United States :: Virginia :: Richmond

Quotes for October 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th

luckyjean — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:55:52 -0700

October 9

The Feng Shui of Writing

Skeptics and scoffers, lend me your ears. For when it comes to exotic fads, I'm out there scoffing with the loudest of you. Mystical cures for writing woes? Fuhgetaboutit. Ancient eastern astrology? I'm rolling on the floor. Even when my writing turns to slag, you are not likely to find me mining the I Ching (Book of Changes) for advice.

And so I scoffed when an artist friend suggested that I plunge into feng shui (pronounced "fung shway"), the ancient Chinese system of arranging one's environment for maximum flow of ch'i, the so-called universal life-force. Bat I decided to dip a toe into the subject when this good friend insisted that an "unblocked" working space might energize my writing, as it did her art. She claimed to have bettered her fortunes by placing certain feng shui devices -- wind chimes, mirrors, plants, and red objects -- in strategic nooks of her studio. I did more or less the same in my study.

Ideally I would have gone for the classical fen shui setup: a country dwelling aligned with the forces of nature. Its north end would have been tucked into a protective hill, with its southern frontages descending to a river (ch'i likes flowing water). But for expedience, I built a funky little fountain next to my city sidewalk.

Encouraged by a run of five or six good sentences, I considered dipping into home-oriented feng shui sources; and as I did so, I achieved my enlightenment (actually more of a duh): Irealized that fen shui's principles - of harmony, balance, uncluttered paths, and unseeable natural forces - might apply directly to writing. By pointing out blockages, feng shui might suggest channels of powerful, liberated energy. Writers might track the flow of force in their sentences or stanzas and overall compositions.

-- from Spunk and Bite by Arthur Plotnik

October 10

It's not enough to create magic. You have to create a price for magic, too. You have to create rules. -- Eric A. Burns

October 11

As for writing, most people secretly believe they themselves have a book in them, which they would write if they could only find the time. And there's some truth to this notion. A lot of people do have a book in them - that is, they have had an experience that other people might want to read about .

-- Margaret Atwood from Negotiating with the Dead.

October 12

Detail makes the difference between boring and terrific writing. It’s the difference between a pencil sketch and a lush oil painting. As a writer, words are your paint. Use all the colors. -- Rhys Alexander

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United States :: Virginia :: Richmond

Quotes for October 6th, 7th, 8th

luckyjean — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:52:12 -0700

Well, I haven't managed to put up a quote every day, but there will be thirty-one of 'em posted by Halloween.

October 6th

Negative Positive Knowledge

This term refers to the technique you use when you want to tell readers what is not happening. It addresses the problem of how to call readers' attention to what a character is not saying, or doing, or thinking.

Fiction is silently selective. Readers assume that what you omit is not significant. If you don't mention bathroom behavior, readers assume that the characters' toilet habits have no bearing on the story. Similarly, not commenting on what characters eat or when they do laundry doesn't imply that they are starving or not washing their clothes. If your character's job is described briefly and never mentioned again, readers don't assume that it's making her miserable. They just don't think about it. If you don't tell her childhood memories, describe her bedroom, portray her husband, that signals to readers that these things are not important to know about.

If you do want to draw attention to your character's habit of forgetting about her children for hours at a time, or not eating regularly, or being unable to bring back the image of the room she slept in as a child, you have to create what is not there.

In The Overcoat Nikolai Gogol tells what happens "when the gray Petersburg sky is completely overcast and the whole population of clerks has dined and eaten their fill." This single, elaborate sentence goes on for hundreds of words, describing the hours when "all the clerks are scattered about the apartments of their friends, playing a stormy game of whist, sipping tea out of glasses, eating cheap biscuits, sucking smoke from long pipes, telling, as the cards are dealt, some scandal that has floated down from higher levels." And it continues to pile on detail until Gogal closes -- "even when everyone was eagerly seeking entertainment, Akaky Akakievich did not indulge in any amusement." We vividly feel Akaky's isolation by our knowing the rich world that Akaky is not experiencing.

You can tell what a character is not understanding. In fiction it feels like no violation of point of view to have a phrase like:

Patrick stared at Helen and she looked back hard. He refused to think about what might happen next.

Don't be afraid of saying what your character doesn't know, is forgetting, repressing, or avoiding. If he's puzzled, show that.

Patrick thought Helen just plain fell out of love with him -- no reason at all. But he couldn't be sure. That last fight was so ferocious -- you don't throw a fish at someone you don't care about. But he didn't understand what he had done. What drove her crazy like that?

October 7

You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet. -- Franz Kafka

October 8

Say all you have to say in the fewest possible words, or your reader will be sure to skip them; and in the plainest possible words or he will certainly misunderstand them. -- John Ruskin

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United States :: Virginia :: Richmond

Write-Ins! We need volunteers for various areas and preferred days of the week.

joewrotehaikus — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 08:49:52 -0700

Participants in the Richmond area:

As I said in the other thread, writing a novel in a month is easier when you get to meet and connect with people who are taking the same venture at the same time. It's harder when you don't have anyone or anything to hold you to your goals of finishing that novel.

