Tag Archives: writing

July 12, 2010 · 10:21 am

And the Liar Is…

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Whew! I had just gotten my breath back from all of the work involved with accepting The Versatile Blogger Award, when I was gifted with another one! With more conditions. (Where are all those awards that only require you to sit back and say ‘thank you?’ I want one of those.)

Lesa’s Bald Faced Liar “Creative Writer” Blogger Award was given to me by my friend Cat Woods from over at “Words From the Woods.”

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The conditions to accepting the “Creative Writer” Award:

1. Thank the person who gave me the award and link to her.
Thank you, Ms. Woods. It was fun to discern your lie from your truths, and I hope that am as successful at confounding people as you were.

2. Add the award to my blog.
See above.

3. Tell six outrageous lies about myself and one truth OR tell six truths and one outrageous lie. YOU get to guess which I chose, as well as which statement is the truth or the lie. (Mwa ha ha.)
See below.

4. Nominate six creative liars writers and post links to them.
See tomorrow’s post.

5. Let the nominees know they have been nominated.
Ditto.

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Here are my seven statements – mostly truths, or mostly lies? You decide:

1. I wrote my first manuscript when I was seven. It was a mystery, entitled, “The Adventures of Powder Puff Pig.” I made a nice little booklet and drew a rather straggly pig with a fluffy back on the cover. I couldn’t think of anything to say past the first page.

2. I used to love selling Girl Scout cookies door to door (when I was little, you could still do that relatively safely). People were always giving me extra money, but instead of putting it into the troop fund, I would use it to buy more cookies, for myself.

3. I am the proud owner of an Australian shepherd, three cats and a gerbil. The Gerbil’s name is Hank. The dog is Max, and the cats are Sam, Henry, and Sally. The next pet I have my eye on is a chinchilla, so that I can use it as a lap warmer for those cold nights in front of the TV. When it dies of old age, I can have a hat made out of it, and not feel guilty.

4. I love 3-D movies. Give me a pair of those glasses, and I am in another world for ninety minutes. I can’t wait until they start selling the new 3-D televisions, and I’ll be able to watch everything that way.

5. I only wear skirts or dresses. I am so manly looking that whenever I wear pants, I am frequently mistaken for George Stephanopolous.

6. I was such a fast swimmer in high school that I went all the way to the State Championships when I was a junior. I almost won first place in freestyle, but right before I touched the wall, someone’s little sister jumped from the deck into my lane and landed right on my head. My coach actually had to jump in and save both of us. They declared the heat invalid, but it affected me so badly that I didn’t even place when we reswam it.

7. One of my old boyfriends is a famous movie star, but I won’t mention who, to protect his anonymity. Let’s just say that Demi wasn’t his first cougar.

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One is true, or one is a lie. Let me know your guesses in the comments, and I’ll post the answers tomorrow, along with the nominees. (Accepting the award is optional, of course – it’s just for fun.) 🙂

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June 9, 2010 · 7:30 pm

I Really Should Be Working…

I have posted previously about the benefits of procrastinating. It allows the subconscious to have some important incubation time, helps clear out the mental cobwebs, and diffuses inner conflict on days when writing is more of a struggle than a joy.

In the spirit of providing tools for avoiding writer’s block, I have annotated a few good, free websites that are a wonderful way to change gears while scoring some brownie points with the inner child. 

braingle.com
This site is a storehouse of brain teasers and mental challenges to delight even the most self-disciplined of writers. 

Goodhousekeeping.com
You might be happy to just read the articles on this website, but if you go to the “games” section, you will be even happier. Spliterature and Mah Jong Dimensions are two of my favorites. Note: you have to scroll to the bottom of the home page to find the correct tab.

TestQ.com
Lots of fun and informative tests to take, that range from measuring your I.Q. to determining what your favorite color says about you. This site is a pleasant way to pass the time when you really should be researching the proper way to write a query letter. 

Facebook.com
I guess I don’t really need to describe this one, but I can highly recommend the Scrabble Beta game.

Lego.com
It’s not just for kids anymore. There are many terrific games on this website (category: Play) that will engage even the mature writer. My favorite is Junkbot, where you have to guide a lego robot across a series of blocks that gets more challenging with every level.

Note: A good trick to keep the goofing-off to a manageable level is to set a timer. When the buzzer goes off, get back to work.


