Deadlines, outlines, and no lines at all

Reading through some posts over at The office of Letters and Light, has kicked me into gear today. One post in particular, why deadlines are every writers secret weapon, got me thinking of my own changing attitude towards deadlines and structuring in my writing process.

For years I hated the idea of planning before I started writing, even doing papers in school I tended to skip the outline stage and sorted out everything after I'd written it. In my 'expert' opinion outlines were stifling and deadlines only cased stress. I never thought of myself as rebellious as a teen but I am beginning to see that I was, at least in some ways. I thought I knew better than my teachers, better then the authors of dozens of writing books. I did alright with my way but I have to wonder how much better I could have done if I'd listed more.

I'm not sure exactly what started changing my opinions, maybe all the writing books started to get through to me I don't know, but I have begun revising my opinion on a few things. I'm starting to find that I like a certain amount of preplanning before I start writing. I don't go through my story scene by scene but I like to know where its going and what needs to happen to get there. This means that it'll take me longer to start some stories but hopefully when I do I'll actually manage to get through them.

The problem with this is that I'm lazy. If I don't have a burst of inspiration, (like I did today when I started this post) I'm not likely to get much done. Which leads nicely into the topic of deadlines and accountability. I find that I desperately need both. I don't mean consequences if I fail, just something to remind my so I don't let myself down. I discovered exactly what I needed when I did NaNoWriMo last November (click here for my post on that.) I did the camp version in April and plan on doing it again in July.

I love doing NaNo, it keeps me writing the whole month long and I love that. The problem comes in between times, after the month long writing marathon is over I 'take a break.' If you look at my blogging history you'll notice that its rather sporadic, it reflex well the rest of my writing habits. Without a tangible sense of accountability I'm more likely to read then write. Its fun and easy but not nearly as rewarding.

 I suppose I'm asking for advice more than giving it here, (see thats proof that I've matured, I'm asking for advice!) What do you do to keep yourself on track? I'd love
any tips or ideas.

P.S. Will I see you at Camp? Or maybe in November?

Who's story is this again?

Two posts in one day is unheard of for me but this, this I had to share.

So quick back story: I've been working on a Beauty and the Beast story, trying to get a handle on the characters and work out some problems with the plot so I can start writing it for Camp NaNoWriMo's April session.

It hasn't been going well. I thought I had calmed down about it after my last post but then I just got worked up again wondering if I was ready to write it and if I had enough exuberance to deal with all the themes properly. My MCs (main characters)  were flabby at best but some of the SCs (secondary characters) fascinated me.

Everyone knows how Beauty and the Beast ends so you wouldn't think I'd have a problem there but I did. I had this SC who I really liked, she had a complex journey of her own and I really felt the need to wrap up her story nicely, only I couldn't. There was no way I could fit a happy ending into the story I the idea of leaving her hanging didn't sound good at all.

Lines of Imagery

All of these things I found siting, half accidental, on the same surface. So as a little exercise I thought I would catch them so to speak and share: 

A ring of skeleton keys and a red leather wallet embellished with gold, a string of pearls cast over both.

A stack of three baskets, woven of grass, each a little bigger then a sparrows nest.

A type writer with a blank page, bold against the black metal, both covered in dust. 

A letter opener shaped like a dagger  with a point like a December wind.  

A wooden heart pendent, its cord tangled with the chain of a Fatima medal.  

A twenty dollar bill, neatly folded in quarters, beside a Dixie cup.  

Five candles of various heights held in mismatched holders of brass and dull silver. 

Questions for you:

What does each line make you think of? 

What about all together or a few at a time? 

What small things around you can you capture in one or two lines? 

And just for fun; Can anyone guess where they all are?  

(Come on, any thoughts at all?)

The Most Important Thing I Learned in 2012

Okay, a piece of advice: if you start a blog about writing and then you really ought to write on it, if only when something really cool happens in your writing life. If you don’t you’ll end up writing about it months later…like me.

