Sep 13 2013

Roadblocks to storytelling.

I think every storyteller and writer alive has had to figure out their process to create and how to overcome the roadblocks/obstacles along the way.

I struggle with knowing what I want to write and writing it. Do you know that one?

There are times when I am starting and even sometimes when I’m in the middle of writing a scene that my fingers freeze. Do you know that sensation?

It’s like I know what’s supposed to happen thanks to my handy-dandy roadmap but there is a disconnect.

I have theories of why. I don’t often think in words. It’s more pictures and images and bolts out of the blue that want to defy logical connection. And writing a scene is full of connections.

“Write hot, edit cold. ”

Yes, yes. That is my first mantra. And you know, sometimes it works. I get into the flow AND it’s glorious! The muse is whispering in my ears, the birds are singing, the sunlight dances in rainbow colors around my head, and the world waits with bated breath.

And sometimes it’s a struggle.

“Doesn’t have to be perfect. ”

That would be mantra number two.

The thing is I don’t want to put a lot of garbage on the page. I think that’s part of the problem. So my get-around that is to write short sentences consisting of who’s there, what they’re around, what’s going on with notes of who’s feeling what. It’s a cheat sheet to allow me to slip into each character’s skin.

This works for me quite a bit but the problem is overload. There’s so much that my head feels like it’s going to implode. How can I get this huge monstrosity on page without having ever scene be a book in itself.

“Break it into bite-size… Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

Yes folks, this is mantra number three. I say this rather often. Writing a complete book is a large undertaking. It’s a huge commitment and it’s not for the weak hearted.

Mantra number three usually gets me to breathe again and then I can Center.

Okay so I know all what is going on in this one moment of time and the influences leading up to it. And for goodness sakes what are the villains currently doing -even if it’s behind the scenes. This is for my head only as the deity of this make-believe world.

Sometimes this means I draw a storyboard… Or I play act like we all did as small children (though it’s helpful if there are no bystanders to watch this process).

“Writers are crazy.”

Yeah. This one doesn’t have a number. I just say it often.

Alright so I know what’s happening in the scene and I now know all the motivation leading and threading through it.

“POV – GOS/ETAC”

Mantra number four is a lot of acronyms. Who’s head am I in? What do “i” want more than anything else right now. How do I react to the obstacles keeping me from what I want most? Etc. etc. If anyone doesn’t know the acronyms – and once upon a time I didn’t – send me a comment. I would be more than happy to explain.

Usually by now the scene is starting to flesh out pretty well. And I have little nuggets of personality – thoughts, “isms”, etc. that show up as I write.

(What do I do with that?)

Well – If it relates to the scene I’m working on, I go back to where I think it should be added and add it.

If it doesn’t belong in that scene I add it to “comments” In Word and then copy and paste into my document called “book spine” or under “characters” for when I do my next revision which will be primarily editing.

So this is my process currently. I ended up needing to gut a lot of what I wrote in my first draft but I learned a lot from the process and I have a more solid story now. Just need to get it done.

I’ll talk later about ways to overcome real life interrupting writing time.

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Sep 11 2013

The Road to Success (pep-talk)

For myself and all my friends who have a dream….each day take one more step…always.

1. Keep your determination. Stride forward.

“Determination gives you the resolve to keep going in spite of the roadblocks that lay before you.” ~ Denis Waitley

2. Surround yourself with positives

And to help take that un-demoralized trudge forward…to turn each step into a the springful celebration of journey surround yourselves, as much as possible, with the greats.

For small people (not talking stature) will jealously hold you down, feed you a steady diet of discouragement and will go out of their way to block you from the figurative stars.

The great ones will spark your inspiration.

(Of course there are good friends who’ll give you fair assessment too)

3. Keep it in perspective

Keep the journey in perspective. In the words of the Wise Girlfriends Coffee Cliche “Compare and Despair…yeah, don’t do that.”

“It is the mark of great people to treat trifles as trifles and important matters as important.” ~ Doris Lessing

4. And enjoy.

“Life is a song – sing it. Life is a game – play it. Life is a challenge – meet it. Life is a dream – realize it. Life is a sacrifice – offer it. Life is love – enjoy it.” ~ Sai Baba

If the spark of wonder, of playfulness, of quiet enjoyment and love leave you…what is left to you? Your beautiful goal isn’t quite as beautiful is it?

Ok. Happy and determined. Deep breathe. Ready to take on the World.

