Mary Carroll Moore's Blog, page 5

The Gift of Necessary Boredom

Third in a series of four weekly posts, specially crafted for this time of year and time of the world, when chaos is at its height, on how to regain your interior momentum and inspiration as a creative person.

What’s new in my writing room: My latest novel, Last Bets, was selected this month for Kirkus Reviews' Top 100 Best Indie Books of the Year! Kirkus reviews thousands of indie books, and less than 1% receive a coveted starred review (which mine did). Of those, only 100 are selected across all genres for the “Best of” list. Kirkus is (to many) the Michelin Guide to industry book reviews. A star is like a Michelin three star award. A Best of is way beyond! I’m humbled, stunned, delighted. Grateful to all who helped me get here.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

We’ve all got our ways to cope (or not) with the world chaos, and mine is to deliberately section myself away from outside stimuli right now—my effort to find necessary boredom, the phrase I once heard from one of my writing heroes, Dorothy Allison. Allison passed away in November but her legacy remains. Necessary boredom is what lets me create.

Other writers I admire echo this idea, that we need to slow down enough to reach a state of nothing happening inside, no agitation from the outside world, in order to hear our own creative voices.

This month, I’ve also been reaching back to the work of New England essayist and poet Christian McEwen.

I first came across McEwen’s book, World Enough & Time, at a time of my life when slowing down was an anathema to me. My pace was fast as I juggled motherhood, a growing publishing career, a move, and a new marriage. I had no idea when and how to take a breath.

Do we have enough time to be bored?

McEwen’s gentle persistence is that “not enough” is something we adopt, not our birthright. At first, the concept seemed ludicrous. Gradually, though, I got a little tired (bored?) of the sameness of my rush. I needed a new perspective. So I followed her advice and set aside time to consider what the rush was giving me and if I did indeed have a choice about it.

Parents, especially working mothers, may stop reading at this point. I get it. Responsibilities feel endless, but step by step, one change at a time, I was able to pick up reading for pleasure again. Then a walk several times a week that was more than exercise but a chance to expand my view of my life. Eventually I was able to expand my art and writing time. I was able to drift a bit, let go.

The holidays are an insane time to consider this, but with some of them behind us now and the new year ahead full of possibilities, I’m making an effort.

Are you already choosing what you want to bring into your creative life in this new year? Perhaps the busy mental life, the constant surges of adrenaline, keep us too far from the stillness and dreaminess of the creative life. I can’t say for you. But for me, seesawing between extremes was very hard on my creative spirit.

Boredom, actually, is a sign of health. Or so I found out.

Fear of boredom

If you’ve read this far, you need to know I have never been a fan of boredom. My legacy was a mom who had been a pilot, who now worked full-time (plus) while raising four kids. She was super intelligent, but she worked harder than anyone I knew. Constantly juggling, constantly behind.

I asked her about this, as a child. Whether being so busy all the time was something she loved. And, surprisingly, she said yes. Definitely better than boredom, she told me. She would deliberately not finish a task because she wanted to be sure to have something to do the next day.

I remember her telling me her worst fear was having nothing to keep her mind and hands busy. I heard it all through my childhood: there’s nothing worse than being bored. When I became an adult, I began to emulate this pace. Not one job but two. Not one Thanksgiving to attend but three, like house hopping (this is true!).

Truthfully, it’s made me a little frantic, all my life, this fear of boredom.

Boredom in the creative life

I used to think boredom was a simple state of mind—when you don’t have anything to occupy yourself, when you feel uninspired by your job, your life. But in the creative sense, it’s much more than that.

Creative boredom runs the gamut from restless about your current writing project to feeling no energy and no interest in it. This can bring agitation, worry for the future (will nothing inspire me ever again?), and at the extreme, despair about even being a writer. (I am not trained in anything resembling psychology, so I am only speaking here about boredom in the sense of the creative life.) When we can’t create, something inside dies.

Ironically, when the world is in crisis, boredom can put us into a kind of limbo, as Margaret Talbot writes about in this pandemic-era piece for The New Yorker.

But underneath feeling bored—what’s really there? That’s what my mother never slowed down enough to teach me. I learned it through two very serious illnesses, when I was literally unable to do anything for months except lie in bed and stare at the ceiling. Being very ill is extremely boring, at least to me, but it taught me to step back and see which emotion is really running the show when I feel bored.

If I’m truly disinterested, say, in my writing, is there agitation and worry underneath it, coming from something in my life? An underground distraction that first needs to be addressed? Check out Dr. David Hanscom’s technique of writing out the worry and tossing the page, which I’ve found extremely effective in separating from the problem so I can see what’s rumbling underneath.

Boredom, for me, often hides burn out. Maybe it’s not the writing that’s the cause, but not sleeping well, not being out in nature, too much brain fatigue from the news or world worry. Maybe I am stewing over a difficult decision or about to take a huge risk creatively. The inner gatekeeper can use boredom to keep me from risking—and in that case, boredom is a confusing illusion that masks the real concerns.

Over the years, weaning myself from my mom’s approach to boredom, I’ve come to believe my writing, my creative work, is rarely the cause of this inner stagnation. But it could be the cure.

Using boredom as a gateway

Long ago, I wrote down that quote from writer Dorothy Allison (that I sadly cannot substantiate today—if you can, please post below!). The concept of “necessary boredom” struck me so deeply, turning my learning on its head.

McEwen continued the teaching with the idea that by allowing such moments of inner drifting, deliberate stillness, and the non-stimulated time so akin to what we call boredom, we tap into resources we can’t when we are constantly stimulated from the outside.

You may be much younger than me. But I grew up in a time before the internet and kids didn’t have much in the way of entertainment, except books and what I made for myself. Because my mom worked full-time, I also didn’t have constant activities planned for my day. We walked home from school (yep, that kind of childhood), and we were on our own. My dad didn’t let us watch much TV, but everyone read books. So we read and explored the neighborhood. I’d get on my bike and ride around the reservoir near our home. I did art. I cooked. I made things. I played with other kids. I wrote a little. I lay on the grass and stared at the sky.

I was often bored. But that kind of boredom is just what was necessary to foster my creative spirit. Now, looking back, I think it was good for me.

From these moments of nothingness, I got ideas. If I stayed in the stillness long enough, it showed me a next step.

Inner critic

Earlier, I mentioned that gatekeeper that tries to keep us safe, prevent creative risks that might harm us. You might call it the inner critic. In these moments of stillness, it can bring in a sort of agitation. Shouldn’t you be doing something more productive? is how it talks to me now.

When I hear this voice inside, I know it’s coming from this mechanism that most creative people have, the part of the psyche that tries to keep them safe.

If I start getting bored with a piece of writing I’m working on, if it starts to feel stuck, the negative self-talk begins its rant. Do you recognize any of these inner comments? This is terrible. This isn’t what I want to say. I’m going around in circles. I should scrap the project, start over.

Can you write something that’s not so boring?

Just the fact of that self-talk arising tells me that I’m circling around an idea that’s agitating the safety cop inside. It wants to stay safe, unseen, and free from risk. Now my reaction of This is so boring or I’m bored is different. I see it as a sign that I’m ready to break through to something new.

Allison and McEwen offer the antidote my mom didn’t know. Slow down enough to hear what I’m not saying.

Slowing down—how to foster necessary boredom

I was on my walk today, thinking about this idea of slowing down, how impossible it feels right now with the world around us in such high tension, how absolutely necessary it is for sanity. I came up with a little list that you might enjoy having in your back pocket over the week to come. These are ways I’ve found to foster that inner stillness of necessary boredom that allows me to write no matter what.

And that’s what it comes down to, for me at least: to be able to write, to create, to express myself into the world, no matter what that world is feeding back to me at the moment.

So here’s the list. Please add to it, in the comments, if you have ways to foster boredom that work for you.

Check HALT—am I hungry, angry, lonely, or tired? Use the Hanscom technique or another to clear the emotion, feed myself, rest

Fast for an hour from any distractions—no news, no internet, no emails

Read—get dreamy with someone else’s writing

Listen to music

Take a walk, let the mind chatter dissolve into nature

Garden or touch something living, like petting an animal

Exercise

Sleep enough—take a nap if I can

Move from large focus to tiny details—clean a junk drawer or do handwork (knit!)

Make art

What do you do?

Your Weekly Writing Exercise

This week, when you have that sense of boredom, restlessness, lethargy in your creative life, see if you can look beyond it to what the gatekeeper might be preventing. Are you ready to take a creative risk? Do you need to process some rumbling emotion that’s in the way?

Write three concerns you have about your writing, why it’s not satisfying you right now.

Then write three unsolved questions you have about it.

Choose one item on the “fostering boredom” list and try it for an hour, just to see if your mind can still enough to let an idea float in. It might be a clue about what to do next with your writing.

Leave a comment

Shout Out!

A hearty shout out to these writing friends and former students who are publishing their books! I encourage you to pre-order or order a copy to show your support of fellow writers and our writing community.

(If you are a former student and will publish soon (pre-orders of your book are available now), or have in the past two months, email mary[at]marycarrollmoore[dot]com to be included in a future Shout Out! I’ll keep your listing here for two months.)

