The Last Mayan NaNoWriMo for 2012!

Well, I am officially a greater masochist than I ever thought possible. Evident by ME undertaking the task of writing an entire novel in a month. In NOVEMBER.  Not only is it the birth of the "Holiday" season but it is the LAST NOVEMBER EVER! According to the Mayan calendar. Last year I completed my novel  for NaNoWriMo for the first time, but I had much more free time to invest on attending write-ins and pouring over my laptop in a creative frenzy. I also had more time to work on editing and re-writes afterward (which I didn't utilize at all). This year? Not so much, I believe I have until December 21st or 22nd before our current epoch dies and civilization falls. So get ready to live like were gonna die young. (Thanks Ke$ha). This year is also a greater challenge as I will be juggling it with classes that wont matter after the apocalypse, as well as a full-time job that required mandatory overtime.

Despite the impossibility of this venture and my precarious position on that glass precipice, I still have a burning drive and a dream that I will make it to the end because this is a story I'm really excited to tell. So wish me luck and feel free to jump in on this bandwagon 'cause there's plenty of room. I'm turning into a writer come Hell or high Holy Water! 
-K

Great New Post on Creating Vivid Descriptions from Amazon's Omnivoracious Blog

Total Reader Immersion: Writing Evocative Descriptions

by Susan J. Morris on January 16, 2012

Have you ever read a book whose language was so lush, so vivid, so incredibly realistic that you felt, even just for a moment, that the characters, places, and events of the book must actually be real? That’s total reader immersion, right there. The holy grail of writing. To be able to, with a few words, make someone feel as though they were really there, in your story, alongside your characters. To let them actually experience exactly what it feels like to cast a spell, to fly, or to touch a dragon’s scales. So that once they are done with your book, they will never be the same. They will wear red scarves over black-and-white outfits and go to circuses. They will buy wands and drink Butterbeer.They will go to book launch parties, dressed in their midnight best. They will read your books by day, and dream of your worlds by night.

With solid description-writing skills, you can do that. You can do more than tell a story: you can bring it to life. All it takes is a little practice. And since you're practicing . . . here are a few do's and don'ts it may help to keep in mind, inspired by some of my favorite descriptions in fantasy fiction.

DO Read It Out Loud

“It was deep and wide as autumn’s ending. It was heavy as a river-smooth stone. It was the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who is waiting to die.”--The Name of the Wind

Have you ever heard a poem in a language you don’t understand? It is fascinating, how even without knowing the language, you can often understand the emotion behind the poem, just from the sound and pacing of the words. Good description is like that. Try saying these words out loud: susurrus, balk, encrusted. Each of these words has a sound that extends beyond its definition in a dictionary. The sound, shape, and length of their sounds carry associations. Are they short, staccato sounds? Sibilant and hissing? What does it say, if you use smooth, liquid sounding words to describe a brutal act? Or clipped precise words to describe a dance? Choose your words carefully, and you can convey emotion as eloquently as the soundtrack in a movie.

DON’T use too many weird words. I love unusual words—I have multiple rare-word books that I curl up with at night before bed. But a reader shouldn’t have to consult a dictionary after every sentence—they should be able to just experience your story. Treat unusual words like precious gems and set them in the silver and gold of simple language. That way, your beautiful word can shine to its best effect.

DO Use All Five Senses

“There was no sound except the rain, hissing like radio static …. She ducked under the dripping branches of an elm, stepping on tufts of short ferns and looping briars. Weeds brushed across her calves, leaving strokes of rain. The storm-bright sky lit the woods with silver. An earthy, sweet odor of rot bloomed where she disturbed the carpet of leaves.” --Tithe

Smell, they say, is the sense most linked to memory. So why are all of our books so visually biased? This scene is so evocative that I don’t just see it, I feel like I am physically there--from the use of expressive words like “brushed” and “strokes,” to all the wet imagery like “dripping, ” “rain,” and “storm.” The smell of rot is perfect—what better word than “blooming” to describe the experience of smelling something released into the air? The word “hissing” and the use of a technological term, once so omnipresent, for rain gets across not just the sound, but also the saturation of sound. And the visual imagery isn’t bad either. Sure, there’s no taste in this one, but I’ll give that a pass. Not every scene needs to remind us of what you have in your mouth.

DON’T describe everything with all five senses, exhaustively. A paragraph can usually get across what you’re trying to say. It’s great to use description to set the scene, but then your characters need to walk out on stage and start acting.

