Keeping it up

So, how do you keep writing? There are times that I feel like no matter how busy I am I have enough time to write. I slip into my stories in five minutes or less and then get back to the real world. Of course I get more done in the thirty to forty-five minute stints, but I seem to be always on. It's still work. I still have to struggle through plot issues or search for the just the right word, but I keep going.

Then there are the other times. The times when writing seems a near impossibility. I struggle to get enough done in every other aspect of my life that when I get a spare moment I just crash. I am doing the same things, but it seems so much more overwhelming.

So what's the difference?

The only thing I've come up with so far stems from a comment made by Dan Wells on Writing Excuses. Please forgive me for not knowing the exact podcast. If you're interested in writing then you'll probably want to listen to the whole archive anyway...but it won't save you time. I think the cast was about writing and working other jobs.

The main idea of the comment was that people who work and write have to do their pre-writing while they're doing their other jobs. For example, I work one of my jobs as  a courier. I can't exactly sit and write while operating a motor vehicle, but I can think about what I'm writing. Or on the drive home from work I start getting my thoughts together to write.

One problem with that is that I get home and I have lunch with my wife and two of my kids and I'm back at square one if I ever get to my computer. That's not so bad because I have to go to sleep right after lunch so I can be up to work my other job. But there's so much in between that I lose track of where to start.

Another problem is that while my brain is supposed to be focused on work, it is working out character problems.

And then there are all the little things that I have to take care of like paying bills, mowing the lawn, taking out the trash...you know the stuff.

I'm not trying to whine, or say my life is terrible. I'm giving an example that you might be able to relate to. There's so much stuff going on in life. It's hard to find time to write. And when we do it's not always easy to do it.

If you can, spend some time pre-writing. Get yourself ready for it so that when you do sit down you're ready. But whatever you do, write. That's what will get you there.

Good luck. If you've got other ideas on how to keep writing leave a comment. I'd appreciate it, and if anyone else is actually reading these posts you might help them too.

Change Takes Time...Sometimes

   Jerry Turncoat followed his master down the narrow servants' passage into the grand ballroom. Earlier that night the room had been filled with dancing and laughter. Now it should be just another empty chamber in their path.
   "Stay close," his master warned. "We might have to use force."
   "No problem," Jerry said with a grin. "That's why you brought me in."
   "Yes," his master said. "But I want to bring you out again too."
   Jerry had been right to choose this master. Other masters were weak, uncaring, or petty. Jerry's master had always cared. Jerry never wanted for protection or friendship.
   Once inside the ballroom Jerry saw three palace guards.
   "Halt! Who goes there?"
   "I'll handle this," Jerry's master said and turned to the guards. "We're just on our way to see the Magistrate."
   The nearest guard rested his hand on the hilt of his sword in a way that suggested that he wasn't afraid to use it.
   "Through the servants' way?" the guard said.
   Jerry's master raised his hands to show that he had no weapons.
   "We didn't want to disturb anyone." his master said.
   The farthest guard stepped forward. Her sword swung out as she walked.
   "Consider us disturbed."
   Jerry pulled his dagger and slipped between his master's ribs. His master dropped silently to the floor.

Bwhah?

Let's talk about character. Character development is a tricky thing. In the scrap above I gave you some clues that Jerry might not be completely reliable. At this point in the story you could accept his betrayal, because we aren't really connected to either character. But there was some disconnect between his final action and the rest of the scene.

At this point what do we know about Jerry? Nothing really. He's willing to kill...that's big, but not uncommon in literature. The big question is what is he willing to kill for? And why did he kill someone that seemed to be on his side. One thing we have established is that Jerry is a turncoat (Ah...see what I did there? With his name...) is that he is willing to shift allegiances. He is untrustworthy, and throughout the story we would always have that thought in the back of our mind. "Who will he kill next?"

Since this is early in the story I could spend some time explaining Jerry's seeming allegiance shift as time went on....but we would expect his future actions to line up with this killing.

Ok. That was a poor example. A better example is the scorpion and the turtle. The turtle gives the scorpion a ride across a river and halfway across the scorpion stings the turtle and they both sink into the water. Just before they die the turtle asks, "Why did you sting me when you knew you would die too?" The scorpion responds simply, "Because I'm a scorpion."

Characters have real motivations. They make choices based on who they are. And the audience needs to see who they are. A characters actions must always fit. Can they be unexpected? Yes. But the reader should say, "Oh yeah. That makes sense." At some point.

