Nancy Christie's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"
What We Do When We Don’t Want to Write
So I am writing this post as a way to avoid what I am supposed to be doing, which is work on my current novel-in-progress.
Even before I started writing this, I engaged in some other “Author Avoidance Activities” (aka “AAA”), namely, feed the cats, put in a load of laundry, read Sunday’s New York Times (yeah, I’m a little behind) and watch CNN.The way my schedule is set is that I come into my office sometime between 5 and 6 AM, after my first cup of coffee has jolted my brain awake, and spend 30 minutes on my fiction.
Not on reading emails, although I may start my email program which immediately is flooded with spam offering to make me “rock hard”—the sender apparently under the misapprehension that I posses a gender-specific body part that should be “rock hard” when called upon.
Not going online via Google Chrome or Firefox, although I do click the internet button in case I need to look up a word or a fact or some obscure statistic.
Not updating my datebook, moving items from yesterday or last week or last month to today in a vain attempt to change items on my To-Do list to “Have-Done” status.
No, those 30 minutes are spent working on the aforementioned work-in-progress (currently at more than 57,000 words) or writing a new short story, or editing a short story that needs some tweaking, or submitting a short story to a lit mag (I try to keep 12 in play at any point in time—tough to do on days like yesterday when I got two rejections, one after another), or searching for and/or submitting a query to a literary agent. (My first novel is ready, willing and eager for representation.)
But today I just can’t face the fiction. Not the novel, not the shorter works, not the endless round of short story submissions-rejections-submissions, with only an occasional “okay, okay, we’ll take it” breaks in the routine, not the “please please please represent me” begging letters that go into that vast void known as agent-land.
The current novel, in particular, is giving me a hard time. I have a fairly good idea of how I want the novel to end, what is the conflict the character has to resolve and the role the supporting characters play in getting her from Point A to Point Z.
It’s just that things keep getting in the way. Issues like:
I keep forgetting when certain events had taken place, causing me to slog back through the ms. in search of dates and other specifics. (I started doing an outline, finally, but it’s tough going.)
I lack important information, particularly about physical therapy after a bad ankle sprain. I have PT pal who has agreed to meet with me to share the bounty of his knowledge but we haven’t done that yet so I keep putting “TK” (for “to come”) in key places.
I realize as I work on the outline that some things don’t make sense, other things need to be explained, and the character of the mother isn’t as clearly delineated as she should be. Is she a complainer? A supportive parent? A little bit of both?
I could, I suppose, shelve the project but I don’t want to because I’m afraid that I won’t be able to get back into it.
I should, I suppose, keep plodding through instead of, oh, painting the block walls in the basement, sorting through several decades-worth of paperwork to set aside those that need to be shredded, or write blog posts—all of which I have been doing all January long.
But what I will do, once this post is done, is go back to DISCOVERING DIANA (the novel in question) and at least write something for the next 30 minutes because if I don’t, it will never get done and regardless of how it turns out or if it ever gets published, it first needs to be written, start to finish.
But to encourage me and make me feel like I am not the only writer out there engaged in “AAA”, tell me what you do when you don’t want to write. Or can’t write. Or are afraid to write.
And, even more importantly, how you stop doing it and get back to writing.
(Read other posts at my Focus on Fiction blog : http://www.nancychristie.com/focusonf...)
Even before I started writing this, I engaged in some other “Author Avoidance Activities” (aka “AAA”), namely, feed the cats, put in a load of laundry, read Sunday’s New York Times (yeah, I’m a little behind) and watch CNN.The way my schedule is set is that I come into my office sometime between 5 and 6 AM, after my first cup of coffee has jolted my brain awake, and spend 30 minutes on my fiction.
Not on reading emails, although I may start my email program which immediately is flooded with spam offering to make me “rock hard”—the sender apparently under the misapprehension that I posses a gender-specific body part that should be “rock hard” when called upon.
Not going online via Google Chrome or Firefox, although I do click the internet button in case I need to look up a word or a fact or some obscure statistic.
Not updating my datebook, moving items from yesterday or last week or last month to today in a vain attempt to change items on my To-Do list to “Have-Done” status.
