Laurie Halse Anderson's Blog, page 12

Doubt & Desperation – WFMAD Day 10

 

 

As writers, we play “what if” all day long. “What if” drives every decision about characters and plot twists. It is probably the tool we use the most.

Sometimes the “what if” tool becomes the bewitched broom of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice and winds up terrifying and controlling us instead of the other way around. We turn the “what if” on the quality of our work too early … and make ourselves miserable. What if this actually sucks? What if I never get published? What if everyone secretly thinks I am wasting my time? What if I AM wasting my time?????

I hate it when my brain does that to me.

There is a time and place for taking a giant step backwards and cooling critiquing the quality of your work. When is that? ONE: when you are revising, and TWO: when you are trying to figure out if your story or novel or whatever is good enough to submit.

NOT when you are trying to get into the daily groove of writing, or when you are looking for the door that will open the magic of a story.

When Doubt and Desperation creep into your brain and try to cannibalize your imagination, pick up something handy, like a burning torch or a double-headed axe, and drive them back into the shadows where they belong.

Today’s Quote

“It is worth mentioning, for future reference, that the creative power which bubbles so pleasantly in beginning a new book quiets down after a time, and one goes on more steadily. Doubts creep in. Then one becomes resigned. Determination not to give in, and the sense of an impending shape keep one at it more than anything.”

Virginia Woolf

 

Today’s Prompt: You (or a character) are trapped in a looming disaster. You are given a few minutes to find and carry one thing out of your house. All the of the people and animals that live with you are safe. All of your documentation; insurance paperwork, medical records, etc. have also been accounted for.

What is the first thing you choose and why?

You get to the front door and stop. You put down your first choice and run back and get a second item. Why? What is it?

Be sure to describe both the physical details and the emotional significance of the item.

 

Scribble… scribble… scribble…

Granddaughters of Title IX

 

Given how well the women of the USA have done in this Olympics, I’m going to call them the Granddaughters of Title IX.

I say this as a Daughter of Title IX.

Title IX gave me and my peers the chance to play and compete; the chance our mothers didn’t have. It is beyond awesome to watch the next generation grow strong and skilled and reach for the stars.

Crossing The Desert – WFMAD Day 9

 

 Image by Michael Howell

 

Those days when the words flow are magical, aren’t they?

The days when the words don’t flow? When all you hear is the hot wind blowing down the canyon, evil spirits laughing at you? They are hell.

Everyone has days like this. They can be managed. They can be endured and overcome. You will crawl your way out of the desert and drink deep again from the well of inspiration.

When the hot winds blow and I have sand in my brain instead of ideas, I will do one or all of the following:

1. Read a book written by an author I love

2. Go for a walk

3. Read poetry

4. Go for a run

5. Weep. Pout. Curse the sky. Stomp my feet.

6. Draw

7. Take the character who is giving me the most trouble and writing outrageous scenes with her/him. This kind of scene will have nothing to do with the book I’m writing, but is designed to help me get to know a character better.

 

Today’s Quote

“I’ve learned just to go to my room and plug away. It doesn’t take very long for most writers to realise that if you wait until the day you are inspired and feel like writing you’ll never do it at all.”

Anne Tyler

Today’s Prompt: This one starts with writing a few short lists.

Step 1 – write the names of three kids from your childhood (these do not have to be children you knew well or even liked).

Step 2 – write down five smells.

Step 3 – choose  a simple story idea. Don’t have one? Borrow one of these:  Surprise Party, Talking Roses, Exploding Toilet, Bus Breakdown, Burning Pancakes, Girl Scout Troop in Revolt.

Step 4 – Combine the elements from Steps 1-3 and write about the mixture for 15 minutes.

  Scribble… scribble… scribble…

Scars – WFMAD Day 8

(Image from PostSecret)

 

I have two external scars of note. The one on my left arm is about 3.5 inches long, the one on my right shoulder is a little longer.  I got them both ten years ago this week, when a meticulous surgeon did a great job cutting out the scary melanomas that grew there.

There is much, much more to the story, of course, but I’m going to keep those cards close to my chest until the time comes to spread them out in a novel.

Realizing that I have made the ten-year mark (not completely clean, alas; I had a pre-melanoma removed last year… but clean enough to celebrate!) made me think about the power of setting to evoke strong characterization and conflict potential.

Ready?

 

 Today’s quote

“I think all writing is a disease. You can’t stop it.”

William Carlos Williams

 

Today’s prompt: Write a scene in a doctor’s office. It can be one from your own life. One that you imagine a relative went through. It could be a famous person, stripped down and wrapped in a paper gown, about to get The News. Try to alternate the patient’s thoughts with details from the room. Introduce other characters; nurses, other patents, medical students, the doctor, the patient’s beloved companion, the person the character sees in the mirror. You don’t necessarily have to tell the reader exactly what is wrong with the character. Draw out the tension. Let the reader add his own tension that inevitably comes into play in this setting.

