Writers in the Storm

Kathryn Craft

Turning Whine into Gold

If Facebook posts are to be trusted, all a creative writer needs to be productive is coffee, chocolate, and wine. Rather than flow rich with ideas and possibilities, the creative blood of many writers is a biochemistry experiment gone awry.

You already know why we rely upon caffeine, nutrient-poor snacks, and a well-deserved depressant in the evening to ease us toward sleep. Which is elusive, because the processed foods and wine we’ve consumed have secretly messed with our hormone cycle and at 3 a.m., BAM! Eyes wide open. Anxiety about our ineffective lives sets in. Perhaps even before last night’s wine is fully metabolized, we start caffeinating again.

Meanwhile, the brain fog resulting from these practices obscures the path to completing our novels. Many of us are skidding toward the end of 2016 with an energy balance in the red. The trials of the writing life—whether that means the tight deadlines and marketing demands of the published or the myriad uncertainties of the unpublished—have left us feeling exhausted, emotionally spent, and used up.
We are left wondering what happened to that creative life we intended to live. The morning pages, the artist dates, the photography walks. Reading whatever tickles your fancy. Stimulating conversations with other artists at a Parisian sidewalk café.

Oh. That would take time. And energy. Which makes me wonder if our beloved armchair addictions may be draining us more than nurturing us.

What if we replaced some of that coffee, chocolate, wine—and the time we spend talking about them on Facebook—with food and activities that actually nurtured us? We’d have the energy to be more productive. And once we are more productive, space would open in our schedules to engage in activities that renew our creative lives. That would be its own reward, and we wouldn’t “deserve” so much stuff that harms peak performance.

(This is a theory, mind you. Still working on implementation here.)

Creative writing is problem solving

Think of the advice you might give your teenage son the night before he must engage in a massive amount of problem solving. Say, taking the SAT. Add stakes: the outcome of the test will likely affect were he spends $200K+, the next four years, and his career beyond. Would you tell him to make sure he goes drinking the night before, stays up late, and then hops up on junk food and coffee the next morning?

Of course not. So why are we doing it? Think of all the problem solving required in our writing time alone: plot issues, word choice, scene structure, chaptering, pace, voice, and so much more. Then there is the energy required to keep you on an even emotional keel despite the head games inherent to a writing life. The energy required to come up with new ideas. The patience and stamina required to deal with day jobs, kids, spouses, elder care. We need healthy brains to effectively solve these problems.

I have a graphic representation of the creative life on my bulletin board. One arrow points to the top of a stick figure’s head, and says, “Fill your brain with all the information,” and another arrow points to the chair behind him and says, “and then sit a spell.” If your creative life is stuttering, how often are you filling your brain with new information and creative stimuli? How often do you give yourself time to sit a spell?

The irony here is that we all want to lead a creative life, but don’t give ourselves the time, inspiration, and nurturing that will allow us to do so.

What if we made the time?

If you are feeling stuffed, hung over, and sluggish after the holidays, you are ending the year at an emotional, psychological, and physical deficit. As we turn the corner, why not think about starting 2017 in the black?

What if we used the force of public commitment and state, right here and now, that we absolutely do have the time we need to nurture ourselves, accomplish our goals, and live the creative life we want—all while loving our families and friends?

It’s outrageous, right? But so is the notion that we will make enough money to become full-time writers, and we’re banking on that–while letting our health degrade.

So many voices fill my head right now. You will not part me with my coffee. Chocolate is healthy for you. I read about a woman who lived to be 110 and she had a glass of wine every day. And I’m well aware we all have ridiculous demands on our time that make us feel trapped. No need to share those, or to make excuses. Let’s head into 2017 with renewed optimism and commitment, shall we?

In the comments, write the words “I plan to recommit myself to a creative life by finding time to…” and then write one measure you could take to reinvigorate your writing life and/or improve the way you nurture your physical self. Let’s see if we can goose each other toward a more creative 2017!

About Kathryn

Kathryn Craft is the award-winning author of two novels from Sourcebooks: The Art of Falling, and The Far End of Happy. Her chapter “A Drop of Imitation: Learn from the Masters” will appear in the forthcoming guide from Writers Digest Books, Author in Progress, available now for pre-order.

Her work as a developmental editor at Writing-Partner.com, specializing in storytelling structure and writing craft, follows a nineteen-year career as a dance critic. Long a leader in the southeastern Pennsylvania writing scene, she leads workshops and speaks often about writing.