No, those 30 minutes are spent working on the aforementioned work-in-progress (currently at more than 57,000 words) or writing a new short story, or editing a short story that needs some tweaking, or submitting a short story to a lit mag (I try to keep 12 in play at any point in time—tough to do on days like yesterday when I got two rejections, one after another), or searching for and/or submitting a query to a literary agent. (My first novel is ready, willing and eager for representation.)
But today I just can’t face the fiction. Not the novel, not the shorter works, not the endless round of short story submissions-rejections-submissions, with only an occasional “okay, okay, we’ll take it” breaks in the routine, not the “please please please represent me” begging letters that go into that vast void known as agent-land.
The current novel, in particular, is giving me a hard time. I have a fairly good idea of how I want the novel to end, what is the conflict the character has to resolve and the role the supporting characters play in getting her from Point A to Point Z.
It’s just that things keep getting in the way. Issues like:
I keep forgetting when certain events had taken place, causing me to slog back through the ms. in search of dates and other specifics. (I started doing an outline, finally, but it’s tough going.)
I lack important information, particularly about physical therapy after a bad ankle sprain. I have PT pal who has agreed to meet with me to share the bounty of his knowledge but we haven’t done that yet so I keep putting “TK” (for “to come”) in key places.
I realize as I work on the outline that some things don’t make sense, other things need to be explained, and the character of the mother isn’t as clearly delineated as she should be. Is she a complainer? A supportive parent? A little bit of both?
I could, I suppose, shelve the project but I don’t want to because I’m afraid that I won’t be able to get back into it.
I should, I suppose, keep plodding through instead of, oh, painting the block walls in the basement, sorting through several decades-worth of paperwork to set aside those that need to be shredded, or write blog posts—all of which I have been doing all January long.
But what I will do, once this post is done, is go back to DISCOVERING DIANA (the novel in question) and at least write something for the next 30 minutes because if I don’t, it will never get done and regardless of how it turns out or if it ever gets published, it first needs to be written, start to finish.
But to encourage me and make me feel like I am not the only writer out there engaged in “AAA”, tell me what you do when you don’t want to write. Or can’t write. Or are afraid to write.
And, even more importantly, how you stop doing it and get back to writing.
(Read other posts at my Focus on Fiction blog : http://www.nancychristie.com/focusonf...)
Thoughts on writing and life for April 2021
This is an edited excerpt from my newsletter, The Writing Life, for April 2021. You can also listen to it on my Living the Writing Life podcast.
Yesterday, while I was writing my April newsletter, The Writing Life, I was also enjoying one of my favorite kitchen aromas: the smell of yeast bread as it rose.
I was baking Easter bread, or paska as my Slovak grandmother called it—a mix of real butter, eggs, vanilla, sugar, flour and enough dried yeast to give me four round loaves and one mini-rounder, just for me.
For those of you who have never baked a yeast bread, there is a necessary process that starts out with proofing the yeast. You mix the yeast with some warm water (not too warm and not too cold, but just right) and sugar and maybe a pinch of ginger. (I’m not sure why the ginger, but I throw it in because that’s how the recipe came down to me.)
Then you wait and see if it comes to life. Does it start to bubble a bit, or does it just sit there looking like dirty dishwater? If the latter occurs, then either your yeast was too old, or the water was too hot or too cold.
But if the former transpires, then you are on your way to success because that means the yeast has life. It’s bubbling over with life!
And as long as you follow the process, you should end up with a delicious loaf or two of bread.
So, in that respect, making bread and writing have a lot in common. Think of your initial idea as the packet of yeast. It looks like it should work. You think it has potential.
Then you start to develop it—"proof it,” as it were. At this stage, one of two things will happen: either it just sits there or it starts to bubble. Grow. Give off that definite air of literary life.
Of course, as you continue to write, there’s always the risk that the piece will ultimately fail to reach its full potential.
For instance, if you let it sit too long unattended, whatever life that yeast idea had will slowly die and you won’t be able to bring it back to life.
If it’s subjected to cold drafts of criticism and negative input (from you or others), it won’t grow.
The trick is to give that ball of “dough” (the words, sentences and paragraphs) just enough time and attention to keep it alive, until it’s ready to be “baked” after the final round of edits.
Then comes the delivery process: you submit your work to journals, agents, editors, publishers (whichever suits the project) and hope that your “recipe” is one that they enjoy. And want more of!
