Permission to Stumble

October 26, 2011 by

Within my RWA chapter, I have a reputation for telling others to honor their process.  I always encourage those of us who don’t plot– can’t plot –to accept who we are and move forward. 

The thing is, I really stink at taking my own advice.

At the moment, I’m focusing on a new project. Writing the first draft used to be my favorite part of the process. A blank page I could fill with words, words I didn’t have to agonize over. Who cares if I use adverbs or say “turn” twenty times one page? It’s a rough draft and the plotter’s version of an outline. The flaws would be ironed out later. In draft two or three, we polish and prune.

In the last few days, however, I find myself struggling and reaching: looking for the perfect word, not just laying out the story. It’s like I’m trying to write that final draft without the benefit of the previous drafts.

I haven’t been honoring my process.

So, here today, I’m giving myself permission to stumble. It’s okay to write the wrong words, as long as I’m writing words. Not that I advocate writing crap for the sake of writing. I’m just giving myself the freedom to create: to write a first draft.

Do you have a hard time honoring your process?

Filed Under: Life, Writing Life Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Sangria Stories: Tales From Brainstorming

September 26, 2011 by

Once a year,  my RWA chapter’s (MVRWA) gets together for our annual brainstorming retreat. This past weekend was this big event and we congregated in a cabin on located by a small lake in the Irish Hills of Michigan.

There are several layers to brainstorming weekend: good food, free-flowing, adult beverages, fun, laughter, but most importantly an abundance of ideas from the most creative and wonderful people I know.

It’s a common held belief that writing is a solitary thing, something we do while held up alone in a windowless room. That we spend a lot of time up in our own head, or buried in a book, whether it be ours or someone else’s, but I find– at least in our group– even though we may write alone we long for that sense of community.

We love to share our ideas and commiserate over the trials and tribulations of difficult career path. Within that community is the support of others who are in the same boat, the only other people on the planet who can understand what it’s like to live with the voices in our head.

So, this weekend between bites of chocolate and sips of sangria we listened to each other’s ideas, suggested plot points and plot twists, and answered questions about craft, business, and networking. We focused on the business and the creativity and connected in ways that aren’t possible while sitting at our desks most days.

To my MVRWA chapter-mates: thanks for a your sharing your knowledge, helping me sorting out my stories, and for being a supportive community. Without you, writing might be as lonely as others believe it to be.

Filed Under: Life, MVRWA, Writing Life Tagged With: , , , ,

And Just When You Thought All Was Well…

February 16, 2011 by

Isn’t there some saying about art imitating life?

When working on a book, one thing I try to plan for my characters is those unexpected twists life will throw at you, plot points that will turn the action in a different direction than it was heading. But just like in life, sometimes those turns come at you out of nowhere.

For instance: early in this current work-in-progress I was crafting a scene in which the hero is laying his problems out to a friend. I knew this was going to be a pivotal goal-motivation-conflict scene and was well aware when I ht the end it needed to be pretty clear this poor guys life sucked. Dialogue usually comes pretty hard and fast for me when I’m writing first drafts. It flows through my mind to my fingers pretty organically, but hero’s friends said something that stopped me cold in my tracks: “Why can’t your brother help you out?”

My reaction:  “Oh…cool…my hero has a brother.” I truly hadn’t planned for that. (But then again, I plan for very little).

So, I explored said brother and wondered what role he’d play in the story–except not being present to help hero with his big-bag-of-crap life. I soon realized he a huge influence on my hero and going to be a pretty big part of the plot. It was one of those unexpected turns I hadn’t planned for, that in the end, made for a better story.

Now, I’m almost done with my first draft of this work, and something has been bothering me for several days about one of the subplots. My heroine had an issue in her past that came up time and again. Part of her background that, when planned, I thought was just part of who she was. Not huge and definitely not something that needed a whole lot of examination on the page. Lately, though, I realized that this little point had become too big. I had two choices: in my second draft I could either play down the issue or I had to blow it up.

