A reader once sent me an excellent question. You know those characters in your story--memoir or fiction, especially--who turn out to be less than appealing? People we'd normally avoid in real life (and perhaps have), but who somehow made it onto the pages.
"I have many stories in which the characters are not easily appreciated," this writer told me. "I am sure many of my stories will be filled with hints of resentment, bitterness and disdain. Many players acted badly, and hurt the lives of many people. I guess forgiveness is due, but the facts are the facts. How do I deal with that?"
Friday, September 17, 2021
Friday, September 10, 2021
The Surprising Benefits of Writing Every Day--Why Practice Gets Us Closer to Perfect
A writing colleague once said: "If I'm away from my book more than three days, it's like starting over again."
Have you experienced this? I have. It's no fun.
The desire in many creative artists--and why we're so frustrated when our regular lives interfere--is for a practice. Something that we can show up to every single day and feel connected with, some ritual that feeds us at the soul level. A practice we have permission for, with our other obligations, including family, friends, and work. That doesn't feel like we're stealing time from other, more important things.
I personally believe this is why Nanowrimo, or National Novel Writers Month, is so popular. We make a commitment to write every single day, about 2000 words. We join virtually with thousands of other writers in a strange and creative global community. We give ourselves permission to do this for one month (or, if you join nanowrimo camp in summer, more often). We don't care how rough the writing is--we just show up and do it.
Have you experienced this? I have. It's no fun.
The desire in many creative artists--and why we're so frustrated when our regular lives interfere--is for a practice. Something that we can show up to every single day and feel connected with, some ritual that feeds us at the soul level. A practice we have permission for, with our other obligations, including family, friends, and work. That doesn't feel like we're stealing time from other, more important things.
I personally believe this is why Nanowrimo, or National Novel Writers Month, is so popular. We make a commitment to write every single day, about 2000 words. We join virtually with thousands of other writers in a strange and creative global community. We give ourselves permission to do this for one month (or, if you join nanowrimo camp in summer, more often). We don't care how rough the writing is--we just show up and do it.
Friday, August 20, 2021
Writing from the End: How Endings Create Satisfying Beginnings in a Book
Many years ago, I read a debut novel by M.L.Stedman, called The Light between Oceans. It taught me something important about endings and reader satisfaction.
The gorgeous title and very interesting premise called to me--a lighthouse keeper and his wife who live on a remote island off the coast of Australia find a baby in a boat that washes up on shore. The wife, desperately childless after three miscarriages, argues to keep the baby. The husband wants to contact the mainland and let them know, thinking that some mother there will be equally desperate. But the wife wins, they keep the child, and their world cracks in unexpected ways.
Although I love reading just for reading's sake, I have been reading as a writer for a very long time now. I have a writer's high expectations. I found the prose lovely, with generous use of images and tense character interaction. The setting of the rocky island and its isolation, the keen details about the lighthouse, were amazingly crafted.
The gorgeous title and very interesting premise called to me--a lighthouse keeper and his wife who live on a remote island off the coast of Australia find a baby in a boat that washes up on shore. The wife, desperately childless after three miscarriages, argues to keep the baby. The husband wants to contact the mainland and let them know, thinking that some mother there will be equally desperate. But the wife wins, they keep the child, and their world cracks in unexpected ways.
Although I love reading just for reading's sake, I have been reading as a writer for a very long time now. I have a writer's high expectations. I found the prose lovely, with generous use of images and tense character interaction. The setting of the rocky island and its isolation, the keen details about the lighthouse, were amazingly crafted.
Friday, August 13, 2021
Rest Breaks for Book Writers--Feeding the Inner Artist--and When to Get Back to Work
We packed up our camper van and headed to the beach for four days. The puppies are very happy in the camper; it's a contained space, so monitoring their housetraining is easier.
The first two days, I had planned to write. I was enjoying--so much--editing the final chapters of my new novel from my agent's suggestions. But, to my dismay, I could barely open my ipad or laptop. Instead, I found myself sitting in the sunshine, watching the dogs play.
I lay in our travel hammock and stared at pine trees, wondering where I was.
