Unleaded - Fuel for Writers » Writing Tips

Time is Running Out…and Backdating Posts

DayAlMohamed — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:57:33 +0000

“Time is running out, time is running out…” I caught myself singing that this morning from my childhood favourite – Jem and the Holograms. After reading the Unleaded: Fuel for Writing website today, I now know why…egad! What has happened to our writers? The blog is now at the mercy of D.L. Thurston. Whatever shall we do?

For me personally, it has been a tough few days. Between the inlaws’ (or soon-to-be-inlaws to be more accurate) 50th wedding anniversary, a trip out of state and work deadlines, there just hasn’t been time to get much writing done. I have a submission quietly sitting on my desk waiting for one last read through, and a blog post that is now late (even if I don’t have an official day, I try to make sure there is a nice balance – inserting myself into places). Hmm, I wonder if backdating this post would count?

So…the subject for today’s entertainment is, “Time.” I was looking at Michael Stelzner’s (Copyblogger) posts on this. He did a short series as part of a conversation with his readers about what keeps people from writing and a discussion about things that may help getting and staying on track with you writing. He lists some things to do while exploring your inner non-writery self and like everyone else on the internet, I can’t resist those little self-quizzes.

Click here and take a test to see how much of a time waster you really are. Okay, okay, it is really a test for time management - but isn’t it the same thing anyway? If you score between 30 and 36 you are excellent at managing your time. If you score between 22 and 28 you are like most people. If you score below 20 you really need to concentrate on improving your time management skills. I scored in the NEGATIVE. I guess that isn’t a good sign, huh?

His follow-up post, “Five Tips for Finding Writing Time” was nothing new, but considering my current state, and those of my fellow writers-in-progress I thought a reminder might be good. To summarize his points, adding my own flair (and interpretation) here and there:

1. Find out when you are most productive. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Can you “sip” your writing, in 15 minutes here and there during the day or are you a “gulper” requiring a solid block of time?

2. When you are in the Zone, or your writing time, or have that urge, then write – ONLY Write. As he said, “controlling the zone is a key to success.”

3. Stay Focused on Writing. Don’t let yourself get dragged out of the Zone. Turn off the phone, close the door, unplug your internet access.

4. Keep Writing. Use whatever tips and tricks that keep you writing. Not editing, not researching, but writing. Change your format, use pen and paper, set goals, free write - do what it takes to keep going.

5. Reward Yourself for Getting Writing Done. (I like this part best). I assume most people are like me, externally motivated and so the promise of something “extra” for writing is a nice little push - a smoothie from Starbucks, a night at the movie theatre (WITH popcorn, soda and candy), the latest Birds of Prey or Wonder Woman comic book, or maybe the Jem and the Holograms DVD Collection (See me bringing this post full circle?)

And now for your enjoyment…Jem and the Holograms!

Wednesday Writerly Words

DLThurston — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:39:16 +0000

The Power of Crap 2: The Encrappening

Few weeks ago I talked about the power of crap for refreshing the mental processes. Well, here I am about to talk about the power of crap for refreshing the mental processes.

Wait!

Don’t go!

This is a slightly different point, but starts similarly. This weekend I wrote about 7500 words, the most I’ve written in a three day span in a month not called “Nanowrimo”. I mean “November.” No before people who are waiting on the conclusion of Capsule get excited, it was not on Capsule. It wasn’t, in fact, on anything I ever intend to publish. It was something intended for an audience of no more than 8 or so people. And in a genre that I was completely uncomfortable with: heroic fantasy. And yet, in spite of the tiny intended audience and discomfort with the genre, I wrote, and I wrote hard.

Sometimes it’s that change of pace that gets your brain working. Will it carry over to Capsule? That’s hard to say. Unfortunately the timing is bad as I’m working on a submission and my coming weekend is completely spoken for in non-writing time, but it did get the creative juices flowing and got my brain turning over in a way it hasn’t done in awhile. I even plan to try this again as a writing exercise just before I get back to new stuff on Capsule later in the month.

So if you’re hitting brick walls, the problem may be that you’re trying to go forward when going sideways might get you around the wall, or backing up might get you a better perspective on where there’s a door going through the wall. Try something different. And not just a little different, a lot different. Go character driven if you’re having trouble with something plot driven. Go fantasy if you’re having trouble with futurism. Just get the brain keyed in a different direction and it might just slip into gear.

Unnecessary Distractions

Jennifer Brinn — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:00:41 +0000

This is in regards to a post on the Making Light blog that references, in part, a review of a book that said the character’s gayness was a distraction. Because it wasn’t actually plot important.

