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.
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts
Monday, April 30, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Music in books: Continued
To start off, this post is a continuation from yesterday's. But the real story is that I was reading the work of one of my fellow writers in my critique group and I got to wondering how to put music to the page in a story. There are a few ways to handle music in books. I've seen plenty though I can't remember all of them. Here are a few:
Now here are my ideas about music:
It's all about effect. I have rarely read a poem in a novel that has moved me the way they book says it moved the character. And let's be honest, if I heard the music from this foreign culture it might sound really bad to me even though it was supposed to be a moving ballad. The strength of a book is the ability to describe characters thoughts, feelings, reactions.
If I have a bard singing a song and I say, "The youth of the village gathered around her with wide eyes. They sat drinking in her music well into the night and rebelled at their parents insistence that the dying embers of the fire pits meant that they must leave their listening seats." Well, now you know what the music did. If I told you the name of the bards song was an epic poem called "The eternal battle of Veras and Nir." you might be interested in the poem, but it probably wouldn't have the same effect on you as the children in the story. You don't have the haunting tune, the slow tap of the minstrel's hand upon the belly of her lute, or the perfect variations of her voice.
In short, you may have a wonderful poem, but it will never be music. As Tolkien said, "...if it can be like their song without their music."
So here is the fix. Figure out your goal. Do you want to wow your audience with your poetic ability? If so, then practice your poetry. Learn how to really write a poem. Learn to craft words so precise and powerful that the reader cannot help but drink them in. But be aware that any poem will break the flow of the story. Make sure that the words of your poem fit your world, and the skill level of the in story writer. The poetry should draw a reader further into the story. It is no longer a stand alone piece of art, it must be powerful in conjunction with the prose.
If your goal is not poetic greatness, then think about how much of the poem needs to be in the book. Often one or two lines will be enough, especially if those are the lines that mean something to the characters.
If your goal is to create a sense of music in the scene, think of the words that you use in your prose. Lean on your poetic skills in the way you craft your sentences. Look at what that music does to the world in your book. Music is powerful. Show us what happens when your world has it. Show us how the singer halts in tears each time the chorus returns to his children who were lost in the fire. Show us how the heroes rise up in response to the anthem of their comrades as the music echoes through the mist like a brigade of long lost friends.
Show us what the characters think of the light brigade, because we may not know what that means.
BUT! If you want to expand your world and give it depth, then write your songs. Build a story around the song that is so full that your readers want to know it. Put the lyrics right there on the page, but be aware the readers can skip it. I have never felt like I am missing something by not reading the words to a song on a page, but I have read a song on the page an felt like I was missing the meaning. Poetry takes training to read and to write. I love me some good old fashioned poems, but the only poems that I read in books are the poems that are books. I read Shakespeare. I read Homer. And I will read your poem, but only if the story was good enough for me to go back and want to find out what I missed.
Put your poetry in, but be aware that it can be skipped. If it can't be skipped, then have your character analyze it. We are reading what your character thinks, senses, and cares about. If you want to break down a poem so much that we really read it, then have your character really read it. As your character comes to understand the meaning (this is often done with prophecies) so will we.
Wow, this was long. So, I'll sum up.
- J.R.R Tolkien - The Hobbit (and I guess the Lord of the Rings is also similar): Tolkien shares long, wonderful, and lore filled lyrics. But he bookends them heavily with the reactions of his characters. Especially useful here is his line from The Hobbit "...this is like a fragment of their song, if it can be like their song without their music."
- Lord of the Rings: I think it's handle in a similar manner, but I don't remember specifics.
- Terry Brooks - The Wishsong of Shannara: The wishsong is used in multiple books as a type of magic. I don't remember specifically, but I think that lyrics are eschewed here in favor of effect. Saying things like, he sang them a summer day. (That's not a quote, just an example of type.)
- Alan Dean Foster - Spellsinger series: This is a comic series and uses the same method of description of effect rather than lyric.
