Time to Write

Do you have defining moments like this in your script or novel?

When you think back to your favorite novel or film, what moments in the story stick in your mind? Often there is one scene that reveals something new or even something very familiar about life and stays with us.

In an interview with Publishers Weekly, novelist Courtney Maum (I Am Having So Much Fun With You) talked about the mix of heartache and humor that often occur together. She gave a wonderful example from her life:

“For instance, last summer I was eight months pregnant and we had to put our cat down. I mean, we really loved this cat. While we were burying him in the backyard, two men were painting our nursery. And the painters were singing along to ‘Love Shack’ on this awful radio with terrible sound while we were outside crying.” 

I think if you can find this kind of moment when your character experiences something that illuminates the tragi-comedy that is his or her life (and ours) it enriches the story.

What moments like this did your characters experience?

Did they notice them at the time?

Were they changed by it?

Even if you don’t use those moments in your manuscript, being aware of them will help you get to know your characters more intimately.

As an exercise try looking at a photo and brainstorm what else might be happening or about to happen that would make it a dramatic moment (example below).

(Get tips on writing from Anton Chekhov and the other greatest writers of all time, collected in Your Creative Writing Masterclass, now available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

The all-important first sentences of your novel

It's probably not fair that people judge whether or not to buy a novel based on the cover, the back cover, and the first sentence, but that's how it works much of the time. Now that more people are buying books online, the back cover doesn't matter as much, but the cover image and the first sentence or two (as reached by the "look inside" feature) still carry most of the weight.

That's why the first sentence is so important. I belong to Bookbub.com, which offers ebooks free or at a reduced price, and I find a lot of times I don't opt to take even the free books if the first few lines don't grab my attention. I thought it might be interesting to take a closer look at a few openings. Let me hasten to say that these books may be excellent, I'm just sharing my personal response to their first lines.

The stocky man pumped his flannel-covered arms around the steering wheel as the white box truck he called Bessie rounded the corner.

The first problem I have is with the word "pumped." The motion I associate with pumping (as in working the handle of a pump) is up and down, which is not easy to link with a steering wheel. If I stop and think about it I can imagine the turning motion as pumping, but ideally a first sentence doesn't make you stop to figure out an image. Next we have his flannel-covered arms. I assume he's wearing a flannel shirt, but again the image makes me stop for a split-second to figure that out (rather than imagining it's only his arms that are flannel-covered). Then we have the information that he calls his box truck Bessie, which doesn't pull me into the story nor is it essential information at this point.

If the job of the first sentence is to effortlessly carry you on to the second sentence, that example isn't great. Let's look at another one.

Years ago, Once Upon a Time was Right Now.

OK, that's an interesting enough variation of the classic fairy tale opening to keep me reading. It goes on:

And eventually, Right Now will become Once Upon a Time. In fact, it just did. Time is funny like that. In most stories time is very important. Not in this one. The story may have horses and not cars, but really it could happen now like it did then. Then Being Once Upon a Time, years and years ago.

I'm starting to lose interest but let's see give it a few more lines.

The story is one of passion, and last time I checked, passion was still around. It exists in love, hate, obsession. For instance, I have a passion for pickled herring. I can't live without it...

Nothing is happening and I have no idea who the "I" is who checked whether or not passion is still around and loves pickled herring. Next!

My daddy once called me a cockroach, because when I was a kid I dug in the trash for food scraps and drank from the dog's water to survive. He said he meant it as a compliment.

We have a winner! Why is this one better? Because it raises a question. It makes us curious why the character dug in the trash and drank from the dog's water to survive, and what kind of father would consider calling a child a cockroach a compliment.

Contrast that to the first example, which doesn't make me wonder anything about the man driving the truck, and the second, which doesn't make us wonder about much of anything until it gets to pickled herring. By then, following a consideration of the nature of time and passion, pickled herring feels a bit of a let-down.

I don't know if you feel the same way about these particular examples, but looking at these has sent me back for a closer look at the first lines of the projects I'm working on; maybe it'll prompt you to look at yours as well.

(Want friendly guidance on writing your novel? You'll find it in Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

 

Do you have Seasonal Writing Disorder?

I read a fascinating post by novelist Lydia Sharp in which she described having what she calls Seasonal Writing Disorder. It's well worth reading the entire post, but in a nutshell she said she used to beat herself up because not only does she not write every day, she goes weeks without writing.

