Sarah Allen's Blog, page 56

Rejection and a Bucket List

Yesterday was a pretty heavy day for rejection. I got rejected by The New Yorker (not unexpected), I didn't get the job I wanted, and most of all, my roommate did not get into the University of Utah's graduate program. That means she will not be going to Salt Lake in the fall, which means all the options are open, which is a whole new can of crazy scariness.
Anyway, the rejection along with the limbo-ness I talked about yesterday has gotten me thinking about how to shake things up, keep them happy and exciting and inspiring, when you're down and figuring out what to do. Every day can seem like such a repeat of the day before and when things don't work out like you want/expect them to, it can really suck.
So what do you do? I think its time for me to start an actual physical bucket list. I've had reservations about doing it before, because I don't want to gauge the value or success of my life on how many things I can cross off some arbitrary list. I've been thinking about it, though, and here's the thing. When you're in limbo, when you're down, feeling rejected, conflicted or confused, it could be a very good idea to give yourself something you can feel excited about. It may even give you a little bit of the fulfillment you may or may not be missing in the dry times.
And that's where I think a bucket list could come in handy. Not to judge the success of a life, but to have a list to go to when you're thinking, I need something a little ambitious and exciting to do today. It gives you a goal, something to work towards, and something that matters to you. Even on a mini-scale this can be such a big help. I hope this makes sense.
So I'm off to start my list, but here are a few that came to my mind first. (Trying to keep it day-to-day, general life category here, the big career writing ones are of course there too):
-Watch every Best Original Screenplay awarded film.-Make bread pudding-Read the entire Bible-Record a song-Spend some Saturdays going to cool place within driving distance that I've never been before (like museums or lakes or such)-Own a puppy (I'll accept playing with one for now)-Become an amateur graphologist
Then of course there are the other things like meeting Meryl Streep, getting published, and going to Antarctica. But we're talking things you can work on when you need something to work on ideas here.
What day to day things could you do to spice things up? What are some fun things from your own bucket list?
Sarah Allen[image error]

Creative satisfaction in the betweens

[image error] I feel so incredibly in limbo right now. In every aspect of my life. Including and especially the artistic/creative part of my life. I've finished one novel, basically, but haven't gotten quite to the putting it out into the world phase yet, and the next novel is still in the fuzzy brainstorming stages and being quite stubborn about not wanting to leave it. So yes, limbo is the right word, though I'm still trying to work and push forward.

But the limboness has gotten me thinking; what kinds of things can we writerly artsy people do when one project hasn't sold and the next hasn't started? For me at least, the satisfaction comes in either putting something out in the world, which is sort of the 'end', or in the creation of something brand new and lovely, which is the 'beginning.' When neither of those is happening at the moment, are there ways to keep feeling rewarded to make the going a little easier?

I suppose that means doing the publication or creation thing on a smaller scale. Maybe we're not writing the new novel yet, but we can work on short stories or poetry. There are always random artsy things to try out too, like writing music or making movies or experimenting with photography.

What about the publication side? Are there ways to give ourselves mini-publication rewards in between the big times? If that even makes sense. I've mentioned before that I'm working on a short story collection that I plan to indie publish, right now I'm mostly waiting on hearing back from the magazines where the stories are currently submitted. That's kind of the thing I'm talking about. Part of me thinks I would feel better about this limbo period if I had that littler project to work with. Hopefully soon?

And I think I do want to try the video, music, photography thing, see what I can come up with.

What do you think? What mini-projects or general life things do you do to keep yourself motivated and feeling good between the big things?


Sarah Allen

Magic ingredients for the perfect setting

[image error] To be frank, most of the discussions I've had on the subject of setting have been in relation to theater. Which makes sense, but I definitely think it can be applied to writing. I take a pretty minimalist approach to setting, basically meaning that I believe your reader must know exactly where they are, but not necessarily be distracted by it. Your characters can be distracted, but probably not your reader. Anyway, some pretty smart people have told me some pretty wise things about setting, so lets see what we can pull together here.

Five Senses. What does your setting look like? That is an obvious one. But go further. What does it smell like, sound like, feel like? What does the air taste like?

