Rick Just's Blog, page 242
March 1, 2013
Which One is You?
One question writers often get is some variation of, “Which character is you?” Some people seem to think that writing is a matter of taking the people you’re familiar with, changing their names and dropping them into an interesting situation to produce a novel.
It rarely works that way. We are all products of our experiences, so the quirks and habits of people we know are bound to seep into our characters, as are the quirks and habits of characters we read about. Writing a character based on someone you know is far too limiting and a potential source of trouble you don’t need.
My first novel, Keeping Private Idaho, featured characters in a fictional state tourism agency. Since I knew and worked with many people in the analog of that agency, I carefully avoided giving the two main characters the attributes of the characters who actually held those positions. The real tourism director at the time was an amiable, thoughtful man whom I considered a friend. So, I made the fictional character a strident, blonde female who would walk over anyone to get her way. Even so, the real tourism director was less than thrilled. We’re still friends, but it illustrated for me the dangers of treading anywhere near a real person when developing a character. Ironically, C.J. Box used our mutual friend’s name--with his permission--as the name of a character in one of his books. The character was a nasty guy. Our friend thought it was hilarious.
So, no, I don’t use people I know as characters in my books. And, no, the lead character is not always me. The fact that I have written two books featuring a 12-year-old girl as the lead character should be a clue. The answer to “Which one is you?” is, none of them. And all of them.
It rarely works that way. We are all products of our experiences, so the quirks and habits of people we know are bound to seep into our characters, as are the quirks and habits of characters we read about. Writing a character based on someone you know is far too limiting and a potential source of trouble you don’t need.
My first novel, Keeping Private Idaho, featured characters in a fictional state tourism agency. Since I knew and worked with many people in the analog of that agency, I carefully avoided giving the two main characters the attributes of the characters who actually held those positions. The real tourism director at the time was an amiable, thoughtful man whom I considered a friend. So, I made the fictional character a strident, blonde female who would walk over anyone to get her way. Even so, the real tourism director was less than thrilled. We’re still friends, but it illustrated for me the dangers of treading anywhere near a real person when developing a character. Ironically, C.J. Box used our mutual friend’s name--with his permission--as the name of a character in one of his books. The character was a nasty guy. Our friend thought it was hilarious.
So, no, I don’t use people I know as characters in my books. And, no, the lead character is not always me. The fact that I have written two books featuring a 12-year-old girl as the lead character should be a clue. The answer to “Which one is you?” is, none of them. And all of them.
February 28, 2013
Can't or won't? Neither?
Contractions are handy little language shortcuts we all use dozens of times a day. We would find it a little strange if we suddenly could not use couldn’t, won’t, isn’t or didn’t.
In the book I’m writing the characters are like us in many ways and unlike us in others. I want the girls, as they age, to talk like human girls talk. They are pre-technological girls, though, so they won’t LOL. Neither will they say “won’t.”
I wanted to signal some slight difference in their language; just a little reminder to the reader that they are not after all human. I could sprinkle their talk with invented colloquialisms. I will probably do that a time or two, but a little goes a long way. I chose, instead, to avoid contractions. The narrator is allowed to use them, but the anjels are not.
I may keep myself in this little box, or I may get tired of it and break out. I’m too close to the novel at this point to worry about making that decision. I’ll wait to see how crazy it drives an editor.
In the book I’m writing the characters are like us in many ways and unlike us in others. I want the girls, as they age, to talk like human girls talk. They are pre-technological girls, though, so they won’t LOL. Neither will they say “won’t.”
I wanted to signal some slight difference in their language; just a little reminder to the reader that they are not after all human. I could sprinkle their talk with invented colloquialisms. I will probably do that a time or two, but a little goes a long way. I chose, instead, to avoid contractions. The narrator is allowed to use them, but the anjels are not.
I may keep myself in this little box, or I may get tired of it and break out. I’m too close to the novel at this point to worry about making that decision. I’ll wait to see how crazy it drives an editor.