My answer was thrown at me in  yesterday’s writing session. I was working on a scene that I thought was going to be about the main plot, a buildup to a turning point, when heroine’s best friend dropped a big ol’ bomb on her.  This bit of information was enough to devastate her–just when she was starting to feel good too!

Just the kind of plot twist you want in a story. The unexpected kind. The art imitating life kind.

Filed Under: Fiction, Life, Uncategorized, Writing Life Tagged With: ,

Honoring The Process, Even When it Changes

January 13, 2011 by

Even though writing is a creative activity, talk to a few writers and you’ll soon learn each and every one has their own process — even if that process is to just jump in and let the story come to them.

I’m no different. My process–like most other writer’s–is a hybrid all its own. I consider myself a by-the seat-of-my pants writer, but yet I can’t really start until I’ve done some setting research, some characterization, figured out goal-motivation-conflict, and mapped out at least four major turning points. What? You’re thinking that makes me a plotter? You haven’t really talked to any plotters about their process then, have you?

It seems like whenever my friends and I talk about process, someone always laments about how they wish they could refine their process, come up with a more seamless way of getting from idea to great, finished story. I’ve always maintained the best thing you can do for your craft is honor the process. Don’t worry so much about how the gems come to you, just do what comes natural.

Well, it seemed like good advice. Until my process decided to up and change on me.

Up until a few weeks ago, I’ve also been a very linear writer. I start with page one and move forward, word by word, paragraph by paragraph, page by page…well you get the idea. This current work in progress, however, has been different than my previous three in many ways.  I had hit a brick wall. Knew what I wanted to happen between my characters, but wasn’t quite sure how to best demonstrate that next step. In the meantime, one of those later turning points I had mapped out (the one that would propel the story into the third act) was nagging at the back of mind.

I absolutely KNEW how that scene was going to play out. But what about the 100 or so pages between where I was and that moment?

Lost in that helplessness of cursed writer’s block, (which I don’t really believe in, by the way, but that’s the subject of another post.) I said ‘screw it’ to that pesky middle. I drew lines down about four pages–so I could visually see where I’d left off with the in-line story–and started writing that turning point. And then kept moving forward. For the first couple days, I worried that I was messing with my process. What if, in the end, I screwed up the story by not following the natural course?

I soon came to realize, by following that gut-instinct I was doing what I always preach. I was following my process of the moment. Yes. I’ve learned something new about a process. It’s a living breathing thing that can change and adapt to a given circumstance, or grow with us as we hone our craft.

So, how’s the WIP coming? Yesterday I wrote the end-scene of the book – and typed ‘the end’ on the last page. Today: I take a new look at that middle. I’m hoping that having that clear image of where they’re headed now, will help me connect the written sections. I’ll have to update you in a week or two as to whether that is fact or not.

Filed Under: Life, Uncategorized, Writing Life Tagged With: , , ,

Like It or Not, There’s a Demon

September 29, 2010 by

So, I’m still in post-brainstorming mode here (along with getting a new roof mode and company coming mode, but that’s another blog post). As I talked about Monday, when you walk away from a brainstorming session there are some ideas you keep and some you set aside. One I was pretty sure I was going to set aside on Sunday afternoon was adding a demon to the current W-I-P (Actually, it’s a proposal for a sequal to the MS I’m shopping around now.)

…and then I started writing.

Brainstorming for a pantster is hard. You can take in all these offered plot points and try to weave them into your proposed story, but for those with a process similar to mine, you really don’t feel it until the words are flowing.  Even though I was looking forward to exploring this concept, I’d been putting off the writing, mostly because I didn’t feel like I had a good sense of my heroine.

Still don’t.

And even though I scratched a couple hundred words on Sunday, I was still having a hard time figuring out the main conflict that was going to carry my two characters through their journey. Yesterday, I decided to just go with what I did know and start writing. I had a good sense of my hero, and since I knew this was going to be his book anyway, I could just pick it up from his POV.

But one thing for sure — No demon.

That was, until I wrote another 250 words or so.

