Time to Write

Childhoods of the Great Authors: James Joyce

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.

 

Don't give up on your dumb idea

Dana Terrace had an idea for an animated magical comedy-horror TV series. She told the LA Times, "I was working with someone at that time who kept discouraging me from working on it."

Her colleague called it a dumb idea.

Named "The Owl House," it has already been renewed by Disney for a second series before the first one has even aired.

Terrace says one of the things that motivated her was proving that former colleague wrong. It wasn't the first time she was out of step. She says, "When I was a kid, and I think a lot of kids feel like this--especially if you're artsy or creative or have any kind of offbeat hobby--you feel a little left out."

I'd add that this still is true for a lot of adults.

However, often it's the oddballs who come up with breakthrough ideas. You know, the kind that are called dumb before they catch on.

Naturally, sometimes a "dumb idea" actually is dumb, but if you believe in yours, stick with it--as Dana Terrace has proved, it can pay off.

          "The Owl House" (Disney Channel)

The man with 21,000 rejections

A man who's collected 21,000 rejections? What a loser, right?

Nope, very, very wrong.

Jacob M. Appel is a doctor, lawyer, bioethicist, author, professor, and tour guide. He has seven master's degrees, a JD from Harvard Law School, an MD, and is a practicing psychiatrist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

His short fiction has been published in 215 literary journals, his debut novel won the Dundee Prize in 2012 and raves from Philip Pullman and Stephen Fry. He's published 16 books and written ten plays. Next month he's making appearances at literary events in Connecticut, Virginia, New York, and Ohio. 

Can we agree this guy must be a genius? 

Maybe, then, you'll be surprised to hear that in addition to all his awards and accolades, he's had 21,000 rejections.

That means he's submitted work 21,000 times (actually more, because not all were rejected). He's 46 now.

I don't know at what age he started submitting work but let's say it was early, at 16. That's 30 years. That's 700 submissions per year, about two per day. And he still had time left over to become a doctor, lawyer, teacher, and tour guide. 

Very few will ever match Appel's abilities and achievements, but I think there are four things we can learn from him:

1. You have to produce.
2. You have to get it out there.
3. You will get a lot of rejections.
4. You can't let the rejections stop you.
   

Want to read the Oscar-nominated screenplays?

It's always interesting to read the screenplays of the Oscar-nominated films. For writers, I think it's especially useful to read the script first. When you see the film, compare how you imagined it with how it was executed. 

The Slate article below features links to the scripts.

Note that some of them are undated drafts while others are final shooting scripts.

Frankly, often earlier versions are better than the shooting script. Sometimes movies suffer from the "too many chefs" effect and lose some of the unique qualities that drew somebody to buy the script in the first place.

https://slate.com/culture/2019/02/oscar-academy-award-screenplays-scripts-buster-scruggs-star-born-reformed-beale-spider-man.html

 

Writing advice from the amazing Anita Loos

Anita Loos was one of the most successful screenwriters, authors, and playwrights of the 20th century. 

She and husband John Emerson wrote a book called, How to Write Screenplays, published in 1921. It included this advice, which applies equally to any kind of writing:

"Above all things, the scenario writer should keep alive. Just keep yourself with lively, laughing, thinking people, think about things yourself, and cultivate a respect for new ideas of any kind. Take care of these small ideas and the big plots will take care of themselves."

Mainly I wanted to share that quote with you but in the process, I became fascinated by this amazing woman's story (thanks to Wikipedia for most of the following information). 

THE AMAZING, PROLIFIC MS. LOOS

She decided at the age of six that she wanted to be a writer. She started out as a stage actress in San Francisco and sold her first outline for a movie to the Biograph Company, for which she received $25 (not bad for 1911). Her first produced screenplay was The New York Hat, starring Lionel Barrymore and Mary Pickford, directed by D. W. Griffith. 

Over the next three years, she wrote 105 scripts, of which 101 were produced. Of course, these were short silent films, but that's impressive nonetheless.

After an unsuccessful first marriage, she fell for John Emerson. According to Loos, he took credit for her work, appropriated her earnings, and once a week went out with younger women. When directors or studio executives had a hard time communicating with a woman as a peer, it was helpful for Loos to keep up the charade of being half of a happily-married writing team and they stayed married from 1919 until his death in 1956.

Loos' best-known work, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, was a success as a series of magazine sketches, a book, a Broadway play, and a movie starring Marilyn Monroe. She also wrote memoirs, essays, novels, a biography, teleplays and of course many screenplays. 

Loos kept writing until 1980 and died in 1981 at the age of 92. If you want to read about the rest of her fascinating life, check out the Wikipedia account of her life. 

