Heaven Help Meme...

...I've discovered how to use Paint, and now I can make memes. Not sure if this is a good thing, because it is fun, and well, I made a bunch with a writing theme (or chocolate theme), justifying it by telling myself, "Self, you can put them on your blog, and viola! Instant blog post!"

So, here we go. They are simple, but I had fun. Enjoy.

Beginnings

Beginnings. Starts. Openings. 

Here I am, on my third restart of my current WIP, which is to be a follow up of the manuscript I submitted last November, and am still waiting to hear back about. 

Three.

I rarely rework the opening of a novel so vigorously. I'm rather baffled by it and am busy not enjoying wondering if *this* time I've gotten it right. Beginnings are sooooooooo important. They set up the basic foundation for the rest of the story, introduce the characters, outline the conflict to come, set the tone for the entire work and, most importantly, is what draws the reader in and keeps them reading...or, if you're unlucky, putting the book down. 

Never give the reader a reason to put the book down. If they have to stop reading, then there must be something about the story you're telling to draw them back, entice them to pick the book up again. It sounds so simple, yet it's really not. The story must compel. Excite. Yes, sometimes even titillate. It must pose questions the reader wants to find the answers for - it must entice. 

Compel

Excite 

Titillate

Entice

The beginning is the foundation that sets the groundwork to support the rest of the story. I won't say it's the most important part of the novel, because every part of it is equally important - as writers, we need to give the readers a reason to continue reading and to come back for more of our work. But that first line, leading into the rest of your story? It's gotta grab. 

Here are a few of my favorite opening lines, found at THIS website:

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. - C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)

You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. —Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885)

From HERE:

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”  Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier

So, back I go, to work on that opening some more...to get it just right. Sometimes it takes work, sometimes you get a gift and it just happens...but still...It's work. Worthwhile, enjoyable work. Happy writing!

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Writing, Writing and More Writing

Today, I'm going to talk about writing. Yes, I'm sure that's a big surprise. Maybe I should've titled today's post as "What I Like About Writing" or "Why I Like to Write," because that's what I'm going to focus on, for the most part. Hope this doesn't read like a "My Summer Vacation" essay.

But before I get started, I must go train some laundry...*Cues elevator music...*

Alrighty then. One load in the dryer, one load in the washer. Ah, the glamorous life of a writer. I will indulge in more glamour later this morning, when I dust, mop and vacuum. Perhaps if I put on my tiara and my pink feather boa...

But I digress.

Why I like to write...That's easy. The first reason is because it's the only way to make the voices in my head shut up. No, not voices telling me to walk naked down the middle of my street or something equally foolish. Not voices inciting me to mayhem. Nope, these would be the voices of the characters who've taken up permanent residence in my skull, and who keep telling me their stories, insisting I write them down.

Writing, for me, is an escape. I'm in charge of the world I'm creating, I'm in charge of how people react to certain stimuli, I'm in charge of shaping characters into people I'd really like to meet in real life, I'm in charge of ensuring there's a happy ending for all involved. In short, I'm in charge and in control of that which I'm not in charge of, nor in control of, in Real Life.

Sometimes, what's in my head, clamoring to spill onto...er...the computer...is better than what's on television. If there's nothing to watch, I can entertain myself.

I get to play with words. I've said it before and I'll say it again...Words are the writer's colors with which they paint a picture. The subtle nuance of a particular word choice can make a sentence scream with vivacity or yawn with boredom...can convey sweet emotion, or not so sweet emotion...It's all up to me to paint with words the scene/picture I want the reader to see. If that isn't heady, I don't know what is. It can be a joyful experience, as well as frustrating, funny, heartbreaking, irritating, and breathtaking, too.

I get to play on the internet and look up fun stuff and call it "research." Remember when that used to be a hassle? Now I get to do it not because I HAVE to, but because I WANT to - makes all the difference in the world.

