Out of the Darkness

More from Hollywood . . .

Continuing from my last post, here are some more words to think about from the conversations I heard at Central Coast Writers Conference:

 

Author/screenwriter, Doug Richardson and Screenwriter, Rob Edwards stated, “The DNA of a writer is in the first 6 pages."

1. What makes your writing different and special after you’ve learned the craft?

2. Think of the top 10 movies that resonate with you. Break them down and define that something you have to add to that conversation.

This seems like a more incisive way to evaluate your writing than trying to define it by finding 10 books that are like yours that you can refer to when pitching/marketing your novel. It gets you deeper into your own writing and thereafter you may need to tweak your writing to bring it into better alignment with your deepest reasons/motivations for writing what you’ve chosen to write; your art. At least it did for me.

Now, they were talking about movies but I applied this to my novel writing (with the hope of someday seeing it translated to film).

• I thought immediately of one movie that resonates with me. Blade Runner (based on the short Sci-Fi story by Philip Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep). It’s a story that takes the reader through the dark recesses of the human psyche into the basic human feelings of empathy, love and loneliness. It touches on the crucial questions: What is reality? and What is illusion? Trying to think of 10 novels like mine left me clueless. Maybe because I'm more visual and the images of Blade Runner are more visceral. And, I haven't found anyone who is writing like I'm writing. I'm sure they are out there, I just haven't found them.

I looked at my novel Dance the Dream Awake with their questions and this movie in mind. I broke it down to its basic elements. My story does deal with the dark recesses of the human psyche (especially my short stories). I am concerned with reality versus illusion. And a love story emerges from the dark—with hope for a positive resolution.

• As to their second question, how do I add to that conversation? I return to the ancient wisdom of indigenous people that I glean through their stories and images (minus the superstition) and add a supernatural element.

So, I work at bringing ancient secrets forward, then re-imagining them in the light of today’s scientific advances. Out of the dark nightmares my protagonist Tessa is having, emerges the story, Dance the Dream Awake. As she descends into the modern Mayan world of the Yucatan jungle—she has to metaphorically descend (just like the ancient Maya in their rituals) into “the underworld” where she goes through trials. She has to use her skills and intelligence to outwit the “demons” (metaphorically--no demons in my writing) that await her, in hopes of being put back together; restored to wholeness.

There were questions from my last post as to how you keep the writing business separate from the art part. I think this answers it: 

• Rob Edwards and Doug Richardson’s advice: keep churning your idea until you have the angle that people will want to read, and that will sell.

The business informs your writing. It doesn’t change what you’re writing; your art/way of viewing the world, it helps you better define it.

Do you agree or not? Add your two cents (or three or four) in the comments.

Central Coast Writer's Conference

Always a fan of the Central Coast Writer’s Conference, it didn’t surprise me that I loved it again this year and have lots to share. Today I’ll focus on some important points that impressed me from author, Jonathan Maberry:

[JONATHAN MABERRY is a New York Times best-selling and multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning suspense author, editor, comic book writer, magazine feature writer, playwright, content creator and writing teacher/lecturer. He was named one of the Today’s Top Ten Horror Writers. His books have been sold to more than two-dozen countries.]   

  
He says:

• Writing is an art, an intimate conversation between writer and reader. No one can write in your unique way.  
• Publishing is a business – of selling art and has no obligation of selling the best or of not selling the worst. The challenge for a writer is to work within the publishing world in a way that allows him to continue doing his art.
• And never mix up the two in your mind.

Your art comes from within and no one can duplicate your exact life experience and expression. As an artist, you’re not in competition. And sales are no indication that you are or are not an accomplished writer. 

Writers may find it difficult to accept this concept, and I think it might be one of the reasons for some of the depression that can plague a creative. If you’re not monetarily successful, you feel like a failure—like you suck! And if you are monetarily successful, you sail high, maybe with a bit of ego, but it doesn’t mean you’re a good writer.

Only you can define what success is for you—and it may not be tied to money. What are your goals? Define them clearly. Why do you write? When you put on the writer hat—what do you want to achieve? And when you put on the publishing/marketing hat, the business hat, what’s your goal for monetary success and how do you plan to achieve it? 

