Writers in the Storm

Kate Moretti

I’m going to be honest. I’ve never had real writer’s block. Until recently, I really believed it was an excuse. I thought you could just write through it. I wrote THOUGHT I KNEW YOU and I swear I was high on sugar the whole time. It was the most fun I’ve had writing in my entire life. Nothing mattered, I could literally do anything I wanted because who on earth was ever going to read it besides my mom, and not like she likes anything I do anyway (oh, jeez, KIDDING).

So, why is it getting harder with each book instead of easier? Maybe it’s because I know what I’m doing (more, not entirely). Maybe it’s because I have further to fall. Maybe it’s because the fear is huge.

I’ve read all the articles: write through it. Read. Sit down, butt in chair and write.

But I went through a four or five month slump where the words just did not come. Where I would sit and write four hundred words only to erase them an hour later. I couldn’t figure out the plot. I couldn’t find my characters. I read an article that said I was maybe writing the wrong book, not the book of my heart, and I had to breathe into a paper bag for five minutes because what if the book of my heart wasn’t the book I sold?

I was a cliché. I sold a book on pitch and now I couldn’t write it. Seriously, I adore Wonder Boys. I had no desire to live it.

But hooo boy, I was in a slump.

Then my reading started to crash and burn. Every book I picked up lost my interest. My mind would wander, I’d get irritated at the characters, the writing, the setting, once, even a pet. This was not me. This was more than a slump, this was writerly depression.

I also realized, it’s so common. For a long time, I thought I was alone. I wasn’t. I’m not. We’re in this together.

Why do we slump? 

Nothing about the creative arts is an assembly line. You can’t phone it in when you have to get words on the page.  As of 2015, there are 1,025,109 words in the English language. If you’re staring at a blank page, that’s a helluva multiple choice question.

There are two components to a crippling slump: External forces, life, health, busy, self-criticism, and then story components: characters, plot, setting.

I had both. My life was crazy. I forgot how to say no to all kinds of people. I’d pared down my work hours and decided that meant I could take on all the things. Yes! Let’s do lunch. Yes! I can do the class party. Yes! I will work in the lunchroom at my daughter’s school. Yes! I will perform 40 hours of work in a 24-hour work week. Yes!

In addition to that, I had a deeply flawed outline that I was ignoring and pretending it would all work out fine. I had mismatched motivations. I had characters who were not compelling or likeable.

Things needed to change. Here’s how I wriggled out of my slump:

1. Reset goals.

Much of my writerly depression was steeped in failure. I’d commit to 1000 words a day, only to fall short and then the next day think “why bother”. I did a reboot: I committed to 10 minutes every day.

This was a retraining of my mind the way a couch potato trains for a 5K: One minute at a time. Half the time, I’d sit down for ten minutes only to realize I’d been working for a half hour. I fixed the outline. I tackled the plot issues. I focused on the characters and let them come to life for me. I stopped thinking about the contract (it is currently TBD if this part was a good idea).

2. Write something crazy.

Ok, so my outline looked good but gads, 85K is a LOT OF BOOK, PEOPLE. I found myself with seemingly endless pages between plot points. When I would start to get that creative-killing white mind panic thing, I’d write something that I didn’t plan on. I’d focus on a character and just write. I’d try to connect it to the scene I’d previously worked on if I could but it wasn’t necessary. Anything to get that blank page filled with junk.

I ended up actually using most of it and I found if I really meditated on the character, the story came naturally. Sometimes, I think if you outline, you can feel like you have no options when you’re stuck. But sometimes a detour is just the ticket: maybe there’s a secondary story happening that you didn’t plan out. Maybe there’s an underlying (genius!) theme you hadn’t thought of. Unearth it in the most creative way possible.

3. Never look back.

Forever Forward is my drafting motto. I cannot, will not, go backwards to fix ANYTHING. If I go back, I get stuck in an editing loop before I’m done drafting. Then I find mistakes. I find wonky characterization. I find awkward phrasing. I’ll spend my drafting hours fixing these things. These are editing fixes, when I have the clay of the story lumped out on my desk. I cannot get mired in that nonsense.

