Thursday, March 31, 2011

Thirties Thursday

If you've been reading my blog for a while (and thank you by the way), you'll know I have a keen interest in the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Here's something I found which has them talking about themselves.

Fascinating.

However one feels about them, they changed English history.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Growing Your Plot

Once upon a time...


You discovered you had this...



and you were brave enough to face that blank sheet of paper



and do this...


and after a long time your first draft looked rather like this...



Now, you still needed to do plenty of this...



and spend a great deal of time doing this...



and hope for enough days like this...





But if you do the work...



You will eventually see this...


Even though it's back-breaking, (and boring) keep up with your this...



and be ruthless with this..


Remember you don't have to do it alone...



and someday...


you'll see this...


or maybe this...



or...who knows?


Your this...




just might have grown into this...










Tuesday, March 29, 2011

10 Reasons Writers Might Drink

There's that stereotype out there that we writers are a hard-drinkin' lot. This may not be completely true, but here are 10 occurrences that might tempt you to slurp from the nearest bottle.

10. You've written the same scene not twice but four times.

9. You've written three afternoons in the same day.

8. Your vegetarian character is tucking hungrily into a steak dinner.

7. You have six characters' names all starting with the same letter.

6. You're sure you've finished polishing your manuscript. Sure. Positively, absolutely sure. Then you see the phrase "this writing sucks, this writing sucks" mid-way down page 53.

5. No one told you writing takes time and discipline. It's like...a job.

4. Your happily-married pair of characters spend the entire book fighting.

3. You spent 2 hours at your laptop. You wrote 1 sentence worth keeping.

2. You're stare resentfully at the thick volumes lining your bookshelves as "How did they manage to do it?" blares in your head.

Remember...

1. Writing is like a marriage. There will be days (or weeks) when divorce seems like your best option. Power through. Or...have a drink.



Monday, March 28, 2011

Needed: 1 Cup of Words


You've written your first draft. You love your plot, your characters and your setting. You've popped the champagne cork to celebrate and then...it happens. You open up your manuscript, look at the word count and discover you're short of your planned word count by about 10,000 words.

What to do?

When this happens to me, I generally find I need to beef up my descriptions. I tend to write manuscripts that are very dialogue-heavy and in the midst of all that talking, descriptions seem to be left behind. It could be because I can see it all so clearly and I'm so familiar with my setting and my characters, I forget readers are reading it all for the first time - not the ninety-second like me.

I go back through my manuscript to pay more attention to where my story takes place. I let my readers know that the grand piano is covered with silver-framed family photographs or that the morning sun highlights the heaviness of the green velvet draperies. Instead of one character simply clasping her hands in her lap, I add that before clasping, her hands smooth out the folds of her black silk skirt or that she runs a finger over her pearl necklace.

I add that the windshield wipers on a car squeak in an odd rhythm, or that an uncomfortable silence in one room is painted with the faint echoes of a gramophone playing the newest jazz records from America seeping in from a bedroom down the hall.

I don't try to add a new sub-plot because usually my plots are complicated enough to begin with. I do, however, search to see if each of my main characters grow during the story. I ask myself: How have the events changed him/her? What have they learned? Most importantly, does each evolution happen at a logical pace? No one changes their outlooks because of one conversation, but it can happen in baby steps.

What do you do when you realize your manuscript needs a few thousand words?

Friday, March 25, 2011

Fun Friday




Just when you thought award season was over...the Darwin Award recipients have been announced. Read. Wonder. Laugh. Don't admit if you've done anything similar.

The nine honourable mentions go to:

10. When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street by sucking on a hose, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline, but he plugged
his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges saying that it was the
best laugh he'd ever had.

9. The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti , Michigan at 5 a.m., flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. The man, frustrated, walked away.

8. As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the thief. Within minutes, the police apprehended the thief, put him in the car and drove back to the store. He was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID; to which he replied, "Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse
from."

7. A man from Arkansas wanted some beer so badly that he decided he'd just throw a cinder block through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. He lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinder block bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store
window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape...

6. A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he
got from the drawer... $15.

5. An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.

4. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers
to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies.. The deception wasn't discovered for 3 days.

3. A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

2. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat cutting machine and submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company, expecting negligence, sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and he also lost a finger. The chef's claim was approved.

