There is a way to virtually guarantee your publication within a single year. No, it has nothing to do with self-publication. This path is not for dilettantes, and will push you to the limit, but it has worked for dozens of my students, and it will work for you.
It is based on writing principles first proposed by two giants in the publishing field, science-fiction writers Ray Bradbury, and Robert Heinlein, over thirty years ago. And no, you don't have to be a science fiction writer. No matter what your ULTIMATE goal-novel, screenplay, playwright, or poet, you can adapt this method. It is designed to address literally every major problem you have or might encounter as a writer.
1) Write a story a week, or a story every other week.
2) Read 10X as much as you write.
3) Put your stories in the mail. Keep them in the mail until they sell.
4) Never re-write except to editorial request.
And there you go. Now let's look back at the steps for a bit of further explanation.
1) Write a story a week, or a story every other week. These can be as short as you wish. No, it doesn't matter if you want to write novels, or your ideas tend to emerge from your subconscious in long form. If you're a newbie runner training for a marathon, you'd start by running around the block, wouldn't you? You wouldn't start by running twenty-six miles, that's for sure! Everything you need to know to write a book is contained in a short story, and writing 100,000 words of short stories will improve your writing far more than that same 100,000 words devoted to a novel. Scriptwriting? Before you can write a script, you need to be certain you understand storytelling. I mean REALLY understand it, subconsciously. Short stories give you a chance to hone your skills. Poetry? Well, in this case, write a poem a week! Non-Fiction? Sure! Write an article a week!
2) Read 10X what you write. There is nothing sadder than a young writer who doesn't read for fear of "contaminating his style." This is complete self-delusion. A writer DESPERATELY needs to read everything she can get her hands on...and of the very best quality. Personally, I read one act of Shakespeare aloud each morning, to simultaneously improve my writing and speaking ability.
3) Put your stories in the mail. Every week, or every other week, one of your stories should be submitted to an editor who pays money for publication. Frankly, it doesn't matter how much. Money is a very cold equation, something different from pats on the back, cheers, contributors copies or even awards. When an editor cuts you a check, there is a lack of warm fuzzy feelings, and a down-to-earth "will my readers like this" that is completely different from the accolades or criticisms of your writing group or class. THIS is the feedback you need: a check that clears the bank. Get your stories out! And web publication is just fine in this regard-as long as there is money. Even a penny a word-or less!--is just fine.
4) Don't re-write except to editorial request. Once your story is finished and initially re-written, move on. Don't re-write endlessly, trying to get it "perfect." You'll learn more by writing a new story than re-writing an old one endlessly.
If you'll do this, I promise you your first sales within fifty stories. At the story a week level, that's one year! Just one year from today, you could be a paid author. And for any real writer, that should be an idea exciting enough to keep them up late, and get them up early, typing away, knowing that that first acceptance check is less than 365 days way.
NY Times Bestselling writer Steven Barnes has published over 3 million words of fiction, and wrote the Emmy-winning "A Stitch In Time" episode of the Outer Limits. He is the creator of the Lifewriting ™ performance system for writers. WWW.Lifewriting.biz
Monday, March 17, 2008
Four Useful Lies About Writing
Most writing "experts" favor a particular way of looking at plot, and will adhere to it for years or an entire career. That's all well and good, but its important to realize that any way of modeling story is just that-a model, not the depths and living essence of story itself.
Problems arise when young (or experienced!) writers mistake a simplified structure for some deep and eternal truth. It's much better to examine several structures, their their strengths and weaknesses are, and try to glimpse the truth they are trying to convey.
The actual "truth" of story is beyond any structure, but they all point in the same direction, toward that misty, hidden metaphorical mountain all storytellers have been climbing since the beginning of time. As long as we don't mistake the finger for the mountain, the structures can be quite useful indeed.
The worst story model that is at all useful might be" "It has a beginning, middle, and an end." Well, yes, but so does a piece of string.
More helpfully, try: Objective, Obstacle, Outcome. In other words, a character wants something, and something stands in her way. She tries various things to resolve the difficulty, leading to an eventual climax.
This one is even more useful:
Situation, Character, Objective, Opponent, Disaster. Using the classic James Bond film "Goldfinger" as an model (action films are good for this, because their structure is usually crystal clear):
Situation: When gold is being smuggled from England in large quantities,
Character: Secret Agent 007 James Bond
Objective: Is assigned to find out how it is being done. But little does he know that
Opponent: Industrialist billionaire Auric Goldfinger
Disaster: Is smuggling gold to finance his real operation, the destruction of Fort Knox with an atom bomb!
Can you see how this model helps to clarify the different basic aspects of your story? The hero must have a goal, and there must be forces in opposition. Moreover, the hero's initial goal and his ultimate goal may well change over the course of the story, as they grow to understand the situation more fully. A story structure like this one implies both internal and external motivations, and sets up a dynamic structure that almost writes itself!
The very best writing structure would be what is known as the "Hero's Journey" created by Joseph Campbell, and explored by anthropologists and writing mavens around the world. There are numerous interpretations of it, but in essence, it can be represented as:
1)Hero Confronted With A Challenge.
2)The Hero rejects the challenge
3)The Hero accepts the challenge
4)Road of Trials
5)Meeting allies and gaining powers
6) Confront evil and defeat.
7) Dark Night of the Soul
8) Leap of Faith
9) Confront Evil and victory
10) Student Becomes The Teacher
This pattern automatically implies the yearnings, fears, obstacles, efforts, deep depression and exultation of actual human lives. This is the reason that this pattern, more than any other, is useful to writers both new and experienced. Because it mirrors our lives, a writer can most easily adapt her own understandings of life and the universe into her work. If you organize your work into this pattern, readers or viewers all over the world will instantly recognize your efforts as "story." Whether it is a "good" story will depend entirely on the skill and creativity that you bring to the task-the unquantifiable quality of "art" that is beyond direct description.
