Free The Writer

By Kristy McCaffrey

While not everyone is set on writing the next great novel, we all want to tell our stories. A wonderful book to help get you started, or to reignite a passion that may have become stagnant, is Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg. First published in 1986 and rooted in Zen methodology, her advice is simple: trust in what you love, trust in your own mind, and everything else will follow.

“Writing is a path to meet ourselves and become intimate.”

Goldberg points out that people often write from a mentality of poverty, thinking they need a teacher to tell them what to do or how to do it. The opposite is generally true. We learn writing by doing it. And to write well one must read a lot, listen well and deeply, and write a lot.

We live in a society that rewards being busy, but that often isn’t fruitful or soul-fulfilling. Beware of monkey mind, says Goldberg, since it likes to create busyness that can keep us from our true heart. She believes that everyone has talent, but it’s obviously easier for some to tap into it than others. Human effort is necessary, so don’t shy away from doing the work. But it’s also more than just the work, it’s allowing and recognizing that the effort has awakened us. This lets a writer become aware and mindful, to shape the talent into something useful, something that resonates.

“Finally, one just has to shut up, sit down, and write. That is painful. Writing is so simple, basic, and austere.”

Develop a writing practice, a writing workout each day. A runner doesn’t improve without consistent running. The same is true for a writer. So, carve out this space, but know that it’s okay to write without a destination. Expectation can freeze the process. It also takes time to reflect on certain ideas, certain experiences, before they can be put down on paper. Goldberg refers to this as composting. These things can’t be rushed, so best to cultivate patience and acceptance. It can make the writing life less anxiety-provoking.

She offers techniques to stop fighting yourself (and the endless distractions that keep you from writing) such as: give yourself free time in the morning to do whatever, but at 10 a.m. you must sit down and write something; or you must fill at least one notebook a month, not with quality but quantity; or, as soon as you wake up, go directly to your desk and write (eating and teeth brushing can wait). Another technique is timed writing and first thoughts. This can remove the critic filter than often shoots down an idea before it can be fully crafted.

Need a writing prompt? Take five minutes to write down your deep dreams. And then? Don’t ignore what you wrote. Actually, it will likely be difficult to avoid your thoughts now that they’re laid out before you. Simply said, it will change your life.

This book can be read straight through, or sporadically when needed. I guarantee that at least one of Goldberg’s many suggestions and insights will spark something inside yourself and may just lead you to write down the bones.

* * * *

Kristy McCaffrey has been writing since she was very young, but it wasn’t until she was a stay-at-home mom that she considered becoming published. She’s the author of several historical western romances, all set in the American southwest. She lives in the Arizona desert with her husband, two chocolate labs, and whichever of their four teenage children happen to be in residence.

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Writing What You DON’T Know

By Kathleen Rice Adams

“Write what you know.” What writer hasn’t heard that sage advice?

Like “relentlessly cut the adverbs” and “avoid clichés like the plague,” “write what you know” is a good rule of thumb. Some writers, though, obsess about the advice until it also acquires four fingers and a palm.

Here’s the thing: “Write what you know” is nothing more than a platitude. It’s the type of advice authors spit out automatically because it sounds profound. Scratch the surface, though, and it becomes apparent the phrase is vague, confusing, and imparts no true wisdom. “Write what you know” can bring authors-in-training to a dead stop because they can’t imagine how anyone could be interested in daily routines that seem humdrum to them. The axiom tempts experienced authors to produce lazy, boring fiction.

Here’s the unvarnished truth: All authors write what they know. The behavior is unavoidable. “What we know” is what we’ve learned through our life experiences: our thoughts; emotions; education; interactions with the natural world, other humans, and animals; spiritual beliefs, and all the other things that make each of us unique. “What we know” makes us who we are. Consequently, “what we know” enters our fiction whether or not we extend an invitation.

To be sure, some authors—medical doctor Michael Crichton and attorney John Grisham, for example—acquire specialized knowledge from their careers, education, travel, or mere happenstance. It’s never a mistake to incorporate that material into a story as long as the information is relevant and can be inserted in a way that doesn’t “feel” forced. Readers are smarter than many writers think, though. They can tell when story elements have been squeezed in to satisfy the vague command to “write what you know.” No matter what you know, if it’s not essential to the story at hand, pretend you don’t know it.

