Chris Sarantopoulos's Blog, page 11

Inspirational prompt 27

The surface of the small puddle of water rippled and a quarter of an inch high tsunami raced to its edges. A deep resonance barely touched the soles of my shoes, sent vibrations up my shin. It was a clear day, not a speck of cloud on the horizon, and people came out to feel the sun on their faces, hands brought over squinting eyes as shields. Those dressed heavier now shed the extra layers. Perfection. Except the fact it was December and a blizzard was raging five minutes ago.

Stacey looked up, thin perspiration coating her forehead. She pointed to a dark and shifting mass on the sky. “What’s wrong with the birds?”

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: creative writing, inspirational prompt, novel, story, writing

Writers: Reasons Why You Could be Regarded as ‘Nuts’ by Non-Writers #writers #writer

I was talking to a friend the other day about how tired (okay, exhausted really) I was feeling and how stressed I was after I finished drafting my last book, and she said that I was crazy the way I forced myself to finish it. Her words reminded me of one of Orwell’s quotes (“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand”). How true this master of the craft was!

And yet, the satisfaction I got after typing The End (which once again I forgot to write immediately after I finished. I realised I finished another book a day later) was beyond anything I had experienced up to that moment. And no, I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Still, it made me think of how non writers view me and probably others like me, when I explain to people what the process is, what it entails, what it takes, how long it takes, the amount of commitment. Crazy, is probably the right way to describe me. So, here’s an article (leaning on the funny side of things) of other reasons a non writer might consider us crazy.

BlondeWriteMore

Writers – here are some reasons why non-writers could regard you as ‘nuts’ (nuts meaning loopy, mad, crazy, batty, bonkers, loony, potty!)

You claim to live in another world a lot of the time.
You talk to imaginary folk a lot and swear you are not insane.
You mutter a lot to yourself.
Your moods are unstable and erratic.
Whilst writing you are sweetness and light. If you don’t write you change into something terrible and frightening.
You happily spend a lot of time in solitude.
You can go from being deliriously happy to an emotional wreck in under half an hour.
Only a few in the world understand you.
You actually ask or pay people to tear your work to shreds.
You stare at people a lot and sometimes you will stare whilst scribbling notes..
Fun for you is…writing 3,000 words in a day.
You have romantic crushes on…

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The End

Well, it’s finished. For the second time in my life, I typed these words on a work longer than a couple of thousand words. My second novel (the first draft at least) is complete. It’s in bad shape (quality always suffers when in dire need of speed), and will need more work than I was originally hoping for, but if it’s on paper (or the computerised version MS Word provides) it can be fixed, revised, and edited. For the next six to eight weeks, I will forget Through Stranger Eyes ever existed, something quite hard since I keep getting ideas or end up scribbling things I need to improve once I start working on it again. But, I made it.

This past week, I’ve been tinkering my query letters (yes, now I have three different versions of a query letter, because, you know, having to choose the best out of two is easy. Why don’t we up the ante and come up with a third? Yay… NOT!) and my synopsis. The list with the potential agents is ready, I’ve separated them into manageable groups of 3-4 agents each, and I’m ready to send out my first batch of queries to the first group and see what indirect information I can extract from their responses (or no response).

I’ll take it easy for the next few months, probably until September, and my posts here will reflect that. One reason is I’m really exhausted. I never thought I would manage to write 3.5k words per day, every day, but I did. It took its toll though. At the moment, I don’t want to look at another Word Document, I don’t want to be anywhere near a keyboard. Expect the content to be a mixture of helpful advice (reblogged) I’ve found on Pinterest and other sites, along with some original material of my own.

Keep writing folks, and take it easy. If you need to ask me anything or talk to me over summer, feel free to comment here, or use the contact form on this blog, or tweet me.

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Writing prompt 26

“I’m trapped. This is where I had died.”

Jeremy twisted his head a little to the left. Nope, that didn’t help either. Strange how anyone had written a message in such a way. At least Miranda’s pocket mirror was good for something other than checking her eyeliner every five seconds. If only it were a decent-sized one instead of the tiny thing he had to work with; such a pain trying to read the mirror image of a backwards message through something half the size of his palm. He sniffed the air, crinkled his nose. What’s that smell anyway? Like rotten lavender. Damn; it was from the letters. The more of the message appeared, the more it smelled.

“Hey, Jerry,” Miranda said, “another line appeared on the far corner, I think.”

I’m actually quite intrigued by this now. I may actually sit down and write a story about it, hehe.

Filed under: Inspirational Prompts Tagged: editing, inspirational prompt, novel, prompt, story, writing

Inner critic

I hate my inner critic. I really, REALLY hate him. I’ve managed to reach the point where I only have 3 – 4 more chapters to write after which I will be happily able to say “I finished it! I finished my 2nd book!”