There are, of course, many other patterns, and an ambitious writer or student would do well to list several of them side by side, and analyze what they are saying. None of them are "truth," but all are useful fingers pointing toward that mountain.
NY Times Bestselling author Steven Barnes has published twenty novels, and wrote the Emmy winning "A Stitch In Time" episode of "The Outer Limits." He also created Lifewriting, the high-performance system for writers. Get a FREE daily writing tip at: www.lifewriting.biz
Problems arise when young (or experienced!) writers mistake a simplified structure for some deep and eternal truth. It's much better to examine several structures, their their strengths and weaknesses are, and try to glimpse the truth they are trying to convey.
The actual "truth" of story is beyond any structure, but they all point in the same direction, toward that misty, hidden metaphorical mountain all storytellers have been climbing since the beginning of time. As long as we don't mistake the finger for the mountain, the structures can be quite useful indeed.
The worst story model that is at all useful might be" "It has a beginning, middle, and an end." Well, yes, but so does a piece of string.
More helpfully, try: Objective, Obstacle, Outcome. In other words, a character wants something, and something stands in her way. She tries various things to resolve the difficulty, leading to an eventual climax.
This one is even more useful:
Situation, Character, Objective, Opponent, Disaster. Using the classic James Bond film "Goldfinger" as an model (action films are good for this, because their structure is usually crystal clear):
Situation: When gold is being smuggled from England in large quantities,
Character: Secret Agent 007 James Bond
Objective: Is assigned to find out how it is being done. But little does he know that
Opponent: Industrialist billionaire Auric Goldfinger
Disaster: Is smuggling gold to finance his real operation, the destruction of Fort Knox with an atom bomb!
Can you see how this model helps to clarify the different basic aspects of your story? The hero must have a goal, and there must be forces in opposition. Moreover, the hero's initial goal and his ultimate goal may well change over the course of the story, as they grow to understand the situation more fully. A story structure like this one implies both internal and external motivations, and sets up a dynamic structure that almost writes itself!
The very best writing structure would be what is known as the "Hero's Journey" created by Joseph Campbell, and explored by anthropologists and writing mavens around the world. There are numerous interpretations of it, but in essence, it can be represented as:
1)Hero Confronted With A Challenge.
2)The Hero rejects the challenge
3)The Hero accepts the challenge
4)Road of Trials
5)Meeting allies and gaining powers
6) Confront evil and defeat.
7) Dark Night of the Soul
8) Leap of Faith
9) Confront Evil and victory
10) Student Becomes The Teacher
This pattern automatically implies the yearnings, fears, obstacles, efforts, deep depression and exultation of actual human lives. This is the reason that this pattern, more than any other, is useful to writers both new and experienced. Because it mirrors our lives, a writer can most easily adapt her own understandings of life and the universe into her work. If you organize your work into this pattern, readers or viewers all over the world will instantly recognize your efforts as "story." Whether it is a "good" story will depend entirely on the skill and creativity that you bring to the task-the unquantifiable quality of "art" that is beyond direct description.
There are, of course, many other patterns, and an ambitious writer or student would do well to list several of them side by side, and analyze what they are saying. None of them are "truth," but all are useful fingers pointing toward that mountain.
NY Times Bestselling author Steven Barnes has published twenty novels, and wrote the Emmy winning "A Stitch In Time" episode of "The Outer Limits." He also created Lifewriting, the high-performance system for writers. Get a FREE daily writing tip at: www.lifewriting.biz
Writing Twenty Novels (in 10 easy steps!)
During a recent telephone conversation, I mentioned having sent off the last revisions for my twentieth novel, "Great Sky Woman." There was a silence on the other side of the phone, followed by the question "How in the world do you do that? Twenty novels!"
The truth is that I know many writers who have written far more than twenty novels. It is not that unusual. In fact, if you are a working writer, the "perfect" output is very close to a book a year. Less often than this, and the readers stop anticipating your next book, and wander to another writer's literary pasture.
There is a commonality to the behavior patterns of successful writers, and a commonality to the behavior patterns of writers who just can't get started, can't get finished, or stall out at their first or third book.
Successful, prolific writers:
1) Write every day. That's EVERY day. They sit down, open their veins, and bleed into their computers. Yes, it can be painful, but if you don't maintain this kind of regularity, rust creeps in. The connection between heart, mind and fingers is broken. And we mistake the struggle for our natural state.
2) Read every day. Reading is priming the pump. It is modeling successful behavior. It is increasing vocabulary, studying plot and characterization, and entertaining the little subconscious demons and angels who actually do the deep work. Never neglect this.
3) Set deadlines and quotas. There is a certain amount of work to be done, on a daily basis. It need not be some huge amount-a page a day will create a book a year!
4) Create a writing space, a place that feels comfortable to them. This is both a physical space (a desk) and a psychological space (created with music, posters, familiar objects, etc.) It may also be a temporal space-a specific time of day or night that they write.
5) Have specific goals. They have committed to being professional writers. This is how they define themselves, and they never forget it. If you accept this definition, then you MUST behave as a professional writer, on a daily basis, or it causes emotional discomfort. They are willing to accept this friendly prod.
6) Don't listen to the negative voices in their heads. Everyone has them. The voices tell you you can't, you mustn't, it isn't good enough. You must find a way to tell the voices to shut up, to ignore them, or to quiet them. Any flow-based activity will help here: meditation, Tai Chi, yoga, running, Sufi breathing exercises, martial arts...the list is endless. Find one.
7) Are committed to the long-term. They know that if they spend an hour or three a day, every day, for a decade, they will build their career.
8) Expose themselves to criticism and rejection. In other words, they FINISH their projects, and then SUBMIT those finished projects to editors and agents.
9) Involve other people in their "master mind" group. Successful writers know other writers. And readers. And editors. And agents. They befriend them, recruit them, get feedback from them, and listen to the feedback. This is their "brain trust." Unsuccessful writers hide in their offices, never finish their work, never send it out to risk rejection.
10) Have W.I.T.---they will do Whatever It Takes to ethically reach their dreams, to become the best they can be. They never quit. They know that success is based less on talent or "who you know" than persistence, hard work, and honesty.
There are more distinctions, but I'm out of time-got to start working on book twenty-one!
NY Times bestselling author Steven Barnes has lectured on storytelling and human consciousness at UCLA, Mensa, and the Smithsonian Institute. He is the creator of the first whole-mind high-performance system system for writers. Learn more at: www.lifewriting.biz and www.lifewriting.com
The truth is that I know many writers who have written far more than twenty novels. It is not that unusual. In fact, if you are a working writer, the "perfect" output is very close to a book a year. Less often than this, and the readers stop anticipating your next book, and wander to another writer's literary pasture.
There is a commonality to the behavior patterns of successful writers, and a commonality to the behavior patterns of writers who just can't get started, can't get finished, or stall out at their first or third book.
Successful, prolific writers:
1) Write every day. That's EVERY day. They sit down, open their veins, and bleed into their computers. Yes, it can be painful, but if you don't maintain this kind of regularity, rust creeps in. The connection between heart, mind and fingers is broken. And we mistake the struggle for our natural state.
2) Read every day. Reading is priming the pump. It is modeling successful behavior. It is increasing vocabulary, studying plot and characterization, and entertaining the little subconscious demons and angels who actually do the deep work. Never neglect this.
3) Set deadlines and quotas. There is a certain amount of work to be done, on a daily basis. It need not be some huge amount-a page a day will create a book a year!
4) Create a writing space, a place that feels comfortable to them. This is both a physical space (a desk) and a psychological space (created with music, posters, familiar objects, etc.) It may also be a temporal space-a specific time of day or night that they write.
5) Have specific goals. They have committed to being professional writers. This is how they define themselves, and they never forget it. If you accept this definition, then you MUST behave as a professional writer, on a daily basis, or it causes emotional discomfort. They are willing to accept this friendly prod.
6) Don't listen to the negative voices in their heads. Everyone has them. The voices tell you you can't, you mustn't, it isn't good enough. You must find a way to tell the voices to shut up, to ignore them, or to quiet them. Any flow-based activity will help here: meditation, Tai Chi, yoga, running, Sufi breathing exercises, martial arts...the list is endless. Find one.
7) Are committed to the long-term. They know that if they spend an hour or three a day, every day, for a decade, they will build their career.
8) Expose themselves to criticism and rejection. In other words, they FINISH their projects, and then SUBMIT those finished projects to editors and agents.
9) Involve other people in their "master mind" group. Successful writers know other writers. And readers. And editors. And agents. They befriend them, recruit them, get feedback from them, and listen to the feedback. This is their "brain trust." Unsuccessful writers hide in their offices, never finish their work, never send it out to risk rejection.
10) Have W.I.T.---they will do Whatever It Takes to ethically reach their dreams, to become the best they can be. They never quit. They know that success is based less on talent or "who you know" than persistence, hard work, and honesty.
There are more distinctions, but I'm out of time-got to start working on book twenty-one!
NY Times bestselling author Steven Barnes has lectured on storytelling and human consciousness at UCLA, Mensa, and the Smithsonian Institute. He is the creator of the first whole-mind high-performance system system for writers. Learn more at: www.lifewriting.biz and www.lifewriting.com
The Billionaire Writer's Secret
During a career spanning twenty-five years of novel, film, and television work, I've two major tools most valuable: the yogic "chakras" for characterization, and Joseph Campbell's model of the Hero's Journey for plot structure.
These are not random choices, nor were they selected because of the many intelligent and thoughtful essays on their relationship to successful film or world myth.
Rather, they are important because they create a connection between the inner world of the writer, and the external world of the finished work-and the reader.
A plot structure is nothing more than a tool for organizing events in temporal sequence. While there are more such structures than there are professional writers, few of them meet what thousands of students consider a critical test: are they actually easy to use and apply? A simple tool, however limited, can be of greater use than a complicated tool that requires years to master. Remember: you will achieve real quality in your writing only by mastering your basics.
The Hero's Journey, extracted from thousands of years of world mythology, has the advantage of actually mimicking the path of life itself. The "three act structure" does not. After all...life isn't divided into three, or five, or eight acts. Such divisions can be useful tools, but they should never be mistaken for some kind of "truth" about existence. In comparison, note this interpretation (there are others) of the steps of the Hero's Journey, and to explain them, we'll look at the first Star Wars movie, "Episode IV, A New Hope":
1) Hero Confronted With A Challenge. "Come with me, Luke, learn the ways of the Force." This is pretty clear, right? There has to be a challenge, or a beckoning, or the character won't begin to change-and all great writing is about change.
2) Hero Initially rejects the challenge, :I promised Uncle Owen I'd work on the moisture evaporators." A real challenge, one that can provoke real change, will be frightening and exciting. A character will usually have some reservations.
3) Hero accepts the challenge. Luke's aunt and uncle are killed, freeing him from his oath. If your character doesn't accept the challenge, there is no story-unless the story is about the consequences of not accepting responsibility.
4) The Road of trials. Traveling to the desert town and cantina, getting on Han Solo's spaceship, traveling to other planets, etc. This is the section where locations and sequence interact. The character travels, learns, commits actions that force inter-action with the environment, and the environment responds positively or negatively, with greater and greater stakes as the story proceeds.
5) Gaining Allies and Powers. Luke meets Han Solo, and Chewbacca, and Obi-Wan, and Princess Leia. He learns of the Force, and the use of Light Sabers, and how to fly and fight and rescue princesses. If your character doesn't have to grow in order to resolve the problem, you may have chosen the wrong problem or character!
