Writers in the Storm

Announcing the winners of Laurie Schnebly Campbell's contest: Comment #21 and #35 as chosen by random.org. Congratulations to Alice Fleury and Melissa Racine. You can contact Laurie to arrange your free class.

And now, you're in for a real treat, as Kathryn Craft continues her Turning Whine Into Gold series.

Kathryn Craft

Do you ever seek to connect with certain people for the primary reason that they have beautiful energy about them? I do, and just thinking of them can bring a big boost to my day. They are deep thinkers, endlessly curious, good listeners, resilient as all get-out, and, like a tennis player bouncing in the ready position, seemingly game for whatever comes next. I recognize them at first meeting, because they don’t (read: “cannot”) hide their light under a bushel. I always look forward to seeing them, because I know that without a doubt, I will come away the richer for it.

In the theory of synchronicity put forth in his 1993 novel, The Celestine Prophecy, James Redfield suggests that any meeting between two people who are acting from their “higher selves” is meant to have this effect on each other. Can I prove that this is so? No—but I love thinking about it.

Redfield’s book was a spiritual guide thinly disguised as a novel. As literature it was roundly criticized—as would be any plot that relies entirely on coincidence. But I have learned to pay attention when a book is a runaway hit, assuming it has some takeaway for me (yes, even Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight). The Celestine Prophecy enjoyed a 165-week perch on the New York Times Best Seller list, and in 1995 and 1996 it was the #1 book in the world. It changed the way I came to view the give-and-take in every interaction.

While two people who are acting from their higher selves will feed each other’s energy, people acting from their lower selves tend to try to steal that energy. Redfield suggests this energy theft happens in one of several predictable ways—and the first sheds light on the very nature of whining.

Poor Me
I hate to say it, but this is my control drama. When I am tired, or feel beaten or broken, I whine (I’ve been writing Turning Whine Into Gold for three years now—how do you think I came to know so much about it?). When I whine to another person, I seek their comfort. I have nothing else to give back right then. I want to build myself up by syphoning off some of their energy. This is a relatively passive form of control.

Aloof
My husband has beautiful energy, but this is his drama when acting from his lower self. He goes into his man cave (okay, office) and shuts himself off until I venture forth to find out what’s wrong. Knowing that I will eventually chase after him is his way of syphoning energy off of me. Not that it takes that many steps to go find out, or burns that many calories to ask, but his low-pressure system causes an energy suck that I can feel even when I’m up in my writing loft.

 

Interrogator
This was my mother’s control drama. She would woo me with empathetic-seeming questions until she had my trust, seeking my weakness, and then be critical of my answers. You must keep your guard up around an interrogator at all times, anticipating their thoughts and actions so you can avoid the criticism. Keeping you off-balance is how the interrogator syphons your energy.

Intimidator
This is the most aggressive form of energy manipulation. Through threats or abuse, the intimidator forces you to put him or her at the center of the relationship at a great deal of emotional cost to you—but oh, do they feel powerful in the end.

At the very least, these control dramas may be of use in your fiction. At best, they can improve the relationships you rely upon to maintain your writing career.

An awareness that your control drama has been tripped can make you quicker to realize that it’s time to spend some time alone and shore up your reserves. Because our work is passion-driven, there’s a trap for all writers: once we identify as a writer seeking publication, we tend to focus on what we want—from our relationships with our agent (sell for big money!), editor (make me shine!), publicist (make my book visible everywhere!) and even our readers (buy more and review more I beg of you!). Oh, and could our husbands and/or children please be more understanding and supportive—or, let’s face it, self-sufficient?

Such desires are understandable, but when (inevitably) unmet, they can be like bleeding out, draining you to the point you are ready to suck energy like a vampire from any warm-blooded source.

At such times we need more of those energy-boosting exchanges—but ironically, to benefit, we have to contribute. If you want to create a publishing team that works—even on the home front—try to think of the ways your enthusiasm can foster the effort.

What do you bring to your relationships with your agent, publisher, publicist, and family? You bring a book, yes—but that’s a product. How does your writing help make you a better person, and how can you bring that to your relationships? How do you protect your energy so that you can avoid slipping into a control drama?

If you have anyone with beautiful energy in your life, please pay them tribute in the comments. Then emulate!

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

Laurie Schnebly Campbell

What does braiding a book mean?

Off the top of my head, that seems like an easy question. Since a braid has three parts, a braided book has -- hmm.

Goal / motivation / conflict.

A hero / heroine / villain.

Emotions / actions / thoughts.

Description / dialogue / narrative.

A culture / place / time.

Future / past / present.

Protagonist / sidekick / antagonist.

Character / plot / and...

...and whatever seems like the best choice for that blank space.

So which is the correct answer to "what does a braid include?"

 

All of those! Even if your book doesn’t contain each one of the trios listed above, you’re probably including a few of 'em.

Which Is Most Important?