More important, who I was. Clearly not the writer I'd planned to be during this trip--far from it.
The first two days, I had planned to write. I was enjoying--so much--editing the final chapters of my new novel from my agent's suggestions. But, to my dismay, I could barely open my ipad or laptop. Instead, I found myself sitting in the sunshine, watching the dogs play.
I lay in our travel hammock and stared at pine trees, wondering where I was.
More important, who I was. Clearly not the writer I'd planned to be during this trip--far from it.
Friday, August 6, 2021
Approaching Summer Reading--Like a Writer
Back in the day, I came across a book on writing by the renowned teacher and author Francine Prose. Reading Like a Writer changed how I approached my reading. I still read for the pleasure of being immersed in a story, of learning, of becoming inspired. But now I took something else away from my reading time: techniques I could use in my own books as a writer.
Prose's book is one you've no doubt read yourself--if you haven't, be sure to!--and I learned much from her step-by-step unraveling of story.
It was a similar change in awareness that happened when I discovered storyboards and the five turning points of well-structured stories. I remember watching a film not long after my first storyboard immersion. My family grew very tired of my muttering "a perfect point #2" or "there's the all is lost moment." But my admiration for good structure and my new understanding of how writers achieved it did change my take-away from good movies.
Prose's book is one you've no doubt read yourself--if you haven't, be sure to!--and I learned much from her step-by-step unraveling of story.
It was a similar change in awareness that happened when I discovered storyboards and the five turning points of well-structured stories. I remember watching a film not long after my first storyboard immersion. My family grew very tired of my muttering "a perfect point #2" or "there's the all is lost moment." But my admiration for good structure and my new understanding of how writers achieved it did change my take-away from good movies.
Friday, July 30, 2021
When to Research, When to Write: How to Balance the Different Kinds of Book-Writing Tasks
Starting a new book is always a great adventure. The idea comes--so many different ways that can happen, from a dream, some intriguing research or a news article, a question ruminating, the image of characters, even a conversation playing in your head. Some writers begin with a storyboard, some with an outline, some launch right into scenes and chapters.
Most books require research, no matter the genre. Take my current novel, located on an island I once visited and never forgot. I spent a half day online verifying facts about the geography and climate, so I could pepper the narrative with realistic details (not quite as delightful as another visit but necessary). A writing colleague is working on Civil-War historical fiction--tons of research about place, era, clothing, even speech is essential to create a believable setting. Memoir might need rereading journals or diaries, interviewing family and friends. Nonfiction is often the most research-intense, with hours or weeks of fact-searching and checking to make everything accurate.
Most books require research, no matter the genre. Take my current novel, located on an island I once visited and never forgot. I spent a half day online verifying facts about the geography and climate, so I could pepper the narrative with realistic details (not quite as delightful as another visit but necessary). A writing colleague is working on Civil-War historical fiction--tons of research about place, era, clothing, even speech is essential to create a believable setting. Memoir might need rereading journals or diaries, interviewing family and friends. Nonfiction is often the most research-intense, with hours or weeks of fact-searching and checking to make everything accurate.
Friday, July 23, 2021
Memoir's Primary Argument: Making Sure Your Memoir Is Universal, Not Just Personal
I've always loved this quote by Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild: "The most powerful strand in memoir is not expressing your originality. It's tapping in to your universality."
That's confused a lot of my students, though. What's universal have to do with anything? This is a story about me, my journey, my pain and discoveries.
Yes, in the early drafts, it is. Your conversation is a bit like the character from Stranger Than Fiction who talks to himself in the mirror. I mean this in the best possible way: we have to talk to ourselves to get the true story on the page. If we bring in invisible readers too soon, to member will lack authenticity.
That's confused a lot of my students, though. What's universal have to do with anything? This is a story about me, my journey, my pain and discoveries.
Yes, in the early drafts, it is. Your conversation is a bit like the character from Stranger Than Fiction who talks to himself in the mirror. I mean this in the best possible way: we have to talk to ourselves to get the true story on the page. If we bring in invisible readers too soon, to member will lack authenticity.