 

 Scribble… scribble… scribble…

Invite Your Monsters – WFMAD Day 7

 

For the first time in years, I was not online at all this past weekend. It was weird. And wonderful. It actually freed up a part of my brain that I didn’t realize was always thinking about which site I wanted to post and whose feed I wanted to check. When I mentioned this last night a friend told me I should do that at leasst once a week for a 24-hour period. Or more. But he added that I needed to go one step further. I needed to turn off my phone as well.

Just the thought of turning off my phone made me break out in a cold sweat. What if something happened to my kids or my father? What if they needed me and I didn’t know it because my phone was turned off?

And I realized that that’s one of my biggest fears. I have a lot of them; tornados, suffocation, rat tails (not the body of the rat, just the tail), lightning, and a certain smell that I have only smelled a half dozen times in my life that I am convinced is the smell of pure Evil. But being out of touch with my kids and dad is at the top of the fear pile.

And so, in that frame of mind…

 

Today’s Quote

“As a child, I read because books–violent and not, blasphemous and not, terrifying and not–were the most loving and trustworthy things in my life. I read widely, and loved plenty of the classics so, yes, I recognized the domestic terrors faced by Louisa May Alcott’s March sisters. But I became the kid chased by werewolves, vampires, and evil clowns in Stephen King’s books. I read books about monsters and monstrous things, often written with monstrous language, because they taught me how to battle the real monsters in my life.

And now I write books for teenagers because I vividly remember what it felt like to be a teen facing everyday and epic dangers. I don’t write to protect them. It’s far too late for that. I write to give them weapons–in the form of words and ideas-that will help them fight their monsters. I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed.”

Sherman Alexie

 

Today’s Prompt: What are you most afraid of? What chills your blood, makes you lose your lunch? Today, embody that fear. Give it bones and blood, dress it up in skin. Make that fear a human being and then put it in a scene with a vulnerable person who does not understand what they are up against. Or write a scene in which you or a character are cornered with that thing that scares you to death… and there is no escape.

 

  Scribble… scribble… scribble…

Exercise the Writing Muscles – WFMAD Day 6

 

I spent the weekend with my daughter Meredith in Montreal, Canada. The stated goal of the trip was to watch the Philadelphia Union soccer team play the Montreal Impact, but it wound up being (as all good trips do) much more complex and fun.

WRITING NOTE – Travel is very, very good for your Muse. The change of scenery and stimulation feeds your soul and fills your well. Writers are very sensitive to language and I believe that being exposed to a foreign language stimulates your brain, too.

Not only did we watch the game (Philly lost, despite our loud and raucous cheering), but we got to explore the site of the 1974 Olympics, visited a tiny part of the that city’s great Botanical Garden, rode the subway, mangled a lot of French, ate poutine, and a grilled cheese and duck sandwich, drank a little wine, and enjoyed a divine lunch in an outdoors garden courtyard.

The best part was sharing it with my daughter and laughing constantly. We came home with the need to schedule another get-away weekend immediately!

And now it is back to writing!

 

Today’s Quote

“Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.” 
― Jane Yolen

 

Today’s Prompt: For fifteen minutes – without stopping – you will write about all of the ideas and characters and feelings and memories and dreams and people that you want to write books about for the next fifty years.

NOTE – I find this easier when I am playing music very loudly in my headphones. The noise helps drown out the cackling laughter of my Inner Bitch who makes fun of me when I dream big.

 

  Scribble… scribble… scribble…

Don’t Think – WFMAD Day 5

 You know the problem with writers? We think too damn much.

We over-analyze and worry about character arcs and rising and falling plot action and what is hot in the market today and will my dog still love me if I don’t get an agent and on… and on… and on…

Most of that worry is an avoidance technique. Writing is scary and we’re never sure if we’re doing it right and it is much easier to fret than to write.

Listen: DON’T THINK. JUST WRITE.

The voices will speak to you if you quiet your mind enough to hear them.

 

Today’s Quote

“Writing begins with getting words down on screen or paper. See movie in your head-scene or memory. Type up details like court reporter.”

Anne LaMott

 

Today’s Prompt: Go to the Washington Post or the newspaper of your choice and choose a story from the front page that, for whatever reason, really strikes a chord in your heart. Read the story through twice, then put it away. Don’t look at it again.

Write a scene connected to that article. Put your character in the middle of the action. The character can be someone who was actually mentioned in the article, or – more interesting! – make the character someone who has a strong emotional connection to the people in the article. Or insert yourself into the middle of the action and write a scene.

 

  Scribble… scribble… scribble…

Childhood Magic – WFMAD Day 4

 

 

It’s Saturday, the day when the best of intentions disintegrate under a heap of weekend plans. Stop right now and figure when you will write today and tomorrow. Set an alarm on your phone, or tell a friend who will annoy you ceaselessly until you fulfill this promise to yourself.

