The Writer's Blessing

I'm not religious, but this seemed so very fitting for this week. I hope you have a wonderful writing week and feel free to spread the Writer's Blessing around!

Photo credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/476326098069733776/

Tips for Reading Your Work to an Audience

This weekend I'll be reading at a poetry open mic in my town. As I prepare the poems I'm going to read, I though I'd share with you a few snippets of important info to keep in mind when you do a poetry reading aloud to an audience.


1. Slow Down: It's easy to get caught up in the adrenaline of the moment and race through your poem or short story. But remember, the crowd is gathered to hear your work. They want to be able to absorb and contemplate the beginning, middle, end, and every piece of metaphor and imagery you toss their way. If you speed through your poem, they won't be able to appreciate what you've created. So, take a deep breath and read slowly. You will undoubtedly think that you're reading much too slow for anyone to stay interested. Trust me, this is the correct speed.

2. Make Eye Contact: There's nothing that says amateur like reading your poem, line for line, without ever once making eye contact with the assembled crowd. Not only does it seem awkward, but it bars your listeners from making a connection with you, which means they won't feel connected to your poetry either.

3. Find Your Rhythm: Much like musicians, writers spend hours deciphering the mood of a poem. Read your poetry out loud. Find the correct cadence for each piece (which will be dictated by whether the work is serious, humorous, narrative, lyrical, or a combination of two or more styles). You can even write notes in the margins of your poem to remind yourself when to pause, speed up, and change your tone of voice.


Ready for your own poetry reading? Do a little homework by watching famous poets read their work aloud. Many are readily available on YouTube. Here are a few of my favorites:

Check out Billy Collins reading four poems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTxpQCY7df8&nohtml5=False

And if you're into slam poetry, this one by Lily Myers is amazing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQucWXWXp3k&nohtml5=False


Above it all, though, just relax. The people gathered there do indeed want to hear your point of view and your ideas. Stay confident, stick to what you practiced and the performance will be over before you know it!

How to Craft An Engaging Fantasy World

Sorry about the radio (or blog) silence last week, faithful scribes. I had my wisdom teeth and a molar removed and lost track of my regular life for a little while.

However, I'm back! And for your patience, I'm doing two posts this week to make up for it. The Bonus Post will follow this post shortly, so keep your eyes peeled.


Now, to get down to the real reason you're here. Do you love fantasy novels?

I sure do. I remember falling in love with them as a middle schooler when I read a plethora of fantasy and magical realism novels. Some of my favorites that still stand out to this day include:

The Skull of Truth by Bruce Coville

Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

The Wayside School books by Louis Sachar

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

...and many many more that I read and that are no doubt stuck back there in my subconscious, guiding me everyday.

Have you ever coveted the ability of these books and others to stick so strongly in the minds of readers? How do these authors make everything so vivid, so readers never want to leave the lands they've discovered there? What makes a novel worth reading again and again?

Characterization, plot, and description all have a little something to do with it, but especially in the fantasy genre, setting reigns key. So, today, I'm going to share with you a few ways to improve your fantasy world and make it more engaging so readers are immersed and never want to leave.


1. Draw a Map: You've probably seen maps in the front or back of epic fantasy novels (think LOTR) to help characters know where everything is placed and how it fits together. Maps are especially important if your characters are going journeying through the land and the reader needs to keep track of many locations and cities. However, maps are also great for stand-alone novels that take place in a single town. You don't have to be an artist, a simple, sloppy stick-figure map is great so you can look back at it and remember where the grocery store is, the blacksmith, and especially how to get back to the enchanted sword the protagonist buried in chapter 6.

2. Write a Bible: The best story worlds are so engaging because there are clear rules that the characters must follow or there will be consequences. Now, you can't have consequences if you don't first know the rules of your own world. Sit down and write a bible for your land. What are the steadfast rules that cannot be broken? Who has magic and who doesn't? Why? Explore every possibility back to the Old Testament where wars were waged and won and lost to shape the world your protagonist inhabits now. One word of warning, though; if you write your bible before your begin your first draft, make sure you're flexible to changing it. Some rules might be tweaked or made more rigid in the writing process and you'll need to be able to change your bible to fit accordingly. You can do this because YOU are the god of this fantasy world. YOU make the laws. No one will come and smite you unless you do it yourself.

3. Info Dump: After you've drawn your map and written your bible, go ahead and open a new blank page. Info dump all over the place there. Tell us the history of this holy site and all the smells, feels, and sights of your protagonist's bedroom. Get all the exposition out of the way here, too. Really go nuts. Now that you've gotten it out of your system, open a completely different blank page and begin your first draft for your novel. Allowing yourself to have that info dump moment allows you as the writer to get familiar with the fantasy world and its characters before you bring readers into the mix. Now, you can pick and choose sparingly which details you're going to include where - so the story unfolds naturally and the reader meets and acquaints himself with your world in due time. You'll be able to write more freely because you won't be worried about forgetting some detail or leaving out too much because you've got it all saved in a separate document that will never see the light of day.

4. Steal From the Real World: If you're writing a novel with integrated fantasy elements or magical realism, this is a no-brainer. Your story could be set in Indiana or Scotland or some other real tangible place. Go ahead and steal that. Even if you're writing an epic fantasy in a new world of your creation, think of places you've been that may give you concrete details from our real world. The supermarket, for example, or the doctor's office. Maybe you have a favorite stream in your hometown your protagonist goes to think by. Steal from the real world because it gives readers something familiar to relate to. However, even if you are basing your setting in a real world place, remember that you're writing a fantasy novel. Go ahead and infuse the fantastical. Make up a new and interesting coffee shop where the cups float to you when your order's ready. Have dragons and rainbow colored goats walking the London streets. Take from the real world and the usual and make it something amazing.



So, that's it! My steadfast rules to helping flesh out a fantasy world. Even if you don't employ them all, using just one or two will help you to better understand your world and its rules and history. It will help you write better, deeper material, even if you're writing a picture book. It may also help you to uncover avenues of adventure you'd never thought of before.