Instead, try writing what you don’t know.

There. I said it. I slapped traditional wisdom upside the head, and I’m not the least bit apologetic. Those of you who yearn to throw rocks at me, now’s your chance.

Why do I encourage writers to commit professional sedition? Because writing what we don’t know is infinitely more interesting and inspiring. Genre fiction is nothing more than a series of “What if…?” strung together by characters, settings, and events. If that doesn’t indicate soul-deep curiosity, I don’t know what would.

Writing what you don’t know gives you an opportunity to attack the unfamiliar; to expand your horizons, your knowledge, and your imagination. When people learn something new, human nature encourages them to share the information. By writing what you don’t know—or didn’t know—you can infect readers with the same wonder, excitement, and enthusiasm you experienced during the journey to discovery.

Not that I’m any paragon of writing virtue, but here’s an example of what I mean: The hero and heroine in “Family Tradition,” my contribution to the anthology Cowboys, Creatures, and Calico Vol. 2, are a bank robber and a carnival fortune teller, respectively. Have I ever robbed a bank? No (although the idea has crossed my mind once or twice). Have I ever worked as a psychic, carnie, or con artist? Sadly, no. I must have missed chatting with those professionals during Career Day in high school.

Did I write about those characters and their challenges anyway? You bet, and part of the fun was researching how outlaws robbed banks and how so-called spiritualists hooked marks in the nineteenth-century American west.

In other words, I wrote what I didn’t know, at least before I wrote the story. Most of us who write fiction are always writing what we don’t know. That’s why folks often hear us griping, in a good-natured way, about disappearing down research rabbit holes.

Don’t be afraid to kick “write what you know” to the curb and write what you don’t know. The effort can be rewarding…but more than that, it’s fun.

Cowboys, Creatures, and Calico 

Vols. 1 and 2
Twelve authors, twelve romances, and a whole herd of things that go bump in the Old West night.


“Family Tradition”
A failed bank robber and a phony psychic find their soulmates after she accidentally summons a pair of dishonest-to-goodness ghosts.

If trade didn’t pick up in this no-horse burg, Pansy Gilchrist would pack her tent and take the first train back east…as soon as Maurice’s Museum of Mysterious Oddities got anywhere near a hamlet large enough to warrant its own railway depot. Folks in New York and Boston threw money at spiritualists. If Mr. Barnum was correct about suckers, Madame Minerva could be in business for a long, long time.

Why had she allowed that nincompoop Maurice to talk her into this traveling nonsense? She and Emile had swindled larger crowds with Dr. Goodbody’s Kickapoo Medicine Show…and found themselves run out of town less often. Kickapoo Indian Sagwa! Snake Oil Liniment! Miraculous Elixirs to Cure What Ails You!

Demonstrating the sure-fire remedies had cured Emile right into his grave. Pickled.

Muttering foul words under her breath, she set a bucket under another leak in the canvas.

When a gust of wind whipped open the tent’s flap, she jerked upright, pulled her shawl around her shoulders, and faced the opening with the cryptic smile she’d worked hard to perfect.

A tall, drenched form ducked inside, and the smile flattened. Well, that was a waste of effort.

Seldom had she seen a more bedraggled man. Water poured from his hat brim in a river, bypassing the mud spattered from his boots to the middle of his chest. Even the saddle riding his shoulder was slathered in muck.

Still, the casual slouch in his posture, the appreciative, half-lidded leer betrayed a calculated gamble on seduction. Perhaps he wasn’t the only mark in the spider’s parlor.

Pansy forced her voice to the bottom of her throat, infusing her words with a gypsy lilt. “You seek Madame Minerva’s counsel?”

A grin just shy of lascivious slid onto his lips. “For now.”

Slime on the hoof. With a dramatic sweep of her hand, she waved him to a chair. The saddle thunked to the ground. His soggy hat landed on the horn. Then, with a half bow, he echoed her dramatic sweep and seated her on the far side of the table before leaning close to her ear.