4. Keep a side journal.

In Scrivener, I use a separate document that I store in my research section. It’s a story journal. I write what needs to be edited, ideas on new scenes, random thoughts about characterization. I write anything that flies into my head in that journal. Sometimes I’ll think of a great line but know it doesn’t go in the scene I’m writing. It goes in that journal. This is an easy way to never look back. I repeat. Do not. Look. Back.

5. Read the RIGHT books.

This was key. I was trying to read a lot of books in my slump. They were women’s fiction, or literary fiction, or humor, or sci-fi. I read a wide range of things in my regular not-writing life. When I’m drafting, I’ve learned that all these voices in my head drown out my own. I’m too susceptible, too sensitive to other people’s stories. I picked 5 books that are my genre, beautifully written and inspire me – sometimes from picking a random page, I can be off and running. They’re all re-reads.

From a “life” perspective I made two changes that really altered my frame of mind:

6. I started exercising.

I wear a fit bit. I move my body. I go for walks. I am not thin. I am chubby and I don’t much like to move around. I have two sedentary jobs. As I get older, I find my joints creaking and my mind foggy and at two o’clock I want a nap. You know what else exercise fixes? Mild depression. You know what depression does? Kills creativity.

When I started moving, I started being able to think.  I was interested in books again. I would walk and think about my story and then the kinks started unknotting themselves. I talked into my phone recorder like it was a person. It’s ok. I’d say things like “What if Henry actually killed his wife’s best friend? Oooh I like that.” Yes, I probably looked crazy. That’s fine. If we cared what people thought about us, we wouldn’t be in this biz.

7. I set limits.

I started saying no. I finally, finally, learned how to say things like “I only volunteer on Fridays” or “I write on Mondays”. I got my act together and organized my work life and said, “I don’t work on these days.” I stopped saying “Oh, I can’t” which left people room to talk me into things and started saying “I don’t”.

Make self-policies and by God, stick to them. For me, one of the biggest challenges to managing my writing is how to manage my time. I’m now in the – albeit wonderful – boat of having to market as well as write. I have phone calls with editors and publicists and marketing reps. I have to call book stores and reply to emails (this is currently still a failure). I have to find something to post once a day on my Facebook and make sure I retweet all my supporters and writers in my tribe. I have to read books and talk about them. I have to blurb books.

These are all NEW WONDERFUL THINGS. It’s so hard to say no. To not say, “I can’t do that”, but “no thank you, I won’t do that”. To set self-policies “I will not blurb books that are off genre”. Or “I’m sorry, I don’t work between the hours of three and seven. Can I call you tomorrow?” For a people pleaser like me, and so many other women, these are hard self-talks.

An overcrowded brain is not creative. It’s tired. Preserving your energy is imperative.

It’s kind of trendy or cool now to be so busy. Everyone is so busy.  It’s so tempting to give in to that and let the busy-ness invade the business. But, as authors, our #1 job is the writing. The writing is the thing.

I have two mottos now: “Forever forward” and “The writing is the thing.” I say them to myself daily. They’re pinned to my corkboard.

 

Have you had a slump? Writer’s block?
How did you get yourself out of it?

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About Kate

Kate Moretti is the New York Times Bestselling author of the women’s fiction novel, Thought I Knew You. Her second novel Binds That Tie was released in March 2014. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, two kids, and a dog. She’s worked in the pharmaceutical industry for ten years as a scientist, and has been an avid fiction reader her entire life.

She enjoys traveling and cooking, although with two kids, a day job, and writing, she doesn’t get to do those things as much as she’d like. Her lifelong dream is to buy an old house with a secret passageway.

Www.facebook.com/katemorettiwriter
Www.twitter.com/katemoretti1

 

Susan Spann

Whether you publish traditionally or opt for a self-publishing path, it’s important to understand the terms of the contract under which your books are published (or distributed, in the case of author-publishers). In the months to come, my guest posts here at Writers in the Storm will take a look at some critical contract clauses authors should look for—and beware of.

