Weekend Workout: Facing Fear (Character – Action Part 5 of 6)

Querying can inspire (or despire, haha) feelings of anxiety and depression, even in the most Polyanna-ish writers. I have been through a few agents over the years (all amicable separations) and the approach is an emotional challenge every time.

When feelings of “what-if-no-one-likes-my-story” hit, I like to step back and view the process as a game. I think of the situation as one of those story problems my math teacher gave me. Okay, that’s probably a bad example for many of you because everyone I know hated those problems. I didn’t. Those were my favourite kind of math problems. They were little riddles to be solved and they involved storytelling (yeah, okay, I’m a geek).

Or today I emailed one of my query buddies and said “the pool ball just has to land in the right pocket.”

(Art by Alison Woodward, click for source)

In any case, if something in front of you is causing anxiety, instead of looking at it as this THING looming in your way, see it as an exciting opportunity to do something new and learn something new. How am I going to get to the other side of this? What will it take? How can I do it better? What have I learned so far that I can apply?

If it’s challenging, it’s probably because you haven’t done it before (or figured out how to do it without anxiety).

So, what does this have to do with your Weekend Workout?

I started thinking about these THINGS that we come up against in life and how it’s important to bring that kind of anxiety to our characters. I know you love them, but you can’t make things easy for them if they are going to grow in a satisfying way. How will they learn?

Try putting something directly in front of your character that addresses a fear and then requires them to behave the opposite of how they normally would.

This works for comedy or drama and creates tension in your story. What could you put in front of someone that would make an honest person lie or steel? What could you put in front of an extremely shy person that would put her in the spotlight? (I just pictured this really shy woman going up on stage in front of hundreds of people to distract the audience so someone she cares about can escape.)

What’s even better is if their actions lead them into deeper trouble. You can always get into deeper trouble. Keep digging as far as you can go.

YOUR WORKOUT:

Set your timer for 5 minutes.
Start at the top of the page with the following startline:

1) The one thing my protagonist swears she would never do is . . .

Write, don’t stop, don’t edit, don’t cross out.

When the timer stops, Set your timer for 7 more minutes.
Start with the following line: 

2) My protagonist agonizes when she must . . .

Write, don’t stop, don’t edit, don’t cross out.

When the timer stops, Set your timer for 10 more minutes.
Start with the following line: 

3) Things get even worse when . . .

Write, don’t stop, don’t edit, don’t cross out.

Read your exercises, make notes, highlight what makes sense.

Happy Weekend!

Weekend Workout: Write Those 50 First Lines!

On Wednesday, I challenged you to the 50 First Lines Exercise.

Basically, you write 50 first lines, in a row, without thinking too much. I like setting a timer for 30 minutes to get that creative rush.

Now, I was hoping to make this exercise/challenge a contest. With prizes (see GUIDELINES – scroll down in original post). But, if I don’t get participants, well, it will just be a great exercise that maybe a few people did.

I really recommend you try it for your weekend workout. If you’re thinking, I can’t come up with 50 first lines in one sitting, then you should try this exercise.

If you’re thinking, And in you want me to do it in 30 minutes? You should try this exercise.

Letting go and timing yourself and not thinking too much about it you will write strange lines, funny lines, lines in genres you don’t normally dwell in, profound lines, surprising lines, etc, etc. I don’t know where some of the lines I wrote came from!

If you get stuck – think of a childhood memory, an embarrassing moment, the last fight you got into, something you saw on the bus… then put that incident in the distant past, in another country, in the eyes of a 12 year-old, in space. Try it with a paranormal twist, a surreal twist, a sardonic twist.

All you need to do to enter is to put your Top 5 lines in the comment section (in this post or the Wednesday post) by midnight on Monday. With 50 first lines, you’ll have a hard time choosing your faves.

On Wednesday, I will pick the Top 5 lines and give the next segment of the challenge. Ha! You thought we were going to stop at 50 first lines? Not a chance.

Weekend Workout: Cameo Characters and the Hidden Scene

This weekend I’m at FaerieCon West in Seattle (the urban version of FaerieWorlds). One of the VIP guests is prolific mythic fiction writer Charles De Lint, most famous for creating the imaginary town of Newfolk and telling so many stories about its population and their supernatural issues that he’s actually lost count of how many tales have sprung from it. The stories of the residents are intertwined, sometimes pulling a cameo from one story for a protag in the next.

