Category Archives: Writing

3 Things I Need to STOP DOING So I Can Write Already!

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I procrastinate.

There. I said it.

Usually I can pull out of my procrastination haze and complete whatever task I’m avoiding in just under the wire. It’s the fear of consequences that gets me to the finish line on time. If I don’t do my job, I’ll be looking for a new one. If I don’t get the house in order, I’ll have the wrath of the Mrs. to deal with. See where I’m going? Fear is a powerful motivator for me.

I can’t say the same about writing. I have no deadlines other than my own. If I don’t meet them, then I change them. Not done by Friday? What’s another week. Less than a thousand words written today? Five hundred will do, right? Sure I’m left with guilt, but it doesn’t have the same effect as fear. I’m going to continue to work on it. In the mean time, let me clue you in on some of the bad things I should be cutting out:

1. INTERNET

I have to echo The Amys here. This is the number one time-suck to my writing time. It always stars out innocent enough. Check an email. May write one (that counts as writing, right? Didn’t think so.)

Look in on Facebook. Click a link. Then another. Next thing I know, I’m dosed with some cyber goodness such as the like of the Burrito Bison, The Annoying Orange, and Phil in the Whaaat? For those of you who clicked the links, you’re welcome… or sorry, as the case may be.

*For full disclosure, I spent more than a half hour playing on those sites just now, getting their URL. Stupid internet goodness.

2. Cleaning House

Sound odd? Well, when I’m in need of a good excuse not to write, I suddenly find the state of my house unacceptable. Dusting, mopping, dishes and laundry take immediate priority. And for those of you who don’t know me, I hate each and every one of those activities. Yet somehow at times, they seem like a better idea than tackling that difficult plot, character or setting. My wife might string me up, but I must cut out the cleaning.

3. Be Selfish, Not Selfless

This is the hardest one for me. I want to put everyone else before me. I want the best for my family, and I want to be the one to do it for them. My wife and I have a good balance in that regards. It took us several years to get it right, and there might be a hiccup now and again, but we make it work. My problem is crumbling for my kids. How can I resist when my two-year-old pats the ground next to her and says, “Come on Daddy. Sit. Sit.” Answer: I can’t. And do I just ignore when my son brings wild snakes he’s caught into the house? Answer: A resounding NO!

I’m getting better, I limit my time on the internet. I barely touch it on the weekends, and house cleaning is limited to designated days. Eventually I’ll be able to sneak away more for myself. As the kids get older, they’re less entertained by Dad. That’ll hit harder one day, but for now it’s a small light at what feels like a very long tunnel.

What do you need to avoid? Are you successful? Any and all tips are appreciated.

500 Club (4/19)

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Hello Thursday!

I have some writing prompts ready and waiting to be tackled. Carve out a few minutes and give them a try.

Here’s all you’ll need to know:

  1. Write 500 words based on one of the two prompts below.
  2. Post it to your blog.
  3. Give us a small taste in the comments below along with a link to the full text.

As always, feel free to change the name and sex of the characters as you see fit. After all, it’s your story.:

1. Finish this opening: Killing the headlights and coasting up the driveway, the crunch of the gravel under the tires was the only indication he had arrived. He checked the passenger seat again. No turning back now.

2. Work a poem into a 500 word story. The poem can be as long or as short as you like, made up or well-known (just remember to give credit where credit is due).

3 Things I Need to Stop Doing and Write Instead

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Every writer has the best intentions. (I’m going to finally write that novel. Yay me!)

A lot of writers have overly ambitious intentions. (I am going to write a bestselling novel this weekend. Just watch me!)

And many writers get in their own way. (I’ll get back to that novel after I finish this level of WoW. *yawn*)

Me included. I don’t play Warcraft, but I do find that a lot of unnecessary things suddenly become very important when I’m starting a new project.

Call it Resistance. Call it fear. Call it laziness. Whatever it is, I need to call it out and get back to work.

Here are the 3 things I need to stop doing and write instead.