The silliness of that statement is rightly pounced upon, but the thought behind it is one I have wrestled with on occasion. It deals with the idea that both of the following must be true, at the same time, to listen to people discuss the topic:

1. A character’s gender/race/sexual preferences should only be chosen as different from the “norm” if there’s a real reason for it. Otherwise it is tokenism, insensitive, and is just an appropriation of said stereotypical element, rather than a true representation.

2. Most stories are too within the “norm” and it our responsibility to fill out the cast of the world with non-”norm” types.

(Note the quotes around the word “norm.” I used this because that’s generally what people mean when they say “other.” Not “norm.” It makes little difference that “norm” can be defined any ol’ way you choose, based on your own experiences.)

There are many corollaries to this Catch-22 that add new wrinkles to it. Avoid the cliches (magical Negro, only people of color are bad guys). Keep a historical novel true to the time period but make the main character have a 21st century attitude towards topics like slavery, imperialism, and women’s rights. Etc.

I have a lot more to say on that subject, and probably will do so in the future. But I wanted to get back to the point — What makes an unnecessary distraction? Since when is diversity counted as distracting?

How does someone like me (white female from middle-class background) strike the balance on the knife’s edge between having a properly diverse (or non-diverse when the time/setting calls for it) and being “distracting?” How do you run the gauntlet between cliches of bad stereotypes and ending up with the cliched Other as Good Person Always that can be as much a cliche as the old stuff?

I think the real answer to this is that we always need to keep questioning ourselves about what is best for the story and to make very deliberate choices about what kind of characters we use, even for the third spear-carrier on the end of the row.

Write the story as it is meant to be, with all proper intentions in place, and then say to hell with those who have issues with it.

(As a semantic side note to all those who keep saying the casting in The Last Airbender sucked because they were supposed to be Asian. They aren’t. The characters are from a different world than ours and thus can NOT be Asian. They don’t have an Asia! Please word it differently.) (Though at least the casting errors are a distraction for the real travesty of the whole thing. I mean, who can criticize the movie’s writing or direction when you can’t get past how people look? Maybe that was the point…)

People on the Street – Finding characters

A. Willburn — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:30:34 +0000

My brother and his wife are visiting me in DC this week. They are from Colorado and have never been out here before, so I’m doing my sisterly duty and visiting all of the monuments and battlegrounds and other things I never see unless guests are in town. Normally during these excursions, I’m too sidetracked to pay much attention to what’s going on or being said around me. This time, however, I decided to do a bit of a social experiment. I started watching people, listening to the brief snippets or their conversations, and imagining their life story.

At the Air and Space museum I saw the boy scout with his his khaki brown top tucked into his blue plaid shorts betting with his friends about who could eat more French fries after chugging a cherry coke. There was the homeless man on the National Mall who threatened to punch his invisible friend in the head. And my favorite of all, the little kids at one of the battlegrounds who wondered why they couldn’t see any bodies.

In the last week, I have imagined some of the richest characters in my life. I can see what they wear, what type of food they eat, and why they keep their chapstick in their left pocket but their money in their right. This exercise has helped me think more about my characters as people, rather than modes of story development. It’s the little unique ticks about a person that makes them real.

I challenge all of you to watch the people around you. Notice the words they overuse. Their hairstyle. Their religion. Now, do this to your characters, and I think you’ll find that they become real as well.

Monday’s Poke: Liver Flavored Novels?

NRBrown — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:44:55 +0000

Recently, I had the chance to sit and listen to Jeffery Deaver (the best selling author) discuss writing.

It was an interesting night, one that I had a real reaction to that I am still digesting…but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me share with you what I took away from his talk.

Deaver says he practices the Liver Flavored Tooth Paste way of writing. Broken down this means that we do not write things that people are not interested in, because people won’t read it (funny that).
He also says that you can’t know if you have a Liver Flavored story until you get into it. Thus he is a huge champion of outlining! He usually spends a month or more outlining a new story, getting down all the scenes he wants to include and all the aspects he wants to explore. Only then does he begin writing.

And if the outline is bad, he throws it out.

No keeping a passage because it is good, no pulling out a character, no tucking it away to come back to later when perhaps you get a better handle on it…nope, it all gets thrown out. ALL OF IT.
He finds it much easier to get rid of something that is not working, and he believes that he has wasted much less time than he would if he had begun writing already.

For me the delayed gratification that comes with outlining prior to writing sounds like torture…but Deaver swears by it.

So, what do you think? To outline or not to outline? Could you wait to start writing until after you outline? Or are you like me and view that as torture? Let me know!

-Renee