6) Initial Confrontation with Evil, and defeat. Obi-Wan's death. Or possibly the disastrous attack on the Death Star. One is private and emotional, the other spectacular and physical.
7) Dark Night of the Soul. The moment of greatest weakness. Luke begins to believe he cannot win, and everything he loves will die.
8) Leap of Faith. "Trust your Feelings, Luke." The leap of Faith is always faith in one of three things: faith in self, faith in your companions, or faith in a higher power. In "Star Wars" it is all three! This may be the only time in the history of cinema that this was true, and helps to explain why George Lucas is a billionaire.
9) Confront Evil-victorious. The Death Star blows up.
10) Student Becomes the Teacher. Luke is presented with medals, which establish him as a role model.
The above ten steps are not some cookie-cutter pattern. They are the combined world wisdom about the path of life itself, the process we go through in achieving any worthwhile goal. There will be fear. There will be defeat. We will need to gain new skills and friends and partners. We must be clear on our acceptance of goals and responsibility. We must have faith. And ultimately, if we have struggled, and learned, and sacrificed, and moved through our fear...we learn and grow and succeed. And then we teach others. This is the pattern of life, and any time you organize information and events into a pattern even vaguely reminiscent of this, the human nervous system, worldwide, will recognize it as story.
It is NOT some kind of cure-all for bad story tellers. What these ten steps are is something analogous to the eighty-eight keys of a piano. Understand the emotional and life significance of each step, and then "play them" as your developed instincts dictate. Make your own kind of music. The pattern has worked for about thirty thousand years. It will work for you, too.
NY Times Bestselling Writer Steven Barnes has published over three million words of fiction, and wrote the Emmy-winning "A Stitch In Time" episode of the Outer Limits. He is the creator of Lifewriting™, the body-mind high performance system. Get a FREE daily Lifewriting tip at: www.lifewriting.biz
These are not random choices, nor were they selected because of the many intelligent and thoughtful essays on their relationship to successful film or world myth.
Rather, they are important because they create a connection between the inner world of the writer, and the external world of the finished work-and the reader.
A plot structure is nothing more than a tool for organizing events in temporal sequence. While there are more such structures than there are professional writers, few of them meet what thousands of students consider a critical test: are they actually easy to use and apply? A simple tool, however limited, can be of greater use than a complicated tool that requires years to master. Remember: you will achieve real quality in your writing only by mastering your basics.
The Hero's Journey, extracted from thousands of years of world mythology, has the advantage of actually mimicking the path of life itself. The "three act structure" does not. After all...life isn't divided into three, or five, or eight acts. Such divisions can be useful tools, but they should never be mistaken for some kind of "truth" about existence. In comparison, note this interpretation (there are others) of the steps of the Hero's Journey, and to explain them, we'll look at the first Star Wars movie, "Episode IV, A New Hope":
1) Hero Confronted With A Challenge. "Come with me, Luke, learn the ways of the Force." This is pretty clear, right? There has to be a challenge, or a beckoning, or the character won't begin to change-and all great writing is about change.
2) Hero Initially rejects the challenge, :I promised Uncle Owen I'd work on the moisture evaporators." A real challenge, one that can provoke real change, will be frightening and exciting. A character will usually have some reservations.
3) Hero accepts the challenge. Luke's aunt and uncle are killed, freeing him from his oath. If your character doesn't accept the challenge, there is no story-unless the story is about the consequences of not accepting responsibility.
4) The Road of trials. Traveling to the desert town and cantina, getting on Han Solo's spaceship, traveling to other planets, etc. This is the section where locations and sequence interact. The character travels, learns, commits actions that force inter-action with the environment, and the environment responds positively or negatively, with greater and greater stakes as the story proceeds.
5) Gaining Allies and Powers. Luke meets Han Solo, and Chewbacca, and Obi-Wan, and Princess Leia. He learns of the Force, and the use of Light Sabers, and how to fly and fight and rescue princesses. If your character doesn't have to grow in order to resolve the problem, you may have chosen the wrong problem or character!
6) Initial Confrontation with Evil, and defeat. Obi-Wan's death. Or possibly the disastrous attack on the Death Star. One is private and emotional, the other spectacular and physical.
7) Dark Night of the Soul. The moment of greatest weakness. Luke begins to believe he cannot win, and everything he loves will die.
8) Leap of Faith. "Trust your Feelings, Luke." The leap of Faith is always faith in one of three things: faith in self, faith in your companions, or faith in a higher power. In "Star Wars" it is all three! This may be the only time in the history of cinema that this was true, and helps to explain why George Lucas is a billionaire.
9) Confront Evil-victorious. The Death Star blows up.
10) Student Becomes the Teacher. Luke is presented with medals, which establish him as a role model.
The above ten steps are not some cookie-cutter pattern. They are the combined world wisdom about the path of life itself, the process we go through in achieving any worthwhile goal. There will be fear. There will be defeat. We will need to gain new skills and friends and partners. We must be clear on our acceptance of goals and responsibility. We must have faith. And ultimately, if we have struggled, and learned, and sacrificed, and moved through our fear...we learn and grow and succeed. And then we teach others. This is the pattern of life, and any time you organize information and events into a pattern even vaguely reminiscent of this, the human nervous system, worldwide, will recognize it as story.
It is NOT some kind of cure-all for bad story tellers. What these ten steps are is something analogous to the eighty-eight keys of a piano. Understand the emotional and life significance of each step, and then "play them" as your developed instincts dictate. Make your own kind of music. The pattern has worked for about thirty thousand years. It will work for you, too.
NY Times Bestselling Writer Steven Barnes has published over three million words of fiction, and wrote the Emmy-winning "A Stitch In Time" episode of the Outer Limits. He is the creator of Lifewriting™, the body-mind high performance system. Get a FREE daily Lifewriting tip at: www.lifewriting.biz
Seven Ways To Connect Your Writing And Your Life
During the twenty years I've taught writing, hundreds of students have expressed the belief that success and personal integrity are mutually exclusive.