Room Conflict. In theater, room conflict is a term that basically means whatever way the actual room the characters are in is escalating the conflict. So, for example, if the air conditioning is broken and its sweltering hot, or the neighbors are blasting Eminem and you can't quite hear what the other person is saying, or it smells like rotted milk or there's a pipe leaking. A couple trying to decide who's going to take the kids this weekend is interesting. It's much more interesting if the house is being painted and they have to talk around an eavesdropping painting crew.

Inescapable. When you give your characters a conflict and put them in a place they can't leave, it forces exciting things to happen. Stuck them in an elevator or a car or a family dinner. Especially family dinners. Those can be rife with dramatic tension.

Amp it up. I'm definitely guilty of having too many scenes set in a kitchen. But when possible I try to move them to grocery stores or baseball stadiums or somewhere where its easier for the setting to play a more exciting role.

Here is a list of potential places for you to set up your scenes:

Police station
Bus stop
On a boat
Family dinner
Company meeting
Rest home
The Vatican
ToysRUs
Elevator
School for the blind
Road trip
Back stage

What do you think? Think these might help? What other ideas would you add for making your setting fantabulous?

Sarah Allen

Happy Birthday to Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel

I'll leave these two movies and leave it at that





Happy Birthday to Mr. the Cat In The Hat :)

Sarah Allen

A cure for teenage boys who don't like to read?

[image error] I was talking to my brothers last night. I sometimes do that. They're all total studs. And younger than me, though one is somewhere around six foot and the others are gaining on me more and more every day, so they're my big little brothers. Did I mention they're studs?
Anyway, the youngest was telling me about his practice ACT (something like that?) English scores, how he does really well on the grammar sections, but bad on essays and reading. And that he doesn't like reading. 
I tried not to act too hurt.
It's not like we sat and had a long discussion about it or anything, just a casual passing conversation, but he did tell me a few interesting things. See, this brother is a total jock. He has this incredible natural talent and watching him play basketball is a beautiful, beautiful thing. He's also a total sweetheart, definitely the most sensitive of my brothers. He's the brother who's had crushes on cute girls since preschool, and voluntarily folds his laundry right out of the dryer before putting it in the basket so it doesn't wrinkle. What teenage boy does that? So yeah, he's a very smart, sensitive, athletic and totally sweet kid.
Who doesn't like reading.
What he told me is this: he said when he reads he feels like its a waste of time, when he could be doing something else, i.e. playing basketball. I asked about awesome books like Harry Potter, and he said even if its a really good book he can't read for too long before he feels totally pooped out. He likes watching movies of books instead.
This is nothing new, I know. I thought, however, I'd get some of your thoughts on anything that could possibly be done to lead teenage boys towards an appreciation of reading. Not just for him, but in general. For future reference. I've got a few ideas: find relevant books on topics the boy loves. Maybe a rewards system? A good selection of books is key here, of course. Fun, exciting books, maybe that don't have a movie he can go to instead. But the whole reading-is-a-less-worthwhile-activity-than-other-things mindset is a really hard one to fight against. Perhaps that warrants it's own blog post. But yeah, do you have any ideas? What have you done when you've encountered this kind of thing before, and how has it worked out?
Oh, and anyone have recommendations for basketball books? Non-fiction, biographies, novels, whatever. For reals, I could use some suggestions...my brother may be getting a random and perhaps not quite wanted present in the near future.
Sarah Allen

Little Spiders, Strong Webs: Blog Stickiness for Newbie Writers

Today is another other-blogger inspired post, this time from the wise, down-to-earth and totally sexy Roni Loren. She gives a great overview of making your blog sticky, i.e. keeping people with you for longer and enticing them to come back. Definitely worth the read. In fact, go read it and then come back, okay?

Back? Good. So. Roni's article has gotten me thinking about the goodies that keep your blog sticky and interesting. I want, however, to focus on how this can work for us aspiring/newbie/unpublished writers. It's still vitally important for us to start building up our own little crowd of friends and supporters, and part of that is keeping people interested and coming back. But we don't have the previously published extras type goodies to work with. So, what can we do? (Sorry for doing lists two days in a row. What can I say...it's a listy week?)


