Time to Write

The key to great characters is "why"

You always hear about how important it is for your protagonist to have a goal. That's true, but equally important is the "why" behind their goal. You'll create a better-defined and more compelling character if you also spent time coming up with the most powerful motive for their actions. 

Let's say that both Adam and Gary have the goal of completing a marathon.

Adam wants to do it to raise money for a charity. Not a bad reason.  It suggests that Adam is a good guy, willing to go out of his way to benefit others.

Gary wants to do it because his daughter is running and he wants to show her that he can actually follow through doing something together--which he never did when she was growing up. He hopes she'll give him a chance to be a better father.

Which character do you think you would care about more? 

I think it would be Gary because his goal is personal and emotional. If we've ever let anybody down or have ever hoped for a second chance in any relationship, we may identify with him at least a little. 

WHAT'S AT STAKE?

The other difference is that if the charity doesn't get the money one participant hoped to raise it probably won't be a huge blow. But if Gary doesn't finish, or at least make a massive effort, his daughter will feel he hasn't changed and there's no reason to trust him now. We can imagine how painful that would be for both of them.

The more your protagonist has at stake, the more we will care about their goal. What's at stake doesn't have to be objectively huge. Sure, in many stories it's a matter of life and death; however, you can get equal drama from a story in which what's at stake is whether a young girl is able to earn $20 to buy her ailing mother a Mother's Day gift. Her "why" is that she wants to show her mother how much she loves her.

THE "HOW" CAN CHANGE, THE "WHY" USUALLY STAYS THE SAME

Sometimes in the course of the story, the protagonist realizes the "how" they have chosen is not actually going to deliver the result they want. For instance, Adam might start off thinking he can buy his daughter's forgiveness with presents. But then he realizes he will have to give of himself instead, and that's when he signs up for the marathon.

Likewise, maybe the little girl comes to understand that something she makes herself will mean more to her mother than anything she could buy.

Thinking about the different ways that your characters try to fulfill their "why" can be a rich source of incidents and turning points for your plot.

DON'T FORGET THE ANTAGONIST

Antagonists have their own "why" as well--or at least they should. If they don't, they won't seem three-dimensional. An antagonist who does evil things just for the sake of being evil comes across like a cartoon character. An antagonist who does evil things for a reason we can understand is much more realistic. 

REVEALING THE "WHY" IS PART OF THE AUDIENCE ARC

The character arc refers to the transformation your protagonist undergoes as a result of the events of the story. There can also be an audience arc. By that, I mean a change in how the audience sees your character. Let's look at an example:

Recently I saw a reality show in which a restaurant owner was hostile to customers who asked for any minor change in a dish (like 'no onions'). Why? It turned out that when she was a child she was constantly criticized for not being able to do anything right and told she would never amount to anything. When a customer asked for a change in an item, the restaurant owner heard it as another insult and she responded angrily. When that was revealed it changed the way I regarded her.

A movie that has an audience arc is "As Good As It Gets," in which the Jack Nicholson character was mean and seemed to try hard to make sure nobody would like him. As the story goes on, though, we come to understand how he got that way, and it changes how we regard him. He also has a character arc, but our feelings about him change before he does.

The shift in an audience's perceptions is one of many ways of keeping them involved in your story.

HINTS MAY BE ENOUGH

If understanding the 'why" is crucial to your story, you may want to go into some detail and maybe even use flashbacks to reveal it. However, that's not always necessary. Often giving the audience some hints is enough to have them become more invested in your story. 

Why you will hate your writing at some point (and what to do about it)

It's a fact of the writing life that at some point you will hate your project and will feel like giving up on it.

It's important to know that this is natural--and not a reason to give up.

This can happen at any point in the project but usually, it happens when we're about halfway through the first draft. At the mid-point, it sinks in that what we've written doesn't match the pristine, perfect version of it we had in mind. Also, there's still such a long way to go. 

