Tag: Outlines

Writers Are Always Working, Even When We’re Not

On By gldlubalaLeave a comment

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Well, it’s been a bit, hasn’t it?

With the writing I mean. Your WIP. More specifically, with my WIP, actually.

All I can say is that life happens, you know?

Family matters, when serious enough, must take precedence and get priority treatment, of course. Mix that in with the deadlines of the paying job, and before you know it, your WIP, well, mine anyway, has a fine layer of dust on top of it and a couple of scenes that we can barely remember, right?

Right…

So once things calm down and get back to a more manageable, routine pace, those undeniable urges to get back to your writing passion return to haunt and taunt you, making you feel guilty about the neglect, and even making you doubt yourself again. The hot writing streak has ended, and you’re left slouched in the chair trying to stay awake by thinking about everything except the details of your story in progress.

Or are you?

I found that there is a shining light at the end of this long, seemingly endless tunnel. And it’s right there in my own head.

Strangely enough, I noticed that even though it was difficult to get the time and space to sit down and get involved with the ongoing plotting and writing of my story, my brain apparently never quit working on it, even if it had to wait until it was in the subconscious mode to get to it.  I would wake up sometimes thinking about certain scenes, characters, and plotlines even though I hadn’t given it any thought on that particular day. Of course, then I tried to immediately jot something down resembling keywords in the hopes of later triggering my memory to retrieve those thoughts or risk losing them for good (See examples of this behavior here). Unfortunately, some of my hastily written notes look more like hieroglyphics than keywords, and no, my WIP has nothing to do with Egypt or the carvings and etchings that they used.

What I’m saying is, not all writing is putting letters down on paper or making tapping noises on your keyboard. We’re still working when we’re thinking. We’re still working when we’re playing out different scenarios and plotlines in our head. We’re still working when we’re sitting there silently looking out of the window into an open space. We’re not working, however, when we’re sitting there silently looking out of the window into an open space with our forehead leaning against the window attached to a smooshed, stretched face that’s stuck to the window because of the moderate amount of drool escaping our half-open mouth.

But then again, maybe we are. Subconsciously. Maybe we really are.

In that case, we writers are really working twenty-four hours a day, so if you would be so kind as to excuse me, I’m going to take a nap.

I’m exhausted.

 

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A Word Is A Word, And It Counts

On By gldlubalaLeave a comment

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Yep, that’s what I tell myself. A word is a word, no matter if it’s one of one or one of thousands. And it counts the same, so if you’re tight on time and you just jot down that first word of a chapter, paragraph or conversation, it’s one more word than you’ve had before, and it counts, baby. It counts.

This little pick-me-up speech comes courtesy of a recent busy schedule, but busy in a good way. A little more contracted work meant more time devoted to that work, which happened to require a little more research this go around coupled with a client requested change on the morning of my deadline, but hey, all good, right?

Sure, except for making any real progress in my personal, creative, fun type of writing. And I missed it, big time. So that’s when I decided to just do microbursts of writing in short little drive-by type of sessions, running through the office, opening up my laptop and typing a sentence or three or five, then closing up and going back to regularly scheduled duties and responsibilities.

And it wasn’t bad. It began to feel more like a game or a contest, which obviously I would win no matter what because hey, it was a game with myself, and I made the rules up, which for the record is the best type of game to be in, amirite?

But it worked, in a sort of flash fiction way where all the passages are related and depend on each other. I’ve enjoyed being in previous writing exercises that had a number of writers involved, each creating a one hundred word passage in a story, then passing it on to the next writer to continue the story with their hundred-word passage, then passing it along to the next, and so forth. All passages must be related and continue the story from where the previous writer had left off. It’s a very cool and fun exercise and can be timed if you like, turning it into a writing version of improv.

The best thing is, not only does it count, it adds up. Those short little microbursts of writing can add up to significant words by the end of the day, elevating your WIP with dedicated ideas and thoughts that can be filled in and expanded on later, you know, when you do get the time to sit your butt in that chair and do what we all want to do-write more.

Happy Writing

Ideas During Sleep, ​Blank Stares While Awake

On By gldlubala1 Comment

light

We always hear about the constant need for a pen and paper nearby for those golden, light bulb ideas of brilliance that only show themselves when we are least expecting them.

I always believed this to be the crazy notion until I was proved wrong. “Once again”, some might interject here.

Blissfully awoken by an overactive brain that decided to come up with a great headline for a boring article I was working on, I actually smiled in the darkness of my brilliance, knowing that my client was going to simply gush over my amazing word wizardry and probably throw a sack of money to me for making his company social media go viral.

And then I fell back asleep, followed by a traditional alarm clock revelry. I jumped up all excited to get to writing, pointed my fingers downward ready to play the keyboard like a piano player ripping through some ragtime music when I realized that every bit of that idea flew from my head to never return.

“Dammit” I proclaimed to all within hearing distance, which was maybe a bird and two dogs that decided to tuck their heads just in case I was talking about them. I sat, twisted face and scrunched brow, trying to remember the forgotten words: Any of ’em, at least one of ’em, maybe just the beginning letter, consonant or vowel, to jar my memory and get the ol’ generator humming.

My head sank, as did my expectations.

This wasn’t the only time this kind of thing happened. I consistently tell myself I’ll remember something only to consistently show myself how unreliable of  a source I can really be,

Yet I continue to resist joining those that carry the paper and pen with them at all times, those that are happily transferring their light bulb ideas and clever phrases to paper, complaining about their overabundance of ideas and how they just don’t have the time to get to ALL of them that are written in their file.

I’ve been saving a special word for people like you, I say. And as soon as I remember what it is, I’m calling you out on it. But it’ll have to wait because, you know, I didn’t write it down at the time, and…forgot.

Dammit!