February 27, 2013
Knowing When Not to Write
Yesterday, I wrote about discovering the ending to Anjels (working title). It is so tempting to write that this very minute. I mustn’t.
As I wrote the other day, I don’t feel I can tell the story without sapping my energy to write it. I think writing the ending would be even worse.
Oh, I wrote it down. I put down two lines and a three-word quote that will eventually constitute the ending. But I did not write IT. I want to craft every word until it fits like a jigsaw puzzle with the last piece fitting perfectly. I want to do that now! But I have a few thousand details to fill in first.
There is a certain discipline to writing. For most, that comes in deciding how much time to devote to the craft and which hours to set aside for it. For me, sometimes, it is in knowing when not to write.
As I wrote the other day, I don’t feel I can tell the story without sapping my energy to write it. I think writing the ending would be even worse.
Oh, I wrote it down. I put down two lines and a three-word quote that will eventually constitute the ending. But I did not write IT. I want to craft every word until it fits like a jigsaw puzzle with the last piece fitting perfectly. I want to do that now! But I have a few thousand details to fill in first.
There is a certain discipline to writing. For most, that comes in deciding how much time to devote to the craft and which hours to set aside for it. For me, sometimes, it is in knowing when not to write.
February 26, 2013
The End
I have an ending. As I said earlier, I have been outlining, so I have always had a tentative ending. I would have been disappointed, though, if I had written all the way through the outline to its projected end and actually finished the book with the ending I originally wrote down.
Sometimes you start with an ending. You just write the book toward it. My first two Wizard books were close to that. This time, I started with the characters. I knew I wanted to write about angels, but didn’t know where the story would start, let alone end.
At some point I was thinking about mortality, immortality and how which you chose to believe in shapes your world view. Of course, none of us starts out “choosing” to believe anything. We believe what we are told to believe. If you are told that reincarnation is real, boom. That is what you believe. Most of us, though, start to question those beliefs at one or more points in our lives. Many then choose to redouble their faith in whatever religion they were taught. Many convert to some other religion, or follow some variation of the one they grew up with. Some never stop questioning.
So, I have been writing this book, inventing the world and creatures who inhabit it. More important to the story, I have been inventing their mythology. The majority of the characters believe in their tribal myth, but two or three question it. This is not usually something they do openly.
In a sense, this is a book about losing one’s religion. For myself, I see that as positive. Yet, it can leave a large hole. This book was never going to have a happy ending.
Today, when the ending came to me, I saw a way to express the enormity of that loss with a few familiar words and a poignant gesture. It’s a sad ending, yet it holds hope for the celebration of the life we get to live.
Sometimes you start with an ending. You just write the book toward it. My first two Wizard books were close to that. This time, I started with the characters. I knew I wanted to write about angels, but didn’t know where the story would start, let alone end.
At some point I was thinking about mortality, immortality and how which you chose to believe in shapes your world view. Of course, none of us starts out “choosing” to believe anything. We believe what we are told to believe. If you are told that reincarnation is real, boom. That is what you believe. Most of us, though, start to question those beliefs at one or more points in our lives. Many then choose to redouble their faith in whatever religion they were taught. Many convert to some other religion, or follow some variation of the one they grew up with. Some never stop questioning.
So, I have been writing this book, inventing the world and creatures who inhabit it. More important to the story, I have been inventing their mythology. The majority of the characters believe in their tribal myth, but two or three question it. This is not usually something they do openly.
In a sense, this is a book about losing one’s religion. For myself, I see that as positive. Yet, it can leave a large hole. This book was never going to have a happy ending.
Today, when the ending came to me, I saw a way to express the enormity of that loss with a few familiar words and a poignant gesture. It’s a sad ending, yet it holds hope for the celebration of the life we get to live.
February 25, 2013
Neutral Buoyancy
From time to time in this book blog I will ask for your help. I expect to do that when it is time to settle on a book title and maybe when testing covers. Today I need more than opinion. I need expertise.