- Piers Anthony: I don't recall the title of the book, but one character performed magic by creating and singing rhymes. The rhymes were all one or two lines, so they hardly count as songs. It was easy to read and didn't detract from the narrative because it was part of the fun to see what rhyme he could use to solve each problem as it came up.
- Frank Herbert - Dune: In this he distinguishes poems from songs. The poems are somewhat longer as I recall. He does give us a short bawdy song. The lyrics are well made and fit the scene, but they are easily skipped.
- Garth Nix - Lirael: Nix is a wonderful and inventive storyteller who uses music as a part of his magic system again. This time there are no lyrics, only music, so he can focus on the effect.
- C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew: One of my favorite uses of music in a book is found here when Aslan sings Narnia into being. A wonderful scene in the book which again focuses on effect without lyrics.
Now here are my ideas about music:
It's all about effect. I have rarely read a poem in a novel that has moved me the way they book says it moved the character. And let's be honest, if I heard the music from this foreign culture it might sound really bad to me even though it was supposed to be a moving ballad. The strength of a book is the ability to describe characters thoughts, feelings, reactions.
If I have a bard singing a song and I say, "The youth of the village gathered around her with wide eyes. They sat drinking in her music well into the night and rebelled at their parents insistence that the dying embers of the fire pits meant that they must leave their listening seats." Well, now you know what the music did. If I told you the name of the bards song was an epic poem called "The eternal battle of Veras and Nir." you might be interested in the poem, but it probably wouldn't have the same effect on you as the children in the story. You don't have the haunting tune, the slow tap of the minstrel's hand upon the belly of her lute, or the perfect variations of her voice.
In short, you may have a wonderful poem, but it will never be music. As Tolkien said, "...if it can be like their song without their music."
So here is the fix. Figure out your goal. Do you want to wow your audience with your poetic ability? If so, then practice your poetry. Learn how to really write a poem. Learn to craft words so precise and powerful that the reader cannot help but drink them in. But be aware that any poem will break the flow of the story. Make sure that the words of your poem fit your world, and the skill level of the in story writer. The poetry should draw a reader further into the story. It is no longer a stand alone piece of art, it must be powerful in conjunction with the prose.
If your goal is not poetic greatness, then think about how much of the poem needs to be in the book. Often one or two lines will be enough, especially if those are the lines that mean something to the characters.
If your goal is to create a sense of music in the scene, think of the words that you use in your prose. Lean on your poetic skills in the way you craft your sentences. Look at what that music does to the world in your book. Music is powerful. Show us what happens when your world has it. Show us how the singer halts in tears each time the chorus returns to his children who were lost in the fire. Show us how the heroes rise up in response to the anthem of their comrades as the music echoes through the mist like a brigade of long lost friends.
Show us what the characters think of the light brigade, because we may not know what that means.
BUT! If you want to expand your world and give it depth, then write your songs. Build a story around the song that is so full that your readers want to know it. Put the lyrics right there on the page, but be aware the readers can skip it. I have never felt like I am missing something by not reading the words to a song on a page, but I have read a song on the page an felt like I was missing the meaning. Poetry takes training to read and to write. I love me some good old fashioned poems, but the only poems that I read in books are the poems that are books. I read Shakespeare. I read Homer. And I will read your poem, but only if the story was good enough for me to go back and want to find out what I missed.
Put your poetry in, but be aware that it can be skipped. If it can't be skipped, then have your character analyze it. We are reading what your character thinks, senses, and cares about. If you want to break down a poem so much that we really read it, then have your character really read it. As your character comes to understand the meaning (this is often done with prophecies) so will we.
Wow, this was long. So, I'll sum up.
- Focus on effect, and then put your lyrics in if you want.
- If the lyrics are important then have your characters recall or think about them often.
- Don't sacrifice the story for the poem.
- If you have to choose between story and poem, then choose. Publish a poem if that's the most important part. Otherwise, give us a good story.
- Don't confuse music with lyrics.
- Lyrics and poetry have power, but they are different from music.
