Justine Musk's Blog, page 41

the key element that every good scene needs (or: how to change the game in your novel)

A good scene requires a turning point. A turning point happens on two different levels, and like a figure skater planning two quad jumps in his Olympic performance, it's important to nail each one.

(Okay, that figure skater reference probably a bit gratuitous. I just wanted an excuse to use that photo of Kurt Browning. When I was growing up, I totally hearted Kurt Browning. But I digress.)

A scene is the basic building block of your novel. A scene is like a novel in...

are you in your creative element?

My first-ever guest post is up at Lateral Action. It's about finding "your element", that sweet spot, that wild streak of creative you that puts you in the zone.

Writing that post — and reading about multiple intelligences — made me realize something. When I write, I tend to get up and move around a lot. I pace. I dismissed it as restlessness, as nervous energy. It dawned on me: No. That's how I think. As a kid, I was into gymnastics and dance, and then later it was...

why bad girls get all the best lines

Ten months ago I wrote a post called why you need to write like a bad girl. I was groping towards a connection between 'badness', writing, and authenticity. Except I didn't realize this until I read a book (for a nonfiction project I'm working on) called THE CURSE OF THE GOOD GIRL by Rachel Simmons (who also wrote REVIVING OPHELIA).

(By the way, from some of the responses I got, it became clear to me that men could relate to that post as well. The details might differ, but t...

you: beautiful rebel. you: spitting truth to power.

There is your "social self" and "essential self". Your essential self is your true self. It alone knows what you need to thrive. It tries to send that knowledge up through your social self like seedlings struggling up through the dirt to break surface, seek sunlight. You get glimmerings and flashes of insight. You get pained in body and mind when your life steers in the wrong direction. Generally it's your essential self that wants and needs to be a writer, or artist o...

platform, branding, and Seth: meaning is the new money

It was only a matter of time before Seth Godin quit traditional publishing. (Apparently he's tried it before. But I bet he really means it this time.)

When he talks, or writes, or posts on his blog, or gives away free stuff, people pay attention. Lots and lots and lots of people. He no longer needs a third party to print his books (he can do that himself) or distribute them (he has all the shelf space he needs) or promote him (the old ways are no longer cutting through the ...

7 ways to navigate the middle of your novel (and maybe your life)

I'm in the muck and murk of my novel, otherwise known as "the middle".

The middle is a difficult place. It's hard to sustain tension. It's easy to get lost.

And I got lost – which manifests itself, for me, in writer's block, like a big hand rising out of my subconscious to smack me on the forehead and stop me in my tracks. After some frustration and a hell of a lot of procrastination, I let my boyfriend drag me to a yoga retreat in Big Sur ("Will there be chanting?" I a...

how to grow your own passion (and talent) even if you don't think you have any (or: develop your own interestingness, part five)

Perhaps one of the most crippling beliefs in this culture is that talent is an inborn, fixed, unchanging quality. Either you're born with it or you're not.

The revelations about something called deliberate practice point up a different truth. Talent starts out as a spark, a glimmer, that is protected, coached and nurtured through years of hard work and expert feedback. Two artists may start out on equal levels, but if one engages in focused deliberate growth and the other ...

why passion is sometimes overrated (how to develop your own interestingness, part four)

1

When I first tweeted about my post the importance of being interesting(the first in this series), one of my followers/followees responded

I'm pretty sure I'm the most boring person on the planet.*

And in the comments section of my most recent post, Irving Podulsky asked the very valid question: Can one LEARN to be unique and deep? (As Irv pointed out, he was asking himself this and not me, but I'm going to take up the question anyway.)

My answer to that — and please cover y...

why passion is overrated (how to develop your own interestingness, part four)

1

When I first tweeted about my post the importance of being interesting(the first in this series), one of my followers/followees responded

I'm pretty sure I'm the most boring person on the planet.*

And in the comments section of my most recent post, Irving Podulsky asked the very valid question: Can one LEARN to be unique and deep? (As Irv pointed out, he was asking himself this and not me, but I'm going to take up the question anyway.)

My answer to that — and please cover y...

10 Traits of Interestingness (how to develop your own interestingness, part three)

5. It lives at the intersections….

In his book THE MEDICI EFFECT Frans Johansson states:

When you step into an intersection of fields, disciplines, or cultures, you can combine existing concepts into a larger number of extraordinary...