I’ve been rather sick of late. That was my unfortunate reasoning for what I hate to term, writer’s block. For another it may be the end of an important relationship, through death, either literally or figuratively. Maybe someone moved, started a new job, had to become accustomed to a new life rather than focus on who and what he or she is and wants to do. For me, I have spent the last two months struggling even to get out of bed, let alone write. My spark was gone. Nothing was there to ignite my passion and creativity. An illness had beaten it out of me. Or, again, if the light was there, I was just not able to see it. I couldn’t use it in any way or form, no matter how hard I tried. Which, admittedly, wasn’t all that hard…

But I’m here with good news. I can see my beacon again. Candles burn all around me, illuminating the room as my netbook shows me only what I need to see – my words. I have the strength to put pen to paper, fingers to keyboard. As I sit and wait in doctor’s offices or as I fold laundry, stories appear and weave words into sentences, sentences to paragraphs, paragraphs to pages, until I cannot take it anymore and I have to stop what it is I’m doing and write it all down. Oh, how I’ve waited for my life to be overtaken by stories again. Not by dreamless sleep while my body was doing whoknowswhat to destroyandthenfixitself.

I’m not completely fixed, no. And sometimes the fog rolls in and I have to rest and let the creator lie still, but that’s all right by me. As long as I know that part of me is still there. That oh-so-important part that sometimes (let’s face it, most of the time) seems to define me.

How many of you have lost your way, for whatever reason, and subsequently felt you lost a piece of yourself — only to find it again, out of the ether, and to once again be filled with a sense of purpose…to know you are you again?

You are a writer — through and through.

Now, I’ll admit that this article went nowhere near the direction I had planned, and the title is more in keeping with the original topic, but I have a feeling I’m not alone in this dilemma I’ve been facing. Besides, what I originally wanted to say can wait for the next time. For the next five-hundred words. After all, I’ve waited this long…

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Be Thankful for ‘The End’

Should writers blog? I believe so. We derive passion from stringing words together, making stories and enlightening people to the human condition. But once you find your nook in the writing world, and decide to blog, how do you choose between the myriad of blogging platforms available?

Start here. I’m going to list pros and cons for four of the major blogging services. These won’t be full-fledged reviews so much as quick glances into how these tools could benefit writers. I’ll look at Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr and Posterous.

Wordpress

When it comes to Wordpress, you have two choices: Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org. Blogging on the dot com platform, like most other platforms gets you up and running in minutes. If you use the dot org platform, you’ll need your own domain and hosting. I’ve used both types, and currently use Wordpress to power my own website and blog. No matter which way you decide, the user interfaces, pros and cons are nearly identical. The Wordpress site has a good article on the pros and cons beneath each of them.

Pros

• Wordpress is a proven technology, wildly popular and supported by a huge community.
• The interface is relatively easy to use for most beginners, and even easier for those with blogging experience.
• Plenty of posts about creative writing exist on Wordpress blogs, allowing you to engage in an already large writing community.
• Automattic, the company behind Wordpress continues to make improvements to the platform, allowing for greater flexibility and creativity for writers and bloggers of all kinds.

Cons

• Some consider Wordpress’ array of choices intimidating, and many who want to just write do not need all the options.
• If you use Wordpress.com, your blog will be subject to ads that you cannot control.
• Wordpress.com has many themes, but you do not have the array of choices you would with employing Wordpress.org and themes. You may not be able to find a theme that fits your style, and if you lack HTML and CSS knowledge, altering one will be difficult.

Blogger

Blogger fast became and remains a popular blogging platform. Google powers it and backs it, so you know the technology will be user-focused and advanced. I previously used it to power my online running journal.

Pros

• Backed by Google, so it integrates well with other Google blogging services like Feedburner, and various Google products.
• It’s among the most easy to use platforms out there, and many beginning bloggers prefer it.
• Blogger’s recently launched template designer allows users to edit and change their site designs without touching any HTML or CSS code.
• Like Wordpress, Blogger is popular, and has a large community of writers already there. One of my favorites is Erika Driefus’ Practicing Writer blog.

Cons

• Blogger is just blogger. If you have some experience blogging, the platform might seem worn. That reason drove me to leave Blogger behind for Tumblr. Granted, it’s my personal opinion, but you may find the same.
• To have access to some of the more advanced features available in Blogger, including the new Template Designer, you have to use Blogger in Draft, where new features are tested. There isn’t a huge difference between this and the regular Blogger, but it’s something you should know.

Posterous

Posterous has gained popularity recently, especially among tech-savvy people. The site boasts that you can not only blog, but post all your updates there, and do it easily. You do all this via email, or a web interface. I recently started a learning journal there, and love using it because of its simplicity.