 

Keep Your WIP Moving With Secrets And Motivation

On By gldlubalaLeave a comment

 

www.gldlubala.com

Keeping plot, action, and dialogue fresh can be a challenge. but Sol Stein can help you with that.

Who is Sol Stein, you ask?

He’s the writer of a great book on craft techniques and strategies, both fiction and nonfiction, and beyond. It’s titled, Stein On Writing. And why wouldn’t it be?

He suggests to spice up your drama, dialogue and plot, maybe give each participant a unique secret, kind of a whisper in their ear. Something that relates to the story, yet only is known by the person speaking. It may be a motive for a particular action, a desire for a specific result, a reason for having a lively conversation in the first place, etc. Provide something unique to each person that only they know to fuel their actions, motive and personal stance within your WIP. And no two characters get the same information at the same time. Intriguing for sure.

But it makes total sense, doesn’t it?

I mean, isn’t that what happens in real life? We take the bits and pieces of available information that specifically pertains to us and use that as our motivation in our conversations and dealings with people. Now, whether any of that information is accurate is a totally different story, but nonetheless, it affects us in everything we think and do.

From his book, Sol Stein says:

“That’s what happens in life. Each of us enters into a conversation with another person with a script that is different from the other person’s script. The frequent result is disagreement and conflict–disagreeable in life and invaluable in writing, for conflict is the ingredient that makes action dramatic. When we get involved with other people, the chances of a clash are present even with people we love because we do not have the same scripts in our heads. And the tension is even greater when we are involved with an antagonist.”

So there ya go, the secret to keeping your dialogue and plot action-oriented and full of drama.

Just like we want it to be.

 

#AmWriting

 

 

Seasons Change, And So Do I…

On By gldlubalaLeave a comment

autumn close up color daylight

Well, here we are, back at that dreaded daylight savings time, or maybe a better name would be the daylight shifting time. Apparently it’s not enough that the sunlight naturally dwindles a bit each day now, because we feel theneed to manipulate our clocks to better match the lighting patterns of the sun.

Shouldn’t we at least get to vote on this?

It really doesn’t matter, I suppose, because I can’t really do anything about it. I just accept the fact that I will, through no fault of my own, lose an hour of my preferred daylight time while some others may benefit from the change.

But does it affect you? More specifically, do your writing habits change with daylight savings time? With the seasons in general?

It does for me, I know that. Being someone that loves to be outside, including being able to sit out there and so some writing, you betcha it changes things. It brings me inside, of course, but it does so without the benefit of natural light. There I sit, darkness the backdrop out of the window, soft light glowing at the desk, and it puts me in a different mood. A wintertime, sluggish, less aware mood. If I liked locking myself in a room to write, I would love this time of year, because that’s what I feel. It’s more of a job than an activity, and it’s harder to get up and get outside to stretch the bones and mental processing.

But here we are, and theres nothing to do but sit my posterior down and put words to paper, whether hot or cold, sunny or darkened.

And you know what? Even if it does feel like more of a job during this time of year, what a wonderful and fulfilling job it is.

Happy writing to you all!

 

Crayons, Pens, Butcher Paper or Tablets, A Writer Is A Writer, No Matter The Method

On By gldlubalaLeave a comment

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There’s always talk about writing methods, and how to stay organized while telling your story. But I’ll tell you a little secret. I hate outlining. Hate it. Always did, and as far as I can tell, I always will. It just seems repetitive to me. I mean, if you know enough to thoroughly outline a story, why the heck wouldn’t you just write the darn story in the first place?

Does this drop me into the “pantser” category? I suppose, to some extent. But since I know where I want to go, or at least where I want to end up when writing a passage or story, am I a “plotter” also? How do I find out? Do I need to know? Will the discovery of a tag for what I do change me in any way? Would it change you, your habits, or the way you approach writing?

I doubt it. After all, our style of writing is our style of writing, no matter what it’s called. It’s all about the journey, and staying on the path unless the characters in your story tell you otherwise.

I know where I’m starting, and I know how and where I want this thing to end. But the path to get to that point may not be so clear that I can write down a logical series of steps needed to get there. But I know the events that will, and should, happen along the way, including confrontations and character traits and backgrounds, and who I can trust and who raises my suspicions. Is that outlining? Plotting? Just plain old brainstorming? I write down notes and jot down events and scenes, just not in a thorough, step-by-step format with color coded highlighters, stickers, and exclamation points.

I guess that’s why I enjoy writing with Scrivener, even with the tedious, and endless learning curve associated with it. It allows me to write in scenes or separate, divided mini-stories, sometimes, okay mostly out of order, and then put them together later like a giant puzzle that culminates with the end passage delivering the reader where I want and need them to be.

And even better, with a process like this, on those days that I wake up in a mood that mirrors or lends itself towards the specific traits and characteristics of one of my characters, I’m going to be much more in tune with writing about them on that particular day, no matter where their appearances or particular actions appear in the story.

But then, I’m sort of, kind of, outlining in my head aren’t I, since I seem to have some idea of where they are going to appear and with whom they will interact with in this story? Wouldn’t I have to at least know a little about the plot, then, to know the different scenes that are going to occur?

Do I need to sit down and make a quick sketch or diagram of my habits and tendencies, just to make sure I haven’t wrongly categorized myself?

Are you getting as confused as I am about all of this? Should we even care what category we fall in to?

How about we just write as we see fit and are accustomed to?

I say whatever gets you ending the day with words on the paper, screen, or tablet is the type of writer you are, and that’s just the right type for you. (I’m thinking there’s a Dr Seuss saying in there somewhere)

Besides, there really is no category for those of us that sit on the floor, surrounded by sheets of white butcher paper and 64 count boxes of crayons, humming the theme from The Three Stooges while spinning around, jotting down situations for our characters to work through.