Then she realized that if she stepped back and looked at her ouput in the context of a year, she was just as productive as other writers, if not more so. Like me, she suffers from Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is characterized by depression and low energy during the darker months. I use a bright light in the mornings during the winter, which helps a bit.

Sharp is most productive in Spring--that's when she has written six of her seven novels. Spring and early Summer are also my favorite times and probably my most productive times. 

Your cycles may be different. The point is that when you discover what they are you can work in synch with them rather than fighting them or feeling bad about not working in some supposedly ideal manner. 

This doesn't mean that you can move forward only a few months of the year. The times during which you don't feel as inspired can be great for editing, marketing, and learning new skills. 

Of course the same is true of getting in tune with your daily cycle, doing the most important tasks during the time you have the most energy. Especially if morning is your prime time, it's a shame to spend it on catching up with email, for instance. 

It's in line with a sayig I like: "Make reality your friend."

(There are time management tips you can use all the year around in my book, Focus: use the power of targeted thinking to get more done. It's published by Pearson and avialable from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

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PS: Depressed? Could be time to get your Vitamin D level checked

Would you go to the Boring Conference?

Boring Conference is back..although I wasn't aware that it had been here before. It's listed as "a celebration of the outwardly ordinary, mundane and prosy but which, on peeking beneath the surface, reveal hitherto undreamed of depths."

It takes place in London on Saturday, May 31. In the three previous Boring Conferences topics have included sneezing, toast, and yellow lines (on the road).

No word yet on this year's apparently boring topics. I would suggest accounting, lint, and nasal hair (if you are a fan of any, don't take offence, obviously I trust that all three of these have hidden thrills).

The first tickets wil be released on Feb. 28, see BoringConference.com for more information. 

What actually caught my attention wasn't just the Conference but the fact that I think a lot of writing either reveals the extraordinary aspects of the ordinary, or the ordinary aspects of the extraordinary. I guess reality shows specialize in the latter, although as they run out of topics, increasingly they are revealing the ordinary aspects of ordinary subjects (Cupcake Wars anyone?).

Writers probably don't need to attend the Conference (although it might be enjoyable) because looking beneath the surface is a big part of the process. Checking whether you've revealed enough of that in what you've written might also be a good strategy for your second draft.

The biggest mistake in writing for children

Children's author and writing teacher Kathi Appelt was asked by The Writer magazine what she thinks is the biggest mistake newer writers make when writing children's books:

"The major mistake is 'saving the hero'. In real life, our job as adults is to provide assistance and counsel to children. But in fiction, young heroes (be they children or child substitutes, such as kittens, puppies, and so on) must tackle the obstacles and solve the story problem on their own."

I'd take that even one step farther: kids love reading about children who are able to solve problems that adults can't. In my animated series, "Norman Normal," Norman was the only normal kid in a family of superheroes, yet most of the time he was the one that ended up solving the problem. Kids yearn for the power to be independent and to tell adults what to do for a change.

However, that doesn't mean making your young protagonist perfect. Appelt warns, "We writers also have to let that main character struggle. If the obstacles to a goal aren't large enough, then readers won't care about the main character. What young readers want are imperfect heroes who get into a fix and then have to struggle to get themselves out--or not."

Good advice--in fact, it's advice I'm going to have to take myself in writing the second draft of the YA novel I'm working on. I realize that I've made things a little too easy for my protagonist, I'm going to have to be meaner!

 

What we want in fiction is not what we want in life

In the previous post I quoted prolific novelist Peter Abrahams on setting your daily writing goal. In his interview a while back in The Writer magazine, he also talked about what makes for a good story:

"My mother, Enid, taught me most of what I know about writing when I was about 10. Among her rules:

Fiction is about reversals. Just like high school wrestling, it's more fun to watch a back and forth match than a blowout.

Torment your protagonist.

Push everyhing as far as you can without contriving.

Get everything you can out of a story. Don't leave the gold mine only partly dug, but stop before you do anything that leaves the reader feeling your behind-the-scenes presence or thinking that terrible thought: That couldn't happen.

Always advance the story."

I'd say he was lucky to have learned those at his mother's knee, and it underscores how simple storytelling is. Of course, "simple" and "easy" are not the same thing, more's the pity!