Pros

• It really is easy to use. You can simply email posts to a Posterous email account, and the email gets converted into a post on your site. Images, video and other content attached to your email converts easily as well.
• Many tech experts lump Posterous into the micro-blogging platform, so if you gear your writing blog more toward short updates, this platform may work better for you.
• Posterous is also geared toward mobile blogging, thanks to its emphasis on posting via email, so if you need to post from anywhere, this platform will work very well.
• Posterous has a bookmarklet, which makes it easy to catalog content you find on the web. It’s a great feature for those writers looking to collect inspiration around the web.

Cons

• Posterous is still fairly new, launched in mid-2008, so the community – although strong – is still growing.
• Currently, Posterous lacks as many themes as some other blogging platforms. However, the site has added a handful of new themes lately. You also need to know HTML and CSS to alter your theme, but you do have free access to the code.
• Even though posting by email makes Posterous super easy, I find myself going into the web interface afterward to adjust formatting, which may annoy some users.

Tumblr

Tumblr, like Posterous, lands more squarely in the micro-blogging platform. Its has a passionate group of users, and is incredibly easy to use. As mentioned before, I now use it to power my running journal.

Pros

• Hello easy. I love using the web interface on Tumblr, but haven’t tried email posting yet. I also enjoy the dashboard at Tumblr, which makes it easy for you to read the Tumblr blogs you follow, placing an emphasis on engaging in the blogging community there.
• Tumblr has an extremely passionate community of bloggers, and some neat creative writing blogs live there.
• There are a lot of creative themes to choose from, some geared toward writing and content.
• Tumblr also has a bookmarklet, making it easy to catalog content and share. I also like the notion of reblogging.

Cons

• If you want comments on your blog, you need to set that up separately using Disqus.
• There’s not an easy way to back up your blog. You can download an app for Mac that will do it, but if you’re on a PC, that’s useless. However, staff has started work on a PC version.
• As far as I could tell, there’s no easy way to import content from other blogging platforms, which could be a problem for some writers.

Conclusion

As you can see, I haven’t touched on every blogging platform out there. I’ve only touched on ones I’ve used. Also, many of these pros and cons center around issues that would effect anyone, not just writers. The two most important factors for any writer who wants to blog:

1. Find the platform that YOU find easiest to use, and that differs for everyone. Once you do, you can concentrate on what matters: writing.
2. Use the platform that has the community you fit into best. Few remember that the reason blogging has become so popular is because it allows people to form communities and express themselves. Don’t lose sight of that.

Final Recommendations

I like Tumblr and Posterous for blogs with shorter bursts of content. I like Wordpress and Blogger for blogs that require more control, and longer form content.

But hey, that’s just me. What do you think? Have you used other blogging platforms and want to share your thoughts? Have something to add to this? Let us know in the comments below.

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The Pros and Cons of Four Major Blogging Platforms

We can see this in some of literature’s greatest protagonists; Odysseus, who longs to return to his family and kingdom; Frodo Baggins, who desires to spare his homelands from the ravages of war; Harry Potter, who must face a destiny that is beyond his control; or even Henry V from the William Shakespeare play, who must prove his maturity and ability to lead a nation in the fires of war and death. And that is just to name a few, and what’s more, this need for compelling characters are not just limited to just males, or even humans. They just need to have that intuitive spark that captivates their audience into wanting to be like them, and to be with them until the end.

So then, now that we covered the basic ‘why’ of the main character (MC), it’s time to examine how to make one from scratch. I’ll go into greater detail as to what is needed to be considered for your MC.

Personality

First and foremost, you need to develop a personality, whatever that may be. Will your MC be friendly, distant, rude, arrogant, kind, humble, boisterous, greedy? There are thousands of characteristics that need to be taken into consideration, but you only need a few. Keep in mind that you cannot have a perfect character. No one wants to read about a person who is perfect. They’re not interesting, at all. Look at Superman and DC Comics for example, he was virtually picture perfect in the first two years of his run. This was somewhat acceptable, because his audience was very young, but as these children grew with the comics, and their literary tastes matured, they began to look for characters with more poignancy and depth to them, which was what helped make the Marvel Comics, and their flagship stars popular with their older audiences.

Another example of forgettable MCs would have to be those seen often in the romance genre. Now to be fair there are other genres that are guilty of this flaw,  but having read Janice Radway’s essay on this particular genre, I can use this area better than with the other points. But I digress. Mass produced romance novels are normally produced on a massive scale and for the most follow a very clear-cut system of clichés and formulas. You often find a supposedly independent intelligent woman, falling for and become virtual slave to the man they are trying to woo. And somehow, the couple comes to an understanding that benefits the two at the end of the book. MCs in these novels often seem very two-dimensional, so much so that it is sometimes hard to remember one very vividly and clearly from the other.