Does anyone have a contact who I could talk with about the physics of flight? I don’t care about jets and hang gliders, just birds. I am acquainted with a couple of raptor experts, so maybe that is where I need to go. The rub is that I need to describe a method of flight that is quite unlike that of raptors.
The characters in my book are flying creatures. I call them anjels because that is evocative to anyone familiar with Christian mythology. It is shorthand to build an instant image in your mind. Then, throughout the book, I chip away at that image until the reader fully recognizes that these people are far removed from angels.
My anjels achieve flight the same way a gas balloon does. At various times during the day they weigh more or less, depending on when they've last consumed a bulb from the freenel plant. Most often they are neutrally buoyant. That is, they drift around with little need of wing movement to stay in the air. Unlike many raptors they do not depend at all on thermals.
The problem I need to work out is how this may affect diving. Raptors are light, but they still weigh something. They will drop like a rock if they position their wings to do so. This is handy if you want to build momentum for a strike. How might a neutrally buoyant flyer do that?
I’m looking for a plausible way to achieve a strike while a hunting anjel remains buoyant. Without any weight behind them, what difficulties might they have?
I have a way to avoid this problem completely and I am willing to use it, but it will change at least one major plot point and require some rewriting.
Does anyone have personal knowledge or a good contact?
Does anyone have a contact who I could talk with about the physics of flight? I don’t care about jets and hang gliders, just birds. I am acquainted with a couple of raptor experts, so maybe that is where I need to go. The rub is that I need to describe a method of flight that is quite unlike that of raptors.
The characters in my book are flying creatures. I call them anjels because that is evocative to anyone familiar with Christian mythology. It is shorthand to build an instant image in your mind. Then, throughout the book, I chip away at that image until the reader fully recognizes that these people are far removed from angels.
My anjels achieve flight the same way a gas balloon does. At various times during the day they weigh more or less, depending on when they've last consumed a bulb from the freenel plant. Most often they are neutrally buoyant. That is, they drift around with little need of wing movement to stay in the air. Unlike many raptors they do not depend at all on thermals.
The problem I need to work out is how this may affect diving. Raptors are light, but they still weigh something. They will drop like a rock if they position their wings to do so. This is handy if you want to build momentum for a strike. How might a neutrally buoyant flyer do that?
I’m looking for a plausible way to achieve a strike while a hunting anjel remains buoyant. Without any weight behind them, what difficulties might they have?
I have a way to avoid this problem completely and I am willing to use it, but it will change at least one major plot point and require some rewriting.
Does anyone have personal knowledge or a good contact?
February 24, 2013
A Message from the Cave
Writing as an artform is relatively recent. Think of the caves at Lascaux. Painting has been around for 40,000 years. Writing, maybe 5,000. The novel has been with us for a shorter time, still.
Yet, it is our own experience, in our own minds that we think of as forever. I talk with people all the time who express their regret that electronic books are starting to edge out the printed kind. Printed books are all they’ve ever known, and they love them. There were probably some few readers of illuminated manuscripts who tut-tutted moveable type. And the Devil would surely have been behind the printing press, if Gutenberg had not wisely chosen the bible as his prototype.
Technology rolls along, picking up speed exponentially as it goes. Artists rarely use the walls of caves as their medium anymore. Writers are more likely to use a keyboard than a pencil.
Some persist in the old ways. I had an acquaintance a few decades back who longed to be a writer. He eschewed a typewriter and and used only pencils and yellow pads. He also believed that writing skills were innate and could not be taught. That belief probably hindered him more than the pencil.
There are still writers, such as John Irving, who use a pencil and pad. There are some who dictate and have the whole thing transcribed. It is the words that are important, after all, not the technology.
I urge readers to remember that. You may love the heft, the smell, the very idea of books. I do, too. But the words take you to another world, not the pages.