Megan Lindhal Goodrich, Beyond Terminal: Processing Childhood Trauma to Reclaim Self (Wise Ink), September release

Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, The Release: Creativity and Freedom after the Writing Is Done (Skinner House), October release

Robert Johns, The Fighters: A Trilogy (River Grove Books), October release

Morgan Baylog Finn, The Gathering: Poems (Finishing Line Press), November release

Ed Orzechowski, Becoming Darlene: The Story of Belchertown Patient #4952 (Levellers Press), November release

Mary Beth Spray, Imprint: A Woman’s Journey from Trauma to Freedom (Beaver’s Pond Press), December release

I’m a lifelong artist, and I love to inspire and support other creative folk, which is why I write this weekly newsletter. My goal with these posts is to help you strengthen your writing practice and creative life so it becomes more satisfying to you.

I’m also the author of 15 books in 3 genres. My third novel, Last Bets (Riverbed Press), was published in April, after becoming an Amazon bestseller during pre-orders. My second novel, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue (Riverbed Press), was published in October 2023 also and became an Amazon bestseller and Hot New Release from pre-orders. For twelve years, I worked as a full-time food journalist, most notably through my weekly column for the Los Angeles Times syndicate. My writing-craft book, Your Book Starts Here, won the New Hampshire Literary Awards “People’s Choice” in 2011 and my first novel, Qualities of Light, was nominated for PEN/Faulkner and Lambda Literary awards in 2009. I’ve written Your Weekly Writing Exercise every Friday since 2008.

When Your Persistence Disappears

Second in a series of four weekly posts, specially crafted for this time of year and time of the world, when chaos is at its height, on how to regain your interior momentum and inspiration as a creative person.

What’s new in my writing room: My latest novel, Last Bets, was selected this week for Kirkus Reviews' Top 100 Best Indie Books of the Year! Kirkus reviews thousands of indie books, and less than 1% receive a coveted starred review. Of these, only 100 are selected across all genres for the “Best of” list. Kirkus is (to many authors) the Michelin Guide for industry book reviews. A Kirkus starred review is like a Michelin one-star restaurant award, some say. A Best of is three stars! I’m humbled, stunned, delighted. Grateful to all who helped me get here.

Photo by Vera Davidova on Unsplash

This week, I had some very good news. My latest novel, Last Bets, was selected for Kirkus Reviews’ 2024 Best Indie Book list. Only 100 books out of many thousands make that list, and I don’t know why this novel, out of all the books I’ve published, was graced to get this award. I can’t really figure out the publishing industry, at any time, but Kirkus is a big deal, and I’m very grateful this novel got some notice.

However! It doesn’t really touch the next project, in terms of whether I’m able to sit down and work. Keep my courage going, my belief that I can create another book that readers will love. And reviewers too. Each time, it’s a completely new game.

Courage to create ebbs and flows, for me. How about you? Sometimes it’s completely smothered by events around me or chaos within. I wanted to tell you about this holiday gift (thank you, Kirkus) but also give you a little boost to get through these next weeks. How will you (and me too) not neglect ourselves creatively?

So I thought I’d pass along my ongoing collection of famous writer rejections.

It’s a list I’ve been gathering for years. These are my favorites.

Here are writers who persisted. Who had busy lives. Who faced odds—some really big odds—and their worlds were chaos, often, like ours is. Whose courage ebbed and flowed. Who may have gotten an award for one book but wondered, as I am wondering now, if there’s juice to create another one.

Bottom line? They kept at their craft, despite these challenges, internal and external. They kept writing. They kept submitting their work.

They kept trying to say what they had to say, on the page, in the story.

What keeps a writer from trying?

I guess it comes down to a certain will to push forward, but even more, a belief in our right to write. A belief in our stories.

So here are ones who held that belief, who persisted. They are listed below, along with their happy endings. (My research came from many sites online, and particularly two, which I thank below.)

And if you really want to feel great about your own persistence, check out this post from Lit Hub on rejection letters that famous authors have received. And a great conversation on Reddit with even more authors’ rejection stories.

Enjoy whatever boost you get from this! The point? To give us courage to keep going in the new year, of course.

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate Di Camillo--397 rejections (and it became a movie)

Jessmyn Ward received countless rejections and won two National Book Awards

Alex Haley got 200 rejections before Roots was finally printed

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle--97 rejections (and it won the Newbery Medal for best children's book of 1963; last I read, it was in its 69th printing)

Cinder Edna by Ellen Jackson--40 rejections (and it has won multiple awards and sold 150,000 hard copies)

Judy Blume says she received "nothing but rejections" for 2 years

Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot--17 rejections

Harry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling--rejected by 9 publishers

The Diary of Anne Frank--16 rejections (and now more than 30 million copies are in print)

Dr. Seuss books--more than 15 rejections

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach--140 rejections

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell--38 rejections

Watership Down by Richard Adams--26 rejections

Dune by Frank Herbert--nearly 20 rejections

Read more at Globe Soup and another great post from Lit Hub. Do you know of others? Share them here, to give us all a little uplift this week!

Leave a comment

Special thanks to these authors for helping me add to my list: Debbie Ohi and Richard Pettinger.

Your Weekly Writing Exercise

This week, my exercise suggestion is in two parts.

Take a walk. Get away by yourself for a short time, however long you can, and think about your creative life. Take your phone or a notepad and pen, take photos of what inspires you visually or record some images and ideas you get.

Google one of these authors listed above and read about their creative lives. It’s a huge reality check, to learn the struggles that other writers go through, especially ones that seem to have it all. What did you learn?

Leave a comment

Shout Out!

A hearty shout out to these writing friends and former students who are publishing their books! I encourage you to pre-order or order a copy to show your support of fellow writers and our writing community.

(If you are a former student and will publish soon (pre-orders of your book are available now), or have in the past two months, email mary[at]marycarrollmoore[dot]com to be included in a future Shout Out! I’ll keep your listing here for two months.)

Megan Lindhal Goodrich, Beyond Terminal: Processing Childhood Trauma to Reclaim Self (Wise Ink), September release

Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, The Release: Creativity and Freedom after the Writing Is Done (Skinner House), October release

Robert Johns, The Fighters: A Trilogy (River Grove Books), October release

Morgan Baylog Finn, The Gathering: Poems (Finishing Line Press), November release

Ed Orzechowski, Becoming Darlene: The Story of Belchertown Patient #4952 (Levellers Press), November release

Mary Beth Spray, Imprint: A Woman’s Journey from Trauma to Freedom (Beaver’s Pond Press), December release

I’m a lifelong artist, and I love to inspire and support other creative folk, which is why I write this weekly newsletter. My goal with these posts is to help you strengthen your writing practice and creative life so it becomes more satisfying to you.

I’m also the author of 15 books in 3 genres. My third novel, Last Bets (Riverbed Press), was published in April, after becoming an Amazon bestseller during pre-orders. My second novel, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue (Riverbed Press), was published in October 2023 also and became an Amazon bestseller and Hot New Release from pre-orders. For twelve years, I worked as a full-time food journalist, most notably through my weekly column for the Los Angeles Times syndicate. My writing-craft book, Your Book Starts Here, won the New Hampshire Literary Awards “People’s Choice” in 2011 and my first novel, Qualities of Light, was nominated for PEN/Faulkner and Lambda Literary awards in 2009. I’ve written Your Weekly Writing Exercise every Friday since 2008.

Deep Attention When Creating

First in a series of four weekly posts, specially crafted for this time of year and time of the world, on how to stabilize and nurture your interior momentum and inspiration as a creative person.

Photo by Good Days Digital on Unsplash

Writers train how to stay focused, in order to create better. Even when we’re waiting for feedback from an agent or submission results. Even when life worries interfere with any ability to create. But being focused and being present are two different animals, in my view.

Focus is a mental determination. A kind of discipline we exert by will.

Being present means we are fully open to whatever is happening within and around us. We’ve tuned the inner knob to “receive” rather than “send.”

Struggle to be present

The kind of “not present” I’m talking about today is the kind that brings easy burnout. And frustration. When we can’t slip into our own creativity and stay with a piece. When the mind or emotions pull us away from the sheer joy of being in the moment with our writing.

I enjoyed this pandemic-era piece in Writers Atelier. A lot of writers I know, myself included, had trouble during those years sitting down to write. Life felt too uncertain, turbulent. The news rattled us constantly. Writing fell aside, in favor of worry and stress. I am not sure I’d call it burnout, as in the overworked kind. But it was similar in effect—the writing dream came very hard to many of us.

Maybe our world right now is not that different. We’re not in pandemic days, but we have much to worry us. So much turmoil happening, difficult to watch the news (if you do), uncertainty about where it’ll all go.

So any tips on how to stay present, relax that worry and let yourself create with engagement, are worth considering.

Deep attention

One of my favorite parts of my writing life is what some call “deep attention.” Although it has different meanings for different people, to me it’s the immersion in what I’m creating to the exclusion of what’s around me.

Like watching an enthralling film or reading a great book you can’t put down, the writing process can also have this kind of focus. And it’s hard to even call it focus, which implies a kind of forcefulness of attention. This is more a dream state, to me. My mind relaxes into what I’m doing, and I am completely engaged.

One way I get this, when I’m working on a piece of writing, is to limit distractions. Managing my email and texting and social media is the first step. I close them down to allow a time of silence. I’ll go with no internet (turn off my router or wifi on my laptop) when I want to really sink into a scene or chapter.

At first, the mind (used to distractions and stimuli) gets a little ancy and uneasy. But gradually it slows to the stillness I’m looking for.