So in short, give your character flaws, real flaws, human flaws. My advise, pick at least one sin and stick with it. For my case, I used wrath, a lot. I mean A LOT. But this is just my case, and with what you are writing you need to tailor your MC to how you see fit.

Back-story

Onto the second aspect to work on. Where does your character come from? Were they a villain before? Were they a victim? Did they have a family? Did they kill their family? These are just a few questions that you will have to ask yourself when you are working on your character’s back-story. Thankfully, once you answer your first question, the rest tend to answer themselves, unless you want to make a new twist in the tale, which is never a bad thing.

Usually it helps with the story, and with the character’s drawing power, if the back-story is influential in what their personality is during the story. Learning what happens to a man’s family is important to why they are on a journey of vengeance, for example. A man searching for redemption to a past sin is another good one. To give your character reason for doing what they are doing. And again, it has to be a believable back-story, anything too far into the imagination will just make the readers think the story is just weird, period.

Own Worst Enemy

Finally, while a physical obstacle is usually required for the MC to have to face in the novel, I always like it when the worst enemy that MC has to face… is themselves. For a reader to read about someone who must face themselves as well as a ‘traditional’ antagonist can strike a very personal chord within the reader, which in turn will make them want to read on further and see if your MC is able to overcome their personal demons. Now this isn’t to say that this demon has to be completely eliminated in the end, look at George MacDonald Fraser’s “Flashman” series. But to see someone who has to face their flaws on a regular basis is rarely one that readers would come to dislike.

We ourselves have to face our demons at certain points in our lives, and to read and take some form of escape that helps to reinforce our resolve to face these demons helps to connect the MC to the readers on an intimate level. And because of this connection, there is a relationship with these characters that is more poignant then if the MC is a simple cookie-cut character.

What are your main characters like? How have you filled them with “character” to create a living, breathing, interesting person? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

Images courtesy of  Suki No Yumi and MTV.

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How to Make a Great Leading Character

In the past few months, I’ve seen a few things in the writing blogosphere that have disturbed me: writers nitpicking, complaining, and acting like they have a sense of entitlement.

Some of these behaviours include:

• Being paranoid that other writers, agents, or acquiring editors will steal your ideas
• Claiming writing contests or promotions aren’t fair
• Complaining that the query system doesn’t work
• Expressing concern that agents and editors just don’t ‘get’ one’s writing because it’s above their intellect
• Leaving deliberately abrasive comments on people’s blogs to spark debate
• Badmouthing literary agents who don’t necessarily work the way the writer would like them to
• Giving excessively harsh critiques that aren’t at all helpful
• Saying that other writers’ books should never have been published because they’re not as good as one’s unpublished writing

Getting published is difficult, so it’s sometimes tempting for the unpublished among us to cry, “The system isn’t fair!” or “It’s all about who you know.” Perhaps the system isn’t always fair, and yes, it doesn’t hurt to know someone who can recommend your work to a literary agent or an editor.

But…

Most things in life aren’t fair.

(Sorry. Your mother was right.)

While most of us do our best to build each other up, others insist on destroying morale with their negativity.

The problem is, they’re only destroying themselves and their own opportunities for success. Before these grumblers actually have time to write something publishable, they’ll be disillusioned with the entire process and, most likely, give up.

Why do you think writers sometimes behave this way? Is it to make ourselves feel better? Is it about jealousy? Frustration? Ego?

Perhaps you find yourself caught in a cycle of negativity about the world of writing and publishing. If so, take a moment to remember:

• All published writers were once unpublished like you, and most of them got contracts the old-fashioned way–by querying an agent.
• If, after due persistence, you can’t find an agent who ‘gets’ your work, the problem most likely lies with your manuscript. Focus some of that energy into finding out how to write better.
• You’re entitled to your opinion, but there’s no need to be abrasive about it.
• Criticism is meant to be constructive. Empower another writer by helping them see what areas of their work they can improve, but be nice about it.
• Just because you don’t care for a certain author’s work doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have been published. Everyone has different tastes.

What things drive you crazy in the writing community? What defeatist attitudes or behaviours bother you most?

Now, don’t get me wrong. Most of you are amazing. We’re all grateful for the wonderful community of writers here at Fuel.

Let’s help spread the support to our fellow writers. This week, try thanking someone who’s made a difference to your writing. Encourage a struggling newcomer to the craft. Help someone polish their query. Leave a helpful comment on someone else’s blog.

Let’s do our best to make each another’s journey that little bit easier, that bit more enjoyable.

Images courtesy of B Rosen and Sasha W.

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Writers: Are You Destroying Yourself with Negativity?

