Reading-A Cheap Excuse?!?

Writers have long known that reading, like doing laundry and scrubbing floors, is a cheap excuse to avoid writing. Naturally I justify such behavior with the reasoning that it feeds my writer’s soul, which is true…though not always my reason for reading. Still, I don’t think writers are alone in this diversion from life’s responsibilities. Clearly, a good book has always been a good escape, and may be a healthier version of avoidance behavior than heavy drinking or bungee jumping!

When I’m in need of total avoidance so I choose a book that will completely suck me into its literary web like a good murder mystery or heart racing thriller. However, if I’m in search of a mild diversion I’ll opt for either non-fiction or a classic, perhaps Jane Austen or Willa Cather. In fact, I feel reading those gals elevates my writing…makes me want to be a better me, writing-wise.

Of course, you don’t have to be a writer to escape into a good book. If that were the case there would be no such thing as the good ‘beach read’! Personally, there’s nothing like the latest Stephanie Plum mystery. It goes down easy and can be picked up at a moment’s notice-- like just in time to avoid conversation with that strange person sitting next to you on the plane, or when you need to hide out from the relatives at a family gathering. Not that I’d ever do that…

But you don’t need a special occasion or even a cheap excuse to read a good book! A well told story is as excellent a companion during lunch as it is on your CD player in rush hour or in the wee hours of the night when you are all alone in your alternate reality of choice. Whatever your literary proclivities, enjoy them-no apologies necessary!

Photo courtesy: paintthetownleopard.blogspot.com

Reading: A Source of Inspiration?

I think it’s pretty safe to assume that most writers started out as avid readers. Somewhere along the way they felt the need to take the pen…or these days, the keyboard, into their own hands. Still, the desire to create our own tales does not mean we no longer wish to read. On the contrary, in some ways it makes us want to read all the more!

Reading can be an incredible way to learn the craft of writing. In fact, I found I became a much slower reader after I started writing in earnest. True, it’s a frustrating tradeoff for me, particularly because I was never much of a speed reader to begin with. But when I am following another author’s literary breadcrumbs I’m not just losing myself in their story, I’m also paying attention to how that story is told.

Writers learn so much about structure, plot, character development and more from reading the works of other writers. Of course, we all are gladly sucked along as the drama, joy and plot twists unfold. But eventually I’ll find myself stepping back and thinking about how they did that, and why. Where the clues were planted in a mystery or where the turning points came in a history.

I notice how they handle dialogue, and develop the action in ways that push the plot where they want it to go. I notice surprising events and interesting words…and sometimes I notice when things don’t go well and I’m pulled out of the story and forced against my will to wonder what the heck the author was thinking—never a good thing!

For instance, I think there should be a ban on the image of someone ‘shrugging’ out of a piece of clothing for ten to twenty years. Or at the very least you should only be allowed to ‘shrug’ once per book. Really, it’s overused. Not to mention ‘macadam’. Honestly, who says that??

You can see how a writer’s juices get stirred up from reading the work of others. Sometimes the urge is so great it feels like a buzz in your body you can’t shake until you put it into your own words. Sure, that empty page or blank screen can be intimidating, but a writer, I think, is already listening to the words in his or her head, calling to be placed upon that page.

Next week: Reading: A Cheap Excuse? 

Photo: courtesy of http://bookish-relish.blogspot.com

Writing Outside the Outline

I went to a class once about crafting the outline of your book. This is something a great many writers are quite religious about. It’s their process and how they start out on the journey to create every new book they write. Personally, it drives me NUTS!

In this particular class the writer (VERY successful, New York Times, yada, yada, yada…) showed us a spiral road map she had created for her latest book. I think the idea was that she started on the outside, like a maze, and wound her way to the conclusion in the center. As she wrote she followed the stepping stones of the path, plugging in character, plot twists or denouement at the appointed locations along her spiral outline. It didn’t look like Greek to me; it looked like something out of trigonometry or advanced geometry…which is much worse.

While I envy writers who are so organized that they can plot each step along the way and stick to it, my efforts to emulate them have ended in great frustration. I’m like a claustrophobic cat stuck in a tiny cage...underground. Let me out!!

Don’t get me wrong, I have a very good idea of what I’m after and where I’m going when I tap out those first words on the first page of a new book. I’ve made notes, done research and, as you might have noticed in my previous blog, percolated over the whole thing quite a bit.

But if I try to force my characters to stick to an outline they get very belligerent and, at some point, they will inevitably just stand there, arms crossed, scowling at me, refusing to do anything more until I agree to release them to their own wiles.

Of course, once I do that, it’s generally agreed that I can go back in and tweak some their less brilliant decisions during the editing process. Fictional characters will get carried away if you leave them to their own devices for too long!

I’m also free to skip around and write scenes out of order if I wake up one morning writing dialogue in my head for a scene that’s yet to come. Occasionally that scene reveals something about the plot or the character that I hadn’t considered, and serves to strengthen previous scenes once I return writing in a straight line.

I know I am not alone in this method, but it’s not the sort thing that’s easily taught in a workshop, and seems more likely to be admitted to only during a heart to heart, or after a nice glass of Riesling. I, however, am proud of my process, unstructured as it may seem to those outside my head. And ultimately, it gets me to the same place: The End. 

Photo of Archemedean Spiral courtesy of Xah Lee Web

Percolation!

For some reason my brain has lately latched upon the concept of percolating when it comes to creating or making a decision. Yes, I’m showing my age if I admit remembering percolating coffee makers, but we had moved on to the drip system by the time I was drinking coffee in earnest.

Still, the concept of percolating is intriguing, and aptly applied to the writing process. What others might consider procrastination or downright avoidance is often plain old percolation! You might think when I do the laundry, vacuum the rug or pull weeds in my garden that I’m procrastinating. But you are wrong-I’m percolating!

