Tapping Creativity

          Creativity beats in the heart of a writer. Our worlds, our characters, and our ideas flow through us in the day and night. The more we write, the more intense they grow. Regardless of what we are actually supposed to be doing with ourselves we find our thoughts drifting to our writing. We pour our energy and spirit into every word and concept. At times we find writing to be compulsory.

While this constant flow of creativity is an author’s ally, it can also be his destruction. The message we authors so long to communicate can consume our minds. The events in our characters’ lives can begin to seem more real than the events in our own lives—and most certainly more interesting. Writing can distract us from our work and our more meaningful relationships.

Both in the lives of the writers whom I mentor and in my own life as a writer I have found this to be true. Many authors battle deep feelings of melancholy as they create their most beautiful work. Writing comes at a cost. Do not let that scare you off. Writing also has the great potential for beauty and can have a mighty impact on the world around us.

Now that you realized the dangers of writing and have decided to press forward anyway, you should have two questions: 1) how do I remain sane? and 2) how do I harness creativity for good and not evil?

I am glad you asked… The answer to one question is the answer to the other. Here are some steps you should take.

1) Work through an issue. Never allow a problem to remain unresolved at the end of your book (unless you intend to expound upon it later in the series). It is not only poor writing; it is dangerous to your mental health. Writing can be a positive outlet for the ideas raging inside you. Through it you can guide readers out of a problem in their own lives, while you simultaneously do the same for yourself.

Without struggle (and, I believe, victory) a book would not be worth reading. The best manuscripts are written by authors who truly understand the struggle, but also portray the sweetness of triumph. So do not be surprised that you are bearing much of your own life story as you tell a tale and do not be surprised that, at times, it hurts to do so.

2) Keep the character list small. I know—believe me I know—it is hard. You protest that you have too many good characters (you even call them essential) to remove from the story. Truth is, the more characters you have, the less developed each can be. I learned this the hard way—after publication. Too many characters run your book and, notably, your mind into the ground with exhaustion. They can even keep you from being able to move on to new stories and worlds.

I am well aware that the term ‘small’ is relative. I leave it this way on purpose. Writing is not about regulations and pre-determined quantities of characters. Instead of picking a set number, I suggest asking yourself what a character adds to a story and if the same purpose could be fulfilled by a character you have already developed. The very act of examining your characters should help you choose the right ones and (sigh) remove the wrong ones.

3) Do not spend too much alone. Writing is by nature solitary work. Yet we cannot write if we live a meager, solitary existence in an abandoned tower. It is essential that you talk with a variety of people to portray realistic characters, have actual experiences from which to draw imagined ones, and see real places which you can incorporate into your descriptions of fictional locals. Even better, being out in the real world keeps the melancholy from gaining a foothold.

Do not forget: writing should always be a joy. While there will be difficult times of writers’ block and pain for what you must portray, in the end writing should make your life better, not worse. As creativity brims inside you, revel in the journey of expressing it. Dream on!

-Jessie Mae Hodsdon

The Three Editors

     

     Last week I talked about Writer's Block and ways that you can overcome it. Here's the next step: editing. