Plan your Work and Work your Plan

That's what I'm going to be trying to do in the weeks/months to come. My plan:

1) Use short stories to focus on specific weaknesses in my writing - most notably the inability to write truly nasty characters or to have truly nasty things happen to my protagonists.

2) Try to find publication venues for those stories to build up some credentials.

3) Keep working on Rachel's Heart and/or The Blue Flame.

Writer's Circle

I was so glad that our group met last night instead of the usual first Tuesday of the month. I had thought I would miss yet another meeting because we were on vacation from last Tuesday until Monday evening, and after going for a couple of years with missing very few meetings, this spring I found myself missing quite a few.

I'm especially glad I attended because there was some great discussion and great information last night. We were each asked to bring books or website info that are the resources we find most helpful as writers. I wish I'd been able to do a better job on the assignment -- I don't in general feel as though I've been a very faithful member in recent months -- but others had some wonderful information.

I've been saying this for at least a month, but I think I'm going to be able to get my life back into order and start writing again soon!

Who says...

...that I can only work on one story at a time? Recently, after working on One Faith (tentative title for my Amish novel) for a while, I found myself thinking of my YAF story. So I just switched over, and worked on it for a while. Perhaps I'll give myself a little flexibility to work on whichever story is happening in my head at a given time.

That doesn't sound very professional, though. It seems to be inviting writer's block... because what do I do when none of them are happening in my head? But the problem has tended to be wanting to work on more than one story, as opposed to not having anything to write at all.

Anyway, this is going to be my new attempt at being more productive in my writing!

Writer of the Week

I wandered into the library the other day just desperate for a good story to take my mind off all the junk going on (as the final days before we have to close on the house purchase tick by and my husband's job is still not totally safe from layoffs!) Unfortunately, our library puts their shelving info at the bottom of the spine, which makes seeing the publisher a challenge. So I wandered around, until a book called The Lightkeeper's Daugher, by Colleen Coble caught my eye. I picked it up, as well as a very different looking book by the same author, called A Cry in the Night.

I can't say that I read exclusively Christian fiction, but I usually prefer it, so I'm always excited when I find a new author, and can say that I enjoyed both books tremendously, even though they're quite different from each other. The Lightkeeper's Daughter is historical romance, and A Cry in the Night is more suspense/thriller. Though they both have a strong suspense theme, I find that encouraging, as I've heard numerous times about the tendency to 'brand' authors so that publishers expect them to stay within one genre. My writing so far includes historical/biblical fiction, Amish romance, a futuristic thriller, and a YA/teen fantasy novel.

I spent some time poking around Colleen's website, and am also intrigued by the way she is exploring the world of e-publishing by offering downloads of her work.

Thirty minutes a day!

Our writer's group had a guest speaker, Nancy Christie (website) on Tuesday who said something which astonished me.

In just two months of writing for thirty minutes every day, she had gotten 55,000 words done of her novel!

What made it so meaningful to me is that my biggest problem with writing the last few months has been a struggle to know what to work on. I've felt like I ought to write the sequel to Free Indeed, but I've had two other stories that I really want to work on instead.

But I was encouraged by the idea that if I am faithful to write 30 minutes a day, I could finish one and within several months, be able to work on one of the others... I guess when you count editing, it would be at least six months, but still, that's better than I'd been anticipating.

Instead of 30 minutes seven days a week, however, I will probably end up doing 35-40 minutes five or six days a week.

Not exactly writer's block, but...

I've definitely been having a tough time with my own writing lately! One reason, certainly, is the uncertainty surrounding our future. On February 1st, we found out that about half the department my husband works in will be laid off before the end of the month. The very next day, we received a counter-offer on the 100+ year old farm house that we would have taken in a heartbeat, but can't until we know what's going on with the job. If he is laid off, the chances are pretty high that we would have to move, probably out west somewhere, to find a job in his field.

Of course, I know a professional writer would sit down and crank out words short of (perhaps even in spite of) a personal tragedy, but I do have one other issue, which may be closer to true writer's block. I have been experimenting with my writing a bit, and have found lots of things that don't work. I have discovered about myself that I don't write well if I try to plot in advance... in fact, I kind of don't write at all. This is especially true if I'm trying to follow the suggestions in how-to books on writing publishable novels!

For now, it seems, I will stick with what works: I start with a few strong characters and an interesting situation, and then follow them around and see what happens. It sounds really strange, even to me, but it is apparently the way I write.

Your character's voice

I learned from James Scott Bell a tool that I've found useful in getting to know my characters better. He calls it a 'voice journal'; it allows your character to speak to you in a stream-of-conscousness manner.