This is when we may be tempted by another pristine, perfect vision. "Write me instead!" it cries. "I'll be better!" Spoiler alert: it won't. It will have the same or similar issues and you'll hit the same point again.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE GIVING UP ON YOUR PROJECT

Here's the process I recommend for when you feel like giving up on a project:

1: Step away from it for a week or two. During that time, don't work on it or even think about it. If you've been working hard, take a break. Read some books, see some movies, go to an art gallery or museum, spend some time in a park. See some friends you haven't seen for a while. Eat some ice cream. 

2: Return to the project, go somewhere other than your writing desk, and look at it as though somebody else wrote it. Make a list of its good points and weaknesses. You may be surprised to find that during your break from it your subconscious mind was still working on it and now presents you with some new ideas that will improve it.

3: Decide: If a good friend was working on this, would you advise them to give up?

If not, return to it, refreshed and with a better idea of what it requires. Ideally, finish the draft before going back to make changes in the first half. However, if you now have a  new approach that changes the first half in a major way, go back and do a quick new draft of the first half, too.

If yes, get a trusted outside opinion. Someone who approaches it with a fresh eye may well be able to suggest the fix that eludes you. 

If you still feel like quitting it, go ahead---but not before you think about what you have learned. What was wrong with it? How can you avoid making the same mistake in your next project? When I say dump it, I don't mean throw it away. Put it in a folder and when you've finished your next project go back to it. You may have gained a new perspective and want to take it up again, or you may discover you can use part of it in a new project. Or you may never want to see it again. Either way, you'll know that you gave it a fair shot.

Feel better and write better with joy triggers

It's easy to feel overcome with anxieties these days, and often that leads to writers block or just a lack of motivation.

Arianna Huffington has a method that's worth trying. She called them joy triggers. Those are pictures, words, or memories that give you joy. They remind you of the positive things in your life, or those you were privileged to have in your life previously. 

For ease of use, you can make up a little joy triggers scrapbook in which you paste photos (print them out from your digital files) and key words or phrases. They can represent things that gave you joy in the past, give you joy now, or things you're looking forward to.

It's easy to forget to use them, so it may be helpful to get in the habit of starting and ending your day with them, and also to set a timer to remind you to do it a couple of times a day. Or, if you find yourself feeling low, that can be the trigger.

Below is one of my joy triggers, the lovely Great Dane named Audrey who we have had the pleasure of dog-sitting over the past three years. She's now ten, which is quite old for that breed--I think of her as the Maggie Smith of Great Danes.

Give your own joy triggers a try and feel free to let me know how you get on, either in the comments are at [email protected]

 

How to Worry

How annoying is it when people tell you not to worry?

Very, right? It's almost like saying, don't be so tall or so short.

Simply willing yourself to stop sure isn't enough. However, I ran across an idea that might help:

Therapist Jenny Taitz tells her clients to schedule a 30-minute or two 15-minute sessions of worrying. You can worry about several things or focus on one. You can list the worries and jot down ideas for how you might deal with each one, or you can just review the worries. 

I tried this quite a while ago and I did find it helpful. It doesn't totally free you from worrying the rest of the time, of course, but I found it easier to dismiss the worries when they came up outside of the appointed times. I found that one fifteen-minute period was enough, and I set a timer so that I wouldn't get lost in thought and go over the time limit.

There's certainly enough to worry about these days and if you find yourself being overwhelmed, give this a try. Feel free to let me know how you get on, either in the comments or at [email protected]. Good luck!

 

 

The trap of "I'll feel happy when..."

I ran across an older interview with J. K. Rowling the other day in which she recalled how she felt a week after she got her American deal for the first Harry Potter book. She told The Guardian:

"...One of my very best girlfriends called me and said 'I thought you'd sound so elated.'

"From the outside, I'm sure everything sounded amazing.

"But in my flat, where I was still a single mum and I didn't know who to call to do my hair, everything felt phenomenally overwhelming.

"For the first time in my life I could buy a house, which meant security for my daughter and me, but now I felt: 'The next book can't possibly live up to this one.'

"So I managed to turn this amazing triumph into tragedy, in the space of about five days..."

I take two things away from that:

1. Whatever neuroses are screwing up your life at the moment won't go away when you attain your goal.
   
   
2. That's a good reason to address them now.

When I find myself thinking I'll be happy when (some future event happens), I try to remember to stop and think about what I can do to be happy now. It works a fairly high percentage of the time, so you may want to try it.