Choosing a location away from interruptions helps. Sometimes I’ll go out to a coffeeshop or the library and wear earbuds or headphones to create white noise. At home, I’ll ask for some hours alone in a room away from everyone else with a door that shuts. Whatever will give me enough privacy to not be on alert.

When the world is too much

So, being present means getting out of the world’s effect. And out of yourself, your own reaction to it, if that’s also in your way. But how do you do this and still stay connected to life?

Engage with a different part of it, a slower, more organically paced part.

For instance, when we’re too frazzled with the bombardment of political and trauma news to sink in, we can use a half-hour walk to disconnect. Get back into the physical body versus the mind wheel. Spending time in nature always helps me become more aware of what’s around me and brings an uplift. I stop chewing on stuff, mentally—except the good stuff, like problems I’m working out in my story or essay.

What I perceive through the senses on that walk becomes more real than anything I read online. It becomes meditation or spiritual practice.

Naps also help me disconnect, refresh myself, and reconnect to the present. Some of my writing friends swear by one a day, even for fifteen minutes (set your phone alarm). Fifteen minutes can bring a surprising abundance of refreshment and reorientation.

If I am too jittery with the world to nap, I can spread out my yoga mat in the living room and do fifteen minutes of relaxation exercises. My headache of “world overwhelm” goes away.

Plus, my writing that afternoon often takes me in new directions.

Swinging to relax the vision

If you can’t take the time to nap or walk outside, try swinging.

I remember my art teacher used to have us stop our paintings mid-stroke, set down the supplies, and step away from the easel to relax our eyes. She used one of the Bates Method exercises called the swing. It supposedly brings more blood flow to the eye, refreshing the vision, and for me it always worked to let me see anew.

When I’m at the keyboard for more than an hour, I try to remember to stop, stand up, and change my focus. Look far, out the window to the fields behind our house, then do a few minutes of swinging.

Stop and smell the roses—for real

The point? We can’t push our creativity if we expect to come up with original ideas and engaging writing or art.

According to author Miriam Laundry, it helps to slow down and use the senses to remind us about what’s real. Go outside and take in what you see, smell, hear. Don’t let the world just blur by, because it feels like too much. Focus in on what might bring you pleasure. Allow it to be part of your moment.

Focusing on the moment might sound simplistic, but it does let me disconnect, even briefly, from the jaggedness of the world right now.

Find the present moment in a generous community

A final idea on how to create that vital present-moment awareness when you’re creating: do it in community with fellow writers. I’ve always loved being part of events where writers share writing. If you find a generous one, it becomes a way to remember that you’re more than the chaos around you. It’s a great activity for staying present.

I enjoyed hearing author Maria Kouvarou’s exploration of this. Kouvarou believes the difficulty we experience in staying present with creating comes when we allow “external factors to limit, reduce, confine, and undermine the core elements” that keep us ideally present and connected to our own worlds.

She became involved with a series called the “Present Writer,” where she read/performed her work then answered questions from the audience about it.

Find a community that supports you—we writers can’t do this alone, especially when the world is pressing in in such an extreme way. Community is something to lean again. It reminds of of the creative possibilities in our lives, far from the internet and the news. We can align with something more lasting and tangible, a truth we get real nourishment from.

Begin to notice: Is it harder to write and slip into that dream state of creativity when you’ve spent a lot of time doom scrolling or listening to the news? What kind of balance can you find between being a concerned citizen of the world today and also a vibrant creative person?

Your Weekly Writing Exercise

This week, notice your own ability to stay present and how it influences your engagement with your writing practice. Try one of the techniques shared above.

Share your thoughts.

Leave a comment

Shout Out!

A hearty shout out to these writing friends and former students who are publishing their books! I encourage you to pre-order or order a copy to show your support of fellow writers and our writing community.

(If you are a former student and will publish soon (pre-orders of your book are available now), or have in the past two months, email mary[at]marycarrollmoore[dot]com to be included in a future Shout Out! I’ll keep your listing here for two months.)

Megan Lindhal Goodrich, Beyond Terminal: Processing Childhood Trauma to Reclaim Self (Wise Ink), September release

Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, The Release: Creativity and Freedom after the Writing Is Done (Skinner House), October release

Robert Johns, The Fighters: A Trilogy (River Grove Books), October release

Morgan Baylog Finn, The Gathering: Poems (Finishing Line Press), November release

Ed Orzechowski, Becoming Darlene: The Story of Belchertown Patient #4952 (Levellers Press), November release

Mary Beth Spray, Imprint: A Woman’s Journey from Trauma to Freedom (Beaver’s Pond Press), December release

I’m a lifelong artist, and I love to inspire and support other creative folk, which is why I write this weekly newsletter. My goal with these posts is to help you strengthen your writing practice and creative life so it becomes more satisfying to you.

I’m also the author of 15 books in 3 genres. My third novel, Last Bets (Riverbed Press), was published in April, after becoming an Amazon bestseller during pre-orders. My second novel, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue (Riverbed Press), was published in October 2023 also and became an Amazon bestseller and Hot New Release from pre-orders. For twelve years, I worked as a full-time food journalist, most notably through my weekly column for the Los Angeles Times syndicate. My writing-craft book, Your Book Starts Here, won the New Hampshire Literary Awards “People’s Choice” in 2011 and my first novel, Qualities of Light, was nominated for PEN/Faulkner and Lambda Literary awards in 2009. I’ve written Your Weekly Writing Exercise every Friday since 2008.

Happy Holidays and Some Writerly Gift Ideas

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Whatever you celebrate this month, wherever you are, I hope you are enjoying some joy amid all that’s happening in the world. I hope your holidays are gatherings that enrich your lives.

It’s that season for gift giving, which can be fun or a total hassle.

If you’re looking for some great writerly gifts, here’s a little round up I put together this week, my favorite and (mostly) inexpensive ways to celebrate other writers in my life. I don’t get any commission or whatever from these, just happy to share what I love so that you might too!

Please post your own ideas for great writerly gifts in the comments!

Note: Prices quoted are in US dollars and are approximate as of this writing.

Inspiration: If you haven’t already become a fan, do! I regularly buy her books, Wintering and Enchantment, for writer friends during the holidays. Katherine is also offering a new online course called The Way through Winter which carries her Wintering ideas into personal reflection for the dark season (about $145). My other go-to for writers is ’s classic, Big Magic ($10 paperback), which I am revisiting this week to get some extra courage for a new project. I especially love the audio version.

Online writing classes: I regularly take writing classes online, to stay fresh and alert to new learning, and my favorite venues are Grub Street (Boston) and The Loft (Minneapolis) Lots of options for the new year, including five-month and year-long courses, in case you or your giftee needs serious immersion. Cost is around $100 for a one-day Zoom class (scholarships available).

Substack newsletters: Another easy gift is a monthly or one-year subscription to a weekly newsletter on writing craft. My favorites to recommend this year are George Saunders’ Story Club ($50 for one year) and Jami Attenberg’s Craft Talk ($50 for one year). There are SO many good ones here, but these two are my go-to for both inspiration and community on this platform.

Sound or no-sound techy stuff: Having enough high-quality quiet is essential to some writers. Having the right playlist in the background as inspiration is vital to others. I’m a fan of my Bose mini-speaker which I use with my phone for music when I’m writing certain characters (about $79). Bose also makes these wireless noise-cancelling headphones that are on my to-try list (around $300 but totally worth it according to reviews in the New York Times and elsewhere).

Candles: ‘Tis the season for candlelight, if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere. Some writers light an inspirational candle before their writing session. I have trouble with phthalates, parabens, and dyes, so my favorites for years have been organic beeswax candles. The scent is a very light honey. Try the Savannah Bee Company for their organic beeswax pillar candle (around $18) or for a slightly more expensive ($35) variety, check out Ames Farms from Minnesota.

Journals and notebooks: Keeping a writing notebook for each book project is a lovely habit to encourage, for yourself or a writer friend. I’ve mentioned the ZenArt journal before (around $22)—I love it because it has smooth paper and I can be sloppy without worrying about messing up an expensive notebook. Oprah Daily also had a list of their favorite journals for writers here. Finally, there’s the classic Leuchtturm 1917 journal ($25); like most of their line, an elegant hardcover if you prefer that.

And for some great reads this winter! What are you reading now? What books have you totally enjoyed this year that might be welcome on someone else’s TBR list? I’m going through an Amor Towles kick right now, moving backwards from his latest to his first (of three novels), and I can definitely recommend The Lincoln Highway.

Check out the books below in Shout Out! too and give fellow writers a boost by pre-ordering or ordering a copy.

And a tiny shout out for my books . . . Reader response to my two novels, published these past eighteen months with great effort and delight (from me), has been an uplift to say the least. Both have won multiple awards (and one big one to be revealed later this month). If you've read one of them, thank you! If you haven't yet enjoyed either A WOMAN’S GUIDE TO SEARCH & RESCUE or LAST BETS, please consider them for your holiday reading or as a gift to friends and family you love.

Reading is my go-to these days for cheer and stability. It means everything me to have readers like you! I know you'll enjoy these two stories about women heroes who don’t start out that way, their unexpected and rich friendships beyond generational limits, and the exotic locations. I would love to hear your thoughts about either book.

Happiest of holidays to you all, thank you for being here!

Your ideas for great gifts for writers?

Leave a comment

Shout Out!