Twitter: @kcraftwriter
FB: KathrynCraftAuthor

I do a lot of critiquing. As I get better at craft, I’m starting to catch the nuances of good writing; things beyond the basics of POV, show don’t tell, etc. They’re subtler and harder to spot, but I believe they can be the difference between a ‘good writer’ and a popular author. And yes, I have these same problems too.

 

• Tell us what we don't know: Something happens – your character has a thought about it – someone speaks – your character has another thought. It breaks up and slows the scene, and it doesn’t add enough to warrant the break. Example:

When he stepped out, he had no smile for her. He avoided meeting her gaze. Even though his clothing was freshly pressed and his shoulders were back, he looked drained, as if he’d just run the obstacle course.

The presentation must have gone badly.

Do you see how the thought is not only unneeded – but that it weakens the sentences above it? And it slows the read. Write only thoughts that the reader couldn’t guess. That can be powerful – showing that the character is keeping something from the others in the scene.

Knowing I can’t go out there, the walls seem to crowd me, closer than they were a few minutes ago. Is it going to be like this until the trial is over? If so, my bail was a waste—I’m just in a cushier, more familiar prison.

Her sobs over the phone claw my insides.

 

• Anchor us in deep POV: Adam is the POV character below.

 

Halfway out the door, Adam grabbed him.

“Hey, lemme go!” The punk twisted to see who had the collar of his shirt.

Do you see how the way this is worded blurs and distances us from the POV character?

Better would be:

Halfway out the door, he grabbed the little thief.

Why? Because if I’m firmly in Adam’s POV, I shouldn’t have to use his proper name. The way it’s originally written, it’s distant; almost from a narrator’s POV.

            Another example:

 Suzie’s face flushed red, realizing she’d just put her mother in the same category as the wino.

Again, we’re in Suzie’s POV. We don’t need her name. This is also a minor POV violation – Suzie can feel the blood in her face, but she can’t see that her face is red.

Better: Blood pounded to her face, flooding her with the realization that she'd just put her mother in the same category as the wino.

He watched Harper drive, hands ten and two on the wheel. We're in his POV. If you say it, we know it's because he saw it. Better: Harper drove, hands ten and two on the wheel.

 

• Unneeded dialog tags: I tend to notice these more, because dialog tags is one of my pet peeves. I believe that the only time you need a tag is when the reader wouldn’t know whom is speaking. And when you need one, there are a lot better ways to use it, than, ‘he said’. Besides, they’re distancing.

“I’ll walk you back to your ship,” she said, falling into step beside him.

Better would be:

“I’ll walk you back to your ship.” She fell into step beside him.

This is a nuance, but can you see how the second is more natural and ‘flows’ better? It helps the reader be in the scene, instead of just reading about it.

“What was that?” she asked. It sounded like someone had pinched a baby.

Since there are only a man and a woman in this scene, and we know it’s not him from the line before, the reader will deduce that she asked this. Which means you don’t need the tag.

Margie Lawson is the Queen at this. You can read a blog she wrote about it, here.

These are small nuances, but important ones. The reader won’t think, “I don’t need that tag.” But these are the things that show an agent/editor or reader that you’re good.

 

• Telling, then showing:  I see this a lot. Example:

It was insane to expect him to restrain himself. “That’s like sending an alcoholic into a bar that’s giving away free beer.”

I’d make the case that not only is the beginning unnecessary, it weakens the line of dialog. Showing is almost always better than telling, and both is always the worst.

 

• Over the top:  Sure sign to an agent or a reader of a newbie author.

Exclamation points!!!! You get three per book. Use them wisely. (and yes, I have the same limits, and I hate them just as much). And never two pieces of punctuation at the end of one sentence. Yes, I know everyone uses it on social media – but you’re a professional.

“I know, right?!”

Along the same lines – repetition in general –

• Say it once-say it well: As a reader, we assume that if you wrote it, you meant it. Repeating it does not make us believe you more. Saying the same thing again in a different way won’t do it, either, and it's irritating to the reader, who feels like you think they're too dumb to get it the first time. If you feel like you need to do this, it's because your original sentence isn’t strong enough. Go back and work on that until you’re happy with it. Try it. I promise you'll agree with me.

But there are subtle shades of repetition, and it’s easy to miss.  Here’s some examples:

“Then why don’t you tell him, if it bothers you so much?” Richard visibly stiffened at Michelle’s suggestion.

First, the adverb is unnecessary. We’re in Michelle’s POV – so if she noticed, it had to be visible, right? Second, you should trust the reader to know that he stiffened because of what she said. It also breaks Margie Lawson’s rule: What’s the Visual?

