So a year ago today I posted this.. and well... after a year of stewing over the homework thing and being my normal voracious reading self. I have come to the conclusion that Mike's way of analyzing reading is shit. Sorry boys and girls, it is. While it might work for someone with the cognitive ability of a house fly, that would not be me.
Something that I have discovered in the last two hundred plus books that I have read?
I'm a literature and creative snob. An art whore. Nobody should be telling a creative type how to be an artist. I really cant stand educational books about writing. But I love writing blogs.. not just my own, but reading blogs on writing methods.
Ever great method I have picked up in the last little while has come to me from another blogger, or pinterest board that has referred me to said blogger.
I really want an office space, a room where I can shut the door and write, I'm jealous of people who have them. I have my desk in the corner of the living room, and no-one intrudes when I am using it. But I have started using some of these other tools. I use a plot board now. I have a white board where I can play, a poster board for presentations that I put post it notes on to help walk me through things when I am stuck connecting bullet points.
I have started journaling again, I bought a notebook and have been using it as a inner-space monologue of memories, thoughts on the events I recall most often, the people in my life. I have my inspiration journal (a thing I put off putting together for years). I picked up on the idea of a Story Bible from another Blog, which I have started utilizing to hold my characters, timelines, world building etc. A Story Bible is a hard copy of this important data, a ready physical reference. Another blog got me started with an inspiration board, because we all need to look away from the computer once in a while, so I also have a couple large pieces of card board I have started taping images on to, things story relevant, star charts, mountains, something connected to what gave me the idea, for example a picture of the bar my mom use to frequent.
Additionally, I don't know if I shared this, but the last few years I have used OneNote for collecting scrap ideas when I am on the go, in March I purchased Scrivener and I love it. I know a few bloggers that use it, and quite a few others who say the learning curve is too steep, and honestly I admit that I feel it to be extremely straight forward and intuitive. I didn't complete the tutorial, but I am overly tech savvy. So my advise to Scriv newbies, click on all the menus, read all the options in the menus. Then the options on the left side "Right Click" on those, and read all the options. When starting a new Scriv file, as a newb, don't start with Blank, choose Fiction or Non-Fiction. And you are ready to rock and roll.
This week I started making use of an online tool called Pacemaker, I know that I could use excel, but the idea that someone else could check up on my daily word counts has actually helped keep me writing, keep me honest. It can be found HERE.
I also love keeping a variety of books close to hand, First I keep a Blank Journal / Sketchbook. This is for all the words never written, all the stories never told. Second I keep my Inspiration Book. This is a journal, but in my case a sketchbook because I prefer non-ruled paper, I have filled its pages with words that I love, ideas that speak to me, poems and quotes of course.. and the occasional doodle. Sun Tzu's The Art of War (hard bound because its applicable uses are never ending), Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings (hard bound not the best book on strategy but useful philosophy), Fairy Tales by The Brother's Grimm (hard bound because everyone should own it), The Complete Works of Shakespeare (hard bound because everyone should own it) Peter Pan By J.M. Barry (hard bound it is what made me fall in love with becoming a writer)... Drop Something? By JAEDL (Hard Cover... because my grandmother wrote it) and there are a few books that I want to add to this shelf, for nostalgia, first is The Greg Luganis Story, the first book I ever read on my own, and a couple that I don't know exist, but will always be looking for. My maternal grandmother JAEDL was friends with J. Robert Oppenheimer, while she attended the University of California, she was also friends with Frank Herbert and Jean Auel, while she lived in Oregon. If I can twist my siblings and cousins arms, I really want the inscribed books Oppenheimer gave her, which included a dictionary and a collection of Marxist literature. My family was comfortable with the Scientific community around WWII as my Dad's aunt taught Mathematics at Berkeley, and my paternal grandfather was a rocket engineer. So I would love books surrounding that time.
I digress. Chat more later.
Sunday, August 19, 2018
Thursday, August 16, 2018
Write What you Know: Rules Redefined and Explained.