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June 4, 2010 · 1:59 pm

Que(ry) Sera, Sera.

Getting rejected is no fun. It’s part of the writing game, though, and so instead of complaining about it, it’s a good time to take stock.

If you are lucky enough to get a personalized rejection, you at least have some feedback to consider. Whether the agent didn’t connect with your work, or if they’re already repping a similar manuscript, you can take that for what it’s worth and continue on.

A form letter is a different animal (and don’t think that they don’t happen with partials/fulls). You have no idea why your work has been rejected, what might be wrong with it, or how to fix it. You can guess, but should you go to the trouble of rewriting, or just assume that you haven’t hit the right agent yet?

Critique partners and beta readers can be helpful, to an extent, but in the end, you are still the one who decides whether their suggestions  are good ones or not. If you are getting the same comments over and over, like, “it doesn’t flow well,” or, “your main character is unlikable,” it’s time to pay attention and do some editing. Otherwise, just keep an open mind, and keep researching agents/sending query letters.

Sooner or later, you’ll hit the jackpot, or you’ll write something better, or you’ll crawl into a literary hole and decide that maybe writing wasn’t the life for you, anyway.

However it works out, it will.

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June 2, 2010 · 1:33 pm

Make Way for Goslings

This morning, I was heading East in the left hand lane of the highway when I spied two Canada Geese and their six or so goslings strutting out from the grassy median, headed for the pavement. As soon as I passed, the parents hurried their babies into the road, and my eyes were glued to the rear-view mirror to check out their fate. “Hurry up, Goosies!” I rooted.

They had a good shot at it, as there were no more cars for about a quarter mile, and that one switched lanes in time to avoid a collision. I held my breath until the family got across, happy to see them arrive at the other side. They still had an off-ramp to negotiate, but as far as I was concerned, they were safe. Directing my attention back to the road, I realized that before their trek across the eastbound lanes, the geese had already crossed one off-ramp and the two westbound lanes. 

The parents had seemed to wait for traffic to clear before heading across the highway, but I was impressed that they would take such a risk. Geese are notoriously overprotective of their offspring. Anyone who has ever come too close to a goose with goslings knows that they will hiss, bite and even chase you away if you get too close. The search for a better grazing field must have been imperative.

It occurred to me that writers basically go through all of the stages of eggdom with our manuscripts. An idea presents itself, and we incubate it with our time and creativity until a story hatches out. We nurture our fuzzy chick through the editing process until it is time to send it out into the world of querying to see if it will fly. Sometimes we are driven to make our way through the field of writing groups and critique partners to strengthen and rework our writing for the best results. With vigilance, a lot of luck and a little encouragement from our friends, we make it to the other side in one piece, hopefully wiser and with the experience needed to continue the journey.

Go, geese!

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May 28, 2010 · 12:51 am

Ghost from the Past: Elements of the Modern Novel

I fell asleep last Saturday night with the TV on. When I woke up in the morning, the movie Ghost was just starting. Ghost is my brother’s favorite movie, but I had never seen it. Twenty years of mild curiosity (and my reluctance to crawl out of bed before I absolutely had to) overcame me, and I flopped back onto the pillows to watch.

It didn’t take long to see why the film was such a hit, and not much more time to realize that the movie includes many elements of a good novel. (Note: I am assuming that everyone else has already seen Ghost. If you haven’t, head over to Netflix before you read any further —I don’t want to spoil it for anyone.)

1. Hook the Reader:
After some eerie but beautiful music and a brief pan of what appears to be a dusty attic space, the film literally breaks into the action with a sledgehammer through a wall. We are immediately introduced to the main characters (Sam and Molly) and their relationship. Once a reader is hooked, he/she will keep reading.

2. Work in backstory as you go along:
Imperceptibly, we see by his inclusion in the demolition that the couple is friends with Carl, and that he is a coworker of Sam. Swiftly, the viewer realizes that they are bankers, and just as swiftly, that secret codes are best kept secret. Backstory is more easily digested when it is revealed as needed.

3. Only include information that advances the plot or exposes character (to paraphrase Mr. Vonnegut):
We never do find out why the lovebirds seem to have no close friends except for the bad guy, but that doesn’t really matter. If it’s not pertinent to the story, the reader can live without it.

4. Weave in subplots: Oda Mae’s history of being a con artist messes up the original plan of convincing Molly that she needs to protect herself. It is also intriguing that the subway ghost seems to have been a victimized homeless person, and the $4 mil check ends up benefitting a homeless shelter. Subplots lend meaning to a story.