Before long, yours could be the next book causing people to stay up way past their bedtime, engrossed in your world.

What To Do When You Hate Your Novel

This being my first post of the new year, I wanted to say something really positive. But I've heard from a lot of my writer friends lately that they've been in a funk. That novel they've been working on that seemed so promising and lovely...now they hate it.

Literally, hate it.

Like, think of it and groan. Look over a terrible paragraph or two and cry. Want to chuck your laptop out the window, kind of hate.

They think, why has this happened, it was going so well? Great, now I've wasted four months of my life on this thing that sucks.

I've been there. I've thought those same thoughts. The thing to remember is, this happens to all of us. As creative people, we doubt ourselves. This is beneficial because it stops us from doing something crazy - like quitting our careers and trying to write the next great American novel on a mountain in Tibet. It is also the driving force behind revision - because we want our work to be the best it can be, which means it needs to be better than the draft I wrote the first time around.

However, self-doubt can also be crushing. It can make you hate your work for really no reason whatsoever. Maybe your own voice annoys you. Maybe you can't riddle out the meaning of a scene. It's so frustrating that soon, you tell yourself you've never been an artist at all. You suck at writing and you should stop writing this novel right now.

What I'll tell you, faithful blog reader, is exactly what I tell my friends when they're in this funk. This is entirely normal behavior, but please, take a break.

First, you need to know that most every writer goes through this - especially with long materials like novels. Sooner or later, you will hate it - either from reading and rereading it too many times or out of frustration with your muse, but it will happen.

Now, it's important that you don't then delete the whole thing, burn your hard drive and spend all your savings on a new car you don't need. What you must do is set writing down for a moment and take a break. Go to the coffee shop for a few hours. Lock yourself in your room and reread Harry Potter. Go sky diving. Take a month or two and travel and meet new friends. Take a year and don't worry about writing.

If you're truly meant to write - if it's something you MUST do - you will always come back to it, and it will be waiting for you. Because, at this point, writing has chosen you as much as you have chosen it.

However, if writing truly does give you unneeded stress and torture, perhaps it hasn't chosen you after all. Perhaps you're not meant to be tortured by it.

For most of us who do the research on blogs and internet videos about the craft, and for those of us who've lost sleep pounding away at the keys in a fit of sheer elation, we're stuck in the writing life forever. Embrace it. But sometimes you can embrace it too strongly and smother the poor thing. This is when you need to take a break. Whether it's an hour or two years, do what you have to do to love writing again.

I promise it's worth it.

Just don't - whatever you do - delete your hard drive in a fit of rage.

Forcing the Muse

My schedule didn't allow me to participate in NANOWRIMO this year, but I do have a handful of friends who undertook the challenge. My conversations with them has led me to understand one very important thing: Sometimes the muse doesn't come willingly. Sometimes you have to drag it.

One friend of mine sat looking at her computer screen for the first four days of November, slowly falling behind in her word count. She fretted over the fact she had no concept, no characters, no setting, and no plot line.

Her imagination was an empty void.

"I would have quit," I admitted sheepishly to her. "Not writing, of course, but I would have quit NANOWRIMO. Obviously, it wasn't my year."

The beautiful thing is: she didn't take my advice.

On the fifth day, frustrated and crying, she began writing down absolute nonsense.

My headphones are red. The cord is longer than I think it should be. I have a sugar skull eraser. I don't wish to use it in case I erase off the face.

Pages and pages of nonsense ensued. Two lattes were downed and refilled. Somewhere, along the way, her muse remembered how to walk, then run.

By the end of the week she had a character and a novel plot. Her setting unfolded and she caught up, then surpassed her word count goals.

All of us have been here at some point - staring for days, thinking it's finally happened, we've finally lost our ability to write creatively. In fact, as I write this blog post, I'm in that boat. I've been sick for three weeks and with the surroundings of a new state, new house, and new job, I haven't had much time to devote to writing. Now throw in the holidays and it's like my muse no longer exists.

What I'll have to do next, and what you'll likely have to do eventually too, is force the muse. I'm going to have to get her out of her recliner, walking and remembering what writing feels like and how easily ideas can flow. I'm going to have to make her recall the beauty and the freedom in writing.

And while I won't be NANOWRIMOing anytime soon, I'm hoping a new short story or novel flows forth. I'm not giving up until it does.

What's a MOOC and Why is it Cool?

Many of you know that while I'm no longer actively working towards a degree in Writing, I still love taking online workshops and getaway writing weekends to grow my knowledge in the craft.

The only problem? All those classes cost A LOT of money.

Some I'd pay 80-100 dollars for, others cost over 400!

But it was okay, right? All in the name of writing. This is my passion. This is what I want for my life. I want to get better and be published. I want to be a writer!

However, what if we could learn how to be writers without paying two weeks of disposable salary?

That's where the MOOC comes in.

MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course. Wikipedia defines it further as, "an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web. In addition to traditional course materials such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, many MOOCs provide interactive user forums to support community interactions between students, professors, and teaching assistants."
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course

So, basically, a MOOC is a high-level class brought to you usually by an accredited facility, literally giving away info for free.

What could be better than that?

MOOCs were birthed into the world in 2008, but didn't become popular until 2012. This means they're still a pretty new concept in the world of learning.

If you're looking to take a writing MOOC (or a MOOC in any subject - because they exist for almost anything), here's a list of Pros and Cons.

PROs: 1. They're free.
2. You choose your level of participation. [Because you're not paying for it, you don't have to worry about making deadlines and submitting assignments or risk failing grades. There are no grades here. Simply self enrichment.]
3. You meet a wide variety of people in fields you're interested in. [Unlike a classroom, students are only limited in attending by whether or not they have internet access. That means you meet writers from all over the world that are interested in the same things you are. Great friendships ensue.]

