Tag: Writing

  • It’s All In Where You Look

    Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
    — E.L. Doctorow

    It was the fall of my freshman year of high school that I fell in love with E.L. Doctorow. I was fourteen, and that was…too many years ago now to admit to. My English teacher had a few shelves of books she considered ‘should reads’ and loaned them out. As it happens, I”d read most of them already, but then I discovered Ragtime sitting there. The cover back then was a plain, solid color – rust as I recall – with the title in retro script across the top. I took it home. I was still reading in the wee hours that night. Lunch was forgotten the next day, and by the time 6th period rolled around I was, reluctantly, returning it to the shelf. Even now, all these years later, I still feel nostalgic when I think of it.

    All that (ancient) history I present simply to explain why I picked the above quote. It’s a bit of synchronicity at play. I am now reading Bird By Bird, by Anne Lamott. I am only a few chapters in, but loving it so far. She mentioned this quote and it really hit home with me.

    So often, when the urge to write a book hits us, we face an initial panic at the idea of writing something ‘that long’. How will we ever think of enough to fill two or three hundred pages? How will we ever figure out a whole storyline? The first blank page then looms huge, becoming overwhelming while we try to see all the way to the end, even as we are typing Chapter 1 – the heading, not the actual text.

    That’s when these wise words can make all the difference. We need to focus on what we can see, what we are writing right now. What happens in this scene? What makes it important? How will it advance the characters? Is it believable and will it pull the reader in, make them feel as if they are really there? Focusing on what’s in the headlights, the scene before you, will make it happen. And that scene will lead to the next, and the next….and before you know it, you’ve made the whole trip. Enjoy the ride.

  • Friday Fiction: Please Welcome Special Guest, David Bridger!

    I am excited to share a guest blog post from first-time published author, but long-time writer, David Bridger.  I met David on the Romance Divas Forum and was impressed by his sense of humor, ease of writing style, and his friendliness.  When his first book got published and he asked for publicity from other Divas, I jumped at the chance.

    Here, then, is author, David Bridger, talking about his experiences writing Beauty and the Bastard.  Enjoy!

    From Soup to Nuts

    Beauty and the Bastard is my first published work of long fiction, but it’s far from being the first thing I’ve written.

    I was thirteen years old when I decided I would be a writer. In fact, an inspiring English teacher called Mr. Watson told me I already was one, and urged me to work hard in order to turn potential into reality. Three years later I tried to write my first novel. But within a few hundred words I realised my self-conscious style would be no substitute for a lack of substance, so I went away to live a bit of life before trying again.

    I went away to sea, actually, and those years of sailing the world proved fertile for my imagination. My second bash at writing a novel came ten years after the first, and that time I finished a Chapter One while sliding up and down mountainous seas in the Arctic Ocean.

    It was embarrassingly autobiographical and horribly self-indulgent. I’d lived a bit of life, but my writing skills were no more developed than they had been when I was thirteen, so I filed that chapter under B for Bin and vowed to learn how to write novels when I retired from sea.

    Ten years later, I was ready to start. I’d come home injured and was destined to spend several years regaining mobility. Life went from “crazy busy” through “traumatic” to “scarily quiet” very quickly, and alongside my program of physical recovery I dedicated most of my mental energy to learning how to write fiction.

    My first completed novel was a paranormal family saga. It was a big story with a big wordcount. I know now that it was another self-indulgent one, and it’s unlikely to ever see the light of day, but it was my apprenticeship and it served me well. It was the platform upon which I checked out various online writing communities.

    I joined Forward Motion and Litopia, and also discovered an informal community of writers and readers on LiveJournal. I learned from sharing crits with my pre-published peers, from reading the blogs of multi-published authors, and from taking workshops.

    That network of support and encouragement helped me write my second novel, an urban fantasy which I think is good enough to be published. It’s out there on submission now. If it’s picked up, it might become the first book in a series.

    As I neared the end of that one, it occurred to me that both my completed novels contained romantic elements. Strong romantic elements. I sat back and took a good look at this aspect of my writing.