Frequent updates: On projects, life, everything. Dynamic is way more sticky than static.Mini-pieces: If you have short stories or poems or any other artsy stuff going on, make sure you have that available. It's sort of like an hors d'oeuvre. It gets people ready for the entree. Best Of from your own blog: good way for new people to get right to the heart of you.Links to other social media profiles: these are like the outer strings of your web, potentially just as sticky as the hub. Or more so.Links to the wiser: I know sending people to other places seems counter-productive, but if people know you're a good moderator of the collective wisdom out there then you become a logical first stop.Pictures and music: Pinterest has made having your own personal art gallery a matter of point and click. You can post character pictures, book covers, general inspiration, anything you want. And I know I'm always looking for music recommendations. Everyone loves music and pictures.Videos: Book trailers, funnies, informative, whatever.Recipes: Since the Food Network, everyone's a foodie. Post recipes of dishes from the book your working on, or just good soul food that keeps you going.News and Events: Your own personal news and events, as well as general interest. Book club meets, author readings, publishing news (which happens all the time these days). Lots of options.Quizzes, polls, and contests.Ok, those are the ideas I can think of right now. What other things can you do to make your blog sticky? Be prepared for some of these to start popping up in the tabs right up there :)
Sarah Allen

Addition, subtraction, and editing a novel

[image error] See, we writers do math too. Sort of. Some of us (not me) much better than others.

Anyway, I've recently begun edits on Keeper, novel #1. It's coming along pretty well. I'm getting dangerously close to the point where I'm ready to shove it into someone else's hands and be done with it, but not yet. I've come to accept the fact that it's not going to be anywhere near perfect, that there's no such thing as perfect, and that I'm going to need lots of other people's help to make this thing as good as it can possibly be.

With that, there are some things to keep in mind while editing, and for my own sake I thought pulling them all together would be helpful. And so, here is some attempted mathematics of editing a novel.

Addition:

-Use of the 5 senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. I've heard that smell is particularly powerful.
-Active, exciting, unique verbs that say enough on there own. 'Pelted' or 'barreled' instead of 'ran fast'.
-Higher and higher stakes. What's the worst that can happen? Then make it so (number one).
-Internal conflict. Personal stakes are the highest stakes.
-Flaws. Nobody's perfect, including your characters.

Subtraction:

-Adverbs and unnecessary adjectives. Basically any unnecessary words.
-Grammatical errors and overuse of !, ..., and whatever your habit words happen to be. (Mine are 'just' and 'even').
-Unnecessary back-story and/or exposition
-Cliches, and any phrases you got from somewhere else
-Melodrama and gratuitous cussing.

Ok, I think this is a fairly good list, I need to keep it in mind as I go. What else would you put on the addition/subtraction of editing list? I for one could use all the advice I can get.

Sarah Allen

Thoughts and Inspirations from [MERYL STREEP!!!] the Academy Awards

[image error] SHE DID IT!!!! Finally! My girl finally did it again. I realize I have a totally and completely inoordinate love for this woman, and it's inexplicable even to me, but I subscribe to the Cameron Tucker philosophy of Meryl Streep: She is perfection.

Whew. Ok, just had to get that out there. And how amazing was her speech, by the way? Nobody can touch her for class. And she's been married to one guy for how long, which is not only unheardofly impressive in Hollywood, it's impressive in general. And she looks as hot as she did when she was thirty, no joke. And having her and Colin Firth on the stage at the same time :) Ok, ok. I'm done.
[image error]
Anyone else ever feel like moving to L.A. to become an actor after watching the Academy Awards?

Anyway. I feel like I'm in this weird place, where I have #1 Life Thing, which is writing, and I'm working on that as much as I can and hoping for the best possible outcome on that (Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay...), but there's also this #2 Everything Else area that is totally a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey what the heck right now, and I'm waiting for things to work out and trying to make some decisions and we'll see. What does one do with #2 Everything Else part of life? I mean, obviously I want it to be as awesome and cool as possible, but it still doesn't warrant the risk and attention and efforts and sacrifices that #1 warrants. So is staying in Utah okay for now, because I can do #1 anywhere? Have I been complaining about this too much lately? Sorry, sometimes I feel so 23.