Writing is a process, just like baking bread is a process, with both delivering some form of nourishment: bread feeding the body and writing feeding the soul — making the activity well worth the effort.
(Did you enjoy this excerpt? Sign up for my newsletter, The Writing Life with Nancy Christie, and receive a free writing-related tip sheet as a bonus!)
Yesterday, while I was writing my April newsletter, The Writing Life, I was also enjoying one of my favorite kitchen aromas: the smell of yeast bread as it rose.
I was baking Easter bread, or paska as my Slovak grandmother called it—a mix of real butter, eggs, vanilla, sugar, flour and enough dried yeast to give me four round loaves and one mini-rounder, just for me.
For those of you who have never baked a yeast bread, there is a necessary process that starts out with proofing the yeast. You mix the yeast with some warm water (not too warm and not too cold, but just right) and sugar and maybe a pinch of ginger. (I’m not sure why the ginger, but I throw it in because that’s how the recipe came down to me.)
Then you wait and see if it comes to life. Does it start to bubble a bit, or does it just sit there looking like dirty dishwater? If the latter occurs, then either your yeast was too old, or the water was too hot or too cold.
But if the former transpires, then you are on your way to success because that means the yeast has life. It’s bubbling over with life!
And as long as you follow the process, you should end up with a delicious loaf or two of bread.
So, in that respect, making bread and writing have a lot in common. Think of your initial idea as the packet of yeast. It looks like it should work. You think it has potential.
Then you start to develop it—"proof it,” as it were. At this stage, one of two things will happen: either it just sits there or it starts to bubble. Grow. Give off that definite air of literary life.
Of course, as you continue to write, there’s always the risk that the piece will ultimately fail to reach its full potential.
For instance, if you let it sit too long unattended, whatever life that yeast idea had will slowly die and you won’t be able to bring it back to life.
If it’s subjected to cold drafts of criticism and negative input (from you or others), it won’t grow.
The trick is to give that ball of “dough” (the words, sentences and paragraphs) just enough time and attention to keep it alive, until it’s ready to be “baked” after the final round of edits.
Then comes the delivery process: you submit your work to journals, agents, editors, publishers (whichever suits the project) and hope that your “recipe” is one that they enjoy. And want more of!
Writing is a process, just like baking bread is a process, with both delivering some form of nourishment: bread feeding the body and writing feeding the soul — making the activity well worth the effort.
(Did you enjoy this excerpt? Sign up for my newsletter, The Writing Life with Nancy Christie, and receive a free writing-related tip sheet as a bonus!)
Speeding Up Your Story Flow
This is an excerpt from my post on Focus on Fiction
If you’re worried that your story is dragging a bit or you’ve filled your chapters with so much detail or backstory that the focus is hard to figure out, author Chet Meisner has go-to strategies to get your story out of its rut and back on track!
(Read all his tips and get his downloadable pdf at my full post—see the link above!)
What are some of the major causes of story slowdown?
Here are a few of the most common ones:The premise of the story isn’t strong enough to keep the reader wanting more. A premise like A baseball player must learn to cope with his wife’s death and avoid committing suicide will get and keep the reader engaged a lot more than Bob reminisces about his days as a minor league pitcher.
The writer is holding back information from the reader so he or she can “surprise” the reader later. The reader will only wait so long and then you’ll get the I just couldn’t stick with it long enough to get to the end reaction. Give the reader enough “anchors” early so they’ll stay with you for the rest.
The writer has created chapters that just “set thing up,” “introduce characters,” or “establish place,” but don’t move the story along or create tension. This will elicit the I kept waiting for something to happen reaction from the reader. Treat every chapter as a complete short story, with its own beginning, middle, end, rising and falling action. Make something compelling and interesting happen in every chapter.
The chapters are too long. Shorter chapters with good page turners will keep the reader moving through the story faster and wanting more.
Are there times when writers should balance the pacing—speeding it up in some cases and slowing it down in others?
Yes. If the writer paces the whole story at ninety miles per hour the reader will eventually get exhausted, and everything will run together. I think of my stories as a piece of music. In fact, I get many of my pacing ideas by listening to music and translating the emotional impact of the various movements to important points in a story. I call this “orchestrating my story.”Can backstory cause the story to get bogged down?