Is anybody ever THIS happy?

To make more progress, make it visible

The problem with a lot of goals is that their rewards are off in the future. Sometimes it's hard to stay motivated when the prize is far off. To stay motivated, come up with a way to make your progress visible.

Charts, calendars, and other forms are very useful for this. For instance:

Do you want to get or stay fit? Keep track of when you exercise and for how long--this might be how many minutes you walk or run, how many reps you do of different weight-training exercises, and so on. For instance, when my gym closed due to the pandemic I bought a rowing machine. My goal is to use it at least five days a week, and to increase the amount of time by one minute every day until I hit 30 minutes and then up the resistance every week.

Do you want to write a novel or screenplay?  Record the number of sessions and the number of words or pages you wrote in each session and your running total.

Do you want to learn a new skill? Keep track of how many lessons you complete.

Do you want to improve a relationship? Keep track of the number of positive statements you make to the other person (compliments, thanks, etc.)--the experts say your ratio of positive to negative statements should be at least five to one.

Do you want to feel good about yourself (and maybe be more popular)? Commit to doing one act of kindness per day and keep track of them.

Make it easy to keep track

I keep my rowing chart right next to the rowing machine so it's easy to jot down the times. Whatever format you use, keep it visible and easy to access.

Review and adjust as necessary

Another benefit of recording progress is that it becomes apparent when you're not making any. Put it on your to-do list to review your progress once a week.

If your calendar or chart shows too many blanks, stop and think about what you can change in order to get better results.

For example, maybe you set out to go for a walk first thing in the morning, but that's not working. Decide on an alternative and try that. Keep looking at the results and trying new approaches until you find one that works.

Be prepared to adjust as your circumstances change. During the summer, a walk in the evening may be enjoyable; in winter you may prefer to move it from the dark evenings to early mornings.

When necessary, instead of abandoning your efforts, adjust them. If you have relatives visiting for a week, it may make sense to cut down on your writing sessions temporarily. If you have a cold, it may be a good idea to suspend your exercise sessions.  

Add some rewards

You can increase the power of measurement even more by adding small rewards to achieving short-term goals. For instance, every time you exercise 5 days out of 7, watch something you've been meaning to catch on Netflix, or have a bubble bath, or buy yourself an ebook. If you like, you can attach somewhat larger rewards to meeting your monthly targets.

Your turn. What are you going to start measuring--and achieving?

 

 

 

 

What's Your Minimum Daily Productivity Requirement?

I don't know about you, but I have days when it's just not happening. Days when I look at my to-do list and get a sinking feeling. 

Sometimes the easiest solution seems to be to forget about all of them and do some kind of displacement activity (or just go back to bed). Of course, that just adds to more stress the next day.

One method I've found helpful is to set what I call the Minimum Daily Productivity Requirement, modeled on the concept that we have minimum daily requirements for certain nutrients.

The MDPR is the minimum amount of achievement that would make you feel OK about how much you got done that day. It helps you continue to move forward rather than stopping dead. 

If you add too many tasks it won't work because it'll be almost as overwhelming as the full list.

Of course, if you stick to doing only your MDPR for too long, the undone tasks will pile up and you'll be back to feeling more pressure.

The trick is to use this is a way to get through days when your energy level is low. It helps ensure that you don't end up having a crisis of some kind and helps you stay relatively positive.

If lockdown (or just life) has been more challenging lately, give this a try and let me know whether it helps.

 

 

Should you make decisions while drunk, sober, or just after your morning coffee?

Decisions, decisions! They can be difficult any time, but is there a best time to make them?

I just read a long article in the newsletter of the Urban Monk, and the research-supported bottom line is:

1. The morning, when your energy level is highest, is the best time to make a decision.
   
   
2. Your energy depletes over the course of the day.
   
   
3. If you need to renew energy, take in some glucose--ideally in the form of fresh fruit rather than candy.

He points out that the makers of infomercials can attribute a lot of their success to the fact that people's decision-making tends to be worse at the end of the day, and probably terrible at 2am (bartenders can attest to this, too...).