Through the mind’s eye in which my story appears to me, I saw my hero. I felt the temperature change and the cold dark chill and thought to myself . Oh crap! There really is a demon. I still don’t know exactly what he wants (Though I now have some solid suspicions.) and I’m not sure how my poor heroine fits into all of this, but it is time to dig into the MS.

Maybe I’ll learn something new today.

When your story throws a wrench into your plans do you just go with the flow?

Filed Under: Life, Writing Life Tagged With: , , , ,

Stumbling Down the Writing Road, AKA What If? Not This?

August 20, 2010 by

So, it’s almost 5:00 p.m. on Friday and I’m determined to keep up my 3 days a week blogging schedule as I work my way thought the partial I’m writing, submitting my just completed MS, and getting used to my kids new ‘demands on mom’ schedule.

On Wednesday I talked about some of my pre-writing steps, with this new story in particular and itemized that I would be figuring out what was going to come in the hero/heroines way (In other words: plot). What’s that like? Well, it kind of looks like this video below…except both voices live in my head.

No, honestly, I love this clip. Almost as much as the “What if” scene in the movie “The Majestic”.

Filed Under: Life, TV, Uncategorized, Writing Life Tagged With: , , ,

The Beginning

August 18, 2010 by

So, the early days with a new work in progress. You would think it would feel like a honeymoon, but these are almost as hard as the revision stage.

I’ve shouted it from the mountaintops, I’m not a plotter. But that doesn’t mean I just jump in and begin at…well…the beginning.  Here’s a bit of the process.

What I’ve done the last 4 days besides write nine pages:

*Took a five subject notebook and put a tab on one section, labeling LL (Lizzy’s Legacy / Working title)

*Copied over two pages of notes from previous brainstorming sessions and my own thoughts.

*At half way point of the section, I began sectioning off pages for Character Charts. 2 pages each for major Characters, one page for the minor characters I already know about. Over the next week (probably) i will fill in the physical information and the emotional baggage as I learn it. I will also tape in pictures of the characters I find online or in magazines.

*Read/researched and took notes on the Korean conflict (Time / partial setting for book)

*Read (a lot!) and took a ton of notes on Japanese internment camps in the U.S. for hero’s background.

*As I wrote: established G-M-C (Goal, Motivation, and Conflict) for hero and heroine.

    *In the next two days, I will start making a short list as to how I can ‘screw with’ the h/he GMC in order to advance the plot.

    What’s your process for beginnings? Especially other pantsters out there?

    Filed Under: Life, Writing Life Tagged With: , , ,

    Monday Musings: Writing it Longhand

    January 25, 2010 by

    So,at the end of last week I hit one of those walls. Even though I was closing in on the end of my draft, things stopped feeling right. It wasn’t that what I’d written was bad. Some of it showed real promise, but not for this particular journey or this moment in time.

    I spent a good day arguing with that little voice in my head.  You know the whiny one that realizes going back, means throwing away about thirty pages. The one that’s afraid that what I’ll write the second time around is even ‘more wrong’ that what is already on the page. She tried to bribe the side of me that knew the truth with chocolate, encouraged her to keep going with the ‘shitty first draft’ ’till we hit those magical words the end, and then reevaluate.  Under normal circumstance I’d do just that, but this was one of those moments when I just knew I’d made a wrong turn. Going forward was only going to get me further lost.

    As a safety net, I picked up a yellow legal pad and one of my purple pens and nestled in a cozy chair. If I just experiment with a few ideas, without hitting the magic delete button in my file, I could play with some scenarios without throwing away the old ones. If I didn’t come up with anything really good. I could start just moving forward  today.

    But it didn’t take more than about 30 seconds to remember a truth I’d forgotten. Putting a pen to paper (at least for me) opens up something. It’s more intimate than typing at a keyboard. Slower–yes–and maybe it’s that forcing the brain to slow down a bit that helps spark new life. About 90 seconds after that realization, I found the new path. The right path. Today, I hit delete. (Okay, not really. I cut out the old text and paste it into a file labeled cut and save it for awhile, just in case).  Today I move forward on the right path.