1. Internet

Stupid internet. Stupid, wonderful internet. Why must you be so shiny? So often I start a new story, new page, new sentence and then, boom. As soon as I get to that first hesitation where that initial idea runs its course and I have to think up the next thing, I flip open a browser page and see what fascinating bit of distraction there is to entice me. It’s like a nervous tic. A foolish consistency. It’s much easier to see what pictures from Pinterest people are posting on Facebook than write that next sentence.

I need to stop avoiding the hard work and start writing.

2. QueryTracker

QueryTracker is awesome. What an incredible resource for writers. I love it. I’m kind of addicted to it. Especially the “watch” feature. Now that I’m querying agents, I’m checking my watch alerts, researching who reps who and what, adding agents to my lists. And that’s all well and good. But I’m spending too much time reading other people’s updates about agents than writing my new project.

I need to stop obsessing and start writing.

3. Worry

I worry. There. I said it. All kinds of thoughts fill my head when I’m writing and when I’m not. Am I a hack? Will I get an agent? Will the agent who requested the full like my novel? Is this the new project I should be working on, or the other one? Am I getting the tone/voice/setting/mood/sentence structure of this chapter right? What if I don’t find an agent? Should I self-publish? What if I’m just a hack and not good at this? What if the world is ending and I’m wasting my time writing this book? Ugh. It’s an endless battle.

The thing about writing, though, is it brings me such joy. And if I can ignore the worry wart in my brain and write, I’m transported out of that mindset altogether. Writing is a great remedy.

I need to stop worrying and start writing.

What do you need to stop doing so you can start writing?

500 Club (3/29)

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Let’s take a break from the Round Robin story to give you a chance stretch your creative muscle too. Use these prompts to go crazy. Break outside of your normal writing style. It’s only 500 words. How hard can that be? Give it a try. Even Bat Boy can do it.

Here’s all you’ll need to know:

  1. Write 500 words based on one of the two prompts below.
  2. Post it to your blog.
  3. Give us a small taste in the comments below along with a link to the full text.

As always, feel free to change the name and sex of the characters as you see fit. After all, it’s your story.:

1. Finish this opening: Bill had no problem showing his home. The rooms were clean, the appliances new, and the walls completely repaired. He doubted seriously anyone would notice the…

2. Pick a headline from any news source you like, the wackier the better. Off-beat tabloids are the best for these. Now, without reading the story, create your own.

500 Club (3/8)

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What will your journey be like?

Dust off that keyboard, and sharpen those pencils. Today we’re going on a trip. More accurately, we’ll be writing about a trip, the journey. Here lies the heart of the heart of your story. A and B might be really cool points, but it’s how they get connected that will make the story memorable.

Road Writing rules for the trip:

  1. Write 500 words based on one of the two prompts below.
  2. Post it to your blog.
  3. Give us a small taste in the comments below along with a link to the full text.

For today’s prompts you can create whatever kind of character you like, and all points can relate to places or a specific life event, whichever you choose:

1. Take two seemingly unrelated points and connect them. Examples: A monastery and dangling from a parachute; spelling bee finals and USMC sniper; Bunk bed and Niagara Falls.

2. Take two easily relatable points and connect them in a way that you would NOT expect. Examples: Your house to the neighbor’s house via submarine; Your house to China via the center of the Earth; childhood to adulthood via a wormhole through Pangea.

500 Club (3/1)

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It’s the first of March, so let’s bring this 500 Club in like a lion. Prompts wait below, warm in their lair and ready to play.

The Rules:

  1. Write 500 words based on one of the two prompts below.
  2. Post it to your blog.
  3. In the comments below, drop the first line or two along with a link to the rest of the story.

The prompts today have a qualifier. Think of your default protagonist. White, male, adult, straight? Today I want you to change at least two of those defining characteristics. If you always write men, try a woman on for size. If you always write about straight characters, hit up the LBGT spectrum. If you always write about white people, try slipping into the POV of an asian, or native american, or black person. And if you always write about people in their mid-20s, try an elderly or very young perspective instead.

(If you get absolutely stuck, try this: write as you normally would, then go back and change Paul to Pam, but leave in the girlfriend. The point is to stretch as a writer, and to realize you CAN write from the perspective of X Y or Z. Just write a person, know what I mean?)