Friday, July 16, 2021
Imagine Actually Finishing Your Book--A Three-Part Visualization Exercise (That Works!)
Summer can be a distracting or deepening time for writers--depends how much you are pulled away by the plethora of activity and energy in warm weather. I've got gardening and travel and now puppies on my plate, so it's easy to forget my book entirely. I've learned to keep it in my attention with a great three-part exercise, using visualization.
Visualizing your goals used to be a woo-woo exercise. Now sports teams and creative types use it a lot. A painter standing in front of a blank canvas might imagine the sketched-in composition. That's visualizing. A tennis pro imagines lobbing the ball to the perfect place in his opponent's court. Nothing weird about this, nothing at all.
Many pro writers use this "thinking from the end" idea--novelist Roxanna Robinson mentioned how she writes to an image when she begins a book. Sue Monk Kidd used an image board to create The Secret Life of Bees. All forms of visualization. I use it in the hot months as a creative exercise. Right now, am thinking about the end of my current book. I'm imagining the corrections done and it actually being finished!
This three-part creative visualization exercise can keep you brainstorming your book's completion, no matter where you are in the journey.
Step 1:
Grab some paper and a pen or your laptop. Set the kitchen timer for 20 minutes.
Write, without editing or censoring anything, about how you might feel when your book is finished. When it is published. Write your thoughts about how your life or sense of yourself as a writer might change. Write your fears and even terrors about others reading your work. Write any memories you have of other times when you've failed or succeeded in realizing a big goal.
Let the writing go wherever it goes--even if it brings up dark thoughts and feelings, which it might, as well as excitement. It's great to get it all out on paper where it can be seen for what is it.
Step 2:
Find a piece of 8-1/2 inch x 11 inch white paper that you can fold in half lengthwise to resemble a blank book cover. You're going to make a prototype of your cover. I love this exercise's power to really bring home the image of the published book.
You can do this with online images or pictures torn from magazines. If you decide to search online, a great free site is www.unsplash.com. You may know of others. If you decide to do it more tactilely, you'll need 4-5 magazines and a pair of scissors, some glue or tape, and a big sheet of paper.
Set the kitchen timer for 30 minutes and scan the magazines or online site for the perfect image for the front of your book when it is published.
Print the image or cut it out and paste it to the front of your book cover. If you're savvy with Photoshop or another software, change and tweak as much as you want.
Feel free to grab a copy of a published book you love and study its cover for ideas.
Next, create your blurbs. Blurbs are the short testimonials on the back and front cover. In your wildest dreams, who do you want to write a blurb for your book? Which reviewers from The New York Times, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly might read your book and rave about it? Draft some stellar reviews for your book and paste them to the back cover or below your cover image.
Want to do one more fun step? Some of my students go all out with this exercise, adding a bar code and back cover copy and even a spine. Get into it--it'll actually help you feel like you might someday finish!.
Put the completed cover on the wall of your writing space or take a photo and use it as wallpaper on your computer or device.
Step 3:
Design your publication party.
When books are published, someone (friends, relatives, book clubs, even the publisher sometimes) will throw you a publication party. When my first novel, Qualities of Light, was published, I had two parties! Lots of people came and I signed many copies of the book and read aloud from my favorite chapter. It was a blast.
Imagine your pub party. What would you just love to have as part of it? Music, food, literary stars, speeches, thousands of books sold? Set your kitchen timer for 20 minutes and list all your wishes.
Put these up where you can see them, too, in your writing room or on your desktop or phone. They are big boosts for days when you can't seem to find time or make any headway on your book this summer.
And pay attention to how they charge up your writing in the next week. Maybe they'll work for you like they did for me.
This three-part creative visualization exercise can keep you brainstorming your book's completion, no matter where you are in the journey.
Step 1:
Grab some paper and a pen or your laptop. Set the kitchen timer for 20 minutes.
Write, without editing or censoring anything, about how you might feel when your book is finished. When it is published. Write your thoughts about how your life or sense of yourself as a writer might change. Write your fears and even terrors about others reading your work. Write any memories you have of other times when you've failed or succeeded in realizing a big goal.