CONs: 1. You must be at least moderately computer savvy.
2. You only get what you put in. [If you don't think you need to participate because it's free and you're not graded, then you probably won't learn very much. Sure, the instructor videos are helpful, but only by engaging in conversation and critique and submission with your fellow students will your writing truly grow.]
3. It's easy to get overwhelmed if you're not organized. [There's no enrollment cap so thousands of students sign up for MOOCs. That means, if you're not prepared, you can easily be overwhelmed by the 3,000 comments made on day one. Also, since there are so many people, it's likely you won't always be critiqued by the same amount of students for each story you submit. While you do receive variety in opinions with your critiquers, one story may get 700 comments, another may only get 3.]


If you think MOOCs sound intriguing, sign up! There are sites like NovoEd that contain hundreds of MOOCs on different subjects.

In fact, the whole reason I've made this post this week is because I'm enrolled in a MOOC put together by the University of Iowa (you know, the one with the really popular Iowa Writer's Workshop). It's called How Writers Write Fiction 2015 and may still be open for enrollment (?) since they're still in the Welcome Week of the course.

And good news for poets, too! The University of Iowa also puts on a How Writers Write Poetry MOOC occasionally. The 2015 one just ended, but they're looking into doing the next in 2016 or 2017.

What To Do When the Muse Escapes You

It's a very busy time of year for many of us. School is back in session, summer vacations are over and gone, the days are getting shorter - ugh! With all of this and the stress of normal, everyday life, sometimes our writing falls to the back burner.

Even best laid plans often come out misshapen. You want to write over lunch but there's a twenty minute line in the cafeteria, so you only have a few moments to scarf down food. You want to write right away in the morning, but your alarm clock doesn't sound. You want to write before bed, but your kids aren't used to school-time bedtimes and fighting their energy has you up until midnight.

No matter who you are or what your situation is, these kinds of setbacks in our writing life definitely take a toll. After a week of thwarted plans, you're often too exhausted to write while family watches the football game. And when an early bedtime arises, you take sleep over getting another sentence into your novel.

I get it. I've been there too.

If this is sounding a whole lot like your life, I urge you to check out a brand new muse.

This sounds like more work, you say, but no. You needn't create her.

Instead, pop over to Pulp Literature and check out their "A Message From Your Muse" page. Here, you can sign up for a daily message from the muse either emailed to your inbox, or follow her on Twitter to keep excess emails thin.

Her gems of knowledge and encouragement have made me smile and lifted my writing spirits on countless occasions. I hope her musey effects help you as well.

The Pacifier Predicament

When I was three years old, my mother finally convinced me that I was too old to be using pacifiers. She did this in a very stealthy way, like many mothers. She told me that poor children in Africa needed pacifiers, and could I donate a few of my pacifiers for the children who cried all day and night because they had none?

I, of course, agreed. I scurried around the house, digging my pacifiers from their hiding spots. I flung them into the cardboard box my mom set out in the living room. I found every single pacifier, and then I took the final pacifier out of my own mouth and added it to the box. My mom labeled the box for a phony African children's organization and we taped it shut.

Then, my mom and I walked the box of pacifiers down to the mailbox at the end of the driveway and slotted it in. She let me put the little flag up and I said goodbye with no reservations to every pacifier I had.

Little did I know, my mother snuck down to the mailbox during naptime and removed the box because, of course, the African children's pacifier organization didn't really exist.

That day my mom successfully did two things. 1. She became the spring board off which I would further my activism later in life, and 2. She allowed me to give up the things I no longer needed when I was ready.

This is something you need to remember when you write, too.

I bring up this little anecdote because it's something I'm struggling to remember at this very moment. I'm currently working on a story written in separate installments. My brain thinks that once I'm done with one part, I should go back and reread it and revise where necessary. But my heart tells me to keep writing. If I don't keep up the pace and flow of the next story, they won't seem cohesive.

What I keep telling myself to remember is that even if a scene doesn't feel complete or feels a little off for some reason I can't fathom right now, I don't need to worry about it. I just need to keep writing. When I finish the whole story - every single part - then I can go back and reread to see what's wrong.

Right now, I'm not ready to give anything up in my writing process. And it would be traumatic for me to be forced to.

This same advice works if you're already in the revising stage, too. Let's say you submit the next chapter of your novel to your trusty beta readers. They come back with HUGE problems in the plotting and characterization. However, you just can't seem to bring yourself to kill your darlings just yet.

It's okay. Go have a cup of coffee. Work on some poetry or the next chapter. Wait until you have enough distance from the criticism to truly take it in.

Because if my mom had come to a two year old Alyssa and asked her to give up her pacifiers, even if it was for a good cause, I would have screamed and refused. If she persisted, I probably would have developed some life-long thumb sucking habit. But instead, I got the space I needed to nurture the idea of giving up my beloved pacifiers. I was only approached with the idea of change when I was ready.

Don't feel bad if you leave a scene unfinished to continue the rate at which you're writing. Don't feel bad if you thank your critiquers for their comments, but don't look at them or use them for months. Everyone has a different time frame with change. Find yours and you'll be sending those pacifiers off in no time - no looking back.

Document and Forget

****Important Blog Info****

Next Tuesday is the closing date for my Wisconsin house. The closing is in the morning and then we start the long drive with four people, three vehicles, two trailers, two rabbits, one dog, a dozen house plants, and our essential belongings through most of the Eastern US until we reach North Carolina. 

This means that it will literally be impossible for me to blog next week on Tuesday. 

Sorry in advance, guys. Thanks for understanding. 

#                    #                    #

With that established, let's get down to business today. 

A few weeks ago my cell phone contract came up for renewal. I went to the cell phone store, waited almost three hours, paid out an entire pay check worth of funds, and finally left with a new phone. This upgrade was a massive switch for me. I was going from an Android Razar to the iPhone 5S. 

It took me awhile to get used to the new graphics, the new home screen, and, of course, Safari. Heck, let's face it, I'm still not very comfortable with where everything is located, but I'm getting better at using it on a daily basis. 

