Getting Tipsy

Recently came across this article: “Six Tips on Writing from John Steinbeck.” It’s worth reading it all the way through, but man did most, if not all of the tips resonate with me.  A few I haven’t thought of before, but are still good points:

3. Forget your generalized audience. In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn’t exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person—a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.

I don’t really think of an audience when I write, but when I do, it is a massive crowd, spanning my parents, husband, college friends, past English teachers, etc., etc.  And sometimes the thought of “What will they think?” does paralyze me, stops me, and makes me double think.  I don’t think this is always a bad thing.  Sometimes I am pausing for a reason. But more often than not, it’s an exercise in fear.  I really like this advice, to think of one single reader, imaginary or not.  It makes the process more personal and less intimidating.

6. If you are using dialogue—say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.

I’ve heard the advice read your writing out loud before.  Generally, I don’t do it.  It seems silly to me–how many of us read books out loud anymore, except to our children?  However, the thought of trying out dialogue makes sense, since, by definition, dialogue is spoken.  And since this is one of  my weak spots, I’m resolved to go back through while editing and “act out” my little dialogue sections.  Since I’m writing teenagers, I think this may especially help me get them to a more informal level of speech.

Take a look at the rest of the tips.  John Steinbeck is an author to take seriously, although beware his disclaimer some years later about any writing advice:

“If there is a magic in story writing, and I am convinced there is, no one has ever been able to reduce it to a recipe that can be passed from one person to another. The formula seems to lie solely in the aching urge of the writer to convey something he feels important to the reader. If the writer has that urge, he may sometimes, but by no means always, find the way to do it. You must perceive the excellence that makes a good story good or the errors that makes a bad story. For a bad story is only an ineffective story.”

So don’t go looking for a magic “recipe.”  But a little advice from seasoned authors never hurt anyone.  I just wished I’d learned that myself a little earlier in my writing career.

What tips and advice do you find helpful?

May the Force be with you,

Jedi

Surgery

Thought you all might enjoy this link.  For the lazy, check out the picture to the right: basically, that is a book that has chunks of pages cut out to highlight the illustrations in a medical textbook.  The link highlights more of this art, done by a very dedicated, very insane man.

Isn’t that crazy?

And while part of my soul screams out in terror (how can you have defaced a book this way?), the other part looks at it and goes, huh–that’s a good metaphor for editing.

Editing comes along slowly, the same way I imagine this man perfects his art.  First, take out the huge chunks–those unnecessary parts of dialogue, scenery and expositions that bore the reader to death, etc.  Second, go back in and carve with delicate tools, crafting, snipping, cutting, adding, bit by painful bit, until all you can see are the beautiful illustrations and words that soar and shine.

For that’s what you’re doing with your novel when editing–you are changing its shape.  Just like this guy is.

Granted, it’s not a perfect metaphor.  After all, this artist is taking out parts from a final form, a fully published work.  What makes editing even harder for writers, is that there is no final form.  At least, not yet.  You do not have a fully published work–you are attacking an imperfect draft to begin with.

But, unlike this guy, you are also adding things, bit by painful bit.

And I have confidence those who carve away, but are careful to leave beautiful parts intact, as well as add some new passages, will be the ones that see the publishing light of day in the end.

So keep on carving away fellow writers and editors, because judging by the above product, the end result is absolutely worth it.

May the Force be with you,

Jedi

Happiest Place on Earth

Yes, I’m dodging out of doing a big post again–you guessed it, traveling.

But something to ponder as I head out to sunny SoCal and to see Mickey–what is it about Disney?  What is it about a happy ending that captures our imagination, that makes us return again and again?  It doesn’t apply to all stories, but I find the most powerful ones, the ones that stick with me, are those that are at least hopeful, if not outright exuberant and uplifting.

Perhaps I’m alone and you prefer more sophisticated, nuanced, grey tales.  Dark, edgy, etc., etc.  I do too–not everything can be happy and shiny.

But sometimes, I just want that simple tale, the one that begins with “Once Upon a Time” and ends with “…and they lived happily ever after.”