From GoodReads: The books have all been written in such a way that you should be able to pick up any one and get a full and complete story. However, characters do reoccur, off center stage as it were, and their stories do follow a sequence.

I like this on so many levels. To create an imaginary world that inspires such a multitude of stories existing simultaneously and separately. This makes so much sense to me, though, as I often look out at the world and wonder about each person’s story. The peripheral characters in my own life – the people I run across at the supermarket, the post office, the traffic light – all have their own stories that briefly, sometimes once and never again, slip through mine.

Do you create your cameo characters with as much love as you do your main characters? Do you see them as individuals each carrying baggage and a back story? Or are they simply flat, cookie-cutter cliches tossed in without much thought?

I think we should care about all our characters. And, yes, it’s true that I predominantly give more weekend workout time to the main ones. But when I’m working on a story and a minor character appears, I’ll often stop and write a little paragraph about them as an exercise. Something about their childhood, who their parents are, their physical quirks. Just to get to know them a little. Like that balding man on the corner with a brown stain on his pants and a slight limp. The one who gets on the bus and checks out the cute chubby lady reading from her iPad. That guy. What’s his story?

YOUR WORKOUT

This it a bit different than the past several exercises. This time, I want you to pick three cameo characters. The ones who only grace a few pages of your novel.

I want you to write what I call a “hidden scene” about each character. This is a scene that won’t end up anywhere in your story, but will give a little insight into who they are and make them a little more real.

In each “scene” they are alone and they pick up an object. The object is precious to them. The scene should include something that describes them physically at that moment and an action that includes the object.

Don’t think too much, don’t edit, don’t cross out. Give yourself at least 7 minutes for each one.

If you don’t know where to start, just write:

CHARACTER walks across the room and picks up OBJECT.

(this exercise can be used with your protag or other main characters as well, I just thought it would be nice to give some stage time to the supporting ones)

One thing Charles De Lint said about when he creates characters, is that he doesn’t have to know every single thing about them (i.e. what brand of toothpaste they use). Rather, he likes to learn about his characters like he’s meeting them at a party.

I like that.

Weekend Workout: Unsticking the Stuck

At some point during a rewrite I always get stuck. Some momentous *thing* must happen, some important mystery revealed, some great payoff has to come for the set up and it’s got to be just right. It’s got to be satisfying.

Having notes from the publisher and a deadline (woosh – there it goes!) does not mean the answers come any faster, but through my rewrite of The Ruins of Noe, I’ve developed a little trick and, so far, it’s worked every time. But it takes discipline.

In the past, getting nervous about my story meant procrastinating to the page. Sometimes I’d end in a stuck place and resist coming back to it the next day.

In the last few months, though, I have become much more disciplined with my writing routine. I write first thing in the morning (well, after a little coffee and personal time), and if I’m in a stuck place (and sometimes even when I’m not), I start with a pre-writing brain dump.

When I free-write like this, there’s no commitment to what comes out. If I don’t like the idea, it stays in my notebook. But exploring all the ideas is what leads to the answer.

I keep a big blank spiral notebook on my desk and at the point of stuckness, I turn to the next page and write the person, magical item, plot point, whatever it is I need to figure out at the top of the page and put a box around it. (Later, after I’ve finished my draft, I’ll go through this notebook and add any pertinent information into my World Book)

For example, this is the one I did today. Sometimes it takes two or three pages until I get there. Today, it came pretty quickly, which was extra super.

(NOTE 1: this won’t make much sense to anyone but me, but you’ll get the idea)

(NOTE 2: a little spoiler alert for anyone who doesn’t want to know anything about Book Two)

The Whisper Light

Narine’s energy was dispersed into the 5 whisper lights. The one that appears @ Mabbe’s is the one to open the purview in Noe. It now speaks to Brigitta – but what does it say? Somehow she realizes Mabbe is an Ancient b/c of it. Dos she have a vision instead of hear a voice? Does it have a message for Mabbe? Does Mabbe recognize Narine’s energy? Do they both exclaim “Narine!” (is Narine mentioned before? This could definitely startle Mabbe) Does Narine speak through the whisper light? What would she say? The Ancients have not abandonded you. Gather your energy my faerie kin. Narine has not abandoned you. Narine has come. Narine is back. “I’m back” Brigitta says, not realizing. “We’re back”? Strange voice. Mabbe trembles. “Narine?” She asks. “Impossible!” There was something else – something that belonged and didn’t belong.

