Time to Write

A tail, er, tale of perseverance and success

How big a role does perseverence play in the success of artists and writers? In a newsletter from ArtYouGrewUpWith.com, I found this example, a cartoonist named Rupert Fawcett who has done very well with his cartoons about parenthood as well as his more recent "Off the Leash," about people and the dogs who own them. This is what he revealed about how he got started:

I became a professional cartoonist almost by accident when in 1989 whilstdoodling I drew a little bald man in braces and carpet slippers and named him Fred.

After receiving over 80 rejection letters I was finally offered a place in Midweek, a free magazine given away at London tube stations. This was soon followed by my first book deal and a contract for Fredgreeting cards. These proved very popular and within a short period of time were to be seen all overthe place. A range of Fred merchandise followed with a steady succession of books. The cartoons also appeared in the Mail On Sunday for four years.

When my children were small I created a new character, Daddy, which was based on my own experiences of parenthood. Three Daddy books, a greeting card range and merchandise followed.

My most recent creation is Off The Leash, which is a series of cartoon strips about dogs! It's now got a global audience thanks to the likes of Facebook and a beautifiul book release later this year.

The bit that caught my attention was the 80 rejection letters and then the placement of his strip in a giveaway magazine.

How many of us would have given up after 60 rejection letters, or 40, or 20, or even ten?

How many might have scoffed at having their work displayed in a give-away magazine rather than a "real" one?

I don't know, I only know of those who would have done that, none would have gone on to have his success. 

Below is one of Fawcett's cartoons. ArtYouGrewUpWith.com is selling limited edition prints of some of his work: 

(One key to success is using your time effectively. For some friendly guidance and right-brain methods, see my book, "Focus: use the power of targeted thinking to get more done," published by Pearson and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller now.)

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Creativity can save a life--here's how it did

The writer and artist Sark revealed in the introduction to her book, "Make Your Creative Dreams Real," what first inspired her to follow her creative path:

When I was ten my best friend was 80 years old. His name was Mr Boggs. His house was my refuge. He and I discussed my creative dreams and he inspired me to tell stories about what I saw in the world.

Mr Boggs became very ill and went into the hospital. My mother explained that because of his age and health, he probably wouldn’t be coming home. I vowed to create something for him every day that he was in the hospital, and I sent him handmade books, cards and posters.

He did get out of the hospital and when he did, he said to me, “I think you saved my life. No one else called or wrote, and I had to get out to see you.”

I immediately started writing my first book, because I thought that if my art and words could affect one person that much, what might happen if I could share them with the world?”

However, her path was neither quick nor smooth:

From ages 14 to 26 I put my creative dreams on hold as I attended school and experimented with hundreds of part-time jobs…[at the age of 26] I began creating art and writing to share with the world. For years, my art and writing was rejected by magazines, newspapers, and publishing companies. Although it must be said that I didn’t send it out very often, because I was too busy surviving and crafting new work.

In 1988 she finally decided to throw herself whole-heartedly into her work, and to be led by the answers to two questions:

WHAT DID I HAVE TO OFFER?

HOW COULD I BE OF USE?

That led to a best-selling poster and then her first book, "A Creative Companion." But that was not without its challenges, either: 

I finally dared to create the kind of book I’d dreamed of making so many times. I faced massive self-doubt, ruthless inner critics, and nearly paralyzing fear, but I did it anyway.

She's gone on to huge success; it's reassuring that even the most successful people had doubts along the way.

It might be useful to think about how you'd answer her two questions and how the answers relate to your work...and what you could do (even if just part-time) if they don't.

(My book can't make you creative, but it can liberate the creativity you already have and show you how to get into a creative state of mind, give you specific ways to generate ideas, provide tools that will help you turn those ideas into real projects, and introduce you to inspirational stories of how others have done it. It's all in the book Creativity Now, published by Pearson and available from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)

The most important things Roger Ebert learned about writing and life

In his book, Life Itself, the late film critic Roger Ebert recounted the greatest writing lesson he ever received. It came from a slightly older colleague, Bill Lyons, when both were sports columnists.