(Most of the contract terms will apply to traditional publishing contracts, but authors should understand both sides of the business, no matter which they choose…and sometimes dangerous clauses find their way into self-publishing terms of use as well.)

One of the most important, and most confusing, parts of a publishing contract is the “Grant of Rights” or “License” paragraph. Unfortunately the grant of rights (or license) isn’t always confined to a single paragraph. In many cases, the “Grant of Rights” addresses only print and ebook rights and territory, with other rights addressed in a paragraph called “Subsidiary Rights” or “Additional Rights.”

Taken together, the various grants of rights in a publishing deal establish exactly which rights the author is licensing (or “granting”) to the publisher in the contract. For this reason, it’s crucial for authors to understand how to read these clauses and understand exactly which rights a publisher does—and doesn’t—need.

Contract language varies widely from publisher to publisher, but here are some of the common rights a publisher might ask for in a publishing deal:

1. Territorial rights (also called “Geographic Rights” or “The Territory”).

Most publishers want (and need) worldwide ebook rights, and will ask for exclusive worldwide rights to print editions also. While it makes sense to allow your publisher worldwide ebook rights, because of the ease of ebook distribution, authors need to evaluate the publisher’s distribution network before making the business decision to allow worldwide print rights. Many publishers have the ability to distribute books internationally, but some do not.

Agree to grant only those territorial rights the publisher has the capacity to fulfill in a meaningful manner.

Note: POD (or “print on demand”) publishers often have a more difficult time fulfilling international orders; if your press is POD, you may want to consider granting North American print distribution only.

2. Print and ebook (or “digital/electronic”) rights.

The standard “grant of rights” in a publishing contract normally includes both print and ebook rights, unless the publisher focuses on “ebook first,” in which case only ebooks may be covered. Publishers normally want “exclusive rights” to print and ebook publication within a stated territory and in a specified language (in the U.S., English) or languages (more on language rights in a minute). Before the rise of ebooks, contracts sometimes specified “print rights only,” but publishers now want both.

“Print and ebook” normally also includes serial rights (the right to publish your work in serial format rather than in a single volume—though publishers don’t generally do this unless they discuss it with you in advance) and non-dramatic reading rights -- which translates to “audiobook rights” ... 

3. “Enhanced Ebooks” and audiobooks.

“Enhanced ebooks” include other forms of media like video clips, interactive maps, soundtracks and audio extras in addition to the text of an author’s work. They’re currently uncommon, but may become more popular in time, and many publishing contracts already mention them in the grant of rights.

Audiobooks are more familiar, and most publishers’ standard contracts ask for a license of audio rights, either in the grant of rights or in a “subsidiary rights” paragraph.

Many publishers will let authors retain these rights, but generally you have to ask for it during the contract negotiations.

4. Translation Rights.

“Translation rights” refers to the right to translate (or license translation of) the work into other languages. Many publishing contracts start with the author granting the publisher both the English language rights and also translation rights to every form and format of the work.

The language you’re looking for is: “Author grants the Publisher the right to publish the work in all languages, forms and formats, worldwide” – or something that means essentially the same thing.

As a general rule, publishers don’t need rights they lack the capacity and interest to sell and properly exploit. For example, small publishing houses don’t normally have an in-house translation department, and often lack an active foreign rights sales department, too. As with territorial rights, the decision to license translation rights to a publisher is a business decision the author should make on the basis of the publisher’s ability to exercise the rights (and history of successful licensing), as well as the author’s own resources when it comes to licensing foreign rights.

Literary agents often have more incentive to license the foreign and translation rights to their authors’ works than publishing houses do. Authors without an agent may not have the resources to license foreign rights today…but might acquire an agent in the future. Keep these factors in mind when evaluating a grant of foreign or translation rights.

Don’t Forget to Negotiate Grants of Rights.

Grants of rights are often negotiable, particularly if you know what to ask for (and how to ask).

