S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 188

Memory Inspiration

Kuriositas has an amazing pictorial post on Puzzlewood, a very old and beautiful English forest that was Tolkien's inspiration for middle Earth. I've never been there but it looks like storyteller heaven.

I think most writers include real life places and experiences as part of their stories; I certainly do. In Nightshine my protagonist Charlie Marena sports a turtle tattoo, which seems an odd choice (not very exciting, I suppose) until you know the story behind it.

Growing up by the sea as a kid exposed me to many neat things, such as our annual treks to Dania Beach whenever the loggerhead turtle nests started to hatch. Our entire community would go down at night to herd the babies. The hatchlings would often get confused and head up the beach toward the lights of highway A1A, which were brighter than the moon that was supposed to guide them to the ocean.

Baby loggerheads are fast -- like lightning -- and hundreds come out of the nest at the same time. One year when we went it seemed like all the nests were hatching at once, and we had to run back and forth for hours. I know it must have been hot, sticky, exhausting work, but all I remember is how much fun it was to see the little ones as they skittered over that last margin of wet sand into the waves.

These days I hear they make people go on turtle watch tours or keep them off the beaches when the nests hatch, and while that's probably for the best I feel sorry for the generations of children who will never have the experience I did. Being involved, even in a small part, in a nature rescue effort has a profound effect on a youngster, and helps shape positive attitudes toward wildlife preservation.

Thanks to my childhood memories I've always been fond of turtles, and like most of the things that mean a lot to me they were bound to show up in my fiction. In Nightshine the turtle tattoo Charlie sports has a logical meaning tied into the story and the worldbuilding, but also helped as a prompt to remind me of the qualities I wanted to invest in her as well as what she means to me.

Have you writers out there ever used a particular memory in this way to inspire your fiction? Let us know in comments.

Miracle Fish

I'm sorry I'm late posting today. Yesterday the kid and I went on a random adventure, which is when we jump in the car, point it in a direction and drive until we find something interesting enough to make us stop or we need food. It's not something I do very often, as I prefer to plan just about every second of my day, but the spontaneity is good for me.

This time we ended up at a small museum we'd never visited that featured an exhibit of installation art. Among the many fascinating pieces was an interactive display of fortune telling miracle fish, which we were invited to try out for ourselves. Since the artist's statement assured us that all of the fortunes were good ones, we decided to give it a go.

To receive our fortunes, we had to remove a little fish cut-out made of Mylar from the exhibit, and hold the fish on our palms until it reacted to our body heat. We then matched which part of it curled (or didn't curl) to the fortune on the back of a small envelope, also provided by the artist.



Kath's fish didn't curl (skinny teens have cold hands), so her fortune was "smooth sailing." My fish's tail curled, which meant "dream job." It figures my fortune would involve work. But as I already have my dream job, I think it was just reminding me to be a little more grateful for it.

As a reminder I've been keeping my 2011 motto fortune on my desk, but it's been migrating into my notes or falling to the floor, so I need to make it less likely to get lost. I didn't want to tape it to the computer, so I finally made it into a ATC. It's a bit harder to lose a card, and I wanted to experiment with making artist trading cards again.



I think at the end of the year I have to pass this one along to someone else; at least that's what my inner superstitious muse is muttering. The card will definitely make it easier to hand off.

I think we can make our own fortunes, good or bad, but it doesn't hurt to wish or let a random suggestion guide us along the way. The universe has an endless ocean of miracle fish waiting for someone to find them, and hold them in the palm of their hand, and see what might be happening next.

Hunting Metaphors

I went with my guy and the kid to a flea market this past weekend, but the allure of cheap plastic clogs, temporary tattoos and cardboard bins of slightly dusty, almost-designer handbags couldn't compete with all the stuff waiting beyond in the fields behind the warehouses. I left my loved ones nibbling on boiled peanuts and headed for the really gritty outdoor section.

There's about an acre of everything you've ever seen set out at a garage sale, donated to a thrift store or abandoned to quietly rust in a field, multiplied by dozens, even hundreds. While I always love getting the perfect beautiful shot, I'm also drawn to things that are not so perfect; things left behind, things that were forgotten, and other debris piles from the past.

This is the kind of place where my camera and I mine for descriptions, by taking shots of interesting/ugly objects to study later, but this time I hit a metaphoric goldmine. Everywhere I looked I saw something that defined something else for me, so much so that I took out the notepad in my purse and started taking notes.