After watching Ebert try again and again to come up with a great first line, Lyons advised, “One, don’t wait for inspiration, just start the damn thing. Two, once you begin, keep on until the end. How do you know how the story should begin until you find out where it’s going?”

Sound advice for any writer.

This is also the week that Ian Banks revealed he has cancer and will not be with us much longer.

Two wonderful voices, going or gone. As we get older parts of our extended lives fall away—the authors whose books we love, the actors we look forward to seeing in another film, and most sadly the friends and family members we somehow assume will be around forever (or at least the tiny bit of forever granted to us).  I suppose we should be glad we’re not the ones who have fallen…yet.

What do we learn along the way? Well, I like what Ebert learned:

“Kindness" covers all of my political beliefs. ... I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.”

The next time you think you're too burdened to write or be creative...

The next time you think you’re just too busy or overburdened to get to work on your novel or screenplay, take a minute to consider Susan Spencer-Wendel.

She was 44 years old in 2011 when she was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). She decided to do lots of things on her bucket list one of which was writing a book that might inspire others and would remind her family and friends of her when she is gone. 

The book is 89,000 words long. 

She wrote it on her iPhone. 

She did it using only her right thumb.

I know hearing about somebody else’s difficulties doesn’t make yours any less troublesome, but what her story demonstrates is that it’s all about priorities.

Susan Spencer-Wendel really wanted to write that book, so she did. It's called Until I Say Good-bye.  

If you really want to write your book or your screenplay, you will. 

If this inspires you to get writing, it’ll be proof that she achieved what she set out to do.

(This item is also in my Brainstorm ebulletin this month, but I think it's worth featuring in both places.  You can read more about Susan Spencer-Wendel here. There’s also a link to the 6-minute NPR story there.)

Drive your story with the Three Excitements (great rewrite tool)

On his blog, graphic novelist (writer and artist) Garen Ewing talks about what he calls The Three Excitements: Action, Tension, and Comedy.

He advises, try to use at least one in every scene.

You could translate those to "Something's happening!" "What will happen next?" and "Ha ha!" (the latter giving you a chance to vary the pace so readers can catch heir breath--after all, non-stop tension and action are wearing).

I think The Three Excitements is a great tool for rewriting. We can look at each of our scenes and ask ourselves which of the three it represents...and if it doesn't represent any of them, maybe it should.

(How about writing tips from Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Kurt Vonnegut and many more? You'll find them in my book, "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)

How to Write a Literary Analysis: Video Overview

How To Write A Literary Analysis

If you want to write, you'll get friendly guidance in my two books: "Your Writing Coach" and "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," both published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.

Be a writer right now!

Korean novelist Yung-ha Kim gave a TED talk entitled "Be an Artist Right Now."

He pointed out that there are many reasons that we, as adults, resist the impulse we may feel to tell stories. One is that it seems daunting to write something as long as a novel or screenplay. In answer to that, he quoted Roland Barthes on how Flaubert wrote: "Flaubert did not write a novel. He merely connected one sentence after another. The eros between sentences, that is the essence of Flaubert's novels."

Yung-ha Kim said, "That's right--a novel, basically, is writing one sentence, then, without violating the scope of the first one, writing the next sentence. And you continue to make connections."

Maybe that makes it sound too simple, but I've found that often when a book or a screenplay doeasn't work it's because the story takes a sudden turn in the direction of what the writer thought might be an interesting scene but that in some way betrays what went before. 

If you're hesitating about writing, start now with one page. Tomorrow write another one. If at some point you feel ready to work out the rest of the story, go for it. Otherwise keep following one page with another and have faith.