Let the writing go wherever it goes--even if it brings up dark thoughts and feelings, which it might, as well as excitement. It's great to get it all out on paper where it can be seen for what is it.
Step 2:
Find a piece of 8-1/2 inch x 11 inch white paper that you can fold in half lengthwise to resemble a blank book cover. You're going to make a prototype of your cover. I love this exercise's power to really bring home the image of the published book.
You can do this with online images or pictures torn from magazines. If you decide to search online, a great free site is www.unsplash.com. You may know of others. If you decide to do it more tactilely, you'll need 4-5 magazines and a pair of scissors, some glue or tape, and a big sheet of paper.
Set the kitchen timer for 30 minutes and scan the magazines or online site for the perfect image for the front of your book when it is published.
Print the image or cut it out and paste it to the front of your book cover. If you're savvy with Photoshop or another software, change and tweak as much as you want.
Feel free to grab a copy of a published book you love and study its cover for ideas.
Next, create your blurbs. Blurbs are the short testimonials on the back and front cover. In your wildest dreams, who do you want to write a blurb for your book? Which reviewers from The New York Times, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly might read your book and rave about it? Draft some stellar reviews for your book and paste them to the back cover or below your cover image.
Want to do one more fun step? Some of my students go all out with this exercise, adding a bar code and back cover copy and even a spine. Get into it--it'll actually help you feel like you might someday finish!.
Put the completed cover on the wall of your writing space or take a photo and use it as wallpaper on your computer or device.
Step 3:
Design your publication party.
When books are published, someone (friends, relatives, book clubs, even the publisher sometimes) will throw you a publication party. When my first novel, Qualities of Light, was published, I had two parties! Lots of people came and I signed many copies of the book and read aloud from my favorite chapter. It was a blast.
Imagine your pub party. What would you just love to have as part of it? Music, food, literary stars, speeches, thousands of books sold? Set your kitchen timer for 20 minutes and list all your wishes.
Put these up where you can see them, too, in your writing room or on your desktop or phone. They are big boosts for days when you can't seem to find time or make any headway on your book this summer.
And pay attention to how they charge up your writing in the next week. Maybe they'll work for you like they did for me.
Friday, July 9, 2021
Pros and Cons of Workshopping Your Writing--How to Survive It, How to Gain the Most from It
Years ago, I attended a summer writing conference at one of the most renowned colleges in the US. A friend lived in the town, invited me to stay the week, and spend five days workshopping my short stories in a small group of writers from all over the country. I said yes. It sounded perfect for where I was in the process: I liked my stories and so did my writer's group, but I hadn't really opened the door to wider feedback.
It was a terrible experience.
It was a terrible experience.
Friday, June 25, 2021
What I've Learned about Great Dialogue from Thrillers
I love literary fiction, rich nonfiction, travel memoir, all kinds of books, actually, that take me places. Every now and then, I also love a good thriller. I learn from those authors, mostly about tension, pace, and dialogue. It's high-wire stuff, and the dialogue is honed to a sharpness i don't find in a lot of other genres. Sometimes I skim over the visceral parts, but I always study the dialogue.
Dialogue isn't usually the vehicle for momentum in story. Its purpose is to deliver undercurrent, reveal what's not being said. Often, dialogue will let us into the underworld of a character, showing whatever is hidden and secret. Not because this is stated in the dialogue itself, but because it's communicated by the tags (he said, she said) or lack thereof, by the pauses and beats, by the dialect or tone.
In thrillers, the dialogue contributes to pace. The dialogue kicks things into gear.
Dialogue isn't usually the vehicle for momentum in story. Its purpose is to deliver undercurrent, reveal what's not being said. Often, dialogue will let us into the underworld of a character, showing whatever is hidden and secret. Not because this is stated in the dialogue itself, but because it's communicated by the tags (he said, she said) or lack thereof, by the pauses and beats, by the dialect or tone.
In thrillers, the dialogue contributes to pace. The dialogue kicks things into gear.
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