Maberry says a working writer should be willing to write anything—any genre, short story, blog post, script, etc. He advised, “Write anything you think you’re not good at.”

He thinks that we, as writers, mythologize the process of writing, and that we need to treat it like a job. As an entrepreneur business person, show up at the same time every day and produce. Give yourself a word count which you can easily reach each day, and then reward yourself when you reach it. (You can obviously raise that word count as time goes by, but it should be a goal you can reach without stress.) His suggestions:

• Post content on social media every day.
• Spend 50 minutes of each hour writing and 10 minutes on social media.
• It’s your job to learn craft.
• Read the top 6 books in your genre and deconstruct them.
• He recommends using the Donald Maass workbook for each of your novels; Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook.
• Do your craft at the concisest speed you can (if you have the business of publishing in mind). One book a year is preferable to keep your writing business flowing.

Now, the panel of screenwriters and authors on Friday night all agreed that the creative process is whatever works for you.

• Know what you’re a fan of, and that’s what you should write.
• The stories that take hold in you, those are the ones you have to write. They grow inside you and evolve, rather than you just making up scenes to fill a novel. 
• Peter Dunne (Emmy and Peabody Award-winning producer and writer); “Ideas find me, I don’t go looking for them.  
• Use sleep; break your problem down to its smallest piece, write it out before bed, then sleep on that (not literally, but hey, that might work even better).    
• Gene Perret (Comedy writer) on writer’s block—“Writers are the only people who name an illness after themselves.
       
  Now go forth and create!

·         

What do you struggle with most, the art or the business? Post in the comments.

Painting as Writer Inspiration?

(Convergence, 1952, Jackson Pollock)

A few years back, I was asked about my writing process when I was on a panel at the Left Coast Crime Mystery Convention, 2004. I had mentioned that my first novel began as a painting; my way of loosening up my creative muscles—a way in to find my story. I found that others in the audience also work with painting to find inspiration.

 



(The She-Wolf, Jackson Pollock, 1943)

I’ve had this blog for a few years now, but I’m not an author who posts about writing (which many do). I post about creativity and the things that inspire me. I am not trying to reach other writers, I am trying to reach my audience (some of whom might be writers interested in what I write about, but the majority will be readers only).

So, I write about anything that strikes my fancy. Kind of like the painting process of Jackson Pollack. I throw, brush and dribble paint all over the canvas and let the creativity flow in whatever avenue it wants to flow until an image emerges for me to work with. If my audience likes the way I write, they might be interested in reading my stories.

 

This novel I am highlighting today was a tale within another tale, a story that formed like a painting. I write about past lives, and this story was the past life of two of the main characters in Dance the Dream Awake, my first novel. It emerged rather powerfully and began to take over when I was writing the sequel. I had to pull it out and make it a standalone Romance novel. I hope you will enjoy it when it is published in 2015, along with my first novel (a paranormal romantic suspense that will be republished, both with Black Opal Books).

 

I was nominated to talk about my new novel by my author friend, Carrie Padgett. You can read her answers for the novel she is working on at her blog.

 Here are the questions and my answers:

 

1. What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or historic?

 

I have two main fictional characters in a dual point of view. The setting is historical Heian Kyo, the era of the Pillow Books. My samurai is Saito no Shino and the object of his love is Fujiwara no Miyoshi, once his childhood friend, now a courtier to the Emperor Enyu.

2. When and where is the story set?

Ancient Japan, 980 A.D. The story starts in the tea fields of Mount Takao and moves to the Imperial City of Heian Kyo, Japan.

 

3. What should we know about them?

Shino starts out as a defiant boy coming into his manhood. His grandfather decides Shino needs discipline and structure to rein in his unruly behavior. He sends Shino for training with samurai monks in the Enrakyu-ji Temple of Mahanyana Buddhism to follow in the footsteps of his own father, a famous samurai.

 

Young Mihoshi is also ripped from her home when sickness invades their mountain home and her mother dies. She goes with her father who has been promoted to the higher class of Governor in a province just outside the Imperial City of Heian Kyo.