“My mother was Romany, little lady.” The low, smooth drawl caught her breath in a vise. “That’s about the worst impersonation I’ve ever heard.”


Buy Links: B & N Nook Vol. 1  Vol. 2   Smashwords  Vol. 1  Vol. 2 

           

My favorite writing quotes by Kaye Spencer

Because I love witty, thought-provoking quotes and clever sayings, today I'm sharing my favorite wordly tidbits on the topics of writing and being an author. My favorite quote is by author, Richard North Patterson. I keep this quote on my computer to read every time I sit down to type. Since it's my writing mantra, it has the honor of being first on the list.

 

Richard North Patterson
Writing is rewriting. A writer must learn to deepen characters, trim writing, intensify scenes. To fall in love with a first draft to the point where one cannot change it is to greatly enhance the
prospects of never publishing.

Mark Twain
Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.

Mark Twain
Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.

Mark Twain
Books are for people who wish they were somewhere else.

Mark Twain
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.

Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, c. 65 CE
Write quickly and you will never write well; write well, and you will soon write quickly.

Frank Yerby
It is my contention that a really great novel is made with a knife and not a pen. A novelist must have the intestinal fortitude to cut out even the most brilliant passage so long as it doesn't advance the story.

Gene Fowler
Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead.

Charlotte Bronte
I'm just going to write because I cannot help it.

Clarence Budington Kelland
I get up in the morning, torture a typewriter until it screams, then stop.

Leo Rosten
Every writer is a narcissist. This does not mean that he is vain; it only means that he is hopelessly self-absorbed.

Robert Benchley
It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn't give it up because by that time I was too famous.

Stephen Wright
I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers done.

Mickey Spillane
The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.

E. L. Doctorow
Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

Harlan Ellison
Thank your readers and the critics who praise you, and then ignore them. Write for the most intelligent, wittiest, wisest audience in the universe: Write to please yourself.

Robert A. Heinlein
Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.

Rosemary Mahoney
Writing is not a genteel profession; it's quite nasty and tough and kind of dirty.

Eugene Ionesco
A writer never has a vacation. For a writer life consists of either writing or thinking about writing.

Stephen Leigh
You may be able to take a break from writing, but you won't be able to take a break from being a writer... 

Niyi Osundare
One hasn't become a writer until one has distilled writing into a habit, and that habit has been forced into an obsession. Writing has to be an obsession. It has to be something as organic, physiological and psychological as speaking or sleeping or eating.

Rainer Maria Rilke
What is needed is, in the end, simply this: solitude, great inner solitude. Going into yourself and meeting no one for hours on end--that is what you must be able to attain.

Ernest Hemingway
The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof, shit detector. This is the writer's radar and all great writers have had it.

Oscar Wilde
There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.

William Carlos Williams
I think all writing is a disease. You can’t stop it.

George Orwell
Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.

Franz Kafka
A non-writing writer is a writer courting insanity.
Until next time,

Kaye

Fall in love...faster, harder, deeper with Kaye Spencer romances

www.kayespencer.com
Twitter - @kayespencer

(Images: Creative Commons, Fotolia)

BUILDING YOUR BLOCKBUSTER ONE "BLOCK" AT A TIME--by CHERYL PIERSON

Writing is a process—we’ve all heard that before, but let’s think about what the “process” actually is.

First of all, we have to come up with the idea that we want to write about. For many of us, the stories start with just one idea, one scene that we’ve thought of, or even dreamed of—the germ of the story that we want to tell. There are many ways that writers get the beginning seed of what their tale will become, but how to make it be “the best that it can be?” Regardless of how an idea comes to you, it’s what you do with it that counts, in the end.

In my contemporary romantic thriller, SWEET DANGER, the bulk of the story takes place in the space of around 48 hours. That can be hard to do--to keep the action moving without detailing every piece of minutiae. But the characters and the plot were a perfect vehicle for this kind of writing in this story.

http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Danger-Cheryl-Pierson-ebook/dp/B00BDY1VCI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1396534867&sr=1-1&keywords=Sweet+Danger+by+Cheryl+Pierson

Some stories are uniquely your own to tell. An autobiography, such as Elie Wiesel’s “Night”, or a fictionalization of an autobiography, such as Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, could not be told by anyone else in the same way.