THE ZOMBIE EXCEPTION

That all sounds logical, but for me, the most appealing decision first thing in the morning is to go back to sleep. I think some of us need adequate time (and in some cases, caffeine) before we're in prime decision-making mode.

THE DRUNK / SOBER EQUATION

According to Herodotus, the ancient Persians came up with a decision while drunk, then considered it again while sober. If the decision was the same both times, they implemented it; if not, they put the matter aside.

Obviously, even though it seemed to work for the ancient Persians, if handling alcohol is an issue for you, don't try this method!

My version of this is to hold off on acting on decisions I make late at night (not usually drunk!) and reconsider them in the morning.

If the two are the same, then full speed ahead.

If they're different, I'll check again in the early afternoon--that one's often a good balance of the totally rational and the emotional. Although the coldly rational decision may seem ideal, some aspects of life aren't just about logic.

Recently I used that method to decide whether or not to quit a project that I felt was heading in the wrong direction. Both my late night and early morning selves thought it was a good idea, and I sent the notice the next afternoon. So far, no regrets!

 

How to use writing to get through this tough time

Various types of writing can help us get through these tough times. Here are some things you can do:

1. Write a short story or some flash fiction to turn your frustration into a creative act. The process of doing it is more important than whether or not you share it, but you can also do the latter. For instance, if you're on social media, why share some of your flash fiction (very short stories) via your site?
   
   
2. While you're taking your daily walks or doing your exercises, use that time to brainstorm story ideas or think about the characters in your novel, short story, or screenplay. 
   
   
3. Write notes of support to your friends and family. Even just a brief "thinking of you" postcard or email can help us stay connected. You might be surprised at how much this brightens somebody's day.
   
   
4. Write a list of things you're grateful for. It's easy to focus on all the things we're missing at the moment, so take the time to balance that with the things you do have.
   
   
5. Write a list of the things that are bugging you. Divide them into two categories: the things you can't do anything about and the ones you can address with some kind of action. For instance, the national death rate isn't in your control (although of course doing the mask and social distancing thing does help); feeling stir-crazy is something you can act on by exercising, sharing your ideas via Zoom, meditating, etc.

If there's somebody in your life who might benefit from these ideas, why not share them (along with that note of support)?

 

 

How to write healing stories

At the moment our stories about what is normal are in disarray. It doesn't seem normal not to hug your friends, not to be able to go to the movies, not to be within six feet of people in a store without a mask. The stories we tell ourselves about progress and goals and what's important have been shaken up.

The silver lining is that when old stories are questioned, there's room for new stories to emerge. It seems to me what is needed now is stories that promote healing. 

Clarissa Pinkola Estes writes, in Stories as Medicine, "Stories, particularly healing stories, depend on the amount of self--the gristle, blood, and bone--that the teller is willing to put into them. Not all story is medicine. Generally, a story is not medicine unless it has caused the teller to laugh or to weep."

The teller, not just the listener. In other words, the story has to come from your heart. That doesn't mean it has to be a heavy drama; Groundhog Day and Tootsie are two examples from comedy.

EXAMPLE: HEALING AT MIDLIFE

In Fairy Tales and the Psychology of Men and Women at Midlife, Allan B. Chinen writes, "Before newspapers, radio, or television, fairy tales and folk tales were the only mass media, providing news, commentary, humor and entertainment. Storytellers put insights about their lives and the human condition into their stories. Many dealt specifically with characters in the middle third of life."

He notes, "Mid-life stories emphasize the importance of dealing with life as we find it, not as we imagine or hope it to be. These tales highlight an important point: that growth is possible in the middle years, no matter what kind of childhood one has had."

YOU ARE THE NEW MYTH-MAKER

If you write for TV and movies you are one of the myth-makers now.

Of course, traditionally a lot of commercial television has been treated as the placeholder between the commercials that sell us bogus stories, for instance, if we use shampoo X we'll have a great love life.

A lot of movies are near-duplicates of each other, seeing how many sequels the producers can crank out before we tire of that story.

However, there have always been exceptions and with all the additional outlets available now there's more room than ever before for a wider range of stories--including the one you feel the strong need to tell.

