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Posts Tagged ‘my methods’
Monday, July 26th, 2010
A very wise friend of mine once said that it was difficult to tell the difference between a writing conference and a support circle for Asperger Syndrome sufferers. I try to remember that when I go to conferences because, theoretically, it should help to know that everyone else is just as introverted and uncomfortable as I am.
Note that I say should.
To be honest, I don’t do the conference thing well. Like a lot of writers, I suffer from terrible Imposter Syndrome when I meet other people who practice my craft. It doesn’t matter that I have a full shelf over my desk with all my works on it, I still feel like the kid who’s snuck into the party and will be thrown out as soon as they figure out I don’t belong. This is why I started taking my knitting to conferences, it helped keep my relaxed. As an added bonus, it provided a safe neutral topic I could talk about without seeming nervous.
Writing is a solitary business – it’s a profession that is, for most of the year, carried out in semi-vacuum. It’s you, your beta readers, your editor, your agent and occasional forays into media-marketing. There’s not a lot of face time for most writers, even the ones who are lucky enough to have a local support group with whom they can share the trial and triumphs. The great majority of us are introverts, and the idea of being in a social situation leaves us uncomfortable. We get together anyway, and eventually we either build up our courage (or have a drink to settle our nerves) and we say hi to somebody. Because as much as it can be a rough road to walk alone, it’s also pretty cool to meet someone on the same road and be able to catch a few pointers, or warn them away from a few pitfalls. Some of my dearest friends are people who I met at writers’ conferences.
I say all of this because this week is RWA – that the National event for Romance Writers of America (of which I am a member). It’s a big deal, sells out early, and is generally awesome. Take all those things I just said about having issues at a regular conference, and triple them. Then add in the discomfort that this will be my first RWA, and you can imagine the sort of stomach churning terror I am dealing with.
Seriously. I eat Tums like they’re a fifth food group.
That said, I try to think of myself, despite all evidence to the contrary, as a friendly sort. So if you’re at RWA, and you see me (I’ll be knitting, probably a red-orange clapotis scarf, I haven’t decided yet), please come say hello. We can always talk about knitting.
Tags: Conferences, Knitter Pride, knitting, my methods, RWA, Samhain, SF Romance, writing
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Monday, July 19th, 2010
The Tarot Deck, a mystical fortune telling device that looks into your future and knows all. Or, if you’re less interested in the mysticism, a great way to pull together a quick background for a secondary character. I wanted to explicitly state secondary characters in there, but I’ve met folks who use it for their hero and heroine as well – just not for me. As you’ll recall, I dislike surprises, so I tend to know my mains’ backgrounds pretty well.
That leaves a lot of room for everyone else though, and sometimes I just don’t know what a secondary character wants, or why they’ve decided to help. When that happens, I pull out a deck of tarot cards (I have a couple different decks, but mostly I use the standard Rider-Waite) and lay out three cards. One card indicates a motivating moment in the character’s past, one represents his or her current state, and one is used to indicate the character’s goal.
So for example, I draw the Tower, the Three of Pentacles and the Ten of Swords – It gives me a character who came from a broken home or otherwise never felt safe, but has now mastered a skill and exchanges it for money. At some point in the future, the character will betray someone, either the hero/heroine or the antagonist. It’s not much to go on, still, but it gives me a sense of direction and gets my gears grinding towards a more compelling secondary character.
I can’t really bring up tarot and writing and not talk about the Fool’s Journey. There is a school of thought that views the twenty-two cards of the Major Arcana as a metaphor for the path we each take through life. I’ve been to seminars on writing and the tarot where this was discussed explicitly as a means of evaluating characters, or even plotting the novel. I’ve never done it, partly because it has similarities to Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, which I think has been done to death. If you’re interested in learning more, there are plenty of resources on the fool’s journey to get yourself started.
So how about you? Have you use the tarot, or some other randomization technique, to explore the background of a character? I’m always looking for a new method – feel free to leave yours in the comments.
Tags: characters, my methods, tarot, writing
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Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Knitting, it’s safe to say, is a pretty significant part of my writing procedure on any given day. I’ve heard that it causes the same sort of alpha waves as transcendental meditation, but I can’t respond to that. I do know that after 30 minutes to an hour with the relaxing tik-tik-tik of the needles, I am much better able to focus on my writing that day.
Obviously, I can’t recommend it to everyone – I’ve seen other people for whom the miracle of two-stick magic is an exercise in profanity and frustration. For me, it’s a mental time-out that helps break up my day between the writing I have to do for my day job, and the writing I do in the evenings.
Beyond just serving as a transition, the time I spend knitting helps me hone in and focus on what I have to write each evening. While I’m plugging away on a row, working through the iterations of pattern that are required, my sub-conscious strips down and digests what I have to do next in the story, or helps winnow out unusual problems that the plot had been having, and devising creative solutions for them.
Strange, I suppose, that I haven’t included a knitter in any of my stories so far. Then again, despite the write what you know adage, I’ve only ever included one writer in my stories as well. Maybe my next hero or heroine needs a little needle-based me-time.
Tags: knitting, my methods, writing
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Monday, July 5th, 2010
Characterization is rough, at least for me. I have a love for words, and if I don’t take care all of my characters – from educated dilettante to grime covered street orphan – start sounding like that reclusive librarian that lectured you on spoken grammar. I recognized this as a liability pretty early on, but only in the last few years have I really come up with a way to work around it other than careful re-writes (I still use those, by the way, but this helps).
Disclaimer – I’m a plotter. I plot and outline until there’s no mystery left. If that’s not your style, you’ll hate my solution.
To combat the problem, I use the Lists of Ten. My friend Rich Dansky was the person who introduced me to this, so I give him all the credit. The concept is as simple as it is elegant, and it works like this. For any character that has more than a line of dialog, I create a list of “10 things Character_Name frequently says.” I pair this with a second list – “10 things Character_Name never says.” I story these in the character folder for each character, and keep a copy tacked to the wall where I can read it while I’m writing their scenes.
It sounds fairly minor, but it’s a huge help for me. It’s a visual reminder that my urchin likes to use “…if it’s anything” in his declarative statements, or that my dilettante never uses contractions. I also take care not to handcuff myself to the list – it can be broken for emphasis obviously (a character who never uses profanity suddenly drops the F-Bomb), but even our catch phrases only show up once or twice in a given exchange. The list acts as a guide for me, and helps my characters sound different without making them sound repetitive.
Much of the time I don’t fill it out completely, starting with 5 to 8 of each. This gives me room to expand as the character grows and changes in the course of the writing. Likewise, if it’s a bit character with only a few lines in one or two scenes, it may not get the full 10 at all. Just 5 may suffice–something to help me develop a unique voice for the character.
How about you? Do you have a method for characterization of which you are especially fond? I’d love to hear about it. Drop me a message in the comments.
Tags: character, dialogue, my methods, writing
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