 

Why setting a "words per day" goal isn't enough

Many writers set a goal of working on their project for a certain amount of time per day. The danger is that it can be easy to rationalize that spending that time researching your topic on the internet counts, even though you end up spending "a few minutes" checking your email, reading the news, or updating your Facebook account.

In that case, you might say, why not set a word goal: a certain number of pages to be written per day or per week?

Well, that's better but maybe not quite good enough. In an interview in The Writer magazine, prolific novelist Peter Abrahams came up with a better solution:

"My goal is to put in about a thousand words a day and to advance the story."

He explains: "Those are two separate goals because you could write 1000 words a day without really getting anywhere."

In other words, if you write a thousand words describing the protagonist's house but nothing has moved forward in the story, it would be a good idea either to keep writing more or (preferably) figuring out what you can combine with that description that will advance the story.

A good test for any scene or chapter: What's different at the end? If nothing at all has changed, that could be a cause for concern.

Usually this change affects one or more of your main characters. Sometimes their situation is just different, but normally it is either better or worse relative to what they want it to be.

I think it's good not to get obsessed with this in your first draft, otherwise you may find yourself rewriting too much rather than forging ahead. However, it's an excellent method for assessing your first draft and figuring out what you would like to change in your second.

Abrahams and I are both talking about mainstream novels, not experimental ones; in the latter, anything goes. In the former, readers want the story to keep moving. 

(For more tips on writing your project from the idea all the way through to the finished version, see my book, Your Writing Coach. It's published by Nicholas Brealey and is avaiable from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

Creativity: Expanding the Box (and how to do it)

Thinking outside the box suggests going a long way away from the norm, and often that does lead to breakthrough ideas. However, Christian Stadil, CEO of innovative company Thornico, says there’s also a lot to be gained from thinking inside (or at the edges of) the box.

He suggests looking at the edge of what you already do well. That involves playing to your strengths and looking for an improvement of perhaps 10 or 20 percent rather than some radical breakthrough. 

An interesting approach might be to start by thinking, what would a 20% better (name of your product or service) look like, sound like, feel like, be like?

Then take each of the attributes you come up with and brainstorm how you might create it.

You can also apply this to the components of a project. For instance, if you are writing a thriller novel or screenplay, you could brainstorm how to make the opening more of a grabber, how to heighten the tension in key scenes, how to make the protagonist more relatable, and so on, improving each part one by one as part of your rewriting process.

(For friendly guidance in writing your book, see Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

The danger of misteaks, and the question you don't want readers to ask

Will little mistakes in your book turn people off? Is proofreading really that important?

I hesitated to write this post because I know there are typos in my blog posts. I do proofread them but I post just about every day, sometimes under time pressure, and things slip through. For that reason, when I read blogs I cut them some slack regarding typos and little errors. 

When I’m reading books, not so much. I’m sure many readers feel the same.

This came to mind earlier today when I was reading the “look inside” preview of a book about research into psychic phenomena. It said that many famous people followed this research, including "Rod Sterling".

The late Rod Serling happens to be one of my heroes. I grew up loving the Twilight Zone series and later read a number of his plays. When I was a teen-ager I wrote him a letter and he was kind enough to reply. I guess that’s why seeing his name misspelled bothered me. More importantly, though, it provoked this question: 

“If the author got that wrong, what else did she get wrong?”

That’s the question you don’t want your readers to ask. It undermines their confidence in you and it may even make them put the book aside (or not buy it if they spot the error while browsing).

Here are some tips for proofreading a manuscript:

* Get at least one other person to proofread it

* Use a ruler or piece of paper and move it down one line at a time. That stops your eyes from moving ahead too far. Even better: in a piece of paper or light cardboard cut a horizontal slot the length of your lines, so anything above and below the line you are looking at is covered.

* Read backward. That makes you isolate each word and you’ll notice misspellings much more easily.

PS: I bought the book anyway…but I’ll be on the lookout for any other mistakes.

-----For friendly help with writing your book, get a copy of Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey and avaialable from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.

Fixing weak character voice

A reader emailed me to say that her novel had been rejected and the editor in question had scribbled on the cover sheet that the problem is "weak character voice." She asked me what that is and how to fix it.

Weak character voice means that your character, usually your protagonist, doesn't stand out enough to capture the interest of the reader. It can apply to stories written in the first person or the third person. Your character doesn't have to be grotesque or overly quirky but there has to be something about them that makes us want to keep reading.

