Most of the contributors of the Writer’s Retreat Blog participate in the weekly meme, Thursday Thirteen, so every Thursday we link to the individual sites of each writer’s TT. Hopefully, this helps you get to know each of us a little better. This week we’ve got:
Eaton Bennett: Life Meme
A. Catherine Noon: 13 Balls in the Air
I found this article very interesting, it’s great to have an insight intowhat other writers do to get in the writing mood and then what they do whilst writing too. I’d love to see what the Writer’s Retreat member’s writuals are *cough*hinthint*cough*
“Virginia Woolf, George Bernard Shaw and Roald Dahl did it in sheds at the bottom
of the garden. Shaw’s desk was famously on castors, so he could turn it
throughout the day to get maximum light. Dahl even had one of his own hip bones
sitting on the desk. Every writer will have their own ritual. Kerry McKittrick
examines the modus operandi of some of Ireland’s favourite writers and asks:
What are your Writuals?”
Where are you?
I write at home in my bedroom, usually surronded by the bits of scibbled on paper that contain my plot, character bios and obscure doodles of things to do with the story. Oh and Jérôme the cabbage patch is usually around somewhere.
What are you writing with?
Always paper for the plan and then my laptop for writing
What’s the oddest object in front of you?
I’ll take a picture, there are no words for its epicness.
What are you listening to?
The Sharpest Lives by My Chemical Romance but it can be anything from that to Ludovico Einaudi. I can’t write with the TV or radio on though because people talking disturbs me.
Is there anyone else in the room?
No way, that would drive me mad.
What time of day is it?
The best stuff seems to appear around 3am but any time in the day seems to work alright.
What do you look at when you’re looking for inspiration?
Go on wiki-trails, for people who’ve never heard of it, you start on a random wikipedia page and then click on any link on the page that catches your interest. And generally stuff in my room or out the window that catches my eye, sometimes dreams can be quite useful too.
What is guaranteed to remove your concentration?
People talking and lack of tea
One of my favorite writing websites is Writing World, www.writing-world.com (don’t forget the dash or it’ll send you somewhere different). Now edited by Dawn Copeman, it was started by Moira Allen. They publish a free monthly newsletter on the first Thursday of each month. The website has over 825 pages of information covering every genre.
Moira Allen was editor of Cat Fancy magazine for over a decade and has numerous writing credits to her name. I took a class from her, Breaking into Magazine Writing, that I found tremendously informative and useful. She is very business-like in her approach. She doesn’t have fairy-dust in her eyes about how the publishing industry works, but she is very proactive in how she approaches it.
Writing World covers all sorts of material of interest to the beginner and experienced author alike:
Beginner’s World
The Business of Writing
Freelancer’s World
Commercial Corner
International Writing
General Fiction
Romance
Mystery
SF/Fantasy
Children’s Writing
Poetry/Greeting Cards
Creative Nonfiction
Screenwriting
Publishing Your Book
Promoting Your Writing
In addition, Moira Allen has written several books of interest to the freelancer. In particular, she has released an e-book, How to Write for Magazines, which is a synthesis of the class I mentioned earlier. I have it, it’s excellent.
Their Links page is worth the price of admission. It’s enormous; I don’t have room to fit all the topics here. That alone is worth seeing; I highly recommend you check it out. She’s even got a section on Rights and Copyright, which is always an important thing to understand.
Most importantly, they do accept submissions! Since they have nearly 600 articles already, it’s important to double-check their guidelines, but check it out!
Over the last couple of months I have been exploring Friendship, Intimacy and of course love. Poems on Friendship, Intimacy and Lust have demanded that I write them and today’s poem has been insistent to be written too. Thinking about emotions and feelings has led me to realize that not all relationships are healthy! So, I have written a poem I believe expresses in part, the dark side of relationship…
Temptation
Temptation whispering
Clouding the mind
Crawling inside her
Desperate need
Craving release
Exacting its price
Sleepless night
Thoughts won’t cease
“Give in”, they whisper
Early morning light
Illuminating
Untamed yearnings
Selfish desire
Calling his name
Branding anxious flesh
Heart of stone
Conscience bleeding
Dead to truth
Impossible to deny
Giving into temptation
Lost in betrayal!
