Drunk on Writing

Found this vid on YouTube. Very inspirational:

It's been two whole months since finishing NaNoWriMo and I have spent that entire time struggling through a novel I've been writing for many, many, years. The difference in this endeavor, however, is that I've learned a few things from NaNoWriMo and have been writing fairly consistently. I wanted to share certain tricks I've learned from that month of hell that have helped not only put words on paper (so to speak) but have kept me motivated.

1. Ignore the Editor

Always easier said than done. While I do allow myself to go through what I've written and fix a few things here and there, I do not allow myself to focus on grammatical issues or wording. Instead, I change certain plot issues in order to make the story flow and seem more cohesive. Nit-picking can wait until I go through the first draft.

2. Set a Goal

This tip I only began to adhere to recently. For the past couple of months I've been fretting over how much of the story I was actually writing and felt as if I had accomplished nothing by the end of the day. Starting this week I decided to allot myself a daily word goal of 350 from Monday to Friday (thanks to Chuck Wendig and his great blog for this advice). It may not seem like a lot, but it's really easy to do and I feel like I've accomplished something each day. Can't write on a Tuesday? No problem, just write 700 words on Wednesday. Wendig's reasoning behind this goal is that within a year of following that pace you can finish a novel. Since I started this regime at 50 000+ words, I know it won't take that long. I also know that I will write more on some days and also contribute to my word count on the weekends.

3. Just Write

Stuck in your plot? Not sure where to turn next? Just write! Whether you continue on at your stopping point or work on something that happens later on in the novel, keep writing. Eventually it will all come together and instead of wasting time banging your head against a wall you will be even closer to achieving your goal.

I managed to work my way from Point A to Point B (re: my last post) and now I'm working on getting from B to C. In the meantime, I decided to revisit some scenes that occur much later in the story and try to piece those together.

When most of us put together a puzzle, we don't simply start at the top and work along row by row. No, we usually establish the border, sort by similar colours, and put together what we have. Then, after we have pieced together chunks of the puzzle, we put it all together to complete the activity.



This is a splendid metaphor to describe how I write and I want to explain why this method is effective. While discussing writing techniques with someone I know, she scoffed at my idea of writing bits of the story here and there. She only writes from beginning to end. Which makes sense, since that is how the story is read. Personally, if I subjected myself to such a strict method of writing I'd get absolutely nothing done.

I find when I write things that happen later on in the story, it creates an opportunity to fill in those Point A to Point B gaps with information that will set up what is about to happen. If I know X, Y and Z are going to occur, I can provide information early on and alleviate those moments where I stare blankly at the screen going: "Uhhhhhhhhhhh......"

"But what if the story changes and those scenes are irrelevant?"

Oh well. Change it, get rid of it, move it around. It doesn't matter. It's my experience that it's best to just write something, anything, than to write nothing at all.

In other aspects of my life I tend to be an all or nothing person. Why bother putting all my clothes away in my bedroom if I'm not going to vacuum and change the bedding? Why clean the toilet if I don't have time to also scrub the sink and bathtub? I try not to be so rigid in my writing, taking delight in having written something instead of expecting to write everything.

Anyone who reads my blog (i.e., no one) knows that I do not write from start to finish. I like to jump around, exploring different scenes and moments in my novel despite where they occur. I find this is a great way to defeat writer's block...if I can't come up with something during the course of the story, I write something that happens later on.

However, this poses a problem when I am suddenly faced with the task of connecting my main storyline with something I have previously written. Sometimes this happens effortlessly, but most times I am stuck at a point where I know something I've written before has to happen. I'm just not sure how to get there.

So I present a post dedicated to bridging the gap between Point A and Point B, A being where I am in the narrative and B being where I need to go.

1. What needs to happen between the two plotlines?

The characters are trapped in limbo in one part of the story and they need to get to another part. Certain things must happen for B to occur. If I could just plunk the existing scene into the story, I wouldn't be writing this point. When we think about what needs to happen first, we don't necessarily have to focus on physical actions. Sometimes we need to consider how the characters' feeling must change in order for B to make sense.

For example, in my current effort, I am stuck in a sort of meh scene where not much is really happening. What I want to do is add in something I have already written because, well, it's time. I'm not going to sweat over what actions need to occur. Instead, I'm going to look at how the characters are feeling and interacting and think about how they will feel and interact in the new scene.