 

4. What is the main conflict. What messes up their life?

Shino overcomes his defiant nature and years later finds himself offered the position of chief samurai to the house of Fujiwara, Miyoshi's father. As samurai, he is of a lower class than Miyoshi, but realizes he loves her and has always loved her. Their love is a forbidden subject for serious consideration. She is slated to wed one of the sons of the Emperor's wives and although Shino can be Miyoshi's lover, he cannot be her husband.

 

5. What are the personal goals of the characters?

Shino wants to train other samurai to be the best fighters in Japan, to have status and prestige of their own. By doing so, he hopes to find a way to have Miyoshi for his own before it is too late.

Miyoshi wants the freedom to live her life as she does within the walls of her father's house, to have Shino as her husband and not be a fixture in the court of the Emperor. But her father disagrees and wants her safely ensconced in the palace. His word decides her fate.

 

6. Is there a working title for this novel, and can we rad more about it?

The title is Haiku Dance. There will be more about it on my blog as time moves toward publication in 2015.

 

 

7. When can we expect the book to be published?

It is presently slated for publication with Black Opal Books sometime in 2015.

 

 

And now, to continue the blog hop, I nominate Kris Lynn and Sunny Frazier to talk about their books next Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014 on their blogs.

(Sunny will talk about her book right here on my blog at that time as she has no blog. But you can visit her website.)

 

Do you read historical fiction?

If a writer, do you have a certain method for inspiration that works for you best?

 

 

Breathe in, Breathe out

This post is targeting writers, but really it's for all artists—everyone (whether a home-maker or a mechanic).

To start, I will say this to the writers. I am not an expert on craft, so I have nothing for you there. That is your job as a writer to go find a teacher, a craft book and/or a writing group. There are many good teachers on-line, as well.

 

Breathe In

 

Structuring your writing

For as many writers as are out there, there are just as many ways to structure your:

• Writing time
• Writing style
• The way you get inspiration
• The way you execute that inspiration

Too many writers worry about the how of the above (pantser  vs. plotter), effectively freezing their energy and leaving them incapacitated by the shoulds and should nots.

Every writer must find his own way, ultimately, but the Art (dance, visual, written…music) must be studied and learned before beginning to practice professionally (there’s another should—but this is different, so take heed). You’ve heard it before but I repeat it:

Before you can break the rules, you must know the rules.

Too many young writers are throwing their work out there (publication) and are then getting discouraged because no one is interested/excited/buying (but sometimes that latter one is not because of skill).

The Emotional component

There are basic, underlying structures that are at play upon which your art is founded. If you fail to know what those structures are, your creation will lack the strength and power it might otherwise have—a nice way to say it might suck.

As I’ve said, I’m not an expert in craft instruction—so to me, when a piece fails (aside from writing skill), it’s because it’s lacking the proper empowerment (the blueprint or keys to a reader’s emotions—and emotions are what hook a reader. Not all keys fit the locks on all reader’s doors. So you want to have as many keys as possible to open the most doors (emotional and mental triggers).

Sometimes the trigger is a love of words strung together in a beautiful, compelling way. Other times, and for more readers today, I think, the hook is the emotional tug at the heart, the recognition that the writer knows what the reader is feeling and is talking to her. Then the reader gets caught up and is carried along.

So, if you’ve learned your craft, and understood this emotional component, where do you go from there? How do you get inspired? It is said, just plant your bottom in a chair and start. I disagree, but then if you’ve been following me any length of time, you know I'm ornery and disagree with the status quo a lot.

Breathe Out

 

Art is not created in a vacuum

Sometimes you need to get away from the books and the thinking and just be in life. Rub up against others and experience, exchange ideas and absorb living before you are able to transmute those experiences effectively into art.

Live life to be able to write about it in a compelling way. Be an Auntie Mame and go for it.

I have a novel that I started but had to put aside to finish the present one (which is now sitting with a publisher-smile).  I decided that this time I am going to organize it in a plotter's way (I’ve been so pantser in the past). So, I am taking my own advice and am going to the ocean, to Monterey, California this month to get re-invigorated and focused—expressly on that novel--my own writer retreat. I intend to complete it more quickly than I did my last one. I’m embracing the new experiences and stimulation my days at the coast will undoubtedly have—because I expect as much. (rubbing my hands gleefully)

If you are at that same moment in your writing, don't just dream of a writer's retreat, create your own—go forth to be inspired and energized.