The power of the written word can inspire, uplift, bring joy, cause laughter or tears, evoke melancholy or wicked joy. It can persuade, argue, present, confirm, disprove, rebut, incite, teach, inform, charm, disarm, annoy or titillate. Awesome is the power of the written word. Awesome is the power of a good story that captures readers in its spell.

Awesome.

It's why I write.

Why do YOU write?


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Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning:  I wanted to know what I was going to say.  

~Sharon O'Brien~

Stuff and Such and Such and Stuff

There! Officially decorated for Christmas. Did anyone brave the Black Friday crowds? Mom and I hit JC Penney for the door buster prices, but we most certainly did not go there at 4 in the blessed a.m. Oh, heck no. We got there around 11 in the morning, and found TERRIFIC deals. We are so excited with our purchases and Dad and Mr. Laura should be GREATLY impressed with how much money we saved them by shopping this sale. *Nods sagely.*

Working on writing a short Christmas story for the free reads page on my website. Right now, there's a new Thanksgiving story up, and I'll leave that up through the end of December: http://www.freewebs.com/laurahamby/index.htm (click on the free reads age). Hope to have a Christmas shortie up by the end of next week.

Would like to see my yahoo group (http://www.freewebs.com/laurahamby/index.htm) become more active. Writers are welcome to join and network, run contests. It is WRITING/READING related. If you join and spam the group with dating service sites, you will be removed. If you use bad language, you will be removed. If you post anything that is non-writing/reading related, you will be removed. Hate to be hard-nosed about that, but The Rules is the rules, and it IS *my* group, so I gets to make Da Rules. Since I've mentioned what you can't do, I'll now mention what you CAN do: Post links to your blog, webbie; run contests (which you are completely in charge of running and making sure the prizes are awarded in a timely manner); post links to purchase your books (but not to the point that it becomes spam-like - you may post links to purchase your books once a week); post book reviews (however, no spoilers and all reviews must be positive - you can say you didn't like a book, but you must say it nicely); offer writing tips or ask for writing tips; post excerpts of your novels (PG-13 rating). Mostly, I just want it to be a fun place to gather and chat and remind ourselves that while writing is a solitary business, we don't hafta be hermits. 

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.

Ernest Hemingway

Why Write?

Image

The story is not in the plot but in the telling. 

Ursula K. LeGuin




We read five words on the first page of a really good novel and we begin to forget that we are reading printed words on a page; we begin to see images.
John Gardner




Stories are living and dynamic. Stories exist to be exchanged. They are the currency of Human Growth.
Jean Houston




I want story, wit, music, wryness, color, and a sense of reality in what I read, and I try to get it in what I write. 
John D. MacDonald




If you wait for inspiration, you're not a writer, but a waiter. 
Anonymous

A Day Late...

...and a braincell short.

Summertime with the kids around all the time makes me one busy Momma. And the fun isn't going to stop any time soon. So busy, not enough time in the day to get it all done, and finally, summer seems to have arrived.

Currently, the boys are being tortured with going through all their clothes, toys, books and miscellaneous junk. Told them if they do that, we'll have a garage sale, and they can split the profit. Naturally, they can't do it on their own---so it'll take us a while, since I can't/won't/don't have the attention span to deal with it for more than about 1.5-2 hours.

Writing is still happening. Shockingly and amazingly enough. One WIP, the historical, is on the back burner percolating. Has issues I need to work on. The other WIP, a contemporary, seems to be what has the majority of the Muse's attention. And I must say, my Muse has writer's ADHD. However, it's the writing that I love, so I'm happy something is moving along, even if I have to take breaks in between to deal with laundry, cleaning, providing taxi service...It's great. Exhilarating when it all comes together.