Try working backwards from Point B to Point A It's often easier to figure out how to finish the journey then to conceptualize how it started.

In order to do this, I grabbed my trusty notebook and jotted down what had just happened in the story. I then left a few lines blank and wrote what happens in the scene to be added. Now all I need to do is scribble in what has to occur in between. Have I done that yet? No. I decided to procrastinate instead and write this post.

2. Go big or go home?

Now we know that SOMETHING needs to happen between A and B, but how big should you go? That all depends on Point B. Is Point B dramatic or story changing? Is it highly climatic? If so, then the middle ground should be low key and work on building up the big scene. What if Point B is mundane and merely moves the story along? Depending on what point of the story you are at, you can go either way. Think about whether it's time for something exciting or if a slower pace is more appropriate.

3. How big does the bridge have to be?

So how much bridgework are we facing? Let's use a bridge as an example, since that seems appropriate.

You need to figure out what kind of distance you are covering. If the middle ground is a body of water, you need to figure how wide it is and what kind of bridge you need to build. If you're facing a small stream then obviously you don't need a big, fancy bridge. Something short and sweet and simple will do. However, if the body of water is massive then you need to build something bigger, higher and with more structural support.

4. Invest in a good computer.

This point may seem out of place in the scheme of things, but I think it's great advice for anyone trying to write a novel. Nothing kills a train of thought quicker than a system that freezes and lags. I swear to god if this thing lags up one more time while I'm trying to write this post, I will vomit shards of rage.


Side Note: Immediately after writing Point 4, Firefox lagged twice, crashed and then disappeared. Thank the Lord Baby Jesus that Blogger saves drafts.

   

Besides writing I try to spend a lot of my free time being artistically creative. One thing I enjoy doing is digital art, mainly photo-manipulation. Here is one of my current projects:

So I recently discovered Gizoogle and decided to branch beyond reading my own blog posts in gangsta talk. Here is a short biography of Robert Frost I found while Gizoogling one of his poems:

"Robert Lee Frost [1874-1963] started doin thangs up in California USA on 26th March 1874 yo. His muthafathas Lil' Willy Prescott Frost n' Isabel Vibeie, kicked it wit when they was both hittin dat shizzle as mackdaddys. Robert was tha eldest of they two children, Jeanie bein his sister.
In 1885 followin tha dirtnap of his wild lil' father, tha gang moved up in wit his stupid-ass grandfather up in Lawrence Massachusetts."

I found this "composition", I suppose you could call it, and wanted to post it here. It may seem dark and grim, but it came from a time when I was in a dark and grim place. I like keeping it around because when I read it I don't hear my own voice, I hear someone else's.

December 12, 2010

If I were to write a suicide note, I imagine it would sound something like this:

"Row, row, row your boat" had it right. Well, the ending at least. Life is but a dream, a series of dreams, not like chapters in a book. A book you can go back and relive; life is a series of dreams, each explicitly real and fading. Nightmarish and beautiful, but never relivable. You can't go back and no memory is as strong in the present as it was in the past. The downfall of that reality is that with a book, you can close it, put it aside and never open it again. Life is a dream you can never wake up from, only in death. The past is a faded memory that you can never shut out, and while the reality of past situations resonate only softly, the pain resides forever. And while lessons can be learned and the future reshaped, the hurt never goes away. A book is a controllable creation: conflict created, resolutions planned, a definable conclusion. Dreams are uncontrollable phenomena. I used to believe that one could control one's destiny but I've come to learn that this is not truth. Whereas I can make the necessary decisions to cease my emotional pain, they are never easy and the pain never really ends. Conclusions do not result in emotional resolution but merely the cessation of collective hurt and suffering. At whatever point the story ends, that specific experience of pain never really goes away. It subsides and is covered with new tortures or inexplicably resurfaces like an old wound. It's inescapable and haunting. While they say we create our own pain and happiness, most of it is created upon us...by others, by an unseen force, by circumstance. And how is it possible to outrun a relentless nightmare? Either we continue to run and hope for eventual happiness or we wake up. For now, I'll keep running. not away from the pain, but toward an ultimate conclusion. Toward the beautiful dream.