But yeah, #1 is still the most important, and I'm okay working and working until I get my adventure and success via #1. That happens, right? I'll make it happen.

And does anyone know of any good screenwriting software? I mean, I know you don't have to have software to write a screenplay, but a program that can do all the formatting stuff would be nice. And I'm being serious. Like, for reals, I would love to write a screenplay. I even have an idea, about this 60 year old blond woman...

Sarah Allen

Photo Prompts: A Pictures Worth 1000 Words?

What stories are these pictures telling you? [image error] [image error] [image error]
These are, of course, from my writerly inspiration Pinterest board. Its so much fun to see what pictures are out there that really are worth 1000 words of fabulous story. And these are some of my favorites. So tell me...what stories are these pictures telling you?

How to Make Your First Book Not Totally Suck

I realize some of you may be past the point of first book. I also realize I've only recently finished my first, and have yet to have editors and agents and other real people look at it, so I may not be the most qualified to give this advice. However. Even if you've finished and published your first book, there's always room for improvement. Also you may take what I say with a grain of salt and do your thing. Anyway. Onward.

Yesterday at The Kill Zone blog (which is totally and completely fabulous) there was an incredibly wise and infinitely practical post by Joe Moore called The Pancake Rule. The Pancake Rule basically says that a writers first novel typically serves as a test novel but isn't usually edible. Like a first pancake, which usually ends up burnt. He gives a fantastic print-this-out-and-put-it-by-your-desk list of the flaws in first novels that make them turn out this way.

But I've made my first pancake, and I want it to be edible. I want it to be delicious, in fact. I needed that hope and ambition to make it through the hot stuffy kitchen. If we didn't think our projects were worthwhile, we wouldn't spend as much time and effort on them, right?

So is there a way to make a fluffy, golden-brown, delicious and succulent first pancake? Er, novel? Optimism + come on I did all this work=I believe there is.

1. Read. Of course I'm going to say this. It is so incredibly obvious and cannot be stressed enough. If you're going to learn how to play the violin and play it well, you need a proven and talented teacher. The more serious you are, the more you'll study and practice and the better the teachers you'll seek. Writing is NO DIFFERENT. Read Dickens and Shakespeare. Read Austen and the Brontes. Read the Greeks and the postmodernists and poetry. Read modern writers in and out of your genre so you know what style of music is being played today. Not that you need to follow the trends, but it expands your repertoire. I am a firm believer of literary osmosis. The better you read, the better you write. I am the dork who read the unabridged Les Miserables during the bus drives on a highschool exchange in Germany for fun, so this better work.

2. Study. This is similar but different to reading for pleasure. See, merely the fact that we have Joe Moore's list of newbie mistakes helps us avoid making them. Reading blogs has taught me literally everything I know about the publishing industry. There are some really great books on writing out there (as well as some not so great ones), and they help too.

3. Real Life Teachers. This of course means English and Creative Writing teachers in high school and college, but its not just that. A critique group works. Beta readers. Outside perspective can help you figure out your blind spots.

4. Experiment. Try a few short stories before you dive into a novel. Or poetry. These are the kinds of things you can give to your teachers and beta readers. Then take their feedback into account as you start on your first real pancake.

5. Have passion and know how to translate it. Of course you have to care about your story. Everyone can tell if you don't, and they won't either. But this passion has to translate into an emotionally captivating story and characters, not sappy and cliche writing. And really, sometimes the line between them is very fine indeed. This is where the reading and studying and experimenting and teachering come in to play. They're your translators, they make your writing comprehensible and beautiful to the world outside your head. But you're heart has to be there too.

What do you think? Do you agree that its possible for a first novel to be delicious? I mean, of course it is because its happened, but do you think that consciously doing these kinds of things can really increase a first-time novelists chance of success? I sure freaking hope so. Any tips you would add to this list?

Sarah Allen