That was the moment my inner critic struck and messed things up. And that moment is when the previous joyful statement turns into something like, “yeah, but look what a mess you’ve made. Story sucks, plots sucks more, characterisation sucks even more, overall product sucks the most.” And then the unwillingness to continue comes along. From writing 3.5k words a day, I go down to 1.5 and writing becomes a chore.

I really, REALLY hate that inner critic. It takes all the fun away. I blame my perfectionism that sometimes runs in my veins, especially when it comes to writing.

In liue of that, I figured I might give you my take on what I do to battle these defeatist feelings, though be warned, I have yet to achieve a victory against them.

1. It’s a first draft, therefore accept it as it is. I’ve often said to some of you who follow this blog and we have developed a more direct form of communication, not to worry about a work being sucky or below expectations simply because first drafts are supposed to be that way; sucky, full of mistakes, full of plot holes, full of everything that could make you throw your computer out the window (or typewriter).

And yet I fail to adhere to this rule. Go figure. It’s still a solid advice, it’s just that my brain fails to remember it when it needs it the most. Kinda like those drivers who shield their eyes when they’re about to be part of a minor accident instead of watching where they’re going and controlling the car, even though their instructors have told them exactly not to do that.

2. It’s good to be strict with your own self-imposed deadlines, but the world won’t end if you stretch them by a few days (yes, I’m talking to you, Chris Sarantopoulos). I have very little doubt that I will be able to finish my WIP (Through Stranger Eyes is the current title, if anyone is wondering) before I start querying my previous book. Especially if I just focus and write 3k words a day. I may stretch my deadline by a couple of days, but it can be done. The thing is, I feel like I’ve exhausted all my fuel, plus the backup fuel I had stored somewhere, and some more I stole from those around me. I’m on fumes here. Bottom line is, as I said in my previous post, sometimes it’s easy to reach your daily quota, sometimes words simply refuse to come. Accept it. That’s the life of a writer, even when it comes to the big names.

3. Don’t panic, revision will save you. Consider revision as a loving and caring mother. We all mess things up from time to time (some of us more than others), but mom is always there to not just chastise us, but also show us the right way. That’s kind of what revision does for you. Even if the new plot line you made up, despite what you had planned and outlined, clashes with every other plot line, relax. You’ll get it fixed a couple of months after you finish your work, after you’ve hid the MS and let it mature. It may take you some more time to patch things up, but it’s okay. Just keep repeating “revision will make things right.” And yes, I’m talking to you again, Chris Sarantopoulos.

4. Trust your ideas. We write fiction because we have ideas to test, and strange worlds and situation to experience. Some will work better than others, some will be utter crap. If you’ve written the latter, look at points 1 and 3. Repeat as often as necessary. Chances are those ideas will spark something. Perhaps a better tangent for your story or a new story altogether.

5. Resist the urge to start another project because “this one is too hard/you suck/you are inexperienced for its complexity yet, etc.” Just put the words down. One word at a time. Neil Gaiman said that. You can’t argue with one of the masters. You can’t revise or improve on something that isn’t there. Let that inner critic shout all he/she wants. If you start an awful lot of projects without finishing any one of them, say because you’re not ready for that project yet, when will you be ready for it? Will you ever be?

Oh well, that’s all for now. Damn you inner critic.

Filed under: Advice, Ideas, Uncategorized Tagged: novel, story, Through Stranger Eyes, writing, writing problems

One more update

Despite several non stop attempts from the powers that be, I have managed to stay productive. Wait, no. Wrong. I’ve actually managed to be overproductive. For the past few weeks I’ve been able to write up to 3500 words per day, though my average is about 3000. Now, it may not be much for some of you, but it is for me. My usual word quota is anywhere between 1500 and 2000, so every time I reach or exceed 3500 words, I am elated. I don’t know if other writers are like me, but I like to enjoy little things like that, because sometimes – and I think we can all agree on that – despite all our efforts, words don’t come easy. Some days are good, some are terrible, and some are so awesome that you want to do a victory dance.

Yeah, like that.

Fingers crossed, I’ll be able to keep it up and finish the entire project either by the end of this month, or at the latest, within the first week of June. Assuming of course, that those powers leave me alone.

All right. Back to writing.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: novel, story, victory dance, writing, writing problems

Writing prompt 25

The doors slid opened. The short, sturdy woman walked in again, this time with a bundle of papers under her arm. She snapped her fingers and one of the guards brought her a wooden half-rickety chair. She shooed him away and placed the chair in front of the prisoner.

She studied him, brought a pack of cigarettes out of a pocket, took one out, tapped it on the stack of papers on her lap.

“Who are you?” the prisoner asked. “Why am I here?”