Last year, we had a Write-In every week at a single location. It was fun. I looked forward to it every Sunday. But it wasn't convenient for everyone.

If you guys will volunteer, we can change that, and have more people able to see each other weekly to commiserate, advise, and groan together as we each work to punch out our novel on time.

So, we need to know a few things from you:

1. How interested are you in coming to the Write-Ins?

2. What day of the week can you set aside a few hours each week to come to the Write-Ins?

3. What area do you live in? A few people answered this already in a previous thread.

4. Would you be willing to help at one of the Write-Ins? For this, your main function is to be there on time and let everyone know they're in the right place. We may get volunteers little prizes to give to the person who gets the highest word count during the Write-In.

Thanks, everyone. I look forward to hearing from you.
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United States :: Virginia :: Richmond

Near Courthouse and 360(Hull) (For Various Values of "Near")

Inverted_Quest — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 10:42:28 -0700

Anybody near here? Maybe we could hit the Starbuck's, or Shoney's or Subway.
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United States :: Virginia :: Richmond

Kick-Off Party! - available dates and suggestions for locations

joewrotehaikus — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 08:32:48 -0700

To participants in the Richmond area:

This is Joe, here. I'm helping out our ML Jean (luckyjean) this year with the NaNo events. We need all the help we can get.

Writing a novel in a month, I've found, is hard work, but rewarding. It's easier, though, when you get to meet and connect with people who are taking the same venture at the same time. It's harder when you don't have anyone or anything to hold you to your goals of finishing that novel.

This is why Write-Ins and the Kick-Off Party is important. We get to meet each other, talk about what we're writing, and have a sense of accountability (and sometimes friendly competition) to motivate us.

I'm going to have this thread used primarily for the Kick-Off Party, since that is the closest and requires the most planning.

We need a few suggestions as to which restaurant in the Richmond area might be good for hosting a large group. A private section where we can get a bit loud would be preferred.

We also need an idea about exactly what day at the end of October would be available to everyone. I'm sure some people are going to have to miss out, as much as we'll try not to allow it, but we want to find a time when as many people can come as we can.

So if you have a suggestion about a restaurant, put it here. If you have a few days you think you can come for the Kickoff Party, put that down too. This way, we also get a rough idea about how many to expect.

Thanks guys. Looking forward to meeting all of you. By the way, feel free to email me with any questions. My email is joewrotehaikus@gmail.com.
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United States :: Virginia :: Richmond

We Been Wiped!

Inverted_Quest — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 08:03:31 -0700

Okay, We was warned.
Starting over. Who else is still here?
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United States :: Virginia :: Richmond

Google Calendar - NaNo Events Around Richmond

luckyjean — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:02:03 -0700

Look here for parties and write-ins. Do speak up if you're willing to host in a neglected area or time. Remember, I have goodies to distribute for those people willing to host a write-in. ; ) Just email me: luckyjean@gmail.com

Click here for calendar.
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United States :: Virginia :: Richmond

Writing Help

kyates1963 — Thu, 2 Oct 2008 20:14:44 -0700

I wanted to suggest a help post. Some place that we can post questions and get some ideas.

So I will start. I have two stories that I am thinking about working on for Nano. I'm just not sure which one to work with. There is also the fact that I am supposed to be working on a screenplay and Nano would be a perfect time to work on the treatment.

So my question is how do I decide what to work on?
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United States :: Virginia :: Richmond

Kick Off: How about Bleu Bistro?

luckyjean — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 10:17:44 -0700

I booked their private room, to make sure we have if we want. I like the food; it's reasonably priced; and we need a place SOON. The date they had available was Oct 26, Sunday. Sound good?
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United States :: Virginia :: Richmond

Quotes for October 4th and 5th

luckyjean — Sun, 5 Oct 2008 10:34:47 -0700

October 4th

On Being a Writer

Oh, no; not that again, writers often find themselves groaning when they encounter one of these remarks for the fiftieth time. Many writers have short, standard answers to cope with them. When asked how to become a writer, Raymond Chandler used to say, "Type on one side of the page, double-spaced, and leave an inch margin." Harland Ellison explains he gets his ideas from Poughkeepsie: "There's a post office box there. You send them three bucks and they send you an idea."

The magical, mysterious, hidden Truth Of The Matter is very simple: a writer is one who writes. You become one by writing. There is no transitional stage.
-- from On Writing Science Fiction by George H. Scithers, Darrell Schweitzer, and John M. Ford

October 5th

Scenes

Stop the flow of time and take still photographs. Focus on individual moments. What places, moments, sounds, or moods come to mind in connection with the French Revolution? Not only from your reading, but also from your own experience. Assume that they will be important if they come to mind, especially if they stick in mind.
-- from Writing with Power by Peter Elbow

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United States :: Virginia :: Richmond

Quote for October 3rd

luckyjean — Fri, 3 Oct 2008 21:06:41 -0700

There's that moment when you begin your work and that huge void of empty pages lies ahead of you. You hesitate. The Chinese proverb that says the longest journey begins with the first step is a little help, but what the proverb doesn't tell you is which road to take. The fear always is that you may strike out in the wrong direction, only to have to come back and start all over again. Nothing is more frustrating than to start on something -- especially something as ambitious as a novel or a screenplay -- and realize halfway through that it isn't right.