Let me explain. The different stages of creation (coffee or art) start at the top of the pot with the perforated spreader plate through which hot water drips down onto the coffee grounds below. I like to think of this as the actual ‘hands on keyboard’ or ‘pen to paper’ process trickling down and filling the blank page with words.

Next comes the filter—obviously the editing process! And the resulting brewed coffee is the final edit, ready to be enjoyed by caffeine addicts worldwide…once published, which must be when it’s poured out of the spout! Okay, let’s not get over-similed!

But still, you see what I’m saying; it’s a process. And way down there at the bottom of the pot is a very important component we shouldn’t forget: the heat source. In coffee, it’s, well, heat!

In writing, the heat source can be any number of things that spur us to creative action. The spark of inspiration that perked up at the very start is definitely a heat source. As is the desire to express and share your thoughts. Of course, it could be the critique buddy who is waiting for more pages to read or the demands of a writing challenge like NaNoWriMo. Maybe even an agent or editor counting down a deadline.

Ultimately, proper percolation can provide a potent brew, in the cup or on the page.

image courtesy of Wikipedia

Writing With Joy!!!

A few years ago I bought an oil painting at a local consignment shop. It was $15, on the stretcher bars but unframed. It's a lovely depiction of pink and white striped tulips in a clear glass pitcher, and named 'Peppermint Candy'.

I know the name because the artist, Helen Evensen, wrote it on the back of the canvas. Beneath the title she also wrote, in pencil,

Tulips: Red, pink & peppermint stick!! Painted with much joy in May, 1999 by Helen Evensen, painter!!! Cedar, Michigan.

All those exclamations are Helen's. If you are of a creative bent you can't help loving her enthusiasm. She painted something, she was proud of it, she was proud and excited to BE a painter!!!

The tulips hang on the wall across from my desk so that, everyday, I am reminded to take joy in the process, as Helen did. Even the unfinished work--and there is one tulip that looks not quite complete to me--is a beautiful thing. A thing to take pride in.

The writing community nurtures each other, and that is a good thing, because we are all of us, a great deal of the time, working on something that's not quite done, never quite finished or perfect in our eyes, even once it's published. But it's still beautiful and deep down, even the most jaded among us must treasure those little joyful moments when we say to, and of ourselves, Author!!!

The Science of Creativity

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, How to Be Creative, explored the unlikely influences that have been found to spark creative juices and genius. The author explains that sometimes what seems like a sudden, magical leap between a stubborn spot on the blank page and the words and thoughts that come out of the blue to fill that spot aren't so much magical, as lurking in the back of the brain, waiting for you to put your guard down and let them through.

The science of creativity has found that the answers often come in the oddest, most disconnected ways. Putting the problem on the back-burner and letting the brain relax a little can actually allow it to plumb the depths wherein the answer lies!

This probably explains why I get some of my best ideas while driving the car, blowing drying my hair, or...reading an article on creativity! This is not to say that good old fashioned sweat and editing aren't also necessary, but the match that lights the brilliant idea in the first place is often fueled by what might seem like unusual circumstances and activities.

The author, Jonah Lehrer, lists 10 quick creativity 'hacks' to get you going. Some might ring a bell for the creative type. Daydreaming, for instance, is probably high up on my list. I'm sure my family often thinks I'm doing nothing in particular when I'm actually working my way through a plot or crafting a scene in my head.

Not surprisingly, being a little drunk...or high, I imagine, brings out the creativity. I'm sure plenty of police officers would agree with this. Still, while intoxication clearly did wonders for Samuel Coleridge when he wrote the classic poem Kubla Khan, I wouldn't recommend this as a daily writing practice. Especially if you're a one-drink kinda person, like yours truly! So, my advice on this one is to take advantage of it when it comes along, but pass it up as a lifestyle.

Other tips include getting out of your comfort zone and traveling, meeting new people, exchanging new ideas. Those all make sense to me!

Another is surrounding yourself with the color blue, which leads to 'relaxed and associative thinking.' Great idea...if I hadn't just painted my office sage green...that's a lotta wall space to paint again. Of course, I could do a lot of daydreaming while I paint!

photo courtesy of apartmenttherapy.com

Wine Country Inspirations

If you've been following my blog you know I'm currently tackling a writing challenge. When I first took this on I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to work on. I had a couple projects in the works, plus final edits of Framed, my upcoming mystery that I hope will be the first of the Kay Conroy mystery series! (check out the cover in an earlier post!)

But the gauntlet of a writing challenge called for just that, a challenge. In the back of my mind I'd thought that I might like to tackle a sequel to The Shell Keeper someday, but that seemed a little presumptuous considering I'd only just published it. Then came the wonderful reviews and, even better, readers who kept asking what happens next?

Pretty soon, I was doing the same thing, and when the challenge came along, I started to give my ideas more than a passing thought. I kinda/sorta knew where I wanted to go, but research, I found, can be a very inspiring thing. While The Shell Keeper was set in a fictional town inspired by Dillon, Colorado, the reservoir, and the lovely little town of Breckenridge, the sequel moves the story west, to where the Rocky Mountains give way to mesas edged by the Colorado River, and the earth and climate form a magically nurturing mix conducive to lush vineyards and ripe peach orchards.

The area around Palisade, Colorado offers much inspiration for the book's fictional location, but I have to admit the research is too much fun. Years ago I had friends who moved to the area to start a very successful winery. We've lost touch over time, but their adventure, and my brief excursions in the area left indelible memories that obviously tempted me to revisit it in fiction.

Of course, I hope my research will actually take me there in person someday soon. I'm thinking a visit to the vineyards, perhaps for the next harvest and Winefest, would be very inspiring...and tasty, too!

Photo courtesy of High Country Orchards and Vineyards