've got it covered. ("Everybody looks good at the starting line.") 2nd: at the halfway point, the ghost's situation should worsen, preferably because he's tried to make it better. And 3rd: the climax, where things are as bad as they can be, and yet the ghost will do something to finally resolve the problem. Of course, all of these things must be consistent with the ghost-story logic I've set up. Once I outline a sensible plot that includes these key scenes, I can write the story in sections, aiming toward each key scene. The ending should "wrap" to the beginning somehow.
So . . . the plot's on the back burner with the lid on and the heat turned down low. I'm cooking it slowly because good things take time. And because there's more than a month until DEADline. Cheerio!
I need three "skeleton" scenes (no pun intended): 1st: at the one-quarter point, the ghost must be thrust out of his comfort zone. That's the easy one. I've got it covered. ("Everybody looks good at the starting line.") 2nd: at the halfway point, the ghost's situation should worsen, preferably because he's tried to make it better. And 3rd: the climax, where things are as bad as they can be, and yet the ghost will do something to finally resolve the problem. Of course, all of these things must be consistent with the ghost-story logic I've set up. Once I outline a sensible plot that includes these key scenes, I can write the story in sections, aiming toward each key scene. The ending should "wrap" to the beginning somehow.
So . . . the plot's on the back burner with the lid on and the heat turned down low. I'm cooking it slowly because good things take time. And because there's more than a month until DEADline. Cheerio!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
I Should Have Known (Slow Was) Better
In yesterday's post, I mentioned what I call "trance writing." It has a fancy technical name I can't pronounce--maybe I can spell it: "proprioceptive writing." There now, but it doesn't tell you a thing does it?
It's essentially "getting into the flow" of writing. To me, it's a state of intense, but relaxed concentration, like a trance. There is a book about it, but the book is as much about psychology as about writing. Not that the two aren't related. They very much are. But that's not the subject of this post.
I find that writing slowly, deliberately, with music in the background (Irish harp music works for me) promotes writing with more depth and better quality in most cases than say, freewriting, which tends to be hurried and harried. Freewriting can help break writer's block, is great for getting something/anything down on the page, but most of it is throw-away.
If you want to try trance writing, pick your subject first. Then put on whatever instrumental music will aid your concentration. Set a timer for 20 minutes or so, and go to it. Write slowly, listening carefully to your thoughts about the subject, following them as they try to get ahead of you. Don't let them. Make them slow down. Your thoughts may backtrack or take strange turns. That's fine. Follow them.
It's essentially "getting into the flow" of writing. To me, it's a state of intense, but relaxed concentration, like a trance. There is a book about it, but the book is as much about psychology as about writing. Not that the two aren't related. They very much are. But that's not the subject of this post.
I find that writing slowly, deliberately, with music in the background (Irish harp music works for me) promotes writing with more depth and better quality in most cases than say, freewriting, which tends to be hurried and harried. Freewriting can help break writer's block, is great for getting something/anything down on the page, but most of it is throw-away.
If you want to try trance writing, pick your subject first. Then put on whatever instrumental music will aid your concentration. Set a timer for 20 minutes or so, and go to it. Write slowly, listening carefully to your thoughts about the subject, following them as they try to get ahead of you. Don't let them. Make them slow down. Your thoughts may backtrack or take strange turns. That's fine. Follow them.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
What the Teacher Said
A couple of days ago I reported that my teacher returned writing assignment #1 with her comments and suggestions. I think I've calmed down enough to talk about it without gushing. But first, I must say how impressed I am with this course so far and with my instructor, who is a real, live published author--and she's reading my stories! How great is that?! (Am I gushing?) Second, even though I've been writing every day since late December 2008, it hasn't always been structured writing. I've done what I call "trance writing," (more about that later), journal entries, freewrites, essays, etc., as well as a few stories, and about 500 edits of the first chapter of a novel! However, in less than three weeks of this course, I have written two complete stories and begun a third!
Now, to my teacher's critique. She pretty much said everything I did in my recent post, "The Elephant Bites Back," except that when she said it, it was encouraging. She offered a lot of additional suggestions on the old "plot" monster that will be helpful to me when I expand this story beyond 750 words. I wrote the story for the adolescent/teen market (the protagonist is 14), which routinely expects 1,200- to 2,000-words, so I have a lot of room to create some gripping conflict.
One thing my teacher said, and I didn't, was that the protagonist seemed too cerebral and not emotionally involved enough in the situation. I agree. I'll work on that.
YAAAAAAY!!!!!!
Now, to my teacher's critique. She pretty much said everything I did in my recent post, "The Elephant Bites Back," except that when she said it, it was encouraging. She offered a lot of additional suggestions on the old "plot" monster that will be helpful to me when I expand this story beyond 750 words. I wrote the story for the adolescent/teen market (the protagonist is 14), which routinely expects 1,200- to 2,000-words, so I have a lot of room to create some gripping conflict.
One thing my teacher said, and I didn't, was that the protagonist seemed too cerebral and not emotionally involved enough in the situation. I agree. I'll work on that.