That depends on what you're writing. Sometimes when readers aren't yet familiar with the world you're building, it's crucial to provide all the colorful details about the ship or the jungle or the village in Bulgaria.

Other times, the setting isn't a big deal because readers are so intensely focused on the characters. Why won't the heroine consider moving? When is the hero going to change his mind, and how, and why? What'll happen if that fire burns out of control?

Sometimes there are several braids in the story, but -- for one or more of them -- the three parts aren’t equally sized.

A book that includes a heroine, hero and villain might devote very little attention to the villain because the romance between the couple is so wonderfully captivating.

Or a book that includes narrative along with description and dialogue might emphasize the dialogue above all else because that's the part readers like best.

That’s perfectly all right. It’s only a problem when...

The Braid Starts Unraveling.

You’ve seen that happen, right? Like when a secondary character winds up taking over the whole book. Or maybe where we finally reach the climactic scene, where the heroine is about to share her dramatic secret, and then we pause for an entire page describing the scent of her corsage.

Maybe the villain does something which adds an interesting conflict but which is completely out of character, with no explanation ever given. Or maybe the story meanders from one random event to another, with never any reason for us to care about any of ‘em.

What Does That Mean?

There’s no balance to the braids in this book.

Which leads to the question of HOW to blend all three parts of any trio you use.

Some lucky writers do that without even thinking about it. They have an instinctive gift for placing just the right amount of emphasis on past-present-future, on goal-motivation-conflict, and on any other braids in their book.

Some writers have to work at it, but they’ve found various tools for keeping their stories balanced. They’ve developed tricks for lining up the strands, shifting and using the Rule of Five so that each aspect of the trio stays in the right perspective.

Each way of writing is successful, because in both cases the writer knows what three strands are the most important for the book in question.

And speaking of questions, here’s one for you:

 

Plus A Prize

Question: when you start work on your story, what three elements strike you as the most important?

You might rely on one of the trios mentioned at the beginning, or a blend of any three other elements. Whatever works for you is absolutely the right way to go, but a lot of us go in very different ways.

What’s yours? What three elements make up your braid?

If at least 20 people answer, somebody will win free registration to my class on Your Plot-Character-Story Braid...which begins September 5 at WriterUniv.com. And if it turns out the winner is you but you’ve already registered, I’ll just send you a refund!

Laurie, pretty sure the winner gets announced on Monday morning so I’ll be eager to see who that is.

 

Laurie Schnebly Campbell always loves analyzing what makes a book work, so she's looking forward to starting a four-week class on "Your Plot-Character-Story Braid" on September 5 at WriterUniv.com. Although she enjoyed braiding her own books, including one that beat out Nora Roberts for "Best Special Edition of the Year," she enjoys teaching even more. That's why she now has 17 novels on her bookshelf with acknowledgments from authors inspired by her classes.

 

Why a writing retreat will change your life

By Kimberly Brock

So, life.

Every time I start to get stupid and think I’m going to just do this writing of a novel thing in one long, smooth line, there’s life. It keeps happening to me. This is a fine example of magical thinking on my part, that I expect that writing a story is going to circumvent experiencing my own. Oh, yeah. You never think like that, right? Tell me another one.

It doesn’t matter if it’s good life or screwy life, either. It’s just all the stuff going on. It keeps going on, doesn’t it? It is going on, on top of my head, y’all. But here’s the thing I sometimes forget to mention – I like it that way! I get bored easily and I need to be working my guts out on about three hundred things at once. One of them happens to be writing. So, I have developed some tricks. Like headphones. Or coffee. Or organizing book festivals. Or teaching workshops. (I rather like these. They’re called Tinderbox workshops because that’s how I imagine the creative hearts of women, sitting on their inner hearths, holding all the secret wisdom they to need to strike a spark!)

I create all these paths in my life that keep me busy like a bee, but ultimately, they lead me back to one place – storytelling. Because we all know that the truth about storytelling is that even when we think we aren’t doing it, we’re totally doing it. We’re doing it in our sleep! We’re doing it over our kitchen stoves and sinks. We do it while we cheer at baseball tournaments. We’re doing it while we haul our old dogs to the vet. We’re doing it while we host birthday parties (dear, sweet Jesus) or take our parents to their doctor’s appointments. We’re doing it while we hold down desk jobs or coordinate school plays or sing in church choirs. We are creatures who understand and predict and reflect and treasure our entire existence through story.

And if you believe that, then why don’t we all have about eighteen completed great American novels on our shelves, eh? Eh?

Well, because storytelling isn’t actually, for real, like, exactly, writing. (boo, hiss!) I know. I have failed you. I have betrayed you. You can no longer even look me in the eye.

