Tip O'Day #445 - Ignore the Rules

Guest blogger Franz McLaren on “I write wrong.”

Over the years I have been told by English teachers, grammar teachers and a smattering of writing instructors that I should outline, I should write proper sentences, I should never use contractions, and so on. I listened, I learned, I wrote as I was told, and I produced dozens of stories that bored everyone who read them. Friends and family delicately suggested I should seek another career.

That is when desperation set in. Another career? I already had a day job that writing was supposed to free me from. Was I supposed to change my dreams and find something, anything, which gave me as much pleasure as writing?

However, the truth was, writing had become a chore. I did it because I had to. For as long as I can remember, writing was what I wanted to do.

In frustration I sat and wrote without thinking about rules, word patterns or structure. I let my mind wander and fingers pluck keys as they chose. A few hours later I had the rough draft of a story that I liked. I liked it because it was a story only I knew, one that I told myself as I was writing, one that carried a small part of my soul.

When I started that tale, I had no idea what I would write. I had not tried to outline. I did not know my characters or setting. I just wrote a story I wanted to hear.

Did I dare let others read this stuff? Should I put a bit of me out there and risk ridicule? Not yet.

I wrote a few more stories, each without knowing anything about them before I started and each revealing a little more about me than I felt comfortable with. Eventually, people noticed I was spending time at the keyboard not game related. Tentatively, I presented one of my new stories to a friend.

After a few comments about how it was unusual and they would not have phrased this passage that way, this reader asked whether I had any others. No trumpets blared from heaven, no pompoms were waved by ecstatic cheerleaders but in that instant, I knew I really was a writer.

Years later I sat down to write my first novel. I intended it to be a horror. How did I know that, since I had no idea what it was going to be about? Because, every short story I wrote was horror. Obviously I have a dark soul seeking release through writing.

Only the story did not cooperate. In a few chapters, my characters found themselves in a land of fantasy. My fingers put them there, but the characters were dictating the story. It felt as if I was coming home. I was finally in lands I had never seen, having adventures I could not have conceived.

I have been a fantasy writer since. I have business cards that say so and hundreds of fan letters that tell me I am not the only person who needs visions of other worlds.

When I finished the first book of the Clarion of Destiny series, my sons asked to see the outline. I decided enough time had passed since I gave up trying to write right that maybe I should give structure another try. I managed to produce fifteen lines that roughly represented the first book and wrote, "Leena has adventures on the way to the castle," as line sixteen. Then I was stumped. I had no idea what I should add next. The outline ended there. Seven books and more than 500,000 words later, Leena made it.

Not once during the writing of the series did I fire up the keyboard with an inkling of what I would write. Each day I spent time in Leena's world, learning as she learned and feeling as she felt. Each day she told me a new portion of the story.

I am writing a new serial character now and learning more about him and his exotic worlds daily. I do not know in-depth biographies of my characters. I do not have an outline. I do not choose the rhythms of their words. I should. Hundreds of books and articles tell me these things are necessary. However, when I tried to follow their advice I failed.

I know now that I write best when I write wrong.

You can learn more about fantasy author Franz McLaren at his website or on his Amazon author page.

Tip O'Day #395 - Where Ideas Come From

“What do I write about?” is a commonly heard plaintive question, whether from novelists, poets, essayists or short story writers. Often we start our writing career with a focus on things we are drawn to: our favorite literary works, character types, hobbies, sports, movies and TV shows. However, it doesn’t take long to exhaust those topics, or to feel we’re treading down a path already trampled by far too many authors.

Instead of the subjects that naturally attract you, consider exploring the abhorrent ones. What was it about the idiot truck driver during rush hour last week that made road rage seem justifiable? What is it about the other members of your critique group that makes you grind your teeth? What is it about a particular literary agent, political candidate, waiter, traffic cop, retail clerk or blind date that makes you wonder about the cost of a contract killer?

For example, look at Jen Campbell, a London bookseller, poet and writer. She loves her day job, and probably could write 25 pages or so about the joys of selling books before running out of steam. One day, she was surfing the ‘Net when she came across the question, “What are your pet peeves?” Having had occasional encounters with the customer from Hell, she thought the subject of wacky things said in bookshops had enough material to fill a series of books, and would appeal to retailers as well as writers, publishing professionals and book lovers the world over.