1. Billy found the body in the river. 

OR

2. It all started when the cat came in. I knew it was bad luck, but nobody listened to me. God, I hate being right.

Happy writing!

When Is It Too Much?

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When is it too much?

When have you gone too far?

Too Much is one of those things I can easily identify in other writers’ works, but find difficult to see in my own writing.

Overwrought description. Dialogue that meanders into meaninglessness. Emotions that spill all over the page.

(Was that Too Much?)

There’s something about Too Much that ruins the illusion of reality that a good story creates. A bit like breaking the fourth wall in theater, Too Much has the effect of the author pointing out his or her writing. “Look at me go!”

The other night my husband was reading a book that shall remain nameless. “Listen to this,” he said, and he read a sentence so heavy laden with adjectives and importance it nearly drowned under its own weight. I groaned and thought, Really? In that book?

But I do it, too. I imagine we all get carried away from time to time.

During our workshops, Jim Sallis points out Too Much by saying, “This is too on the nose.”

Too Much does all the work and leaves no space for the reader. “Don’t you see?” Too Much says, “My story is about (fill in the blank).”

Some of the best writing advice I ever heard came from Ron Carlson. He looks at the subject of a story like a target. The theme or point of the story is the bullseye. He suggests writers circle the target, aim to the side, and never hit the mark dead on.

Such a great solution to the problem of Too Much. Unless of course you then move into the opposite territory.

Writing Too Little.

*sigh*

Don’t SPOILER your plot!

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THURSDAY BONUS POST! AKA, I don’t know why I try to use the Post Scheduler and write things ahead of time. That thing hates me. It steals my socks and puts nails in my tires and stands over my bed at night with a knife in its hand, just watching. FOR NOW. Anyway, let’s just pretend that we’re time travelers, and we’re going back to Monday’s post, to-day-ay-ay-ay-ay….

Why do we turn from page one to page two? Because we want to know what happens next. Therefore one of the worst sins a writer can commit is spoilering his own plot by telegraphing his plot punches.

If your hero’s wife, Daphne Camille Elizabeth, is a superficial and conniving shrew with no quality but beauty to recommend her, I know she will horribly betray the hero before the book ends. (And maybe he deserves it for being such an idiot as to marry her in the first place).

And yet, I will also know it won’t matter too much because it will free the hero to marry the equally beautiful young Mary Sue, introduced in Chapter Two, who is forthright, kind, fearless, and practically perfect in every way, just like that other Mary. (Except Mary Poppins is an arrogant commitment-phobe, which are the flaws that make her so delightful.)

Knowing what happens in advance of actually reading it sucks half the fun out of any given book. If I, the reader, can also figure out HOW Daphne Camille Elizabeth will betray the hero, so much the worse.

So how does this spoilering happen? For illustrative purposes, here is a short scene written two different ways, in which a powerful gentleman has just made an inappropriate proposal to an impoverished young lady:

 Figlips #1

“I say, my dear, no need to get your nose out of joint,” blustered Figlips, self-consciously adjusting his lavish wig. “Many young ladies like to ‘ride the ponies’. It’s a compliment to be asked, you know.” He smiled greasily, his rat-like eyes running slowly up and down her length. His ugly face screwed into a coarse, vulgar smile as he adjusted his belt, several sizes too tight for his unsightly girth. “I hope you do not tattle to Papa and sour our business venture. It would break his heart.”

 Figlips #2

“I say, my dear, no need to get your nose out of joint.” Figlips smiled, his mild brown eyes running over her. “Many young ladies like to ‘ride the ponies’. I only meant to pay you a compliment when I asked.” He bowed, his lavish wig tipping slightly to one side. “Forgive me, I beg. I meant no offense. You know I hold your family in the very highest of esteem; else I never would have aided your father in this perilous diamond venture. Please say all is well between us, it will break my heart if you don’t. ”

Don’t we all hate Figlips? But in that first example, we are being hammered over the head with hating Figlips. His threats are obvious and clumsy. He blusters, rather than speaking. We are shown he is vulgar and coarse, then told directly that he is vulgar and coarse. And there’s the use of ugliness and obesity to signal negative character traits (which, by the way, is lazy as hell.). This is just a short paragraph, imagine pages and pages of this mustachio-twirling. By the third chapter you just know he’s going to ruin Papa and try to rape our poor heroine for good measure. Why Papa is such a dumb-dumb as to get involved with an obvious monster like Figlips #1 instead of shooting him on sight is beyond me; certainly it lessens my sympathy for the beleaguered family.