In the time since my mother passed, I have changed a lot. This last year I have been doing a lot more reading than writing. Normally I like to explore different aspects of myself, and I suppose that has been changed, or colored rather by grief, grief that I still haven't been able to truly express.
I haven't cried since mom passed, but I know its coming. Every time I want to pick up the phone and cant, every time I have a great conversation with one of my siblings.. as well as other drama that has filtered/is filtering through my life right now.
No instead of writing I have been reading. And that has lead to me doing some thinking. I'm analytical, and every time I read something it becomes part of the greater scheme of who I am as a writer. They say if you want to write you should read everything you can get your hands on.. and well I have read over 200 books so far this year. I may save the last 4 months of the year to again go after perfecting my relationship with the written word.
There are rules in place for writers, everyone who has ever wanted to write has heard them. Though in the five years that I have been writing here I cant remember if I have ever discussed them with you.
Rule No. 1: Show and Tell.
This is controlling the language that you use in relating your story.
Telling: 'He was angry.'
Showing: 'Tension radiated from him in waves, his jaw clenched, his eyes narrowed, breathing through his nose like a penned bull.'
There is a time and place. Showing is evocative, which is why Third person stories are so much easier for a reader to fall into. When you write in the First person, you are doing a lot more telling than you are showing. Find that balance.
Rule No. 2: Don’t go searching for a subject, let your subject find you.
This sounds trite, artsy, and frustrating. The whole waiting for a muse sort of ordeal. This is why writers are always reading, why we go see plays and movies, why we watch documentaries and love magazines. Remember, some of the best books out there are just retelling a story we have all heard a million times. Romeo and Juliet anyone? Cinderella? Beauty and the Beast? Hamlet?
These are the steps. Maybe you have always wanted too write, but could never find anything worth writing about, nothing original enough, nothing flashy enough.
Your subject finds you. It happens when you are at the bar or getting lunch with friends and out of the blue a question will flutter through your brain like a fairy. "Did you ever wonder what........" or "What if...." In fact those two questions are the foundation for every Science Fiction or Fantasy book out there. (This is why writers always have a notebook and pen with them. Gotta catch those ideas fresh, and run with them. IMMEDIATELY start asking your W questions.
Even if it stays on that bit of scratch paper for a decade, once you write it down, you are much less likely to forget about it completely.
Rule No. 3: Write what you know. Know what you write.
This one is the big evil, the one that I, and many of my peers grimaced about. What the hell? Most read this as "draw from real life, use your experiences, your dreams." and that is true, you should do all of that.
It also means that you should be confident in the absolute nature of what you are penning into existence, if you want to go outside your comfort zone, then do. But always do your research, you don't have to be a scientist to write science fiction, or a soldier to tell war stories. Most and by most I mean to say at least 80% of your writing should be about the human experience. Now that other twenty percent? That's math, physics, the day to day running of an army, geography, military structure, legal and medical jargon, etc.
If you are writing all swords and sorcery, then first you should learn something about swords, and figure out the minutia of what drives magic in your universe. Get the lore straight before you put the story together and keep those inconsistencies that break reader immersion eliminated before they happen.
Rule No. 4: Be concise. Never use three words when one will do the job.
Prolixity is a seldom addressed criminal act for writers, and should be treated with the same care as Plagiarism. Now its fine to be wordy in a rough draft, sometimes you don't want to stop writing long enough to check a word or look up something in a thesaurus, that is also why its the rough, its also why a rough draft is usually 20 to 30% larger than the final edition.
Rule No. 5: Always Write. Not always Right.
Keep a diary, never leave the house without a notebook. Record everything.
Its straight forward enough.
There are Diaries for everything, and you should have at least two. Dream Diaries, Daily Journals, Spiritual observations and studies. Sketch books...
Rule No. 6: Write between the lines.
Its what isn't said that's important. What you leave out, those empty spaces that allow readers to connect the dots, to interpret the message beyond whats written is important. As a writer you drop the line and lure in the water to hook your readers, and in a lot of cases, its not what you write that hooks them, its what you didn't.
