Writer Wednesday – Going with the Flow

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I had a post due yesterday for Writer Wednesday and didn’t have the heart due to the anniversary of the 9/11 travesty.  Today, though, I realized that life should move on in honor of those we lost.  And so, here is a little tidbit I’ve postdated.

Films are a passion of mine.  To my delight, some of the most iconic bits from my favorite flicks were happy accidents due to circumstance or a great ad lib.  In a different example, the crew members in “Alien” reacted with natural horror during that famous dinner incident.  Filmmakers cued only John Hurt in to the details regarding his character’s final scene.  It gives me ever greater appreciation for the process that is movie magic.
Writing can benefit from such happenstance, as well.  While there is plenty of greatness that comes from scripting and outlines, we artists should never automatically toss out an idea just because it goes against our grand scheme.
Sometimes we need to go with the flow.  Stumped on where to take the story next?  Follow a plotline on an odd tangent and see how your characters react.  The departure might result in an exciting direction no plan could foresee.
I hope you free your mind to create something new, wonderful, and unexpected.  Now I need to go follow my own advice.  Happy writing!
Oh, and if you want to check out some of these great movie moments, here you go.  Enjoy.  You’ll want to expand the video to full screen for the all important captions.  Oh, and there is adult language.  Sorry about that.

Writer Wednesday – One Writer’s Approach to Writing a Novel: Step 1 – The Picture

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In my previous post, I wrote about the process of writing a novel.  Today I wanted to discuss my first step.

I start with a picture, or a sense of a scene like in a movie. I’m a very visual thinker, in that I think in images. I write the scene so I can put it into words, clarify it, make it real.

I get images from anywhere. I see people in a park. I see an image on the internet. I get a scene in my head. I see something, some consequence or un-told potential story, in a television show or movie.

The trick is to follow that thing you see in your head. I’ve had writers tell me, “I don’t write out of order.” Yet, these same folks are blocked and not moving forward on their story. “I see this thing over here, but I have to finish the first part before I can write it.” Why? Story is sacred. If you see it, write it. You can always go back to that first scene when you’re done. But if you have a scene in your head clamoring to get out, respect your own process and, by all that’s holy, put it down on paper or by keyboard.

A couple resources:

First, a book – Josip Novakovich’s Fiction Writer’s Workshop.
In it, Mr. Novakovich gives you an entire chapter on “Sources of Fiction” wherein he gives you examples and exercises for finding inspiration for stories. In my opinion, this book is a must-have for writers and that particular chapter is a must-do.

Second, a thought on pictures.
Google Images is a treasure-trove of ideas, as are image-specific sites like Imgur. I love to browse BeatifulMag, a fantastic, gorgeous site (not work-safe) dedicated to the beauty of the male form.  My husband’s site, Wolfshead Photography, focuses on the female form; as does Charles Oliver Jones.  Wherever you find images that speak to you, write about them – who is in the picture? I don’t mean in a literal sense, as in “Who is that model.” No, I mean something deeper. In your mind, in the privacy of your own Story, who is that person? What are they doing? Where is that place? What’s going on there?

Third, prompt yourself.
Writing prompts are a writer’s gold. Learn how to use them. Search the internet for the word “prompts” and do one of them every day for a week. Gather some other writing-minded buddies and go to a café or quite place for 2 hours and share prompts in increments of 15 minutes’ writing time, 10 minutes sharing time until the 2 hours is up – I guarantee it will fly by.

However you get ideas, trust them and write to them. Set a goal of filling a notebook a month with ideas, prompts, sketches, and miscellany. Play with your writing and write the same story three different times – once from the main character’s point of view, once from the villain’s, and once from you as the author writing about watching the events first hand. See what you learn and are inspired to write next.

Then write that next thing.

Above all, write.

Write on!

Writer Wednesday – Special Guest Shelley Munro

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Noony here.  I am so excited today!  One of my writing friends, Shelley Munro, agreed to do a guest post for Writer Wednesday.  I’ve been familiar with her work for years and am so pleased that she stopped by.

Back in 1998 I started my writing journey with more enthusiasm than skill. I’ve learned a lot during those years and thought I’d share some of my experience with you.

1. Writing is plain hard work. There are no short cuts. What you need to do is…just do it—sit down and write a little each day until your book is done.