What can you do to protect yourself from going off in the wrong direction? The answer is a combination of good news and bad news.

First the bad news.

The bad news is that there are no guarantees. Nothing you can do will guarantee that what you do is right. That shouldn't come as a surprise, but it is a reality.

Now for the good news.

The longest journey begins with the first step, but it helps to know where your journey will take you. This doesn't mean you will know every step of the way, because writing is always full of surprises -- twists and turns that the author doesn't expect. That's part of the fun of writing. But most writers I know have a destination in mind. They know where they want to head even if they can't tell you exactly how they intend to get there.

I'm not talking about knowing the ending of the story. That's a different issue. What I'm talking about is understanding the nature of the materials you'll deal with -- specifically plot. If you strike out without any idea of destination, you'll wander aimlessly. But if you understand something about the kind of plot you're trying to write, you'll have supplied yourself with a compass that will know when you're wandering and warn you to get back on track.

Even when you get to the end of the work, this compass will guide you through the rewriting, that stage of work that really makes what you've written. By having a clear understanding of what your plot is and how the force works in your fiction, you'll have a reliable compass to guide you through the work.

What explorer ever struck out without a direction in mind?

-- from 20 Master Plots (And How to Build Them) by Ronald B. Tobias

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United States :: Virginia :: Richmond

Quote for October 1st and 2nd

luckyjean — Thu, 2 Oct 2008 18:31:05 -0700

The NaNo website is back, yay! Now I can post quotes from books that I've found helpful, thought-provoking, or just plain funny. Since I couldn't post yesterday, I'm doubling up today. Now I'm off to begin researching ... ; )

October 1 -- Beginnings

The advice in Alice in Wonderland is, in its own way, unimpeachable: "Begin at the beginning, go on to the end. Then stop." But in fiction that's not as simple as it first appears. Where the beginning is, what it is, and how to do it constantly troubles writers.

In the first draft of a story, no rules apply. You write and write, ideas come, characters change, situations grow, dialogues take off, speeches become scenes, and surprises occur. You aren't deciding where the story begins, where it ends, and where it will stop. It is not there yet. It is being created; it is creating itself. It's hard to know what's happening, and it might be best not to think about it too much anyway. The less critical judgment you have at this point -- the less you let taste, inhibition, second-guessing, and anxiety get in the way -- the better off you're likely to be.

After this draft exists, then you can bring to bear some of your critical faculties and see what you can see about your creation. Then you can try to discover what story you have made, which is not necessarily the story you started out to make. You might find, for example, that you have started telling one story, then another, and then still another.

At this point you have to decide which story you want to tell this time. When you do, you will have a clearer sense of where this particular story should begin, as opposed to the other stories that are in your draft, which might be your stories of the future. The first several paragraphs or pages of a first draft may read like a warm-up. The story really kicks in on the third page. That beginning might simply be abandoned. Or a wonderful beginning no longer suits the story that you've decided to write. Nice as it is, it needs to go. Or you labor miserably over the beginning, believing you must get it right to go on with the story, when the reverse might be true. If you write the rest of the story, then you'll be able to write the beginning.

Remember, begin with tension and immediacy. Make readers feel the story has started. They want to be in your world, not be told about it. Don't preface -- plunge in.

Begin does not necessarily mean starting with the first event in a string of events that leads chronologically to the last event. A story of a shoe salesman's nervous breakdown might have begun when he dropped out of college because he was homesick. The finished story itself might begin with him crying while he is setting up a Thom McAn's "Shoes for the Whole Family" seasonal display.

In fact, short stories usually begin somewhere close to their endings. That doesn't violate the principle of beginning at the beginning, but instead serves to highlight an important distinction. Perhaps the shoe salesman's story really began before he was born. But this particular fiction, this piece of art, begins when he started to cry.

Beginnings are a tough business. They need to be intriguing and energetic. Readers and editors are impatient. They don't read far if their attention is not engaged by the opening page.

-- from Making Shapely Fiction by Jerome Stern

October 2 - It ain't soup yet

"I've got the story but I don't have any technique," a student once told Flannery O'Connor. […] "Technique is a word they all trot out," O'Connor wrote, lamenting the cart-before-the-horse approach to storytelling, which characterized her student's confusion about the act of discovery. For although technique can be studied, technique alone will never produce a story. What's more, one can never claim to have a story yet lack the technique for telling it. That's the same as saying I've written the story, now I just have to write the sentences. What O'Connor's student had was the idea of a story, not the story itself, which is inextricable from the "words on the page" used to tell it. And these words, just like Flaubert's innovations concerning omniscient point of view, are discovered solely in the act of writing."

-- Tom Grimes, from The Workshop: Seven Decades of the Iowa Writers' Workshop

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