Friday, July 17, 2009
July 2009 archive
Thinking about your character (as if we ever take a break from it…), what are five of her daily habits? What do these accomplish and why are they necessary for her?
If she had to choose only one to keep, what would it be and why? Any chance you can create a conflict by putting that habits or ritual in jeopardy?
I’m nosy. What are your characters’ most important habits?
Thursday, July 16, 2009
6/16 WIP Tip: Older But Not Necessarily Wiser
Again with the philosophy stuff. This one might be a challenge, might take a bit. But I think it’s valuable to developing character.
Thinking of the annual milestones in your character’s life, how are they different & how do they change at the following ages:
8
17
24
35
47
51
and so on, if your character is older. I wouldn’t do this beyond the scope of your story and like the other WIP Tips, it doesn’t have to show up in your story. But it is interesting to think about your character growth at these times. It’s interesting to think about our own growth at these ages.
How has your character changed? What impact have past events had on your character today?
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
6/15 WIP Tip: Me, My Self-Consciousness & I
Another from the philosophy book with a twist for our characters: Our self-consciousness is the one thing that divides us from our fellow creatures, paraphrased from an Annie Dillard excerpt.
Here’s the question: what is your character most self-conscious about in her life–and why? What about the rest of your characters? You might be able to add a plot event or conflict from this, so think deeply.
I’d love to hear what bugs your characters. Curious too about how close our characters’ self-consciousnesses (is that plural?) compare to the writers’.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
6/14 WIP Tip: Measuring Up
Most of the next month’s WIP Tips will center on helping you get deep into character, plot & setting of your story, but today’s is a question about you as a writer.
How do you measure your worth as a writer? Do you measure yourself by words or by the joy you find in creation?
This question is loosely based on a passage I read in a philosophy book. And before you pick one or the other, do be aware that there is a time and place to measure yourself by both. The wisdom comes from knowing which one you feel at which stage of your writing.
Monday, July 13, 2009
6/13 WIP Tip: Lies, Lies, Lies
My brother has been in the hospital recovering from surgery, so we’ve all pulled duty to sit with him each day. It’s a great, quiet environment spent chatting and napping 
Today while he napped, my time was spent thinking up a wealth of new WIP Tips for your writing pleasure. Aren’t you lucky!
This first one is based on a movie my brother and I watched together. I didn’t catch the name, but the main character (Martin Lawrence) who’s a thief but pretends to be a police detective. Funny stuff. The question for you is…
What is the biggest lie your character tells herself? Remember, this doesn’t necessarily show up in your story or shared with other characters. But we all lie to ourselves about something…what’s yours?
Monday, July 6, 2009
7/6 WIP Tip: Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough
Word of warning: I’m still broken-hearted over Michael Jackson’s death. Sue me…I’m a child of the 80s. But I did think this title was great for the WIP Tip.
No matter what you write, there’s always a point where your writing (and you) hit the wall. Sometimes it’s physical–you can’t sit still one more minute. Sometimes, it’s mental…too many things to do in your day. Sometimes it’s creative–the idea you were so excited to write isn’t coming out the way you envisioned. It’s sooooooo tempting to give up, to close the laptop and put away the pen.
That exact time when you feel you can’t write another word is the time when the best ideas are ready to burst out. How do I know this? Experience. Some of my best ideas have come when I’ve forced myself to write one more paragraph or two more sentences before stopping. If nothing else, these additions leave me with a new place to start my writing the next day. I used to write a scene to the death, then spend several days agitated because I felt like I’d said everything. Now, I write an additional sentence or two to give me a starting place the next morning.
Have you ever forced yourself to keep writing when you’ve hit a standstill? How did it turn out? We’d love to hear how you did it and what difference it made to your work!
Friday, July 3, 2009
7/3 WIP Tip: Twitter for Writers, part 1
Let’s just say I didn’t have anything ready to go and am pulling this one from a…hat….!
If you’re not Twittering yet, you really need to be. These past two weeks, Twitter has been the difference between wallowing in thought on my WIP and finishing 52 pages.
Here’s how:
Every morning, I log on (through TwitterFox most mornings) to see what my tweeple have been up to.
Next, I visit #writegoal and type in my daily writing goal. This depends on the day and my state of mind. My default goal is 1k words, though the last two days I’ve been working on a guest blog post for next week. A few days my goal was just to work on my plot, find holes, events, etc.
After I work and finish my goals, (with occasional tweets in between to give my brain a rest and keep everyone on the edge of their seat as to whether or not I’ll make the goal LOL), I post my result back at #writegoal. I like to give folks encouragement and shout-outs if they make their goal. Writing is a lonely endeavor and it’s nice to connect with people who know how it feels to spend a day with words running rampant in their heads.