Sep 1 2013

Baby steps will get you there

An excellent advise piece for all life-overwhelmed writers. It falls within two of the “Wise Girlfriends Coffee Club” sayings: “Walk the walk” and “Even if you can’t take giant strides, take baby steps –you’ll get there.”

Excerpt from Writers Unboxed…

Two Pages a Day

Two Pages a Day

Back in the late 1990s, before I had published my first novel, I had pocketful of literary aspirations and a heart full of dreams. I also had two small children and a budget that precluded the hiring of a baby sitter or nanny. Although I had the idea for a novel rumbling around inside me, I despaired of having the time and emotional space in which to write it. The uninterrupted days, those blissful periods, kind of like swoons or trances, when I could sink deep into my work and not emerge for hours, were like a mirage from another time; I could not imagine having them back until the youngest child was eighteen and off to college.
My reaction to these restrictions ranged from brooding resentment to Zen-like acceptance. But neither strategy was particular helpful. And I certainly wasn’t getting any work done. Then I had an epiphany: I would not tell myself I was writing a novel, a concept that made me feel like an ant balancing a grapefruit on its back. No, I broke down the task at hand into much more manageable chunks or bits. I told myself that I was writing a scene. A conversation. A description. And I gave myself a small, manageable goal: two pages a day, five days a week.

Jun 3 2013

Harvesting Nightmares

Nightmares can be a harvesting delight for the would-be storyteller….a juicy portal into the psychological “bump in the night” terrors…a rich cramming of subconscious symbols and archetypes.

For me, the latest nightmare sequence complete with freshly awakened “creep out” started with me simply chatting with someone (a blend of people) that I know. We are walking down a hall and we walk past a door from my childhood. I feel a shiver of cold across my shoulders.

There is a noise behind that door. It’s like a combination of a cat hacking a hairball, a child crying and something evil laughing, all rolled together. I’m not sure what it is but the more I listen, the more I can hear pull out the sound of weeping.

The person I’m talking to says she’s just laughing. She’ll fall asleep soon.

I said no. Something isn’t right. I grip the doorknob and twist.

The room inside is dark…. A wide contrast to the sunlight beaming through the windows on the other side of the door. And the feel of the air is brooding and heavy.

It’s a bedroom. My little grandson’s former bedroom but it’s my daughter at age 3 sitting there in his small bed.

From the faint light I can see she is covered in blood. Her hair is in her face and her eyes are rimmed with black….but it isn’t her eyes that are looking at me.

They are cold fire. I’ve seen those eyes before in other dreams but it never looked at me from a loved one’s face. It is a demon and it’s wearing my daughter’s flesh.

I stare at her heartsick, afraid and unsure for the space of maybe two heartbeats before I run. I scoop her tiny body into my arms and run for the bathroom.

The water is running in the sink. I can’t see where any physical injuries are. I’m chanting an Indian protection song because nothing else is coming to mind. It’s like my memories and knowledge have been wiped or suppressed. The demon says in my head that It’s useless…I can’t save her. But I keep chanting….

My daughter, in her sweet child voice, says she’s thirsty but I can feel the demon rippling under her delicate skin.

I can’t trust to let go to fetch her a proper drink.

I feed her water from the bathroom sink with my hand. She drinks. And then she struggles. I’m washing blood from her face using the water and my hand. Sharp teeth, a mouth, opens from the hollow of her neck. The teeth, unnaturally sharp, graze my hand. I want to cry but I don’t.

I keep chanting.

I am angry. I am heartsick. I am determined to not let go. I feel the demon’s presence receding within this tiny body but so is my daughter’s life force…what can I do? I have no good choices.

What can I do?

I keep chanting because that’s all I can do. If I let go the demon will possess her forever, she will be devoured and I will unleash a terror on the world. But if I don’t … I can feel her slipping away. There has to be a way that I can save her.

I wake up chanting. It was only a dream….but though I’m awake I feel a cold, brooding dark presence lingering beside me in my bedroom.

It was just a dream.

I remember Emily telling me an old lady died in that room. I remember finding another pin hidden in the bedroom carpet, not one of mine, making it five in three months. Have I disrupted a protection circle? The fan’s blowing. I’m cold and it sounds like the hint of dark laughter.

The feeling of something dark in that room with me increases.

I turn on the light.

It’s a long time before I sink back to sleep. I tell myself I am a warrior and I’m steeped in God’s love. And I realize if I find that demon wearing a loved one’s skin in another dream though I feel revulsion for the evil I must also remember to pour love as well because love and joy evaporates evil like sun to the fog and humans thrive on love.