I've found it helpful to keep updating the voice journal as I write the story. For example, after my lead has a meaningful conversation with another character, I go to the voice journal to hear what she thinks and feels about it. If I feel a bit of writer's block coming on -- I'm not sure what scene to write next -- I write in the voice journal instead of the story. It often gives me the ideas I need to continue, and at the very least, keeps me writing and 'in' the story.

Guide to Literary Agents Blog

It's a great blog -- full of good information. One of the recurring columns is '7 Things I've Learned So Far,' and as I was reading through the blog a few weeks ago, a number of things were coming to mind that I've learned, so I submitted a post.

I don't feel like retyping it, and I can't easily access it otherwise as I am visiting my parents in Albuquerque, so here's a link to it.

Agree or Disagree?

Is there truly only one basic storyline in the world?

I have to put some more thought into this, but I've been tossing around an idea lately, and I'd be interested in feedback.

Without actually analyzing every story I've read and enjoyed, a quick survey gave me the sense that they all have one basic plotline, as follows:

Start with a character who is in some way a sympathetic or generally positive figure (protagonist.) The protagonist has some sort of a problem, which is not (or not primarily) his own fault. Dangle a possible solution just out of reach. Throw roadblocks and obtacles in the way. Repeat the last two several times, ending with huge roadblocks that make it seem almost impossible, and then solve the problem in a better way than was originally envisioned.

I suppose that I'm referring to all stories when I say there's only one plot... just the good ones!

Scribd

An odd name, but I like the website. It allows you to share things you have written, as well as, of course, to read things others have shared.

I uploaded two short stories and one article on marriage late last week; to be honest, I didn't really expect anyone to read it. After all, if there's a way of publicizing one's presence on the site, I haven't found it yet (or looked for it, to be fair.)

I hadn't been back to the site yet until today, and to my astonishment, I found that the three items had garnered a total of.... (drumroll) 39 reads. Okay, granted, that's not exactly earthshaking, but for this unpublished writer, the response was, "Hey, someone's reading my stuff! Cool!"

So, I got excited, and went into my archives and uploaded two more short stories this morning. I just checked and they've already gotten 6 reads. My concern is that it may tempt me into spending time polishing and/or writing short stories for upload when I should really work on my new novel.

Anyway, here's the link. My username is DLeeFuhry to read my stories.

My Writing Dilemma

I'm trying to learn to write in a more structured manner -- that is, planning out my story and scenes in advance, but I'm finding it difficult. When I write, I almost feel like I'm following my characters around, recording what happens and how they respond. On some rational level, I recognize that it's all coming out of my head, but it doesn't feel like it sometimes.

It seems like since it's 'all coming out of my head,' I ought to be able to sit down and plan it all out, but that's a recipe for writer's block for me. But I'm afraid my stories will be weaker and less structured if I don't plot them out first...

What to do? What to do?

Not very encouraging for an unpublished writer!

My brother-in-law sent me this link today. It's an article on Scribd, written back in June by Steve Piersanti. The basic point is that fewer and fewer people are buying books, and that most books never even get onto bookstore shelves... etc. etc. Nothing in it was actually surprising, or even news to me but there's nothing like having it all spelled out.

For those of us to whom even getting a book published is still an unattained goal... yikes!

Oh well, here's the link to the article: Ten Awful Truths About Book Publishing

Interesting pattern

One of the writing exercises I've done recently gave me a very useful insight into what makes a compelling plot. I would summarize it as follows:

A sympathetic character (one with whom the reader can identify and who is basically good, but not flawless) experiences some kind of suffering or trouble at the outset of the story. This trouble is not the character's fault; it is generally caused by the antagonist (whether another character or something more general like societal conventions.) Some method of fixing the problem appears early in the book, but obstacles continually arise, alternately bringing resolution into sight and then snatching it away so that it looks impossible again. Eventually, the character gets not only what they hoped for, but something far better. As part of the resolution, the antagonist usually experiences some kind of negative consequences for their harshness toward the protagonist.

I can easily fit my Amish story, the Jairus novella, and my YA fantasy piece into this model. Faithful Unto Death is going to be a little more difficult, I think. I haven't tried yet with my futuristic thriller.

James Scott Bell

I am reading (well, studying is probably a better word for it!) two books by James Scott Bell: The Art of War for Writers, and Plot and Structure. The first consists of lots of short chapters, some encouraging, others more informative about the writing process and becoming an author. The second is a practical how-to book on plotting.

As I finally have time to devote to writing this year, I'm realizing what a juggling act it is. It's not just sitting down to write whatever story has currently taken up residence in my brain! First of all, there are usually multiple stories fighting it out over which one gets to be worked on next... but I also want to spend more time working on my craft (thus the aforementioned books), establishing a web presence (thus my current activity : ) ) and working on finding an agent and getting published.

Wow! And that's without having been published... add in book signings, fan communication, etc. and it must get a little daunting!

Oh, yeah, I don't want to forget the link for James Scott Bell's website!