Time to Write

Time to write: technology helps (and sometimes it hurts)

If there’s one thing most writers love it’s a new gadget that supposedly will help us to write better or faster. There are any number of apps or other software programs that make this claim and that sound tempting

 Stop!

First, be clear on what this software will actually do for you. Is it something you need? Will it really help you do better? How much of a learning curve does it require? Will learning it take more time than it saves? Are you sure it’s not just a nice distraction from writing?

Some are genuinely useful. For example, I regularly use the timer on my iPhone as well as one on my desktop. I also have an audio memo app that I use sometimes when I have an idea and it’s easier to dictate it than to jot it down.

What these have in common is they are free or very cheap, simple to use (no time required to learn how to operate them) and they serve a unique function. On the other hand, I’ve been a sucker for a variety of to-do list programs and apps but I’ve never found one that works better than…well, just a list, really. On paper or on the screen.

By all means, use technology when it helps, but be sure it really will.

(Get the intelligent approach to time management for creative people--get my book, "Focus: use the power of targeted thinking to get more done." Get it from Amazon and other online and offline book sellers.)

Are you getting this rule of writing wrong?

I don't write much about grammar and punctuation on this blog, partly because they're not really my forte (too many commas, too many dashes). However, there is one mistake that I'm seeing more and more that is worth mentioning. Here's an example from an article by Chris Jones, The Evening Standard's tennis correspondent:

"Having lost the set to the world No. 57, the crowd witnessed a rare example of the Spaniard's temper as he thumped his fist into the strings of his racket."

This suggests that it was the crowd that had lost the set to the world No. 57--an amusing image but not what Chris Jones intended. It was actually Rafael Nadal who had just lost the set. One correct version would have been:

"Having lost the set to the world No. 57, Nadal gave the crowd a rare example of his anger, thumping his fist into the strings of his racket."

Editors, other than the sports editor at the Evening Standard, tend to notice such things and it doesn't reflect well on the writer.

This week, write a letter (here's why)

In an interview in Time magazine, biographer David McCullough says, "The loss of people writing--writing a composition, a letter or a report--is not just the loss for the record. It's the loss of the process of working your thoughts out on paper, of having an idea you would never have had if you weren't [writing]. And that's a handicap. People [I research] were writing letters every day. That was calisthenics for the brain."

I think he's right about that. While it's great, via Facebook and other online media, to see almost instantly what family and friends are up to through photos and brief posts, what it doesn't reveal is what their experience means to them. I'm as guilty of this as anyone, but I remember in my letter-writing days that I would have to reflect upon why I was writing about an incident--what impact it had, or how it fit into my life. That kind of reflection seems like a good thing and we're losing it. I know some blogs fufil this function but those are in the minority, mostly it seems like a drive to record something in the moment and move on to the next thing as quickly as possible.

Maybe this week we should write a letter...

What does it take to spark an idea? (Short video)

The ad agency Ogilvy New York created this short film (about a minute long), a charming reflection on what it takes to spark inspiration. (By the way, one way to help yourself spark inspiration is to have a bulletin board like the one shown in the video and put up on it any image or word that you like--you may find interesting combinations and variations popping into your mind.) Of course you could also buy my book, "Creativity Now!"...

 

A writing map to use for large projects

Sometimes a large project like a novel or screenplay or a non-fiction book can seem so daunting that it's difficult to get started. Here is my suggestion for a "map" of one way to break the process down into manageable steps toward your goal:

1: Random notes. While you work on something else, keep a notebook or index cards handy or type your thoughts into your smartphone. For instance, for a novel these might be ideas for a character, or a setting, or a line of dialogue, or a plot twist. It doesn't matter if they don't fit together at this stage.

2: Grouping the notes: Once every week or two go through the notes for a few minutes and put them into groups--all the notes about characters go together, all the notes about the plot, etc. This will make your subconscious mind aware of where the gaps are, and you may find that the new ideas you have will begin to fill those gaps.

3: A broad outline or mind map. In this step you jot down the basics. In a work of fiction, this could be in the categories "beginning" (first quarter or so), "middle" (about 50%) and "end" (final 25%). This is still loose, you may decide to move things around later. Also you may realize there are still some gaps, and that's OK, too.

4. The next step depends on your preferences. If you prefer to have a full outline before you start writing, then filling in the gaps and refining the order of events is next. Alongside this you may want to do some more thinking about your characters and their relationships. On the other hand, if you prefer to start writing and trust that you'll come up with things as needed or else fix them in a future draft,then you can go right on to step 5.

5. Writing. You don't need to start at the beginning. If you have scenes in mind, go ahead and write them. Yes, you may have to adjust them later but that's fine. This way you get the flow going.

6. Joining up what you've written. If you've jumped around and written scenes from different parts of the story, now you put them together and determine what's still missing.