Other ideas are out there for the taking—but it’s up to each writer to put their own spin on a “generic idea” that others have used before. One of the examples I like to use in class about this is the retelling of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” in many different formats through the years. It’s a basic story; “star-crossed lovers” that can only be together in death. Who would believe a successful musical could be made of that theme in “West Side Story”? The twist on the ending was that Juliet’s counterpart, Maria, didn’t die, but the other parallels remain constant. There have been several movie versions, but a few years ago, Leonardo DeCaprio starred in a modern remake of Romeo and Juliet, his men using semi-automatic weapons rather than swords. Oddly enough, the director chose to let the characters keep the original dialogue that Shakespeare wrote. There was a message in that: no matter what the time, no matter what the weapons, or the clothing, the love between the hero and heroine remained as constant now as it was then. Although the medium that relays the message has changed—written word translated to stage then to screen in various “takes”—the point of the story never changes, only the telling of it.

In my novella, JASON'S ANGEL, set during the tumultuous times of the Civil War, a young southern girl rescues two Union soldiers from deplorable conditions at a nearby hospital. Is she right to do this? It makes the reader wonder--what would I do under these circumstances?

http://www.amazon.com/Jasons-Angel-Cheryl-Pierson-ebook/dp/B00I1M5I9M/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1396535203&sr=1-1&keywords=Jason%27s+Angel+by+Cheryl+Pierson


So you’ve decided what to write about, and you have a basic idea of what the story will be. Has it been done before? More than likely. What will YOU bring to the table? How can you tell the story that will make it “the one” that everyone will want to read? Putting your own tone and “self” into the story will be what makes it different and unique, even if it has been “done before.”

The next question you must ask is, who are you writing this story for? What audience are you aiming at? Most people have a pretty clear idea of what group they are targeting, but if this is something you haven’t thought about, give it some careful consideration. If you’re writing YA, remember it’s going to have to be a bit “edgier” than what publishers were looking for when you were “that age.” The romance genre has changed, too. Some things that were acceptable, such as heroes who took what they wanted regardless of the consequences, (forced sex) are frowned upon in today’s mainstream romance market. However, there is a huge range of venues in other genres that are more accepting of that type of behavior for their heroes. Just be aware of your target audience. This will help you not only in completing your writing project by giving it direction, but also in finding an agent and/or publisher when you’re finished.

Note the cover and the message it sends to young readers in this newer release from James and Livia Reasoner through Painted Pony Books. This is a Middle Grade Reader book, for ages 9-12. We know this books it going to be filled with excitement and adventure, just by looking at it and by reading the enticing back cover blurb. No, it's not any kind of "romance", but I wanted to show it to illustrate my point. It's "age appropriate", exciting, and also looks very mysterious.


http://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Ranger-Skateboard-Gang-ebook/dp/B00GYAOFU6/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1396535362&sr=1-1&keywords=Phantom+Ranger+and+the+Skateboard+Gang

Getting organized is the final preparatory step. Whether you’re a “plotter” or a “pantser”, you need to have some general direction of where you’re headed with your book. I don’t generally recommend forcing pantsers to become plotters. But in the beginning, sometimes it’s good just to make some kind of a general outline about what you want out of the story. There’s one question that must be answered of any story you want to tell:

“This is a story about __________________ who wants to do ________________.”

Easy enough, right? Sometimes, that’s harder to answer than it seems it will be. It’s not always cut and dried. And there may be more that one simplistic answer as to what your main character(s) want.