5. Don’t forget the twists: Carl’s character is an impressive source of the unexpected. First, he turns out to be the enemy instead of a friend, THEN he comes on to Molly after Sam’s death, and instead of being scared away by Sam’s ghost, he blackmails him with a threat on Molly’s life. Twists keep the reader engaged.

6. Give the reader the inside scoop:
The audience knows that Carl is the bad guy, but somehow, Sam just doesn’t get it. The suspense is in whether or not he will figure it out before it is too late, and the viewer is worried for him and Molly. A reader will root for a character who is at risk but doesn’t know it.

7. Include some foreshadowing:
There is plenty of foreshadowing in Ghost. “Can you keep a secret?” asks Sam of Carl, right before he goes on to tell him  about the confusion with the accounts. (We know how that turns out!) Later, a ghost mentions in passing [pun intended] that entering someone else’s body is debilitating, but we forget all about that until Sam is suddenly stricken after a visit á la Oda Mae. We also get a dash of premonition when the hospital ghost says that the dead guy was lucky to go to heaven, because sometimes it goes the other way. Foreshadowing adds dimension to a problem/conflict. 

8. Focus on character development: When Sam is first dead, he is completely powerless. As the film progresses, he grows in ghostly knowledge and capabilities, seeking out other ghosts to teach him. He also discovers Oda Mae and achieves his goal of communicating with Molly. By the end of the story, he has used his hard earned skills to save the her. Oda Mae changes from being a con artist to fulfilling her destiny as a ghost whisperer and making a positive difference in people’s lives. Carl experiences character development as well, going from getting involved with the wrong guys to being responsible for a murder. In greedy desperation, he turns into a murderous villain, himself. Character arcs are integral to good storytelling. 

9. Fake out the reader for more suspense: We think that the action is on its way to being wrapped up, with the murderer gone and Sam in full possession of his ghostly capabilities, but he is unexpectedly weakened at the moment of crisis, and we don’t know what is going to happen. Lead the reader through a maze of possibilities to heighten the tension.

1o. Incorporate themes: The most obvious themes in Ghost are “good vs. evil,” and “love conquers all.” Without them, Ghost would be just another urban paranormal. Archetypes grab the reader on a gut level.

11. Denouement:
Immediately after Carl bites the dust and heads South, the pace slows, and we enjoy a leisurely stroll to the end of the film. The swirling light from heaven enables Molly to see and hear her beloved, and there is a tender moment between them as they say goodbye for the last time. The film wraps up with Sam departing for the great beyond. After the crisis has passed, let the reader catch their breath.

12. Tie up loose ends:
Both bad guys are dead, Sam and Molly have exchanged words of love, Oda Mae has turned over a new leaf. Conclusion achieved. Don’t leave unanswered questions (unless you plan a sequel).

A lot of things have changed in twenty years, including Demi Moore’s nose, but the elements of good storytelling will never die.

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May 25, 2010 · 8:12 pm

What You See is What You Get

There is an interesting aspect to vision that many people aren’t aware of. When we look at something, it seems as though we are viewing a homogenized image, as if the body’s camera has all of its pixels activated and every nuance is just waiting to be observed.

Except that we’re not. It is a fascinating fact that the end result of what we see is much different than what our eyes actually observe. Our brains translate two separate points of view, compare and constrast shades of color, and translate the dramatic delineation of objects into a picture perfect scene. While the eyes supply the nuts and bolts of an image, the brain interprets and makes sense of things, filling in the blanks by merging available information with previous experience.

Most of the time, this system works well. Our cognitive ability, combined with the movement of the head to scan an area, usually enables us to see what there is to see. Sometimes, though, we think we see things that upon second glance are really something different, like when a cat runs across the road but then we realize it was a fox, or when we look down into the Grand Canyon and things appear to be 2-dimensional even though we know they are 3-dimensional. 

In many ways, this is similar to the picture that happens in our heads when we read.  The author supplies bits and pieces, and the reader fills in the blanks. Most people don’t need 100% of the image to see what’s going on. A character might be “a six year old female, 3’4,” sixty pounds, with braided blonde hair, eyebrows in a darker shade, blue eyes and knobby knees,” but, “A chubby little girl with blonde braids and a determined expression” is really all the reader needs, unless the knobby knees figure into the story somehow.