    I’ve always been a romantic. Many sailors are. Until that moment I’d never thought of myself as a romance writer, though. Maybe that’s what I was. I didn’t know, but it was worth checking out, so last summer I joined Romance Divas.

    It was a defining moment in my career. Within a few weeks, I knew I’d not only found a new and wonderful writing home to add to my existing ones, but that I’d also discovered my writing identity. And the workshops there! Wow! They’re pure gold dust!

    I found Romance Divas at exactly the right time for me. Things fell into place naturally, and I found focus at the same time as I discovered my most natural voice.

    One direct result of all this was Beauty and the Bastard. It was like riding a storm. I fell in love with the two main characters and lived their adventure with them. After years of experimentation with rapid drafting and suchlike, I’d already learned that my best method is to outline lightly then write my best quality draft straight off. When I added to that my newly-discovered voice, I found myself writing with strength and confidence I’d never known before. I immersed myself in it and loved every moment.

    I hope my readers will love it too.

    PS. I can’t help smiling when I say “my readers”. I don’t believe that will ever get old.

    And here’s a little teaser for the novel:

    Saul the Bastard is a fallen angel who works as a bounty hunter for powerful urban demon families. Rebecca Drake, a modern day demon princess, is being hunted by dangerous desert demons. When Rebecca’s family hires Saul to protect her, they are both unhappy with the arrangement, but before long sparks fly as they try to resist their strong mutual attraction. For the first time in living memory, Saul has someone to love; someone he is scared of losing; someone the desert demons have marked to be their next sacrifice.

    Now available from Liquid Silver Books:  Beauty and the Bastard.

  • Wiley Wednesday: Pantsing vs. Plotting

    To be, or not to be: that is the question:

    Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
    The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
    Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
    And by opposing end them? ~Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1

    To paraphrase Hamlet, to plot or to pants, that is the question. I bet Hamlet quotes are the last thing you ever though you would hear in a discussion of plotting vs. pantsing. First, let’s define these two terms, then we will take a closer look at each.

    First up: pantsing. This is the abbreviated form of ‘flying by the seat of your pants’ or in this case writing by the same. To follow our Hamlet theme – the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Basically, it involves getting an idea, sitting down to write and seeing where it takes you and what pops up in the story as you go along.

    There are as many forms of pantsing as there are pantsers. Some start with no planning whatsoever. They see the idea and dive right in on the blank page, letting the story take them where it will. Some, like me, get an idea, write down the high points like a sightseeing map, then let the characters and story dictate the rest as it comes. There are, of course, vary degrees of pantsing all along the spectrum.


    The point is that a minimum of pre-planning and plotting are done ahead of time. These writers tend to view writing more organically and are willing to test the waters to see what floats and what doesn’t. Devotees of pantsing cite the flexibility, lack of restraint, the freedom to go wherever the story takes them. These are the writers who love a good surprise, an unexpected plot twist, when writing. I’ll admit it’s a rush when something awesome suddenly pops out of nowhere that adds just the perfect touch to the story, when something I never saw coming happens and it is just what the story needed. That’s when we feel like the characters are real, living and breathing beings who want their story to be told. After all, they should know better than anyone what happens in their lives, right?

    This method is not without its problems, however. Sometimes, characters can have a conflicting view of events. Sometimes those great surprises can derail your plot and lead you down a blind alley, forcing re-writes. Last but not least, without a clear mental vision, it can lead to looser plot and pacing issues. Again, this can be tightened up in editing. But then again, it can also lead to a brilliant idea that takes the ordinary into the realms of extraordinary, a spark fed from the story itself that no amount of planning could ever foresee.

    Now the plot thickens. Or rather, the plotting does. Here’s where writers take arms against a sea of troubles…also known as disorganization. Plotters are some of the most organized people I know. At any given moment, they know how the story will go, who is in it, what they are doing in every scene and how it all will end. They know everything there is to know about their characters and setting. Moving from point A to point B comes in well-ordered fashion. These writers also have a much easier time writing scenes out of sequence. If one scene is hanging them up, they can skip to another easily, without fear of going off in a wrong direction and having to scrap the scene later.