In any case, something cool happened to me last year:

 You know my last post? No? Not important, it was just about a challenge I set myself…and then discarded the next day. But I had a good reason! Really I did, it’s called NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. If you’ve never heard of it before you really should go check it out. NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel in one month. It is held during November and is host to writers from all around the world.

I started late; I didn’t even find out about it until November 4^th, I signed up that day in some crazy, daring, fit. I don’t do things like this you see, I’m not that impulsive, not that brave. But on that Sunday afternoon I committed myself to writing more then I had ever written before. And I did it. 50,000 words, 26 days, 1 story, and me.

I learned that month that I can write, even when I don’t think I have anything to say. Too often I’ve waited until something really inspires to write; when that’s done I go find a book to read. Forget about the second chapter, I’ll get it another day. We all know how that ends. I haven’t done very much since November. That story’s not even finished, 50,000 words is a lot but it still only got me about half way through. I’m notoriously un-self motivated you see. I know that if I sit down and force myself to crank out some words I will be able to. They might even be worth reading.

Today I’m sitting down and writing a blog post, it’s not a real big thing, it’s not a novel for instance,  but it’s something. That’s all it takes I suppose, a little something every day. In November it was about 1650+ words a day. I don’t think I’ll be keeping that goal but I do know that I need to make a goal of some sort, now that I know that I can write I just have to make myself do it. 

But how much you write isn't as important as making yourself write. You see that's what I learned last year: I can write, but the catch is that I have to sit down and do it. There is no other way to become a writer, you have to write: Write when you feel like there is too much to say and you can't type fast enough. But too, Write when your tired, when you don't know what to say, when you don't think you can. It'll be hard sometimes, but in the end, it'll be worth it. 

30 Day Challenge: People

 “You see but you do not observe.”

I sat at a coffee shop with my notebook for a little while to day. As I scribbled it occurred to me that I'm not in the habit of people watching and I do not observe half of what I should. I noticed the different groups, couples chatting, three or four friends at a table, loners with their laptops; here for caffeine and free wifi. I wrote this down but little else about them, sketching outlines but no more. Maybe there is enough background there to set the stage for a scene or short story, but there are no personal details. The little things that make people real are missing. One guy in his twenties had red ear buds in as he focused on his black laptop. Another person with a laptop, a young woman, has tea instead of coffee, she puts honey in it, I know because she was fixing hers at the same time I was. I remember someone had on black and white converse, but I don’t know if there were more sweatshirts or jackets, purses or book bags. 

I never have been much of a people person, maybe that’s why I never thought about it before. But really how can I describe the shadow figures in my mind when I have never practiced describing the living breathing characters all around me?  

Maybe it’s time for another 30 day challenge: watching and writing down something about a person or people every day. As Sherlock says [BBC’s ‘Sherlock,’] “You see but you do not observe.” Maybe it’s time I started. 

[For more on 30 day challenges see my post  Write to be a Writer]

Ten writerish things a procrastinating writer might do:

1. Make a list of things to write about

2. Read advise from other writers

3. Reorganize their book shelf, desk, or filing cabinet

4. Read a book, watch a movie, or start a marathon of their favorite TV show, and call it ‘gathering ideas’

5. Look for writer related pictures or quotes on Pinterest, Google, or in some other store for such things

6. Practice their signature for book signings and decide if they want a pen name

7. Shop for more office supplies and make a wish list for when they publish their book

8. Talk to their characters and do pretend interviews for their future fans, all out loud.  

9. Make a new slip cover for their notebook and wish they could afford a leather one

10. Draw flowers and tornados in their notebook’s margins while waiting for inspiration to strike

These ten things are not necessarily bad, in fact they can be very good things to do sometimes. BUT they will not help if you don’t remember a writer’s number one rule:

1. You can’t be a writer unless you write. 

The Midnight Questions

If the words that scrawl across the page by night were ever read by light of day, what would there be worth reading again? A desperate question, an unfounded hope, a memory fresh as new leaves? Or will the words be as dry as ink on the page?