The Lifewriting™ approach to fiction suggests that not only do these two qualities overlap, but that the safest, surest, most satisfying path to discovering your true voice, your deepest creative flow, and ultimately crafting the most satisfying career, is to be true to yourself. It suggests that Aristotle's famous debate concerning the relative merits of plot and character is a trick: Plot and character are actually two sides of the same coin. Character is best revealed through action. And plot is merely what happens when a given character engages with a specific situation. It is not only possible, but advisable, to shift back and forth between those perspectives, seeking to create a seamless whole.
How do you, personally, define character? You MUST have some theory or feeling for the human condition, or you'll have nothing to write about. The best and simplest way to learn characterization is to study psychology. And the best psychological study is yourself. Why? Because you have more information about what makes you you than you will ever have about what makes anyone else tick.
What this path demands is the honesty and courage to look deeply into your own life, and some model to organize the different aspects of your personality and emotional history. Then you need some mechanism to help you apply your discoveries to your writing.
The very finest model of the human condition is the 6,000 year old model from India, the "chakras" of yoga. Supposedly seven energy centers within and around the human body, they mirror Maslow's hierarchy of human needs. Both yogis and psychologists suggest that until the "lower" more basic needs are met, one cannot move to the next level of life.
The Chakras represent survival, sexuality, power, emotion, communication, intellect, and spirit. Let's take a peek into the way each of these "levels" can be used to connect your inner emotional world, and your writing.
1) Survival. What are your deepest fears? Remember that fear underlies most anger, and fear turned inside-out inspires most comedy. What comic or horrific use can you make of your own most secret fears? Create characters with the same concern and needs. I promise you: plenty of your readers will have the same problems. "Die Hard" and a hundred other movies a year punch this button. We fear dying, disfigurement, abandonment, old age, and disease-all survival values. All superb story sources.
2) Sexuality. What turns you on? Sexuality can be an important aspect of your character's lives . What was you r first experience? Best? Worst/ Most recent? Least ethical? At what point do you feel you began to have mature sexual relationships? When do you think that sexuality is appropriate or inappropriate? What people in your experience have been uplifted, healed, damaged or debased in their sexual interactions? Every one of them is a character, and an opportunity for you to express your opinions and philosophies. The movie "A History of Violence" used sex brilliantly to help us understand the powerful bond between the leads.
3) Power. What is your physical condition? What does it say about your actions, values, and priorities? Craft characters with distinct physical attributes, and allow their life history to express itself in their movement and appearance. "Rocky" and "Million Dollar Baby" utilize dynamic training and fight scenes to express depths of passion and desperation. While physical power is the most basic form, this evolves into financial and political power-any form of control over self, family, or others. Explore your own attitudes toward these kinds of power, and begin to craft characters who breathe.
4) Love. What is love? Mature affection as opposed to immature "puppy love"? Love for one's children and family. Love for country? For all mankind? What is the difference between love and sexual attraction? What is the price you see people paying for their heart space connections? What are the greatest advantages and disadvantages of human contact? "Forrest Gump" is the story of a man with a beautiful loving heart...and the mind of a child. His life is better than almost anyone he ever meets, despite their advantages.
5) Communication. What is your belief about education and perception? What is our obligation to communicate with clarity and honesty? What kind of mischief is caused by miscommunication? Is verbal communication better, more immediate and more honest than nonverbal? In "Billy Budd," an inarticulate character strikes a man dead, largely due to frustrated communication.
6) Intellect. What are your intellectual strengths? Weaknesses? When have you had to modify your world view because reality didn't match your theories and beliefs? "Creator" with Peter O'Toole tells of a brilliant scientist locked in an intellectual prison, unable to deal with the death of his beautiful wife. ago. He must either change his map of the world, or his heart will die.
7) Spirit. What are your spiritual beliefs? Are you an atheist? Agnostic? Buddhist? Christian? What do you see as the spiritual and philosophical differences? If you didn't use the specific labels, could you create characters of each type, and demonstrate the differences? If so, why? If not, why not? Have you ever had a crisis in faith? Ever felt a prayer was answered? Did it happen in a way you expected, or otherwise? "Ghandi" dealt with a man of great spiritual commitment who found the strength to loosen the grip of the greatest empire the world has ever seen.
Once you have thought through each of these levels as they apply to your own life, you are now able to create characters of uncommon complexity and depth. And you have taken a huge step toward releasing your true writing potential...whether your intent is artistic, commercial, or, most wisely, both.
N.Y. Times bestselling writer Steven Barnes has written for The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, and Stargate among many others.
Why not have the career of your dreams? Don't just write...Lifewrite™. Sign up for your FREE daily Lifewriting™ tip at:
www.lifewriting.biz
Learn more at:
www.lifewrite.com
The Lifewriting™ approach to fiction suggests that not only do these two qualities overlap, but that the safest, surest, most satisfying path to discovering your true voice, your deepest creative flow, and ultimately crafting the most satisfying career, is to be true to yourself. It suggests that Aristotle's famous debate concerning the relative merits of plot and character is a trick: Plot and character are actually two sides of the same coin. Character is best revealed through action. And plot is merely what happens when a given character engages with a specific situation. It is not only possible, but advisable, to shift back and forth between those perspectives, seeking to create a seamless whole.
How do you, personally, define character? You MUST have some theory or feeling for the human condition, or you'll have nothing to write about. The best and simplest way to learn characterization is to study psychology. And the best psychological study is yourself. Why? Because you have more information about what makes you you than you will ever have about what makes anyone else tick.
What this path demands is the honesty and courage to look deeply into your own life, and some model to organize the different aspects of your personality and emotional history. Then you need some mechanism to help you apply your discoveries to your writing.