In my paranormal time-travel novel, TIME PLAINS DRIFTER, the love story becomes evident quickly. But there's so much more to that story. The forces of good vs. evil are at work in a tug-of-war for the souls of seven young people, but also for a much higher stake than what we know in the outset. We learn as we read that what happens between Rafe and Jenni is going to affect the future in many ways. Their love will always bind them together, but there's so much more to be considered. So much, in fact, that their love may have to become the very last consideration.


http://www.amazon.com/Time-Plains-Drifter-Cheryl-Pierson-ebook/dp/B00HS5ZNBG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1396536232&sr=1-1&keywords=Time+Plains+Drifter


To recap, decide what you want to write about—something you love or are interested in telling about. Start with an idea, and don’t be discouraged about not knowing where to put it in your story. Many times, the idea we think is the “beginning” of the story turns out to be something nearer the middle. Has it been done before? Yes, but you’re going to make it different than anyone has ever told it before by bringing your own writing style and personality to it. In other words, you are bringing YOURSELF to the writing table, pouring your thoughts and beliefs and skills into your work to make it different and interesting. Who are you writing for? Give it some very careful thought. Some people write for themselves, while others hope to be on the NYT bestseller list in 6 months. Targeting your audience is important, either way. Getting organized is the next step to preparation. Getting your thoughts together and making an outline or even a general “guide sheet” to go by loosely will help, no matter what you’re writing.

Next, it’s time to start building your characters!

I'm offering a GIVEAWAY of a digital copy of TIME PLAINS DRIFTER to one lucky commenter. Please be sure to leave your e-mail information in your comment! Thanks for visiting with me today!

For more wonderful books to keep you reading, visit our Prairie Rose Publications website here:
www.prairierosepublications.com

For more books by Cheryl Pierson visit my author page here:
www.amazon.com/author/cherylpierson

Naked in Church

By Kathleen Rice Adams

Fiction writers face all sorts of fears: fear of rejection, fear of success, fear of failure, fear of the blank page, fear of running out of ideas, fear that this internal something that drives us to create is destructive, because all we've managed to put on paper so far is criminally bad... The list goes on.

Recently, I've realized one of the biggest writing-related fears I face is what I call the naked-in-church fear. The nightmare reportedly is common: There you are on Sunday morning, filing into the sanctuary along with everyone else, when suddenly you realize you aren’t wearing a stitch of clothing ... and everyone is staring. “Oh dear,” you think, blushing scarlet from head to foot. “I know I was wearing something besides my birthday suit when I left the house. Of all the places to be caught in the nude. I’ll never live this down.”

Most dream interpretations attribute the naked-in-church nightmare to fear of exposure: as a fraud, as wanton beneath a prim exterior, as someone who harbors dark secrets. Psychologists often say the dream is an attempt by the subconscious to inform the dreamer he is being disloyal to himself by hiding something.

Regardless how emotionally close we are to friends and family, there are just some things humans don't want others to know, and writers are no exception. Like everyone else, we pile on the layers of clothing before we head out to church. However, what makes good fiction phenomenal is the writer’s ability to “bleed” onto the page; to open veins and let emotions and visceral experiences flow through our characters in order to move readers with the same force they moved us. To do that, we must peel off the emotional equivalent of our Sunday best.

Right now, I’m working on a scene that’s quite a bit different from anything I’ve written before. It’s been a pure battle to make the words work. I’ve changed point of view twice. I’ve moved the characters to another setting. I’ve played with the weather, which has absolutely nothing to do with the action because the characters are indoors. I’ve even ripped out the whole darn scene and started over.

That’s when I realized I was wearing too many clothes.

Now, someone with a firm grip on decorum might take a moment to close her eyes, breathe deeply, and attempt to crawl inside her characters’ skin. Sadly, I am not someone with a firm grip on decorum. Instead of walking the more conventional path, I decided to confront the naked-in-church fear head-on. Why not? I had the house to myself, except for the dogs. I would show that fear who was boss.

Dogs (and pleather chairs, which can be remarkably cold, I discovered) have the most uncanny ability to knock ridiculous notions right out of a person. All three of the canine critics raised their heads, yawned, and then filed from the room.

Not one of my finer moments. On the positive side, at least now I have a visceral connection to a couple of emotions that ought to be useful somewhere.

There is much to be gained from confronting one’s fears. The next time I confront one of mine, though, I believe I’ll take a less radical approach.



Thanks to ForestWander, a father-and-son team of nature photographers in West Virginia, for the image.