Do you know why you write?  What do you hope to accomplish with your work?  A writer’s first reaction to this question is to share their deep unquestionable love in the act of putting pen to paper. If recognition results because of this, then it is an added benefit. This is not true for some.  Respect from peers takes second fiddle to money, infamy and world domination for quite a few authors.   A little honest reflection is required to decipher your end game.

Do you fall under any of the following categories?

1. You hope to have your work presented in every bookstore window and front aisle display in North America.

2. Mass popularity is not for you; instead you seek critical acclaim from book reviewers who help shape the literary world.

3. You want to be rich, not the able-to-afford-the-most-expensive-house-in-my-neighborhood rich, but rather the I-now-own-the-largest-villa-in-Cannes kind of rich.

4. You write because the voices in your head tell you so, and your end game is simply to quell the mass of noise that deafens you.

5. You hope that one person (not related to you) reads your work and loves it.

6. You wish to become the most revered author of all time. Yes, it may be considered by some to be a tad discreditable and narcissistic, but at least you know what you want.

7. Your ability to string a group of words together to create profound insight sets you apart from many. You write because you love the craft. Your end game, well you do not have one.   Writing brings you a sense of fulfillment and peace, and who would want to put an end to that.

Honesty is important here. Once you evaluate the intent of all the time spent at your computer or in writing in your notebook, and you realise the form that you hope your success will take, the likelihood of that dream of success becoming a reality tips in your favour.

What is your End Game? We all have different versions of what success means to us personally, please share yours in the comments below.

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Writers, What is your End Game?

That is exactly what is happening right now, as I write my first novel. About 25,000 words in, and I’m struggling to stay faithful to it. I am beginning to see all of the flaws of the story, and I am exaggerating them until they are all I can see. I am finding it hard to see past its flaws, finding it hard to love it and to get excited about it. My mind wanders, and I find myself looking at all my short story ideas that I have written down, wondering which one I should finally start writing. My imagination has been coming up with new ideas, even, new ideas for short stories, that in my mind sound new and exciting and sexy.

I want to write them.

So tentatively I start to write a new story, in secret, as though I’m cheating on my WIP, and that if it ever finds out its characters will come alive (especially the bad ones) and will come after me. My new story thrills me, and the words fly out of me, whereas before with my WIP the words come slow and laboured.

But then the guilt creeps in, and I stop. I say to my new story that I can no longer see it, I have to stop writing it. But I can’t return to my other story, I can’t face going back to it. So I end up writing nothing.

* * *

I may have embellished this a little (and made it sound more like a sordid affair than it really is), but this is pretty much how I’m feeling right now with my WIP. I’m sure lots of you have felt like this before, or do so now. How can we get over it? How can we remain faithful, and continue with our works-in-progress through the tough times?

Find the excitement again

Look hard and find out why you are having problems with your WIP. If where the story is going is boring you, don’t be afraid to change it. Have one of your characters make a drastic decision. Make them do something unexpected.

“When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.”- Raymond Chandler

Expert advice from Chandler. Don’t get bogged down in your story. Make something happen. You’re the one with the pen in your hand, or the keyboard under your hovering fingertips!

See your ‘affair’ through

One way to remain committed to your WIP, would be actually to commit to your affair. If you are getting a bit bored of your WIP, and have a great idea for a short story, why not write that? But, unlike me, commit to seeing it through. Ignore any feelings of guilt you may have, otherwise you won’t write either story. Put your WIP aside, and write your ‘affair’ story. Write it quick, with passion. Then, once it’s done, go back to your WIP. And never speak of the other story again.This recharge of your writing batteries will probably help with your story once you go back to it. A break from it, but a break where you are still flexing your writing muscles instead of agonising over not being able to write, will do you good. Plus, you’ll have written another short story to add to your collection in the meantime.

Take a break

Perhaps it might be time to just take a break. To put down the pen, step away from the keyboard, and just not write for a while. If you are going to do this, and you’ll probably know if this is the right thing to do for you, you must do it with two things in mind.

1. What are you going to do while you aren’t writing? You should aim to fill your time away from your WIP with at least something creative or active, instead of just wasting your extra free hours in front of the television. Take some photos. Paint. Juggle. Go for a run.
2. Set a date when you will return to your WIP. If you don’t, you might find it difficult to get back into it. Just like you would do if you were taking a holiday from a proper job, set the dates when you will be off, and return to your writing when you get back. Stick to this schedule, treat it like a proper holiday.

These are just three ways to stay faithful to your WIP, and to continue writing it when you begin to struggle. One might work for you, the other’s might not. Personally, this time, I’m going to find the excitement again. Men with guns might not fit, though. Monsters under the stairs, on the other hand…

How do you stay faithful to your work-in-progress when you feel like writing something else? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments below!