Changes in characters take time. If you establish a character, then make sure they follow through with who they are. If you want a character to change then let us feel the whole change. People don't change overnight unless something has prepared them for it.

In the movie Willow, Sorsha is the faithful daughter of the evil queen. But when she changes sides we understand. 1 - we want Willow to win, and 2 - we see the change happen over time. A number of scenes lead up to that change to make it believable.

Anyway, have fun with your writing. Remember to keep your characters motivated, and make sure they react believably to their motivations.

Modern Developments

I recently posted that, "Nobody cares until the whole thing's done."

There have been some recent developments in publishing and self publishing that seem to change that. One thing in particular that I'm talking about is kickstarter.

There are those who may believe that with kickstarter you don't need a final product, but an idea. That's true to some degree, but it's also false. Kickstarter is an investment program. You are trying to get customers to invest in your work with the promise of some reward. They aren't investing for money, but for a product and, more to the point, the chance to be "involved" in something.

Look at indie music, where everything is most popular before it is popular. It is always nice to be one of the fans that saw the band before they really developed their skill so you can say, "I like them until they went mainstream."

But when you are looking for investors for a project it's because you don't have the money upfront. You are essentially advertising either:

• a) the full product when it is finished (i.e. The published book if you've already written it, or the published book that you haven't finished it yet.) or...
• b) the idea of an amazing book that you're going to write.

The outcome is the same. You're trying to get someone hooked on your book. Where kickstarter has an advantage is that you have a venue where people can look over your stuff and buy right away. They can act on their impulse. The idea of buying things online has fed into this. If you just tell someone "I'm writing this awesome book and here's the story." You're selling the idea of the finished story to them. But only if the idea is fully fleshed out. They're still willing to put out money for a finished product. They want to read it, but they don't have it so they lose interest. With kickstarter you're just saying the shipping will take a while.

It's easy to take advantage of this system and sell an idea that will never see daylight. But you'll only do that once. Just like big publishers your readers will stop investing if nothing comes from it.

So, if you're selling a thing, or the idea of a thing, just remember: even with modern changes, people are paying for the finished product. Make sure it's worth their money.

Paradoxes

The curse of a writer is that you are never really alive unless you're talking about things that no one cares about (partly because those things are not in finished form). Our only hope is to write those things down and hope that there is some transformation between the written symbols and your voice, and that some day in the future the misconstrued wonderings of some distant relative will give our ramblings some wise meaning.

Get writing.

Cheers!

Nobody Cares Until the Whole Thing is Done

I recently looked over a friend's project. There were some positive and negative points to the project and,  as I always do when asked to critique, I focused on the negative (though I do try to do so with an eye toward improvement and not destruction, but that's another blog...in fact there are about a dozen blogs on feedback just waiting to happen). But the one thing that stood out to me was his explanation of the project.

"I want you to know." he said, and then he explained how he had insisted on following a certain method to assure a quality product. And though the product was quality. That's not the issue at hand. I want to address instead, the basic psychological issue that causes us to think that other people care how we do things. I want you all to know that no one cares how you go about your artistic process. They only care about the final product. It may sound harsh, but it's true. Why? Because until there is a final product, then your process is meaningless. You didn't make anything, and so it doesn't matter what you did.

Now I'm not sitting here and trying to say that process doesn't matter. I've got a theatre education background that screams at me every time I even think that. It sits in the back of my mind and tones, "It's the trip that's important!" "The end product doesn't matter as long as you've learned something!" "Everyone is happy and nice and you should invest your money with false smiled strangers!" Well, maybe not the last one.

But that's for students. That's for the artist. The process is only important to people who are A) trying to duplicate your success, or B) learning how to avoid your failure.

If you have an audience, or if you want to make money, then the end product IS what matters.

This whole situation reminds me of the first play that I wrote. I finagled my way into having it produced at a local community theatre and I thought I was on top of the world. I still think the play was good, but it was a first play. And when a writer for a local newspaper contacted me asking about myself I gave him an autobiography. I didn't realize then that people just don't care. My mother cares. My family cares. My friends care. But they don't care because of my project. They care about me.

Your readers will not care about you. They will care about your books. They will care about your characters. They will care about the stories that they have shared because once they take part it is their story and not yours. They will care about you because you are connected to their stories. But they're not your family. They don't care about you.