Written this way, it would draw the reader closer:

Richard’s spine straightened and his lips pinched in his signature ‘irritated librarian’ look.

 

• Backload your sentences I have Margie to thank for this, also. Put the important word(s) at the end of the sentence for more impact.

I’ve got more male in my life than I need already.

Becomes:

I’ve already got more male in my life than I need.

 

• Favorite ‘author’ words. Everyone has them. Your ‘go to’ words. But they’re not words that everyone uses in everyday speech, so they stick out. Below are mine. My crit group gives me one to two of the following per book.

jerked, hipshot, full dark, tipped (as in chin)

            Ones I see very often in others’ work are:  Over, under, turned, back, down, up, just.

 

• Same old, same old body expressions. How many times have you read, ‘he frowned’ or ‘she straightened her shoulders’ or ‘lifted her chin’?  Personally, I use sighing way too often. Why not freshen them, and instead of having the reader skim, give them a reason to pause?

She caught herself squirming in her seat and forced herself to stillness. 

Vale clears his throat. A shudder vibrates up my spine.

Vale’s shoulders tip back, just enough to make the crease across the front of his shirt pull smooth.

Priss buried her nose in her cup.

 

• Throwaway words. I’m just becoming aware of how often I do this – throw in unneeded words at the beginning of a sentence. Margie calls this, 'clearing your throat' as a writer - you're getting ready to write. It’s not only wordy, it’s distancing. I’m a big one on ‘when.’

When the woman touched his shoulder, the kid shrugged her off.

Better:

The woman touched his shoulder. The kid shrugged her off.

“Oh yes, I know what you mean.”

She knew it was hopeless.

See what I mean? They add words, but not meaning. Along those same lines:

Why use “moved” which tells us nothing instead of jerked (oops) jogged, or stumbled?

Why use “started” rather than just showing someone doing something? You can't start walking, start making cookies, or start getting angry.

“Almost” is another word that doesn’t work very often. Either someone does something or doesn’t. How do you ‘almost’ do something like smile?

 

• Trust your Reader:

I think we often tell the reader much more than they need to know. In big ways, like backstory dumps, but also in subtle ways that are harder to catch. But they both irritate the reader – if you have enough of them, the reader will abandon the book. They may not even know why – just that it didn’t engage them.

See, readers want to be engaged. To think, and to figure things out – not just to have it all handed to them. In other words, they want to be in your story. A part of the action. All these nuances prevent them from doing that.

Here’s some examples of small ones:

“The small canoe rested in the water, floating beside a long wooden dock.”

Where else would a canoe next to a dock rest, but in the water? And if it’s in the water, it’s floating, right? See how neither of those references are needed? Use that room to put us in the scene; engage our imagination and our senses.

“A red canoe with wood trim bobbed beside the wooden dock, waves slapping its sides.”

Subtle? Yes, but I think it reads better—more descriptive, more engaging.

“None of these plants are used for food. They’re purely ornamental” See how that says the same thing?

A stiff smile on her lips…. Where else would a smile be?

“And you are. . .?”  He let the question dangle. The dots show us dangle.

Sonja glared, and retreated a step back – retreated is back.

 

• Slip in snippets of backstory. Make the reader want backstory before you slip it in. How do you do that? In the first few sentences, raise questions they’ll be dying to hear answers to.

From my book, Reasons to Stay:

She stopped a few feet short of the open grave. Her mother was down there. Shouldn’t she feel something beyond tired?

Next paragraph:

“Come, Ignacio. It’s time to go.” A meager woman stood at the foot of the grave, her face and raincoat set in the same generic authoritarian lines.

Priss recognized a Social Worker when she saw one. Given her past, she should.

Your turn! I've just touched the surface.

Give us your tips with examples in the comments! 

*     *     *     *

Days Made of Glass:

Harlie Cooper raised her sister, Angel, even before their mother died. When their guardian is killed in a fire, rather than be separated by Social Services, they run. Life in off the grid in L.A. isn’t easy, but worse, there’s something wrong with Angel.

Harlie walks in to find their apartment scattered with shattered and glass and Angel, a bloody rag doll in a corner. The doctor orders institutionalization in a state facility. Harlie’s not leaving her sister in that human warehouse. But something better takes money. Lots of it.

When a rep from the Pro Bull Riding Circuit suggests she train as a bullfighter, rescuing downed cowboys from their rampaging charges, she can’t let the fact that she’d be the first woman to attempt this stop her. Angel is depending on her.