Whatever you prefer, I hope all your days are happy this upcoming week.

May the Force be with you,

Jedi

Pacing and Spacing

Well my friends, I have no good excuse for missing last week’s post.  My apologies.  Let’s forget about it and move on, shall we?

Since my editing isn’t slated to begin on The Novel until March, I thought I’d tell you what I’m doing instead: starting a new story.

Yes, I know, it may seem counter intuitive.  Start a new novel, right in the midst of getting ready to do an edit of some three hundred plus pages?  Are you nuts?

But I would counter, one of the best times to do a first (emphasis on first) draft, is when you’re editing.  It won’t work for every writer, of course, and you might want to replace first draft with plotting out a new novel, filling out an outline, or doing some less “serious” writing (i.e. fanfiction). But I know it can work, having done something similar before.

Since my first drafts read like rough characterizations (a hangover from NaNoWriMo, no doubt) and outlines, working on them while doing some harder work at the same time keeps me going.  Writing is fun, but it is also a lot of work, especially when you get to the polishing part.  It’s easy to lose that sense of fun and creation while you’re scratching your head over syntax and diction.

Other perks: it keeps you writing daily so that you don’t lose that sense of rhythm you’ve worked up.  It gives you a break from the actual story itself and the characters and scenes you’ve seen (and written) over and over and over again.  It gives other people a chance to look over your work, give you feedback, and you time to turn it over in your head before you put red pen to paper once more.

Of course, this kind of spacing can lead to procrastination on editing.  I admit that’s part of the reason for me putting it off.  But since I have a plan of sorts, I’m not too worried about getting back into it.  Also, the dwarves have a way of being a good inspiration.

So fellow writers, pace and space yourselves.  But be careful.  Don’t let it linger too long lest you lose the fire for the original work you managed to complete in the first place.

And now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to write like a madwoman before the storm comes.

May the Force be with you,

Jedi

The Goode Olde Days

Been fighting off a cold for the majority of the day, so instead of helpful writing tips/not so helpful writing woes, you get a funny video about technology instead:

 

 

Have a great week!

May the Force be with you,

Jedi

Ready, Set…Edit!

Oh, if only it were that easy.

What editing feels like: fighting back against near-impossible odds.

Yes, I’m finally set to edit The Novel, readers, which means combing through at least seven other sets of comments (thank you, dwarves!), cutting, slicing, dicing, perfecting, and doing all sorts of other moves best left to lightsabers and the even more deadly red-Sith pens of doom.

And I can tell you I’m not exactly psyched.

This is round number four of editing, although the story–a young adult fantasy where two teen elemental mages face a witch of an English teacher–has been in my head for about ten years.  Thanks to Nano, I was able to get this story out of my Hello Kitty notebook and into a quasi-novel form a few years ago.  Now I can feel the end coming, but it seems there’s so much work to do.

My motivation is low, I keep getting distracted by new story ideas (which conveniently, were all missing the last time I wasn’t ready to edit) and other fictional worlds.

That is why I’m considering NaNoEdMo.

I haven’t decided yet, as I get the feeling this little goal/project (at least 50 hours of editing  in the month of March) might be a little too contest-like.  However, like its larger parent project, it might be a good way to start, or at least another good kick in the tunic besides the dwarves’ continual patience and help.

I’ll be scouring around for good editing tips and (hopefully) passing along some of my own as I face this challenge.

Does anyone have experience with NaNoEdMo? How do you cope with editing?  Any tips, tricks, or stinkers?

May the Force be with you,

Jedi

Link-mania

Hey all!

I don’t have a profound post for this weekend, mostly because I’ll be out of town again this upcoming weekend. Sadly, unlike our last jaunt, we’re attending the funeral for a family friend who was killed in Afghanistan last week.  If you can take a moment to spare a prayer, thought, or whatever suits your beliefs, for this family and his widow, I’d greatly appreciate it.