You’ll notice I ask a lot of questions. That’s extremely helpful. I also use shorthand and run everything together, not even worrying about paragraphs. Whatever emerges, emerges as it does.

If you ever have trouble starting, a “What if…” list is a perfect place to begin.

Write until the answer comes. Don’t stop, don’t cross out, don’t edit.

Circle what works. Get back to your edit and go for it!

THE WORKOUT

Pick a number of days you want to commit to writing IN A ROW. Let’s say 10. For 10 days in a row, when it’s writing time, start with a new blank notebook page, put the “scene” you are working on at the top of the page. (I always use the term “scene” for whatever is happening in a certain place during a certain timeframe)

Then write: In this scene… and simply free write (no stopping, no crossing out, no editing) about it, asking as many questions as  you need to get what you want to know. Throw in some “What if’s…” if you are unsure what’s about to happen. Keep writing until the AHA light comes on. DING!

Mid-Week Mourning Poem (for Victor Gato)

I haven’t posted in so long I think the three people who actually read my posts have probably given up on me. I guess I’ll have to make some new friends.

If you are new here, hi, hello. I generally leave a weekend writing exercise at the end of the week and post a new piece of writing at the beginning of the week, but today I’m bringing you a mid-week exercise and a poem.

One of the reasons I haven’t blogged in a while is because my cat was very sick and it became clear several days ago that he wasn’t going to make it. It was that delicate time when one has to decide in the cat’s best interests rather than one’s own. It was time to let him go.

I find the periods of my life when I am in mourning to be inspiring creatively. In particular for poetry and song. Emotional pain might not feel “good” – but it’s powerful stuff. I’ve learned to just be in it.

This week the workout is to write a “3-Stage Mourning Poem.” By “stage” I basically mean stanza. With each stanza, you need to “switch direction” but keep them related.

If you aren’t mourning a person or a pet right now, mourn anything. A plant, a favourite pair of shoes, your youth, your favourite restaurant, your ignorance, your idealism . . . whatever, just pick something to mourn.

Most importantly: bring in TANGIBLES. Familiar things we can see, hear, touch, etc. We so often feel pain when we see objects or hear songs that remind us of our loved ones. Show us those objects, weave them into the poem. If you start to get abstract, bring it back down.

And BTW, It doesn’t have to be a serious poem. (or piece of prose for you prose peeps out there)

In Mourning Cats

I know many cats in heaven.
All grandparents, a dad, cousin-in-law, acquaintance,
and at least three friends.
I may know two mice, if mice go to heaven
but my thought is mice
get an automatic rebound
back to the material world maybe
in the form of squirrels

They say cats have nine lives and I believe it.
Once you get to be a cat in heaven
you get to choose your next life.
That’s why cats always act like they own the place
because they do and when they commune with the mother ship
we are the butt of their jokes
how we suffer
how we break our hearts
how they just walk off in the middle of the night
without so much as au revoir

merci

We get close to the void
and write poems about getting close to the void.
Death makes us narrative.
We need to tell it straight
so family members can slip into the words
weave through remnants of troubled dreams
the stories weighing us
like magnetic ghosts

Victor Gato (1995 - 2011)

Weekend Workout: Pimp Your First Lines

So, you’re probably asking me: all these exercises generating and working spontaneously off of first lines, what practical application does that have?

I’m glad you asked!

For one thing, Tupelo Press is having a contest where you must select a line from Anne Marie Rooney’s poem: Last Evening: Index of first lines, which is, of course, a poem made up of first lines (you can find the poem on the contest page). The first lines don’t look familiar to me, so I’m not sure if she “borrowed” them from other people’s poetry, or her own discarded ones.

There are no rules other than you must use one of the lines from her first lines poem as your first line. It’s $15 to enter up to 3 poems.

Part of my own workout this weekend is going to be riffing off of 6 of her first lines and then picking my 3 favourite to edit for the contest (deadline June 30). The lines I’ve picked are:

All night the golden people put golden things up their golden

Could I become a comet? That frozen flying

I stole another woman’s only scarf

It was the wing of sweat that finally opened me, fretless and late

Tongue rank with another beginner angel

What he kissed in me was no meteor or shining pardon

AND

Inspired by Rooney’s poem of first lines… I decided to make that this weekend’s official writing workout.