The other day, I turned on my old Droid to sort through the thousands of Notes I stored on it. Because switching my old pictures onto my iPhone was easy, but Notes was a whole 'nother story. I started at the top, wading through vegan smoothie recipes concocted during three a.m. moments of clarity, ideas for new paintings, cool character names I read or heard, hundreds of notes on novels and stories in progress. full poems written during lunch breaks, pointless rants I wrote when I needed to vent about that rude customer or this horrible boss, and lists of old grocery needs. However, the most important notes I found were titled simply "STORY IDEA". There were three. I expected to type them into a Word Document on my laptop and file them away for a later time when I needed a break from a novel revision or couldn't get a new story idea brainstormed. The first two I transferred over with no problem. One was an interesting exchange of dialogue I overheard while making someone's pizza that had blossomed into a possible literary story. The other was a link to a scientific study on genes and a possible sci-fi story idea. 

But the third made me stop. It was a mere five word sentence - probably a news story I had heard while walking past a newscast on TV. It was so short, that, had I written it out on a piece of paper, I probably would have thrown it away thinking it was nothing. 

What the note contained was so inspirational, I abandoned my Droid transfer and started writing a story around that idea. 

The moral of this anecdote is that I had completely forgotten about the original event that sparked the STORY IDEA note. I had completely forgotten that a story idea like that had ever crossed my mind. If it weren't for that five word sentence, I would never have written the story I'm currently working on. 

So, while I'm moving cross-country, I want you to start a Notes file on your own cell phone (or, if you're more old school, feel free to keep a pad of paper and pen in your bag) - just make sure you have something with you so that, when you walk past the TODAY show story in the hospital lobby and hear a weird tidbit about a remote county in Ohio, or your overhear a strange conversation between two women also waiting for their lattes, you can write it down. You don't have to have a story idea right at that moment. Just write down anything that makes you really listen or take notice. Document and forget. 

Then, when you come back to it weeks, months, or years later, it will effect you. Because it will be the right time for your note to spark an idea. It will be the push you need to start something new or to take up your old writing hobby.

Notice everything.

Write it down. 

Keep it safe. 

Inspiration Knocking

I hope you participated in the Challenge Post from last week and submitted a new piece of writing for publication. If you did (heck, even if you didn't), you probably need some new inspiration right about now.

Struggling to find a topic for your next poem? Don't have enough tension to sustain your short story? Stuck in the middle of your novel-in-progress?

Calling inspiration!

Image from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/476326098064397728/

Really, just as Oscar Wilde said, inspiration isn't as illusive as our writer brain makes us think.

There are poems about cats like Christopher Smart's "For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry". Poems about jobs (like pet sitting) in Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz's "things that happen during pet sitting...". Poems about standing in line like Robert Funge's "A Starbucks Romance". Poems about catalogs like Philip A. Waterhouse's "Castlekeep".

Really, anything in our daily lives, when seen through an artistic eye, can be made into something extraordinary.

Did you once have hiccups for three days straight? Write an essay about it.

Did you watch grazing deer out your window while washing dishes? Make it into a poem.

Did you hear a strange conversation while sitting in your cafe booth during breakfast? Use it in a novel chapter.

Anything - literally anything - can be the inspiration for your next writing project. Take it from Orson Scott Card...

Image From: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/476326098064894077/

Books That Inspired Me To Write: The Extras

Over the past month I've been sharing the books that inspired me to read and then to write. From the first book that I ever fell in love with, to the books that captured me in the literary life, to the first moment I actively decided to be a writer, and finally to the books that made me fearless with revision.

That seems to cover every base, right? I thought so. But the more I thought about the books that truly inspired different aspects within me, the longer the list grew.

So, to wrap up this post series, I'd like to share a few of the books/series that helped me be confident with other aspects of the craft.

First, there's The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (and the rest of the series) by Michael Scott

Scott taught me through the Nicholas Flamel series just how to orchestrate a large cast of characters. He taught me how to make characters' voices distinguishable and how to give everyone their own unique personality. Scott also has an amazing ability (one I truly covet) to write in great detail with the most amazing clarity. His action scenes, especially, and his descriptions of cities I've never been to and magic I've never witnessed are so real, I feel as if they weave themselves into tapestries before my eyes - tapestries I can touch and experience. Scott has the knowledge to craft amazing detail that's just enough for readers to be captivated and yet not too much for readers to be confused or bored.

It's a skill I hope to master myself. It was Michael Scott who taught me how perfect of an art form it really is.


The next set of books come from Nicholas Sparks. The Longest Ride and The Last Song.

Now, I know what you're thinking: Sparks is a commercial romance powerhouse. Every year, another book. Someone always dies. Yadda Yadda.

Well, that's what I thought, too, until my mother convinced me to read first The Last Song, and then The Longest Ride. (Truthfully, most of the great things that happened in my life seem to be roundabout connected to my mother's influence. Strange. She must have some master plan I have yet to unveil.)

Anyway, back to Sparks.

By reading these books I discovered this author's greatest strength - one I hope to employ in my own fiction - and it's the ability to balance romance within a book that has other aspects. Once I gave him a chance, I learned that Sparks is, perhaps, the master of Counterbalance.

(Missed that post on Counterbalance? Go here.)

So, if you need help keeping the tension sizzling within your novel, or you're missing that little extra magic that brings a book to its soul, read Sparks.


The next amazing story is not a book, but a short story by Raymond Carver. Cathedral.

Now, I haven't read the full Cathedral collection Carver published in 1983, but I have read a smattering of Carver short stories, which has led me to believe that Raymond Carver is the best short fiction writer that has yet to publish. Yes, there you have it, he's my favorite.

Mostly it's because his details are so direct and yet stand for so many different things. He's a master of voice, and his characters are at once real and not. There's too many reasons I adore Carver's writing to devote to one post, so I'll leave it at this: Of all the short stories I've read, after reading Cathedral, I wish I had written it.


And there's still more books I could write about. Still more that have taught me what to do or what not to do. What to aspire to be, and how to write as I always imagined I could.

That's the most important aspect I'd like you to take away from this post series. Other than getting to know me better, I hope that you see the power in stories. They're the only catalyst besides art and human beings that can truly impact the trajectory of a person's life. If my mother hadn't started me on Harry Potter, would I have been one of those children who hated reading? If I'd hated reading, would I have never been in AP English and read The Stranger? If I never read The Stranger, I wouldn't have actively decided to be a writer.