For example, if your publisher wants translation rights, don’t be afraid to ask questions during the negotiation process. Ask about the publisher’s ability to license your translation rights and how much experience the publisher has with licensing translations of other works. The answers will help you evaluate whether licensing translation rights makes sense in your situation.

If you don’t want to give up foreign language rights, but the publisher won’t eliminate the grant of translation rights from the contract, ask about adding a clause that allows you to revert the rights to yourself after a stated time if the publisher hasn’t licensed them. For example, a paragraph giving you the ability to terminate and reclaim any translation rights the publisher hasn’t licensed 36 months after the book’s initial English language release.

# # #

That’s a lot to take in for one blog, so we’ll leave it there for now…and next month, we’ll pick up with a discussion of the “Subsidiary rights” publishers often ask for—and which ones you should be keeping for yourself. 

In the meantime: what are your biggest publishing contract questions or concerns?

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About Susan 

 

Susan Spann writes the Hiro Hattori (Shinobi) mysteries, featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori and his Portuguese Jesuit sidekick, Father Mateo. Her fourth novel, THE NINJA’S DAUGHTER, will release from Seventh Street Books in August 2016.

Susan is the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ 2015 Writer of the Year, and a transactional attorney whose practice focuses on publishing and business law. When not writing or practicing law, she raises seahorses and rare corals in her marine aquarium.

Find her online at http://www.SusanSpann.com, on Twitter (@SusanSpann), and on Facebook (SusanSpannAuthor).

Today we’re talking about Dirty Fighting. What is it, and why do you want your characters to do it? The main reason: It escalates tension in your story by deepening both your external and internal conflict.

Dirty Fighting isn’t about some how-to guide on Jujitsu or Street Fighting. Nope, it’s actually a list of twenty-three items given to my husband and I by our pre-marital counselor to teach us the difference between the Dirty Fighting Techniques practiced by most couples and the clean-as-a-whistle fighting he wanted us to strive for.

Before we get dirty, what is "clean fighting?"

Here is a clean fight summed up in 4 easy steps:

1. How you feel. (use an “I” statement for this)
2. What behavior prompted that feeling?
3. Why it’s important/the background. (i.e. what button did they push)
4. What would you want them to do differently next time?

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Go try it. It’s really hard to do when you’re mad. Most people who are angry fight dirty.

Clean fighting takes rigorous training. Do you really think your characters will have had any of this sort of training? It’s pretty unlikely unless you’re writing about a psychologist. It’s much more likely that your character will be flawed like the rest of us.

Dirty Fighting Makes Great Fiction

Great books are filled with conflict and great characters who learn important lessons. Great fiction rips emotion out of us readers. And a really great book will make you see yourself inside those pages. Plus, dialogue is the number one way to move your story quickly and legally bring in backstory.

Note: More on the perils of back story by Kristen Lamb.

Understanding the difference between clean and dirty fighting will give you tons of mileage in your own stories. Every entry I'm sharing is guaranteed to make the other person see red. (Plus, I kept the gaslighting tone of the original document we received from the counselor.) If you’re writing fiction, that anger and tension is a really good thing.

Take your time reading these. Trying to absorb them all at once is like drinking from a fire hydrant.

Important reasons to have your characters fight

1. Unique Dialog. Every character is unique, which is why dialog is such an art. How do you think of creative things to say that would apply only to your character? One answer is to make him or her fight.

2. Insight into character motivation. Since gratuitous fighting in a story is like gratuitous sex (kinda boring if there’s no real connection or reason for it), the author needs to find a great reason for the fight.

How you use the fight is up to you but the easiest way to pave the road to this rad fight is to dig down for what your characters really really want. DON’T give it to them. Or at least, don’t give it too soon. Then flake away more layers to uncover what your character really really fears. DO give that to them!

Now, you not only have characters who are upset, you've also found a myriad of ways to slide both the readers and the characters deeper into your story.

OK, let's roll around in the Dirty Fighting Swamp.
Go ahead, get dirty. Be the bog. Here's Round 1! 