Taking either prose or poetry, your own or others’, create your own “index of first lines” poem.

Weekend Workout: Wine Tasting Poem

Gwendolyn Alley and I developed this exercise for our “Message in a Bottle” writing workshop last month. Half of the workshop took place at the Channel Islands Visitor Center, the other half at Old Creek Ranch Winery.

The idea is to taste a particular glass of wine and answer the questions below in the form of a poem. Take your time with the lines if they lead you somewhere. Feel free to change, discard, or add your own questions. We planned the questions to go from “logical” questions when tasting wine to more abstract.

We recommend tasting and writing it as a group (using the same wine) and then sharing the poems. And, of course, feel free to edit it into whatever you want it to be.

You can certainly do this exercise with any other alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage. Wine is a good choice because of its complexity. If you don’t drink, try the exercise using chocolate or any other item of food that will inspire your senses.

This particular poem was inspired by the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon by Old Creek Ranch Winery. I actually loved this wine so much I bought a bottle. Get it while you can as this is the last vintage of it they plan to make!

My poem below. Gwendolyn Alley’s poem here.

Questions

What fruit/s does it taste like?
What kind of flower?
What kind of spice?
What mineral is it like?
What sound does it have?
What music is it?
What animal?
What memory?
What type of weather?
What regret?

The End of the Bottle: 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

Drink me plum cherries, smoky roses, sweet spice

quartz in a quarry echoing the laughter

of children on a Sunday spree

Like Eddie Reader, that soft space between

deciding to do something    and

not doing anything

The cats current pleasure is in thighs rich in memories

of driving

San Diego on the highway

Peter Gabriel convertible

The boyfriend freshman year I was proud of because

of his sexy-factor

Sunshine befell his optimistic dental career

he WAS baseball, apple pie, mother nature

light rain reflecting rainbows

happily ever after and all that

A swiftly tilting 18-year-old life

Where summer vacation meant a pause of labour

Where the routine as a melody

repeated in gold-mine futures

everything before us

the years stretched true

Monday Potes (on Tuesday, of course!): On the Day of the Bicycle Mammogram

A few weeks ago I gave a weekend workout assignment that I enjoyed so much I haven’t stopped. It was a writing ritual I had created for myself 9 years ago that became the manuscript for my chapbook Her Red Book. Once I got back into the ritual (very basically: writing in 3rd person early in the morning and just before going to bed, and always titling it FIRST with On the Day of, On the Night of, On the Morning of. . . etc) I quickly realized what a gem it was and couldn’t believe it had taken me so many years to try it again.

I’ve wracked up several of them that I’m already editing and have decided to post a few, even though they still feel a bit precious.

On the Day of the Bicycle Mammogram

She rides on an uneven day west
a straight shot that curves     but
does not stray     In the waiting room
the receptionist speaks loud English
to the Chinese lady     nods in another cyclist
eyes the father holding hands
with his woman-girl

They are all beyond guessing ages

She makes polite naked conversation
in the machine     her breasts
vised in like fruit to juice
nothing to it   she thinks
walking over the fading footprints
of visitors to the objectionably yellow building

She admires rooftops
the array of shingles     ceramic and wood
She cycles past the cars and buses
daring them to make her feel
mortal
It’s just a test this
is only a test     not the last
not the truth     not the point

When she reaches her door
the winds have died down
the sunset has been postponed and
all she wants
is to finish her book
the one she is trapped inside
the one she has climbed into
volunteering herself
for duty

Weekend Writing Workout: Ways of Looking

At some point in my A.N. posts I may have introduced this exercise before. But I wanted to bring it up today in honour of Tina Schumann being nominated for a Pushcart prize for one of her Ways of Looking poems.

But first, let me take a moment to toot Tina’s horn because she probably won’t do it herself. She was a student of mine years ago and has been quietly, diligently making her way across the poetry landscape, leaving her verbal Inukshuks. Her manuscript “As If” won the Stephen Dunn Poetry Prize and it’s now available from Parlor City Press.

“Ways of Looking” is one of my favourite exercises (but then again, I always say that, don’t I?). It’s based on Wallace Stevens’ poem “13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” I approach this exercise various ways, but the basic idea is to write a series of fragments, each looking at an object from a different point of view (which could mean a different mood, season, time of day, attitude, etc).