Yet, it is our own experience, in our own minds that we think of as forever. I talk with people all the time who express their regret that electronic books are starting to edge out the printed kind. Printed books are all they’ve ever known, and they love them. There were probably some few readers of illuminated manuscripts who tut-tutted moveable type. And the Devil would surely have been behind the printing press, if Gutenberg had not wisely chosen the bible as his prototype.
Technology rolls along, picking up speed exponentially as it goes. Artists rarely use the walls of caves as their medium anymore. Writers are more likely to use a keyboard than a pencil.
Some persist in the old ways. I had an acquaintance a few decades back who longed to be a writer. He eschewed a typewriter and and used only pencils and yellow pads. He also believed that writing skills were innate and could not be taught. That belief probably hindered him more than the pencil.
There are still writers, such as John Irving, who use a pencil and pad. There are some who dictate and have the whole thing transcribed. It is the words that are important, after all, not the technology.
I urge readers to remember that. You may love the heft, the smell, the very idea of books. I do, too. But the words take you to another world, not the pages.
February 23, 2013
Books that Leak
I’ve heard it said that a writer should not read the work of others while working on their own fiction. There is a danger that some of that story will leak into your story.
While there is probably some truth to that--we are products of the lives we live, after all--I can’t see how one could possibly take that advice seriously. I am always reading. Am I really expected to give up my greatest joy so that I might spend time creating joy for others? The hubris of that aside, how would writers ever learn to write if they gave up reading for long stretches of time?
I just finished a grand little book called The Age of Miracles, by Karen Thompson Walker. The main character is an adolescent girl, just as is my main character. Thompson's girl lives on earth, but it is an earth that is winding down to a stop. The days get longer and longer. Through that major disaster, she must still deal with terrors of adolescence: mercurial friendships, not fitting in, the first training bra, the first boyfriend.
Will some of that leak into Anjels? Perhaps, just as may the icy sidewalks of January and the way my dog throws his whole body into the chase of a Frisbee.
Walker’s book is expertly paced, subtle and riveting. If some of that seeps into my book, all the better. And, maybe that is the better advice. When you are writing, endeavor to read only books that will help you learn the craft of writing. Those books need not be about writing. They just need to be well written books.
While there is probably some truth to that--we are products of the lives we live, after all--I can’t see how one could possibly take that advice seriously. I am always reading. Am I really expected to give up my greatest joy so that I might spend time creating joy for others? The hubris of that aside, how would writers ever learn to write if they gave up reading for long stretches of time?
I just finished a grand little book called The Age of Miracles, by Karen Thompson Walker. The main character is an adolescent girl, just as is my main character. Thompson's girl lives on earth, but it is an earth that is winding down to a stop. The days get longer and longer. Through that major disaster, she must still deal with terrors of adolescence: mercurial friendships, not fitting in, the first training bra, the first boyfriend.
Will some of that leak into Anjels? Perhaps, just as may the icy sidewalks of January and the way my dog throws his whole body into the chase of a Frisbee.
Walker’s book is expertly paced, subtle and riveting. If some of that seeps into my book, all the better. And, maybe that is the better advice. When you are writing, endeavor to read only books that will help you learn the craft of writing. Those books need not be about writing. They just need to be well written books.
February 22, 2013
Coloring beyond the lines
How does one go about writing a book? Specifically, should you outline the story or is that too constricting?
For Keeping Private Idaho I used Post-It Notes to keep track of what was supposed to happen next. That way I could move scenes around as I reconsidered. It worked fairly well until the stickum began to fail.
For Wizard Chase, which was a total rewrite of an earlier manuscript, I outlined in some detail.
Part-way through Wizard Girl I read something Stephen King wrote about outlining. Most books on writing stress that you really, really should do it. He said not to worry about it. Outline if you wish, but don’t let it get in your way. That advice was freeing to me. I plunged ahead off the cuff letting the characters take me where they would. It enriched the landscape of the story greatly. It also nearly killed me when I went back to work on continuity. There are probably still some dangling plot threads in the book.