2. The hardest work starts when you sign your first contract. There’s a huge learning curve at this stage and the promotion side of writing can take up more time than the writing of your book.

3. Keeping up with the market is essential, especially now with self-publishing vying with traditional publishing. Things change quickly and an author needs to know what’s happening on the business side as well as the type of book that readers are currently seeking. Read new releases and keep your ear to the ground!

4. Keep learning. Take courses, attend conferences and read books on craft. Stretch yourself with each successive book you write.

5. Each writer has their own path. Some might hit success straight out of the gate while others might take years before they hit their stride. Don’t measure yourself against other writers because it will just make you crazy. Keep writing and carve your own path.

6. Celebrate each success big or small along the way. Remember, writing is hard work, so celebrate finishing writing your manuscript, signing a contract and getting a great review. Savor the success!

7. Rejection isn’t personal. All a rejection means is that your vision doesn’t match an editors or agents. If you believe in your book, don’t give up!

Shelley Munro lives in New Zealand with her husband and a rambunctious puppy. She never gives up and is currently published with Carina Press, Ellora’s Cave and Samhain Publishing and also has two self-published titles. Her next contemporary release PAST REGRETS is currently available for pre-order at Samhain Publishing. To learn more about Shelley and her books visit her website.

In Living Color

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Years of movie watching give me a new appreciation of the filmmaking process.  Incisive music scores, thoughtful editing, and artful screen fades make me swoon alongside impressionable characterization and indelible plots.  Strong acting is just icing on the proverbial cake.

Now I must share a confession.  In my youth, historic movies regaled me but those contemporary flicks in color added more depth to my youthful scope.  I even had a vague appreciation of colorization, however artificial the hues might be.  Later, we have little choice.  Colors of the natural world seem ideal.  When given the opportunity, though, I prefer black and white.
Yeah, yeah; roll your eyes of if you want.  Call me old.
My b/w appreciation extends to modern productions.  Great examples that stamped this upon my brain include re-aired episodes of “The Walking Dead” and the alternate b/w version of Frank Darabont’s directorial masterpiece “The Mist”.  Mr. Darabont had a hand in both aforementioned projects and Stephen King works never looked so good in color as in the “The Mist’ viewed in b/w.
However naïve, I believe this involves the brain processes, pure and simple.  Processing color requires ridiculous amounts of calculation.  Black, white, and gray-tones, however, let us perceive data more succinctly.  The characters and plot strike our emotions at the core.
I may be wrong.  Give it a chance if you can.  And for fun, here are two examples to compare (isn’t the second one creepier?):
photo adf42666-c410-46aa-9dfe-ead6040202d1.jpg
photo 66b75763-6cb3-4dd1-84af-ff2071e5fb20.jpg

Special Guest Shira Glassman, Author of The Second Mango coming from Prizm Books August 21st

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I have a special treat for today’s Writer Wednesday feature.  I had the opportunity to virtually meet Shira Glassman through the Torquere and Prizm author lists; Prizm is Torquere’s Young Adult imprint.  Shira recently signed with Prizm and her book The Second Mango comes out next week on August 21st.  I asked Shira what it’s like to work with artists and our conversation turned into a guest post.  Take it away, Shira!

Working with artists to commission promotional artwork for The Second Mango, due out from Prizm Books on August 21
by Shira Glassman

I’m in love with the characters I created for my stories, and I’m always daydreaming about them. It’s exhausting having to burn those mental calories, though, so to relax my poor brain and let my eyes instead of my imagination do the work, I love working with artists.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with about half a dozen extremely talented ones with the Mangoverse project, and they’re all different! Perhaps the most involved has been my good friend Jane Dominguez, who is a professionally trained graphic artist for a local design firm. It helped that she read the books in their first draft and really enjoyed them. Seeing some of her initial drafts, however, made me realize that I wasn’t describing my characters in nearly enough detail. That was an unexpected benefit I got out of the experience–seeing how well I’d put on paper what was in my head. (Luckily, that was over a year before I ever signed any publishing contracts, and the version I submitted to Prizm had much better fleshed-out descriptions.)