Absolutely. This is a common problem with a number of story submissions I have critiqued or judged. Sometimes writers confuse “backstory” with the research they did when creating the character. The reader doesn’t need to know everything the writer knows about the characters’ histories, but just enough to understand why the characters act the way they do.
How can writers determine if the backstory is necessary or if it is just “filler”?
My rule of thumb is that I try hard not to use pure backstory unless I absolutely cannot find a way to explain a character’s behavior through dialogue, action, interaction, or reaction. And even then, I keep it as short and concise as possible. At some point the writer has to trust the reader to fill in the necessary blanks if the writer drops enough breadcrumbs.The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: My WIP Renovation
An edited excerpt of my post originally published on Focus on Fiction.
Revising a piece of writing is like renovating a home. First you figure out what isn’t working: what needs fixed, replaced, or removed entirely. Next comes the actual labor: a series of hard, backbreaking (or confidence-destroying) tasks to make it ready for the improvements. Finally, comes the “making it better” part: you add new stuff that is better than the old, you move stuff to make the space better than it was, and if you’re lucky, you end up with a “better than” home—or manuscript.
So here is my take on the good, the bad and the ugly of that process—at least as it pertains to my current WIP.
THE GOOD
Strange as it sounds, I actually found working with developmental editor Dawn Reno Langley a good thing. This, despite the number of times that she flagged every mistake I made. While I do have to admit that there were times when my self-confidence level slid into negative digits, the fact that she took the time to explain why certain parts needed to be revised or eliminated proved very instructive. Having Dawn point them out was like taking a crash course in novel composition. Now onto the bad and ugly, which pretty much are the same thing. I pulled up the version of the manuscript that Dawn returned to me, and will (with much shame and chagrin) share her comments.THE BAD AND UGLY
Dialogue tag issues. I tend to make two errors when it comes to these little guys. I either put them too early in the dialogue or I add adverbs or explanations when the emotion should have been perfectly clear by what the character said.Tension deflation tendency. I am guilty of sidetracking the reader by including flashbacks or segues that short-circuit the tension. For example, in an early scene, Rita is baking muffins when she gets a call from her son. Right in the middle of the conversation, I bring in those darned baked goods repeatedly. While they are relevant to the story, they didn’t need to be part of that specific scene.
Lack of character description. I have a habit of not giving the reader good visual images for my characters, especially when I first introduce them. It's not that I don’t know what the characters looked like. I just don’t bother to share it with the readers!
Want to know more about what I learned through this editing process? Read my whole post
on Focus on Fiction!
Living the Writing Life podcast with author Deborah Kalb
This month's guest on my Living the Writing Life podcast is author, editor and journalist Deborah Kalb.
Deborah is the author of the forthcoming adult novel Off to Join the Circus (available on Bookshop, Barnes & Noble and Amazon) as well as three novels for kids: Thomas Jefferson and the Return of the Magic Hat, John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead, and George Washington and the Magic Hat.
Together with her father, Marvin Kalb, she co-authored Haunting Legacy: Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama and she also has published other books on politics and government as well as working as a journalist for more than two decades covering Congress and politics.
Deborah’s book blog, Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, which she started in 2012, features hundreds of interviews she has conducted with a wide variety of authors. For more about Deborah, visit her website and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Goodreads and Instagram.
In today’s conversation, we’ll be talking about stepping out of the safe zone: the challenges and benefits of exploring a new genre. Listen to the episode here: https://livingthewritinglife.podbean.....
Deborah is the author of the forthcoming adult novel Off to Join the Circus (available on Bookshop, Barnes & Noble and Amazon) as well as three novels for kids: Thomas Jefferson and the Return of the Magic Hat, John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead, and George Washington and the Magic Hat.
Together with her father, Marvin Kalb, she co-authored Haunting Legacy: Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama and she also has published other books on politics and government as well as working as a journalist for more than two decades covering Congress and politics.
Deborah’s book blog, Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, which she started in 2012, features hundreds of interviews she has conducted with a wide variety of authors. For more about Deborah, visit her website and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Goodreads and Instagram.
In today’s conversation, we’ll be talking about stepping out of the safe zone: the challenges and benefits of exploring a new genre. Listen to the episode here: https://livingthewritinglife.podbean.....