So instead of some pithy thoughts, I’ll share some links which I think will be a great help to your writing (or, you know, a great distraction).  First, Patricia C. Wrede’s blog.  The author of the famous children’s series, The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Wrede is one solid fantasy writer who blogs regularly with tips on how to improve your own writing and editing.  One of her latest posts was about how to handle prologues, which I found extremely useful.  Although Wrede has done some things with her storytelling lately that I don’t approve of (that’s a post for another day), she’s a darn good writer and a great resource.

Next, the ultimate distraction: TV Tropes.  Be warned, when you click on that link, you will end spending hours browsing the site, checking out different tropes (or devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members’ minds and expectations–not necessarily, cliches, as tropes are neutral).  This wiki is fun, although depending on your mood, it can either be helpful or hurtful.  Just remember, like Wicked said a few posts back, even though everything’s been done before, your story is still important and your success on putting these elements together, plus your own voice, is what will help you sell your book in the end.

I think my work is done here for now.  Now I’m off to travel through hyperspace and honor a fallen soldier.

May the Force be with you,

Jedi

Pen vs. Keys

Have you ever thought about the way you write?

I can imagine you now, shaking your head in disbelief and pity, threatening to take my lightsaber away for good and confine me to Dagobah forever.  But hear me out.  My question doesn’t concern so much your plot, or characters, word choice, etc., but rather, the actual means by which you produce a story.  That is, do you actually write?  Do you type?  Or something in-between?

I tend to do both, but admit that typing often wins out for convenience as well as speed.  I used to write everything out when I was a kid, filling notebook after notebook full of fantastic drawings, maps, timelines, the works.  Granted, most of it was blatant copying (or probably pretty close to what is called fanfiction now) and not very good, but I keep those notebooks as a symbol and reminder of how far I’ve come.

Can we do the same with the keyboard and computer screen?

I don’t know.  I don’t have any hard or fast answers.  These days I find that my drafts go on the screen first, but that back stories and extraneous information–what I’d been filling up those notebooks with in the first place–still stay solidly in my journals.  I can’t let go of that pen and paper.  Even when the dwarves gather ’round to revise, we all pull out our paper copies and proudly flash Sith red pens of doom.

I think our writing has and will continue to be changed by our different methods.  Stories used to be only oral, after all.  I’m pretty much okay with whatever method, as long as the bad gets wrung out of the system.  For now, I’ll stick with typing on the big things, but whip out the pen for refining.  But I’m glad to know that I do have a choice in the process if I ever need to shake things up.

What do you think?  Does the way you write affect your story?

May the Force be with you,

Jedi

I Left My Heart In…

Well, anyway.

Just checking in this weekend to say Mr. Jedi and I are on vacation in the city by the Bay.

And if I ever escape from Alcatraz, I promise a better post next weekend.

In the meantime, keep on doing and remember, no matter where you are in the world, you can collect ideas and inspiration to write.

More next week!

Take care,

Jedi

Inspiration

“Do or do not.  There is no try.”

So says Yoda, one of the greatest Jedi Masters of them all.  As a student of the ways of the Force, I try and implement this strategy in my writing life.  It’s not easy though.  People will talk about “inspiration,” and how they’re just waiting for their muse to come down and strike them with the right idea.  The clouds will part, the sun will shine, and suddenly they will know the right words to put down on the page.

I used to be one of those people.  Sometimes, truthfully, I still am.  But I’ve had to learn the hard way that the best way to write is just to write.  Not to make lists and endless back stories.  Not to spend an inordinate amount of time on diagrams, timelines, maps, and family trees.  Now, I’m not saying not to do these things.  They are helpful instruments and sometimes the only way you can order your thoughts is by scribbling things out in an outline, whether you use it later or not.

But if you wait for inspiration to write the perfect story, you’ll be waiting forever.

I am no Jedi Master yet.  I have had to relearn this lesson about inspiration over and over and over again.  I have resolved this year to pick up on that pace in my writing and also in my blogging.  I’m tired of Yoda hitting me over the head with his walking stick and I really do owe my fellow dwarves more for all they’ve done.

So back to the grindstone.  Welcome to 2012, all.  Now get off that couch and do.