“War is the father of all things”

Writer Zen Garden Posted on by

One thing my creative writer has said numerous times is this quote by Swiss health economist and author Gerhard Kocher: “War is the father of all things.”

Also, one of his own quotes (I believe) derived from it. I’m afraid I can’t remember the correct wording, but it is something along the lines of: “writing is war.”


Writing is war, I can truly believe that from my own experiences with it over the past 8 years. It also happens to be a war with multiple fronts that an author must fight simultaneously.

The first (and most obvious) front, is the one with the page. Writing isn’t simple, it’s not just sitting down and typing… well, it is, but it is so much more than that, too. Or, rather, it is far more difficult.

Words don’t always come right out onto the page as willy nilly as a breath escapes our lungs. Finding a word, the right word, takes time, and effort. As Robert Frost said: “I never knew what was meant by choice of words. It was one word or none.”

We need to search through our own minds, our dictionaries, to find the right word for the right situation. The one word that fills the the hole completely without anything extra left behind. The perfect fit. It’s not easy, it takes time, effort, and lots of (re)writing.

The second front is the one with time. As a full time university student in his third year (with a job, now, by the way), I don’t think I really need to tell you that my time is taken by many different obligations, duties, and personal pass times. So, days like today (where I was on campus for 12 hours) how do I find time to write? Well, I haven’t, really… I’m, personally, losing this front, badly.

But, that’s part of the point. With all the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we still need to find the time to write. It’s not easy, but then again, anything worth doing isn’t easy.

The final, and most important, front is the home front. In war, sometimes you have to fight various aspects on the home front. In wars between countries, this includes rationing gasoline for use by the troops, or fighting for support of a war that the populace doesn’t want to be in.

In writing, the biggest, and worst, manifestation of the home front is the inner critic.

This is the little voice inside your head that speaks nonsense about how bad your writing is, and throws other insults into your face while your down that doesn’t have anything to do with your writing.

The harsh, wild critic is hard to break. He creeps behind every word, lives beneath every sentence, and has friends he invites over for drinks in your story.

This war is just like every other. To win, you need strong troops and high morale. You need to look at the big picture, see the small picture, plan ahead and live one day at a time. Sometimes, you win battles, other times you lose them. You must remember that when victory is in sight, defeat can come far easier. Success in one front can mean disaster in another. It’s not easy, and it’s definitely not pretty.

“I am sick and tired of war. Its glory is all moonshine.
It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard
the shrieks and groans of the wounded
who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation.
War is hell.”
From “On Killing” by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman

Tired of Wiping Out Words as You Type?

Writer Zen Garden Posted on by

A while back I became completely frustrated with the insert key on my keyboard, particularly when editing an existing story. There is little more counterproductive than typing merrily away only to discover that it took out a bunch of other material.

So I looked it up and finally found this magical tidbit of information. Somehow I have misplaced my file, so I owe Tech-Reciipes.com for supplying the information this go round. Anyway, here is what you do, as listed on the website:

1. Start Microsoft Office Word (opening a document is fine)
2. Click on the Tools menu
3. Click Customize
4. Click the Options tab
5. Click Keyboard
6. Under the Categories dropdown box, select All Commands
7. Under the Commands dropdown box, select Overtype
8. Under the Current keys downdown box, select Insert
9. Click Remove
10. Click Close until the dialog windows close.

Voila! I hope this saves someone else some time and heartache.

Now that I shared this trick, can anyone tell me how to shut off the grammatical symbols created by the apostrophe key? I seem to turn this function on and off at random. Today I have been ending up with things like Ïwent to the store,” she said, änd picked up those apples you like.” When what I meant to type was, “I went to the store,” she said, “and picked up those apples you like.”

It gets annoying having to hit the space bar an extra time to avoid the Ï, ä, and the like every time. Anyone else have this problem or know the fix? Well, in the meantime I’m going to go back to my current WIP and see if I hit the right key strokes to turn this annoying “shortcut” off again. Happy writing!

Axioms

Writer Zen Garden Posted on by

So, I’m taking a Creative Writing course this quarter, and the teacher listed eight axioms in his syllabus that I’d like to share, that I think we could all learn from as artists, even if we don’t necessarily agree with all of them (I don’t, not really).


An imperfect sentence is an imperfect thought.
All fiction is information.
The way to be boring is to leave nothing out.
To be interesting is to be interested.
Well-used, language is a precision tool.
There’s no such thing as content without form.
There are no dull subjects, only dull writing.
“Never to be satisfied”- All art is contained herein.

Flash Fiction Friday

Writer Zen Garden Posted on by

We at the Writer’s Retreat wish you a safe and fun weekend. Happy reading!

A. Catherine Noon
This is an older one that I wrote that has two additional chapters. I’ve been thinking of adding to it, to round it out, but thought I’d share these because I like them. Enjoy!

Darla M. Sands

Ok, here is something I cooked up for my first picture prompt. I really like it, but should give a content warning advisory.
Lucius Antonyhttp://luciusantony.blogspot.com/2010/01/flash-fiction-friday.html

Thoughts on Creating a Page Turner

Writer Zen Garden Posted on by

As I explore forums catering to professional and aspiring authors, my eyes are opening to the strong opinions people form on things such as character point of view. I never in my life have stopped to consider POV when picking out a book to read. Give me an interesting plot for escapism, some intriguing characters to care about, and I’m there.

Likewise as I write it’s mainly what the characters have to say that decides the format of my fiction. But hoping to get my work published means I should pay a little attention to what book buyers want. Right?

A pleasant part of that has been simply reading more contemporary fiction. Another way has been to sample from the countless experiences shared by considerate authors blazing the trail.

Not all has been delightful. For example, I have read that particular styles of writing are actually expected for certain genres. Allegedly, an aficionado scans the first paragraph counting on a certain formula.

I won’t even begin to list what genre follows which blueprint because, frankly, I find the notion disheartening. If that is the case and my offering doesn’t fit will my effort be passed over without a second glance?

It’s a sad thought. So tonight at my desk I’ll advance the plot and not worry about fitting into a mold.

Yet the discovery calls to mind a writing class recommended some months ago by a friend of a friend. Initially enthused, I sat and listened at some length to this stranger’s discourse. It seemed that this lady wrote steamy romance stories that were on the cusp of being published. If I did what she’d done, maybe that could be me!

Quickly I learned that she writes erotica not out of passion but because she thinks she can turn a fast buck. The seminar she touted like a sales pitch sounded as if the “professor” focused less on the craft than how to market material to publishers. And her almost religious fervor made me wonder if she’d get a commission by recruiting others to her cult. As you can imagine, I gave the course a skip.

I am happy to report finding more encouragement than disappointment. Granted, I have yet to officially introduce my works to the world of publishing. My focus remains on telling the story and doing rewrite after rewrite until the end product satisfies me. I’ll worry about the rest later.

So you tell me, gentle reader, what keeps you turning the page?