(If your best intentions to write every day this month went up in flames earlier in the week, fear not. Write TODAY. And then tack a few days on at the end of August to make up for what you missed. One year I think we still had people writing on August 46th.)

One of the reasons we let the “real world” interfere with the plans for our writing or art is that we have disconnected from the part of us that remembers what it was like to be a child. I’ve found that by staying in touch with my kid-self makes it easier to make time for writing.

Today’s Quote

“If you want to find a magical situation, magical things, you have to go deep inside yourself. So that is what I do. People say it’s magic realism — but in the depths of my soul, it’s just realism. Not magical. While I’m writing, it’s very natural, very logical, very realistic and reasonable.”

Haruki Murakami

Today’s Prompt: Quickly write a paragraph about what your days were like in second grade (around age 7).  Then choose a fairy tale from this list. Pull one of the elements from the fairy tale and write about who you would have reacted if it showed up in your life when you were in second grade. For example, what if your new babysitter had been Cinderella? Or the giant from Jack in the Beanstalk?

NOTE: You can only use the minutes you are actually writing towards your goal of fifteen minutes. Time spent reading or thinking doesn’t count.

ANOTHER NOTE: Loosen up! Have fun!

 YET ANOTHER NOTE: I’m taking a road trip to Montreal this weekend. I’ve already written and scheduled Sunday’s blog post. If it doesn’t post automatically during the morning, I should be home in the early evening (East Coast time) and will post it then.

 

 Scribble… scribble… scribble…

Alchemy – WFMAD Day 3

 

 

Fiction writing is eight-tenths magic. The craft skills that we use when revising account for another tenth. The last tenth is comprised of equal parts serendipity, caffeinated beverages, and staying away from the Internet whilst creating.

What do I mean by magic? It’s when you sit down to write, sometimes with a plan, sometimes not, and all of a sudden the words explode out of your fingertips. You don’t know where they are coming from. You don’t want to think about any of this too much because the magic has a lot in common with ghosts. Never look at a ghost directly. Always keep your eyes averted.

Just keep typing.

It can be very hard to get into the zone where the words flow like that. Making sure that you write every day helps. So does understanding that emotions are an underpinning to all human behavior and activity.

Yesterday’s prompt sparked a lot of emotional reactions from many of you. Awesome. Strong emotions kindle magic easily. If you use today’s prompt, you are going to build on that magic.

Today’s quote

“Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.”

Gustave Flaubert

 

Today’s Prompt: Yesterday you let rip with strong emotions as you fantasized and wrote about what you would love to say to the toxic person in your life. Today you are going to build on that dialog.

Craft a scene based on what you wrote yesterday. Fill in the setting and the narrative action. Remember to put in sounds and smells. What else – other people? Interruptions? If the scene feels dull, add a twist. Make yourself or the toxic person do something completely unexpected half-way through the scene.

 

 Scribble… scribble… scribble…

The Power of the Toxic – WFMAD Day 2

 

Wow! This is, by far, the biggest response ever to the WFMAD Challenge! Thank you everyone who wrote, posted, tweeted, facebooked, and otherwise shared the news and spread the excitement.

Most importantly… ::stands up and applauds:: Congratulations to everyone who wrote for fifteen minutes yesterday!

Wait.

You didn’t write for fifteen minutes yesterday? Life got in the way, right? Let me guess. Kids? Work? Vacation? Parents? School? Olympics? Twitter? Kardashians?

You know what? I don’t care. Sh*t happens. Please do not waste anymore time beating yourself up. It cuts into your fifteen minutes.

Permit me a basketball metaphor. In the average college game, both teams will score about 75 points. (I just made that statistic up, btw. Feel free to fact check me and post the real average.) The point is that in basketball (sport of the gods) you don’t have time to pout about the mistake you just made, because the other nine people on the court have already sprinted down for the next play.

Start anew today. Start anew every day. Where are you going to carve out today’s 15 minutes to write?

Sometimes it’s hard to dive into writing because our lives are sorta good. Or sorta boring. Now when someone makes us crazy, well then, by golly, it’s easy to write. In fact, it’s impossible to get the words down fast enough when the blood is boiling!

Let’s use that today.

Today’s Quote

“When I start writing, I rarely know what I’m writing about. Am I writing about all of those great abstract nouns that you’ve ever heard about — love, integrity, honor, compassion or whatever? The writer’s job is to take those great abstract nouns and turn them into flesh and blood and bones. Then they are real.”

Harry Crews

 

Today’s Prompt: You know that toxic relative or former friend who makes (or used to make) your life miserable? Write out dialog in which you finally tell that person what you think of her and why. Do not hold back. Do not edit yourself. Do not worry that anyone is ever going to see it. Just write!

 

Scribble… scribble… scribble…