It’s not just the danger and taking on a man’s career that challenges Harlie. She must learn to trust—her partner and herself, and learn to let go of what’s not hers to save.

Jamie Raintree

The holidays are a time for slowing down and reflecting on the past year. They're also a time for thinking about the year to come. Whether or not you set resolutions, no doubt you've got ideas about what you'd like to accomplish in 2017 and the bad habits you want to leave behind in 2016.

If you're like me, you probably never check off quite as many things as you'd like on your to-do list for the year, and you never quite integrate those new habits you know you should. And so you approach the New Year cautiously hopeful, knowing you're not going to miraculously be a new person but promising yourself you're going to try to keep heading in the right direction anyway.

But what if this year could be different? What if you could make bigger strides than ever before? What if you could quit breaking those promises to yourself, and keep your motivation up long enough to finally bring your dreams within reach?

KNOW YOUR "WHY"

In the many years I've been writing and working toward my goals, there's one productivity tactic that has made all the difference between the years I've made great progress and the ones I haven't, and that tactic has been to continually improve my self-awareness. The more I understand what motivates me, what I feel my purpose is, and what I want to offer the world, the more effective I am on a day-to-day basis. Because true productivity doesn't start on the outside, with scheduling habits and motivating blog posts--though those things can help from time to time--it starts from deep within you, where your fire resides. It starts from that pull that makes you want to write and publish in the first place.

Have you taken the time lately to ask yourself why you're writing, why you're striving for publication, or why you're setting these goals for yourself? Now is the perfect time to do it. Sometime over these next couple of weeks, sneak away with a journal and a cup of coffee, and before you set any more goals or resolutions that may slip through your fingers yet again, ask yourself that telling question. And don't settle for the first answer. Just like when we are seeking our characters' motivation, we must ask ourselves why over and over again, until you feel a stirring inside you--that "aha" moment that we all live for when we're writing fiction.

You need those in your real life too.

That's your fire.

STAY CONNECTED TO YOUR MOTIVATION

The reason most people struggle with making real changes, and real progress each year is because they quickly lose connection to that fire. Daily routines can sap your energy, the curve balls life throws at you can knock you off track, and your own insecurities can make you forget your "why." Even when you are working toward your goals, you can get overly focused on the "what" and pretty soon, when things aren't going the way you'd hope, you fall into despair, wondering why you ever wanted to follow this path in the first place.

But the power of remembering your 'why' - of remembering that fire, is in harnessing it. If you wait until you're discouraged to remember your purpose, you may get back on track, but it's only in staying connected to that fire when times are good that you get ahead.

Once you know your "why", find a way to keep it in the forefront of your mind. Post it in your work space, written down, or as a quote or picture. Journal about it frequently, especially when you feel your motivation start to wane. Schedule frequent dates with yourself to re-examine your goals and make sure they are still in line with your "why."

FLAME IT - PROGRESS BEGETS PROGRESS
Even though I don't follow the "write every day" rule (I write Monday through Friday, which is enough for me), there's a good reason it's touted all over the writing community. If you understand the intention behind it, you can see that the real goal behind this tactic is to keep up the momentum. You've probably felt the effects yourself, when you've had particularly productive streaks. Progress begets progress, and it's this momentum that fans your flame.

If you allow your dream to fall dormant, even for a little while, the flame starts to weaken, and if you fall off your resolutions by the end of January, as many people tend to do, it becomes mere embers. Yes, it's always there, ready for you to fuel it again, but if you want this year to be different, keep it roaring. Keep working. Take small steps when you have to, but always keep moving in the direction of your dreams.

(If having visual proof of your progress inspires you, check out my 2017 Writing & Revision Tracker here.)

As we sidle into another year, it can be easy to come into it jaded and negative. What's really going to change? Here's the thing, though: you can. You can grow a little bit more every year. You can get closer to your goals every single day. And being intimately connected with the reason behind your goals makes the journey a little easier, because instead of having to push yourself toward your dream for another year, you can be pulled by that inner fire, that inner purpose, which requires a lot less effort.

So what lights a fire under you? What is your "why?"

ABOUT JAMIE

Jamie Raintree is an author and a writing business teacher. She is also a mother of two girls, a wife, a businesswoman, a nature-lover, and a wannabe yogi. Her debut novel, PERFECTLY UNDONE, will be released on October 3, 2017 by Graydon House. Subscribe to her newsletter for more writing tips, workshops, and book news. To find out more, visit her website.

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