June 6th, 2011%
A writer’s life is littered with break-ups. Each story is meant to have an ending. But, endings are subjective.
Re-read. Re-read.
The frequency of edits wanes. Punctuation ceases to draw your attention. All the options presented in the beginning of the story have been explored. The characters have gotten where they needed to go. Your edits are the only things you’re editing.
It’s time to start another story, but new stories lead to new details that accumulate into almost cohesive sections that could be added to your finished story to make it better.
Better, but different. Different and better. Maybe not better, but different.
You’ve finally gotten to know these characters, but your relationship with that story is over.
April 28th, 2011%
I’ve got a month to get my next story in shape for this year’s Tin House Summer Workshop. I started last year’s story with dialogue. This year’s story started with a character.
I want to be on the brink of my writing ability when I go to the workshop. I figure I’ll get the best feedback if I get the story to the point of my own limitations. When I can’t possibly add or subtract without destroying or drastically changing the story, it’s ready. I’ve saved eight drafts in case I need to dig for lost sentences while I develop the character who is supposed to guide me through edits.
Other preparation includes the following:
- I had my best reader give me a philosophical reading of the characters within the context of the story.
- I read Mystery and Manners by Flannery O’Connor to humble and prepare me to take advice.
- I posted a current draft in The Woodshed which is an online workshop hosted on Fictionaut.com. The Woodshed currently has 23 members and allows you to edit your draft between comments so each reader can comment on the most recent version. I received five comments in a week which was perfect for gaining some editing momentum and developing the characters a bit more.
At last year’s Tin House Summer Workshop, Charles D’Ambrosio told me to eliminate abstraction and focus on concrete writing. I also got some suggestions for more detail and a collection of reader reactions from the rest of the workshop participants which helped me fine-tune.
I’m not sure this story has a concrete foundation, but I know it’s way better than last year’s. Plus, I got up in the middle of the night with a great ending that should guide the middle section to align with the other parts.
October 18th, 2010%
Every writer develops a unique relationship with writing. There are boundaries, commitments, and expectations. But, you can pretty much do whatever you want to your writing.
According to Vince Lombardi: “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”
When I realize there’s nothing more I can do, I move onto another draft or start a new one. I’ll admit it. I’m a cheater and a quitter. Sometimes, I just get to a point where everything I do just screws things up until I eventually forget what I wanted to do and now I don’t even want to look at the thing.
Maybe I should try harder to make things work. Or maybe I should make as many mistakes as quickly as possible to become a better writer. I need practice.
In competitive sports, you finish a race and talk about it. Your coach and your team know you’ve got a personal best and some goals to get better. They’ve seen you practice and compete. You also know where you stand, even if you’re not the best, which makes you more realistic. Talent and hard work are only part of the equation.
In order to take Vince’s advice and get lots of practice quickly, I’ve decided to give typetrigger a try.
October 6th, 2010%
Immediacy versus memory. The ways in which we capture thoughts and situations with words adapts to Social Media’s constraints.
I don’t live my life as a character looking for a story, but I do find myself in some interesting situations. Social media provides an interesting contextual continuum which challenges me to succinctly capture the thought or situation. The deadlines are negotiable. Gratification is instant.
- Twitter is a fun way to share the defined thoughts or realizations that tend to weigh down my narrative experiments. These are the sentences I edit several times and delete. I feel like I’m giving them a good home rather than false hopes of becoming part of a story.
- Facebook posts tend to be a little more personal (200+ of my closest friends & family). I’ve actually stolen some of my status posts and put them into story dialogue or descriptions. I feel dirty, but I have no issues editing them.
- Textingwith friends always generates new ways of looking at a situation and sometimes reminds me of ways to use language more effectively. I’ve edited or started writing after texting, but I’ve never liposuctioned a text and injected it into a story.
Hunter S. Thompson and George Orwell found ways to elicit the truth by distilling their experiences into something worth reading. Social media can be a helpful intermediary to structure our thoughts and sentences. Then, we can apply our knowledge of writing craft to use them in creative non-fiction.
August 31st, 2010%
My older sister and I were constantly getting locked out of the house when we got home from school. We had a core set of techniques to break in without damage, but mostly, we just needed to remember to put the spare key back in the hiding place after we used it.
Since then, I’ve been locked out of sentences, paragraphs, and short pieces of writing. In order to break into a locked-down piece of writing, I use some different techniques:
- Sentences: I keep writing around them until I draw enough from the initial idea to break apart the sentence. It sometimes takes days and a very cold draft, but it’s definitely possible.
- Paragraphs: Every good prison break requires a crew so I figure out which sentences I can trust, but I don’t make deals. Anything can happen when things start to fall apart. I use the sentence breaking technique to find the weak links.
- Short Pieces: Identify the weak location. Then consider shifting some paragraphs to build your case. The new writing is going to stick out like the new kid in school so you’ll have to rebalance the rest. Sometimes the rebalancing is just changing paragraph breaks, but I generally have to fill out a few of the paragraphs with new sentences to account for the new stuff.
Editing is like the spare key. I haven’t created a good habit of editing throughout the writing process. I’m not even sure what draft I’m working on so I’m forced to come up with these juvenile delinquent tactics to get back in.
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