    The tools of the plotter are impressive. Outlines are a staple, and can range from general to extremely detailed, running several pages. Storyboards are often used, which give a great visual layout of scenes and chapters. It’s a great way to keep track of who is where at any given time. Timelines make sure you don’t have time and date conflicts and that everything does not happen in a single day. The synopsis is another great tool. This is a summary of the story, start to finish, that outlines the major characters, plot points, and outcome. Some do the synopsis beforehand as a sort of road map, some after. Altogether, though, these tools serve to keep the writing process smooth and hopefully trouble free, to avoid blind alleys and deleting useless scenes.

    The downside? Sometimes it can lead to too much organization – more time spent organizing than writing. The more flexible thinkers feel all this outlining can stifle the joy and creativity of writing the story, that by the time they are done with all this organizing, they are already tired of the story and don’t have the urge to do what feels like ‘rewriting’. As in all things, your mileage may vary.

    Each method has its devotees and both styles work. Those who excel at plotting can whip out a great draft with speed and what appears to be minimal effort. Pantsers often come across as more creative, more inspired. I don’t agree. I think it’s all in the perception and when the inspiration and creative phases are done. Plotters are every bit as inspired but I think the creative burst comes more at the beginning, when they are outlining the whole plot. After all, you have to be hugely inspired to know what will happen start to finish, it just may not be as apparent as it is with pantsers.

    It’s all a matter of where in the process it happens. We all have to dream up characters and ideas, form plots and conflict, pace the action and emotion in order to have an interesting readable, gripping story. And whatever method gets you there, inspires you to get the words on the page day after day, is the one that works.

    To pants or to plot…yes that is the question. Enjoy the journey!

  • Striking The Right Chord

    When the wonderful folks at the Writer’s Retreat asked if I would like to do a guest blog here, I jumped at the chance. I’ve been a reader for a little while now and no matter which of them posts, or on what subject, I always come away with something that makes me think or stirs my imagination. I hope to continue this.

    I am P.M.Rousseau, and I write in a variety of genres. Paranormal is my favorite, followed closely by science fiction, horror, and historical. That said, I am in the homestretch of completing the first draft of a contemporary novel that includes none of the above. Such is life, and those of us who are storytellers will understand when I say that we write the story that is in us waiting to get out. Some stories are pushier than others, and those necessarily get the most attention at any given point.

    This one was very insistent and has taken up much of my time this year. It’s been very opinionated on what should happen within it, and what the characters are like. As for opinionated, the characters have been even more so. They know exactly who they are, what they want, and what they intend to do. My only hope is to type fast enough to keep up with them.

    One area where their preferences have been the most pronounced is music. Each of them has distinct musical tastes and can get persnickety when I try to change their soundtrack. When I give in and cooperate, however, they will sing the story to me very willingly. Let me give you an idea. Here’s the list of current characters and what they like:

    Jake: Stevie Nicks
    Gabe: Southern rock all the way
    Jackson: Trisha Yearwood
    Lila: Sting
    Austin: Clint Black, Garth Brooks
    Lincoln: George Strait

    See what I mean? Talk about a varied bunch! What’s even stranger is that the couple in this story apparently really likes 80’s funk such as Zapp & Roger, Shalamar, and Rick’s James’ slow stuff for sex scenes. So yes, my play list is a kaleidoscopic study in contrasts. Whatever it is, it gets the job done.

    This got me thinking, however. I am as much a creature of musical moods as my characters. I bet you are too. How often do we put on something lively when cleaning, something relaxing when cooking, something more inspiring when a tough jobs needs doing? More often than not, I’m betting. A good beat can make any task go faster and seem like less work. When that endeavor is something creative, it seems to work even better. It stirs the imagination, moves it beyond the ordinary, allowing us to see more than we might otherwise see. It stretches, energizes and expands us. It takes us places we might not otherwise go.

    I firmly believe that stretching one creative muscle helps strengthen the rest. My characters know this. Back in my professional dancing days, I knew this too. I’m glad to get back to it, to see the words and the ideas flow. Happy listening!

  • What’s in a pen name?

    Great title, isn’t it? I bet you’ve never seen anyone use a (modified) Shakespeare quote in normal language or in a blog/blog title before, have you?