Jen wrote down all the goofy situations she could recall. She also started blogging on the topic, and contacting other booksellers about their experiences. The result is the recently published WEIRD THINGS CUSTOMERS SAY IN BOOKSHOPS in the UK (or …BOOKSTORES in the US and Canada). I’m an avid follower of Jen’s This Is Not the Six Word Novel blog, and the excerpts I’ve read are simply hilarious. I can’t wait for my hardcover edition to arrive in the mail. (Not sure if an eBook version is imminent.)

Getting back to our pet peeves, those are merely situations. How do you turn one into a story? Take a look at the first example: the pickup-truck-driving moron who cuts you off in traffic and nearly forces you into a ditch. Did his father mock him when he played with his Hot Wheels? Did a pint-size neighborhood terrorist enjoy knocking him off his trike? Did the school bully hold his bike hostage for lunch money? Or did he truly emerge from the birth canal angry and aggressive, elbowing his more passive twin out of the way?

As for the victim in your story, what is her reaction to nearly getting road rash? Does she storm after the idiot, honking the horn while she scribbles down the truck’s license number and scans traffic for a police car? Does her reaction change when she notices the rifle in the truck’s Easy Rider gun rack? What if she loses sight of the truck, but then notices it three vehicles behind her, following her home? What if she catches up to the reckless driver, who turns out to be her son’s schoolteacher?

Every decision fleshes out the situation into something closer to a story, and each unique decision you make moves it away from every other road rage incident you’ve read about or seen in the media. With each decision, you will see more scenes taking shape further up the road. As E.L. Doctorow once wrote, “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way."

Jen Campbell’s book is available through Constable (UK/Commonwealth) or Overlook Press (US/Canada), as well as Amazon.com and Amazon.UK. Her This Is Not the Six Word Novel blog can be found at http://jen-campbell.blogspot.com/.

By the way, popular and prolific author Scott Nicholson has been kind enough to provide a guest post about the changing publishing environment for my humble Wredheaded Writer blog, and it will appear here tomorrow (Monday, September 17th). Mark your calendar.

Tip O'Day #381 - Hone Your Craft

Guest blogger Warren Bull on persistence.

Dixon Rice, whose novel The Assassins Club can be downloaded from Kindle, was kind enough to ask if I would write a post for his blog. He noted that his goal is, “writing well enough to be published, whether it actually happens or not.”

It struck me that Dixon’s goal is similar to mine. I wrote my-all time favorite short story for author readings, “The Wrong Man,” in response to a call for submissions from a magazine. Sometimes writing is as painful as self-dentistry. Writing this story was fun. I borrowed a friend’s fictitious setting, with his permission of course, plopped my character in the middle of it and typed away. I even added a few details to the biography of my friend’s main character, again with his permission, although that character never appeared in the story.

Of course in the writing world having too much fun arouses the ire of the muse who must be wooed and gently persuaded into being helpful. She cannot be rushed. Thus it came as no great surprise that the magazine went out of business before I could send the story in.

For the next three or four years every time I submitted “The Wrong Man” to other venues I got absolutely great rejection letters. Trust me. I’ve had acceptances that were much less enthusiastic. Like Odysseus, “The Wrong Man” sailed across the writing world and ended up in a safe harbor on a webzine on the far side of the globe — in this case, Australia.

By now, “The Wrong Man” is available online, in print and for audio download. I plan to read it aloud at Killer Nashville later this month. I’ve read it to different audiences half a dozen times. Each time it evoked laughter and applause.

I could have given up on the story, of course, but I persisted. In part, I was curious about how many wonderful rejections it could rack up. In part, it served and still serves as a metaphor for what it’s like to be a writer. I cannot control when or if anything I write will ever be accepted for publication. It does not matter how much schlock gets published from other writers. It does not matter that my work is better than theirs. What matters is that I put in the time and effort to continue to hone my craft, that I remain open to feedback, especially negative feedback, and that I continue to write.

Warren Bull is a multiple award-winning author and a Derringer Award finalist. He has more than forty short stories published, as well as novels, Abraham Lincoln for the Defense, Heartland, and Murder in the Moonlight (all available here) and a short story collection, Murder Manhattan Style (available here). Also check out his blog.

Tip O'Day #380 - Start Now!

Guest blogger Jeff Mazza on “The Story of a Non-Writer.”

Often we start out on a path that we think is where our destiny lies. A long time ago when I was in college, I began a class in expository writing as part of my Mass Communication major. The professor ridiculed my first attempt at creative writing as he read my essay aloud to the class. I dropped it from my schedule after about three days. I knew that any chance for a career in the media was over. I never finished the course and moved on to other things, namely starting a family.

