Writers Mirror – Writers Muse 1

Writers Mirror Writers Muse 1

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QUESTIONS AND MORE

“I start and then I stop. How can I keep myself plowing through a draft without wondering if it’s not good enough to go on?”

EMMA RICHIE (Melbourne)

What you’re talking about if I’m correct, is the ugly face of resistance, imposter syndrome and procrastination.  All of these dysfunctions are variations of fear or performance anxiety.  A fear of being shown up as a fraud, having bitten off more than you’re capable of chewing or not.  The irony is through working within the Writers Mirror the very same feelings that build from a sense of care, that would otherwise work against you now work with you – and the power of the group drives you forward to fresh new writing.   Ultimately we all are in writings power and must work with what it gives us.  Much of the magic is only apparent after we conquer each draft.   

Have you seen what’s ranking on the bestseller lists?  Walk into any bookstore, or ask Steven King about ’50 Shades’, aside from the sex scenes.  As much as 75% of the  factual titles are little more than celebrity-driven, mostly ghostwritten birdcage liner.

LANGUAGE AND STORY

In many ways diving into the art and craft of writing can be like learning your mother tongue. In the beginning it’s more language exposure than one typically ever speaks.

As a rule, language acquisition is a matter of aiming for comfort with all you hear and say.  Becoming comfortable with listening rather than speaking the sounds. You won’t acquire much grammar through drills,  that’s compared with attaining comfort with the way things are said and not said in your new language. It’s similar to the conventions inside of each story genre.   Writing imaginative fiction is 10x harder than factual/non fiction any day of the week.   Master the craft of fiction and as demonstrated you’ll be ready to write anything else.  Which brings me to the practice of story.

That’s one good scene atop another and taking it all as it comes.

Whether you want to or not.

Whether you feel like it or not.

Whether or not you think you’ve got the writing chops.

Or if you’ve you’ve got what it takes to pull that damned thing off.

This, by the way, is a very healthy place to be.

                                  “YOUR EMOTIONS MAKE YOU HUMAN. EVEN THE UNPLEASANT ONES HAVE

                                   A PURPOSE. DON’T LOCK THEM AWAY. IF YOU IGNORE THEM THEY JUST

                                    GET LOUDER AND ANGRIER.”

                                      SABIR TAHIR

It wasn’t until we developed the dream map that we could choose the quality of a story before putting pen to paper on it.  Typically, an audience will be the ones who bestow you with greatness. We pre engineered audience that’s already on your side, and while you’re still  in the kitchen on scenes.   One that’s ready with the distinctions to be of most use to what you are working on and right away.

                                      “ONLY IN THE END WILL YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SAYING.”

                                          PETER ELBOW

This is absolutely true for first drafts and each layer holds its own secrets.  Author Ray Bradbury, apart from advocating that ‘in quickness is truth’, recommended testing your biggest truthful idea as early as you can in any work in progress.   He asserted that many other truths will gather around the first to build up momentum as you go.

You wouldn’t start a marathon without building up the small stuff and going in prepared.  Short stories are where this rubber meets the road . It’s an economy of tight scenes, limited characters with maximum drama.  You’re gearing up for something more substantial.   

                                       “WRITING’S AN ATHLETIC ACTIVITY.”

                                          NATALIE GOLDBERG

Gloves off and witness the fitness.

You’ll become skilled not only at writing shorts, but great scenes.  It’s this acumen that transforms your level of assessment so it matters for others. That’s Writers Mirror Reflection, and the aim of it is to bring everyone on the court up to a level that delights and inspires.

DIALOGUE

As anyone who’s spent time in the trenches will testify, real people don’t speak much.  A lot less than most writers write (since most communication is non-verbal). When it comes to dialogue the art of it can be boiled down to ‘less is more’.

It’s not ‘are you tired?’ but ‘tired?’,  not ‘your room’s a pigsty’, but ‘mop’s to your left, kid’.

In truth, most people try to avoid conflict at all costs.

The rule of thumb here is dialogue and conversation are worlds apart:

“There’s another little thing,” he said uncertainly, and hesitated.

“Would you rather put it off for a few days?” I asked.

“Oh, it isn’t about that. At least -” He fumbled with a series of beginnings. “Why, I thought – why, look here, old sport, you don’t make much money, do you?”

“Not very much.”

This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.

“I thought you didn’t. if you’ll pardon my-  you see, I carry on a little business on the side line, if you understand.  And I thought that if you don’t make very much – You’re selling bonds, aren’t you, old sport?”

“Trying to.”

THE GREAT GATSBY, F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

IMPOSTER SYNDROME, RESISTANCE AND THE EDITING PROCESS

Since you’re read this far it’s fair to guess that you care, and because of that are streets ahead of the many who only dream about being writers.

I know, we’re all busy.  That’s why we need to make writing time ‘up time’. Then we can tap the power of cumulative effort. This comes from focusing on manageable tasks and sticking each piece out to the end.