STORIES, NOT SERMONS

While your story has a theme, the screenwriter's or novelist's job isn't to propagandize, it's to say, "Here's an authentic story." Then it's up to the reader or viewer to decide what if means to them and whether there's anything in it they can use.  

THERE'S A BONUS!

I've always found when I've written about a subject close to my heart, it's been therapeutic for me, as well. That's the bonus you get when you write a healing story--at the very least, it helps heal you.

 

If you're low on creative energy right now...

If you're low on creative energy right now, you're not alone.

As I write this, we're in the middle (?) of the pandemic and everyone I've talked to says they're feeling lethargic. Most are finding it hard to be creative.

I don't know whether that's the effect of prolonged anxiety, the lack of stimulation because we've all been penned up so long, or something else. Probably it's a combination of factors.

I did a little informal survey for tips on overcoming this ennui and here are the top ones that came up:

1. Don't be hard on yourself about it. That only adds pressure to what already feels like a pressured time.
   
   
2. Reconnect with the creative work you've found inspiring in the past--works by your favorite authors, painters, musicians, etc. It could also mean re-watching a favorite film or TV series.
   
   
3. Set yourself a small creative task every day. For a writer, this might be composing a haiku, the opening sentence of a story or screenplay, a colorful three-word description of a character. If any of those inspire you to keep going and turn it into something longer, go with it.
   
   
4. Add a creative element to the next email you send to a friend--like a haiku or a doodle.
   
   
5. Take a walk and look for one interesting thing to photograph. I've been doing this and I've added one of mine below.

If you've found any other methods useful, let me know in the comments or to [email protected].

Our creativity is one of the most useful tools we have for getting through these tough times, let's not abandon it!

How a writer can live with uncertainty

In the time of the Caronavirus, it has never been more obvious that we crave certainty. 

The uncertainties of the creative life aren't at the level of life and death (except in some totalitarian societies, and we're not there...yet). But anybody who wants to make a living from their writing or other art constantly faces uncertainty, including:

Is this thing I've created any good?

Will anybody want to buy it?

If it's put out there, will people like it?

How long will it be before I have a breakthrough--if ever?

Am I wasting my time?

Even when a writer has a success, the doubts remain:

Will my next work be as good as this one?

Was this a fluke?

LIVING WITH UNCERTAINTY

I don't think we can overcome uncertainty, and maybe it's not even a good goal to have. We've all encountered people who are convinced that everything they produce is great and that they are god's gift to humankind. That kind of overconfidence can succeed for a while but usually leads to a downfall eventually.

Perhaps the most appropriate goal is to learn to live with uncertainty. Here are a few things I've found useful:

• Remember that you are not defined by the success or failure of any given project--or even of your entire career. As a writer, you are more than any given project, and as a human you are more than a writer.
  
  
• The value of things is not always clear in the moment. Years ago, my house in the Hollywood hills burned down to the ground. At the time, it seemed like a tragedy. While I still don't think it was a great thing, it did make me consider whether I just wanted to rebuild the house--and my life--in the same form, or use this as an opportunity to make changes. I moved to London, where I met my life partner and have enjoyed my life more than I had in Los Angeles.
  
  
• If you enjoy the process, the outcome has less control over you. I know there are writers who claim they don't enjoy writing. I do, and I think if I didn't, I'd stop doing it. Of course, sometimes it's frustrating and the finished work never totally lives up to my fantasy of it, but the enjoyment outweighs the frustrations by a long way. If you're not enjoying writing, ask yourself why. Is there a different type of writing you could be doing? 
  
  
• If you enjoy writing but worry that you may be wasting your time, what would you be doing with that time if you weren't writing? If you'd be curing cancer by all means switch. But if you'd be watching more TV or doing more crossword puzzles, why not keep writing?
  
  
• It can help to hang out--in person or virtually--with people who are in the same boat. Look for people who are constructive and supportive and avoid the bitter ones who just want someone to listen to their complaints. 

If you have other strategies, let me hear about them in the comments or at [email protected]. When a few have accumulated I'll share them in another post.