Many years later a church member passed away and I was inspired to write a brief eulogy for him. Although the circumstances were unfortunate, I received positive feedback although it was not in my mind to begin a writing career. Later, I had the sad opportunity to write two more eulogies. This was not encouraging me to become a writer at all. Friends told me how great I was. The fact that someone had to die to spark my creativity did not exactly bolster my enthusiasm.

Skip ahead to the recent past, about three years ago. It seems that I was always starting a story or essay of some sort. All I had to my name was a few barely started attempts. Then a friend suggested blogging. This did get me motivated but my efforts were intermittent at best.

Eventually I began another short story and became determined to see it through. I made fun of my own attempt to write, just like that professor back in college. I called the story “Diary of a Non-Writer” as a mockery of my hopes to be a successful author. I knew that no one would want to publish it, so I didn’t even try. With so many ways to self-publish, I placed it on Amazon and sold most of the dozen or so copies to myself and a few friends. Despite my lack of fame and fortune, it was phenomenally satisfying to see my name on a web site plus a copy of the book sitting on my shelf.

Not long ago my wife of 29 years passed away. This reignited my desire to write. It was both a way of mourning and healing for me. Now I write two or three times a week and have received almost eleven thousand views.

My advice to those of you thinking about writing is this: start now even if you have nothing to say. Eventually that small spark might just ignite into a flame.

Tip O'Day #367 - Where Ideas Come From

Here is guest blogger Tim Reynolds, with an excerpt from an opinion piece taken from his blog “My Opinion, Love It or Leave It – The Tao of Tim” (originally posted on Jan 14, 2012 - used with permission).

Cross-Pollination in Writing…

I spent six years playing in the open mic night amateur scene in Calgary. As a comic I would watch the entire world just beyond my finger tips, looking for weird shit and finding a way to comment on it and make people laugh. I’d hear a conversation between two teens that his mother is spreading rumors that her father got the mother pregnant. The boy said “I know, sorry about that.” It would have been simply interesting eavesdropping except that the two teens were boyfriend and girlfriend. The kids were dating and their parents were screwing!

I saw a sign on a subway car advertising the benefits of seeing the local philharmonic live. The poster was a bunch of middle-aged philharmonic fans posing like rock concert fans with ‘Rock-on’ hand signs (looks like the sign for ‘bullshit’ with the thumb sticking out) and screaming faces. The word on the top was “LIVE.” It was a cool ad until I shifted my position and saw it reflected behind a woman sitting on the train. Because it was backward in the reflection, the word “LIVE” became the word “EVIL” and the rock-on hand sign became finger-shaped horns behind this woman’s head. Was the universe telling me she was evil? Maybe. Will I use it in a story? Read on.

My point is, the joke that came out of it didn’t get a lot of laughs but the incident became integral to the concept behind my short story “Shut Up and Drive,“ about a man driving a bus full of relief aid workers who turn out to be demons when he sees them in the rear-view mirror.

My novel, The Broken Shield, came in part from a moment I shared with a complete stranger while I was driving a bus (the day job). She was waiting to cross the street and she looked up at me the moment I looked down at her. Then we both smiled, not because we were flirting, but because we somehow knew each other and had known each other for centuries. It was a “Oh hi - There you are” moment. And then she was gone, never to be seen by me again. I can’t explain the reality behind it, but because I was so used to grabbing at moments for my comedy, I remembered the feeling and the moment and gave it to my characters to play with. I asked “What if?”

I was at a meeting of the Imaginative Fiction Writers’ Association (IFWA) last week and the guest speaker for the first hour was poet Bob Stallworthy. He was fun and entertaining and talented and then my epiphany moment occurred. Even though my book of poetry, The Cynglish Beat sold only two copies, the work that went into the writing of an entire tome of cynical, beat poetry has coloured my fiction writing as I break the prose rules and write for the emotions and not for the brain.

I have writing friends who have been working on the same short story for two years or more. Yes, I have stories that sit unfinished or unpolished, including a fantasy novel I started in 1981, but I have written novels and screenplays and short stories and self-help guides and poems by the pound since that first novel. At any given time I can find three things in the world around me and at least find a premise for a short story in there. Sometimes an entire novel springs forth, or a twist to a project already under way. I can’t wrap myself up in my own little world and expect to produce anything without lifting my head up from the keyboard and actually seeing what’s out there and then thinking about it like a comic, a poet or even as a photographer, which I am.