And I wouldn't be me.

So, when you write, remember it. Remember that your story or novel could be the next book that causes someone to fall in love with reading. It could be the book that person needed to resume working on their novel in progress. It could be the book that inspires a future writer and ends up posted on her blog.



Photo Credits:
Michael Scott: http://www.amazon.com/Alchemyst-Secrets-Immortal-Nicholas-Flamel/dp/0385736002/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424794477&sr=8-1&keywords=michael+scott+the+alchemyst
Nicholas Sparks: http://www.amazon.com/LONGEST-Sparks-Nicholas-Author-Hardcover/dp/B00I1D927U/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1424795330&sr=1-4&keywords=the+longest+ride
and: http://www.amazon.com/Nicholas-Central-Publishing-Paperback-Reprint/dp/B00DWYY1ZG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1424795361&sr=8-2&keywords=the+last+song+book
Raymond Carver: http://www.amazon.com/Cathedral-Raymond-Carver/dp/0679723692/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424795941&sr=8-1&keywords=cathedral+raymond+carver

Books That Inspired Me To Write: The Amazing, The Terrible, and The Oh Hell No

Throughout the years I've read many books that are amazing and great for countless reasons. Books that I adore. Ones that force me to start devoted Pinterest boards, draw the main characters, or collect their overpriced action figures.

I've also run into a grand number of books that are terrible. These can be just as inspiring as the great books - some even more so. By reading the terrible books - even when I wanted to stop - I learned what NOT to do in my writing. I learned exactly what I didn't want readers to think while they read my stories. I understood how important amazing writing needs to be before a book is published.

For example: passive language needs to be eliminated whenever possible, but when the writer doesn't know this and the editor lets it go, rampant passive language is excruciating to deal with.
Also, description can bring the reader into the story in great depth. The correct type of detail in the correct way can make a story magical and transcend the page. However, overly excessive detail or a lack of description all together both make the reader confused and frustrate that reader to no end.

So, I've found that it's important to read both the good, the bad, and the those books you grip so tightly in your hands, you think you're going to tear the binding because they're so painfully horrible.

This brings me to the next book that inspired me to write. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf.

I started Mrs. Dalloway with high hopes. I knew that this book was revered amongst the literary community for having some of the best writing and language around. It was known not only as a great book but as a true work of art. These praises got me so excited and ramped up to read that by the time the book arrived in the mail, I had convinced myself I loved it.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

I found the stream of consciousness narration to be confusing at best. The descriptions were muddled by interjecting thoughts - most of them half unfinished - the punctuation was weird, and the story jumped around between the points of view of Clarissa Dalloway, Peter Walsh, and Septimus Warren Smith. When more than one character was in the same room, it was difficult to decipher who was thinking what.

I ended the novel in a state of slightly angry confusion. How was this book supposed to make any sense at all? If it didn't make sense, why was it called beautiful - a work of art?

I would have dropped the book then, giving it a lower than low score in my mind if not for one roadblock: Mrs. Dalloway was a book assigned by my AP English class. I had a 25% grade weighted essay to write about it. I couldn't give up now or risk something lower than an A in English class.

So I read it again.

And it still didn't make any more sense.

I was nearly in tears over this book because it was so terrible and I needed to understand it so badly.

But then I found another book:

Mrs. Dalloway: Mapping Streams of Consciousness by David Dowling was published in 1991. I found it in 2012, but it had such an impact on me that I can't sing its praises enough. Suddenly, through his even and steady breakdowns and comparisons, I was able to understand the events of Mrs. Dalloway. I was able to literally "map the streams of consciousness" from Woolf's many characters. I understood their motivations and their desires. I understood what made them tick.

I read through Mrs. Dalloway again and saw it for what it truly was: one of the best books I've ever read. A true masterpiece of twentieth century art.

Mrs. Dalloway (accompanied by Dowling's amazing analysis) was the first book I learned to love slowly. It was the first time my opinion on a literary work changed over time. Unlike The Stranger, which I viewed as a favorite from my first read-through, Mrs. Dalloway grew out of an understanding of the author, her art, and her experimentation with form.

Above all, Mrs. Dalloway taught me that literature could be thought-provoking as well as entertaining. It taught me that not all novels are meant to be gobbled down in one bite. It taught me that sometimes I needed to slow my pace and truly savor a great work of art.

Mrs. Dalloway also taught me one of my most important literary lessons: Metaphors.

Prior to reading Woolf, I had mastered the simile and thought that I was pretty great at metaphor too. But after reading, I knew I hadn't even scratched the surface of metaphor's potential.

One of my favorite Mrs. Dalloway metaphors (and one that hit me with so much impact, I'm surprised I missed it the first ten times I read through the novel) comes near the end of the novel.

NOTE****passage below contains plot spoilers****

After Septimus commits suicide, Clarissa Dalloway looks out her window. She has been contemplating death throughout the novel and hearing of Septimus' suicide she thinks, "...the sky. It will be a solemn sky, she had thought, it will be a dusky sky, turning away its cheek in beauty. But there it was - ashen pale, raced over quickly by tapering vast clouds."

In Clarissa's moment of illumination she stops constantly worrying about death. She is able to let go of her fears and live in the present once again.

Then, on the last page, Clarissa's former lover Peter sees her at her party. He thinks, "It is Clarissa, he said. For there she was."

This is the last line of the novel. Until truly understanding Woolf's mastery of metaphor, I thought the piece unfinished. But now, I see it as it truly is, a wonder of craft and emotion. In just four simple words, Woolf conveys to the audience that Clarissa is a changed woman. From her view of the sky to Peter's finally seeing her for the woman she is now, "For there she was" and "But there it was" is so powerful and wonderfully complete, it catapulted Mrs. Dalloway into a spot of love in my heart.