Here are a few of the snapshots, and what they made me think (to find out what that was, place your cursor over the image. To see a larger version, click on the image):



I spent a lot of time photographing the glassware tables. On this one everything felt brittle, crowded, transparent, uncomfortable, as if one wrong move would sending everything crashing. Everything here wants to see and be seen. Glassy expressions, gaping mouths, dangerous proximities, but nothing real or especially attractive.



Also lots of rusty things to be admired. This conglomeration of old bikes probably hasn't been moved in years. They've been left all jammed together, but when you look at each one it's as if they are wheedling you to give them another chance: "Come on, I still work. Buy me. Rescue me. Take me for a ride again."



I don't know their name, but these are such shy flowers, too bashful to even raise their blooms. I remember all the years I felt like this -- like if I kept my head down and said nothing, I wouldn't get stomped. And yeah, that actually doesn't work. If you listen you can almost hear them whisper, "Nothing to see here, lady, just move along." Still lovely, though, and wistful.



This is back inside, but when I looked up and saw the sunlight sparkling through this curtain of crystal I had to get the shot. Each gem threw its own rainbows and glitter at my head. All the shapes and colors -- how could you choose to take just one? Their dazzle makes you into a greedy kid. You want them all.

The lovely thing about hunting and collecting visual metaphors are the many ways you can use them; they don't have to be assigned a single meaning. The hanging crystals are definitely going in the story I'm working on now; they'll serve very well as part of a characterization. I like the rusty bikes, too, and I think I know just how to use them to illustrate a chunk of backstory.

Keeping a photographic metaphor journal can be a fun way to collect your visual trophies. If you're not into taking your own photographs, look for images online you can print out or cut out from magazines. If you don't want to keep a paper journal, put together a video or slideshow (everyone does music playlists for their stories, why not a video playlist?)

If you'd like to see more examples, I uploaded the best of my shots from this day and made a Visual Metaphors online photo album here.

Taggedy Ten

Ten Things I Think about Your Dialogue Tags

"!@#$," he grated.

This is an RWA staple, and I'm still trying to weed it out of my books. So I don't mind seeing it once. Even twice I'll let it pass. But when you use "grate" as a dialogue tag in every single chapter, I'm definitely going to nickname your hero CheeseBoy.

"All you ever do is swear," she croaked.

If you kiss her, does she turn into a princess?

"Betty is a complete slut!" he declared.

Am I too stupid to realize this is a declarative sentence? Survey says: nope. P.S., the exclamation point is just annoying.

"I don't give a hoot about Betty or anyone else you sleep with," she retorted.

We stopped retorting back in the nineteenth century. Didn't you get the memo?

"I thought you loved me, and now you think I'd do something as dastardly as go to bed with Betty and let her have her wicked way with me from dusk until dawn?" he gasped.

According to Random House dictionary, a gasp is "a sudden, short intake of breath, as in shock or surprise." Yes, I checked. So unless your hero has lungs the size of garment bags . . .

"Unless you want the mage to invoke the curse of Chaos, open the gates to Hell, release the demon horde and destroy the world in fifteen minutes," he growled, "we have to have wild monkey sex on top of the Chrysler Building. In front of Betty."

I actually tried to growl this line. I gave myself laryngitis.

"Sebastian, how could you cheat on me with Betty, of all people, when you could have assuaged your needs with the floozy redhead down at the tavern who puts out for every rake with a shilling?" she yelped.

A yelp is shorter than a gasp, I think. Like a microgasp, only louder. I should really conduct a scientific study of this. Until then, please pair with briefer utterances.

"Betty says that the sixth shiek's sixth sheep's sick," he stuttered.

Speaking on behalf of all stutterers, no. Just no.

"You and Betty can go tiptoe through the tulip patch together for all I care," she hissed.

A hiss should only be used by snakes, steam irons or overheating radiators. Homo sapiens who have to employ it should be hissing sibilant fricative words (words with "s" or "z"). Otherwise they're lithping the hith.

"Why do you hate Betty so much?" he complained.

This is a question, not a complaint. Here's a complaint: "You're sleeping with my sister, my best friend, your ex, the Domino Pizza delivery girl and Betty," she complained. "I love you. Please stop it."

Winners

I appreciate all the great entries for the Coming Home giveaway, so much so that I think I'll take the comments with me next time I hit the book store.

Tonight we got the magic hat to do its thing, and the winners are:

Karla Jackson-Levine, who is on her third copy of Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke.

AthenaW, who was very pleased with Quinn by Iris Johansen.

Lorinda, whose current satisfying read is Annie's Song by Catherine Anderson.

SandyH, who is getting caught up on her reading with several great reads, including Sarah Addison Allen's The Peach Keeper (I just read that on myself last week, and it was terrific.)