WHERE DO GREAT WRITING IDEAS COME FROM?

Keep a notepad and take it everywhere.  Try it for a week and use it. Writing and spying. Listening to the way real people speak and working from there.   The writer can find these on public transport, waiting in line at the store. But the greatest place is when you let the pen take you where it wants to go.  Free-writing and generating the quantity leads to quality.

                     “IDEAS COME IN A NON LINEAR ORDER.”

                           STEPHEN PRESSMAN

                     “CHANCE FAVOURS THE PREPARED MIND.”

                              LOUIS PASTEUR

All you really need is one idea. Find situations based on an economy, limited characters and locations. This is where the practicalities of film do inform fiction. Concentrate the drama and write tight.  All of it comes back to craft-based processes.  This takes conditioning yourself to writing the scenes, same as any other professional athlete does.

‘Jesus!’ Jed whispered, and switched off the light. ‘Did you hear that?’

‘Of course I did!’

‘Who was it?’

‘How should I know?’

‘Christ, Jed! Put the torch back on! This is making me nervous!’

‘…If you’re nervous, why are you smiling?’

‘…How did you know I was smiling?’

‘I could hear it in your voice.’

‘Just put the bloody light back on!’

‘No,’ he hissed. ‘We don’t know what’s going on yet.’

THE BEACH, ALEX GARLAND

Notice the dotted spaces before dialogue after the torch is turned off because they’re now in pitch black darkness? 

It’s authentic for the situation, The Dream Map is designed to help you to discover a truthful bottom of things fast.   The key is engineering readability that’s a largely matter of pacing.  He said she said tags, and superfluous adverbs are so rare you’ve got to hunt for them.   An overall skill is writing for variance.  Kick it off in 5th to pull back to 2nd then build up again to overdrive.

IDEAS ON HERO AND VILLAIN CHARACTERS

To err is human, actually with momentum mistakes yield insights.  Your main character needs to have deeply relatable human characteristics.  Even if that fellow’s an anthropomorphic rock.  So long as they have a desire and take action on it, then you’ve got story.    

Your story’s opposing force can appear in many forms, but at heart it’s beneficial to think of this as two heroes acting at cross purposes.    

And whatever form your villain takes, in their mind they’re just as much of hero as that pesky rock.    

INNER MONOLOGUE, ACTION AND BREAKS

Lazy writers rely on the deus ex machina.  If that’s not bad enough they bog scenes down with inner-monologue or thought writing. That’s the sort of thing makes writing dead and happens everywhere these days.

Better to rely on action instead to kick scenes into gear.  Yes there’s a time in later drafts for filling things out. but showing action will always give a clear idea of what a character is thinking.   More over, movement or action is so foundational to a scene, which incidentally is defined as ‘a unit of action’.  But shifting a scene between two characters that begin in a dining room to finish in the snow storm outside can have a huge impact on the structure of a scene.

                     “THE CONSTRUCTION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.  

                       IT’S LIKE BUILDING A HOUSE –YOU HAVE TO BUILD

                      THE OUTSIDE PROPERLY BEFORE YOU PUT THE BITS

                     AND PIECES INSIDE AFTERWARD.  GET YOUR STORY,

                    GET YOUR ARCHITECTURE RIGHT, AND YOU CAN

                     ALWAYS ADD YOUR DIALOGUE AFTERWARDS.”

                        CHARLES BENNETT

These are elements that play a part in making your scene hit the notes you want for it.

EDITING

We put a lot of stock into free-writing as it taps the imagination by putting our ‘internal editor’ on ice. By doing this you’ll create the quantity that leads to quality.

If a first draft story is written, aim to get some distance on it. This is so you can return with fresh eyes.  It doesn’t need a lot of time but distance all the same.

                          “THEY GET INTO THE MIDDLE AND DISCOVER IT WAS

                           HARDER THAN THEY THOUGHT. THEY CAN’T SEE THE

                           DISTANT SHORE ANYMORE, AND THEY WONDER IF

                          THEIR PADDLING IS MOVING THEM FORWARD. NONE

                        OF THE TREES BEHIND THEM ARE GETTING SMALLER

                        AND NONE OF THE TREES AHEAD ARE GETTING

                       BIGGER.  THEY TAKE IT OUT ON THEIR SPOUSES, AND

                       THEY GO LOOKING FOR AN EASIER STORY.”

                                DONALD MILLER

Typically, if you’re far enough ahead a key part of you will ‘keep the feelers out’.  The main steps are pre-writing, writing, rewriting and editing.  Each of these has demands on different parts of ourselves.  Once all are kept separate the speed and quality of my own writing increased exponentially. Writing simply put, is a muscle.

It’s only with use that it grows.  We started The Writers Mirror to support our writing efforts, and now there’s a culture driven by the value that everyone gets from the power of the group.

https://writersmirror.com/2023/10/02/writers-muse-i/