    Ain’t I clever?

    Anyway, back to the topic at hand: pen names.

    This is something that I’ve been contemplating for awhile, now, especially after joining the Artist’s Retreat.

    I chose to be called “Lucius Antony” on that site (and, ultimately, here) because I liked the name and it has been something that I’ve used in reference to myself for a few years in various (albeit limited) capacity.

    But, the question is, do I really want to “brand myself” with that name? I have no problem with my real name, and would actually like to see my name in print.

    However, “Lucius Antony” might stand out better than my real name and I will always know that “Lucius Antony” is me. And, as a journalist, I’ll see my name in print often enough. It might actually help in that aspect, should a journalist be known as a fiction writer, as well? I’m sure more than a few have.

    However, I’ve already been creating something of a “brand name” around Lucius Antony, just by posting on this blog (read by Heaven knows how many people) and at the Artist’s Retreat.

    I suppose it’s all a start.

  • “War is the father of all things”

    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

  • Axioms

    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.

  • The Power of Plurality: The Many In Support of the One

    People frequently ask me, “How do you do all that?” when they find out the irons I have in the fire. While it is true that when I was younger, I would frequently bite off more than I could chew. But it is also true that I’ve learned a lot since then and, while some might disagree with me, no longer am as subject to that foible as I once was. So, how do I do all that?

    There are two simple answers, that end up becoming complex in the telling. One is organizational and time management skills, which I was emphatically NOT born with (in case you feel, like I do, that busy people must be part magician). I went to lots of classes and read a lot of books, have tried a lot of things, and worked out what works for me. While I could write an entire essay on that subject (and, truthfully, probably a whole book or five), because I have many ideas and opinions on it, the subject I wish to discuss today concerns the second answer: I have help.

    We will now pause for those of you who wish to twit me on the fact that yes, I do need professional help.

    Moving on now. What I mean by help is, simply put, playmates. I don’t mean professional or paid help (which I do also, in select areas, utilize – but I am not wealthy, so cannot use as much outside paid assistance as I might, in my more grandiose moments, wish). I mean I find people with similar interests, and we schedule time together to do things.

    Yes, it really is that simple.

    So, what kinds of things do I work with others on?

    Pretty much anything, including housecleaning and bill paying. You know the Apple ad, “there’s an app for that?” Same thing here. If you have an interest, chances are high that there are others out there with the same interest. Now, I’m very fortunate to live in the third largest city in the United States, so that gives me about nine million potential buddies. But we also have this thing called the internet (or, for you LOL users out there, the interwebs). Don’t overlook the power of groups on the internet. I’m here to tell you that it can be a very comforting thing that another human being out there knows your trials and tribulations, even if they’re four thousand miles away.

    We have a candle making party every year, for example. It’s always the first weekend in February, and is either one or both days. This year, we’ll do two days. Paraffin candles the first, beeswax the second. We make pretty much all the candles we’ll use in the coming year during that weekend.

    What’s fascinating is this: we (the friend of mine who hosts these with me) always hope to do more than one candle weekend. But when you add in the time for prep (putting down cardboard on the floor to catch drips, wrapping the stove and counters with foil, melting the pots…) it’s a huge job. We’ve only done it one year out of the last ten. But we have done candle parties TEN years out of the past ten. Because we know people are coming, and now people know we do these and about when we do them so they ask for it, it adds power to the calendar, and ensures that we get at least one candle day a year. And now, at a remove of doing them for a decade, I actually have learned quite a lot about the process – without even taking a class!

    Now, don’t underestimate the power of classes, either – because they have the same function. The only reason I’m focusing on groups here, as in “groups of friends or acquaintances with similar interests” is that frequently, the latter do not charge whereas the former do. On the other hand, classes for which one pays might induce one to be more serious about going. It’s up to the individual.

    What else have we done in a group?