A few other fun writing things at Twitter:
#followfriday-each Friday, people make a list of fellow Tweeple they’re following for the day and retweet (RT) their posts. I don’t do this too often as I’m not usually in front of the PC all day, but it is a good way to find more writers with good tweets.
#writechat–held every Sunday between 12p-3p Pacific time. Just do a search for #writechat, save the search and get involved. All kinds of topics come up for discussion and input. Fantastic advice and resources, too. (I follow this one using Tweetchat…so much easier)
and a not-directly-related-to-writing-but-reading group on Twitter…
#fridayreads–here, folks post what they’re reading. On Fridays. I’ve gotten some great new books to check out this summer by following this list. Like I don’t have a big enough TBR pile.
Get over to Twitter and sign up. If you’re a writer and don’t have “hot” and “sexy pics” in your profile, I’ll be sure to add you. I’m @Buckeye_BethM. Say hi & ask for help if you need it. Twits are great people!
(Oh, and if you’re looking for the Twitter for Writers, part 2 post, you’ll be waiting a while. There isn’t one in the works, at the moment, but give it time. Something will come up!)
How do you use Twitter to make yourself a better writer? I’d love to know!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
7/2 WIP Tip: Creatively Stuck? Try Something New
I’m not stuck in any way on my current WIP (knock on wood!). Yesterday’s 1K words came out without much gnashing of teeth, but I’m noticing at #writegoal, the Twitter group where writers post their daily goals, some folks are struggling meeting word quotas and scene totals for a day of word work.
Here’s what works for me: Try something new.
Now, for you novelists in the crowd, that doesn’t mean to dive into that major novel idea knocking around in your brain (unless that works for you). Instead, give yourself permission to write away from the manuscript and get back to what we writers love most about writing:
Writing for the fun of it.
Pick something that won’t break your heart if you don’t finish. I tend toward personal essays that I keep in a file for easy reference in the future should I decide to go back and finish one. Don’t do anything bigger than, say, 8K words.
A few ideas:
personal memoir/essay
blog posts
journal entries (from you or a character)
a nonfiction article about something interesting to you or something from your story that you have knowledge of
a new short story (remember, 20 pages or less)
a letter to someone either fictional or real
The key here is to get your brain interacting with words and playing with prose in a way that gets your fingers doing all the work of lifting you from your rut. I am not joking when I say that this works, for me, almost 100% of the time when I feel stalled or reluctant in my WIP.
While I’m writing this new, no-pressure piece, I see parts of my current WIP jumping up in the back of my mind (sorta like Donkey jumping up at the swamp screaming “Pick Me! Pick Me! when Shrek was choosing a compadre for his trip to rescue Princess Fiona. But I digress…). I just jot my WIP tidbits on another piece of paper and go about my business until the urge to go back to the WIP gets too strong for the new piece to overcome. Sometimes it takes more than one short piece to do the trick, but it inevitably works.
I have made the mistake of starting a new, longer piece when doing this, and that’s a huge mistake IMHO. When I get in a rut with both pieces, which one do I come back to?
Even better, I’ve gotten some good, published material from these short jaunts away from the WIP. I’ve got a mighty collection of cooking memoirs started that might even make it into a book at some point.
The key to remember is simple: Writing got me into this mess, so writing will get me out of it.
What do you do when you’re stalled in your WIP to get yourself going again? Leave a comment or share at #writegoal over at Twitter.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
7/1 WIP Tip: (Character) Imperfections as Perfections
So maybe I spend a little too much time at Twitter (@buckeye_bethm, if you’re interested. Tweet me up!). But in addition to the given time wasters, there’s occasionally a Tweet that really gets me thinking.
Usually, it isn’t from one of the celebs I follow–this time, it was. A few days ago, Rob Kardashian (another guilty secret…I want to be a Kardashian sister. Not for the looks, for the sarcasm. Love Khloe!) got me thinking with a few simple words.
All Rob twitted was: An imperfection is a perfection.
I have no idea what he was referencing, but my writer’s mind, stuck on character, snapped it up and ran with it. We’ve all heard, hundreds of times, that our fictional characters need flaws. No one wants to read about a perfect character with a perfect life. If you’re a reader, you know it’s true. More than once I’ve put down a book because I felt like too many things were going good for the heroine. I want angst.
So, the WIP Tip question of the day for you is: what imperfections define your character? What are her shortcomings? And how, with your authorial magic, are you going to make those a perfection? Or, at the least, a strength?
I love hearing character flaws. Post ‘em here so I can live vicariously through your characters
It's pretty simple, really. I'm a writer who loves writing about writing, and sharing all the tricks of the trade with other writers. And when I'm not writing, I'm thinking about writing. I have a hunch you know what I mean :)