A hearty shout out to these writing friends and former students who are publishing their books! I encourage you to pre-order or order a copy to show your support of fellow writers and our writing community.

(If you are a former student and will publish soon (pre-orders of your book are available now), or have in the past two months, email mary[at]marycarrollmoore[dot]com to be included in a future Shout Out! I’ll keep your listing here for two months.)

Megan Lindhal Goodrich, Beyond Terminal: Processing Childhood Trauma to Reclaim Self (Wise Ink), September release

Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, The Release: Creativity and Freedom after the Writing Is Done (Skinner House), October release

Robert Johns, The Fighters: A Trilogy (River Grove Books), October release

Morgan Baylog Finn, The Gathering: Poems (Finishing Line Press), November release

Ed Orzechowski, Becoming Darlene: The Story of Belchertown Patient #4952 (Levellers Press), November release

Mary Beth Spray, Imprint: A Woman’s Journey from Trauma to Freedom (Beaver’s Pond Press), December release

I’m a lifelong artist, and I love to inspire and support other creative folk, which is why I write this weekly newsletter. My goal with these posts is to help you strengthen your writing practice and creative life so it becomes more satisfying to you.

I’m also the author of 15 books in 3 genres. My third novel, Last Bets (Riverbed Press), was published in April, after becoming an Amazon bestseller during pre-orders. My second novel, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue (Riverbed Press), was published in October 2023 also and became an Amazon bestseller and Hot New Release from pre-orders. For twelve years, I worked as a full-time food journalist, most notably through my weekly column for the Los Angeles Times syndicate. My writing-craft book, Your Book Starts Here, won the New Hampshire Literary Awards “People’s Choice” in 2011 and my first novel, Qualities of Light, was nominated for PEN/Faulkner and Lambda Literary awards in 2009. I’ve written Your Weekly Writing Exercise every Friday since 2008.

First Sunday Q&A: Should This Person Even Be in My Story?

Welcome to our community of practicing writers at all levels of experience. Here’s where we can dissect and discuss your most gnarly writing and publishing questions. Send your challenges and questions to me and I’ll do my best to address them, along with great resources from other writers. You can message me on Substack or email me at mary@marycarrollmoore.com. And a big thanks to the 100+ of you who have become paid subscribers to Your Weekly Writing Exercise. Your support truly keeps me writing this newsletter each Friday plus once a month on the first Sunday.

Subscribe now

Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

Q: Some of my characters feel worthless to the story I’m writing but they feel far from that, to me. Can I say that I tend to get attached? I’m sure the attachment doesn’t always serve (me or) the story, but I can’t seem to change my feelings. The real downside is that I am in the middle of a novel with an exploding cast.

I’ve gotten great feedback from my writing group but I’m stuck. How do I figure out who is relevant and who is just someone I’m having fun with? At what stage do I start to triage people? If' I’m still working with my first draft of the manuscript, is it too early to trim? (I hope you’ll say yes.)

But I do know I’ll have to do the deed eventually, so I’d like some steps to take. For instance: What happens when there is an event that involves one of the questionable characters, the ones who aren’t really making a difference in the story? I’m thinking of one particular person who is kinda pleasant wallpaper. Do I change them into hateful?

I know you’ve always suggested that each scene should move the story forward but that would mean getting rid of this person I really like. Some of my less worthwhile characters supported the narrator in her past, but there was no conflict back then. Should this character be part of the story now?

How does a writer at revision decide what is only working for her, versus what is actually working for the book?   

A: Last month on George Saunders’ excellent newsletter, Story Club, he spoke about this very topic. You can read the full post here. Essentially, he answered your question better than I ever could (I admire George very much). He wrote, “Sometimes, in early drafts, I see that I’ve made two characters but they are somehow not reacting to one another.  The writing is good enough but the scenes haven’t come alive in that particular way that happens when two characters start exerting an influence on one another.” 

I think about this for my own writing, since like you, I also tend to fall in love with my characters. Or I fall into a passionate dislike and can’t seem to let go of that group either.

Early drafts and revisions are all about discovering the story, not distilling it into something tighter and more formed. I let myself roll with whomever shows up—at least for a while.  I’m still figuring out what I want to say and how is it best said. Such latitude is important to giving imagination freedom to roam.  

Often, though, my characters accumulate without purpose. They are riding on two separate trains running parallel tracks. Maybe their personal stories wave to each other. But they aren’t interacting other than that. To use George’s analogy, their wires haven’t yet crossed.

As said above, all this is fine when drafting, when I still don’t know the flow of the scenes or how I’ll build them into chapters. No way I can tell who needs trimming out of the story. 

Not everyone bloats with people. Some go wild with too many places. Others too many dramatic events (my post on November 21, “Finding the Pivot in the Problems,” gives some tips for trimming events, if you tend that way).

But this weekend we’ll focus on people and your two questions: When do you decide to start trimming out secondary characters and how do you decide who gets the boot?

Beware the early editor

Timing is essential in assessing the worth of characters.

For a long time, at least in my experience, you just don’t know. That’s because when we first draft a person on the page, we often only have a sketch. We haven’t yet explored their backstory extensively. We haven’t seen the intersection of this new cast member with the story’s important moments for our main characters.

I’ve suffered after trimming too early. I get impatient, decide to clean house. It never serves my story’s evolution. Yes, it’s also damaging to carry along everyone you’ve written in, convincing yourself that the large cast can all contribute. But deciding that a character is worthless before you’ve allowed time to get to know them speaks to me of a lack of trust in the process.

Here’s the process so many of us go through: We explore first, we gather. We write plenty of stuff we may end up discarding, people too.  To me, it’s the way of the healthy creative mind. It’s fine to include a character who tickled your imagination early on, as long as you know the process may eliminate them later.

As long as you know this, it pays to include more than exclude. And not everyone will agree with me. Those who love to sketch out the story at length before writing a word may do this exploration and sorting in their head or on index cards or on a storyboard (see below) without drafting anything. I have to write, to figure out a person’s worth.

Excluding ideas, especially in the early drafts, constipates the imagination. The editor takes too large a role. Remember the movie, Finding Forrester? My favorite line: “You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is to write, not to think!”

So when we edit (think) too much in that early draft, the heart takes a backseat.

Start with one

When I start a story, I usually start with one person who intrigues me on an emotional or psychological level. The heart is fully engaged with this person, in curiosity, wondering how they have become who they are, why they do what they do. I have a lot of compassion for my characters, especially the mishaps. I want to get to know them.

Some writers begin with a pair or trio or a crowd. Personally, I have trouble starting with more than one person, maybe because it takes me time to get to know someone—I’m slow, overall, in relationship building. I take whatever time I need to get into that person’s heart and life: their place in the story, their environment, their consequences, their longings.

I am fairly strict with myself to stay open, to not think anything about them is irrelevant at that early stage. Do I really know yet? My view of the story—and this person—is still so limited.

I’ve found this approach to pay off in a big way, because it makes my characters complex. The ones I write who are less successful are the ones I think I know too soon and make judgements about. Does that make sense? What’s your approach?

Leave a comment

 

Bring in someone else

After a few scenes or chapters, as I get a clearer sense of this character and how they might play out in the story, I bring in someone else.

I do the same with that person: spend time getting to know them until I have a second character in their own train, running on that parallel track. I start to play with ideas on how they might “cross wires,” to use George’s expression. That’s when things get more interesting, of course. 

Again, this is just my approach. If you’re a writer who starts with a crowd, more power to you. I can’t get into a lot of people at once without feeling like I’ve skated over their lives superficially.

I may be an introvert with my characters too—just realized that! But as my particular cast, or crowd, grows, as I get to know each person, I keep adding. One more, then another.

Then I begin to test each of them for their effect on the story. First, on the story itself, then on the main character, whoever that is turning out to be.

Testing their effect

There’s a point, either when you get feedback—as it sounds like you have, from your question—or you lose the thread of the story because of the sheer numbers, when you’ve decided you have to test the effect of each person on the story itself. What do they contribute? Are they more than the “kinda pleasant wallpaper” or historical person in someone else’s life?

It works best, I’ve found, to start your testing with events, a routine task on your first pass through the manuscript at revision. Ask if each action furthers the story’s conflict and how. If it doesn’t, rethink it. Either jettison it or rewrite to make it more relevant.  You’re after a gross evaluation of the plot. You’re considering the cause-and-effect of events first, because how people weigh in, depends on the weight of the events.

I’ll share my little tutorial on the storyboard again below, in case you want to use it to run this first test. It lets you study your choices, working both backwards and forwards along the timeline.

South Park’s test

Here’s one more great way to test the cause-and-effect of your events before you test the worth of characters.

Remember the show, South Park? I admire this simple formula that creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker use for testing the purpose of events in their scripts (and eventually, the characters in those events).

Rather than setting up your sequence of events as this, then that, try looking at each one what it causes.  Ask if each event creates the next scene, in some way, using the formula This because of that. 

Once you have your events tested, you can take the test into the people you’ve chosen. You ask a very similar questions to the one above:

Because they are in the story, what happens that can’t happen otherwise?  

Useful or not

Maybe this person helps the reader understand more of the why behind the actions, decisions, motivations of the narrator. Maybe they cause the narrator to do something because of something they say or do or discover. Maybe they cause a longing in the narrator. Maybe they cause a loss.   

We’re crossing wires now, testing if the intersection of this character with the main player, the narrator, creates more tension.