It may be that your concept of the character is strong but that doesn't translate to the page. When I was reading screenplays for a production company sometimes the authors would send along a page of character descriptions (which is not necessary or even recommended). Often the description would say something like "Ramona is a feisty, independent woman who will go to extremes to have her way"...but in the actual screenplay there would be little evidence of those traits.

What makes a character reveal what he or she reallhy is about? A challenge. The need to cope with circumstances that are new and/or stressful. A situation that calls for her to make a decision--not always between good and bad, but between good and good (or bad and bad). 

It doesn't mean that the character has to express himself strongly via dialogue. It's much more effective to let us learn about the character by what he does, not just what he says or what others say about him.

How to fix it? A good place to start is to ask these questions:

* What does this person care about the most? Does your story force him to defend it?

* What is your character most afraid of? Does your story force her to confront it?

* What does your character not want to reveal? Does your story put him in danger of having to reveal it?

In rewriting, sometimes this means you have to tell a different story or a different aspect of the same story, but you'll end up with a character interesting enough for readers to care about.

(There are loads of useful, practical tips in my book, Your Writing Coach, and you can get it from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

Can props help you write? (The secret of Moleskines.)

In the previous post we considered the roles of clothing in prompting creativity. Props can serve the same function, probably more easily.

I got to thinking about this after reading on the 99u site about some studies, including this one, relating clothing and other items to creativity:

 "A 2011 study led by Charles Lee at the University of Virginia showed that university students perceived a putting hole to be larger (thus making more putts) when they used a putter that they thought belonged to the pro player Ben Curtis, as compared with a standard putter." 

I think that effect accounts for the popularity of Moleskine notebooks. They sell for a premium because they sell the story as much as the notebook. This is from their site:

"It all started many years ago, with a pocket-sized black object, the product of a great tradition. The Moleskine notebook is, in fact, the heir and successor to the legendary notebook used by artists and thinkers over the past two centuries: among them Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and Bruce Chatwin."

That "heir and successor" claim could be made by any similar notebook but the Moleskine people were smart enough to stake that claim first.

What prop makes you feel more creative by association? It could be reading a few pages of a book autographed by your favorite author, or a fountain pen like the one they used, or wearing something similar to what they wore.

Perhaps an image can work, too. On a wall near my desk I have a frame that holds postcard portraits of some of the writers and thinkers I admire: Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Robert Louis Stevenson, Oscar Wilde, Bertrand Russell, W. Somerset Maugham, and Graham Greene. Hmm, maybe I should spend more time looking at those pictures...

Want an even simpler link to greatness? How about breathing? I have it on good authority that Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Heminway, and Bruce Chatwin all breathed. In fact, if you send me a mere £25/ $39 I will send you a container of air that is the heir and successor to the air breathed by the greatest writers of all time.

(You could also be inspired by the writing advice given by the greats. You'll find masses of it in my book, Your Creative Writing Masterclass, published by Nicholas Brealey and available now from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

 

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Garrison Keillor on why you don't need that first page of your writing

Garrison Keillor, best known for his radio series, "A Prarie Home Companion" was asked what tricks he'd learned over his many years of writing:

"I wouldn't describe them as tricks. You do develop very quick reflexes of rejection and editing of your own stuff. When you're young, you're so fond of what you have created, because it takes a lot of effort to extrude this onto the page or onto the screen. You're very fond of it, even if it's wounded and you're barely alive, you still have affection for it.

But as you get older, you learn how to throw it out without much thought, without much pity. You look at a piece that you've written and you take those first three paragraphs, and you dump them. You just rip them out. Usually that's the part that needs to be thrown out, the big windup, the big introduction. The first page almost always can go. You learn to do that without regret."*

The sooner you get to that point the better. Some people never get to it. An acquaintance who shall remain nameless still can't help giggling whenever he reads something he's written and he can't bear to cut a word. Unfortunately, but perhaps not coincidentaly, he hasn't gotten very far as a writer. 

What can you do to be better at this? 