The very finest model of the human condition is the 6,000 year old model from India, the "chakras" of yoga. Supposedly seven energy centers within and around the human body, they mirror Maslow's hierarchy of human needs. Both yogis and psychologists suggest that until the "lower" more basic needs are met, one cannot move to the next level of life.
The Chakras represent survival, sexuality, power, emotion, communication, intellect, and spirit. Let's take a peek into the way each of these "levels" can be used to connect your inner emotional world, and your writing.
1) Survival. What are your deepest fears? Remember that fear underlies most anger, and fear turned inside-out inspires most comedy. What comic or horrific use can you make of your own most secret fears? Create characters with the same concern and needs. I promise you: plenty of your readers will have the same problems. "Die Hard" and a hundred other movies a year punch this button. We fear dying, disfigurement, abandonment, old age, and disease-all survival values. All superb story sources.
2) Sexuality. What turns you on? Sexuality can be an important aspect of your character's lives . What was you r first experience? Best? Worst/ Most recent? Least ethical? At what point do you feel you began to have mature sexual relationships? When do you think that sexuality is appropriate or inappropriate? What people in your experience have been uplifted, healed, damaged or debased in their sexual interactions? Every one of them is a character, and an opportunity for you to express your opinions and philosophies. The movie "A History of Violence" used sex brilliantly to help us understand the powerful bond between the leads.
3) Power. What is your physical condition? What does it say about your actions, values, and priorities? Craft characters with distinct physical attributes, and allow their life history to express itself in their movement and appearance. "Rocky" and "Million Dollar Baby" utilize dynamic training and fight scenes to express depths of passion and desperation. While physical power is the most basic form, this evolves into financial and political power-any form of control over self, family, or others. Explore your own attitudes toward these kinds of power, and begin to craft characters who breathe.
4) Love. What is love? Mature affection as opposed to immature "puppy love"? Love for one's children and family. Love for country? For all mankind? What is the difference between love and sexual attraction? What is the price you see people paying for their heart space connections? What are the greatest advantages and disadvantages of human contact? "Forrest Gump" is the story of a man with a beautiful loving heart...and the mind of a child. His life is better than almost anyone he ever meets, despite their advantages.
5) Communication. What is your belief about education and perception? What is our obligation to communicate with clarity and honesty? What kind of mischief is caused by miscommunication? Is verbal communication better, more immediate and more honest than nonverbal? In "Billy Budd," an inarticulate character strikes a man dead, largely due to frustrated communication.
6) Intellect. What are your intellectual strengths? Weaknesses? When have you had to modify your world view because reality didn't match your theories and beliefs? "Creator" with Peter O'Toole tells of a brilliant scientist locked in an intellectual prison, unable to deal with the death of his beautiful wife. ago. He must either change his map of the world, or his heart will die.
7) Spirit. What are your spiritual beliefs? Are you an atheist? Agnostic? Buddhist? Christian? What do you see as the spiritual and philosophical differences? If you didn't use the specific labels, could you create characters of each type, and demonstrate the differences? If so, why? If not, why not? Have you ever had a crisis in faith? Ever felt a prayer was answered? Did it happen in a way you expected, or otherwise? "Ghandi" dealt with a man of great spiritual commitment who found the strength to loosen the grip of the greatest empire the world has ever seen.
Once you have thought through each of these levels as they apply to your own life, you are now able to create characters of uncommon complexity and depth. And you have taken a huge step toward releasing your true writing potential...whether your intent is artistic, commercial, or, most wisely, both.
N.Y. Times bestselling writer Steven Barnes has written for The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, and Stargate among many others.
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Setting Your Novel: There's Gold in Your Own Backyard
I started my first manuscript during my junior year at Virginia Tech. I had a couple of characters in mind, a flimsy skeleton of a plot, and one pressing question. Where to set the book?
At that point in my life, I hadn't traveled too far past the Virginia state line. And to me, the rest of the world sounded alluring in a way the town I grew up in couldn't compare.
So I considered my options. My story could take place on an island. An obviously appealing setting. Palm trees, sinking pink sunsets, water as blue as a robin's egg. And of course, glistening white sand.
Or what about Italy? A place I had always dreamed of going. Olive groves, the chiming of beautiful old church bells, faded stucco buildings.
I set my first few manuscripts in exactly that kind of locale. The only trouble was, I had never been to any of those places. And once I got past the generic descriptions, I found myself facing what felt like an empty reservoir from which to draw my story.
I had read the advice in practically every creative writing handbook. Write what you know. And I began to understand that they weren't just talking about plot and characters, but the place where the story unfolds as well.
What I knew was southwest Virginia. But what could the rest of the world possibly find interesting about it?
Despite my skepticism, I finally started a manuscript set in a small Virginia town much like my hometown. This was the first of my books to sell. No coincidence, I'm sure.
How did I finally come to see what was around me and what others might find appealing about it? By looking at where I've lived and what it has meant to me.
The physical beauty of Virginia is indisputable. Spring arrives with its paintbrush of green. Summer fills the orchards with apples and peaches, thickens fields with grass for hay. Fall dips maples and oaks in red and gold. Winter lays ice across our lakes and hides our roads under snow.
Those are the broadbrush strokes of my story, but I believe the details that bring a setting to life come from the individual places that populate a small community.
From the Main Street of my childhood, there was Ben Franklin and the Melody Shop. Kittinger's Drug Store, Brammer's Five and Ten and N. Morris Department Store.
Ben Franklin was a favorite. After digging out coins for the parking meter, we would head downstairs to the toy department. The snack bar was also on the bottom floor, and I can remember the delicious smell of steamed hot dog buns and french fries wafting up in greeting.