For Anjels (working title), I am trying something a little different. I know where I want to go and I know the scenes that I need to write to get there. I created a one line description of each scene and gave it a title. I use that same title in Google Docs and format each scene title as a headline. I have created a table of contents using those headlines so that I can navigate between scenes easily. If I decide to insert or move a scene it is easy to do. I also tweak the outline to match what I have done in the book.
The table of contents and headlines will eventually come out of the final book file. I’m not sure how I will handle chapters, yet. At this point it doesn’t matter. I can go back later and break the long narrative into bite-sized chunks. That’s really a moot exercise, though, since no one will be able to put it down. Right?
This method of outlining, plotting and tracking continuity seems to work for me. I wish I had used it on an unpublished novel I wrote several years ago about working in radio (and kidnapping and extortion, of course). I have file after file of that manuscript living on a drive, somewhere. I’ve gone back a couple of times to try to resurrect it. The continuity is so exploded I just can’t do it.
For Keeping Private Idaho I used Post-It Notes to keep track of what was supposed to happen next. That way I could move scenes around as I reconsidered. It worked fairly well until the stickum began to fail.
For Wizard Chase, which was a total rewrite of an earlier manuscript, I outlined in some detail.
Part-way through Wizard Girl I read something Stephen King wrote about outlining. Most books on writing stress that you really, really should do it. He said not to worry about it. Outline if you wish, but don’t let it get in your way. That advice was freeing to me. I plunged ahead off the cuff letting the characters take me where they would. It enriched the landscape of the story greatly. It also nearly killed me when I went back to work on continuity. There are probably still some dangling plot threads in the book.
For Anjels (working title), I am trying something a little different. I know where I want to go and I know the scenes that I need to write to get there. I created a one line description of each scene and gave it a title. I use that same title in Google Docs and format each scene title as a headline. I have created a table of contents using those headlines so that I can navigate between scenes easily. If I decide to insert or move a scene it is easy to do. I also tweak the outline to match what I have done in the book.
The table of contents and headlines will eventually come out of the final book file. I’m not sure how I will handle chapters, yet. At this point it doesn’t matter. I can go back later and break the long narrative into bite-sized chunks. That’s really a moot exercise, though, since no one will be able to put it down. Right?
This method of outlining, plotting and tracking continuity seems to work for me. I wish I had used it on an unpublished novel I wrote several years ago about working in radio (and kidnapping and extortion, of course). I have file after file of that manuscript living on a drive, somewhere. I’ve gone back a couple of times to try to resurrect it. The continuity is so exploded I just can’t do it.
February 21, 2013
From whence the muse?
From whence the muse? From the air we breathe and the lives we live.
Yesterday I got an email from a distant cousin in Seattle. She delights in sending friends jaw-dropping photos. This time it was a video and it was nearly six minutes long, with an admonition that I had to watch it through to the end. Sigh. I would probably have ignored the whole thing if it weren’t from Carol. She rarely steers me wrong.
I clicked play, and there she was, my muse! Everyone else who sees the video will see three kites performing sweeping aerial acrobatics. I saw Lasa and Talaka learning how to fly in synchronicity. I immediately switched to Google Drive and began writing that scene. It added a richness to the story that had been lacking. It added motivation and a touch of foreshadowing.
I did watch the video all the way through. My frustration now is that I cannot seem to find the right combination of letters to mimic the sound my mouth made when that last kite landed.
Yesterday I got an email from a distant cousin in Seattle. She delights in sending friends jaw-dropping photos. This time it was a video and it was nearly six minutes long, with an admonition that I had to watch it through to the end. Sigh. I would probably have ignored the whole thing if it weren’t from Carol. She rarely steers me wrong.