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Staying Faithful to Your WIP

The following items of interest are what I recently discovered from reading Can We Do That?!, The Seamstress, Inside the Revolution to Dominate the Middle East and Called to Greatness. CAUTION:  I believe in the “garbage in, garbage out” philosophy, so be forewarned.

1.         Former Muslim PLO sniper and anti-Semitic Tass Saada became an evangelical Christian after moving to the U.S. and now serves as a peacemaker in the Gaza Strip.

2.        Think differently. Normal people often get ignored. Be a bit above normal.

3.         One major hit (as in writing) does not retirement make.

4.         Hitler ordered German auto makers to produce a cheap people’s car called the People’s Car, aka the Volkswagen.

5.         Immunity can be deadly, especially the spiritual kind.

6.         Originally from the French word, homme d’armes, gendarme refers to members of a uniform police force.

7.         Budapest has the highest number of Jewish citizens per capita of any European city.

8.         ALWAYS confirm what your client tells you.

9.         Crises, by nature, are pretty darn disrespectful.

10.       The creature doesn’t tell the Creator what to do – it’s the other way around.

What have you learned from reading lately?

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Knowledge Can Make a Difference

You see, a novel isn’t just a bunch of words telling a simple tale…well it could be, but then it would be a pretty boring waste of paper, and I’m certain that this isn’t what you’re trying to write. A novel is a window into new ideas, new avenues of philosophies and views, and the best ones stick with a person long after they have finished reading them. Now back to what I was saying, you want to write something that is thought provoking, engaging, and that could even push the world of literature and the world itself into a new age of enlightenment…or you just want to make some extra money for college and other living expenses (myself included, haha!)

To do any of these things, you have to write something that is good, very good, brilliant even. Very, very few authors write books solely on the fly, and an even fewer number of those authors write decent material worth reading. If you want to write a good book, you have to plan it out. Figure out what the intricate parts of the story are going to be, how characters are going to react, basically you are about to play “God”, and you’re going to have to know what you’re going to do in order to make your creations acceptable and palatable for your audience.

The first thing you need to do is break your story into parts. And in most cases there are four major parts to a novel that pushes it towards great recognition:

• Plot: Which covers the overall story, pace, and the ever-popular twist.
• Characters: Which covers back stories, development, and character flaws.
• Setting: Which deals with time, place, and attention to detail.
• Language: Which takes care of description of settings and dialogue.

These four parts are essential to the novel as a whole, since they work together much like a complex machine. A quick science lesson, a complex machine is a piece of equipment that is comprised of several simple machines, and without the multiple simple machines working together, the bigger machine simply cannot work. So all four parts of the novel need to move together and help each other along in order to make your novel shine its brightest; to you, to the publisher and to the reader.

Now the first thing that needs to be done is developing a plot, since without a good plot the rest of the novel is virtually useless. This isn’t saying that you can’t write a novel without a good plot, and not get it published, authors from John Milton to Ayn Rand to Lauren Conrad have written books that have become major successes, but the failings in these works is the lack of a substantial plot.

With John Milton, he put too much emphasis on describing in his work ‘Paradise Lost’. Ayn Rand, in ‘Atlas Shrugged’, allowed her message of pure capitalism take over what could’ve been a moving epic of social injustice and how to solve the problem. And with Lauren Conrad, what could’ve been a half-decent coming of age story in modern society was just a bland collection of episodes from “Laguna Beach” and “The Hills” in book form.

All of these are linked together, because they lack a meaningful and identifying story that the reader can put them in. If the novel does not have an emotional link with the reader, then the novel is not going to achieve that intimate relationship that is truly critical with the reader. And the chances of your novel having a lasting impact are severely weakened.

Components of a strong plot

Now how do you come up with a good plot? First thing is to come up with the obstacle, what is the problem that the protagonist is facing. Is it tangible or intangible? Is it something they can control or is it a force that is determining their fate for them? These are the basic questions one asks when they are brainstorming for their plot. Then you come up with the basic solution the protagonist will use to solve the problem, if they are to solve in the first place. Will they negotiate the solution, will they fight, will they accept their fate, or will they come up with a whole different path to achieve their goals?

Then of course you have to consider characters, will the protagonist have allies, will they have physical enemies, will they have a love interest, will they be poor or rich? These are just a few questions that will be considered when writing a book. Thankfully, these questions can be answered very quickly and early in the planning stage if you take the time to think the story through before you begin writing.

Pacing

Pacing in a story is important since if you did a chapter for every hour, of everyday, in a novel that is suppose to take place over a three year period, you are going to have a very, very, very long book. When I was writing my book, I actually set out to vary the time difference between chapters. For example chapters 3,4,5 take place immediately after another. While in chapters 6,7,8,9,12,13, months take place in between events occurring in these respective parts. Of course, depending on the story itself, pacing in the novel can change too, you could write a novel that takes place in one day, like James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’, or you could write a novel that takes place in a year, the limitations are endless. But remember not to bog down readers with too much going on in order to keep the flow from being interrupted.