This may sound difficult to some people, but it's a good thing. You are writing something for someone else. Give them a product that they'll love. Then step back and let them love it. If they ask you about how you did it, then give them the short answer. If they want to study your process, then tell them.

We are all selfish in this world. We think so many things about ourselves. I thought everyone wanted to know about this little playwright they'd never heard of. They didn't. The people who enjoyed my play enjoyed it for what it was, not who wrote it.

So, write your book. Write your play. Write your poem. Then share them. Because people will love your project. But nobody cares until the whole thing is done.

Finish it!

If you've played World of Warcraft, Baldur's Gate, Skyrim, or any other RPG (computer or otherwise) then you know about questing. It's how they roll, RPGs. And there's always a pattern. Easy stuff first. Why? Because that's what your character can handle.

In Role Playing Games we, the nerds of the world, must quantify regular human attributes like strength, speed, intelligence, and even experience.

But how do you quantify experience? How can you even know how much you've learned from something? There are so many levels of learning going on when you complete a goal that it will likely be years before you see all of the results.

But there is something delightfully simple about all this. Do a quest, gain experience, go up a level. How good are you at hitting people with axes? I'm level 3. How do you know? Well, I have finished enough quests that I am now better. I have 2000 experience points, and that means level 3.

So how does this relate to writing? Quests start out small. Why? So you can finish them. If you don't finish you get no experience points. That may sound contradictory, after all merely by making an effort you should learn something.

BUT!

There is intrinsic value to completing a project. If you can write a one page scene that is fulfilling, then you have learned how to craft a scene. If you can write one paragraph that captures the imagination of your reader then you have learned how to describe. You're not good, but you've completed a quest.

So if you are a new writer, then I say do a quest. Set yourself a goal and then finish it. Don't worry so much about how well it's done (at least not at first) just do it. These small quests will gain you experience and slowly but surely you'll find that you are ready for larger quests. If you're working on a novel, that's just a higher level quest. Don't be afraid to finish. If you don't finish, then try again, but most of all find something to finish.

There is value in finishing.

And most of all...When you've completed one quest, start another one. That's how you level up as a writer.

Just Write

When looking for writing advice you may run into this one: Just write.

In fact, you probably will. That's because it works. Here's a few reasons why, and then a few places it might not work.

1. Last week I talked about disequilibrium and the psychological tendency we have to try fixing the dis. Well, you can put that to use. If you are struggling to write something good, then write something. If it's good you'll want to keep going, if not you'll probably try to fix it. I can't tell you how many ideas that have turned from a little spark into a roaring flame just because I put down something crappy. This is useful in brainstorming ideas for your book, fixing plot holes, or just getting your ideas out so you can fix them.
2. Writing itself is a chore. It's not easy. It is easy to put it off. On Monday morning I have to go into work. It's a rare Monday that I wouldn't rather be spending as an extra Sunday. But I often find that when I go in it's not as bad as I thought. Forcing yourself to write can often get you in the mood, and sometimes you'll even like it.
3. Writing is a skill. It takes practice. If you don't keep up on it you will lose some of the things you have learned.

When won't it work? One time that just writing doesn't work for me is when I'm completely burnt out. Emotionally, physically, spiritually. Sometimes I need to sleep. But even in those times if I write I usually find that I have a bit more energy than I thought.

So that's it for today. It's not much, it is a Monday post after all.

Disequilibrium

I'm responding to a comment on In Defense of Plot. It is perhaps a bit unfair for me to post my response as a blog instead of as a comment for a few reasons:

1. Because of the format of blogs the comments tend to be presented below the post which gives the post an implied position of false authority over comments.
2. Because I have a free forum to write whatever I want without limit.

There are more, I'm sure, but I want to throw it out there. This is unfair of me, but I'm doing it anyway...I'm that kind of person. But there's one other reason. This comment deserves discussion. If you want to see the comment then click the link and read away or just scroll down to it....then come back here.

Part 1

First thing I should address is primal reaction. To help explain I'd like to use an example. I will define plot simply as the events in a story that introduce and resolve a conflict.

A child walks into the kitchen and sees a pot on top of the stove. The mother sees the child and tells them, "Don't touch that. Hot." As soon as the mother turns around the child heads toward the pot and reaches out toward it. The mother again catches the child and says, "Hot! Don't touch!" The mother puts the child in the next room and continues cooking. The doorbell rings and the mother goes to answer the door. The child sees their mother leaving the kitchen heads back toward the pot. The child looks at the pot and then toward the front door. The front door is out of view. The child looks back at the pot and takes a step forward. The child checks again, no mom. The steam from the boiling water rises. The child reaches up to the handle.