Other musings...I have Nora Roberts' The Search but I haven't read it yet. I don't like reading new books when I'm in the middle of writing, so I'm re-reading some of the In Death books. I'm saving the new book to savor later. :D

Well then. I hear a tremendous silence emanating from the laundry room. The machines have stopped. More laundry training must happen. Kids need to be urged on to their next task of the day, and there's some writing that needs to go on before I go tackle the Big Ugly, also known as "The Linen Closet."

For now, I"ll leave you with a few quotes about writing and a suggestion for a writing prompt.

Writing Prompt Suggestion: Look through your WIP for a scene that has Talking Heads (dialogue, no description, narrative, etc) or a scene that's only narrative (think "INFO DUMP") and revise. For a Talking Heads scene, think about what your main POV character is thinking, feeling, what of the physical senses you can bring into the scene, how can you make the scene do double or triple duty by incorporating conflict, revealing some motivation, addressing your goals---how can you use this scene to move the story along? For your Info Dump scene---what is really necessary for the reader to know? Can any of it be turned into action---either dialogue or the characters getting active? How can you improve it to move the story along?

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. ~ Scott Adams

We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master. ~Ernest Hemingway

You sit down and you do it, and you do it, and you do it, until you have learned to do it. ~Ursula K. LeGuin

The only way to learn to write is to write. ~Peggy Teeters

Everything that doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. And later on you can use it in some story. ~Tapani Bagge

The Stuff That Revisions are Made From

Again, I am left speechless by the double-time march of days. How did it get to be Thursday again?

School's almost out for the summer. I'd've liked to be a bit further on with this first big round of revisions of the WIP. Motivation seems to be at a trickle this week. I WANT to work on the WIP but find myself sidetracked by the news. Yes, the news. Everything from Arnold and Maria's marriage falling apart to the machinations of our elected politicians. I'm saddened by a certain party's desire to curtail women's rights, for that's what is at the crux of these volatile issues of abortion and rape. The horrible weather in the Midwest has also held me in its sway. To say the devastation of so many communities is horrifying is quite an understatement. With friends who live in the so-called Tornado Alley, it's been a fretful week. Fortunately, these friends have blessedly missed the destruction and here's to hoping that trend continues.

So...The WIP. Woke up at 0'Dark:30 the other morning, with the solution to the issue presented by the final scene of chapter 4. Even better, I remembered it when I was more fully awake! Been working on it slowly, as I want to get it just right before I move on to chapter 5. It's coming together, but there's still plenty of work ahead.

Most of my revisions have to do with characterization and motivations. Why do the characters do what they do, and how do their actions shape and define who they are? Imaginary people are no different than real live, flesh and blood people in that their decisions, actions, beliefs, the reasons they do what they do reflect who they are. Written on a flat, one-dimensional page, it's important to me that my characters aren't flat and one-dimensional. I want my hero and heroine to be 3-D, in vivid, out loud Technicolor---without the benefit of 3-D glasses. I want them to POP without that aid. If I do my job right, they will.

Some insight I gained at a recent writer's retreat: if you know your characters, you know what motivates them, you know their goals. I knew this, but but the reminder came at a good time. Desire feeds motivation--what don't the characters have that they want? Desire arises out of passion and evokes more emotion and is bigger than a goal. Last but not least, conflict is what drives the characters to do what they do. In order for conflict to be visible, it needs to be spelled out and resolvable.

So, back to the WIP to strengthen these aspects. It's a good thing the end product leaves the reader no clue as to how or in what order the story was built.

Happy Writing!

Writing only leads to more writing. ~Sidonie Gabrielle

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible. ~Vladimir Nabakov

Contemplating...WRITING!

With one kid successfully registered for--gasp--his sophomore year, and one kid to go for registration for--gasp--middle school (tomorrow), and the middle schooler's first day being Friday, my Muse is doing an enthusiastic tango of happiness.

She's been helpfully throwing ideas at me, even though I have one that must be revised and sent out into the world. "So what?" she demands, "The pickin's have been slim lately, and now you're complaining that I'm back from my sojourn in the Bahamas?"