Sometimes my test results in a complex “genealogy” chart. Maybe my new character isn’t directly affecting the narrator but they affect someone who does. That works too.

I try to start with the narrator because this is my most effective person onstage at any time. I know them best, I’ve spent serious time with them. They affect the trajectory of the story the most. So whatever or whomever enhances my understanding about this narrator, that person or event is worthwhile. Not trim. Develop—make even more so.

The all-important why

For me, writing is a search for the why. Why this happens, why it means something to this person, why they decide to do this or that in response.

Why is the most important gift your characters can give each other. As you learn more about the why, it makes the writing more compelling and complex, allowing everyone to stick with the reader in a convincing way, creating no doubt as to their purpose in the story.  

So your task—and mine, of course, in my writing—is to get to the why of your narrator, and as I said, anything that brings you closer is worth a look. There are lots of ways to get deeper into character, you know many of them if you read craft books or take classes on writing or have followed this newsletter for a while. Today, though, I’d like to revisit my simplest exercise: the bio.

Maybe it’s my background as a journalist, all those years interviewing people for features. I take my interviewing skills into my imagination, sit down with the character I’m testing, and let it rip.

You have to suspend disbelief for this. It’s quite amazing how much information you’ll “get.”    

List the questions you want to ask, just as a good interviewer would, but also listen carefully to what you get as you ask. Think of your favorite podcast or TV show, where the host successfully draws out the person in unexpected ways. Imagine what the answers might be—just write whatever comes, without analyzing it.

The final step: turning points

Once you have the bio, examine it for the pivotal moments in this person's life that shaped their beliefs and misunderstandings about themselves and the world. 

Look for the intersection of their values with the world. Look for disappointment, loss, revenge, hope. Wherever there’s conflict or agreement, there’s often a turning point.

Circle these moments. Then consider your narrator. Revisit your narrator’s pivotal moments and the quality of them, the impact on their life. See if you can locate any echoes or parallels between the turning points of the two characters.

For instance, the abandonment by a parent and the forging of an independent spirit because of it.

I think about how this paralleled emotional experience might connect them, not just at an event level but emotionally. What did they each do with this experience? What did they learn? What changed inside?

Writing the bio will bring these to your awareness, which is a very effective way of deciding who really belongs in your story and who may not.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, what you might try from this, what you’ve learned in your own writing life about how to choose who belongs in your story.  

Leave a comment

“First Sunday” Q&A is where we dissect and discuss your most gnarly writing and publishing questions. You can send them to me via message on Substack or to my email at mary@marycarrollmoore.com. Your subscription also supports me continuing to write my free newsletter each Friday, and I’m grateful.

Subscribe now

Gratitude List Exercise

I’m grateful to you, my subscribers, who have signed up for my words each Friday. It means a lot to have people receive your writing, that you allow me this space to share insights. Our community has grown this year to well over 3000. That’s astonishing to me. Thanks for being here. I hope you get to eat pie this week!

Photo by Preslie Hirsch on Unsplash

After a really bad day, my spouse and I play the gratitude game. We go back and forth, sharing one thing we are grateful for in the past 24 hours. Sometimes it feels stupid. Sometimes it’s hard to think of anything.

But the actual practice of speaking about what we appreciate, can shift everything.

Gratitude. When I can find it, despite the dark days, it’s not just a panacea. It literally sustains me. It protects my creative spirit. It keeps my writing practice alive, my voice strong.

Thirteen friends and family gathered around our Thanksgiving table this week. As we always do, we expanded the gratitude game so that each person got to share something they are grateful for that happened this past year.

The Thanksgiving after my mom passed, I spoke about friends and family I missed who lived far away but who still comforted me through grief. Another Thanksgiving, I shared my real astonishment at a successful publication of one of my books. This year, I am grateful for good health, family, and the slower pace post-publication. Despite the world.

Words don’t matter. It’s the act of focusing on something expansive to the heart. That makes the difference.

Gratitude nurtures the creative life

Each year, I also write a gratitude list for my writing life.

I ask: What have I accomplished, learned, realized, helped with, or shared this past year that was meaningful to me as a creative person?

I take time to create it, adding to it each day for about a week or two. The act of writing it nurtures me. I reread every time I feel darkness closing in. It’s a sure uplift. Not a panacea, as I said. Not lip service. Something real.

This week, I’ll share a few items from my list in hopes that you’ll create your own.

I completed promotion for my last novel, Last Bets, released in April, way before we found out about my spouse’s unexpected surgery. I was free to focus on caregiving, and that felt like a gift of timing.

Readers were so happy with my books and they told me. Are still telling me. Very grateful for this.

At this writing, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue has won four awards and counting. I just found out about another one last week.

Last Bets has also won a (big!) award that will be announced in mid-December and I’m eager to share with you when it’s time.

I was happy that one more short story of mine was accepted by a literary journal (from the University of North Carolina Press), a process that feels super slow but when something lands on its feet, it’s heartening.

My writing room got renovated and I love it—lots of sun in winter—and my painting studio got a redo as well. I’m looking forward to many hours creating this winter.

I was guest on over 30 podcasts this past year and a half. I loved it—a new experience for me.

This Substack experience has been wonderful. I am grateful, as I said, for the community we’ve built.

Now it’s your turn.

Your Weekly Writing Exercise

Take time today or over the weekend, when you’re recovering from family, football, food, or whatever made up your holiday, if you celebrate one, to explore what you feel thankful for in your creative life right now.

Make a gratitude list, like mine above. Anything, small or large, that you appreciate about being a writer or creative person can be part of the list.

Just the act of writing it can bring an uplift.

Leave a comment

Shout Out!

A hearty shout out to these writing friends and former students who are publishing their books! I encourage you to pre-order or order a copy to show your support of fellow writers and our writing community.

(If you are a former student and will publish soon (pre-orders of your book are available now), or have in the past two months, email mary[at]marycarrollmoore[dot]com to be included in a future Shout Out! I’ll keep your listing here for two months.)

Megan Lindhal Goodrich, Beyond Terminal: Processing Childhood Trauma to Reclaim Self (Wise Ink), September release

Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, The Release: Creativity and Freedom after the Writing Is Done (Skinner House), October release

Robert Johns, The Fighters: A Trilogy (River Grove Books), October release

Morgan Baylog Finn, The Gathering: Poems (Finishing Line Press), November release

Ed Orzechowski, Becoming Darlene: The Story of Belchertown Patient #4952 (Levellers Press), November release

Mary Beth Spray, Imprint: A Woman’s Journey from Trauma to Freedom (Beaver’s Pond Press), December release

I’m a lifelong artist, and I love to inspire and support other creative folk, which is why I write this weekly newsletter. My goal with these posts is to help you strengthen your writing practice and creative life so it becomes more satisfying to you.

I’m also the author of 15 books in 3 genres. My third novel, Last Bets (Riverbed Press), was published in April, after becoming an Amazon bestseller during pre-orders. My second novel, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue (Riverbed Press), was published in October 2023 also and became an Amazon bestseller and Hot New Release from pre-orders. For twelve years, I worked as a full-time food journalist, most notably through my weekly column for the Los Angeles Times syndicate. My writing-craft book, Your Book Starts Here, won the New Hampshire Literary Awards “People’s Choice” in 2011 and my first novel, Qualities of Light, was nominated for PEN/Faulkner and Lambda Literary awards in 2009. I’ve written Your Weekly Writing Exercise every Friday since 2008.

Finding the Pivot in All the Problems

What’s new in my writing world: My second novel, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue, released last October, was just named a finalist in the BBA awards—American Book Fest’s Best Books Awards. It also won a Silver Medal in the 2024 Reader’s Favorite contest and was a finalist for the 18th National Indie Excellence Awards and the Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award. Happy about all this! My newest novel, Last Bets, is out now, and it was a bestseller on Amazon. “Readers will get lost in Moore's beautiful prose, her impeccable plotting, and her outstandingly relatable and multi-layered characters. Beautifully wrought story of two women artists outrunning their demons,” said Booklife/Publisher’s Weekly who made it an Editor’s Pick.

Photo by Shyam on Unsplash

Unsuccessful story structure was a problem I got good at noticing and fixing as an editor for two decades. Manuscripts that didn’t hold together often had too little going on or too much. Too little conflict was a problem so many writers face, otherwise known as keeping characters too safe. But a select group struggled with the opposite issue.

Too much conflict usually meant no pivot to the story. No theme could emerge. All because the multitude of things happening began to feel like white noise.

Solution? Find that pivot. Choose one conflict and make it the key.

So my post this week is for those of you who, like me, think more is better.

Actually, less is more sometimes

One of my earliest writing teachers told me: “It’s better to not have so many events of great impact in your story.”

“Why not?” I was very new at fiction.

“They lose their meaning. They blur in the reader’s mind. The noise is too loud.”

I didn’t really get it. So she suggested I start studying story structure in other books.

I took it on as an assignment. On her advice I listed the big conflicts in books I loved. They ranged from moves to job losses to death to relationship breakup to illness to financial loss. There were smaller conflicts like a fight with a friend or getting caught in a white lie or a crazy family that always changed plans. But what I decided was major or minor was only my view, not necessarily what the character experienced.

In some stories, a job loss was insignificant compared to a friendship fight. It was all determined by the character’s history, their inner world.

