Break It

Naturally the UCW has been all agog over WIFYR. And sadly, I was not able to attend this year (sigh). But it got me thinking about all of the inspiration I've received from writing groups and conferences over the years. One speech given last year at WIFYR by Stephen Fraser, a literary agent from Jennifer De Chiara Lit Agency, has really stuck with me.

What he essentially talked about was the importance of following your inner compass.

At many conferences and at many writing classes, the fear for most not-yet-published writers is to look like an unpublished writer. To look like an amateur. So a zillion classes are given about what the "rules" of publishing are: exactly how long each genre should be, exactly how it should be written, exactly what most publishers are looking for ....

I don't know about you, but I always bristle at these boxes and labels and rules. My hand is the one that shoots up every time with the every annoying "But why?" (Yep, I'm still that kid in class.) Why do books with beautiful illustrations have to be for three-year-olds? Why do characters in middle grade books have to use pop-culture vernacular? Why can't a picture book have 1500 words? Why ...? Why ...? Why ...?

There are many reasons to follow many of the rules. But the answer usually given to me is always the least satisfying: Because publishers know that X sells because that is what has sold.

But Fraser pointed out the importance of being the first. You never know if your version of breaking the rules could be the one that starts a new trend.

Who knew sparkly vampires would be irresistible until it was done? Who thought that mixing fairy tale archetypes into a hodgepodge world based on Greek mythology and Joseph Campbell-like folklore would capture the fascination of young readers in today's pop culture ... until it was done? Who knew that rewriting classics using monsters would be a "thing"? Who said Death could be a popular narrator?

And this viewpoint came from a well-known literary agent who had previously worked at such publishing houses as HarperCollins, Scholastic, and Simon & Schuster. In other words, a guy who is looking to publish rule-breakers. There are those in the publishing industry that can think outside of the highly organized, very rigid box of publishing.

And they are looking for writers like you and me.

This fact has probably given me more strength and determination to keep writing than any I've received.

So break it. The rule. The narrative arc. The law. The genre. The stylebook. The mold. The norm.

Take that idea of yours that just doesn't fit and run with it.

Write it from your soul. Be the one to do what hasn't yet been done.

Three things I do to be a better writer

1. Read ~ I was musing on this yesterday. Why read when I could be spending the time writing? The answer: Reading helps me with grammar, dialogue, chapter endings, hooks, character arcs, etc etc. I'm not talking about plagiarism but learning from others style. Why did they start the book here? How do they build worlds? Who is the protag? What is the inciting incident?  I may not ask these questions as I read but when I finish, I often ponder on what I can take away from reading the particualr story that will strenthen my writing.

Over on a friends writerly blog, she posted three things she does to be a better writer. That got me thinking: if I wrote a post about what I do, what would I say?


2. Write ~ Every. Day. I don't care if it's blog posts or editing a chapter or writing 500 words, daily writing trains my brain and fingers. This reminds me of something I learned when I took anatomy in college. We have blood vessels feeding our heart and keeping it humming. For ease of this illustration, let's say you have twenty little vessels in your heart. If you experience a heart attack, fifteen vessels die. Ouch! That leaves five to work and that's not much. For health sake, Doctors suggest exercise to help our hearts. Why? Here is one reason: more blood vessels.

As we exercise, our heart pumps more blood and pumps it faster. So guess what our remarkable body does? "Grows" more vessels in our heart to help with the extra blood flow. Isn't that amazing? But why is it amazing and how does it apply to writing?

When you start exercising on a regular basis, your heart soon develops more blood vessels until you have, say, forty vessels. This time, if you have a heart attack and fifteen blood vessels die, how many are left? Twenty-five! Much better than five. It's worth it to get some physical exercise daily if you can, don't you think?

If we can write every day our writing grows and develops and strengthens. We find we are ready to write/edit as soon as we sit down to our computers or paper. When a crisis comes up and we need to miss a day, hopefully our writing muscles have enough vessels to carry on and keep the creativity humming until we can return again. Miss too many days and it feels like starting over or it takes longer to get started. Writing daily helps strengthen our good habit and skills. I promise you will benefit from it.