Twists and turns

Finally with plot twists, I have this to say. As a writer, they suck! They are the hardest thing to do in a novel out of everything. And you can end up beating yourself senseless trying to have a decent amount of twists and turns in order to keep the reader interested in the work. But it’s something that you have to deal with. And the older the audience, the worse this job is to do. However, there are some things that helped me out with this problem.

First, try to figure out which parts of the book are going to be the most important moments. I’d aim to pick out three, just so that if one doesn’t work you can use the other two to do the trick. Once that’s done you need to do what you can to delay giving away these points until absolutely necessary. Now I’d like to discuss the twists in my novel, but then I’d be giving away the reason for anyone to read the book. But, do give yourself the room to change these twists as you write the book, since you’ll probably come up with more ideas and concepts you’ll want to try out with the novel as you’re writing it.

Oh and before I forget, make sure to allow wiggle room as you write the book. In my case, what began as a single volume became a trilogy, and now it’s a five-part series. So needless to say, planning is very important, but be prepared for changes as they come.

I hope this has been a help in your journey and until next time, keep on writing! Please share your thoughts and comments below.

Images courtesy of Lidia Camcho and Fahad.com.

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Writing a Novel – What You Need To Know

1.I know that Q is not just the 17^th letter in the alphabet.  Q is also a character that believed he was omniscient.  He chose to visit the crew from the Enterprise from time to time on STNG or Star Trek Next Generation.  Q and Jean Luc Picard engaged in numerous debates on humanity and our inability to separate emotion from reason.

2. I remember what song was played in the season two finale of Buffy The Vampire Slayer as she sat on a bus staring out the window, which drove away from Sunnydale. This particular show aired May 19th, 1998.

3. I know that Lucy Lawless who currently plays Lucretia on Spartacus, but will forever be known as Xena Warrior Princess, is married to Rob Tapert (producer of Xena), and he is part of the exclusive Rami clique.  You know Sam Rami- the director of  Evil Dead, Spiderman, and Darkman.

4. I can recite all the words to Motley Crue’s Home Sweet Home, a gift I have held since I was a teen.

I think I’ll stop there before I have you all running for the hills.  The point to all of this rambling is simple.  The depths of your mind holds the key.  When you find yourself stuck for something to write, tap into this endless pit and use it to your advantage.  Open up your treasure chest of useless information.   Why not start now and share what you know with the world?  Yes, this action runs the risk of banishment to the seventh level of the Geekdom or it may open the doors to your next great short story.

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Useless Information – A Hidden Treasure for Writers

The act of writing is simple and cheap.  All you require is a writing utensil and a piece of paper.  As your work matures, the items that you use to hone your skills tend to develop.  No longer are napkins and Bic ballpoints enough, now you covet designer notebooks and legendary pens.   Great, but what about the real cost, the cost of showing your work to the world?

We will budget for coffee, drinks after work, a round of golf, and food, but writing usually never makes the list.  What costs, you ask?  Stamps for starters.  Yes, stamps.   Though numerous publications will allow you to submit your work on-line, paper submissions are still king.  Budget for the basics; stamps, envelopes, both 8 ½ x 11 and letter size, more paper, and a computer if you do not have one.   As you review the submission guidelines, another term pops up which may send a slight shiver down your spine.  Submission Fee!  Oh Snap.  That’s right sunshine, you are paying  for the right for some unknown person to reject your work.

I am quite new to the world of submissions and the intricacies that surround the specific guidelines that are set forth by the powers that be.  Yet I do understand that magazines, journals and newspapers are in business to share great work, but also to stay a float- recession or not.  Fees are not limited to submissions, but also to the entity called writing contests.  From $5 – $50, the costs, which are levied at you to enter your work for a chance at prestige and publication, need to be budgeted.

Once we start to take our writing seriously by accounting for the necessary tools and opportunities that present themselves, we attract the serious possibility of becoming great.

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Budget Basics – Food, Rent, Writing

• It’s a moot point, not a mute one

• “Close proximity” is redundant

• It’s the Book of Psalms; each chapter is a Psalm

• It’s toward, regard and afterward – not towards, regards and afterwards

• It’s Daylight Saving Time, not Savings

• Is it drapes or draperies? To avoid the issue, I use window treatments

• People graduate from college; not people graduate college

• You shop at Kroger, not Krogers

• A mason works in masonry; not in masonary

• Irregardless is not a word: it’s regardless

• You could not have axed a better question

• Men can get prostate cancer; not prostrate cancer

• It’s means it is

• You’re, not your, means you are

• You insure (not ensure) things like people and property

• And the all-time worst offender (at least to me): Ending a sentence/question with a preposition – it’s like nails on a chalkboard

To that point, I wish AT&T would stop using incorrect grammar in its latest commercial to discourage texting and driving. While I agree with the key message, I simple refuse to advocate the copy.