1. Put the material away for a week or two.

2. When you critique it, do so in a different location from where you created it.

3. Read it through a few times. Usually that cures you of being entertained by it any more.

4. Start with the big stuff (structure) and then move down to the details.

* from an interview on TomPeters.com: http://www.tompeters.com/cool_friends/011353.php

 

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More unusual ways to get to know your novel or screenplay characters

The key to writing a great novel or screenplay is creating powerful, vivid characters. Think of your favorite film or novel from years past. What do you remember? Probabiy one or two key scenes but, above all, a character that has stayed in your memory. 

The ones that come to mind for me include Lawrence of Arabia, the Godfather, Gloria (the Gina Rowlands version), and Hannibal Lector. What did they all have in common? They were bigger than life. Sometimes they're that way going into the story, sometimes it's the events of the story that brings out something special in them. 

The better you know your characters the easier you will find it to write their dialogue and to know what they would do in any situation, which certainly helps with plotting. Here are some unusual ways to explore your characters:

The Eulogies 

Imagine one of your main characters has passed away. What would each of the others say at that person's funeral if they were honest about their feelings? Do this for each of your key characters.

The Party

Imagine you meet your character at a party. What would they be wearing? What would they talk about? What would they be trying to hide? What would they be drinking? Would they drink too much? Talk too much? Join in if people started dancing? Who would they want to talk to? Who would they want to avoid?

Time Machine

Imagine that you could send your character back in time to the most significant (good or bad) day of their life. What day would it be? What happened? What was the effect at the time? What has been the lasting effect?

Have fun getting to know your characters, I think you'll find it stimulating and it will enrich your writing.

(Would you like to find out what writing advice was given by the greatest classic and modern authors? People like Dickens, Austen, Hemingway, and Vonnegut? It's all in my book, Your Creative Writing Masterclass, pubilshed by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.)

Writing isn't about words...it's about emotions

When I teach, one question I ask writers to keep in mind right from the start is:

What do you want your readers or audience members to feel?

Too often we forget that the best reading or movie-going experience is an emotional one. We are paying to be moved to laughter, to tears, to fear, to wonderment. 

I'm talking mainly about fiction writing, but it applies to some degree to non-fiction, too. Yes, we want to be informed but that is much more likely to happen if our emotions are engaged as well.

Advertisers know this, of course. They want you to take action--to buy something, usually--and they know that you'll do that only if you're motivated. The strongest motivation comes from feeling a strong emotion. It may be that if you don't buy product X you won't be popular or attractive, or if you use product Y your days will be joyful. 

Unfortunately most of the products don't really deliver, but it's important that our books and screenplays do.

Therefore I suggest considering this question on several levels:

What do you want your readers/audience to feel when they have finished your book or seen your film?

If they leave with a strong feeling at the end they are much more likely to continue to think about and talk about your work. The strongest word of mouth comes about when people want their friends to have the same emotional experience they did.

What do you want them to feel about each of your characters?

We may want readers' feelings about a character to change, in which case we have to be sure to give them sufficient reasons; as in life, in fiction a first impression is powerful.

What do you want them to feel in each of your major scenes?

Here we have to take into account not only the emotional tone of each scene in isolation but also in light of what went before. An emotion is stronger when it is felt after its opposite. That's why good thrillers and horror stories often juxtapose a funny or calm moment with a shocking one.

If you find it too inhibiting to think about this while writing the first draft, use it as a rewriting tool. I hope it helps you write the best book or screenplay you can--that'll lead to some great positive emotions!

If at first you don't succeed with your writing, don't try, try again! (8th in a series)

This is the eighth in a series of ten ideas about how to bring your creativity into the world. What if your first attempt doesn't work out? That's OK but forget about the old "try, try again" adage. Here's why:

8: IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED, DON’T TRY, TRY AGAIN

At least don’t try the same thing again and again.

Hit yourself on the head with a hammer (you may imagine this instead of doing it if you prefer).

How did it feel?

Do you think it will feel any different if you do it again?

If you do, go ahead. How about now?

If at first you don’t succeed, try something different.

Continue until you find the method that gives you the results you really want.

Hey, it's  a formula for success that really works!

Why don't more people do this? Probably because whatever we've done before is familiar. It's easier than trying something new. Sure, it doesn't work but we know how to do it, so let's try it again. You never know.

Except that you do.

(My book, Creativity Now, helps you develop a mindset that favors creativity, shows you methods for generating more ideas, gives you tools for translating your ideas into action, and inspires you with case studies of how others have achieved their creative goals. It's published by Pearson and available from Amazon or your other favorite book seller.)