So now….I am writing the entire experience down in case I can use elements of it later for story. Some sort of positive for the awful experience of dreaming it. I have some ideas.

And I wonder—how many storytellers and artists use their nightmares…

Mar 28 2013

I’ve reached 30 writing tips so I’m reposting. Please feel free to share any new tips in the comments & if I’ll add w/your name.

Tammy's avatarKeys to the Universe

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Writing tip #35: Does each of your scenes advance the plot, develop the character(s), illustrate your theme or help contribute to suspense? How can you make it do double or triple duty?

Writing tip #34: Even when you’re not feeling the muse, get something on page EVERYDAY.

Writing tip #33: Do you know what your beloved character just would not do? What happens when she does it?

Writing Tip # 32: It isn’t what you, the writer. wants to tell your readers (all that juicy backstory and details floating through your head)….IT’S what the character desperately wants the reader to know.

Writing tip 31: If you are not happy with a scene, figure out why. Does it drive the story forward and/or deepen the character?

Writing tip #30: Be on intimate footing with the elements which create the heart of your story for this is your ‘Throughline’ and it shall…

View original post 1,059 more words

Mar 21 2013

Interview with Emily Gref

Emily Gref

I very much enjoyed interviewing agent Emily Gref from the Lowenstein Association. She is one of the VIPs for this weekend’s GLVWG’s Write Stuff Conference and I would have to say this is indeed a well-rounded personality. . http://glvwgwritersconference.blogspot.com/2013/03/interview-with-emily-gref.html

THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2013
Interview with Emily Gref
by Tammy Burke

Emily Gref is an Associate Agent at Lowenstein Associates, as well as their foreign rights manager. Prior to Lowenstein Associates, she interned with the Donald Maass Literar Agency, Serendipity Literary Agency, Arthur A. Levine Books, Tor Books, and Penguin Young Readers.

GLVWG member Tammy Burke contacted Emily to ask her a few questions about being an agent and about the types of books she’s interested in acquiring.

Tammy: Do you recall what first prompted you to become more involved in the craft of writing and reading? Was becoming an agent a natural conclusion?

Emily: Like most people in publishing, I grew up a voracious lover of books. I also dabbled a little bit in writing, but honestly didn’t have the discipline or attention span to see a book through to the end. But I’ve always loved stories, and language, and how language shapes stories. I think this is part of what compelled me to major in Linguistics at the University of McGill (and take as many language classes as I could – French, Latin, Polish, and Chinese, but please don’t ask me to say anything in any of them). Linguistics is a very academic field, however, and by the time grad school application time came around I was sick of academia. That’s when I had my lightbulb moment: publishing books is a job people have!

It took about three years of interning at agencies, publishing houses (editorial and a brief stint in online marketing) while working at bookstores before I came to Lowenstein Associates. Agenting really combines the best of both ends of the publishing spectrum, I think: I get to be very editorial with my authors, but I also can “hand-sell” manuscripts to editors whom I think would be the best fit.

Tammy: I understand you have a weak spot for fairytales. One of my all-time favorites, I might add. What aspect do you believe stayed with you into adulthood? Is it a childhood love or the cultural archetypical resonance or something else?

Emily: Definitely both a childhood love and the cultural resonance – I would especially love to see more non-Grimm/Perrault retellings! I was one of those kids that pored over every collection of fairy tales and folklore I could get my hands on. I was enchanted by Grimm, Perrault, Hans Christian Andersen, and the illustrators that brought the stories to life – Kay Nielsen, Edmund Dulac, Arthur Rackham. I was particularly fond of the D’Aulaire books of Greek and Norse mythology, too.

But fairy tales and myths are really the best stories distilled to their very basics, and I love novels that borrow heavily from the structure you find in fairy tales: the repetition, the significance of three (or whichever number), etc. DEATHLESS by Cat Valente is a novel based heavily on Russian folklore that does this so beautifully. Definitely one of my favorite reads of 2012.

Tammy: Based on your bio, you are entertaining nonfiction in the areas of linguistics, anthropology and history. Being a history and mythology buff myself, (my primary is the love of ancient civilizations), I was wondering if you had a favorite time period and/or civilization, perhaps something that provided a springboard to expand in that area?

Emily: My love of history is largely informed by the books I read and loved as a child – including the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Five Little Peppers and How They Grew by Margaret Sidney, The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, and basically all of the American Girl stories and the “Dear America” series. So my interests are pretty broad, but I especially love periods of history that are on the brink of something great or disastrous: the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, the Roaring Twenties… Historical non-fiction that I’m likely to pick up explores little-known aspects of a time period or place, or takes a really narrow scope (like Mark Kurlansky’s books).