In example two, Figlips is still creepy, but more ambiguous. Perhaps he really did mean well and is just socially awkward, but with a name like Figlips… probably not. Asking our unnamed heroine’s forgiveness also puts her in a bind; does she graciously accept his apology, with all its creepy implications, or does she spurn him, and appear a churl? Perhaps he will change for the better. Perhaps he will do something dastardly. Both seem possible… the author can take it either way, and I won’t feel betrayed. The truth is, I’m not sure what Figlips #2 is going to do next. I only know I don’t trust him.

So, how do we telegraph our plot punches, spoiler our plot, overplay our hand? By overusing adverbs and adjectives rather than relying on action and dialogue, drawing characters as caricatures, not people, and generally just not trusting the reader.  When you trust the reader, it frees you to be subtle, which in turn will keep the reader guessing as he turns those pages.

Turning Your Rough Drafts Into Gems

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(I know it's not quartzite, but it's pretty.)

“Mom, what does sandstone turn into?”

My daughter recently finished a geology unit at school, and was quizzing me on the things she’d learned.

“Quartzite,” she said. “What does the sandstone need to turn into it?”

She didn’t really wait for me to answer. “Heat, pressure and time.” She launched into an explanation of the process, using her hands to illustrate the pressure transforming the metamorphic rock.

It got me thinking about writing. (Okay, most things make me think about writing.)

The process writers go through transforming a work from first draft to finished project is similar.

The writing process requires heat, in the form of energy, passion.

It requires pressure, in the form of revision. Putting each sentence under scrutiny, and making it do as much work as possible.

And it requires time. Time for writing. Time for letting a manuscript simmer. Time for critiques and revisions. Time to cultivate the next idea.

Remove any part of the process and you don’t end up with a finished project. You still have sandstone instead of quartzite. And what is sandstone, compared to quartzite? Weak. Brittle. Unable to stand the test of time.

I guess the takeaway is simple: trust the process. Provide the energy. Do the work. Give it time. You may just end up with a gem.

Endings Never Come Last

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For me, writing the ending of a story is the easiest. I think this is because it isn’t the last thing I write. In fact, I would go as far to say it’s the catalyst that gets me to write the story.

Let me break down my process, for the most part.

It’s the heightened physical reaction I get when I figure out the end of my story.

First comes the initial idea. Whatever it is, be it an interesting character, place, concept, or event. Doesn’t really matter which, as long as it’s interesting. Then I start writing. I just throw words on the page. Doesn’t matter if it’s clunky or chronological as long as I’m getting the words out. Then it happens.

Some might call it divine intervention. Some might say the muse spoke to them. Still others might swear that alien lizard people summoned them from another dimension to scry their inner-most secret plans. Me, I call them goosebumps. That’s right.

Goosebumps.

I get covered in them. It’s the heightened physical reaction I get when I figure out the end of my story. At this point I’m usually only two to three thousand words in. Put another way, that’s about eight to twelve pages into the novel. At that point, I have to write the ending or risk forgetting it.

After that, I’ll outline all the rest before I continue writing. Edit. Revise. Repeat.

I look for the goosebumps. I need the goosebumps. When I read the ending when I’m done writing it, the goosebumps have to be there. No goosebumps, no story.

There’s been a few times I’ve written through some ideas without a single bump. Not one raised hair. In those instances, I put the story down and moved on to the next story. That’s not to say that the goosebumps won’t come later. Better late than never. And since it got filed away (because we never throw things away), it’s easy to go back to it.
So when do you write your endings? At the end? Beginning? Or are you the Robert Jordan type and keep writing and writing and writing, without a care in the world for endings?