 

A still from D. W. Griffith's Intolerance, for which Anit Loos wrote subtitles.

 

Just in case you think writing humor is easy... (Jerry Seinfeld on writing a joke and on life)

This New York Times short of Jerry Seinfeld revealing how he wrote a particular routine is revealing:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/161670e5c13b8eb8?projector=1

If you thought just because it sounds effortless, it is... well, you'll see!

You might also enjoy this compilation of Jerry talking about the elements of success as a stand-up comedian and other aspects of life as he's interviewed by, among others, Barack Obama:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNlW1TZwGro

My favorite is his conclusion that you have to "find the torture you're comfortable with." Meaning, everything worth doing has aspects that are not fun but to get to the good part you have to be willing to do the other stuff.

Also interesting is the fact that when he had a meeting about his online show, Comedians in Cars Having Coffee, they all told him it wouldn't work because nothing longer than five minutes succeeds. His episodes average nineteen minutes and the series has been a big success.

The inspiring language of Joyce...in small doses

Although I admire his use of language, I've never made it all the way through James Joyce's Ulysses. How about you?

If you also found it too rich in larger doses, you might enjoy getting it in Tweet-size bits that allow you to savor his words.

The Twitter feed @UlyssesReader offers you the entire book, one short selection at a time. For instance:

"his eyes, from which he had suddenly withdrawn all shrewd sense, blinking with mad gaiety."

If you like warming up before you start a writing session, these Tweets might provide a good prompt. For instance, if the day's tweet was the one above, how would you describe the eyes of your protagonist? 

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For writing advice from the great writers of the past and present, get a copy of my book, Your Creative Writing Masterclass, published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite bookseller.

Advice on how to write a novel, from best-selling author Lisa Jewell

What should you write about in your novel?

In a Daily Mail article about a new contest for first-time writers, best-selling author Lisa Jewell shared this advice:

"Don’t write for the publishers and don’t try to second guess the market; it’s elusive and impossible to pin down.

Just write what’s in your head and what’s in your heart and give the reader a reason to keep turning the pages, whether it’s love for your characters or a need to find out what happened ten years ago or what happens next."

The importance of support when you write

Jewell doesn't mention support explicitly but it's obvious from her account of her own writing history that it played an important role. When she sent out the first chapters of her book, she had nine rejections but the tenth agent wanted to read the whole book. That motivated her to finish it, although it took another year.

She says, "A friend in Australia read my daily output and cheered me on."

That book was Ralph's Party, which got her a six-figure advance for two novels and eventually sold more than 250,000 copies the first year it was out. Her newest novel is The Girls. It will be available from May 6, 2016. 

What if it feels impossible?

Jewell says, "Don't worry if it feels impossible. It's supposed to feel that way." 

The contest for first-time novelists

The contest has a first prize of £20,000 and guaranteed publication, and is free to enter. Details are here. Entries must be received by April 16, 2016, and if your novel isn't finished you must be able to complete it by October 30, 2016. 

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James Patterson's advice on how to succeed as a novelist

The key to success as a novelist

In a Daily Mail article about a new contest for first-time novelists, best-selling author James Patterson shared this advice:

"Obviously, and I know this from experience, perseverance is the key to making it as a writer. You have to be able to accept rejection and keep doing. If you know it's what you want to do, then you need to make it happen. No one else will make it happen for you."

It's all about the story--and the surprises

Patterson writes, "In my novels it’s all about the story. I don’t try to be a great prose stylist; I try to be a great storyteller. I like to imagine the reader is sitting opposite me and I’m telling the story directly to them.

I don’t want that person to get up until I’m finished. I want to keep their attention with continual surprises and twists so they’re not bored for a single moment."

The hardest part of writing a novel

I think most writers would say it's the middle of the story that's the toughest, but Patterson says for him it's the ending. He says, "Expectation has been built up through the course of the novel and you need to deliver a conclusion that fulfils it. If you can do that, you’ll have a satisfied reader."

If you want to check out how he does it, Patterson's latest novel is Truth or Die, published in paperback by Arrow.

The contest for first-time novelists

The contest has a first prize of £20,000 and guaranteed publication, and is free to enter. Details are here. Entries must be received by April 16, 2016, and if your novel isn't finished you must be able to complete it by October 30, 2016. 

Novelist Jeffrey Deaver on planning a novel

Thriller writer Jeffrey Deaver believes it's important to outline your work before starting to write it. He says his background as a lawyer probably contributed to his dedication to preparation.