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Words That Make Writers Wince

I used to stay up late and write since that’s when my best material comes out, anyway. But how can I do that when I need to be up to get my daughter to school and interact with the rest of the world when they are awake? I did set up some sort of schedule, which includes taking my daughter to a friend’s house for daycare one day a week, but that day usually gets filled with article writing and slacking off because it’s my only time to myself. And I do have time at night when she is asleep, but that’s the time I use to see my friends and family. I used to write constantly – a few thousand words a day even. For some reason I can’t remember how exactly I did that. I want to finish my novel. I want to write more flash fiction. I want to write just to write…just for the cathartic value. But how?

How do you all do it??? Any suggestions would be more than useful to me and, I’m sure, many of our readers…so feel free to throw anything and everything out there. We writers need all the help we can get to find time to write – to do what it is we love!

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Finding the Time to Write

During the month of December 2009, I took a self-imposed sabbatical from writing. With my plate loaded with more projects than I was prepared to handle, and my stress level reaching epic proportions, I no longer found writing fun. Yet I pressed forward as all good writers believe they must, when hit with writer’s block or fatigue. I allowed my competitive and ambitious nature to berate my good judgment. Until one day, shortly after writing an article for a local magazine, I stopped. I put down my pen, and closed my journal. What followed was relief. For too long I had lost sight as to why I loved writing in the first place. Though it may sound like a cliché, this statement reins true, when writing stops being fun, then stop writing.

I tuned into other creative outlets, which provided the rejuvenation that I needed – music, card making, and hosting a horror movie marathon. Writer’s block, the demands of family, work, and life are all perfect examples why a break from writing may be in your best interest. The last thing an author wants is for their work to sound hollow and unnatural. A lack of passion in your writing is the side effect of forcing yourself to write, when you should not.

My advice is to have fun within all aspects of your life. So, if you decide to put down your pen, or close your notebook, here are two websites, which have the ability to bring a smile to your face, clear your mind and eliminate your stress. Enjoy.

hunch.com

Hunch is an interactive website of questions and answers. It is very easy to become hooked. Be warned.

reasonablyclever.com

Ever wanted to know what you would look like as a mini plastic lego-like being? Well, me too! This site is hilarious, for those with an easy sense of humour.

Have you ever reached a point where the joy you gained from writing ceased? What did you do?

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Put Down That Pen!

But, should we take a writing course? Many of you may have already taken a course – a learn-at-home course done at your own pace, a week-long writer’s retreat, or even a longer, University-based course. Other may be thinking about it, weighing up the pros and cons. I’d like to share with you here my experience during my time studying for my Masters in Creative Writing. I’ve summed up the experience into the main pros and cons, as I see it.

Con #1 – The money.

A course like the one I took costs money. A LOT of money, in fact, and at several times during the course I was unsure whether the money I was spending was really worth it. I took this course before we slid into a recession, but at this time now it is even harder not to look at things from a cost and reward viewpoint, we are always looking to get our money’s worth. Actual teaching time on this course seemed sparse, about four to six hours a week, so we really had to make the most of the time with our tutors.

One particular area of the course that I did not feel was value for money was the module dedicated to the publishing side of writing – something that me and my fellow students were really looking forward to. All of us, even from the start, had some measure of skill and confidence in our writing, but we all lacked awareness of the industry in which we wanted to break. Unfortunately, this module delivered little of this insight. Each week a different local professional, from publishers to writers to agents to theatre directors, would give us a talk on the industry. But mostly they seemed to focus on how hard it would be for us to get our work published, how little money we would actually make if we did. One writer spent the entire lecture telling us about all the extra things she did to promote her books, with seemingly very little success. Not particularly inspiring, or insightful.

One lecture did come close, where an agent outlined what would make a good submission and query letter, but helpful practicalities like this seemed very thin on the ground.

Con #2 –  Lack of long-term help.

I feel that the Masters course, despite being a year long, still did nothing to help my long-term writing career. This is another major con of a course like this, if you are looking for something like this as a “way in” to the publishing industry, I don’t think that it is it. Even if the course that you take offers better advice on the practicalities of the publishing industry, it is a far cry from actually applying them in the real world. Maybe I went into the module, and my friends also, with the wrong expectations. A better way to learn about the practicalities of the publishing industry, if that is all that you are looking to do, may be to delve into the advice found on the Internet. Yes, you won’t get the face-to-face benefit of talking to an agent, but maybe this is not necessary. After all, you can learn all you can about writing queries, but that’s no use if you haven’t written something that’s good enough to publish!