Jane has drawn pictures of her own, but she also inks and colors the pictures of some of my other artists. I’ve learned that there are different styles for coloring; she used a digital “colored pencil” effect for the artwork depicting my protagonist’s childhood holiday memories, and a watercolor effect for a landscape image.

Mina does the line work for most of the artwork that I have in manga styles. Her ‘chibis’, or childlike cutesy representations of the characters, usually blow me away with how she manages to capture the full range of human emotion with just a few lines. She also has a more serious manga style that takes longer to draw. When we work together, I have to make sure she takes breaks so she doesn’t get tired out, or else she’ll sit there doodling for hours without stopping! Working with her has also been interesting because she hasn’t read the books yet (she’s waiting for the release), so I had to be very careful not to slip up and reveal spoilers and surprises. I’m sure she’s guessed some of them anyway.

Erika lives far away, so we communicate long-distance. She, like all my other artists, is exceptionally patient about my polite but very specific demands about tweaking this or that seemingly unimportant detail. Erika is a published author herself so I’m thrilled that she’s willing to take time to frolic in my world as well as her own. Her style is graphite realism, and I feel lucky to have benefited from her astounding growth over the past few years.

Rachel doesn’t draw as much as she’d like to, possibly because she’s too busy playing professional tuba or giving belly-dancing lessons — have you ever heard of a more fascinating combination of pursuits? But she’s got real talent in both conventional Western cartoon art and in the “chibi” manga style. I’ve also had other friends get involved in the characters, and send me their drawings. Everyone has been a pleasure to work with.

Working with an artist can be very rewarding, because it can give your imagination a rest, and give you a better idea for how to describe your world and your characters. A good artist to work with will be someone who enjoys your creation and will also be patient with your requests for revision. I hope I pay them fairly, for what they do for me is priceless.

Art credits: Erika Hammerschmidt, Jane Dominguez, Mina V., and Rachel Matz.

All art displayed features characters from The Second Mango. Kissing picture by Jane Dominguez. “Food is love” and Dragon drawn by Mina V. and inked by Jane Dominguez. Napping with Dragon by Erika Hammerschmidt. Rivka with her sword drawn by Rachel Matz and inked by Jane Dominguez.

Writer Wednesday – Writing a Novel Is Like Eating an Elephant

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Of course, who wants to eat an elephant? They’re tremendous creatures, highly intelligent and protective of their clans. So perhaps, eating an elephant isn’t a great metaphor for writing novels. Elephants are tough to hunt, protected species in many of their habitats, have tough hides, and can kill a person.

On the other hand, maybe that’s not so off-base? Writing novels can certainly feel like we’re on safari in a strange land, hunting big game without the right big game rifle. So I figured I’d share one writer’s approach (i.e. my approach), at least as it is right now – with the caveat that it’s subject to change.

I think that’s the most important thing to keep in mind when we’re bent on being this thing called “writer”. The definition changes from writer to writer and for the same writer, as time goes on and one’s process evolves. This means, therefore, there’s no one write answer.

There are, however, things that work for one writer – and reading about those can sometimes help inform our own process. So what’s writing a novel like for me?

Step 1 – The Picture
Step 2 – The Infatuation – Day and Night, Night and Day
Step 3 – The Kids Are Now Teenagers – Or, It’s Now Hard Work: the Lazy Writer’s Guide to Editing
Step 4 – Appearance Is Everything – Packaging Your Novel for the World – or a Specific Publisher
Step 5 – Social Media – the Introvert’s Answer to Networking, or the Extrovert’s Playground

Over the coming months, when it’s my turn for Writer Wednesday (the first Wednesday of the month), I’ll explore each of these five steps in depth. But I want to leave you with a parting thought:

If you want to write a novel, the only secret is this:

Write that novel.

Write on!

*Image credit: From article, “The Elephant’s Trunk”, by Jordan Hayley Abramson, Science in Our World: Certainty & Controversy, Penn State University Website, 10/16/2011, Link: http://www.personal.psu.edu/afr3/blogs/SIOW/2011/10/the-elephants-trunk.html, accessed 07/17/2013.