    Filed Under: Writing Life Tagged With: , , ,

    Flying by the Seat of My Pants

    January 6, 2010 by

    As hard as I try to be one of those writers who plots, outlines, organizes, etc. When I sit at the keyboard and attack a certain chapter or scene I’m truly flying by the seat of my pants. I take some comfort in knowing I’m not alone. After all, they came up with term ‘pantser’ for us on numerous email groups I belong to. That’s not to say I do zero prewriting, but it’s mostly focused on my characterization, major turning points and GMC (Goal, Motivation, and Conflict).

    Aside from simply being the best way that I work, I really enjoy writing this was because having the story unfold in my mind, is almost as fun as reading anther’s. Learning as I write chapter 7 why a particular thing happened the way it did in 3 keeps the process fun, but there are also drawbacks, one of which I’m feeling stronger than ever on this work in progress. The more I’ve honed my skills and learned about structure, pacing, etc. the harder it is to keep moving forward.  There’s an urge to rewrite and rewrite a scene until I’m completely happy with it before moving forward to the next one.

    Why don’t I indulge those impulses? Because I’ve learned from trial and error that at this stage in the process the most important thing I can do is move forward. My first draft is for getting the basic plot spilled out. It’s a skeleton of the story, and there are missteps and some sloppy execution, but that’s what the editing/rewriting stage is for. That process is much more methodical, and I may spend a day or more fine tuning a single page, but for the first draft I need to become like a horse wearing blinders and continue to look forward otherwise I become a a car stuck in the sand spinning my wheels.  When I feel stuck, I lose momentum, when that fades so does my inspiration.

    In a little while I’ll be starting my writing session for today. I’m teetering on the front edge of the black moment and though I have an idea how the story is going to unravel once I get through the next 6,000 words or so I’m facing a black hole.  It’s a literal cross road where I stand indecisive as to which road to lead poor Erich down. In my first attempt, I may start a journey that will take me nowhere–to a dead end–if that’s the case, I’ll set aside the written pages in a new file and start again with a different path until I find the right one. The one that doesn’t feel like I’m sinking in quicksand but FEELS like it’s leading me toward the end of the story.

    Yeah…it’s hit and miss but it’s a process that works for me.  And as my kids say, that’s just how I roll.

    What’s your writing process and what are the pluses and minuses for you?

    Filed Under: Writing Life Tagged With: ,

    Twists, Turns, and Pleasant Surprises

    September 2, 2009 by

    With all the plotting and prewriting we tend to do before even starting a novel, one would think the actual process of putting words on the page might get boring.  For me, it’s never that. For one, I use a plot-light sort of system.  I figure out beginning, end, major plot points/turning points, and, well, that’s about it.

    It still takes the writing process to help me define each characters voice, their personality type etc.  So when it comes right down to it, even though I think I know what’s going to happen, when my characters are developed they do things quite differently than I plotted.

    This week I’ve had my characters do something I hadn’t expected them to during two differnt writing session. The latest being as I was ending a scene and chapter yesterday. It was late in the writing day, I was getting tired, but the main character–who was sick of everything happening to him–decided to effect a change and took matters into his own hands.  As if I was reading another book, and not writing one, I wanted to turn the page and see what happened next. Instead, I decided it best to stop where I was and really think about how the heroine was going to react. Her reaction is almost as pivotal as the action.

    twistedroadSo, do I know where it’s going to lead yet?

    Not really.

    In the next half hour or so I’ll open my file, get myself hunkered down with a full cup of fresh coffee, reread the last two pages I wrote to get myself back in the story, and then start writing.  I think i know how the next scene is going to play out, but I won’t be certain until I start writing and the exchange starts playing out.

    Does this mean that plotting is a waste of time? No. Or at least not in the way I do it.  It doesn’t change the road my charecters are on, it just inserts a big winding curve to give the story a little variance. The crazy stuff, it’s as much fun to write as it is to read.

    Filed Under: Writing Life Tagged With: ,
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