For centuries, readers have depended on this flow of communication between author and psyche to provide enduring mental images. These days, however, there seems to be a tendency for writers to either blatantly spell things out (always showing, never telling) or to skip details entirely (eliminating adverbs and adjectives), leaving the reader bereft of the joy of “the movie in your head.”

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett,* is one of the most engaging books that I’ve read in a while, and I happily stayed up late to finish it. The reason that I didn’t give it a higher rating was because after I read it, I didn’t experience my usual reliving-the-best-parts-of-the-story-in-my-head-later afterglow. It was just, “The End.” I was able review the course of events in my mind, and had mental images of the toilets on the lawn, Mae Mobley perched on the pottie in the wrong bathroom, and the stain on Miss Celia’s carpet, but there was a depth of field that was missing. 

What I suspect was at the heart of the problem, was the current trend of deleting most adverbs and adjectives. For me, that removes a lot of the visual aspects of a read. I don’t think that stories should be hazy with purple prose, but I like the subtleties of language that adverbs and adjectives can supply. I enjoy knowing about the quirky eyebrows on the teacher, or that the mother said something in a mysterious way. Those details are parts of the picture that the author has painted, and I want to see them. I don’t go to an art museum to look at a coloring book and fill in the pictures myself — I want to see a completed masterpiece, the world as the artist sees it.

Similarly, I want to see a story through the author’s eyes. If I like it, I like it, if I don’t, I don’t. If a writer wants to fill in some information with an adjective, I’m all for it. My vision is a little skewed, anyway.

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* To see my review of The Help, click to read the first-half and final-review posts.

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May 8, 2010 · 11:36 am

Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Curtain… or Should You?

Last night was rather exciting. We had just gotten back to my elderly parents’ house after a nice dinner out, when the lights started to blink and we could hear the thunderstorm that had been brewing all day, begin to rev up. I flicked on the TV and was startled to see some dramatic radar of their small town, directly in a tornado’s path. “It will hit Huron in four minutes – TAKE COVER!” The weather man didn’t look like he was kidding, so we hurried into the small bathroom in the middle of their house. I quickly stripped the walls of mirror and framed pictures, put them out in the hall, and grabbed some pillows to cower under. We could hear the wind swirling, and hail pounded the rooftop. After a few minutes, it was clear that the storm had passed, and we emerged unscathed. 

Of course, this made me think about writing.

Two days ago, after I finished wrestling with some changes to my query letter, I celebrated by sending it out to an agent on my “A” list. I’d also been making some alterations to my manuscript, and wasn’t quite done with those, but I pushed away the thought that I might actually get a positive response. Four hours later, I had a request for the first five pages.

Suddenly, I was scrambling to decide whether the changes I’d made were good ones, or if I should send out the previous version. Uncharacteristically torn, I finally asked a writer-friend to read them, for an objective opinion. Her response that both were good helped me to figure things out. I responded to the agent in a timely manner with the old version, minus a few tweaks.

Yesterday morning, when I heard the weather forecast, I had a feeling that I should think about what to do/where to go if there was severe weather while we were at my folks’ house. I came up with a mini-plan, and when the time came to act, I knew what to do.

When I sent that query letter, I ignored a similar feeling, which had told me to finalize things with my manuscript before sending off an invitation to read it. Everything turned out okay, but I was in a tizzy for a while because I had to rush my normal “incubation process” of editing.

I was happy with what I sent to the agent, but the experience would have been much more pleasant if I’d been prepared. I learned my lesson, though, and spent the rest of that day completing the changes to my manuscript. Now, if that agent (or anyone else) wants to see more of my work, all I’ll have to do is push a button.

Listen to that little voice. It could save you.

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May 3, 2010 · 11:34 am

Keeping Up the Good Work (or) Reflections on My 75th Post

The “stats” graph for Layinda’s Blog tends to look like the screen on the heart monitor of a distressed patient. I write to several related audiences: Writers (who want people to read their writing), Teachers/Parents of Gifted Kids (who read), and Points of General Interest (to readers and writers). I use Twitter hashtags to advertise to whichever audience each day’s post is predominantly aimed at. As a result, some days have a higher number of visitors than others.