Great writing does not happen in isolation. Writers of every ilk must be sponges, absorbing whatever the universe throws in our path at that moment. Like all writers, I get asked, “Where do you get your ideas?” The simple answer? They find me. And I’m waiting with open arms.

Tip O'Day #340 - "Rejection, Get Thee Behind Me"

Guest blogger Jo-Anne Russell on The Reject Effect.

“You must develop a thick skin...”

This is a common phrase most writers hear at some point in their career – usually at the beginning. When I started out as a freelancer and short story writer ten years ago, I didn’t quite grasp its meaning. After receiving a handful of rejection letters, I was ready to quit with much resentment towards those who had put me in that position.

A writer friend of mine heard of my situation and repeated the phrase. Frustrated, I asked what exactly that meant. I knew I would receive rejections, but there were so many.

I believe he answered me by quoting Stephen King’s On Writing, and said: “Give ten editors a manuscript and you will get eleven opinions.”

I doted on this for a few weeks, and then started writing and submitting again. This time I did more research on the magazines, and paid close attention to what the editors were looking for as well as their guidelines. I still got rejections; this time, many of them carried helpful, handwritten editors’ notes.

I continued in this fashion until one day it happened. I got an acceptance, my first sale. I was elated! My attention to guidelines, my market research, and my determination had finally paid off. Every future rejection was taken with a grain of salt, and each page added another layer to my “thickening skin.”

Now, as an editor and publisher of my own press, I am in the same position as those editors who made the hard decisions on my manuscripts. I can understand their frustration with ignored guidelines, sloppy punctuation and inappropriate content. As I write rejections or editorial comments, I try to remember how it felt to receive them, and to be compassionate. The reject effect carried me along from writer to publisher, helping my career and my business to grow.

My advice? Grow a thick skin, be aware rejection is part of the business, learn from it, and pay attention to editors who take the time to personalize your rejection – because they see something in your work that cries out “potential.”

Jo-Anne is a horror writer and publisher at Scarlett River Press. Despite numerous short stories, poems and a novel under her belt, she still feels like a new writer. Her debut novel, The Nightmare Project, will be available October 2012. Find her online at her website or visit her author page.

Tip O'Day #309 - Where to Set a Story?

Guest blogger Graham Smith on choosing settings.

How do writers choose a location or a setting for their stories? There are lots of different answers to this question, so all I can do is relate my own experiences and choices. My own take on this is somewhat varied as I use real, fictional and amorphous locations for my stories.

First, there is the novel I’m writing which is set in my neighbouring county. I purposely chose to set my novel in Cumbria and The Lake District because I am familiar with the county and the dialect of the locals and I have an understanding of local issues and the mindset of the populace.

Another deciding factor is a purely lazy one. Cumbria is on my doorstep and if I need to research something then I know I can jump into the car and within a couple of hours I’m exactly where I want my characters to be. All I have to do then is look around and make a few notes. If I want to get a feel for local news there is always a paper I can buy at a newsagents. Or I can head into a café or bar for a leisurely lunch and do some industrial level eavesdropping to pick up local dialects and speech patterns.

Second, there is my first collection of short stories, Eleven the Hardest Way, which has nine of the eleven different stories taking place in un-named locations. There is no reason for this other than the fact that a precise location was not important to the story. Take Shooting Stars - where an assassin lies in wait at a movie premiere - it doesn’t matter whether the action is in London, Paris, LA or any other major city. What matters is the assassin, the target and the reason for the intended assassination. All other factors contribute but within the realm of the story the location can be anywhere and as such becomes less important. A caveat to this though, is that when choosing a non-specified location the author must still imbue an atmospheric element to the story.

Third, I have another collection of short stories, Harry Charters Chronicles, which I’ve set in a fictional city called Mariscoper. Hands up here, I made a conscious decision to make up a location as when I was writing the stories I was so involved with the writing that I didn’t want to stop and start researching a location. A quick Google map search gave me a few suggestions and then after a spot of renaming I had Mariscoper, a playground for my protagonist I didn’t need to research. I couldn’t possibly get it wrong as there is no such location. This allowed me complete freedom. As I wrote further pieces featuring Harry, Mariscoper evolved to have docks, a major river and neighbouring cities not to mention a college.

Where do you set your stories?

Learn more about Graham at his blog.