****spoilers over****

After already deciding that I was going to be a writer in every sense of the word and action, it was Mrs. Dalloway that was my first literary breakthrough. I understood the benefits of experimental fiction. I fully grasped the importance of metaphor, and I learned that not everything I saw at first light is going to stay that way.

I guess, in a roundabout way, it was comprehending Mrs. Dalloway that gave me the courage to start major revisions on works that truly needed it. Woolf was the one who showed me my work could and should be better if I only lost my fear of making it worse.



Photo Credits are both from Amazon.com
Mrs. Dalloway: http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Dalloway-Virginia-Woolf/dp/0156628708/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424192309&sr=8-1&keywords=mrs+dalloway+virginia+woolf
Mrs. Dalloway: Mapping Streams of Consciousness: http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Dalloway-Mapping-Streams-Consciousness/dp/080579414X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424193628&sr=8-1&keywords=mapping+streams+of+consciousness

Books That Inspired Me To Write: The Exact Moment I Became a Writer

Since childhood is so fundamentally important to a person (and a writer's) later life, I'm going to detail one more book series that inspired me during my fundamental years.

Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park were the first books I loved that not only had a female author, but a female protagonist. Junie B. didn't have magic powers, wasn't orphaned, and went to regular 8-3 school. In short, she was a lot like me. Plus, she was hilarious.

Junie B. Jones taught me that my life could be funny and fascinating and captivating too, even without magic wands or monsters. She taught me that I was strong enough to create a story (and a series of them!) using only the tools I had within my grasp. It was the first time I liked to "write what I knew".

She also taught me that my point of view mattered. She was the one who taught me that if I saw the world a little differently, I wasn't weird, I was creative. Being unique was a good thing, no matter what my peers said. Finally, I was confident enough not to react to every situation the way everyone else did. I could have my own opinion and my own way to problem solve, and it was perfectly alright.

So, in a way, Junie B. not only became an inspiration for my writing, but for me as a person.

Wow, this series is getting deep.....

While we're on a roll, let's not stop there. The next book that inspired me to be a writer was one I read, ensue dramatic music, in school.

From the moment I entered high school, I was in the advanced English program. I tested immediately out of all grammar classes and was thrown into class with the sophomores. I only went on from there, taking Advanced English 10, Advanced English 11, and then the final class, AP English 12.

Within those classes, I found some books I was surprised I loved: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare. However, above and beyond them all, my favorite find was The Stranger by Albert Camus.

Camus was my first introduction into true literary fiction. To this day, if you were to ask me, The Stranger would land in my top 3 favorite books of all time. And Camus would be up there with JK in my favorite author category.

Here's why it inspired me so:

First, this was the book that I truly realized the perfect beginning and ending mattered more than perhaps anything else in between. We've talked about how hard it is to begin a story on this blog before. We've talked about the need for perfect beginnings. Ends are just as, if not more, important than that.

But I never truly understood that until I read The Stranger.

The first two sentences of this novel read as follows:
"Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can't be sure."

It's a simple beginning, but one that holds infinite amount of information. In one moment we're aware of just who the protagonist is. We understand what he thinks and feels. The characterization is breathtaking. We also know the setting of the first scene (a funeral). But perhaps the most important piece of information from the beginning is the reader's understanding that the protagonist is going to give what information he likes in the way he sees fit. He's unreliable for a complete, unbiased picture.

The end, I can't possibly do justice with a single quote. You must read it.

Seriously.

Read it.

Find it now.

I'll wait.

Go to the library if you must.

Okay. Back?

The end of The Stranger is so amazingly fitting for the protagonist that it takes my breath away. It was the first time in my life that I read a story and didn't long for less or more. As a reader, I was fulfilled. The catharsis was PERFECT. As a writer, I was inspired to do that much justice to the books I wrote.

Second, The Stranger by Camus was very much in line with what Junie B. and Barbara Park had taught me earlier in life. In The Stranger, the reader literally follows the protagonist around his daily routine for much of the first half of the book before the murder. Like Junie B., I learned that the mundane events of life could be captivating to an audience when written correctly.

But most importantly, these books taught me I could steal.

Yes, steal.

As in theft.

You've heard that all good writers steal, right? It's common knowledge and a famous quote. But I didn't know it until reading The Stranger. Perhaps it was the combination of mundane events with truly superb writing, but The Stranger taught me that I needn't come up with every snippet of dialogue or every metaphor, simile, and descriptive passage on a whim. I could steal the words of my family and friends, or the beautiful things I heard others talking about in coffee shops. My everyday life was lifted and used in my writing.

I started surrounding myself only with those people I truly connected with. My time went into friends who were funny, poignant, or had interesting POV's on the world.

Suddenly, my everyday life wasn't just lived to get me through - you know, eating, reading, sleeping, repeat - but as a true writer. Everything I did could be applied to my writing. Every conversation I had was free game. Every event I went to or new experience I acquired was cataloged for future use. It was after reading The Stranger that I definitively remember deciding my whole life was to be used for writing. Not just scribbling down stories but the true writing process. Every molecule and atom within me was charged.

It was that moment I became and could seriously claim myself a writer.

It wasn't by chance or grace. It was a decision.
And I've never looked back.



Photo credits both come from Amazon.com today. You can buy these books there, too.

Junie B. Jones: http://www.amazon.com/Junie-First-Grader-Last-Jones/dp/0375815163/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423587946&sr=8-1&keywords=junie+b+jones+first+grader
The Stranger: http://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Albert-Camus/dp/0679720200/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423588541&sr=8-1&keywords=the+stranger+albert+camus
 

Books That Inspired Me To Write: Or, When I Learned About Choices

With my start in reading, I could have easily been one of those kids who reads/falls in love with/rereads the Harry Potter series and never picks up a different book again. I would have been just fine with it. My reading would have stopped with the Boy Who Lived.

But it didn't.

The books that were formative in my early reading life - the ones that kept the spark for reading alive within me - happened simultaneously.

The first was my discovery of the Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine.

Now, I'm not sure how many Goosebumps stories I read, or even if a majority of them were a completely different series all together, but one constant remains; I adored "choose your own adventure/ending" stories.