And For those PROSE WRITERS out there, don’t you fret. I’ve got a version of this exercise for you, just scroll down the page. (although I encourage you to do the poetic exercise as well. Poetry encourages economy of words)

These two delights are from High School students I worked with in the past. I’ve used this exercise with students as young as 1st grade. They all understand that you can look at objects in different ways. Sometimes I have 1st graders write different ways of looking at their best friends and its a hoot.

Six Ways of Looking at the Clouds

1
Clouds block me from the sun
So that my fingers reach the moon.

2
I see the clouds in the white sea,
The sea with black tears.

3
That you feel like you, the real you, yourself,
is because you are always on the clouds,
Traveling around with no money but a piece of paper.

4
You rewrite and rebalance the chemical formula
With the clouds on your stomach.

5
The apple, his heart, and even the watch shrink
But me on the clouds.

6
I put all my pants and hang my skirts in the clouds
so that everyone can see them but me.

~Vicki Han (15)

4 ways of Looking at the Snow

1
A ball of Johnson’s baby lotion
is falling romantically

2
The snowman gave me
a boastful smile

3
The road is white,
The sky is grey,
and I’m on my way

4
After car tire’s visit,
The road became
Yucky-black asphalt demon.

(Esther Lee, 14)

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

For all you prose writers out there, there’s a few ways you could use this exercise. One would be to take an object from your story and write about it from different character’s perspectives. Time each piece of writing, perhaps 5-7 minutes per character.

Another way of doing it is picking one character, but looking at the object from different points in the story or the character’s life.

For example, my character Brigitta looks at the Hourglass of Protection differently at the end of the first book than at the beginning. So I might write for 5-7 minutes about the hourglass from her perspective at the beginning, middle, and end of the first book, to help me understand her perspective at the beginning of the second book (which I am currently editing).

EVERYONE – always feel free to share your work if you try any of these exercises. Put a link in the comment section!

Weekend Writing Workout – Defining Moments Part II – Character Development

I gave an exercise last weekend called “The 10 Defining Moments of my Life” inspired from a short story by Canadian Author Anne Fleming called “The Defining Moments of my Life.”

It’s a fabulous story first told from the perspective of protagonists’ mother before she is born. What her mother fantasizes her daughter’s perfect life will be like. It is then told again from the protagonists’ perspective. Well, we all know, life is messy and doesn’t happen the way we, or our parents, always fantasize it does.

The story is told in list form, each “defining moment” numbered. As the protagonist’s life journeys on, the numbers get a little wonky. As does her life.

Last week I asked you to do this for yourself, as a personal journey, in prose or poetry form.

Today, I’m recommending you write these moments down for any characters you’d like to develop. These defining moments are backstory:  the joyful moments, the painful moments, the wounds that make the characters who they are in your current story. Many of these things will never be mentioned in your actual story, but keep them in the back of your mind. It will give this person a life before you meet them on the page.

Every person has “wounds” that shaped their life. Creating complex characters means understanding where your own character’s wounds came from. Your characters will be far more believable for doing so and their actions more consistent.

THE EXERCISE

1) Make a list of the 10 Defining Moments of your character’s life.

2) From each moment, write at least 3 IMAGES that go with that moment. I want you to SEE it happening, as if on a movie screen.

example:

Father’s suicide: briefcase, crystal bird, open door to balcony
Ran away from home: black limousine, red “otel” sign, stained carpet
Met Gary on-line: library, broken blue umbrella, wet streets
etc.

3) Now, for each defining moment, show us what happened. Write a paragraph or two. Make sure to SHOW the story, don’t explain what happened. Do it in visuals. I try to get my students to think this way, in images, as much as possible. It will make it more “real” in your mind if you can see it. And showing in your writing is always good practice.

You can tell it in 3rd person OR 1st person as the character.

Example:
1) FATHER’S SUICIDE
Casey opened her eyes. She was lying on the couch. Her father’s black leather briefcase, the one he had taken on his business trip, sat two feet from her face next to the coffee table. The room was cold and quiet. Someone had left the patio door open and the white curtains were blowing in and out like delicate sails. She had goosebumps on her bare arms. She looked down. Her bird, the crystal bird her father had given her, lay broken on the marble floor… (and so on)