A week or so after I started blogging (mid January), I had a day where not one person looked at it. The previous day, I had written a slightly controversial post (in which I dissed LOST), and it occurred to me that I might have alienated all of my fledgling readers. Instead of panic, though, I was surprised to feel a certain freedom. I realized that if no one read it, I was unencumbered by the need to please.

The next day, the numbers were right back to where they’d been before, but the seed had been planted. I have stayed true to writing whatever I’ve wanted to, and fortunately, my readership has continued to grow. I used to be excited if thirteen people viewed a post, then it was twenty-nine, and now forty-five seems small. 

As the peaks have gotten consistently higher, I have noticed an impressive level of internal pressure to produce quality posts, which take more time to write than the lame ones. The other thing I have noticed is that my “real writing” is suffering from neglect. 

In an effort to remedy both issues, I have decided to officially switch from posting Monday through Friday, to Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Good advice for blogging, in my opinion.

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April 28, 2010 · 11:54 pm

Go With the Flow

Recently, I’ve found myself listening to late evening radio shows that feature announcers who speak in foreign languages. I used to change the channel when these came on, but have discovered that I enjoy listening to the cadence and rhythm of a foreign tongue. There is a lyrical quality to the ebb and flow of pitch intertwined with the fluency of the spoken word. With meaning removed from the equation, I am free to appreciate the music of language.

I have always felt that it is important to incorporate this quality into one’s writing, and there are a few web resources that say it better than I probably would. Here are the links:

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Common “pitfalls” of sentence structure and how to avoid them:

http://www.mycollegesuccessstory.com/academic-success-tools/superb-sentences.html

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Helpful suggestions for avoiding choppy sentence structure:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/573/03/

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This one is aimed at younger writers, but the content is excellent:

http://www.ttms.org/writing_quality/sentence_fluency.htm

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On the qualities of good prose:

http://www.fictionfactor.com/articles/style.html

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Sentence variation and the rhythm of writing:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/159621/how_you_can_write_strong_and_lively.html

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Enjoy!

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April 26, 2010 · 11:35 pm

To Critique or Not to Critique

It is common these days for writers to find other writers to swap manuscripts with, for the purpose of critique. I have two critique partners (or “critters,” as they are fondly referred to).  Like me, both have written YA manuscripts, but neither writes historical, and neither writes third person. Both are younger than I am. Nevertheless, I have found their comments to be valuable and thought provoking, and I’ve made several positive alterations to my manuscript as a result of their good insights.

Ty Roth, whom I interviewed for the blog two weeks ago, didn’t have any critique partners at all. Or even beta readers. His agent and editor (and people who work with them) are the only ones besides Ty to have ever read his manuscript.  He admitted that the work he submitted was rough, but emphasized that the story was the important thing.

I found this enlightening.

The downside of critique partners is that everyone has his/her own likes and dislikes, perspective and preferences. Each time someone recommends changing your manuscript, a little more of the essence is chopped away, and by the time an author is “done,” the end result might be an over-thought and pasteurized shadow of its former self. If it was terrible, that’s not a bad thing, but if it wasn’t, it might not be a good one.

This reminds me of an old story, that goes something like this:

There was once an old man who decided that the day had come to take his donkey to the market and sell it. He and the donkey had been together for a long time, but their traveling days were over, and the donkey was a hungry one. He harnessed the animal one last time, took hold of the rope and led the donkey down the road.

After a mile or so, someone going in the other direction jeered, “Why are you leading that donkey, when you could be riding him?” The old man hadn’t wanted to burden his four-legged friend before saying goodbye, but realized that the stranger had a point, so he climbed on top of the donkey and continued on his way.

After another mile or so, a different traveler came upon them and exclaimed, “Why are you riding that poor old donkey? He’s so pathetic that you should be carrying him!” The old man realized that this stranger also made sense, and so he dismounted. With an awkward heave, he hauled the donkey onto his shoulders and determinedly walked on.

A third person came upon them and stood in the road laughing. “You crazy old man, why are you carrying that donkey? He should be pulling a cart or something.” The old man stood with the donkey on his back until the stranger had passed, then slowly lowered his loyal friend to the ground. The donkey gazed at him, and the man felt badly that he had allowed other people’s opinions to sway what he really wanted to do. Reaching over, he grasped the animal’s halter and they walked side by side once again.

Having your manuscript read by critique partners can be a very positive experience, but everyone’s got their own opinion. You’ve got to go with your gut, and only make the changes that feel right. An agent might just love it the way it is.

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