Then go and write.

 

 Where are you in your writing? Need inspiration?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Man Up to Your Lazy Ways - Writing Short

After reading through many contest entries, I began seeing the same mistakes being made again and again by the writers of short stories wondering why they never win. Or, maybe they come close but can’t quite get there. There are plenty of craft books that will teach you all the elements of good writing, short story writing and mystery story crafting but most people just jump right in and think they can whip out a short story. Much like running a race without warming up first. This is my perspective without a lot of fluff.

Sometimes the path of learning is making the mistake—then seeing what you did wrong so you don’t keep doing it. The important part of that is the “seeing” part, understanding the what you did wrong part—acknowledging it. It would be nice to be told what to do and just do it, but unfortunately as human beings we can be a stubborn species. In Part I we began this process of what not to do. Today we have a little of what to do, concentrating on mystery and suspense.

Part II

      Tell the story – story first, writing second

Some people are plotters (they lay out the story ahead of time) and some pantsers (they write by the seat of their pants—whenever and however it comes). Whichever you are, you still will need to lay the story out in a planned format eventually (or you don’t have a story).

Pantsers lean heavily on being inspired and that can be a good thing if you hold what inspires you in front like a carrot to get your story down. It can be the element that shines through and makes it a winner. But eventually you need to pull it together. Think of it as the bones of the story. Be clear on these points and you will be less likely to get distracted or side-tracked—wandering down that yellow brick road getting distracted by the non-essentials. Build flesh on the story bones (without a lot of unnecessary fat). And who doesn’t love that?

When writing a mystery (or suspense). You will need to decide:

1.      What is the crime (or suspenseful incident)?

2.      Against whom (victim)?

3.      Why was this done (motive)?

4.      How (by what means)?

5.      By whom? (antagonist)

6.      Who reveals the crime, or triumphs in sorting out the suspense (protagonist).

Important to keep in mind: 

• The hook: up the ratings on your story with a good hook. The hook is the first few sentences or paragraphs that draw the reader right into the fictive dream, without breaking his attention (with an info dump), so the reader wants to know what happens next. It is the appetizer or aperitif that whets the appetite and draws the reader right into STORY (See Part I, A).

It doesn’t have to be some car chase or explosion—any over-the-top action, but it must capture the imagination. Take some time reading first pages of successful short stories, and source out what makes them work so effectively. That will be time well spent.

To be fair, what works for some will not work for all because of subjective reasons—we are not all interested in the same stuff. But, if you can find that commonality we are all interested in, you will rock it.

• Who discovers the crime? Under what circumstances? (your protagonist? A side-kick? A stranger who ends up important in the story?)

By the way—all characters in a short story should only be there only if there is a need for them to be there. They tend to clutter the landscape if they are not essential to the story.) You can’t have ten people on page one of a short story. We don’t have time to get to know them as we do in a novel, so eliminate them, or don’t give them names and let them be part of the scenery.

• What clues point to the doer of the deed (or reason for the problem in suspense)? (you must sprinkle carefully throughout and not slam us with an ending we could not foresee coming) Readers of mystery want to figure out the puzzle part and you will fail if you don't provide the clues. The suspense reader wants to remain on the edge and needs clues to keep the suspense alive.

• Who uncovers/reveals the connections? Why that person? (part of the puzzle or the suspense?)

• The tie-up. A nice bow at the end to tie up your story can be very effective—corresponding to the hook at the beginning if well done. It can be a twist or the unexpected for greater impact.

The fastest way to learn these tips is to study good short stories. Take the bones apart and see them in isolated pieces (the hook, the ending, track the mystery, the clues, the characters). If you take the time to do this you will quickly learn to effectively write these elements into your story. A short story is not a novel in short form. Get familiar with the form to be effective.


Learn what you are doing wrong or not doing effectively. Man up and admit you can't get away with lazy writing.


Have I missed some important piece? Do you study short stories to see why they work or don't work?