YAAAAAAY!!!!!!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Google Earth
Is anybody besides me freaked about Google Earth, the old eye in the sky? It's not like I'm paranoid or anything: if somebody really is watching me, then I ain't paranoid, right? But anyway, it's not just about being watched. Let me explain. I went to Google Earth and entered my childhood hometown. Planet Earth filled the frame of my monitor as the camera zoomed in on the place. You could easily see the river running through and the main streets and the treetops. Surreal! Then I entered the address of my old home. No one I know lives there now. It drew a box around the lot, but the lot has lots of trees, so that's all you could see.
But there were icons that gave ground level views nearby. One of these was of an intersection a block away from my old home. I remember riding my blue Schwinn bike toward that intersection one particular day when I was around 6, and a barking German shepherd changed my mind about turning the corner. I stood up and pedaled hard, afraid he was going to catch up with me and bite me in the butt. I didn't go that way for a long, long time.
Another time, something should have changed my mind about turning that corner. I was 14 and had lied to my elderly babysitter.
"Daddy lets me drive. All the time!" Sure!
Well, she took me at my word and gave me the keys to her mint green Rambler. She rode shotgun as I careened around the corner on two wheels. I hit the curb and blew out a tire!
The point is that my hometown and that intersection near the place where I spent my childhood is a loved place, a place of memories--pretty sacred memories to me--and I resent its objectification by anyone who can supply the address to Google Earth. So P-f-f-f-t on you, Google Earth.
But there were icons that gave ground level views nearby. One of these was of an intersection a block away from my old home. I remember riding my blue Schwinn bike toward that intersection one particular day when I was around 6, and a barking German shepherd changed my mind about turning the corner. I stood up and pedaled hard, afraid he was going to catch up with me and bite me in the butt. I didn't go that way for a long, long time.
Another time, something should have changed my mind about turning that corner. I was 14 and had lied to my elderly babysitter.
"Daddy lets me drive. All the time!" Sure!
Well, she took me at my word and gave me the keys to her mint green Rambler. She rode shotgun as I careened around the corner on two wheels. I hit the curb and blew out a tire!
The point is that my hometown and that intersection near the place where I spent my childhood is a loved place, a place of memories--pretty sacred memories to me--and I resent its objectification by anyone who can supply the address to Google Earth. So P-f-f-f-t on you, Google Earth.
Monday, July 6, 2009
My Teacher Responds
Just a quick post to say I got feedback from my teacher today on Assignment #1. After I've had a chance to digest it all and gain a little perspective on her comments and compliments, which lined up pretty closely with my self critique (below), I will comment more. Right now? I'm too excited to think. I am certain, however, that I've never gotten a more helpful critique. That shouldn't be a surprise, of course, since I've never before had a published novelist critique my work!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
The Elephant Bites Back!
Here's our first tomato of the 2009 season. Actually, it's the second; the first one we ate immediately. Yum!Okay, so I've submitted Assignment #1 and I'm waiting to hear from my instructor. In the meantime, I decided to critique my story and see how close my criticism comes to my instructor's.
1. The title really sucks.
2. The protagonist is already too mature and so doesn't grow or change by the end of the story.
3. Structural problems: The set-up scene is too long and I had only two middle scenes instead of three.
4. Protagonist's inner conflict is not developed, only implied.
5. The age target is wrong. Not for ages 13-16, but for the adolescent market, ages 10-14.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Eating the Elephant
My rough draft for Assignment #1 is finished! I'm happy to report it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It has a believable protagonist with a real conflict, and the conflict gets worse before it gets better. The protagonist's actions and character--not coincidence, not her 2nd cousin's dog--create the story line. It has a climactic moment, and it has resolution. In other words, it is a real story, not an anecdote or a literary experiment.
Now, that may not sound like much. And it may not be much. But for me, it really is a breakthrough. A bite off the elephant's big butt. I told myself I could not plot, and I had to work my way through that mental block. It took a week or so of anguish. But now that I'm on the other side, it won't be as hard next time. That's the way I'll get through this course. One bite at a time.
Now, that may not sound like much. And it may not be much. But for me, it really is a breakthrough. A bite off the elephant's big butt. I told myself I could not plot, and I had to work my way through that mental block. It took a week or so of anguish. But now that I'm on the other side, it won't be as hard next time. That's the way I'll get through this course. One bite at a time.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Settings
A good story needs a good setting. How about this one? It's in the Dismals Canyon, which we visited recently. Temperatures in the canyon are about 15 degrees below the brutal summer norms in Alabama.
My First Assignment
Okay, here's why I enrolled in the writing class in the first place. The very first assignment addresses it. It's that four-letter word: PLOT. As in, I can't do it!
Assignment #1 has me writing a short story based on a picture (not the picture above). I know that should be helpful since the germ of the idea, the setting, and the characters are IN THE PICTURE. And, of course, if you want, you can depart from the picture details or from the picture entirely if your story idea leads you there. And while a picture is way better than starting from a blank page, it still requires so many decisions that it's paralyzing! Should the male or the female in the picture be the protagonist? What age should the protagonist be? Or put another way, what age group are you writing this story for? Is it realistic? A fantasy? A mystery? Should I tell it in 1st person? 3rd person limited? Who is the viewpoint character?