3. Learn ~ I began writing five years ago. This great story was rolling around inside my head, waiting to be written and read. After typing it out, I thought my baby was ready to debut. HA! I had not learned much about the writing, except what my English teachers tried to teach me. But there is more to writing then proper nouns, grammar and dangling modifiers. I needed to be educated. I read books, went to writer's conferences and joined a critique group. I will admit I've come a long way, but there is still much to learn. Which is good because learning keeps my brain and creativity fresh.
Never stop learning. I take one day out of the week to go through blog posts that teach me something from my craft. Then I usually take time to read about writing/editing/marketing as well. Many of my published author friends admit they can still learn more.


What do you do to be a better writer?

30 Days: Unexpected Coincidences (a scene from WIP) by VS Grenier

            I hesitated for a minute before turning the knob to my first period class. I should’ve known the day from hell was upon me the minute Mom let our next door neighbors drive me to school. It just so happens the door to history is at the front of the classroom. Talk about making an entrance. I was hoping to sneak up to the teacher’s desk without having the whole class notice a new kid just started. The heat had returned to my face from early this morning. My ears were on fire. I’m sure if I had a mirror to look into, I would see my face was a brighter shade of red than my hair.

            “Are you lost or looking for someone?”

            I paused for just a moment not noticing where the male voice was coming from. Then I saw two large sized sandals uncross from on top of a desk to reveal a man in his early twenties. At least I guessed his early twenties. He’s crystal blue eyes were so brilliant I could see them

clearly from the front of the classroom. “Mr. Gregory?” I barely stammered. I felt the heat returning to my face once again. “The office told me to give you this.” Mr. Gregory rose, strolled to the front of the classroom, and took my placement slip and schedule from my outstretched hand. I followed him to his desk, which was on the other side of the blackboard at the front of the classroom.

            Mr. Gregory waved his hand in my direction. “Continue.” I looked at him a little baffled. Continue with what I thought. Then I heard a familiar voice start on about the black plague. I looked over my shoulder. There was Brittney giving a report about the 14^th century eruption of the Bubonic plague. Brittney didn’t look at me, but she jerked her head towards the desks. I noticed two empty seats next to each other. One already had a notebook on the desk and a backpack on the floor. The other was empty. No sign of anyone sitting there. I took a guess the desk with stuff had to be Brittney’s. I scanned the class while Mr. Gregory flipped through stuff at his desk. There was another desk further back away from Brittney. I thought about taking that one, but then again, it would be nice to sit next to someone I sorta knew. Plus, maybe she wasn’t so bad. She did gesture to the desks near each other. Maybe she was trying to be my friend in her Brittnish way.

            Once Mr. Gregory handed back my schedule and a history book, I moved my way through the desks to the one next to Brittney’s. After what felt like ten minutes, she joined me back at her seat. “What’s your schedule like?” She whispered over her shoulder. I kept my eyes forward and out of the corner of my eye, slid my schedule onto her desk. Within seconds, she was sliding it back on my desk.

           

I looked down and saw she had circled in purple ink four of my classes: history, physical education, biology, and drama. I turned to look at her. She gave what I became to know as her good-natured sarcasm stare. I tilted my head and considered maybe getting to know Brittney wasn’t going to be half as bad as I thought. 

VS Grenier is an Award-winning children's author, Mom’s Choice Honoree, featured talk radio host on Blog Talk Radio, partner of the World of Ink Network, and the founder of Stories for Children Publishing, LLC. A California girl at heart and former fashion buyer, Grenier lives in Southern Utah with her supportive family and miniature schnauzer Taz. When she isn't busy talking with authors and illustrators on her radio shows, spending time with her children, playing dress-up or having a tea parties, Grenier is busy writing new adventures in the World of Ink. Learn more about her at http://vsgrenier.com or at http://worldofinknetwork.com

 

NaNoWriMo Success--It Can Be Yours!

By Julie Daines

Here is yet ANOTHER post about NaNoWriMo. We're getting close to the halfway point. We should be coming up on 25,000 words on Thursday.