That inner world colored everything about their view of the outer world, of the conflict that came to meet them, as it does for all of us. So I learned: a key conflict is completely individual to the person. Less about the event than its impact.

What makes a key conflict?

If one of your story conflicts articulates, or brings to the surface, a loss in your character’s backstory, the conflict will hit the character harder because it highlights whatever is missing inside.

Say the crazy family background creates a longing for order and routine. The loss of that order and routine in the character’s adult life is a hidden burden they carry around. Any conflict that touches that—say, a relationship that is also way out of control—would have the potential to be a key conflict in the story.

They are being thwarted for what they’ve longed for.  This creates the story’s theme—the echoing of inner and outer conflict.

I often cite Andre Dubus III's novel, House of Sand and Fog, as a classic example of inner and outer mirroring each other.

After reading and studying the novel over the years, I’ve decided some things about its key conflicts. (These are my thoughts, as a reader, maybe not the intention of the writer.) Although the two main characters face many problems, the one with the highest stakes, to me, is betrayal. 

For me, the key conflict of this amazing novel pivots around the question of Who can I trust? Let’s look at why.

Placing key conflict in pivotal scene

Dubus places the discontented police officer and the woman trying to get her house back from squatters together in a revolving restaurant. We’re on the top floor of a San Francisco skyrise. We watch the two circle a romantic relationship, as well as the illicit partnership to get back the woman's house.  Betrayal emerges during this scene as outer story conflict: the cop shares a confession.

He has done something illegal out of compassion and he's never told anyone about it. This act of sharing puts him in legal danger.  The woman could expose him, he could get suspended, he could go to jail. 

So immediately, the potential for betrayal is on the table.

As the woman listens, the restaurant revolves. The setting element Dubus chose emphasizes the woman's extreme disorientation. She doesn't expect this straight-arrow cop to have such a secret and she's teetering on the edge of what will happen between them. Will he betray her first, or will she, him?

Because both internal and external conflict elements are presented together, and because even the setting echoes the conflict, it all works.

How key conflict creates theme

If you think about successful stories you’ve read, you probably also think about their theme. The meaning, the aspect that lingers with you after the last page. Theme is the unstated message of the book, the story’s main question. It’s hard—maybe impossible—to get at directly. Which is why it’s confusing for so many writers.

I was pretty overjoyed when I discovered that just by selecting my story’s key conflict, I could get clearer on its theme. Why? Because the key conflict has special meaning to the protagonist (as we said above, it’s something that triggers them strongly). It affects them both internally and externally.

Once you figure that out, there’s a lot that can become triaged in your event list. Like my long-ago instructor said, you can’t expect a dozen or a hundred events to feel the same to the reader or character. They have to be organized by impact or they just become white noise.

Theme is subtle. It moves through the story like a river. I find in a well-structured story, all conflicts flow through and around it. Like in Dubus’s novel, theme comes most strongly to the fore when the characters are on the brink of their biggest, most impactful challenge. Not the thing that would necessarily flatten another person but the conflict that means the most to them.

Why does a job change flatten one person and another is nonchalant about it? Why does the loss of a friendship haunt one character for years while some people can move on without a blink? The internal life of a character in a well structured story is paralleled by what happens to them. The writer who knows and works with this basic rule of story structure chooses only the outer conflicts that resonate, good or bad, with what the characters believe.

Finding key conflicts

It’s not always easy to sift through all the problems you’ve created in your story to find the one that everything else pivots around. So many levels of internal conflicts might exist: letting go of the past, believing in yourself, believing in someone else.  External conflicts are even more varied: a move, a war, a death or birth, divorce and marriage, friendships dying, imprisonment, you name it.

Human beings are adept at creating conflicts every day of their lives.  

I learned a great tip from screenwriting guru John Truby who advised writers to ask this question:  Who is fighting whom for what?   

If you ask this about each conflict you’ve chosen for your story, and you find the ones you can answer definitively, you are on the right track to locating your key conflict.

A final note: The outer dilemma that forces change needs to illustrate or demonstrate the inner challenge if it’s to be a key conflict. 

The exercise I’m giving you this week is a simple way to sift through the story problems you’ve chosen and find which one actually does this.

Your Weekly Writing Exercise

1.  Take a sheet of paper and make three columns.

2.  In the first column, list the main players in your story. 

3.  In the second column, next to each person's name, write the thing they are most afraid of or want the most. 

4.  In the third column, next to each person's name, write an outer situation that threatens to make this inner conflict worse--either by facing the thing they are most afraid of or by taking away something they really want.

See if these answers surprise you.  Then check your actual chapters to make sure both levels of conflict are present on the page.  Does this help you find your key conflict?

Leave a comment

Shout Out!

A hearty shout out to these writing friends and former students who are publishing their books! I encourage you to pre-order or order a copy to show your support of fellow writers and our writing community.

(If you are a former student and will publish soon (pre-orders of your book are available now), or have in the past two months, email mary[at]marycarrollmoore[dot]com to be included in a future Shout Out! I’ll keep your listing here for two months.)

Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, The Release: Creativity and Freedom after the Writing Is Done (Skinner House), October release

Robert Johns, The Fighters: A Trilogy (River Grove Books), October release

Morgan Baylog Finn, The Gathering: Poems (Finishing Line Press), November release

Ed Orzechowski, Becoming Darlene: The Story of Belchertown Patient #4952 (Levellers Press), November release

Mary Beth Spray, Imprint: A Woman’s Journey from Trauma to Freedom (Beaver’s Pond Press), December release

I’m a lifelong artist, and I love to inspire and support other creative folk, which is why I write this weekly newsletter. My goal with these posts is to help you strengthen your writing practice and creative life so it becomes more satisfying to you.

I’m also the author of 15 books in 3 genres. My third novel, Last Bets (Riverbed Press), was published in April, after becoming an Amazon bestseller during pre-orders. My second novel, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue (Riverbed Press), was published in October 2023 also and became an Amazon bestseller and Hot New Release from pre-orders. For twelve years, I worked as a full-time food journalist, most notably through my weekly column for the Los Angeles Times syndicate. My writing-craft book, Your Book Starts Here, won the New Hampshire Literary Awards “People’s Choice” in 2011 and my first novel, Qualities of Light, was nominated for PEN/Faulkner and Lambda Literary awards in 2009. I’ve written Your Weekly Writing Exercise every Friday since 2008.

Tricky Relationships

What’s new in my writing world: My second novel, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue, released last October, was just named a finalist in the BBA awards—American Book Fest’s Best Books Awards. It also won a Silver Medal in the 2024 Reader’s Favorite contest and was a finalist for the 18th National Indie Excellence Awards and the Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award. Happy about all this! My newest novel, Last Bets, is out now, and it was a bestseller on Amazon. “Readers will get lost in Moore's beautiful prose, her impeccable plotting, and her outstandingly relatable and multi-layered characters. Beautifully wrought story of two women artists outrunning their demons,” said Booklife/Publisher’s Weekly who made it an Editor’s Pick.

Photo by Leonardo Sanches on Unsplash

Relationships are rarely straightforward in literature or in life. Love in stories comes in all forms: straight or queer, monogamous or non, platonic or passionate, serial or single, long haul or short time. Which kinds of relationships do you, as a writer, choose to explore in your stories? What effect on your story’s tension do these choices have?

What might increase that tension? In other words, have you thought about expanding your repertoire, or playing with a mismatch of relationship choices?

Maybe you’ve never even considered this. Maybe you’ve stuck with the kind of relationships you already know. I find many writers, including myself, run a groove, knowing and writing about only one kind. Or maybe two. What they’re comfortable with.

But exciting results comes when you dare to mix and match. Explore the variations of crushes your characters could have.

More variation in relationships creates the potential for more betrayal, more renewal and forgiveness, more jealousy and passion—some of the main emotional elements that drive a character’s journey or narrative arc.

Want to play with this, with me, this week? First, we’ll look at negative space and what that has to do with crushes.

Negative space

In art terms, negative space is what circles the object you’re drawing or painting. The background, the atmosphere, the air around it. It reveals the object more fully. My teachers advised focusing on it, whenever I was stuck in a problem with the object itself.

I found it could reveal hidden sides of the object, things I hadn’t noticed. What we might, in literature, call relationship secrets. Because the atmosphere of a person’s life is often made up of their relations with others, their environment, their world.

When I’m stuck in my writing life, trying to depict a challenging character, I might consider this kind of negative space in that person’s life. There are people this character feels, perhaps, a constant affinity for. Some, even passion for: their close friends, their partner or spouse, their kids or grandkids. Maybe this character is even obsessed with some of them, in a mild-mannered way—talking or texting with them multiple times each day, scrolling through photos on the phone library or social media whenever they can, posting about them. Then there are the troublesome obsessions, if you will: the people who must be checked in with just as often because they tend to disappear or get unlucky. Neither kind of relationship is easily ignored. It becomes the life “atmosphere,” the negative space around a person, and to know about it and use it consciously is a great technique for knowing a character better.

Often, this negative space fills their thoughts and feelings more than you’d expect.

Like in painting, these peripheral relationships may not be the focus, the thing you’re drawing. They fill the air around it.

Varying your types of relationships

I began this post by talking about the variations that exist within character relationships, and how we writers can fall into a rut about what we choose to include in our stories. We always write about lonely single people. Or distressed divorcees. Or friends for life. Who else exists within those negative spaces and how might we expand what we feel comfortable including?