Fran Kane, who found Jacquelyn Frank's Hunting Julian a satisfying read.

cymberleah, who particularly enjoyed A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin.

Lynne Connolly, who thought Loretta Chase's Silk and Seduction was a lovely read.

Erin Kendall, who picked Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh.

Rowan, who is reading the Sword of Change series by Patricia Bray.

Ilona, who often reads The Deeds Of Paksennarion series by Elizabeth Moon.

Winners, when you have a chance please send your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com. Also, please indicate if you'd like me to send along the other three Kyndred novels along with the Nightshine ARC. My thanks to everyone for joining in.

Blogger Account Heads Up

FYI for those of you who have very old Blogger accounts with static content -- the other day I was looking for help on a browser problem, and came across this official notice which I'm reposting verbatim:

"(This message only applies to a tiny fraction of users who haven't logged in to Blogger since 2007. If you've logged in to Blogger at least one time since 2007, you won't be affected and can disregard this message.)

There was a time early on in Blogger's life where we had our own, custom account system for handling login authentication. Starting in 2006 all new Blogger accounts were created using the official Google accounts system, and then in 2007 we started the process of moving all of our legacy users over to the Google accounts system. Now, four years later, we're finally at the home stretch of the transition. For a number of technical and operational reasons, we've decided to finally end our support for migrating legacy accounts and blogs after August 1st, 2011. So if you have a Blogger account and haven't logged in since 2007, you will lose access to the account and associated content permanently unless you update to the Google Account system before August 1st.

Updating to the new account system is easy and should take just a few minutes. We really do value all of the content that has been created on Blogger and we hope that as many people as possible will reclaim their blogs. If you've been avoiding this task for a while, we encourage you to head over to the Legacy migration page and update your account.

We'll be sending a similar notice later this week via email to all of the email addresses associated with the legacy accounts we have in our database. In a few weeks we'll also make another announcement here on Buzz, with more specific updates on the transition.

If you have any other questions about this process, please let us know by posting your issue in the Login section of our Help Forum."

As of August 1st Blogger is also no longer going to support older browsers, which you can read about here.

Coming Home

In a few months Nightshine , the fourth novel in the Kyndred series, will hit the shelves. Normally I would say that this is also the final book in the series, and as it happens I did wrap up as much as possible with the Kyndred in this story. But as I am currently back writing in the Darkyn universe again, who's to say what the future will bring? I have to leave it in the hands of the publisher and the readership.

I'm quite happy with what I got on the page while writing Nightshine. I had a lot of fun with the storyline, the cast and the world-building. As with the other books in the series it's definitely not the usual thing, but for all the exotic aspects involved in the story, writing it reminded me of how it feels to come home after a long road trip.

I don't think everyone should have to wait until November to read the book, though, so I've got a stack of Nightshine ARCs to give away today. If you'd like a chance to win one, in comments to this post name the title of a book you felt was a particularly satisfying reading experience (or if you can't think of one, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight EST on Saturday, July 16, 2011. I'll draw ten names at random from everyone who participates and send the winners a signed ARC copy of Nightshine (if you win and have not read the first three books in the Kyndred series, or would just like to have a matched set, I will send along signed copies of Shadowlight, Dreamveil and Frostfire as well.) I will also be including a Nightshine-inspired BookLoop in every winner's ARC. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

Off to Play

I am bailing on you guys today to unplug, spend the day with my family and have some fun. While I'm out recharging my batteries, I thought I'd share some pics of what else is happening this summer at Casa PBW (and click on any image to see a larger version):

       

The bluebirds are back, and we've decided that they are nymphomaniacs, as we have batch #3 of babies now cheeping away and starting to look out at the world. We think they're another set of triplets, but we're not going near the birdhouse as Papa Bluebird has been especially anxious about this batch.



When he's not chasing away any other bird that comes within ten feet of the birdhouse, he's been delivering almost all the meals to the babies. I think Mama must be off at Bluebird Club Med trying to recover (or maybe she's avoiding him to prevent batch #4.)



During my morning breaks I've been fiddling with the BookLoop concept and trying different types of cords, ribbons and strings for the loops as well as an assortment of objects as anchors. I have a small collection of miniature dress forms, and this one came in handy as a place to hang my works in progress. I'll have more details on some variations you can try once I test a few more things.

The one big bright spot of the summer has been


Stop in tomorrow if you get a chance, as my editor just sent me some Nightshine ARCs, and (unless I have too much fun today) I'll be having a giveaway for a nice stack of them.

Quantum Writing Part II

Yesterday I talked about working on several writing projects at the same time and preparations to make in order to try this. Today we'll discuss how to do the actual work without driving yourself batty.