Links to poetry on: Intimacy, Friendship
Vein of Gold–Alchemy Exercise
In the book ‘Vein of Gold’, I found one exercise particularly interesting. It is titled ‘Alchemy’. It consists of taking the destructive and painful words that were used to describe us as children and converting them into strengths, or positives. As in the ancient belief that alchemy as a science could convert a common metal like lead into gold, so are we to take these ‘wound-words’ and find their gold–or make that–silver lining.
Often, parents and teachers will find a child’s gifts threatening or disruptive. Through these words they are able to tamp down that talent in an effort to make the child behave, or in worse cases, maliciously to scold, ridicule or shame. Eventually, after hearing these judgments over and over again, the child begins to believe them.
A partial list of some of these destructive words might include, but is certainly not limited to: dreamer, impractical, irresponsible, lazy, weird, too sensitive, unrealistic, silly, childish, grandiose, foolish, not disciplined, not focused, selfish. Have any of these words been used to describe you in an unkind way?
Taking these hurtful memories and accepting them has a therapeutic effect, like cleaning a wound is necessary before it can heal properly. It can be painful, but with a pinch of compassion and some creative thinking we can see the very weaknesses we were derided for, are really the strengths that make us the creative people that we are.
For example:
Dreamer can be converted to—-Imaginative
Eccentric becomes—-Original
Obsessed makes one—-Focused
Silly turns into—-Playful
Unrealistic means—-Generous
Too sensitive changes into—-Passionate
There, you get the idea. Now, make a list of ten of those labels that have been used to abuse your self esteem and creativity and ‘convert’ them into gold.
Now you have your list of Golden Words, ‘consecrate’ them; make them real, the new you and not the old. Post them on cards, decorate them with calligraphy, glitter, illustrations, anything to make them more valid and vivid to you.
Take these new descriptions of yourself and tape them on mirrors throughout the house, pin them up at your desk at work, or on the door so you are reminded of the new and positive you each time you leave your home and venture into the world.
A while back, I went on a ‘craft-building’ book buying binge. Over my next few Wiley Wednesdays, I’ll be talking about what I took away from each of them. One repeating pattern I found was that several of the books had lists of other handy reference. At the top of almost every one of those lists was Strunk & White’s ‘The Elements of Style’ – a short text that packs a real wallop, and definitely the place to begin. In short, I wish I had read this book three years ago. It would have saved me a lot of time.
William Strunk Jr. was an English professor at Cornell in the early 1900s. He taught from his own ‘little book’ – a concise text he wrote to cover the basics of grammar and composition, originally published in 1869. At 105 pages, including forwards and index, it truly is little. But little is too small a word. E. B. White (Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web) was a student of Mr. Strunk, and decided much later in his career that Strunk’s ‘little book’ could serve a much broader audience. The text was revised in 1935, 1959, 1979 and 2000 – and everything in it still bears repeating. In his original introduction, Mr. White describes the book as, “seven rules of usage, eleven principals of composition, a few matters of form, and a list of expressions commonly misused . . .” All of these are centered around one theme, that edict pounded home by Strunk himself:
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.
I won’t run through every rule here. They are neatly numbered and stated with very clear examples in the full text, and I highly recommend you pick up the book and read it from cover to cover several times, as I did. The full text is also available online. Instead, I’ll skip the grammar stuff, and cut straight to the elements of composition I wish I had learned by studying this text, rather than the hard way (i.e. sludging along cluelessly until someone pointed it out to me the twelvth time).
13. Make the paragraph the unit of composition. To some, this may come naturally. To others, it is something pounded into our heads by 6th grade teachers. Still others struggle. But it’s quite simple, as laid down by Strunk. Writing is a series of thoughts. How we compose and gather these thoughts either facilitates or hinders how the the reader understands. In summary: one idea per paragraph. Introduce it. Add detail. Conclude or sum up.
14. Use the active voice. Ugh! I can’t tell you how long people were saying ‘that’s passive voice’ before I knew what they were talking about. And finding someone to clearly explain it had me tearing my hair out. In general, passive voice takes the action away from your subject and misplaces it. According to Strunk, the active voice makes for more ‘forcible’ writing. But, examples do far better (from the text):
“I shall always remember my first visit to Boston.” Not, “My first visit to Boston will alway be remembered by me.”