I often spoke about this in writing classes: the tendency some of us have to shy from the more unusual crushes, to only write what puts our character in a positive light. But the strange brings more tension to story. Here’s an example.

Say something happens to your character that is very disturbing. There’s an incident at work that reveals a fact about a trusted colleague, and suddenly they are not so trustworthy. Maybe your character can’t stop thinking about this person’s hidden life, what else might be revealed. So they begin to obsess. This very peripheral person starts to occupy more and more of your character’s thoughts. It drives them to secretly search online, even cruise by their colleague’s house. They decide they have to answer questions about this person. This isn’t so different from the usual kind crush, where we are positively attracted—at least in story. Each obsession that sucks up your character’s life brings interest to the page.

Another example: a loss in their past, an abandonment, that creates a relationship they can’t let go of. I recently read Oh William! by one of my favorite authors, Elizabeth Strout. Strout makes huge use of obsession with loss, notably the mother who abandons their child in some way, a tragedy that colors both the main characters’ background.

A character may crush on a missing parent, hate the fact that they do, and relate to another through this profound loss. It can either destroy or save them. In Strout’s novel, one of the characters saves herself and the other is destroyed. What creates the difference?

So many different kinds of love exist, from friendship to committed love partners. Consider the choices you’ve made in your writing about crushes, both obvious and obsessive ones. What’s the primary vehicle for love in your character’s life?  What do they think about almost to the point of destroying their peace?

What circles in their periphery, their negative space?

Your Weekly Writing Exercise

List the kinds of crushes or relationships in your current work. What range have you chosen? What else could you add to a particular character’s life that might tug at them in a different way?

Are any of your characters obsessed with someone? What tension does that bring to the story?

Leave a comment

Shout Out!

A hearty shout out to these writing friends and former students who are publishing their books! I encourage you to pre-order or order a copy to show your support of fellow writers and our writing community.

(If you are a former student and will publish soon (pre-orders of your book are available now), or have in the past two months, email mary[at]marycarrollmoore[dot]com to be included in a future Shout Out! I’ll keep your listing here for two months.)

Megan Lindhal Goodrich, Beyond Terminal: Processing Childhood Trauma to Reclaim Self (Wise Ink), September release

Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, The Release: Creativity and Freedom after the Writing Is Done (Skinner House), October release

Robert Johns, The Fighter (River Grove Books), October release

Morgan Baylog Finn, The Gathering: Poems (Finishing Line Press), November release

Mary Beth Spray, Imprint: A Woman’s Journey from Trauma to Freedom (Beaver’s Pond Press), December release

I’m a lifelong artist, and I love to inspire and support other creative folk, which is why I write this weekly newsletter. My goal with these posts is to help you strengthen your writing practice and creative life so it becomes more satisfying to you.

I’m also the author of 15 books in 3 genres. My third novel, Last Bets (Riverbed Press), was published in April, after becoming an Amazon bestseller during pre-orders. My second novel, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue (Riverbed Press), was published in October 2023 also and became an Amazon bestseller and Hot New Release from pre-orders. For twelve years, I worked as a full-time food journalist, most notably through my weekly column for the Los Angeles Times syndicate. My writing-craft book, Your Book Starts Here, won the New Hampshire Literary Awards “People’s Choice” in 2011 and my first novel, Qualities of Light, was nominated for PEN/Faulkner and Lambda Literary awards in 2009. I’ve written Your Weekly Writing Exercise every Friday since 2008.

Create Pressure to Release Pressure

What’s new in my writing world: My second novel, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue, released last October, was just named a finalist in the 2024 BBA awards—American Book Fest’s Best Books Awards. It also won a Silver Medal in the 2024 Reader’s Favorite contest and was a finalist for the 18th National Indie Excellence Awards and the Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award. Happy about all this! My newest novel, Last Bets, is out now, and it was a bestseller on Amazon. “Readers will get lost in Moore's beautiful prose, her impeccable plotting, and her outstandingly relatable and multi-layered characters. Beautifully wrought story of two women artists outrunning their demons,” said Booklife/Publisher’s Weekly who made it an Editor’s Pick.

Photo by Maks Styazhkin on Unsplash

This post is about how to create and build needed pressure in story. As keeps your writing practice going, it can also release unwanted pressure inside the writer. Maybe that’s your need this week, a little relief from the world pressing in? If so, read on.

I decided I wanted to learn to write fiction, many years ago. I was already a published writer but I had no idea what fiction required. I looked around and decided to take a correspondence course on “writing the novel,” from the University of Iowa.

Back then, “correspondence” courses were literally that: an instructor worked with written submissions. I mailed printed packets each week or two, the prof marked them up with suggestions, and I got them back in the mail a week later. It was slow but it worked for me.

I wanted to write a story about death. A young man keeps trying to contact his sister who has died in a car accident. I structured it as a series of letters, so it was an epistilary . I loved the characters, but truthfully, not much happened in the story except the brother’s grief and longing.

My instructor was very kind. I was a rank beginner, I didn’t really know much about plot or character except what I’d learned from a lifetime of voracious reading. He had to explain terms to me, like “narrative arc” and “plot points.”

The main thing I took away from that course, other than the realization that yes, I wanted desperately to learn to write fiction and no, this book would probably never see the light of day, was something he taught me the last week of our exchange. He said there were two levels to story. One was the inner level, which was very well depicted in my draft—how the characters worked inside their inner worlds of thoughts, feelings, memories, and the like. The other was the outer level, which is where outer things happen.

“You don’t have enough external pressure,” he told me. “The sister has already died. What else might happen to the brother, out here, that could drive your story forward?”

After I asked him to define “external pressure” and “drive a story forward,” I reread my manuscript. He told me to do this: underline any and all external action. Whatever I could find.

In other words, anything that happened right here, onstage, visible to the reader as outer action

Inside the character’s head or heart didn’t count.

What happens out here

So I set to work. I felt hopeful, in my naivete, as I began the assignment, yellow highlighter in hand. I printed the first three chapters, double-spaced, as he advised.

By chapter 2, I was stunned. There was no outer action at all. The entire story was taking place in memory, but in a “told” fashion rather than anything “shown” or acted onstage. Doing the exercise, so simple and so revealing, let me see how pre-digested the material was. I had already come to the conclusions, for the reader. There was nothing to wonder about or even engage with.

I sent my assignment back, very downcast. But my instructor, bless him, knew what the result would be and was prepared with steps to teach me how to bring in external pressure.

It was seriously hard, though, that first attempt to design something happening out here.

First I had to evaluate the level of tension and where it was slightly more heightened. For instance, when the brother was remembering something about his deceased sister, a road trip they had taken, and they’d run out of gas. In my current manuscript that memory was presented as summary, a condensing of what happened, without any of the scene elements that deliver pressure and tension.

Here’s what I wrote in that summarized memory.

We ran out of gas outside of Santa Fe, and it took us three hours before anyone came by to give me a lift to town. She was asleep in the backseat, the doors locked, when I got back right before dark.

My instructor said, “What if you made this into a scene, instead of condensing it into summary? Break it into steps. What was the ride like? Was the driver talkative? Was your narrator frightened a little, both to leave his sister and by the shadiness of the driver? Where did he finally find a gas station? How long did it take to get another ride back to his car?”

These were excellent questions. It took me weeks to answer them, but when I sent in the next assignment, I had written my very first fictional scene.

External pressure

I learned from that rather difficult passage through the correspondence course that scene both delivers and demands external pressure. And there are many tools to use to create this.

External pressure, of course, is something coming from outside the narrator. Something out of the narrator’s control. Sometimes called the ticking clock, it creates a feeling of mounting tension. Some examples:

A non-negotiable deadline that must be met. The bomb will go off at this time unless this happens.

Approaching weather. We have to get to town before the storm hits. “It was a dark and stormy night,” right?

A secret will be revealed. Someone tells all, unless they are stopped in time.

Revenge timing. Someone plans revenge to happen at a certain junction in a character’s life where it’ll have the most impact. (Think, The Count of Monte Cristo.)

The trail of clues. Each must be found before it disappears.

My instructor suggested not using all of them—it would create too much external pressure, making the story too melodramatic, he said. Choose one and really use it. But make it aligned with the character’s internal pressure so it will make sense in the story.

Releasing and aligning pressure

I never realized fiction was so complicated! What did it mean to align the internal pressure of the character with whatever I chose?

He said to start with my narrator’s biggest fear. Leaving his sister with the car felt extremely dangerous to him. Why? It wasn’t just the sketchy ride, the hours away. It was something else that created huge tension inside this narrator.

I can’t believe, now looking back, that it took me so long to get. He was afraid of his sister dying. The whole story, as lame as it was, was about this—the longing to be with his sister again, now that she was dead, and the letters he wrote her. Maybe the road trip was the first hint of her leaving?

I decided to choose the weather, the approaching night, because it would make the narrator even more anxious. Building in that pressure to get back to her before dark actually worked very well. When he returns, at first he can’t find her. Then he sees her in the backseat, asleep, and he immediately thinks she’s dead.

I had fun playing with this. Fast forward about thirty years, fifteen books actually published, and I am convinced this small lesson about external pressure was a turning point in my writerly education. Maybe it’ll be in yours too?

Your Weekly Writing Exercise

Try the exercise my instructor gave me: comb through your manuscript, or just a chapter or scene, and highlight anything that happens out here, in the physical world, rather than in your character’s thoughts or feelings or memories. What did you learn about your external action?