You get the idea. I haven't even reached the PLOT questions yet. And I can't answer the very first PLOT question, "What's the initial problem?" until I know who the protagonist is.
If and how I make progress on this assignment, I'll keep you posted.
Assignment #1 has me writing a short story based on a picture (not the picture above). I know that should be helpful since the germ of the idea, the setting, and the characters are IN THE PICTURE. And, of course, if you want, you can depart from the picture details or from the picture entirely if your story idea leads you there. And while a picture is way better than starting from a blank page, it still requires so many decisions that it's paralyzing! Should the male or the female in the picture be the protagonist? What age should the protagonist be? Or put another way, what age group are you writing this story for? Is it realistic? A fantasy? A mystery? Should I tell it in 1st person? 3rd person limited? Who is the viewpoint character?
You get the idea. I haven't even reached the PLOT questions yet. And I can't answer the very first PLOT question, "What's the initial problem?" until I know who the protagonist is.
If and how I make progress on this assignment, I'll keep you posted.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Best Lesson on Craft
I've learned a lot from books on the craft of writing. But I've learned the most, by far, from a 165-page book: Steering the Craft: Exercises and Discussions on Story Writing for the Lone Navigator or the Mutinous Crew, by Ursula K. Le Guin. Specifically helpful to me were Chapters 3 & 6.
Chapter 3, "Sentence Length and Complex Syntax," was a corrective. I tend to write long, complex sentences. But there's a place for a string of short, choppy sentences. The exercise directs you to write a narrative paragraph using sentences of seven or fewer words. I'd tell you what the result is, but then you won't do it and find out for yourself. But I guarantee that when you get four or five sentences down, you'll recognize the effect and someplace you've heard it used before.
Chapter 6, "Subject, Pronoun, & Verb," has an exercise called "The Old Woman," that is well worth doing in all variations of person and verb tense. I was amazed at the effects achieved by using one tense for the old woman's actions "now," and using another tense for actions she is remembering. If you write, you've heard the rule "Don't change verb tenses." This exercise shows you that you can, you should, and when and why.
I am now much more aware of sentence length and verb tense changes in my reading. This is at least half of the value of the exercises. You benefit so much more from reading other writers when you are aware of their technique.
I noticed a whole string of changes in verb tense on the first two pages of John Steinbeck's The Pearl. Nearly every sentence has a different tense. Finally, on p. 3, the book settles into a past tense narrative. A lot of the originality and magic of the book is due to Steinbeck's manipulation of verb tenses. Read it again and see if you agree.
Chapter 3, "Sentence Length and Complex Syntax," was a corrective. I tend to write long, complex sentences. But there's a place for a string of short, choppy sentences. The exercise directs you to write a narrative paragraph using sentences of seven or fewer words. I'd tell you what the result is, but then you won't do it and find out for yourself. But I guarantee that when you get four or five sentences down, you'll recognize the effect and someplace you've heard it used before.
Chapter 6, "Subject, Pronoun, & Verb," has an exercise called "The Old Woman," that is well worth doing in all variations of person and verb tense. I was amazed at the effects achieved by using one tense for the old woman's actions "now," and using another tense for actions she is remembering. If you write, you've heard the rule "Don't change verb tenses." This exercise shows you that you can, you should, and when and why.
I am now much more aware of sentence length and verb tense changes in my reading. This is at least half of the value of the exercises. You benefit so much more from reading other writers when you are aware of their technique.
I noticed a whole string of changes in verb tense on the first two pages of John Steinbeck's The Pearl. Nearly every sentence has a different tense. Finally, on p. 3, the book settles into a past tense narrative. A lot of the originality and magic of the book is due to Steinbeck's manipulation of verb tenses. Read it again and see if you agree.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Let There Be Light!
Day 1 of Creation
Welcome to The Writer Shade of Pale, a blog I created to chronicle my passage through a popular writing course. The journey should take about two years. Think of me as a Writer-Hero called to an Adventure. If you've read Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, or Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey, you know what I mean. (If you haven't, I recommend them.) I recently defeated a Threshold Guardian (passed a test) and entered the world of aspiring writers. No doubt there are dangers and challenges ahead. I will not have to meet them by myself, however. I have Mentors who are pledged to assist me.
If you are a writer or a would-be writer, follow along with me as I record my progress.
Welcome to The Writer Shade of Pale, a blog I created to chronicle my passage through a popular writing course. The journey should take about two years. Think of me as a Writer-Hero called to an Adventure. If you've read Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, or Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey, you know what I mean. (If you haven't, I recommend them.) I recently defeated a Threshold Guardian (passed a test) and entered the world of aspiring writers. No doubt there are dangers and challenges ahead. I will not have to meet them by myself, however. I have Mentors who are pledged to assist me.
If you are a writer or a would-be writer, follow along with me as I record my progress.
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