Personally, when it comes to NaNo, I'm a believer. My first NaNo year was 2010. I did it. I wrote my whole novel in one month. Then I spent the next year revising it and running it through my crit group--the amazing Sharks and Pebbles. Then I sold it to a publisher and it's coming out in February.

I am a SLOW writer. So if I can do it, anyone can!! You just have to find the NaNo method that works for you.

So, in case anyone out there finds this helpful, here are some tips that work for me:

~ Some great advice I picked up I can't remember where is to take the first 5 minutes of each NaNo session and brainstorm a few BRIEF bullet points of what needs to happen in your plot next. You only need to worry about the next scene or two. Once you have that, it's A LOT easier to get those words out. 

I'm not much of an outliner in general because things change so much as I write. But if I take these 5 minutes to plot out the near future, it makes a huge difference in how quickly I meet my daily goal.

~ DON'T SELF EDIT! Everyone says this because it is the hardest rule to stick to. If you feel you've written something awful or derailed the plot, just strikethrough those paragraphs to remind yourself you hate them, then move on. That way you still get the word count, and if you change your mind later and decide keep them, there they are!

~ Keep your fingers on the keyboard! It's so easy to simply stop typing and lean back to think, or check Facebook or twitter, or go get a snack. Resist! Keep those fingers on the keyboard and type away. If you're not sure what comes next, just keep typing the scene you're in, even if it will all be deleted later.  

I had a scene where my two main characters were eating, but I wasn't sure what needed to happen next, so I dragged out the meal, describing in detail the most mundane parts about their burgers and fries. It kept me writing until the inspiration on how to move on finally came. NaNo is an exercise in free-flowing thought, not creating a masterpiece in one month.

~ Find what motivates you. For me, it's watching that little target bar in Scrivener slowly change from red to green. 

Please, please, please share with us your tricks and secrets for a successful NaNoWriMo!!

Happy writing!

Writing to Music: A Challenge

There's two concepts I think of when I read this blog post title.

One, playing mood music while you write. I had a playlist on my iPod called "Katie" after the main character in the very first novel I wrote. I can still listen to the songs and immediately recall the feelings, sitting at my computer desk hour after hour creating and recreating Katie's story.

Two, and this is where the challenge & this blog post comes in, listening to instrumental movie music and creating a story to go along with it. Let me explain.

On my iPod I have a playlist called "Movie Instrumentals" that has the soundtracks from some of my favorite movies: Braveheart, Dances with Wolves, Pride and Prejudice, Schindler's List, and the Mission. When I am feeling my creativity stall, I put this playlist on shuffle that way I never know what song/mood/theme/feeling will be conveyed next. Then I create a story in my head, visualizing it as if I were watching a movie and I'm listening to the score. I adjust my story to match the music. Is it soft and quiet? Is it loud and harsh? Is there a country twang to it? What does the music convey and how can I make my "actors" fit those feelings?

The tricky (and fun) part is when the song switches and you suddenly get a downbeat or minor tones and something eery/creepy/sad/tragic/horrifying is happening when you were just moments ago letting two newly made characters hold hands in a park. . . .

There's the challenge. The music is always changing back and forth, and, as long as you have a good mix of soundtracks and classical, you have to stretch your creative muscles to keep your story up with the music and to make as much sense as possible. Of course, sometimes you just scrap the story and start over with the next track, and that's okay.

Want to try it? Here are a few quick examples:








 So listen to each one. What comes to your mind? What's happening? Who is in it? What are they doing? What are they saying? How are they acting? What do they do next? What happens to transition them to the next music? How do you transition them?

Strengthening our creative muscles through visualization activities is a great way to improve your writing. Sure, you may not get any better with your comma placement, but you will have a more active imagination. Plus, giving yourself to create on a whim, on the fly, with no consequence or commitment whatsoever, is a freeing experience. Let go of your boundaries and rules and pencils and laptops for a moment and just be a kid making it up as you go along.

Get the point?

Any questions?

Good. Now go create.

P.S. This is a great way to either lull yourself to sleep at night or to enliven your mind so greatly that you stay up seeing how your story ends... it works both ways for me.