Despite these cons, and I believe they are pretty major reasons not to take a course like this, they are definitely outweighed by the pros. To see them, you just have to focus not on the future, but take a while to focus on the immediate benefits you experience on a writing course.

Pro #1 – Honing your Skills.

Stephen King argued that while it is impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, or a competent writer out of a bad one, it IS possible, with help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one. On the Masters we definitely got the help and advice for this to happen. We all got the opportunity to really hone the skills that we already had. Learning them from scratch on a course like this may be a lot harder, but we all went into the course already with some writing skill, and I don’t think anyone would take a writing course if they didn’t already have some skill in writing.

Perhaps the dullest parts of the course, for me certainly, were spent learning about some of the mechanics of writing. However, these are all important, even if you do not think about them all the time while you are writing (in fact, it’s probably a good idea if you don’t, for fear of restricting and second-guessing yourself) it is important to be aware of how the words you put down and the way you construct them affect the meaning and the story that you convey to the reader, and can make a big difference in your writing.

Another skill that we all honed was becoming aware of and developing our individual styles. One such exercise in style that I can remember, and one of my favourite memories of the course, was when we had to count the number of adjectives that we had in a (short) passage of our writing. I had seven, one of the lowest in the class. Most people had a few more than that. My best mate had 22!

Pro #2 – The company you keep.

One of the best things about taking a writing course (unless it is a home-study one) is the wonderful people that you are likely to meet. On the Masters I was brought together with lots of like-minded people, people who wrote but wouldn’t yet call themselves writers. There were many people my age, and also a lot of older people, which was a great mix of enthusiasm and experience. There were some amazing characters too — the American pastor who had a story for every occasion and would tell it no matter who was or wasn’t listening, a lady who seemed to accidentally make everything that she wrote erotic and filled with double meanings, and a Lord (not a real one…) with whom I have shared many a milkshake, and many a game of Wii Mario Kart. 

And these were just the students! The teachers were amazing too, for the most part, and were all so different in their backgrounds and writing styles that we were exposed to a range of influences and teaching styles. The teachers included Jackie Kay, a writer who almost became the first female Poet Laureate, a Malawian writer who was imprisoned for almost 4 years by the Dictator Hastings Banda for his poetry, and the wonderful David Almond, author of Skellig. He, in particular was utterly inspiring, sharing with us not only practical skills, but also ways of thinking about our work, and the magic that is at the heart of writing. On any writing course I am sure that you will be exposed to a similar variety of tutors, many of whom may be rather famous and successful themselves. Even the ones who aren’t will have a wealth of knowledge, both practical and inspirational, to pass on.

Pro #3 – Having FUN!

Writing is supposed to be fun, right? Far often we take it too seriously, sitting for long hours at our desks, writing away, editing, getting frustrated. On the course we would meet up frequently outside of class, sometimes with our current work that we would share with each other, critique etc. We bad-mouthed a particularly obnoxious tutor, joked with some of the girls that they fancied him. Me and my best mate got told off once, like little schoolkids, for laughing and joking on in class. We had parties, drank cocktails. The great thing was that even spending time not writing with these new friends was rewarding and beneficial. What we ultimately all had in common was writing, the creative spirit, and a commitment to furthering our knowledge. Being like-minded individuals, we all helped each other to grow, not just as writers but as people as well.

In the end, it boiled down to one thing. It was the people I met that made it worth taking the course, and the same will be true for you.

Have any of you taken a writing course? Did you think it was worth it? Please share your comments below, and please ask any questions you might have about my experience studying the craft.

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An Education: Reasons to Take a Writing Course

Perhaps you made a few New Year’s resolutions centered on your writing life.

In 2010, you want to move forward in some way and grow. Who doesn’t want that?

But we all know how notoriously difficult keeping promises are — especially those made to yourself.

That pinpoints the reason most resolutions fail.

They are just promises to yourself. You need more than that to keep those commitments.

So if you’re struggling to stick to your goals, here’s how to increase your chances of success:

Let Others Know What Your Goals Are

• If a few family members and/or friends know what your goals are, it will become harder to neglect them.
• Pick two people who know how important writing is to you and let them in on your goals for the year. Make them promise to ask you about your progress. This forms a great support network.

Know How You’re Motivated

• People are motivated in two basic ways: positively and negatively. Think about a runner trying to set a new personal best. He or she either responds to “Is that all you have? That last lap could have been way better,” or “You’re knocking on the door to a new level. Keep pushing!”
• Discover which approach works for you and ask your support network to use it.

These two simple steps will help add some credibility to your goals. The writing life is a lonely one, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Don’t forget those you want and are able to support you, and they’ll help you reach your writing goals.

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How Not to Write Off Those New Year’s Writing Resolutions