Now ask yourself if you have any ticking clock. Choose one of the options listed above, or create your own. Play with a freewrite around this ticking clock element to see if you can compound the external pressure of your story.

What did you notice?

Leave a comment

Shout Out!

A hearty shout out to these writing friends and former students who are publishing their books! I encourage you to pre-order or order a copy to show your support of fellow writers and our writing community.

(If you are a former student and will publish soon (pre-orders of your book are available now), or have in the past two months, email mary[at]marycarrollmoore[dot]com to be included in a future Shout Out! I’ll keep your listing here for two months.)

Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, The Release: Creativity and Freedom after the Writing Is Done (Skinner House), October release

Morgan Baylog Finn, The Gathering: Poems (Finishing Line Press), November release

I’m a lifelong artist, and I love to inspire and support other creative folk, which is why I write this weekly newsletter. My goal with these posts is to help you strengthen your writing practice and creative life so it becomes more satisfying to you.

I’m also the author of 15 books in 3 genres. My third novel, Last Bets (Riverbed Press), was published in April, after becoming an Amazon bestseller during pre-orders. My second novel, A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue (Riverbed Press), was published in October 2023 also and became an Amazon bestseller and Hot New Release from pre-orders. For twelve years, I worked as a full-time food journalist, most notably through my weekly column for the Los Angeles Times syndicate. My writing-craft book, Your Book Starts Here, won the New Hampshire Literary Awards “People’s Choice” in 2011 and my first novel, Qualities of Light, was nominated for PEN/Faulkner and Lambda Literary awards in 2009. I’ve written Your Weekly Writing Exercise every Friday since 2008.

First Sunday Q&A: Working with a Structural Analysis Chart

I’m opening the paywall on this particular “First Sunday” Q&A, since I’ve gotten so many questions about it. If it’s useful to you, in your writing, consider subscribing. This monthly first-Sunday special post is designed to go deeper into writing and publishing questions that I consider more advanced, for those who may have been writing longer or who are serious about publishing. To upgrade to paid, click the button below. It’s $45 a year for twelve posts, and your kind subscription also supports me continuing to write my free newsletter each Friday.

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Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash

Q: I’m deep in revision for my second novel, and I want to make the process as easy as possible. Do you have any special techniques for analyzing structure at this stage? I’ve worked with your storyboard W structure, loved it for my early drafts, but I think I need something more sophisticated (if that’s the right word) for this very challenging revision. Please share whatever you can. Thank you!

A: I was in the very same dilemma, working on revisions for my second novel. One of my students was stuck and she asked me to create a chart that she could use to navigate her revision. She’d worked through the W storyboard, had a fairly cohesive structure, but needed something that went beyond that template to finish.

I decided we could both learn together, and she agreed to be my test case for this new idea.

It was a good experiment. I thought about what I might put on such a chart, the elements I’d learned, over years of teaching, coaching, and writing, that are catch points at revision. Things that make or break the final version.

Does it work for other genres?

Yes! The chart worked so well for her—and for me—that I began testing it with all my clients who were revising their manuscripts. I adapted it for different genres. Almost everyone who was tolerant of the tedium of making a chart in the first place benefited quite a bit.

A memoir writer used the chart for backstory placement—key moments of her traumatic childhood—and where they might appear in the front story.

A nonfiction writer working on a biography of a botanist used it to track historical information about botany and where to place it in the narrative.

A fiction writer used a twelve-column version of the chart to organize the three locations and three narrators in his novel.

A writer compiling a self-help book made up of different expert interviews used the chart to catch the themes within each interview and organize them into a flow.

The columns of the chart varied for each project, but many repeated, I learned, based on genre. I went on to use the chart, which I called a structural analysis chart (SAC), for the rest of my teaching and coaching career.

It was my go-to for my own manuscripts as well. When I reached a certain point in revision, I’d put one together.

Love-hate relationship with charts and outlines

Like I said, charts are not sexy or fun for most of us. I resist such tedium in my writing life; it feels like the opposite of creativity. For years, I divorced myself from outlines and charts, until I was so swamped in words that I couldn’t make sense of anything. I first learned a fluid chart system with the W storyboard but soon graduated to the SAC. It made all the difference.

To give you some insights in how exactly, I will show you three sample SAC’s in today’s post, along with the story of a writer who just released his debut successfully, thanks in part to using his chart.

You can create your own from the samples below, customizing it to where you are in your drafting or revision.

Jim’s story

Jim’s debut, Moon Over Humbolt (Black Rose Writing) came out earlier this year. “An old-school logger and a young environmentalist, enemies in the culture war dividing their rural California county, cross paths in a 12-step program and find in each other a kindred spirit who could help each man rebuild a life shattered by addiction and loss—if they can navigate their differences.”

Jim worked on his first draft for more than six years, yet after all that work, he says, “the opening was weak, there were too many characters for readers to track, and many scenes were redundant or superfluous.” Jim didn’t see these flaws himself, but as we began to work together and I pointed them out, he was able to create a structure that in his words, “really worked.”

Jim had tried the three-act storyboard structure, the W, and found it helpful, but the process that he “initially resisted as tedious and boring” but carried the most value was the structural analysis chart (SAC).

Together, we created a huge spreadsheet that, as Jim says, listed “every scene, its POV, the people in it, location, date, main outer event, the POV character’s outer obstacle, inner obstacle, the author’s intent, and other elements.” I had experimented with the SAC for other students, but Jim’s enthusiasm and obvious benefit from using the chart inspired me to really develop it.

Here’s a screenshot of Jim’s chart for one of his chapters.

The column headers I suggested to Jim were:

Chapter/Scene

POV (who narrates)

People (other than narrator who are in the scene)

Location

Date/Season

Main Outer Event (what’s happening)

Outer Obstacle (what is the narrator irritated by or fighting against in this scene—can be something small, like a smelly room or heat or loud voices)

Inner Obstacle (primary emotion, thought, or belief the narrator has at this moment, again something the narrator is conflicted or affected by)

The screenshot is a bit hard to read, but the main reason I wanted to share it is for the headers. This was a novel in mid- to late revision, which needed structure work but had good characters and a strong plot already in place. Each chapter was now analyzed for its purpose in the novel, each scene was studied for uniqueness and the ability to drive the story forward.

Jim found the SAC not only helped him see which characters, scenes, and chapters were unnecessary or redundant. It gave him “a flexible and convenient tool—like a huge whiteboard—to make revisions,” he says. 

“I worked on my novel for years,” he adds, “without ever stepping back and developing an outline or structure.”

A basic SAC

The SAC is a tool any writer can use, and if you try it you may have the ah-ha moments it brought to Jim. Basically, it’s chart created in Excel, Word, or whatever program you use. It doesn’t have to be as complex as Jim’s. You choose column headers depending on where you are in revision.

Here’s another example, a very basic SAC that I used when working with writers in early revision, maybe having just completed their manuscript draft. There are only four columns: People, Event, Location, and Scene Type. Just filling in these columns can help the writer doublecheck the draft for each scene or chapter and its effectiveness in the larger manuscript and figure out where to go next. I’ve filled in the columns with an example of a draft story.

Under People, you’d list the characters in that scene. Under Event, you describe what’s happening onstage—the actual action. Under Location, you enter where the action is taking place. And the final column lets you note what kind of scene it is: action, reflection, backstory, etc.

As Jim says, filling in the SAC is tedious. You’re forced to back away from your story and view it as an editor might. As you fill in the columns, here are some things you might notice:

There are way too many people in the scene. Or, there are too many scenes with only one person (makes it tough to move characters forward).

You don’t have enough happening or too much is happening. That tells you to either add more activity or break the scene into more scenes that allow you to more fully develop each event.

You don’t have a clear location yet. Needs work. Or we move around way too much for one scene—again, an indicator that this could be multiple scenes.

There are too many of the same type of scene in a row. Vary them more. Move them around to create more tension.

SAC for later revision

Here’s another version that I use with more developed manuscripts.

Tracking the timeline of a story is a super important step when revising, and the Time or Date column allows you to do that.

Transition asks you to note how you’re moving from scene to scene—for instance, you study the end of each scene and the beginning of the next, then note what you use to carry the reader forward smoothly. “The next morning,” or another time marker? A repeating word or image?

Purpose is a challenging one to fill in but also super important. Why are you including this scene? What purpose does it serve in the larger story? This really forces the writer to fish or cut bait—a scene can’t be in your story just because you love it. It has to have a reason the reader will grasp.

Revision Notes is a very useful column. This is where I write down all the changes I want to make. Sometimes this is the main place I keep my revision notes, linked to the scene that needs the changes.

Customize

Like I said above, the whole point of the SAC is to help a writer take their revision to the next step by forcing them to see their manuscript as an editor might. To do this effectively, you need to test out the columns in the samples above, but also feel free to customize the headers to fit where you are in your revision.

I used this chart for a decade with my clients, used it in developing three books of my own, and although I found the process as tedious as Jim did, the benefits far outweighed the tedium. I loved what it showed me—so easily and quickly. I could tell right away where I’d fallen asleep, where I needed to shift or delete things, what was missing.

A good number of my past clients, like Jim, have gone on to publish. And I can’t help but think the SAC they used had something to do with that.

Questions? Ideas for your own? Comments? Please share!

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