I clicked play, and there she was, my muse! Everyone else who sees the video will see three kites performing sweeping aerial acrobatics. I saw Lasa and Talaka learning how to fly in synchronicity. I immediately switched to Google Drive and began writing that scene. It added a richness to the story that had been lacking. It added motivation and a touch of foreshadowing.
I did watch the video all the way through. My frustration now is that I cannot seem to find the right combination of letters to mimic the sound my mouth made when that last kite landed.
February 20, 2013
I don't watch the Superbowl
When I wrote this, it was Superbowl Sunday. The perfect day to address a question that comes up when people find out I am a writer and artist. They often ask how I get so much done. For instance, I wrote a young adult novel while finishing a graduate degree and working full time. I also mowed the lawn, cleaned the house and watched TV.
I don’t think any of that is miraculous. It seems to me that the subtext of the question is something like, “Why don’t I ever have time to pursue writing or art?”
I may write more than you do. I may create a wider variety of artwork. I am almost certain I also watch more television than you do, I see more movies, and I likely read more books. You probably spend more time with your children and grandchildren, though. You run more often and ride your bike ten times as much. You spend more time with your friends and you eat out more often. And, you watch the Superbowl.
My pursuits are not more noble. They are just more visible.
Each of us makes personal choices. They are often unfathomable to the people who make different choices. Writing and art are lonely pursuits. I am an introvert and prefer spending most of my time alone. Introvert is not synonymous with shy. It bothers me not at all to get up in front of 500 to speak--as long as I have something to say. I am comfortable leading a group of a dozen people in some task, brainstorming with them and having great fun. Going to dinner with those same folks, though, puts me into listening mode. Someone else is always a nanosecond quicker to interject and I don’t want to interrupt, so I stay quiet.
I prefer to gather my thoughts and put them on paper.
So, I do not snowmobile, brew beer or go to the gym to work out. That is not a sacrifice for me. I would rather write or make a pair of earrings than do any of those things.
So, why don’t you have the time to write? Maybe your life is packed with so many obligations that it is out of the question. Or maybe you have a hundred things you would rather do.
The secret to becoming a writer is tautological. In order to be a writer, you must write. If you wish you were a writer, yet always find something to do instead of writing, then you may as well wish for a unicorn. Let it go. Be a great runner. Be a great mom. Write great emails. Watch the Superbowl. But if you want to be a writer, you're going to have to write.
I don’t think any of that is miraculous. It seems to me that the subtext of the question is something like, “Why don’t I ever have time to pursue writing or art?”
I may write more than you do. I may create a wider variety of artwork. I am almost certain I also watch more television than you do, I see more movies, and I likely read more books. You probably spend more time with your children and grandchildren, though. You run more often and ride your bike ten times as much. You spend more time with your friends and you eat out more often. And, you watch the Superbowl.
My pursuits are not more noble. They are just more visible.
Each of us makes personal choices. They are often unfathomable to the people who make different choices. Writing and art are lonely pursuits. I am an introvert and prefer spending most of my time alone. Introvert is not synonymous with shy. It bothers me not at all to get up in front of 500 to speak--as long as I have something to say. I am comfortable leading a group of a dozen people in some task, brainstorming with them and having great fun. Going to dinner with those same folks, though, puts me into listening mode. Someone else is always a nanosecond quicker to interject and I don’t want to interrupt, so I stay quiet.
I prefer to gather my thoughts and put them on paper.
So, I do not snowmobile, brew beer or go to the gym to work out. That is not a sacrifice for me. I would rather write or make a pair of earrings than do any of those things.
So, why don’t you have the time to write? Maybe your life is packed with so many obligations that it is out of the question. Or maybe you have a hundred things you would rather do.
The secret to becoming a writer is tautological. In order to be a writer, you must write. If you wish you were a writer, yet always find something to do instead of writing, then you may as well wish for a unicorn. Let it go. Be a great runner. Be a great mom. Write great emails. Watch the Superbowl. But if you want to be a writer, you're going to have to write.