She was about to light her smoke when she paused and eyed him from over the flame. She took a long drag, blew it out and smiled at him. “Before we start, you should know you’ve already been here before, already had this conversation several times in the past, or in the future – depends on how you see it – and it didn’t go so well for either of us back then.” She shook the ash. “What story will you tell me this time?”

Filed under: Inspirational Prompts Tagged: inspirational prompt, novel, prompt, story, writing

Agent fear

The day draws near where I will have to start sending queries out to the agents I have been stalking on twitter, and have added in small manageable groups in my excel file. For the past few weeks I have been putting the whole thing off as much as possible and quite frankly, I don’t know why. When my friends ask me (the one or two who know I write) if I’ve had any replies from agents, I tell them I’m waiting for summer to send any queries, so I won’t have to stop working on Through Stranger Eyes (my current WIP) and start on revisions a potential agent may ask. I don’t want to tackle that part of the process with leftover baggage from my current WIP. Sometimes, I answer that I’m holding back to avoid having to revise and edit in the middle of a heat wave on my mobile phone instead of my PC again. I don’t think I could work on a novel-length manuscript on my mobile phone for another summer. (Hint: No A/C for me. PC’s exhaust sends air exceeding 60 C. Not a nice work environment).

However, a few days ago I think I realised I may be a little bit afraid and uncertain about my synopsis and my query. Yes, these two culprits again. I don’t know. Maybe they are not to blame at all.  So now I’ve set a date, a self-imposed deadline. Apparently, I work better when I have deadlines for things that are not directly related to creative work (like attaching files to an email and hitting the send button, as opposed to having to finish a 100k word novel by a specific date, no matter what).

I will send the first query on 10 June. Hopefully I will have finished Through Stranger Eyes by then, and I’ll be able to focus exclusively on the agent hunting process. Fingers crossed.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: agent hunting, novel, queries, synopsis, The Darkening, Through Stranger Eyes, wriging, writing problems

No mistakes, only happy accidents

A few days ago, I twitted about a mistake I made (Ok, maybe not a mistake as such – to quote Bob Ross, “there are no mistakes, only happy accidents“) and neglected my outline for just a little bit. By a little bit, I mean a large part of a scene. The result was almost a thousand words of half-decent first-draft quality prose with very interesting character interactions. Alas, I had mixed the characters up. Shameful, I know. In my defense, it was an easy mistake to make, since I almost never name filler characters when I outline, and the two characters shared a few things, like age and lifestyle. The only difference is the character I intended to write about was supposed to have no more than one line of dialogue and appear for maybe half a page, and the one I ended up writing about is an important character, which made the first one a filler, or rather an obstacle to the MC’s progress. A nameless character. Of course you might say that a thousand words for a filler character are too many, but keep in mind there are descriptions, POV character’s thoughts, reactions, and of course the stuff I had on my mind about the important character. Plus, the POV character and that filler one ended up having a long conversation, which was not part of the original plan, but stemmed of how I pictured the important character. My face once I realised what I did was like Arnold’s.

I don’t know how many of you have read G. R. R. Martin’s book, A song of Ice and Fire, but those of you who have, if you watched last week’s show (season 6, episode 1), would probably have something to say about it. Actually, if you have read the books and watched the show, you probably have a lot to say, but that’s a different story. I’m not going to go into it. I just wanted to point out how easy it is to lose track of something planned in advance, if you miss or change one little detail. For Game of Thrones, it was Martin himself, if I’m not mistaken, when he mentioned of the butterfly effect and how the show and the books have diverged because of them. I had read that blog post earlier in the year, and I know he considers himself as a gardener-writer rather than an engineer-writer, but only after my mistake did I appreciate how easy it is to deviate so exponentially by one single mistake, like a few lines of dialogue.

So, any happy accidents you made throughout your writing career that changed things so much for your stories, you had to change everything and rewrite them?

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: novel, outline, Plot, Through Stranger Eyes, writing, writing problems

Inspirational prompt 24

Last time I posted a prompt I added a poll asking your opinion on these prompts. Thank you all for voting. By the way, the poll is still open and you can vote if you want to. The more answers, the better it will be. So, most of you asked for a few lines of prose rather than images, so here it is.

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Brightness painted the inside of her eyes in orange and red. She winced, turned her head, focused on the dry rubbing her hair made on the pillow. A small groan escaped her. Someone mimicked her from her left. She whipped her head towards the sound, regretted it. Her head was swimming, and as if that wasn’t enough, there was a little troll up there, a troll with a hammer enjoying itself with the insides of her head.

Another moan from her left. “Garry?” She tried getting up, tried moving her arm to lean on her elbow, but something pinned her down, straps around her wrists, something across her chest. She opened her eyes; she was strapped on a bed.

Filed under: Inspirational Prompts Tagged: inspiration, inspirational prompt, novel, story, writing