It was the first time in my life that my decisions as a reader (and probably as a person) mattered to the outcome of the story. Who cared that nine out of ten times I chose the wrong turn and died? I was making the story happen. I was in control.

I think this power was my first taste of what it was like to be a writer. Suddenly, I wasn't just along for the ride, I was orchestrating it.

The second discovery of my young readership happened entirely because of my mother. When I was a child, my mother signed me up for a monthly reader program. Basically, every month a new 60-90 page novel would arrive at my doorstep. They were all related to animals (though I no longer remember the name of the club or even if they still exist. This was the 90s, after all). Rescuing animals, taking care of animals, learning about new animal species.

And I dutifully read every story - cover to cover - before the next one arrived in the mail.

At the time, I was just reading cute animal stories. But now that I'm older, I realize that I was learning how to foster a life-long love for reading. I flew through the books, one month after another, and was always excited to pick up the next one.

My mother was a mastermind. From Potter to the book club, she made sure that I was going to love reading all different kinds of literature.

And it was due to this that I wrote. Because the time between me finishing the last book, and prior to receiving the next in the series, I had to do something to keep myself occupied.

Yep. I wrote.

Photo Credits:
Goosebumps book cover from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/125592.Tick_Tock_You_re_Dead_
Puppy and duck picture from: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/121597258661438479/

Books That Inspired Me to Write: I'm Talking to You, Harry Potter Generation

Lately I've felt a little distant from the blog. Perhaps it's because, for the first time in my life, I'm not in a writing class or any schooling of any kind. For a while, I also felt disconnected to writing.

Yay, adulthood, right?

Thankfully, my writing is slowly gaining more inspiration - even if it is mostly made up of rewrites and poems - and I'm working my way back to writing (even if it's nothing but a comma) everyday. 

To keep myself motivated, I've decided to start another Post Series. This time, I'd like to detail the books that inspired me to write. I think it will be therapeutic for me. To be a reminder of why I chose this path, this obsession. And also, I think it will help me bond better with you, my blog readers. I hope I don't feel distant at all ever again :)

Now, let's get down to it. If any of you have popped over to check out my Goodreads profile, you know from my about me section that one book in particular sparked the reading (and writing) bug within me. So, this Tuesday afternoon, we'll start from the very beginning:

My mother was working as an assistant school librarian when she first heard of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Every day she worked, half a dozen fourth graders would bombard the desk, wondering if Harry Potter was in yet, and if it was their turn to receive it. The hold list for our small public school was over 50. Curious as to why this book was so popular, she found a copy and started reading. 

It wasn't too long before she realized she had to share the magical Mr. Potter and his wizarding world with her children. At the time, I was six and my brother hovered somewhere around the ages of seven or eight (I can't recall the exact month). Our first reading session happened while we were staying in a Chicago suburb at my aunt and uncle's house. We were sleeping on the floor of their office, side by side, and my mother sat between us and read, "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much." from Chapter One, The Boy Who Lived. 

I can't remember the exact place my mother stopped reading that night. We made it far - far enough to be introduced to Hagrid, the Hogwarts Express, and the Weasleys. She had to go to bed eventually, no matter how much we pleaded for her to keep reading, because she, no doubt, could no longer feel her voice.

I lay awake for a long time. My brother had fallen asleep, his breath coming slowly, turned away from me. I could smell the foreign chemicals my aunt and uncle used to clean their carpet, and from my vantage point on the floor, the almost full moon was visible through their window. Since I was used to sleeping in the darkness and silence of rural Wisconsin, the traffic noise kept me restless. But then something magical happened.

After everyone else had, for sure, gone to sleep, and I alone was awake to hear it, a train whistle blew softly through the noise of the traffic, through the almost full moon, and through the distracting smelly carpet. And I was sure that magic, Harry Potter, Hogwarts, wizards, and friendly giants, were real. And I couldn't get enough.

My obsession with the wizarding world continued through the next six books and eight movies. The final book, The Deathly Hallows, I consumed in a whirlwind, no eating, no bathroom breaks, no sleeping, 34 hour stint. 

Harry Potter was the first book I truly fell in love with. It was the book that taught me reading could transport me from my mundane life into something extraordinary. 

As I got older, I decided I wanted to create worlds just like it. And for a while, I took that inspiration seriously. I imitated Rowling as best I could, writing  many a short story about wizards and witches and magic. Even stories that morphed slightly away from the magic of Hogwarts still had elements of Potter infused in them - the orphaned protagonist, the two best friends, the best boarding school ever...you get the gist. 

Then when I found out JK Rowling was a female author, there was no stopping me. I wanted to be just like her someday. I wanted to write a book or series of books that made people fall in love with literature like her stories had captivated me.

So, yes, it was a scrawny boy under the stairs who first captured my heart. He taught me to love reading, and writing. He taught me to want more from life than Wisconsin offered. He taught me that I wanted to be just like JK. I wanted to be a writer. 

The story continues next Tuesday... 

P.S. the image is from Amazon. Find the book that inspired me first, here: http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Sorcerers-Stone-Rowling/dp/059035342X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1422390868&sr=8-2&keywords=harry+potter

Merry Christmas, Writer Brain!

Happy December, everyone! Can you believe we're almost through with another year? Where did the time go?

I don't know about you, but with all the stress of the holiday season, family get-togethers, the cold, the snow, the food.....my writing has been a little uninspired as of late.

But do you know the perfect remedy? Critiques.

Yes, critiques.

And though receiving critiques is a wondrous, helpful experience, giving critiques can be just as or more helpful to your writing. For instance, if you're stuck in a writing rut, critique something you wouldn't normally read - like nonfiction or poetry. The sheer act of getting back into the writing brain can spark you back to normal, or give you ideas as to what your next project might be.

So, if you can, carve out some time this month to get back into your critique group or to find a new critique group to be a part of.

It'll be the best gift you give yourself and other writers.

Revision: focus not on what you're losing, but on what you're bound to gain.