DO Use Metaphors, Similes, and Symbols

“Creamy and leggy, with long azure hair and the eyes of a silent-movie star, she moved like a poem and smiled like a sphinx.”--Daughter of Smoke & Bone

I love that phrase: “smiled like a sphinx.” Immediately, the myths and images of the legendary sphinxes—sharp, mysterious, predatory, impish, sensuous--come to mind, and you learn so much more about Karou than that she’s moved some muscles in her lips. And that’s not even getting into “the eyes of a silent-movie star”—which brings about immediate and clear imagery—and the more lyrical “she moved like a poem” which despite being distinctly figurative carries with it such strong associations that you get a vivid picture nonetheless. That’s the power of metaphors, similes, and symbols. Our prior reading experiences can imbue a simple word with whole layers of meaning—enabling authors to weave rich, layered descriptions with just handfuls of letters.

DON’T get carried away. If the woman you’re describing sounds more like a menagerie than a person, you’ve gone too far. And be careful not to stretch or abuse your metaphors, either. A little symbolism goes a long way.

DO Be Specific

“Stretched across the top of the gates, hidden in curls of iron, more firefly-like lights flicker to life. They pop as they brighten, some accompanied by a shower of glowing white sparks and a bit of smoke. The people nearest the gate take a few steps back. At first, it is only a random pattern of lights. But as more of them ignite, it becomes clear that they are aligned in scripted letters. First a C is distinguishable, followed by more letters. A q, oddly, and several e’s. When the final bulb pops alight, and the smoke and sparks dissipate, it is finally legible, this elaborate incandescent sign. Leaning to your left to gain a better view, you can see that it reads: Le Cirque des Reves”--The Night Circus

How much more beautiful is that, than a bald description? The details are exquisite and evocative. It is both active and specific, balancing the exacting details of how the sign looks when it comes to life with striking, active words such as “stretched,” “curls,” and “hidden” for even static things. Reality never stands still, and so the play-by-play description of the sign stuttering to life reads as a vivid, realistic description, rather than the pause-button descriptions we often read, and the human reactions of the crowd ground it in reality and give us context. Using details, rather than generic descriptions, not only paints a better picture, it also makes it more memorable by giving us something to focus on. In addition, each detail chosen tells us something about the point-of-view character—what they notice, and what they find important.

DON’T break everything down into itemized lists. “She was five feet five inches, twenty-seven years old, one hundred twenty-one pounds, and she had brown eyes and brown hair. Her house was two-thousand square feet…” These aren’t the kinds of details you’re looking for. Even though at first glance these absolute data points seem to tell the reader a lot, they aren’t memorable, and they actually don’t say much. You’re looking for the kinds of details you notice when someone or thing catches your eye. The things that make you catch your breath, the things you remember even years after the event.

For practice writing description, check out my list of 52 Writing Exercises, inspired by some of my favorite books. There are a number of exercises in there specifically focused on writing description. Choose one or two, and try writing descriptions keeping in mind all of the tips listed above.

Happy Writing!

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Read more Writers Don't Cry
Follow me on Twitter @susanjmorris

Best of Intentions

So I'm looking over my writer's blog (this one) and I suddenly realize it's been horribly neglected. On the up side, I have been reading but that is still not the same. I have been caught up with the responsibilities of home and work and school and have let my writing falter, a bit.

Well no more!


Next month is April and that means Script Frenzy! So I have to get in gear if I'm going to write a script in 30 days. To be honest Script Frenzy should actually be easier than NaNoWriMo was because it's simply less writing required in the same amount of time. That said, I think that it evens out because of the learning curve  required for screenplay writing and needing to properly format and everything. It's basically having to learn a whole new way to write!

I will be writing my script using Celtx which I used last year for my first ScriptFrenzy! attempt...one I didn't finish due to computer failings. Now I have a new computer so hopefully that wont be an issue this year.

So....now I brainstorm! The guns fire GO on April 1st and I have exactly 2 and 1/2 weeks or 18 days! I'm excited to take it on, but I want to lay some ground work. I need a plot and some characters figured out ahead of time so that means it's time for a BRAIN TSUNAMI!

Logline: a one-sentence "25 words or less" description of a screenplay.

Example: Taken aback by a letter from an old boyfriend announcing a new baby with his wife, divorced fiction writer Mavis Gary returns to her hometown reconnecting with her former lover.

