"Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's
useless."
*******
Hey! I've written a short story. I didn't really intend to write a short story when I started it, but that is what it turned out to be--and here I said I didn't know how to write short stories! Of course, I still don't really feel like I know how to write short stories. I do better with the novel form and plenty of room for character change. Maybe I'm a slow learner when it comes to life, so I make my characters equally clueless. But I asked my small writing group yesterday if it fit the qualifications of a short story, and they thought it did. (and not a horrible one at that!)
My small group meeting was absolutely wonderful! What excellent writing! It was enlightening to hear such a variety of writing forms (poetry, personal essay, opinion piece, and short story) and then discuss them and analyze them with other writers. I love PW! For those of you not in a small writing group--you should get one. It is just as (if not more so) helpful to hear other people's writing as it is to have them discuss my writing. I learn so much about the craft of writing.
Which, by the way, reminds me that I have got to tell you about this book called Immediate Fiction by Jerry Cleaver. Great writing book! He talks about story and what it does for us as human being. Then he gives the example of how Michael Jordan (in some interview or another) talks about how when things are going well, the team just plays basketball. But, when there is a hint of trouble, they immediately fall back on "the plan"--which is certain positions and moves. Jerry Cleaver took that example and talked about how writers need a basic plan so that when things aren't working, they can go back to the basics and gets things working again. That is the writer's craft. Then he proceeds to share the basics--want, obstacle, action, resolution, showing and emotion. That's it--just those six things. What does your character want? (and it must be something that if the character doesn't get, he/she will not go on unchanged) What is preventing him/her from getting that want met? What does he/she do about it? (action) and how is it resolved? You must Show this (real-time) rather than just tell us about it. And you need to expose the emotion of the characters--so that the readers can identify with the character and therefore with themselves.
Granted, this may all be stuff you have heard before. For me, it was said (well, the book said it in such a way--not me) in such as way that I really GOT it. I mean, I know what plot is--sorta. I get the arc of beginning, rising action, climax, falling action.... But this put it in a much more accessible way (in my opinion).
Anyway, if you are looking for a writing book that gives very concrete (and not overwhelming or too strict and narrow) ways of making your writing better--give Immediate Fiction a try.
I'll bring it with me to Glen Lake in June if anyone wants to borrow.
Speaking of which--only 51 more days!
3 comments:
Sarah,
I am just commenting to tell you how very much I miss you and all the PW folks. I am suffering from writer's block BIG time. I have been writing advertising, catalog copy, creative briefs, marketing strategies, and sales scripts for work ... just can't seem to even blog creatively in my free time. Any suggestions from you and other bloggers out there?
Hoping June PW retreat will rev me up, but meanwhile, I need to regularly read your posts and stay in touch. I love your blog, Sarah. Absolutely love the music and quotes. Gives me ideas of what to listen to and provokes thoughts ... now, if this can become words on a paper, all the better.
Take care, my writing friend.
smjwriter (Susan J-W)
Susan--I hear you! I went through--maybe am still going through although I think it is getting better--a period of writer's block. Except, I think for me it was/is more a matter of writer's fear that it won't be good enough. I am fighting it word by word.
I really liked the suggestion from Immediate Fiction of checking in with my writing for 5 minutes every day. I have to sit down--no distractions--and pay attention to my writing for 5 solid minutes. If I write something--great. If I don't, it doesn't matter but I can't do anything else for those 5 minutes.
I find if I do this, it keeps the creative juices flowing better--and often I end out writing for more than 5 minutes--but it doesn't matter because all I have to do is 5. Takes the pressure off. My mother-in-law was diagnosed with lung cancer and just had part of her lung removed. We've all been stressed, so the last thing I need to stress over is writing (which is usually my solice!)
Great to hear from you. I miss everyone too, and I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to Glen Lake. I need my batteries charged.
Sarah,
Congrats on the birth of your short story.
I, too, am looking forward to Glen Lake.
One of my colleagues is reading my novel, and wondering, "where did you find the time...?"
Besides Glen Lake or Grand Haven, taking at least one 'writering retreat' a year, I wrote about a half hour a day for a couple of years.
Doing what Julia Cameron suggests in "The Artist's Way" with her "morning pages" is a great way to deal with writer's block. I now have complete confidence that I can write 3 pages at any given time, on any given subject. Of course, we're not talking quality here. It's usually a mess. But I don't judge it. I leave that for another part of me - the editor and critic has no place while I'm working at being creative.
Mike
now listening: Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl"
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