Not, “At dawn the crowing of a rooster could be heard.” But, “The cock’s crow came with dawn.”
In general, when scanning for passive voice, the words would, could, was and were are indicators. However, this is not to be confused with the progressive past tense: “I was walking through the woods.”
15. Put statements in positive form. Basically – don’t describe what is not happening, describe what is happening.
Not, “He was not very often on time.” But, “He usually came late.”
Not, “She did not think that studying Latin was a sensible way to use one’s time.” But, “She thought the study of Latin a waste of time.”
As you can see, the affirmative is usually more direct and concise. It also sounds less ‘wavering’. Be definite in what you say. Oh, wait . . . that’s number 16.
16. Use definite, specific, concrete language:
Not, “A period of unfavorable weather set in.” But, “It rained every day for a week.”
Usually, this means you will give more specific details. If you are trying to make a general statement, do so, but make it concrete and definite. At least knock out two of the three:
Not, “She seldom enjoyed visiting her aunt.” But, “He hated visiting her aunt.”
17. OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS. This is by far Strunk’s most important point, linking back to his main theme. Omit needless words. Omit needless words! You’ll find this easier at the edit phase. I don’t recommend having this mind set when you are drafting, because when you haven’t written anything, one could argue every word is needless. But once you have a draft, you’ll find there are a HUGE amount of ways to rephrase to use less words or to simply cross out the ones you don’t need, without losing meaning. Some examples of classic needless words are often: that, because, as to, for. Also stall phrases, such as: started to, began to, almost, was going to, etc. Strunk lists several examples of his least favorite needless phrases, which you’ll find very useful. Cut to the action, and . . . OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS.
I think that is a good start, and a fair chunk of some of Strunk’s most important points. As stated above, I highly recommend reviewing the text in its entirety. Adding these feathers to your editing cap will most certainly help you to write concisely, without losing meaning.
Happy writing!
-Gwen
Most of the contributors of the Writer’s Retreat Blog participate in the weekly meme, Thursday Thirteen, so every Thursday we link to the individual sites of each writer’s TT. Hopefully, this helps you get to know each of us a little better. This week we’ve got:
Catherine: 13 Things I Carry With Me
Eaton Bennett: 13 Reasons I wasn’t doing a TT
Dawn: 13 Beloved Characters
The Peripatetic School
Peripatetic:
ADJECTIVE:
1. Walking about or from place to place; traveling on foot. 2. Peripatetic Of or relating to the philosophy or teaching methods of Aristotle, who conducted discussions while walking about in the Lyceum of ancient Athens.
NOUN:
1. One who walks from place to place; an itinerant. 2. Peripatetic A follower of the philosophy of Aristotle; an Aristotelian.
ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English peripatetik, from Latin peripat ticus, from Greek peripat tikos, from peripatein, to walk about, or from peripatos, covered walk (where Aristotle allegedly lectured) : peri-, peri- + patein, to walk.
http://www.bartleby.com/61/55/P0195500.html
So. What does peripatetic have to do with writing? Good question. I was reading Julia Cameron’s work and she commented that several writers belong to the “peripatetic school.” My first thought was, what the heck is peripatetic? Then it was, what does walking have to do with writing?
Well, try it, then you can tell me.
I should just stop the essay there, but I’ll be kind. For me, walking is something that slows me down to human speed, rather than caffeine speed, stress speed, or I have to finish twenty things in time enough only for ten speed. Walking is repetitive. There’s not much more than pick up one foot, put it in front of the other. Lather, rinse, repeat. This allows the mind to wander while the feet, well, wander.
How is this of benefit to writing?
Well, try it, then… you get the picture.
It’s strange how we get so into our own heads when we write. Our own heads are not necessarily the most helpful places to be when writing, either. But instead of fighting with our internalized voices, next time you are stuck try getting up and walking around the block for twenty minutes. See what interesting insights might bubble up for you.
Besides. You can dazzle and confuse everyone by telling them, “I’m part of the peripatetic school.” “Really? What degree are you getting?”
Many members of our group have already done the Artist’s Way workshop and the following books with Catherine, but I’m a first-timer.
Ever have those things that just happen to fall right into your life, right when you need them? I’ll be honest, I resisted this for a while, thinking I didn’t have the time, or even (yeah, ego, I know) that I didn’t need it because it’s supposed to help blocked creativity, and I wasn’t blocked.