OR

A Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver is lured from his isolated life by a lovely neighbor-until her violent husband is released from prison. 

These are loglines for Young Adult and Drive, respectively. Now I need some leads of my own. A premise or basic structure to set my script in. I need to know first my genre and then the most basic, simple base of the plot or story. I will be brainstorming ideas in my next post. 

Ciao for now

~K

1 New Year's Resolution...write more!

I'm still working on my goals for the new year, but one thing I know I want to do more of is delve into my artistic and creative side, especially writing. If completing NaNoWriMo this year accomplished anything substantial for me it was taking the idea that I thought I could write a book, and turned it into a quantifiable fact. Now I know I can write a book. I have done it! So now I want to continue to cultivate and foster that new enthusiastic momentum by doing regular writing exercises. I am planning to get them into a set routine, but while I am working on that I have decided to jump right into it without waiting for perfection.

Writing Exercise #1
Use the prompt to write the beginning of a story. Write for at least 20 min. 
**The ghost was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich**


     Whatever Eliot was prepared for, as he headed into the kitchen to nuke a bowl of Easy Mac, he wasn't prepared for what he saw. On a normal day, he may have expected to see the milk left out on the counter getting warm and potentially ruining his goal of having a nice cool satisfying bowl of Lucky Charms mixed with Cinnamon Toast Crunch after a long day at the Quick Mart. He might also have anticipated running into his roommate Jessica, asking him if he had eaten the last of her Brie (maybe?...he couldn't remember) and why he was home from work so early. Not because she was concerned about him, but because she was concerned about the store, since Jessica was also his boss. He probably didn't really expect to see Stan, from building maintenance in there fixing the fluorescent light that never stayed on and usually flickered out after about 20 minutes so that was not a surprise at all.

 The thing that Eliot was most unprepared for as he walked into that kitchen was to see a ghost sitting there, eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He knew that it was a ghost and not just one of Jessica's friends due to the fact that the guy was transparent. Eliot could easily see the other side of the kitchen right through the guy, although he noticed he was not watching the sandwich digest in the ghost's body. Strange. Maybe it was a ghost sandwich too, Eliot mused. The ghost sat on one of the bar-stool style seats that sat at the kitchenette counter. His legs, which were bare from the edge of his cargo shorts down to the lace-less Chuck Taylors, dangled down without reaching the ground. The counter had peanut butter, bread, jelly, two used knives and the bread's twisty-tie strewn all over it. So much for the ghost sandwich theory.

Eliot stared at him.
 
     "You...you aren't supposed to be here. What are you doing here? How can you even eat? You're...dead." That word, dead, had such a finality to it. Like a dead bold sliding into place across a door. There was no coming back from that word.

The ghost looked up  from his sandwich and looked at Eliot, meeting his gaze. A bemused expression moving over his face settling into the place where vigorous chewing had been happening mere moments before.

     "Eliot, really," the ghost said "is that anyway to greet an old friend? I mean, I've come all the way back from the grave...as you mortals like to say." he gave a slight frown "When did you switch to Skippy? I preferred the Jiff."

Suddenly he waved away the thought and gave Eliot a conspiratorial look
     "Listen, I've come back for a reason and you're going to want to know what it is." He flashed a devilish smile "I'm going to need your help with what I mean to do.."

An Awesome Blog Article from Omnivoracious (Amazon Blog)

NaNoWriMo Special: The Shotgun Approach to Writing

by Susan J. Morris on October 31, 2011

By which I don’t mean take a shotgun to your computer or anything so dire. I’m talking about doing some rapid-fire brainstorming to quickly move through a lot of different ideas--from a variety of different approaches--until you find one that suits your fancy. Because you need a good idea if you’re going to participate in National Novel Writing Month, and NaNoWriMo is not about taking it slow.

NaNoWriMo is about getting hooked on writing. You kind of have to be if you’re going to hit 50k in just one month! Of course, to get to even 1k, you first need to do one very important thing: start. Starting is for many the hardest part. And the hardest part of starting is coming up with an idea you're crazy enough about to spend all your Friday nights cuddling up to your computer.

So, listed below are five of my favorite ways to get an idea. Try all of them! Who knows? You might just hit on something good. After all, legend has it Erin Morgenstern’s acclaimedThe Night Circus started in a story she wrote for NaNoWriMo . . .