For each of your projects you now have a one-page outline, a notebook, folder or file for the paperwork, and a dedicated space for all research and reference materials. From here you can go three ways, depending on how you like to work your writing plan:

1. Write a detailed synopsis for each project.
2. Write chapter summaries for each project.
3. Work off the one-page outline for each project.

I don't like guessing what to write, and there is no such thing as too much planning for me, so I always go with #1 and a modified version of #2 (once I have the synopsis written, I divide it into approximate chapters.) This also automatically generates my daily task list, which we'll get to after we cover the other options.

If you're not interested in writing a synopsis for the project, you can put together chapter summaries based on your one-page outline. You can get as detailed or keep it as simple as you like, but you're basically answering this question for each chapter: What happens now?

Writers who don't want to fiddle with a synopsis or chapter summaries can write based on the one-page outline, which is probably the best choice for you organic writers out there.

Once you've decided on your writing plan, you are ready to make up your session task list. This is when decide exactly what part of the story you want to work on for each project during one writing session. To start off I strongly suggest doing a list for just one session at a time; it takes a while to get used to giving yourself defined writing assignments each day, and you may want to adjust the amount of work you're planning to accomplish.

Here's a session task list with just writing goals:

Project A -- Chapter 1 Scene 2 (Simone receives a cryptic message, knocks out courier, arms herself and rides to chateau)
Project B -- Chapter 6 Scene 4 (The colonists build a temporary shelter out of fuselage, discover new monster in caverns)
Project C -- Chapter 11 Scene 1 (Doyle takes Kit to Rumsen Main, where she is questioned and drugged)

If you'd rather not write on every project, you can write one and perform other tasks on the other(s):

Project A -- Chapter 1 Scene 2 (Simone receives a cryptic message, knocks out courier, arms herself and rides to chateau)
Project B -- Edit/research Chapter 5 (Estimate amount of food and water needed by colonists to survive, possible treatment for unknown venom, weight of fuselage)
Project C -- Type ins Chapter 10 Scene 3 (correct manuscript according to editing changes and rewrites)

Organic writers who don't want to plan anything can still assign themselves goals. If you have two projects and four hours in a session, estimate how many pages you can reasonably expect to write in that period of time, divide it by two, and that's your quota for each project.

When you've decided which writing tasks you're going to tackle for that session, then you just pick which one you want to start on first. This is a decision you make based on how you work, too. If you're not feeling too confident, you might start off with the easiest project first as a warm-up. If you tend to get crabby and tired toward the end of a writing session, save the easiest for last.

Work on each task straight through without backtracking or second-guessing yourself for the length of time you've allotted for that project. If you're working three projects over three hours, work for fifty minutes straight and then take a ten minute break before you begin the second project/task. During that ten minute break, don't think about anything, Make yourself a cup of tea, walk around, stretch, or whatever works best to help clear your mind. At the end of the break move on to the next item on your task list and repeat.

This sounds so easy, but of course it's really not. If things are going really well with your Project A, you're not going to want to move on to Project B. If things with Project B suck, you'll be tempted to shove it aside and work on Project C. The key here is to resist the urge to short or overextend yourself on any one task. Unless you are writing the most brilliant prose (or the most malodorous) ever to grace the page, it's best to stick to your writing schedule.

Sometimes you will need more than a ten minute break to shift project gears, and this is when focus breaks and project cues can be helpful. I mentioned a focus break yesterday in comments; it's something I do when for whatever reason I'm not ready to write during a writing session. I leave my writing space and do a short-term chore I dislike, such as folding laundry. That helps motivate me to get back into a writing frame of mind.

Project cues are something writers do to get their heads in the right place for a project. I usually listen to a song that I associate with the project and visualize the story over again. I also use sensory cues like scented candles or flavored teas. Occasionally I'll change my clothes (I used to put on my old scrubs whenever I worked on any of the StarDoc books; just wearing them put me into more of a medical frame of mind.)

Some other tips:

While you're working on each project, keep a blank notepad nearby to make any notes for unexpected editing changes or research needs. Once you've finish with that project, add the notes to the editing section of your project file/folder/notebook.

If you hit a stumbling block on the page and you can't get past it because you need to be in a different mood, or you need to do some research, or you just need to think about it, note the problem in brackets like this [describe the hotel in Avignon] and move on.

If you feel you're stretching yourself too thin, you're probably trying to accomplish too much each day. Adjust your task list or cut your writing time back an hour or two. You can also give yourself a couple of days to work on one project only, and then when you feel more relaxed, try the quantum approach again.