Note: Your sarcasm muscle – which is always used in a Dirty Dogfight – should get a quick flex before you begin.

My top five Dirty Fighting Techniques for adding tension and plotting options to your story.

#1 - Triangulating: Don’t leave the issue between you and your conflict partner (could be a family member, friend or love interest), pull everybody in. Quote well-known authorities who agree with you and list every family member whom you know has taken your side. Lie about the ones you haven’t spoken to yet.

Uses: Triangulating is incredibly useful in fiction because you can expand the discussion to more characters and stir up some real drama. Let’s not keep this issue between just us, one character says to the other. Oh no, lets involve everybody.

If you have extreme Dirty Fighting Talent, you can stir the pot and then step back and play a new game called, “Let’s watch the other two people fight.” That's good times.

#2 - Escalating: Quickly move from the main issue of the argument to questioning your partner's basic personality, and then move on to wondering whether the relationship is even worth it.

Uses: Excellent tool for keeping two love interests apart. BUT, the fight better be about something that really, really matters or you risk falling into the Bog of Coincidence and most stories don’t have enough muscle to climb out of that place.

Escalating also allows for plausible use of back story. When you’re moving from the main issue to the REAL issue (often happens at the black moment / end of Act 2),  escalating the argument will make someone lose control enough that they blurt out something juicy. (Way to go, Author!)

#3 – Leaving: No problem is so big or important that it can’t be ignored or abandoned all together. Walk out of the room, leave the house, or just refuse to talk. Sometimes just threatening to leave can accomplish the same thing without all the inconvenience of following through.

Uses: My favorite use of this is employing it when the two characters really need each other. It completely ups the betrayal factor: I can’t depend on you. I don’t trust you. You’ve let me down.

You noticed how dirty those last three statements were, right? This is fantastic for your story. The farther your  character falls, the harder the journey is on the way back up, right?

#4 - Timing: Look for a time when your partner is least able to respond or least expects an argument.

Uses: Think about this from a story point of view. A really great time to pick a fight is just before the main character embarks on a journey, has a new murder to solve, is called on to save the world. Anything with high stakes works great. Be sure the character ambushing them is likeable so the reader really gets drawn into the conflict.

#5 - Rejecting Compromise: Never back down. Stick with the philosophy that only one of you can win.

Uses: This is a kickass Dirty Fighting trick to use on the main character. If there is only  one winner, there is automatic conflict involved for the person who "loses." The solutions are endless.

Are you ready to really take the gloves off?

Here is Round 2

(Click here for a post on how to really use these Round 2 techniques in fiction.)

p.s. There's a really cool contest happening at the end of the post - read on!

#6 - Brown Bagging: Never stick to just the original issue. Bring up as many problems as possible, and in great detail. Think of every complaint you can from your past history and lay them all on your partner at the same time. An overwhelmed person cannot fight back effectively.

#7 - Cross Complaining: When your partner complains about something, make sure you raise a complaint of your own. "I forgot to make up the bed? How about all the times you haven't taken out the garbage?"

#8 - Over-Generalizing: Use words like "never " or " always ." This will force your partner into defending his or her overall actions rather than looking at the issue at hand.

#9 - Pulling Rank: Don't address the real issues— it's much easier just to say that you bring home more money, have more friends, more education, or do more around the house. "When you make as much money as I do, then I'll listen to you" works like a charm. Keep your partner down! Equality in a relationship? Bah!

#10 - Using Sarcasm: This really gets their goat! "Well, lookee here at who's so perfect all the time!" Use just the right tone and your partner may not have a good comeback.

The Final "Dirty Thirteen"

For the TKO…here are the other thirteen dirty fighting techniques, in alphabetic order. Because I love my peeps here at WITS, I also searched high and low online and finally found a link to several of these techniques so you’ll have an online reference.

#11 - Asking Why: Treat your partner like an irresponsible child. "Why didn't you clean up after dinner?" "Why don't you love me like John loves Helen?" Make your partner feel that he or she is incapable of an adult relationship rather than focusing on the issue at hand.