 Is it all just a flash, here and then gone? Or will something stay, standing out in the morning bright? 

If I had never written, not one word upon the page, would I then find rest, untroubled by these lines? Would I wish it so? 

What words will come tomorrow night, when all is dim and clean? What echos of the day will sound, when night stars wake once more?

Write to Be a Writer

You can’t be a writer if you don’t write. So if that’s not something that you do every day you need to start. Get a note book, keep it with you, use it for any little snippet or idea that comes into your head. Open a word document, start typing. Get a stack of files and save everything you write, everything you’ve ever written.

In January of 2012 I set myself to write every day. I made a rough chart and promised myself thirty days of writing. I made that goal and have only missed a couple of days since then. When I started I was using a standard notebook, now I have a small one for my purse and a six by eight that I take almost everywhere, at the very least it’s in the car. I remember going into a panic one day when I forgot my purse, solely because it left me without paper and pen. Not all my entrees are long, some are just a few words strung together or even just pared up. Sometimes I write fiction, sometimes I make notes about my day, and often I don’t make any sense.

My notebook is a way for me to keep myself writing even when I’m discouraged or to busy to do much. I may not be going very far now, but at least I know I’m moving forward as a writer every day. You see I believe that every word we write makes it easier to write. We learn to think in words, to grab hold of little things and save them for later.

Just try writing a line or more a day. It takes less than a minute and if you don’t like it no one has to see it but you. Just write something, anything. 

Wish to be Weaving

  

   Sometimes all I want to do is write something, I want to dive in and have the words fall from my finger times like rain running off the eves. I want to wash the world away until nothing is left save my pen and I. I want to be swept away to some far off place and make it near enough to touch. I want to feel the rush of adrenaline when the hero, with myself beside him, fights to life and love. I want to feel the butterflies when she dances the last dance with him. Taste the blood in my mouth at a back handed blow. Smell the pine and cinnamon and the wood smoke from the castle Yule log… I don’t want to sit and academically think of what could happen, I want to be there I want to write it and feel it and see it clear as a sky in midsummer. How do I make it through brain storming and research when all I long for is that rush of discovery and creation? I tire too quickly of spinning and the sorting of many colored threads, I want to weave the stories at once, though I expect they would be poor at best if I were to do so, that is if they were ever finished at all.   

Why I Started this Blog

I am just starting out with writing, I’ve thought about it and sort of played with it but it never went anywhere. So here I am, trying again, and it's such a long road when you're sitting at your computer all alone.

Yesterday I had a bad day. Nothing was going anywhere. I’d written some stuff but it wasn’t real writing, it wasn't a scene or a plot. It was just nonsense, fragments and snapshots that are supposed to be helpful in making your writing better but don't look like much by themselves. I was depressed and frustrated. So I went looking for help. I searched the web trying to find someone who felt like me. No luck. There just wasn’t anyone else out there who was saying anything like what I was feeling. So here it is; a blog that will, hopefully, be admitting the simple fact that I’m a beginner and I’m scared.

My story ideas either have no plot or have no character. I have fragments and ideas and years worth of note books without any clear outlines or drafts. That’s right not a single completed story to my name. So I keep thinking what’s the point? If I can’t even come up with a beginning, middle, and an end then how can I even think of calling myself a writer? Oh but I want it. I need it. The words scribbled across the page or tapped out double time on the key board, a disconnected conversation growing until you can almost see the story behind it, a single line standing out on the page, the absolutely silly delight in something that wasn’t there five minutes ago; oh how I love it! If there is a job I could do for the rest of my life this is it.

 I know that the number one cause of writer’s block is fear. And I freely admit that I’m scared. They say that courage is fear that’s said its prayers. So here I am, saying a prayer and; jumping off the plane without my back up shoot, diving in the deep end, and going to a party without a banana. God Bless

Rita