The Melody Shop was the place to buy 45 rpm records - yes, I know, I'm dating myself! Kittinger's for a cherry Coke. And at Brammer's Five and Ten, my sister and I stocked up on five-cent candy which we resold at elevated prices to our cousins in the pretend store we set up in my grandma's basement.
Country stores show up in my stories on a regular basis, and I'm sure their origin is the one owned by my great aunt and uncle. My sister and I spent many Saturday nights there with our grandparents. All the adults sat on stools in the middle of the store and talked, while we drank Sun-drop and ate Wise potato chips from bright blue bags.
Much of my love for the place where I grew up comes from my grandpa. He loved just getting out and looking at it. Bright and early on Sunday mornings, my sister and I would climb in his old blue and white Chevrolet truck and drive over to the local Quickette for the morning paper. We always took a detour of some sort, to check on cows, look at hay, see a pony he was thinking about buying for us. These were adventures, and we learned the county roads like our own backyard.
Pieces of these places have shown up in each of my books. I loved them, and I think that rings true with readers. I've traveled a bit since those first manuscripts, and although I may venture out in future books to other settings, it will be with a healthy respect for the gold in my own backyard.
Inglath Cooper is the RITA Award-winning author of six published novels. Her books are often peopled with characters who reflect the values and traditions of the small Virginia town where she grew up. To read about her latest release, please visit her website at http://www.inglathcooper.com.
At that point in my life, I hadn't traveled too far past the Virginia state line. And to me, the rest of the world sounded alluring in a way the town I grew up in couldn't compare.
So I considered my options. My story could take place on an island. An obviously appealing setting. Palm trees, sinking pink sunsets, water as blue as a robin's egg. And of course, glistening white sand.
Or what about Italy? A place I had always dreamed of going. Olive groves, the chiming of beautiful old church bells, faded stucco buildings.
I set my first few manuscripts in exactly that kind of locale. The only trouble was, I had never been to any of those places. And once I got past the generic descriptions, I found myself facing what felt like an empty reservoir from which to draw my story.
I had read the advice in practically every creative writing handbook. Write what you know. And I began to understand that they weren't just talking about plot and characters, but the place where the story unfolds as well.
What I knew was southwest Virginia. But what could the rest of the world possibly find interesting about it?
Despite my skepticism, I finally started a manuscript set in a small Virginia town much like my hometown. This was the first of my books to sell. No coincidence, I'm sure.
How did I finally come to see what was around me and what others might find appealing about it? By looking at where I've lived and what it has meant to me.
The physical beauty of Virginia is indisputable. Spring arrives with its paintbrush of green. Summer fills the orchards with apples and peaches, thickens fields with grass for hay. Fall dips maples and oaks in red and gold. Winter lays ice across our lakes and hides our roads under snow.
Those are the broadbrush strokes of my story, but I believe the details that bring a setting to life come from the individual places that populate a small community.
From the Main Street of my childhood, there was Ben Franklin and the Melody Shop. Kittinger's Drug Store, Brammer's Five and Ten and N. Morris Department Store.
Ben Franklin was a favorite. After digging out coins for the parking meter, we would head downstairs to the toy department. The snack bar was also on the bottom floor, and I can remember the delicious smell of steamed hot dog buns and french fries wafting up in greeting.
The Melody Shop was the place to buy 45 rpm records - yes, I know, I'm dating myself! Kittinger's for a cherry Coke. And at Brammer's Five and Ten, my sister and I stocked up on five-cent candy which we resold at elevated prices to our cousins in the pretend store we set up in my grandma's basement.
Country stores show up in my stories on a regular basis, and I'm sure their origin is the one owned by my great aunt and uncle. My sister and I spent many Saturday nights there with our grandparents. All the adults sat on stools in the middle of the store and talked, while we drank Sun-drop and ate Wise potato chips from bright blue bags.
Much of my love for the place where I grew up comes from my grandpa. He loved just getting out and looking at it. Bright and early on Sunday mornings, my sister and I would climb in his old blue and white Chevrolet truck and drive over to the local Quickette for the morning paper. We always took a detour of some sort, to check on cows, look at hay, see a pony he was thinking about buying for us. These were adventures, and we learned the county roads like our own backyard.
Pieces of these places have shown up in each of my books. I loved them, and I think that rings true with readers. I've traveled a bit since those first manuscripts, and although I may venture out in future books to other settings, it will be with a healthy respect for the gold in my own backyard.
Inglath Cooper is the RITA Award-winning author of six published novels. Her books are often peopled with characters who reflect the values and traditions of the small Virginia town where she grew up. To read about her latest release, please visit her website at http://www.inglathcooper.com.
Seven Secrets Of Highly Creative Writers
The Lifewriting™ approach to your writing career demands a relatively high creative output. It isn't designed to coddle people who nurse a single story for years before sending it out.
But students often protest that they simply don't come up with many good ideas, and that the ideas they do generate are appropriate for novels.
In my opinion, basic ideas have no intrinsic length. The TREATMENT of an idea has an intrinsic length. The Civil War can be treated in a one-page story, on in a library of books. It all depends on the skill and intent of the writer.
Let me tell you a story:
When I was in college, I knew a woman who wanted to be a writer. She told me that she was working on a short story, and I said "great." A few weeks later, I asked her how the story was going. She said "It's getting a little long-I think it's a novella."
"Great!" I said.
A couple of months later, I asked her how the novella was going. "Well, it's getting a little long, I think it's a novel!"
"Wow!" I said, although a warning bell was tinkling at the back of my mind. A couple of years later, I asked her how the novel was going.
"Well, it seems to be turning into a trilogy," she said.
Hmm. I made optimistic sounds, and left it at that.
A decade later, I was traveling on the East Coast, and knew I'd be passing the town where this lady lived. My wife and I stopped in to visit. Just because I have a masochistic streak, I asked how the trilogy was going.
