Wiley Wednesday: Writing Through the Chaos

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Today, we have some Wiley Words of Wisdom from Writer’s Retreat forum member Isabelle Flynn. Enjoy!

Writing Through the Chaos

I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said that my life has been chaotic in the past six months. It started in March when I left my home of the past three years with my two sons. My husband was stuck behind to work and get the house ready for our big move. We were headed to a city only a few hours away but with training and some family visits in between, we had months to hang out. It should have been easy, fun, and carefree. It wasn’t.

I left with writing in the forefront of my mind. It was hard and I didn’t hit word count, but I tried. Boy, did I try! I wrote with my sick three year old by my side and I wrote when I felt like doing nothing but curling up into a little ball. When my truck was broken into, when my grandfather was hospitalized for a serious illness, when I spent the day in the hospital and then the nights giving my son breathing treatments, I found the time to write. Then I didn’t.

I didn’t write but I learned. I learned that writing is the first thing I question about myself when things begin to go wrong. I learned that forgiving myself isn’t easy but truly divine. I learned that reading can be productive, even when it’s not a craft book. I learned that there is more than ‘filling the well’ or studying the craft.

Just being helped me to renew my love of putting words down on paper. I listened to music that opened my mind up to daydreaming and story creation. I fell back in love with the tapping on my keyboard and the words that simply appear across my screen when I’m in the zone. Pressure is my enemy but chaos doesn’t have to be.

How do you get past the chaos in your life to keep at your writing practice?

NaNoWriMo

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If you’re involved in the writing community, you’ve surely seen these NaNoWriMo participation badges in various shapes and sizes. As I write this a few weeks in advance, I can only hope my opening effort honors the event.

To be honest, I am equally excited and nervous at the moment. Writing has never created such a mix of emotions before. I’m telling myself this is a good thing. A minor shake-up is good for us, right?

Time will tell if I have that many words in me for one story. So far, I’ve tended to author much shorter pieces. In fact, such a tale is due to be published any day in a science fiction m/m erotica anthology. So I should be on cloud nine anyway, right? That said, I guess I am.

Breathe, Darla. Better.

So much of every day’s outcome depends upon our attitude, right? And taking things day by day is the only way to reach any goal. I hope your attitude is great, your day is good, and that you’re joining me in the truly international National Novel Writing Month.

May good things come your way whatever you choose to do!

Where Do All Those Ideas Come From?

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Not long ago, I participated in a group experiment: several of us wrote a series on our creative processes, each from our own point of view. I have since taken that blog down, but wanted to present them here for your enjoyment. Over the next two months, I will be examining both the creative and physical processes of writing – everything from idea generation to getting the words on the page and polishing them up into a final draft. These posts will reflect my process, how I do it, but one thing is certain – there is no one way to write a story. You’ll find as many different processes as there are writers, and different types of writing might come with  different processes. I hope this series will help spark your own  process, whatever that may be.
First a little bit about me. My favored genre is paranormal, though I am currently in the final leg of a contemporary romance draft. I’ve also written science fiction and horror extensively, as well as some historical stories set in the Victorian period and 15th century France. My stories tend to be longer, novel length, which means anything from 50,000 words on up. And while that is considered a novel, my friends like to smile and say it means I am long-winded. I’ll take that. I have a yearning to try a novella, however, and have a few ideas waiting in the wings. It should be a challenge, but I am curious to see if I can do it.
Speaking of ideas, that is the subject of the beginning of this series. How do I think up all these story ideas?  Where do they come from?  Do I write about people and things I know? Well the short answers are: all sorts of ways, from all over, and yes and no. Clear as mud?

The more complete answer cannot be split up into separate questions. Storytellers, and that is what writers are when you get right down to it, find inspiration all over. Sometimes a word or phrase overheard starts the wheels turning. A lady walking by the window in a funny hat could stir an idea. Sometimes a snatch of song turns on the creative light bulb. Perhaps a dream has us waking up and running for pen and paper, or the computer, to make notes before we forget.
This last bit happens often to me. The paranormal I was writing last fall is a good example. I knew all the characters that were to be in the story and was already off to a great start. I woke up one morning with a character sitting in my head. She had a face I could see clearly. She had a name and a whole backstory ready, and informed me that she was supposed to be in this story and  what was I doing lazing about instead of in there writing her in? I did as directed. Who am I to argue?
Do I write about things I know?  Here is that yes and no answer. The people and places I know may spark ideas, but I don’t write them as they are. They start as the first glimmer of an idea. I make a note of it so I don’t forget and think ‘Hey, that could be cool!’. Then I let it simmer. That’s my highly technical term for tossing it into the primordial soup that is my brain, letting it swim around with everything else lurking in there, and see what eventually bobs to the surface. Sometimes the idea is too small and I throw it back to simmer some more. Some ideas sink to the bottom never to be seen again.  But some of them appear shining with the light of inspiration. And what may have begun as a lady walking by the window in a funny hat has become a prince of some unknown land, wearing a large crown, who is the subject of an assassination plot. See what I mean?
The point is this:  ideas can come from anywhere at any time. I learned early on to carry a small notepad with me for this very reason. I got tired of pulling notes from pocket and purse that were scribbled on paper, gum wrappers, bar napkins, take-out menus, etc. People always think writers are so much more creative then they are.  I don’t think that is true, I think we just are more tuned in to the random ideas that float through our brains every moment of the day. We are more likely to grab hold of them, shine a light on them, and see if they squirm to life. People are natural born storytellers. All of us. It’s just a matter of looking a little more closely at the world around us. You may find, in doing so, that instead of too few ideas, you have too many. I’ll take that any day.

Stopping to Smell the Roses

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My pause along the side of the road didn’t actually involve flowers. All the same, the analogy fits and I can’t resist sharing.

The other day I watched a hawk practically fall out of the sky. Without anyone driving behind me, I literally pulled the car over to see what the creature would do as it obviously alighted upon some prey.

Sure enough, the bird used its talons to strangle the life out of something. That sounds harsh, but the savage beauty completely captivated me.

As I stared the creature leaned back, lifted shoulders shifting its wings, and appeared for all the world like a person stomping on something. Then the bird used that wicked beak to lift the now-limp form, flipped it in the air, and swallowed the mole with one gulp.

Still with no cars coming up behind me, I nonetheless resumed my drive as the hawk took flight. We matched speed at around twenty-five miles per hour for several yards before the majestic creature settled on a perch, presumably to digest.

So, that was my minor brush with nature’s raw beauty. Have you seen anything amazing lately? I’d love to hear about it.

Show Instead of Tell

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I recently saw a close-up photograph of roses that allowed me to virtually smell their fragrance and feel the thick silk of their petals. At that moment, I realized it defines a goal for my writing.

When readers honor me with a read, I’d like to take them on a journey. I want him or her to smell the air and feel a lover’s touch as the page is turned. The notion hearkens back to the popular and wise adage to show the reader as opposed to telling.

While not as easy as it sounds, this is something to think about and something to work upon. Now, I’d better get back at it and try to improve my craft a little bit more.