Don't think about the enormity of working on more than one project at the same time. Don't question your sanity. Don't decide you can't do this. Don't think about failing. Try not to think about anything at all but the work at hand and completing all the items on your task list. When they're done then you can go sit in your worry space and beat yourself up for an hour or two.

Quantum writing may or may not work for you, and the only person who can decide that is you. I suggest that you try it for a week, and then at the end of it look at what you've accomplished by counting the total number of pages of new material you've written for all your projects. Once you've done that, read what you've written, too. This is not just about knocking out a lot of pages on a lot of different projects, it's also about getting quality work done in a timely manner.

Working on more than one project at once can also cause you to burn out faster than the one-project writer, so be good to yourself. Eat healthy, take plenty of breaks, get a good night's sleep and do whatever else you can to make sure you're keeping your creative batteries charged.

And that wraps up this workshop -- any questions?

Quantum Writing Part I

If you've ever played chess, you know that it's a game of simple strategy: Capture the king. You do this by eliminating the pieces guarding the king and opening up avenues to get to him, hopefully before your opponent does the same to your king. Easy. Only it's not easy because you have to plan your moves while guessing what your opponent's moves are going to be.

Okay, now imagine that writing a novel is playing a game of chess. One playing field, one set of chess pieces, and a whole lot of moves to make. It's enough to keep anyone busy. But what if you could play three games of chess at the same time?

With the right amount of planning and prep work, there is actually very little difference between working on one project and working on two or three simultaneously. It does take more time to finish multiple projects (no writer trick in the world can eliminate the actual work involved) but there are many potential benefits, from eradicating boredom and writer's block from your life to becoming a more efficient and productive writer.

If you're a one-story-at-a-time writer and would like to try this, I have a few preliminary suggestions:

Be conservative. Start off with two projects first (once you get in some practice, then you can try juggling three or more.)

Know your projects. This is not a technique you want to try with a vague idea or a glimmer of story; you want solid, strong, well-thought-out ideas that excite you on the creative level.

Have faith in yourself. If your main writing obstacle is fear, waffling, self-loathing or something along those lines, doing this is probably going to double it. The only way I know how to combat this is to give yourself permission to try this no matter how it turns out. Do it the first time just for fun.

Organize your life. Clear out your writing space, stock up on the office supplies you need, and communicate your plans to your family and loved ones. Eliminate all unnecessary distractions, and make a vow to avoid things that will lure you away from the work.

Once you're in a good place and feel ready to start, write up a working title and a one-page outline for each project (this is also the way to check and see if your idea is clear, strong, and appeals to you.) If you've never done a one-page outline, try my ten point novel template or Alicia Rasley's thirty minute novel outline technique. At this point you want to use broad strokes for outlining to avoid getting mired down in a lot of endless details (you will have time to get more into the details once you start working.)

Set up project files, fiction folders, novel notebooks, or whatever you use to keep your story paperwork organized while you're working on it. Once you have that ready, set up a drawer, box or other contained space where you can put reference materials related to the project (for each project I'm working on I dedicate a shelf in a bookcase near my writing space.) The idea is to have everything you need for the project in one place so you don't have to look around for things while you're writing.

The final prep step is to divide up your dedicated writing time between the projects, and this is where you tailor your time to suit your process. If you prefer to work on one project per day, designate days of the week (i.e. Monday - Project A, Tuesday - Project B, Wednesday - Project A, Thursday - Project B, etc.) If you're like me and you feel comfortable working on different projects during the same session, divide your writing time into hours (i.e. Monday - Project A 9-11 am, Project B 1-3pm; Tuesday - Project C 9-11 am, Project A 1-3 pm, etc.) If you've never tried this and don't know which will work for you, try a test run of each method for a week and find out which one makes you more productive.

A side note on dedicating the writing time: I know it's difficult for those of you with day jobs and/or busy home lives to find the time. If you don't have the time now to write, you'll have to pass on this. Or you might make the time, which means giving up something. Waking up an hour earlier is the simplest way to do it; if you get up before everyone else does that gives you an hour to write in peace and quiet. If you're spending an hour or two a day texting people, tell your friends you're going to take some time to write and turn off the phone. You can also sacrifice watching your favorite television shows to make time to write (if you're worried about missing something, record the shows while you're working, and hold onto the copies as a reward for yourself when you finish the manuscript.)

Tomorrow we'll talk about how to handle the work of quantum writing, how to get into the create-as-you-go zone (and stay there), and some ways to troubleshoot and self-correct common problems. Until then, any questions?

Image credit: © Tino Mager | Dreamstime.com