It's not about the setback, it's about the (writing) comeback

"It's not about the setback, it's about the comeback" is a phrase I saw the other day and it really stood out to me.

Some people have used this weird time to double down on their writing, but many others have found even if they had more time it has been really hard to focus. That can easily spiral down into a long-term abandonment of your writing.

If you've had a writing setback, let's start thinking about your comeback.

Sometimes comebacks take the form of a splash of glory: a dramatic event that shows you're back. In writing terms, this could be putting aside a full weekend for nothing but re-starting your writing. Turn off your internet access, warn your significant others that you're going to be busy and not to be interrupted unless bleeding is involved. Turn off your inner critic, too. This session is about cranking out a lot of words. You'll be rewriting some of them later but, for now, just get the flow going again.

Other comebacks take the form of small steps. Fifteen minutes a day, maybe thirty. In this form, consistency is the key. Make a commitment to yourself and maybe to others that you're going to write for at least fifteen minutes per day for the next thirty days. On days when it's flowing and you have time, keep writing. On days it's not flowing, write something anyway. You can always throw it out later. 

With either approach, it won't be long before the comeback overshadows the setback!

ps: If you need some guidance, see my book, Your Writing Coach, available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.

A time to rethink?

Most of us can identify one or more turning points when we redefined who we are or at least who we want to be.

I think we get one free shot at this in our early 20's.

After that, it usually happens when we are confronted with some kind of crisis. 

One of mine was when my house in LA burned to the ground and shortly thereafter I ended up in the hospital with a blood clot in my leg that could have traveled and killed me. I decided to leave behind a reasonably successful career in LA and move to London.

More recently, it was when I had open-heart surgery. That rethink wasn't as dramatic, it was more of a mindset switch to being less hard on myself. 

What these have in common is that the usual situation stopped and the future was uncertain. That pretty well describes where we all are right now. Maybe that makes it a good time to take another look at where we are and where we want to be, and what we can do to bring ourselves closer to the latter.

I'm not clear yet what that means for me.  Maybe for you it means you'll finally write that book or screenplay you've been intending to write or take a course to gain a new skill, or find another creative outlet. 

It does seem that this is another time when a crisis also is an opportunity.

As Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote in Love in the Time of Cholera, "He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.” 

 

How to find your creative voice, according to Ira Glass and Andy Warhol

Writers are advised to "find your own voice," meaning, express yourself in a way that is authentic and unique to you.

One who managed that is Ira Glass, the creator of the radio series, "This American Life." He started out wanting to tell the stories of ordinary people. This set him apart because usually the emphasis is on interviewing famous people.

There's the first lesson: find something you want to do that's different from what most people are doing.

He says he didn't even know what it would be to be a reporter, he just understood what it would be to talk to regular people. He says, "And it was really a puzzle, how do you do that in a way that would be compelling and exciting to listen to?"

Lesson two: You'll probably struggle for a while to find how to do what you intend to do.

He notes, "You really have to be a soldier, you really have to fight and get in there and just make stuff, just force yourself to make stuff. It's really hard to do."

Lesson three: The way to discover how to do it is to do it. Expect obstacles, and persist.

Although now "This American Life" is a hugely popular radio series, it took time to build an audience and not everybody got it at first. Getting backing can be a challenge. Glass says, "The more idealistic and idiosyncratic the project, the more cunning you have to be about the business side of it."

Lesson four: Be prepared to be as creative in marketing what you create as you are in creating it.

Finally, he points out that it took ages for him to get good at what he set out to do and adds, "I wish somebody had told me that's normal."

Lesson five: That's normal. 

You can watch a four-minute video of Glass discussing these points here.

Another person who went through that process with huge success was artist Andy Warhol.

ANDY WARHOL'S PERSPECTIVE

Andy Warhol also had good advice on this topic:

"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art."

He also said, "There is beauty in everything, just not everybody sees it."

Ira Glass found the beauty in the stories of ordinary people, and he helps us appreciate it, too.

Maybe that's what finding your creative voice is about: figuring out your way of helping people see the things you see but most people don't. 

It's clear that finding your creative voice isn't about a flash of inspiration. It's a trial-and-error process and it never ends...and it's what makes writing worth doing.