7. Filling in the gaps. Now you write the missing bits.

8. Once over lightly. Rather than a rewrite, this is just a light once-over to take care of any adjustments that are required as a result of writing the project in bits and pieces out of order. For instance, you may find that you have one scene set in the morning and another scene that is supposed to follow it immediately time-wise in the afternoon, so you decide which one makes more sense and adjust accordingly.

9. Celebrate! You've finished your first draft!

When you keep your eye on one step at a time, the whole process is far less intimidating. Just stick to the map and you'll reach your goal.

(For more tips, see both "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and "Focus: how to use the power of targeted thinking to get more done" published by Pearson. Both are available from Amazon and other online and offline book sellers.)

The new shape(s) of publishing a book

Cory Doctorow is a science fiction writer who is very involved in new media. His new book, "With a Little Help," is a short story collection and he has made it available in a variety of formats and offers. One is an ebook, another is Print on Demand traditional book, another is a hardcover with a hand-sewn binding and unique endpapers glued in. He’s also offering to write a new story for $10,000 and include it in the next edition (one person has already taken him up on this).

 He’s also trying out new ways to make the book interactive; if you find a typo in the Print on Demand version he will correct it and in the next edition (which starts with the next book) give you a footnote crediting you with the correction. Sounds distracting to me but I have to admit it’s creative.

He made his first novel, “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom,” available for free as an e-book and several million copies have been downloaded. At the time this was unusual enough to generate a lot of  publicity but he says that it no longer has that status. However, he points out that making people familiar with your work via the free model will prompt a certain number of people to buy a hard copy book and can spread the word about your writing.

You can watch an 11-minute interview with him, conducted by Brian Felson, here:

http://blog.bookbaby.com/2011/05/cory-doctorow-interview-pt-1/?utm_source=BBeNews&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=BE052411

 

Creativity in Book Promotion (writers: could you do this?)

The Bookseller carried this small item about an innovative way to market books and help make people aware of the remaining independent book stores:

"Vicki Erwin, owner of Main Street Books in St. Charles, Mo., welcomed customers to the St. Louis Independent Bookstores Alliance's first Indie Book Cruise last Saturday, May 7. The "cruise"--a bus tour to three stores, including lunch, visits with authors, and giveaways--sold out a month before the date and there is a waiting list for a second cruise. St. Louis's independent bookstores banded together earlier in the year in an effort to promote independent bookstores and literary events in the area."

Great idea and one that could be set up by a few authors in conjunction with a few independent book stores. You wouldn't necessarily even need the bus, it could be set up as a walking tour or using public transportation. Yes, it would take some organization, but I bet your local press would pick up on it, too.

(If you're interested in innovative marketing ideas that don't cost much, get my book, "Do Something Different," published by Virgin Books with a foreword by Sir Richard Branson. It's available from Amazon and other online and offline book stores.)

Another agency for writers to beware

Writer Beware Blogs does an estimable job of keeping track of dodgy agencies and publishers. The latest addition to the list is an agency calling itself Clark, Mendelson, and Scott.

 This appears to be the latest effort of a convicted forger named Samuel Asinugo. He has left behind him a long string of complaints and has several times changed the name of the agency. They charge $150 for submitting your script to publishers ($250 if you want to include foreign publishers) and give no specifics about Clark, Mendelson, or Scott—assuming they exist at all, of course. 

 My advice: stay away! You should never have to pay an agent to submit your work. Their fee is a percentage (usually 15% these days) of what you get. That's true whether you're a new writer or an old hand.

 

Time to write: stop in the middle

This was a favorite trick of Hemingway’s: stop a day’s writing session in the middle of a sentence or certainly in the middle of a paragraph, when you know what comes next.

Why? Because it means that the next time you sit down to write, you’ll know exactly how to start. Instead of sitting there wondering what might happen next, you’re ready to go. You build momentum immediately.

If you’re worried that you might forget, make a short note about it to remind you when you pick up the work again.

This one will take a bit of will power—part of you will want to finish that sentence. Fight it and notice how much speed and power this gives your writing sessions.

 (For many more tips on creative time management, get my book, "Focus: use the power of targeted thinking to get more done." It's published by Pearson and available from Amazon and other book outlets.)

 

Have you considered writing in this medium?

Most people still associate comics and graphic books mostly with fiction, although there have been some standout examples of graphic journalistic works (like "Persepolis"). A new one is written by Brooke Gladstone, host of NPR's "On the Media." It's called "The Influencing Machine," and its her take on the many ways that media affect our lives.

Below is a short (about 3 minutes) animation based on one idea in the book. I think it's interesting both for the content and as a great example of a video book promotion. And maybe it could prompt you to wonder, as it did me, whether anything you want to write could best be expressed in this genre...