Inspiring Words

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During the rare time waster and guilty pleasure of channel surfing the other night, I discovered a documentary about pop entrepreneur will.i.am (aka William James Adams).  He has always been an enigma to me, best known as a character in the “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” movie.  What can I say?  I’m not much of a hip hop fan but am always interested in biographies.
So, curious, I watched.  The show did not disappoint.
A favorite part turned out to be his inspirational quotes.  Not all pithy, his observations moved me.  I actually re-watched the program, spending time to pause and transcribe them word for word.  Not only were the quotes I wanted not readily found on the internet, it was a joy to hear him speak the words himself.
I wrote on both sides of a sheet of 81/2 by 11 inch graph paper.  Since some of those words struck me as worth spreading to other artists, I have shared them below.  I wanted a more clever title for this post, but the effort just seemed to water down the whole point.  Enjoy.

“On low points, I don’t look at them as low points.  I look at them as launch pads because if you learn from them, they’ll take you to a totally different platform.”

“…Once you fill a void, you can’t avoid it.  It’s not just a play on words; it’s actually true in reality.”

“If I had to define the thing that drives me, it would be dreams.  Everybody has dreams.  But my dreams come four-fold.  Meaning I have the dream, and then I have the dream to bring it real.  And then I dream up all the things that are gonna keep it from not making it real.  And then, by doing that, that dream is sitting in front of me as reality.”

“Dreams are freakin’ powerful and friends, friends keep you on that path to remind you about the dream.  You can never do it alone.  You find your little friend ensemble and turn some impossible thing possible.”

“The difference between heart, mind and gut. HEART is love & emotions. MIND is strategy & logic. GUT is intuition & spiritual connectivity.”
And probably my favorite:

“Except the unexpected and never, ever expect anything.”

–

Writer Wednesday – Using the Tools

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Tips and tricks abound to aid the creative process.  I’ve become familiar with some very clever ones, often through the warm and wise counsel of accomplished author Catherine A. Noon.  She introduced me to the multi-talented Julia Cameron, for example, who has an entire side career dedicated to inspiring fellow artists.  Another gifted friend reminded me just this morning of some grand ways to hush the inner critic (Thanks, E!).

Unfortunately, I’ve discovered a recurring failure to utilize these tools.  However much sense a plan makes, my good intentions somehow evaporate.  Why?  I think I’ve pinpointed a reason.  Buried in my psyche, a notion seems to persist that good writing materializes like a rabbit out of hat.  It’s supposed to be magic.
I do believe that art has magical properties.  Without it, existence lacks a sense of hope or wonder.
An important thing to remember about magic, though, is that David Copperfield didn’t really walk through the Great Wall of China.  Criss Angel can’t actually levitate.  They’re illusionists who put countless hours into manipulating the willing minds of an audience.
Performers on any stage workto entertain us.  Why should writing be any different?  The answer: it’s not.
Julia Cameron summed up my quandary in a line from “Finding Water”.  To paraphrase, my ego wants creativity shrouded in mystery.  This snooty persona thinks that artistic pursuit is somehow above punching a time clock.
Today I defied this snob by setting a timer.  And you know what?  Thirty minutes dedicated to storytelling didn’t feel constrictive at all.  The added paragraphs gave me a sense of accomplishment even if the critic still sneered at the low word count.  So what?  I can set the timer for another thirty minutes when this post is up.

What gets you on the page, stage, or wherever you wish your art to flourish?  I hope you’ll find the time to get out there today and do it.

–

One Small Step For Us, One Giant Leap For Art

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As I sit here, grumbling that I have a blog post due and I’m sick and would rather be in bed, I’m reminded yet again of the power of the little:  one small step can, over time, add up to big progress.

What do I mean?

I’m facilitating a workshop using Julia Cameron’s book, FINDING WATER.  Sundays are the day I post the new week’s essay and discussion-starter.  Today, though, I’m dealing with a cold that seems to want to suck all my energy out of my nose.

After fighting with it for a while, I cracked open the book and the words on the page jumped out at me: “What small step can I take today?”  I don’t have to write a huge essay, just grist for the mill.  I just have to start the conversation and keep the ball moving.  A small tap will do.

Rachel and I are celebrating the release of our novel, TIGER TIGER, from Samhain Publishing.  At times, we had to remind ourselves to just focus on the next right step.  Finish one chapter.  Edit one section.  Draft the synopsis.  These small steps can add up to a novel.

So, dear reader, I offer this to you.  What small step can you take in the direction of your own art?