In this story the plot is straighforward. There is a simple conflict. What happens? That's where we fill in the blank. We can't help it. The stronger the plot the more we are compelled to fill in the blank. It's what prompts a child to ask, "What happens next?"

In an educational psycology course I had a professor use this term: Disequilibrium. The plot of a story begins when disequilibrium is introduced. Something in the world is set off balance. When we recognize this our brains start ticking. In education we can use this heightened mental state to engage our students. Our primal reaction is to resolve this disequilibrium. Our connection to the story is what determines the level of our reaction.

When a competent writer leaves out a part of the plot, then we subconsciously try to fill in the blank. A strong plot will keep us until the conflict is resolved, despite poor characterization or language.

But like a bad joke, once we hear it we don't need or want to hear it again.

Character without plot & setting is a journal entry or a profile. This can be interesting, but it's not a story.

Setting without character & plot is description.

Now bear with me for Part 2

alyssajlewis's comment hits on the weakness of my original post and the first part of this post. Plot alone is never enough to suffice. Alyssa says, "It's the difference between a synopsis and the actual story."

 

So to follow my earlier pattern: Plot without character and setting is synopses or outline.

 

This is where wording gets tricky. Plot, story, narrative, etc. Each one of these could mean the same thing or something different. So, for the sake of discussion let's make the division thus: plot is the events and story is the sum of plot, character, and setting.

 

Alyssa is absolutely correct. A plot without character is weak. And this is the flaw in my original post, there is no real way to disconnect character, setting, and plot in a story.

 

Even in my example above I have two characters (and possibly a third at the door). I have a setting. And you may even say that the only reason the story is at all interesting (if it is) is because of the characterization of the child. We have set a precedence. The pot is on the stove and the child wants to touch it. There is a pattern in the child's behavior. The child wants to touch the pot and will keep trying to despite the mother's instruction. And the stronger connection we feel to the child or the mother(character development), or the more we know about outside pressures (setting), the more intense our reaction.

 

The kitchen with a pot of boiling water itself is not a story (though you could write it so). The characters, a mother and child, are not a story. But the events could not happen without the setting or the characters**. There is no conflict to be resolved. You could even argue that there is no "man vs. nature" without the characters of man and nature (in those stories nature is often treated as a character).

 

More than claiming that plot is the only essential part of story, I should be saying that it is important to learn how to use plot, character, setting, and language together to create a powerful story. In studying it is easier to critique and practice character, descriptions, and language in short form. But story is harder because it can't be propterly critiqued until it is finished.

 

My point here is reactionary. Perhaps in the same way that our study of charcter is reactionary to the classical emphasis on plot or the abundance of plot heavy stories in popular culture. I don't want to detract from the importance of character or setting. I mostly wanted to point out that plot is another important part of writing a story (especially if we want to sell it) that I feel is neglected in some writers. I think that is a detriment for those writers who want to sell their work.

 

Now, plot driven vs. character driven stories. That is a different and important discussion. (both have a plot, but they are different in how they use it)

 

I'd like to end with a quote from Alyssa that sums this all up.

I think plot has its strengths. It allows the reader to get excited for and anticipate events to come. But unless there's a good character to care about, there's not going to be any anticipation because the reader isn't going to care what happens.

 

**I imagine that there are a number of people that could describe water boiling or a pot falling with as much power as any interpersonal conflict. This is usually done by imbuing inanimate objects, such as atoms or pots with human characteristics. If you want to write this I'd love to read it.

E-publishing and Leaving the Traditional Publishing Track

I'd like to get this off my chest. I've heard a lot of people talking about the easy way to get published: E-publishing on Amazon, self publishing with Kickstarter, e-publishing on Smashwords, self publising through __________, e-publishing through _________. You get the picture.

I am not opposed to any of these methods. They might work. They might be great. I've heard anecdotal evidence supporting each one of these routes to a writing career.

But what I am a bit agitated about is the attitude I'm seeing about this kind of publishing. We're vilifying the traditional publishing industry and trying to pretend like we have found out how to turn lead into gold. Some things may need to change in the publishing industry. Your route to being published may be different than those of a writer 30, 20, or even 10 years ago.