    Spiritual exploration, political discussion, parties (I’m a pot luck expert by now), hiking, walking, weight loss, sales training, lead generation for sales, house cleaning and organization, knitting and sewing (any of the handicrafts), paper arts, Pysanky (Ukranian decorated eggs), bread making, soup making, car maintenance (no kidding – changed my oil with a buddy back in the days before complex catalytic converters and computer tune-ups)…

    Even if you’re an introvert, don’t underestimate the power of people. We all have interests and skills, and others do too. It makes sense to leverage those skills. Maybe I’m great at organization and you’re great at web design. So, I’ll organize your office and files, and you design my website. Or, better yet, we teach each other our skills – synergy at its truest distillation.

    Now, what the heck does this have to do with writing?

    Well, think about it. This is a group blog.

    (The light bulb should be going off right about now.)

    ~grin~

    See? Even writing can be done in group – either an in-person one, or a “virtual” one. Schedule write-ins, prompt groups, contests, anything your little heart desires.

    There’s a group for that.

  • To Drabble or Not to Drabble?

    As part of my reintroduction to writing this year, I began participating in a monthly drabble challenge. Drabbles are defined in this case as 100 word stories (or 200 for double drabbles and 300 for triple drabbles). Drabbles are challenging, but I really enjoy them.

    I was involved in some discussion this week around word count, though, and ran into someone who claimed they could not drabble. They said it simply wasn’t posssible for them to write using so few words.

    Now, this group of folks in chat are people who regularly write 20,000 to 30,000 words or more a month, and the longest story I’ve written recently is less than 5,000 words. Still, it surprised me to find that narrowing the focus down to a drabble-length story would be considered more difficult than writing tens of thousands of words.

    So why drabble?

    One of the first things I noticed about drabbling was the way it forced me to choose words carefully. When you only have 100 words, every single one of them matters. I’m more likely to break out the thesaurus to find the perfect, descriptive word on a drabble than a full length story.

    Another thing I like about drabbles is that they can be relatively quick. If I’m blocked or frustrated, a drabble can shake me out of it. I can usually start and finish them in an evening, and completing something always makes me feel good. It also keeps the juices flowing when I’ve been stymied on my other works in progress.

    Finally, drabbling helps with plotting, too. Distilling a scene down to its primary elements, making sure you convey enough detail to fully tell the story but avoid going over the wordcount is great practice for longer stories.

    I realize that dabbling is not going to be for everyone. Still, everyone can do it with practice, and I think most people really will get something out of it.

  • Flex Your Muse’s Muscles

    This is a fun exercise to do, if your muse has been slobing around and not giving you the inspiration or drive you need. It makes you keep your mind focused as you write, and still allows you to deviate as much as you desire.

    Your task is;
    Write 200 words, and
    Avoid the letter E
    Share!

    The letter E is the most used letter in the English alphabet, but there are plenty of words that don’t use it. Don’t cheat by using abbreviations, like Mr or Mrs, but you can use a thesaurus to see if you can get the word with an e-less spelling. I suggest you use the ‘search’ tool on your word processor before you share – you might be surprised at how many of the buggers slip in!

    This is my example of a lipogram;

    A dog wags its tail and you know that it’s happy. It’s not difficult to twig, a fact most of us know from birth. It is much thorny-a-thing to distinguish joy, or lack of it, in a human. What gain might follow, if our coccyx could again flag our glad moods or lash our irritations? A swift look down would grant us a hint of our companion’s thoughts: a lazy flick for dismissal; a swish of satisfaction; a low immobility of gloom –all told in a winding standard at our backs. With a tail, confusion and falling-outs would diminish though not vanish wholly. How could it, as our traits as a group is so pugnacious? A trick of a god or an additional trial for us to fail, its crisis too ambiguous and abnormal for our logic to fathom. Though without tails, humans still boast windows to our inmost thoughts – our brows may drop in angst or lift in shock; our lips may twitch and grin with laughing; our hands may play and twist with worry, and additional aids also. I am thankful for that, don’t think I’m not, but still I fancy a lissom proclamation to flourish out at my back.

    Now, if you think that was hard, Ernest Vincent Wright wrote a whole novel (over 50,000 words!) without touching the E key in February, 1939. It is approaching its 70th birthday, so I thought it should be honoured with our toasting it. If you fancy taking a look at the novel in question, it can be found here.