Here’s what I mean. Storytelling is the soul of us. Writing is the work of us. And this is why people who identify as WRITERS live such frustrated lives. Because writing requires time and focus and effort and grit and well, more of all of that which life interupts. Performing as a writer means starting and finishing an actual, tangible project. On the other hand, STORYTELLERS are happy people, fulfilled and creative and just chugging along on the juice of the muse warbling lovely words in their heads. Some days, I really just embrace that

STORYTELLERS identity and say to hell with the WRITER’s plight. Who cares if anybody ever reads another stupid word I write. I’m busy riding down imaginary rainbow roads in my hippie chick VW bookmobile van and writing can bite me.

The trouble is, if you’re a STORYTELLER whose stories are meaningful to you (This is true. I’m warning you.), whether you’re telling your stories in verse or lyrics or scenes or chapters, ultimately you’re doomed to be a WRITER. You may rip your clothes and shave your head and wail in denial, but they are two sides of the same coin. And so, you have to respect this truth and embrace it and meditate and maybe go to an open mic night and read bad poetry about it from where you’ve drunkenly scribbled your own heart’s philosophy in Sharpie on the inside of your wrist. It is your fate.

OR, you can go to the beach!

Yes! Your eyes are not deceiving you! It’s a real thing, this fabulous idea of taking off like a badass Thelma or Louise without the death thing at the end! Long ago, a really wise STORYTELLER woke up hungover from a long night’s poetry open mic and discovered the smeared Sharpie philosophy on the inside of her wrist and here’s what it said. One word. A holy inscription. RETREAT.

If you want to pull a fast one on your STORYTELLER self, take her someplace where she believes she is on vacation from life and expectation. Where she thinks she has outsmarted all the experiences and the happening that’s going on. She’ll take a deep breath and wonder why she doesn’t do that more often, the breathing. She’ll sip coffee and wine and reflect on brilliant daydreams and visions that seem to come out of nowhere and maybe consider getting on Ancestry.com to confirm her serious suspicion that she’s actually descended from a native American shaman princess. She’ll laugh and cry and share stories and maybe even secrets she thought she’d long forgotten. If it’s a women’s retreat and it’s a really good one, she might even decide she likes her thighs. I am not lying. It’s freaking brilliant! She’ll moon around about half the time and then this phenomenon takes place that, I swear, does not even involve magical elves…things get done. Actual, tangible words on screens and paper and shit.

Now, it doesn’t matter if it’s just a day or if it’s a week. It doesn’t matter if it’s an hour or three. It really, honestly (I hate to say this), doesn’t matter if it’s your back yard or better, your neighbor’s back yard. You pick the place. Except not Starbucks or your car in the grocery store parking lot, because that’s not retreat. That’s being a real writer and we’ll get to that another time. You can go to the mountains or the desert or a Holiday Inn off Route 66 anywhere between here and there. Nobody cares. It’s about leaving the where-you-are and going to the where-you-go and letting it happen. Retreat.

Me, I prefer the beach. I prefer a place where I can’t see anything else happening but water going out and coming in and doing God knows what in between. The ebb and flow of it sloshes around in my head and my words sift through and float to the top when I’m at the ocean. So, that’s where I’m headed in September and I’ve got room for you there. You can find all the details here and join me. I’m making apple pie and peach cobbler and a surprise dinner for you. I’m inviting some other beloved authors, Kristy Woodson Harvey and Ann Garvin, to teach us and share with us and laugh with us. I’m going on walks on the beach and drinking my coffee on the deck and giving my inner STORYTELLER everything her heart desires. Because when I do, she’ll stop fighting against life so hard. She’ll stop creating work for herself to avoid the guilt of investing in her own voice above someone else’s. She’ll relax a little and realize she’s not losing herself if she kicks back for a rest. And maybe you won’t believe me, but I’m telling you, in that very instant she gives herself permission to invest her time and energy and creativity into preserving her stories, the miracle happens. The WRITER appears to get to her work.

Because do you know what you get when you spell retreat backwards? Sanction.
That’s a fancy word for permission to go to the beach.

Do you struggle to balance life and the work of writing? Do you allow yourself the experience of a retreat in whatever form it might take for you as a writer? How do you move between Storyteller and Writer? Most importantly, do you love your thighs or do you allow them to stifle your creative freedom?

About Kimberly

Kimberly Brock is the award winning author of the #1 Amazon bestseller, THE RIVER WITCH (Bell Bridge Books, 2012). A former actor and special needs educator, Kimberly is the recipient of the Georgia Author of the Year 2013 Award. A literary work reminiscent of celebrated southern author Carson McCullers, THE RIVER WITCH has been chosen by two national book clubs.

Kimberly’s writing has appeared in anthologies, blogs and magazines, including Writer Unboxed and Psychology Today. Kimberly served as the Blog Network Coordinator for She Reads, a national online book club from 2012 to 2014, actively spearheading several women’s literacy efforts. She lectures and leads workshops on the inherent power in telling our stories and is founder of Tinderbox Writer’s Workshop. She is also owner of Kimberly Brock Pilates.

She lives in the foothills of north Atlanta with her husband and three children, where she is at work on her next novel. Visit her website at kimberlybrockbooks.com for more information and to find her blog.