Well.
Skepticism. Yeah – there’s a section on that in this book. There’s also one on synchronicity. And I’m now a believer.
I’m on Chapter 3 and I can already see the way I view myself as an artist, and creativity in general changing and morphing. The back cover touts the Artist’s Way as the ‘seminal book on the subject of creativity’ and it’s true. It really is.
I have been trying to put my finger on what exactly it is, because I think part of the reason I resisted so long was that the actual SCOPE of this book was never adequately described to me. But it cannot be adequately described.
It’s subtitle: ‘A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity’ doesn’t do it justice. I think the only way to describe it is to say that wherever you are on the road, you can get something from this book. I thought I didn’t need it, but then, when I finally gave in to peer pressure, I found I needed it more than I ever could have imagined. And I truly believe that no matter when I might have picked it up, I would have needed it then too, and taken something different from it.
From an objective position, Ms. Cameron has an amazingly soothing and engaging voice. Her thoughts are well organized, thoroughly informative and totally applicable. In short, I think everyone should read this. I can’t think of a single person in my life who won’t take something away from it. And I know, just like all my friends told me (yeah, I know . . . I’m a stubborn arse, but you love me anyway), I will do it again and again, and take something new away each time. I’m officially on board now.
Buy it. Read it. Live it.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
I am a collector of words. All kinds of words, and phrases too. I keep them in a spiral notebook complete with a well worn cover and creased pages.
When I am reading, I try to keep a pen and paper nearby to ‘capture’ any words that might strike my fancy in the text and eventually transfer them to my notebook for further reference. Sometimes I will glance over these lists when I’m writing and use any words that might apply in my current work.
For example, I just completed the novel ‘Outlander’ by Diana Gabaldon and found a veritable treasure trove of words that I just had to add to my collection.
Bear in mind that these are normal, everyday words, you will recognize each of them I’m certain. But they stood out in my mind as memorable. Anyone who has read the book will undoubtedly know the scene to which I am referring. ~wink~
Shudder—blow—smack—perilous—feirce—surrender—biting—rasping—clawing—furious triumph—impact—savaged—agonies—inexorable—battered—shattered—fury—hammering—shackled—pinioned—fastened—strike—shatter–rage—use—invading—spread eagle—ragged—ride—pounding—brutally—cruel—and– quiver.
All of these words, found on three small pages conveyed more ‘eroticism’ than many longer and more graphic love scenes I have read. I am convinced that effective word choice is an important skill for authors and hopefully my writing will improve because of the lists I keep.
A different list of words I keep is —“ ways to say ‘said’”. As part of an English class in high school, my teacher gave us an assignment to find 50 alternate words to use instead of ‘said’. His point to this exercise was to expand our use of verbs, to help us find more descriptive ways to express our characters’ personalities. I kept my original list of these words, and am still adding to it with over 400 entries and counting.
Imagine the phrase, “But I love you,” he …… Instead of using ‘said’, what other words might better serve our needs?
Whispered—hinted—teased—rebuked—whined—barked—explained—laughed—pointed out—reassured—exclaimed—growled—wheedled—giggled—cried—reflected—echoed—lied—dared—exaggerated—commanded—demanded—begged—pleaded—asked—giggled—instructed.
You get the point. These words are infinitely more interesting than repeating ‘said’ over and over in dialogue and add variety to our work.
Another list in my notebook includes words whose meaning I had to look up in the dictionary. The very act of writing them down makes me more likely to remember them and their definitions; theoretically improving my vocabulary.
My latest entries in this category are:
Ephemeral—short lived, fleeting
Cogent—intellectually convincing
Inveterate—stubbornly established by habit
Laconic—terse speech or writing
Nadir—lowest point on an arc
Parsimony—frugality or stinginess
Abnegation—denying self comfort
Puerile—juvenile, immature
Well, there you have it, evidence that I’m a list maker, especially when it applies to words and writing. I find words fascinating and love to play with them.
When I write, I consider myself a ‘word-smith’: someone who hammers random words into a desirable form through sheer force of will and determination. And to do this effectively, I keep my lists (and a thesaurus) close by; I’m happy to use all the help I can get.