1. Picture Yourself Legend Tripping

There's a reason legends stick around for so long: something about them grips the human imagination. Which means they make damn good stories. You can tackle the big ones--like the fall of the mythical city of Atlantis, or the smaller ones, like the lost colony or Roanoke, in which 128 people disappeared, leaving only the word "Croatoan" carved on a solitary post of the fort. Either way, trying to explain the unexplainable is always a fun way to spend some words. Here are some of my favorites (inspired by Jeff Belanger's excellent Picture Yourself Legend Tripping):

•  The origins of the Pied Piper myth is Hamelin’s town records. In an entry from 1384, it states: "It is 100 years since our children left." No other details. How’s that for a historical mystery worth talking about?
• The Starchild skull, found in 1930, was shown in 2000 to have belonged to a creature with a human mother (based on mitochondrial DNA)--and in 2009 to have a nonhuman father (based on nuclear DNA). Now, what could have caused that?
• Robert Leroy Johnson had such phenomenal talent that many said it could have only come from a deal with the devil. He makes an appearance in O Brother Where Art Thou? and Reservation Blues. But he’s hardly the only famously skilled musician who was said to have made a deal with the devil and died at age 27. What others can you find?

2. Stranger Than Fiction

History is sometimes so strange as to be unbelievable, so poignant as to be heartbreaking, and so inspiring as to be worth a thousand tales. From the dramatic and epic lives of gangsters and cowboys like Bonnie and Clydeand Doc Holliday, to the oddest of mysteries. Like, did you know "dancing mania" was a thing? Tens of thousands would appear and dance for up to months in an unconscious, uncontrollable state. Why did they dance, and what happened to those who were left behind?

And then there are war stories. Scott Westerfeld, in his talk at Central Library, said that part of the inspiration for the Leviathan trilogy came from World War I--thinking about the tragic deaths of two Austrian nobles that caused the whole world to fall apart, and how much worse that must be for you if you were the child of that couple. What if your personal tragedy, which makes it feel as though the world is breaking, was echoed on the world stage like that? What if the world actually did fall apart?

3. Found Objects

One of my favorite methods of brainstorming is seeing what random associations your brain makes for you--what stories your brain will tell, if given an object, a detail, and a location. You’d be surprised what an effective story-starter this can be.

•  Pick an object. You want it to be personal, like an antique pocket watch, a locket, a cuff link, a ring made of twisted copper wire, a ribbon, a much-folded drawing, an intricately bound journal, a torn-out page of a book in another language, or a key.
• Pick a detail to be attached to that object, like an inscribed date, a word, an address, a picture, some blood, a lock of hair, a map, a strange perfume, or a tooth.
• Pick a location to find that object, like a storm drain, the sidewalk, a hollow tree, a cereal box, an abandoned hospital, a tree house, the glove compartment of a rental car, a secret panel in your mother’s make-up kit, under the floorboards, or in a book.

Now tell a story about that object with that detail in that location. Who finds the object? How did it get there? What does the detail mean?

4. Art Books Are a Writer’s Best Friend

They say a picture is worth a thousand words . . . Books of pictures, then, must hold thousands of stories. Flip through the pages of a fantastic art book, or through galleries online, and see what inspires you. Some of my favorite art books are:

• The award-winning, annual international collection of the best fantastic art out there, every page ofSpectrum is inspiring.
• Brian Froud’s faerie and goblin art was the inspiration behind Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal.
• Award-winning H.R. Giger is probably best known for his work on Alien, but there’s a lot more disturbing, beautiful art where that came from . . .

5. What Do You Hear In These Sounds?

Songwriters have far fewer lines in which to tell their stories, which often results in lines that hold whole worlds in just a few words. Try taking a line from a song, and telling a story based around that single line. Here are some good examples:

• "I’m sorry if I left the angels crying over me"--Selena Gomez
• "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls"--Paul Simon
• "I saw my daddy cry and curse at the wind. He broke his own heart and I watched as he tried to reassemble it."--Paramore 
• "Because you're mine, I walk the line."--Johnny Cash
• " 'There must be some kind of way out of here,' Said the joker to the thief"--Bob Dylan

Another useful music technique is listening to a soundtrack, and telling the story you hear in the music. Some of my favorites for this are Pan’s Labyrinth, House of Flying Daggers, Spirited Away, and The Lord of the Rings.

Come up with any interesting ideas? Take some time, flesh it out a bit. Then, next week, come back for some tips on writing a quick and dirty outline. Happy writing!

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Read more Writers Don't Cry
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Omnivoracious: NaNoWriMoSpecial