Tag: Personal

Talk

Dialogue is one of the foundations of writing a novel. If our characters say nothing, we learn only what the narrator wants us to know about them. It’s also a crucial element of the classic ‘Show, Don’t Tell’ advice that is often discussed. When I was in college, one of my professors often talked about a book called “Talk: A Novel in Dialogue”. As the title suggests, the book is written entirely in dialogue. Recently, I’ve been thinking about dialogue as a mode of telling the story, specifically by listening to a lot of podcasts.

Anyone who knows me, knows I love podcasts. It’s basically what my friends and I talk about on a weekly basis. I listen to everything from Levar Burton Reads to 60-Second Science. It’s an easy way to fill time on the bus, doing housework and doing my grocery shopping. One of my most recent obsessions is The Bright Sessions.

Even insignificant characters who only interact with your protagonist with for a moment, dialogue can be a way to make that character lifelike and rich to the reader.

I was introduced to the show by my friend Aly, who was 100% correct when they said I would enjoy it. The basic premise is that its recordings from a therapist’s office, but all of her patients have unusual abilities (time-travel, telepathy, and so on). The show is presented entirely in conversation, normally one-on-one. Sometimes it becomes a much larger group, but the characters are so distinct that it’s very easy to follow.

The podcast has a very definitive story to it and we learn a lot about the characters through their sessions. If you’re struggling with characterization through dialogue, I definitely recommend this podcast (both for the story and the lessons from dialogue).

Please Stand By…

Due to a couple of things happening this week, there won’t be a short fiction piece until next week. In the meantime, I recommend going here to check out some of the fiction that’s been here in the past! I’ll have something before the end of the month, I promise!

If you’re interested in knowing what I’m up to these days, follow me on Twitter and Facebook! I post random thoughts, books and short stories I’m reading and I’m going to start doing more exclusives (like my very short reaction piece from a whale watch I went on yesterday).

Feeding the Muse

When I tell people that I write, one of their first questions is where I get my ideas and how I keep my creative spark active. Anyone who creates art knows how hard it can be to keep the creative juices flowing, whether that’s drawing, writing, creating music or cooking. So how does one keep the creative spark active? In a world that is constantly demanding attention and brainpower to just function in the day-to-day activities, keeping creative is a challenge for anyone with a creative side hustle.

Repetition helps, doing the thing until it becomes muscle memory. The random word doodles that I do (and sometimes post) for this blog can often lead me to “What if…?” or “Imagine this character in…” trains of thought. The creative part of the brain is a muscle and muscles only ever get stronger through work (and often resistance). Even if one out of every one hundred things you write is tolerable, you increase your odds of creating something you like.

I found that letting the mind wander is as important as having intense focus on a creative endeavor. Sometimes, doing menial chores or just walking around the city, I’ll have ideas for stories, characters, settings, and even plots. I have a special note on my phone for ideas I have while out walking about.

Paintings, music, and physical movement also keep the creative juices flowing. Other art can sometimes be the best inspiration. I have images of old maps and paintings saved on my laptop that I look at when things feel a little stale, trying to reinvigorate the mood of whatever I’m working on.

And, of course, a good cup of tea is a good energizer at the end of the day.

How do you feed your muse? Music? Art? Power nap? Tea? Let me know!

Making the count…

So, almost every day since early January, I’ve been posting Facebook status first thing in the morning. Since getting my new office job, I’ve been waking up first thing in the morning, writing and posting my word count.

Usually, I shoot for around 400 words or so. I do my best to stay positive about it, even on days when I don’t make my goal. I do my best to try and write a coherent story, working on one project. Some days I can only manage an out of place scene or a character sketch. More often, I make a continuation of the same story from the day before. Either way, I feel that having that time first thing in the morning is important for my mental health and my creativity.

But why post it on Facebook? What does a daily number mean in an endless stream of updates, photos, links and humble bragging (myself included)? I don’t use it to track my total word count or judge the quality of my work. So why do it?

One of the most important things when writing is accountability. It’s easy for me to say I’m gonna sleep in for the morning and skip my day, but people notice now. I once had my mother text me when I didn’t post a word count to make sure I was still alive (her words).

As I’ve been doing this, I’ve been seeing the same likes and comments and realized that I have a personal community that is supportive and encouraging. And, in an endeavor that’s primarily done in solitude, it’s a good feeling to have visual confirmation that friends and family are supporting you.

So, whether you have a Facebook or Twitter, I encourage you to celebrate your small victories. Cause working alone is hard, but the beauty of social media is having people to celebrate small victories with you. And those build up pretty quick into bigger victories!

For the Non-Chatty Commuter

I’ve always been very jealous of anyone who could read in the car. I got motion sickness when trying to focus on anything in a moving vehicle. As I’ve gotten older, I listened to music in the car and eventually podcasts. I’m not what people would call a “chatty commuter”.

Recently, I’ve started listening to audiobooks that I’ve borrowed from the library while on my commute to downtown. Altogether, my normal commute takes an hour each day either way. The library here in Seattle uses the Overdrive program, so I can download books and keep them on my phone and enjoy listening to a novel as I’m coming or going from work. Most recently, I’ve listened to The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden and it was wonderful (a good choice since it reads so much like an adult fairytale). As of right now, I’m listening to Fledgling by Octavia Butler.

I don’t know which I retain better, but I certainly feel like I’m doing more reading during the week. When I only have 30-40 minutes on my lunch break or a few minutes as I’m drifting off to bed, I feel like I’m enjoying more stories on a regular basis. I’ve heard that there’s no real difference between reading a paper book versus listening to audiobooks. but there are those who argue there’s a difference. Either way, for me, audiobooks make the commute in the morning one of the better parts of my day.

Terry Pratchett, An Author’s Legacy and The Steamroller

Recently, fantasy fans around the world cried out in agony as Terry Pratchett’s hard drive (containing 10 unfinished novels) was destroyed as per his will. As was his wish, the hard drive was crushed by a steamroller and, honestly, I can think of no better send off. But reading the news got me thinking about other authors and what it means for a work in progress when it’s creator, for whatever reason, ceases to be able to work on it. Is death really the end for an author?

Despite his death in 1973, J.R.R. Tolkien’s works are still published regularly with revivals of legends of Middle Earth or companion guides to his world. Easily the most recognizable name in fantasy today, Tolkien’s impact on the realm of fantasy cannot go unnoticed, his stories still fresh and new 44 years after he died. His world and words live on by those who tell his stories and build upon them either on the page or the big screen. The Children of Hurin or The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, for example, were both published within the last ten years, drawing on the influences from the legends in Tolkien’s The Silmarillion.

Douglas Adams, on the other hand, was continued with the best intentions. However, And Another Thing… didn’t quite have the same feel as the previous iterations as the rest of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series did. It was written with the best intentions to honor Adams and his legacy, but it fell flat, in my opinion. It’s a nice, neat continuation of the world of Douglas Adams, but it failed to have that same charm that I had grown to love while reading the books.

I feel that an author’s world doesn’t have to continue after their death. But the unfinished worlds, defined only by the author’s own imagination and intent, should be left. I respect and agree with Mr. Pratchett’s final wish, though I am sad to know we will never read them. But if that’s the end of his unfinished novels, I can think of no end more fitting than what he asked.