There was a pause. Then, sheepishly she said, "I got tired of it, and put it away. But just a couple of months ago I started working on a new story. It's good! But" she said, as I knew she would, "it seems to be getting a little long..."
That is so sad. My friend had encountered one of the stealthiest forms of writer's block: to be able to write, but not be able to finish and submit. It serves the same purpose to an insecure subconscious: it prevents you from suffering rejection.
After all, the idea is so bright and appealing when it enters your mind! The process of actually slogging your way through multiple drafts can be a joy-killer.
Short stories are a perfect means to combat this. A short piece employs all the same basic tools that will be used in a novel, with a crucial difference. In the time it takes you to write a hundred thousand word novel, you can write twenty to forty short stories, and you'll learn vastly more about your craft in the process.
Also, because you are going through the complete arc of generating story, planning, researching, writing rough draft, polishing, and submitting, you find out where your technical and psychological weaknesses lie.
And yet another advantage: if you write a story a week, or every other week, you don't need to cling desperately to an idea, thinking it is the only good idea you'll ever have.
But how to generate ideas? Here are some suggestions:
1) Keep a dream diary. A little digital or tape recorder at the bedside works great for this. Just tell yourself before sleep that you will briefly awaken after a dream and dictate the essence. In the morning, transcribe.
2) Search the newspaper. Make an exercise of looking through the various sections of the paper, looking for odd or interesting stories. Imagine how it would be to be the people caught up in these situations. What story would capture the essence of their lives?
3) Read books and watch movies. Imagine grafting the end of one film to the beginning of another. When a book falls apart, come up with a better ending-and write it.
4) Create modern versions of favorite old fairy tales. Have fun with this-remember, it's just practice!
5) At the next family reunion or gathering, get the old folks to talk about their youthful days.
6) Go to a playground and watch children playing. Really notice the power games, the sharing, the crying, the laughter, the struggles and triumphs. Every single child, every day, has a story to tell.
7) Mine your own life. Learning to walk, to talk, to drive, to win, to lose. Your first fight, your first kiss, your first job, the first time you got fired.
There is really no end to the possibility. All you need is a belief in your goals, and the recognition that any individual story is just a step along the way-not some soul-searing win-or-lose proposition.
Have fun!
NY Times Bestselling author Steven Barnes has published over three million words of fiction. The creator of the Lifewriting body-mind performance system for writers and readers, he can be reached at www.lifewriting.biz, and www.lifewrite.com
But students often protest that they simply don't come up with many good ideas, and that the ideas they do generate are appropriate for novels.
In my opinion, basic ideas have no intrinsic length. The TREATMENT of an idea has an intrinsic length. The Civil War can be treated in a one-page story, on in a library of books. It all depends on the skill and intent of the writer.
Let me tell you a story:
When I was in college, I knew a woman who wanted to be a writer. She told me that she was working on a short story, and I said "great." A few weeks later, I asked her how the story was going. She said "It's getting a little long-I think it's a novella."
"Great!" I said.
A couple of months later, I asked her how the novella was going. "Well, it's getting a little long, I think it's a novel!"
"Wow!" I said, although a warning bell was tinkling at the back of my mind. A couple of years later, I asked her how the novel was going.
"Well, it seems to be turning into a trilogy," she said.
Hmm. I made optimistic sounds, and left it at that.
A decade later, I was traveling on the East Coast, and knew I'd be passing the town where this lady lived. My wife and I stopped in to visit. Just because I have a masochistic streak, I asked how the trilogy was going.
There was a pause. Then, sheepishly she said, "I got tired of it, and put it away. But just a couple of months ago I started working on a new story. It's good! But" she said, as I knew she would, "it seems to be getting a little long..."
That is so sad. My friend had encountered one of the stealthiest forms of writer's block: to be able to write, but not be able to finish and submit. It serves the same purpose to an insecure subconscious: it prevents you from suffering rejection.
After all, the idea is so bright and appealing when it enters your mind! The process of actually slogging your way through multiple drafts can be a joy-killer.
Short stories are a perfect means to combat this. A short piece employs all the same basic tools that will be used in a novel, with a crucial difference. In the time it takes you to write a hundred thousand word novel, you can write twenty to forty short stories, and you'll learn vastly more about your craft in the process.
Also, because you are going through the complete arc of generating story, planning, researching, writing rough draft, polishing, and submitting, you find out where your technical and psychological weaknesses lie.
And yet another advantage: if you write a story a week, or every other week, you don't need to cling desperately to an idea, thinking it is the only good idea you'll ever have.
But how to generate ideas? Here are some suggestions:
1) Keep a dream diary. A little digital or tape recorder at the bedside works great for this. Just tell yourself before sleep that you will briefly awaken after a dream and dictate the essence. In the morning, transcribe.
2) Search the newspaper. Make an exercise of looking through the various sections of the paper, looking for odd or interesting stories. Imagine how it would be to be the people caught up in these situations. What story would capture the essence of their lives?
3) Read books and watch movies. Imagine grafting the end of one film to the beginning of another. When a book falls apart, come up with a better ending-and write it.
4) Create modern versions of favorite old fairy tales. Have fun with this-remember, it's just practice!
5) At the next family reunion or gathering, get the old folks to talk about their youthful days.
6) Go to a playground and watch children playing. Really notice the power games, the sharing, the crying, the laughter, the struggles and triumphs. Every single child, every day, has a story to tell.
7) Mine your own life. Learning to walk, to talk, to drive, to win, to lose. Your first fight, your first kiss, your first job, the first time you got fired.
There is really no end to the possibility. All you need is a belief in your goals, and the recognition that any individual story is just a step along the way-not some soul-searing win-or-lose proposition.
Have fun!
NY Times Bestselling author Steven Barnes has published over three million words of fiction. The creator of the Lifewriting body-mind performance system for writers and readers, he can be reached at www.lifewriting.biz, and www.lifewrite.com
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