But don't eat the crap with the cupcake.

There is no EASY way to publishing.

The traditional publishing market rose up by a bunch of people working hard to make money in publishing. Can you trust them? I don't know. Are they just up there trying to steal all of your money and make an easy profit from your work? Maybe.

But they've been around a while and some of the things they're doing is because they gets results. Lets take a look at what does work.**

• Starting with a good book - No amount of hype will cover up for a terrible book. If people don't like it now, they won't like it just because it's in a pretty dust jacket. Trad-publishers don't always get it right, but the best thing you can do to get lots of people to read and buy your book is to write something they will enjoy.
• Editing - Get your book edited professionally. 
• Lots of books - Look at all your favorite authors. If they make a living from their works they have a lot of them. In Sci-fi/Fantasy you won't likely make a living off of one book, and you won't have a big following until you've got a few books out. You can make money off the first book, but if you want to make a living you've got to keep writing. J.K. Rowling was popular, but did you hear about her after book 1? Book 2? Book 3? How many books until you break out?
• Advertising - No matter who you are you've got to let people know about your book. Even if you want to be successful on Kickstarter or Amazon you'll need to tell people about your book. Marketing is important.
• It takes time - You might get picked up by 10 billion people the day after you upload your text to Amazon. But be realistic. How many books do you buy a day? How many books do you read a day? If you give a copy of your manuscript to your best friend and it takes him three months to get through it, it might take that long for other people to read it too. It will take time to get your book around. Advertising will help, but it will still take time. Don't be afraid of it, just be ready for it.
• It takes money - No matter what you think about Traditional Publishing, they've been the ones to front the cash for many years. It takes money to advertise, edit, design a cover, get the layout done, market, and more. There are many ways to get this done with less money now, but don't dream. It will take some money to publish a book. If you can use someone else's money that's better, but then you'll need to find someone to give you that money (here's where kickstarter and the sort come in).

I'm not talking bad about any route to successful publishing. I have my preferences, but if you found a different route that you prefer then take it. But don't imagine it will be easy. Learn from the old ways, and take what the did learn. Put in the work, get lucky where you can, have fun, live the dream, and don't give up. Be in it for the long haul. Get rich quick schemes are bad news. Keep your eye on the prize, and put in the work. I'll see you on the other side.

**I'm talking about Sci-fi/Fantasy. If you are a motivational speaker, if you are writing poetry, children's books, or if you're writing non-fiction it still takes work, but you may have other routes open to you. Research what has worked in the past and then decide how to put that to work for you.

In Defense of Plot

Writing is made up of many parts. Of course you have the basics: letters, words, etc. There's theme, there's voice, there's style. We've got descriptive text, thoughts, grand ideas. Then come characters, dialogue, setting, conflict. You get the idea.

But there is one aspect that is often ignored when searching for how to refine the literary art. Plot.

Perhaps it's the idea that cramming some written work into a pre-described model is somehow un-artistic. Perhaps the types of people who gravitate toward English degrees tend to read differently. Perhaps it's that plot is one of the more basic aspects of story. Perhaps we're just reacting to the importance that Aristotle put on plot. I don't know.

But when I read someone's work who has studied writing in college, I am inevitably impressed by their ability to craft words into something beautiful. And almost as inevitably I don't see a plot.

Now don't get me wrong. Not all writing needs a plot. And sometimes we get more from a story if there are certain plot elements that are purposely twisted or ignored. But there seems to be something against good solid plot.

Here's my ideas on plot. If you're a writer, and you are interested in selling a book there is one element that saves poor writing, poor character development, and even poor dialogue. It's plot. 

Plot, more than setting or character, is the element we have a primal reaction to. If part of the plot is missing, we fill it in subconsciously. If the plot is in the wrong order, we fix it in our minds. It's the basic story of the thing, the scaffolding that holds a narrative up.

When writing it is pretty easy to go back in and add a line to fix a character, or even add in a whole new character. It's not even that hard to completely overhaul the setting.

But to change the plot in any major way you might as well write a new book. The story is the plot.

If you want to write beautiful words that don't need a plot, write a poem (although some poetry uses plot as well). Poetry is great.

But if you want to sell a novel, learn how to plot. Study how plots work, there are plenty of models. If you have a solid plot, then your story will make sense. Plot may not be the deepest aspect of story, but if you don't have it right then people will notice.