Tammy: What would you say is the best part of your day being an agent? And what part would you say is your most challenging?

Emily: The best part is, obviously, discovering new writers with amazing stories! Or reading a client’s amazing new story. Working with authors is the reason most of us get into this job in the first place, and it remains the most gratifying. The most challenging, for me, is the waiting – waiting for revisions, waiting for editors to read, waiting for meetings to be had and offers to hopefully be made. Luckily there’s always a LOT to do, so the time can pass pretty quickly when you’re working on contracts, royalties, subrights, etc.

Tammy: Do you believe that an author should be social media savvy? How social media savvy should he or she be?

Emily: Absolutely. The more an author is engaged with their readership, the better their chances of success. Social media is such a boon, though I understand how it can be overwhelming. My advice to authors is to TRY out every platform – Facebook, Twitter, blogging, Pinterest, etc. – and see what “clicks” the best. Some authors can do it all, and some can’t. The important thing to keep in mind is the demographics of every social media platform – where are your readers? – and tailor to that. If you can be really good at one or two things, that’s a lot better than being bad at six.

Tammy: If you could give three pearls of wisdom to a would-be published author what would it be?

Emily: Be patient – with the publishing industry, and with yourself.
Be kind – maybe you feel like writing a nasty response to an agent, or complaining on your Facebook, but remember that publishing is an industry of relationships, and also the internet is forever.
Be resilient – you will be rejected. By critique groups, by agents, by publishers. Learn what you can from the experience, brush off your shoulders, and persevere.

Posted by Donna Brennan at 8:30 PM
Labels: Emily Gref, history, Lowenstein Associates, nonfiction, pearls of wisdom for authors, social media

Mar 20 2013

It is truly amazing the wealth of information one can find with the many blogs at our fingertips. And how easy it is to get mired under taking note what works for others.

Then sometimes you stumble over a blog filled with such simple truths you can’t help but feel invigorated.

That was me this morning. I found myself pulling up my manuscript (which I’m currently revising) to see whether I had all this “holy grail” of steps.

Nothing like getting zapped by inspiration in the morning along with a good cup of coffee.

Pixar’s 22 storytelling tips have been cir
Before I jump into my writing day, I’ve taken to skimming blog entries and found this one about agent searching along with 10 legitimate links to find them.

Mar 17 2013

The Sword and Pen OR seeking expertise while having fun

On a day many were drinking green beer, members of neighboring shires gathered for an afternoon of melees (battles) with swords and shields, armor, archers and spears while the ROTC trained nearby. And all this in a Pennsylvania college town

No. I’m not making this up. I was there today waiting semi-patiently for the doors to open at 1 pm with 40 some others so the battles and duals could commence .

It was a fun afternoon.

And where was I in all this? Mostly outside the gym with the other fencers and increasing my knowledge of swordplay with rapier and dagger and training others. Yes, I’m talking real swords and daggers with blunt edges, blade flexibility and blunts on the tips.

As a writer, this activity gives me a wide playing field of experiences to draw from and resources to go to when I need to ask questions such as how would one train and what the different great masters taught. Some of these fencers have been training for 20 years and more and are a wealth of information. All great stuff – though, this by far, is not the only and maybe not even the biggest reason I do this. It’s immensely fun.

Convenient perhaps that my hobby and my world-setting walk in tandem currently. But there are other aspects of my make-believe story world and other experts I had to tap such as speaking with equestrians (i.e. horse people), costume designers, historians and others.

And people generally like being interviewed by a writer.

[“Hey honey, I got interviewed by a writer! How cool is that? Maybe he/she will put me in their book.] — Who had difficulty hearing this in your head?

But even with this wide-range permission slip, many writers, particularly new ones, cringe at the idea of seeking experts in a field. As a whole, we do tend to be introverts (with a few exceptions)and perhaps in a way there is an aspect of necessity for the creative spark BUT it is important to look up, live life and sometimes, even move out of a comfort zone.

Anyway, the medieval free company/mercenary household I hang with are training for the big annual event where approximately 14,000 people from around the world (and other kingdoms) will get together for two weeks in a temporary city to have a medieval war. We are talking days of up to thousands on a side doing battle in the woods, in the field, and in the town. And afterwards there will be medieval leisure activities — courtly dancing, storytelling, plays, concerts and parties.

I’d love to hear who and what groups, organizations and experts you tap for your story worlds.

Happy writing!