(The great writers like Dickens and Austen and Twain had advice to help writers. I've collected it all and added tips on how to apply that advice to your own novel or script. The book is called "Your Creative Writing Masterclass" and you can buy it right now at Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

What Dan O'Bannon said about what a story is

Scriptmag.com recently featured an interview with Diane O'Bannon, widow of Dan O'Bannon who co-wrote "Alien" and "Total Recall", and Matt Lohr, who completed a book Dan started (he wrote about 75% of before he died). It's called "Dan O'Bannon's Guide to Screenplay Structure" and it's published by Michael Weise Productions.  One point they discussed is what constitutes a story:

DIANE: The thing that’s surprising is people often don’t get what a story is. How about Prometheus? Prometheus is a fabulous film, it’s visually stunning, but it’s not a story. It wanders. At no point do you feel like you know who to watch next. Ridley Scott is a fantastic filmmaker, but he didn’t think it was important not to frustrate and anger a lot of viewers. Or he didn’t notice that he didn’t have a story that went from A to B, that brought you up, that brought you down, and completed itself.

MATT: A string of incidents is not a story, even if they involve the same characters. Prometheus is a string of incidents.

What's the difference? Largely it's cause and effect.

Each major incident in a story has an effect on the characters, although it may not be immediate. In fact, often it's more interesting if it's not immediate because it allows us to speculate what the consequence will be.

If you provide a mixture of what we expect and what we don't, you create a satisfying experience.

We also expect stories to have a beginning, middle and end. That's not to say an ending can't leave room for interpretation, but it shouldn't feel like you just decided to stop writing. 

(You can get lots of tips about creating characters and powerful stories, in my book "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon.com or your other favorite book seller.)

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The most important thing you'll ever write

 

 

"You are the storyteller of your own life

and you can create your own legend or not."

- Isabelle Allende

 

That's it. that's all for today. If you were expecting to spend more time reading this post, you can use that time to start (or continue) working your own legend. - Jurgen

The key to happiness for writers (tips from Epictetus)

Writers often think that getting published will make them happy. In her new book, “The Myth of Happiness,” Sonja Lyubomirsky, warns against putting too much emphasis on the “happy when” idea. It’s not that the things we think will make us happy don't—often they do—but the new happiness wears off quickly. Soon we get used to the new situation or the new possession and yearn for the next thing. Having goals is not a bad thing, but making yourself unhappy until you reach them is.

I can verify that this applies to writing. Here is the screenwriter’s typical progression:

I’ll be happy when…

1. Somebody buys my script, even if they don’t produce it.
2. Somebody buys and my script and produces it, even if they change everything.
3. Somebody buys my script and doesn't change anything, even if it's not a success at the box office.
4. Somebody buys my script, doesn't change anything, and it's a hit at the box office.
5. I get nominated for an Academy Award, even if I don't win.
6. I win an Academy Award.

The key to being happy seems to be enjoying whatever you’re doing. If you let your happiness depend on a particular outcome, you’re a hostage to fortune.

EPICTETUS HAD A BETTER IDEA

This is one of many aspects of life that the Stoic philosopher Epictetus thought about. I was turned off to philosophy at college by Plato’s account of Socrates’ dialogues; his supposed students always asked the questions that would conveniently lead to Socrates being able to prove his point, rather than the questions anybody really would ask.

Initially I didn’t pay any attention to the Stoics because I thought their key idea was that you should suffer without complaining. It turns out this is only half their point.

I think their idea is non-attachment and moderation. If things are going well, enjoy it, but don’t expect it to last; if things are going badly, that won’t last, either (at the very worst, it’ll end when you die).

I've bene helped through some hard times by the sayings of Epictetus. Here are a few: 

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

“Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.”

“No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”

“If you wish to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”

“When a man prides himself on being able to understand and interpret a difficult book, say to yourself: If the book had been well written this man would have nothing on which to pride himself.”

“If you wish to be a writer, write.”

One of the collections of his sayings is “The Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness.”

MARCUS AURELIUS

Another Stoic worth your time is Marcus Aurelius, and his book “Meditations.” Here’s one quote of his that should resonate with writers: “Begin—to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.”

(Buying my book, "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," will (probably) make you happy for a while. If you want the happiness to last a bit longer, read it more slowly. If you want the happiness to last a long time, apply the writing advice you'll find in the book. It comes from Dickens, Jane Austen, Joseph Conrad, and modern masters like Hemingway and Fitzgerald.)