I had one of those moments the other day - you know the ones where you're dealing with two completely different problems and then BAM! they both have surprisingly the same solution. Here were my dilemmas:

1. A friend of mine was told by her writing group that the beginning of her story needs major revision. She had me read the first chapter as well, and I agreed that a change would be for the better. However, she confided that the thought of revising what she already had (and which was, as she pointed out, fine) sent her into hour long bouts of petrified terror. How did I convince her that revision would not ruin her story but make it great?

2. I've been living a vegetarian lifestyle for over a year, and now am making the transition to veganism. We're talking no milk, eggs, butter, cheese, honey, or any beauty or home products that aren't cruelty free. Having grown up in a traditional steak-and-potatoes type of family, I needed a way to counteract their questions as to why this lifestyle was right for me. Especially when my mother looked at me with glossy eyes and said, "But...cheesecake!" How did I convince them that I was passionate about my decision, even though it went against what they had taught me growing up?

Over a bowl of oatmeal, the answer hit me - focus not on what you're losing, but on what you're bound to gain.

That's right. Instead of saying, "I really miss that cheesecake and I can never eat it again," think instead, "I'm going to eat this delicious vegan double chocolate smoothie!"

And for that revision-stuck friend of mine, I told her not to focus on a few beautiful sentences she'll lose by revising chapter one, but on the possibilities of what she could gain. A better insight into her protagonist, a well paced first chapter, a first sentence that kicks the breath right out of the agent that sets eyes on it, etc.

Because if you're too scared to change what you have, you'll never know if something else - even if it's difficult and takes a lot of your time - is infinitely better.

So I urge you this week, take a chance within your writing or your life (both, perhaps?)! See what kinds of wondrous new possibilities are out there that can propel you in the direction you wish to go.

Write Like a Child - Even If You Aren't Writing For Children

You know those play castles erected for children at restaurants, parks, and (most brutally) water parks? The ones equipped with slides, ball pits, water cannons, and monkey bars. Basically everything short of an actual cross bow?

And you think - whether as a parent or as a bystander - wow, those kids must really be having fun.
No. They're killing each other. It's like the Hunger Games in there.

How do I know this? Because the mini getaway I had last week took place at a water park in the Wisconsin Dells, where one of the best slides outside had a line that wove through the kid's play castle. I'm sure their goal was to cut as far back on the line as possible by drowning out 90 percent of the guests that attempted entry. But not I. I stayed even though some jerk of a child blasted a high pressure water gun at my head for five minutes, moving the flow back and forth across my scalp, so I was drenched both down my face and down my neck. Breathing became an exercise done solely through the mouth.

When he finally turned the gun to spray another slide hopeful, I spun around to see who this kid thought he was. And there, on level three of the castle, a sadistic, pudgy little nine year-old was the culprit. I was being tortured by a third grader. It didn't take long for him to tire of the other person ignoring his water jet, and his eyes set on me again. We stood off for about half a second and then he shot the gun right at my face.

I think I still have water behind my contacts.

What could this possibly have to do with writing? Well, other than making a good story, I want to use this barbarous child to prove a point about story structure and plot. (I guess I should thank him for making my wait in line so terrible, but, I just can't.)

Your characters need to unleash their inner sadistic third grader in EVERY scene. They need to take chances and do things unexpectedly - things we wouldn't do in normal life. That's why people read stories: to see how the characters react and then how they justify those reactions.

Have you ever seen a dog left in a parked car on a hot day? Did you call the ASPCA or just shake your head and walk on? Ever been to a wedding with a really good favor like an entire bottle of wine or movie tickets? Did you want to take more than one, but restrained yourself?

Make your characters push the limits. Have them call the ASPCA and break into the locked car to free Fido. Make them stuff four bottles of wine in their suit jackets or nick the entire roll of free tickets.

If your character was in my water park situation, have her chase the kid down through the watery torture dungeon, or maybe have her flip the kid off (and of course, his mother would be within the vicinity and then a whole 'nother can of worms can open).

Unleashing your characters' "inner child" will up the stakes of the scene and therefore create more tension. Not only that, but if your character acts predictably in every scenario, wouldn't you put the book down? Boring, right?

Push the limits and your plot will improve, your characters will be more dynamic, and you'll have more fun writing.

But, Alyssa, you say, I've been within the clutches of modern society too long, and I can't think of a way to push my characters to their inner heartless happy place.

My advice: go talk to your nieces and nephews. Take your friend's kids to the Burger King play center or, worse, add water. Just remember to bring extra padding and a snorkel before you leave. It's brutal out there.

Everyday Wisdom

I received the best Chinese lunch buffet fortune cookie message ever!

 

Keep Writing. Confucius demands it.

The Cheapest Writing Retreat Ever

Since it's October 1st, I spent the day decorating the local public library (where I work in children's and youth services) and my house for Halloween. It was a lot of ladder work to say the least. But the whole time, people were commenting on the new décor. At the library everything looked "spooky", "festive", and "cool" in the children's sections. At home it was "Halloween chic" and "creative".

This new scenery even made me smile after a long day's work. It's something different to look at, something stimulating to my mind. I had to use my imagination to decide where decorations were going, then I had to be tenacious and tactful (and often tall enough) to execute it.

It got me thinking that a change in scenery can be a great thing for the creative muscle we need to use to write. I suddenly understood why so many people went on writer's retreats in faraway places. I wanted to go too. But much like the price tag of the fog machine at the supermarket, I couldn't afford it. Though it'd be cool and awesome and festive and all, I just couldn't make it happen.

Therefore, I decorated my house after decorating at work. It put a new little spring in my step. It's a new piece of scenery to look at, a new visual stimuli to get my brain a-cooking! I'm expecting fantastic results from the cheapest writing retreat ever (since it's my town, my home, and my desk). I'll keep you posted.

Oh, and if you would like some inspiration, here's some of the decorating in my own home. I didn't get library decoration pictures yet, sorry.

My "witches live here" sign with pretty fall background.

 

Close up of my skeleton garland

 

Island table scape with candy, pumpkins, apples, and love potion brew.