In a three-minute video hosted at SimonandSchuster.com, he describes his process in detail--including how he does 30 or 40 drafts before sending a manuscript to his publisher:

JEFFREY DEAVER ON HOW HE WRITES

Samuel Taylor Coleridge lied (knowing this might encourage aspiring writers)

In an article on the fastcompany.com site, Mad Man creator Matthew Weiner mentions that Coleridge's claim that his classic poem, Kubla Khan, came to him in a rush when he woke up from an opium-inspired dream was a lie.

Apparently there's evidence that he had been working on it for months and even gave it to some of his friends for feedback. 

As Weiner points out, often writers and artists like to give the impression that they're so brilliant or inspired that their work just flows easily from their pen or brush. In fact, in most cases they put in a lot of hard work--but that's not as glamorous a story.

The same holds true for people who are hailed in the media as overnight successes. If you dig a little deeper, often you'll find years of work with no recognition before the big break. Again, that's not as interesting a story for the media.

These lies can be discouraging for the aspiring writers and artists who begin to wonder whether they should give up because obviously they don't have that magic spark. 

Weiner, however, was happy to share the story of his struggles: his writing samples weren't considered good enough to get him into a writing class at Wesleyan College, his thesis was totally destroyed by the cruel remarks of a humanities professor, and his films never won the prizes at his film school.

He did develop a survival strategy: "thrive on rejection and hold on to compliments. Rejection enrages me, but that 'I’ll show you!' feeling is an extremely powerful motivator."

There was plenty of rejection--three years of writing spec scripts while his wife supported both of them. Enough rejection that he gave up for a while.

What turned things around was making a low-budget, small, quirky comedy in which he played himself and used his wife, his apartment, and his car to finish the film.  

After that, his career started to take off, but it took seven years from the time he wrote Mad Men until it was produced. He says, "I lived every day with that script as if it were going to happen tomorrow. That's the faith you have to have." 

And if you're beating yourself up for not being farther along, this comment might help: "The greatest regret I have is that, early in my career, I showed myself such cruelty for not having accomplished anything significant." 

(The interview is excerpted from Getting There: A Book of Mentors, by Gillian Zoe Segal, published by Abrams Image.)

thrive on rejection and hold on to compliments. Rejection enrages me, but that "I’ll show you!" feeling is an extremely powerful motivator.

Use the good paper!

In an interview, writer/cartoonist Linda Barry talked her love of drawing when she was a child, her mother's attitude toward Linda's using paper, and how it still affects her:

"The only blank paper in the house was hers, and if she found out I touched it she’d go crazy. I sometimes stole paper from school and even that made her mad. I think it’s why I hoard paper to this day. I have so much blank paper everywhere, in every drawer, on every shelf, and still when I need a sheet I look in the garbage first. I agonize over using a “good” sheet of paper for anything. I have good drawing paper I’ve been dragging around for twenty years because I’m not good enough to use it yet. Yes, I know this is insane."

Embarrassing confession: I have some notebooks about which I feel the same, and I can't even blame my mother. But reading Barry's confession has made me realize that the best time to use the good paper is now.

Of course "the good paper" is also a metaphor for anything you've been denying yourself because you're not good enough yet, or the time is not right yet, or some other excuse. 

Do you think maybe it's time for you to "use the good paper", too?

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If you've been putting off writing that book you've been thinking about, you'll find friendly guidance and useful tips in my book, Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey and available from your favorite bookseller.

For this writer, it was 127th time lucky

Below is a link to a short video in which children's picture book writer Pat Zietlow-Miller talks about how she came to realize her writing dream.

She was 39 when she started going for it seriously, and she had 126 rejections. What's more, even though she's now had several books published, she still gets rejections.

The secret of her persistence: she loved writing so much that she'd do it whether or not it ever got published.

https://www.dreamfearlessly.com/story/pat-zietlow-miller/

(If you want to write, find tips and support in my book, Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey and available from your favorite bookseller.)

Walking for creativity and learning

In researching my book, Your Creative Writing Masterclass, I found that one thing many great writers have in common is that they come up with ideas while walking. Charles Dickens was famous for this, apparently averaging 20 miles a day! 

Now some new research from Sweden suggests it helps learning, too.

University lecturer Olle Balter started taking his class for walks in a wooded park instead of teaching in a classroom.

He reports, "Students feel freer to talk when they are outdoors than when they are in a classroom."

He also says 21 of 23 students preferred this method, saying they felt better after an outdoor session than one inside. 

Obviously this is more suited to some subjects than to others (Balter teaches media technology), but it is consistent with a Stanford University study linking creativity with physical activity.

The next time you feel yourself stuck--or even when you're not--take a walk!

(source:)

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