Good luck, good writing, I'll see you again tomorrow.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Lots of work to do
I've been compiling a list of ideas to post on this blog and I'm kind of blown away. I always thought that my well would run dry pretty quick. But I'm amazed how many times a day I'll be thinking of something and then jump to how it relates to writing. I love this because I am intellectualizing my work. I am analyzing what I do and coming to some life altering conclusions. Well, maybe not life altering, but they're cool.
And sometimes I'll be wrong. I don't mind that. I will come to some conclusions about writing that I might disagree with later. That's part of cognitive development. But in light of you, my readers, I'll do my best to put up useful ideas that have helped me even if I do end up changing my view a bit later. I'm not looking for a place to teach you how to speak a different language with crude though humorous phrases. Monty Python did that well enough.
So I'm going to use this post to list a few of the topics I plan on covering. If you have any topics you'd like to see, just let me know.
And sometimes I'll be wrong. I don't mind that. I will come to some conclusions about writing that I might disagree with later. That's part of cognitive development. But in light of you, my readers, I'll do my best to put up useful ideas that have helped me even if I do end up changing my view a bit later. I'm not looking for a place to teach you how to speak a different language with crude though humorous phrases. Monty Python did that well enough.
So I'm going to use this post to list a few of the topics I plan on covering. If you have any topics you'd like to see, just let me know.
- Levels of story building and revisions
- Writing Children's books (Picture Books)
- Taking Vitals, or finding out how you write.
- Different kinds of feedback
- Revisions and perfection
- Copyright law or people making money off your stuff
- I already have a hobby
- Tesol and Language learning
- The Possibility Space - an idea from computer game designer Will Wright
- Description and Descriptors
- Why do you want feedback?
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Writing and Work Ethics
A member of my writing group brought up the age old problem with being a writer. You have to write. Writing every day is, according to the general consensus, a good way to go about it. Some people set a goal for how much they want to write every day: a page, a paragraph, 500 words, or as this guy(Steve Bohls) does 1639.34 words per day (I cheated a little bit and took his year goal and divided it, but it still works out about right. Good thing it's a leap year or else it would be 1643.84. You should take a look, his stories are engaging and his writing starts out good and gets better.) Fantasy writer David Farland even made writing daily his new year's resolution, and he's coming up on a solid two dozen books published with numerous best sellers.
For me, I often try to set aside a certain amount of time I will be writing instead of a word-count (If you are a writer you will become familiar with word-count. 80k for a novel, 50k for a young adult novel, 20k novelette, 6k for a short story, 120-300k for an epic. The numbers are pretty fluid, but as a writer you'll probably become familiar with those numbers. I'll do another post on length another day.) Man was that ever a long parenthetical. Anyway, like I said, I usually tend to set aside a certain amount of time each day to write and any writing will work. However, if I am on a project I will change my goal to match the number of words per day I need to finish my project on time.
That brings me to my main point. Writing needs to be taken seriously, and it's not always easy. Most successfully published authors that I've talked to or listened to describe their writing as a job.** They sit down for a certain amount of time each day (just like a job) and work on writing. If they are making business decisions then they usually spend some time doing that too. But the biggest part of being a writer is writing. Your words are your product. Imagine if Nabisco suddenly stopped making Oreo cookies. First of all, the world as we know it would cease to exist. But second, they wouldn't sell any more Oreos. We would not be able to buy Oreos because there would be none. That's the same thing with your words as a writer. If you don't produce any, there won't be any...no matter how many good ideas you have.
An important mental shift for any writer is when they decide to make writing a priority-making it a job. Take some time to figure out what your goals are, and above all, write every day. Publishing a book is akin to getting a master's degree when it comes to the amount of effort you need to put in, and just like a master's degree, you don't usually get paid for writing along the way. Keep working, keep honing your craft, keep learning how you can best express your ideas and I'll see you on the other side...the published author side.
**One notable exception is Orson Scott Card who, when asked if he sat down to write every day responded with something like "No. That sounds too much like work." Though he did mention that when he's writing a project he will average about 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the afternoon...hmmm that sounds suspiciously like a job after all.
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