Well, not really. I'm delighted. Except I'm going to have to stop listening to music. This seems to be the Muse's favorite channel of late. Specifically, I'm going to have to stop listening to Richard Marx. Some might wonder why I'd listen to him to begin with, but he recorded one song back in the, um, late 80's? that's been tickling the Muse for years. Decades, even. Finally, just before I headed homeward for the high school reunion and visiting the rellies, a hero demanded I name him, and told me which story was his. Okay. Sure. Let me stop absolutely everything to search for your name, you imaginary man, you. Surrounded by testosterone as I am, I must lodge a mild whinge about imaginary men adding to the Testosterone Sea I live in daily. I mean, really. Drowning, here. Thank God for the cat and the dog---to bad they're never in the mood for a girly shopping trip, and I can't exactly take either one of them to see a chick flick. And, if it weren't enough to have characters demanding I name them, one evening I returned from an outing before my folks got back from DQ with my boys. Locked out, I had no choice but to sit on the nice bench on the front porch, dodging the sprinklers to get there. Before I got out of the car, the Muse says, "Gee, since you're locked out, why not take the MapQuest pages you printed and write while you're waiting for the family to come home?" Guess which whatty I worked on? I managed a whole 6 paragraphs before my brief foray into this "newest" idea came to a screeching halt.

What brought it to a screeching halt? Voices, and not the kind I hear only in my head.

Kid: "There's the van. Where's Mom?" (They'd parked in the driveway, and didn't have a view of the front door from that particular perspective.)

My Mom: "I don't know."

Kid: "There's the car."

Another Kid: "Hi, Mom. Why are you sitting on the porch?"

Mom: "We really need to give you a key."

My Dad: "Hi, kid."

Yet Another Kid: "How long you been sitting there, Mom?"


So. Then, while throwing together tonight's dinner, the Muse pops up again. "Why don't you get out that little page you hand wrote and work on it some? What could it hurt?"

Insert boys doing whatever it is that they do that involves noise, thumping, laughter, more thumping...Upstairs, over my head. Nice. Sure. Also, I have the soundtrack to Grease playing (Grease isn't the word that you heard when applied to what's for dinner here tonight. Maybe another night.). It's really hard to type when, well, your hands want to hand jive, baby.

Then comes the knock on the door that sends the dog into a fit of barking that lasts for half a million years. One kid runs out to play with his friend. The other two go off in their own directions. Then the dog comes back, after some time has elapsed to sit up, her paws on my leg, all the better to stare at me. Seems she's been outside and thinks she needs a good girl treat. Thank heavens there are kids around, so I don't have to, yanno, get up, take 15 or 20 steps to the pantry, and get it for her myself.

Now it's, "Mom, *Grease* has ended. Want me to put in something else?"

Sure. Put in something else. I'll just put a muzzle on the Muse until I can work through my revisions and the two new WIPs with which she's gifted me.

The Joys of Writing

Writing is like breathing for me: I can't live without breathing, and I can't live without writing.

I love perusing through websites dedicated to quotes about writing. Today I'm looking at THIS ONE, and I thought I'd share the ones that stand out to me.

It is better to write a bad first draft than to write no first draft at all.Will Shetterly

There is no great writing, only great rewriting.
Justice Brandeis

Writing is 1 percent inspiration, and 99 percent elimination.
Louise Brooks

It is perfectly okay to write garbage – as long as you edit brilliantly. C. J. Cherryh

It's none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.
Ernest Hemingway

As with all other aspects of the narrative art, you will improve with practice, but practice will never make you perfect. Why should it? What fun would that be?Stephen King

By writing much, one learns to write well.
Robert Southey

The only way to learn to write is to write.
Peggy Teeters

It is my contention that a really great novel is made with a knife and not a pen. A novelist must have the intestinal fortitude to cut out even the most brilliant passage so long as it doesn't advance the story.
Frank Yerby