I personally love poetry, which is all about reading between the lines, which is why people respond with "That's deep" when they hear a haiku.
I haven't cried since mom passed, but I know its coming. Every time I want to pick up the phone and cant, every time I have a great conversation with one of my siblings.. as well as other drama that has filtered/is filtering through my life right now.
No instead of writing I have been reading. And that has lead to me doing some thinking. I'm analytical, and every time I read something it becomes part of the greater scheme of who I am as a writer. They say if you want to write you should read everything you can get your hands on.. and well I have read over 200 books so far this year. I may save the last 4 months of the year to again go after perfecting my relationship with the written word.
There are rules in place for writers, everyone who has ever wanted to write has heard them. Though in the five years that I have been writing here I cant remember if I have ever discussed them with you.
Rule No. 1: Show and Tell.
This is controlling the language that you use in relating your story.
Telling: 'He was angry.'
Showing: 'Tension radiated from him in waves, his jaw clenched, his eyes narrowed, breathing through his nose like a penned bull.'
There is a time and place. Showing is evocative, which is why Third person stories are so much easier for a reader to fall into. When you write in the First person, you are doing a lot more telling than you are showing. Find that balance.
Rule No. 2: Don’t go searching for a subject, let your subject find you.
This sounds trite, artsy, and frustrating. The whole waiting for a muse sort of ordeal. This is why writers are always reading, why we go see plays and movies, why we watch documentaries and love magazines. Remember, some of the best books out there are just retelling a story we have all heard a million times. Romeo and Juliet anyone? Cinderella? Beauty and the Beast? Hamlet?
These are the steps. Maybe you have always wanted too write, but could never find anything worth writing about, nothing original enough, nothing flashy enough.
Your subject finds you. It happens when you are at the bar or getting lunch with friends and out of the blue a question will flutter through your brain like a fairy. "Did you ever wonder what........" or "What if...." In fact those two questions are the foundation for every Science Fiction or Fantasy book out there. (This is why writers always have a notebook and pen with them. Gotta catch those ideas fresh, and run with them. IMMEDIATELY start asking your W questions.
Even if it stays on that bit of scratch paper for a decade, once you write it down, you are much less likely to forget about it completely.
Rule No. 3: Write what you know. Know what you write.
This one is the big evil, the one that I, and many of my peers grimaced about. What the hell? Most read this as "draw from real life, use your experiences, your dreams." and that is true, you should do all of that.
It also means that you should be confident in the absolute nature of what you are penning into existence, if you want to go outside your comfort zone, then do. But always do your research, you don't have to be a scientist to write science fiction, or a soldier to tell war stories. Most and by most I mean to say at least 80% of your writing should be about the human experience. Now that other twenty percent? That's math, physics, the day to day running of an army, geography, military structure, legal and medical jargon, etc.
If you are writing all swords and sorcery, then first you should learn something about swords, and figure out the minutia of what drives magic in your universe. Get the lore straight before you put the story together and keep those inconsistencies that break reader immersion eliminated before they happen.
Rule No. 4: Be concise. Never use three words when one will do the job.
Prolixity is a seldom addressed criminal act for writers, and should be treated with the same care as Plagiarism. Now its fine to be wordy in a rough draft, sometimes you don't want to stop writing long enough to check a word or look up something in a thesaurus, that is also why its the rough, its also why a rough draft is usually 20 to 30% larger than the final edition.
Rule No. 5: Always Write. Not always Right.
Keep a diary, never leave the house without a notebook. Record everything.
Its straight forward enough.
There are Diaries for everything, and you should have at least two. Dream Diaries, Daily Journals, Spiritual observations and studies. Sketch books...
Rule No. 6: Write between the lines.
Its what isn't said that's important. What you leave out, those empty spaces that allow readers to connect the dots, to interpret the message beyond whats written is important. As a writer you drop the line and lure in the water to hook your readers, and in a lot of cases, its not what you write that hooks them, its what you didn't.
I personally love poetry, which is all about reading between the lines, which is why people respond with "That's deep" when they hear a haiku.
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