 

A Sunday Thought about the strangeness of people

This quote comes from "The Peter Pyramid," by Lawrence J. Peter, published in 1986 (I ran across it on Robert MIddleton's actionplan.com site):

"We are a strange people. We spend our lives doing things we detest, to make money for things we don't need, to impress people we don't like.

We never want to be doing what we're doing. When we eat, we read; when we watch TV, we eat; when we drive, we listen to music; when we listen to music, we work around the house.

When we want to be with friends, we go to a noisy restaurant; when we want to party, we spend the evening trying to converse."

 

Saturday review: "Homer & Langley: A Novel" by E. L. Doctorow

Usually I feature a non-fiction book on Saturday Review posts, but I thought just in case you’re looking for a good novel to read I’d recommend one of those for a change. It’s Homer & Langley: A Novel, by E. L. Doctorow.

 Homer and Langley are brothers. The former goes blind while still young, the latter returns from World War I with physical and perhaps mental effects of being subjected to mustard gas. They live in a gradually decaying old house, becoming more and more reclusive, yet somehow the big events of the 20^th century manage to make their mark on them. They’re sad figures but with their own kind of dignity and I think you’ll find theirs a bittersweet tale. 

It's based on a true story, as Doctorow mentions in his Amazon essay about this book: "I was a teenager when the Collyer brothers were found dead in their Fifth Avenue brownstone. Instantly, they were folklore...I didn’t know at the time that I would someday write about them, but even then I felt there was some secret to the Collyers--there was something about them still to be discovered under the piles of things in their house--the bales of newspapers and the accumulated detritus of their lives... Coming from a well-to-do family, with every advantage, they had locked the door and closed the shutters and absented themselves from the life around them...As myths, the brothers demanded not research but interpretation, and when a few years ago I was finally moved to do this book, I felt as if writing it was an act of breaking and entering just to see what may have been going on in that house, which really meant getting inside two very interesting minds. And with the first sentence, 'I’m Homer, the blind brother,' I was in."

 

It's nice to see that eccentrics are alive and well

There's no shortage of people who try to be eccentric in order to get their fifteen minutes of fame via a reality show, but it's nice to see that there are some others still around who do strange things just because they are passionate about some weird thing. For instance, Scott Weaver. 

Below is a video about a model of San Francisco Weaver created out of toothpicks over a period of more than three decades. It’s no geographically accurate, it’s more of a symbolic San Francisco.

I was surprised to find he’s married, Mrs Weaver must be a very patient lady… In the video you’ll see how ping pong balls can roll their way through a variety of “tours” of this version of the city.

 

Scott Weaver's Rolling through the Bay from The Tinkering Studio on Vimeo.

 

What the Supreme Court can teach you about writing

The members of the U.S. Supreme Court have to read a lot and that's prompted some strong opinions on their part about what constitutes good writing. 

In 2006 and 2007 legal writing expert Bryan Garner interviewed nine of the judges and put them online. Now he's also made available full transcripts in the Scribe's Journal of Legal Writing. 

I have to admit when I first spotted this document I was a bit skeptical that I'd enjoy reading it, but I was wrong. 

Of course they are talking about factual writing but a lot of what they say applies to fiction as well. For instance,the danger of submitting writing before it's really ready:

Chief Justice John G. Roberts said, "...There are some [briefs] where the first thing you can tell in many of them is that the lawyer really hasn’t spent a lot of time on it, to be honest with you. You can tell that if they’d gone through a couple more drafts, it would be more effective. It would read better. And for whatever reason, they haven’t devoted that energy to it."

On the importance of editing, Justice Anthony Scalia said, "When I edit drafts of my law clerks, most of my work consists not of additions, but of deletions. And when I re-edit my own work, which I do — I go over and over again — I’m usually cutting out words that on reflection seem to me unnecessary...I must go through it at least five times."

On how factual writing can have a dramatic structure, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy pointed out, "The Declaration of Independence you can read cover to cover, and it was de- signed to be read to the troops. Washington wanted it — ordered it — read to the troops in order to get them mad. He wanted them to be mad at George III. It was like an indictment of George III. And it has a dramatic progression to it. The more you read it, the madder you get at George III."

If you have time, check out the full transcripts, they're surprisingly entertaining and informative.

 

Defeat the sting of rejection by focusing on the right things

If you are trying to find an agent or publisher, don't define success just as landing one. If that's your definition and it takes 200 days, 199 of those will feel like failures.

Instead, define success as your unrelenting effort to move toward your goal (while learning from the strategies that are not getting you there yet, too).

Writing an excellent query letter is a victory.

Researching which agents might be a good fit for you is a victory.

Sending your query letter to as many as it takes is a victory.

Writing a good proposal or book or screenplay is a victory.

All those things are the cake. Getting the agent or selling the book is the icing.

(for more support, get my book, "Your Writing Coach," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other booksellers.)