#12 - Avoiding Responsibility: Bring any disagreement to a sudden halt by saying "I forgot." Other convenient excuses could include: "I had too much to drink," or "I guess I was tired." Why engage in a discussion when it is much easier just to avoid the whole thing?

#13 - Be Inconsistent: Keep your conflict partner off balance by changing your position.
Never hold the same opinion twice. Another good twist on this theme is to complain that your partner never speaks to you and ignore whatever they do say.

#14 - Blaming: Make it clear that you are not at fault and that you are simply the victim. Never admit that you play any part in the difficulty and that you will never make any changes. Let your partner know that he or she is entirely at fault and that if the relationship is to get any better, they will have to change.

#15 - Crucializing: Exaggerate the importance of an issue by drawing conclusions of great magnitude regarding the relationship. "If you loved me, you would never have done this" is a good one. Or try: "This proves you have never cared about me."

#16 - Fortune Telling: Like mind-reading, this technique gives you the upper hand. "You will never change" demoralizes your partner and effectively blocks resolution of the real issue.

#17 - Giving Advice: Whenever your partner wants to talk over a problem, always act like the expert. You should tell the person how to act, think and feel. Always have the better answer. If this is ever questioned you can always say that you were only trying to be helpful.

#18 - Labeling: Learn some negative terms like "neurotic," "alcoholic," "immature," or "paranoid" to use whenever you want to give the impression that the other person is at fault. Terms like "you slob..." suggest that your partner is inherently flawed as a person rather than focusing primarily on behaviors that can change.

#19 - Mind Reading: Let your partner know that you are the expert in how he or she feels or thinks. This way you won't have to deal with any issues at all. "You don't really feel angry right now." "You didn't mean to say you wouldn't be home for dinner."

#20 - Not Listening: Don't let your partner know that you value his or her opinion or feelings. Hear only what you want to hear and ignore the rest. Reinterpret whatever your partner says to suit your own needs. Better yet, interrupt whenever your partner starts to  talk. Or pretend to read or fall asleep while your partner is talking. Leaving is a great combination move with this one.

#21 - Personalizing: Anybody can solve a fight by sticking to the issues. Shift to personality and character issues and you should be able to generate enough defensiveness to keep the conflict going forever. Name calling and "never" statements can help take the focus away from a healthy debate of the issues and into real character assassination.

#22 - Playing the Martyr: If timed properly, this technique can completely disorient your partner. "You're right, honey, I guess there really is no hope for me." How can your  partner respond to that? If there is no other alternative, pretend to be sick until your partner's behavior changes— and blame your illness on your partner.

#23 - Self-Righteousness: This is the great morale builder. By listing and reciting every slight, injustice, inequity you’ve suffered through and sacrifice you’ve made, you will experience a renewed sense of self-righteousness. Giving advice on how to think, act, and feel maintains the superiority you need.

** CONTEST **

Tiffany Lawson Inman (aka Naked Editor) wrote a post on fighting styles last week, and she has offered us a prize for today. We are having a special give-away for anyone who posts their dirty fighting scene.

One writer who posts a fight scene in the comments could win a FREE EDIT from Tiffany. Edit is limited to 3 pages, double spaced, 12 pt font. 

Note from Tiffany: When you post, give me a lead-in on who is fighting, their relationship, the motivation of the fight, the dirty techniques you used, and what outcome you are aiming for.

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Do you have new ideas about how to use these filthy fighting methods in your own stories? What is your favorite Dirty Fighting technique? Tell us all about it and provide samples from your own fiction down in the comments.

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About Jenny Hansen

By day, Jenny provides corporate communications and LinkedIn advice for professional services firms. By night she writes humor, memoir, women’s fiction, and short stories. After 20 years as a corporate trainer, she’s delighted to sit down while she works.

When she’s not at her personal blog, More Cowbell, Jenny can be found on Facebook at JennyHansenAuthor or at Writers In The Storm.

Photo credits: Pixabay