Here is the glorious winner:

1. When his 38 caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach, California would-be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Thirties Thursday

Here's a quick look at some hairstyles from the 1930s. I imagine each of them would have taken some time to complete. I consider it a triumph if I'm able to brush my hair...


Wednesday, March 23, 2011

What the Heck?

Gentle reader...

Join me on a typical editing journey of discovery...



At the beginning of the story, your MC looks like this...



with eyes like this...



and enjoys doing this...



BUT SOMEHOW....

IN THE MIDDLE...




he's shrunk to this...



and his hair has suddenly done this...


and those...


are now sporting these...




AND IN THE END...

He's somehow stretched back to this...



and no longer wears these...

But...




Remember his big...

Well...



they have mysteriously morphed into this...



Tuesday, March 22, 2011

10 Ways to Reach "The End"


10. Turn off the internet. Seriously. And good luck; it's easier typed than done.

9. Make a list of events that have to happen for the plot to wrap up. This gives you a sense of control. This is good.

8. If you're really stuck, throw in a new plot twist. This can really help when you're staring at the blank screen with "What happens next?" in an endless loop in your brain.

7. Start at the end and work backwards. This has worked for me in the past.

6. Bribe yourself with the promise of a reward when you finish. NOTE: think 'when' not 'if'.

5. Write those scenes you've been itching to write and worry about the order later.

4. Write those scenes which scare you to death. Writing them will bolster your confidence. WARNING: writing these scenes may also have you reaching for the nearest bottle. It's all good.

3. Since you know what your final word count should be (approximately) break the remainder down into not-too-frightening segments. 1,000 words isn't frightening, but the thought of 10,000 can be paralyzing.

2. Give yourself a deadline with real consequences if you don't reach it. Fear is a wonderful motivator.

1. Reach back into the distant mists of time and remember how you felt when you first started this project. Anything that made you feel like that excited deserves to be completed.





Monday, March 21, 2011

Follow the Rules. Really?


We all learned the rules when we were growing up. Look both ways before you cross the street. Eat your vegetables. Be polite. We all tried - most of the time. Sure, we weaved off the straight and narrow every once and a while, but hey, that's what adventures were all about.

Every new writer learns the rules as well. Show don't tell. Avoid using the passive voice like the plague and cliches are bad. Adverbs are evil. Don't let your sentences run on, but don't let them be too short. Always use 'said' as your dialogue tag.

There are literally hundreds of these rules out there and if I was a new writer, I'd be petrified as well as confused because many of these rules contradict each other. For every time I've seen 'adverbs are evil', I've also seen 'adverbs are our best friends'. I understand run on sentences can be annoying, but if you've a character who is long-winded it can follow that they speak in run on sentences. It happens. Just like short sentences.

When I'm editing I keep a sharp eye out for spelling and grammatical errors (of course) but I'm more concerned about focusing the picture as sharply (oops, an 'ly' word) as possible. If a character is furious, he's going to yell what's on his mind; just as he's going to whisper an endearment. Each character speaks in his/her own rhythm regardless of sentence length (within reason). Some characters like to show off their knowledge and quote works of literature, while for some characters their actions speak louder than their words.

Although each of us has to find our own way on the writing path, I've discovered through pain, error and frustration that that path isn't as narrow as you might think. Feel free to veer off it from time to time. Freedom can be the first step to some wonderful adventures.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Fun Friday


Today I'm sharing some images of remarkable optical illusions - all painted on walls or sidewalks.

Enjoy!





























Added bonus: this isn't an optical illusion, but it did make me laugh.



Thursday, March 17, 2011

Thirties Thursday




Top o' the morning to you, on this Thirties Thursday. It being by way of a holy day, I'm sharing some 1930s St. Patrick's Day cards with you.

Have a grand day! I'm off to make Irish soda bread.




Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Gadzooks! A Hole!

You're busy editing...

when suddenly...

without warning...



You find this...
in your plot.


But...



Don't do this...



Just take a breath and do this...



If you do this...

You may discover where you did this...


OR...


If you do this...


You just may discover your this...


is really more a this...


or this...

Of course...

If it really is this...


You're going to have to build a this...


Or get your hands on a really big this...






BUT REMEMBER...


The most important thing is to do this...


or maybe this...

Hey, whatever works.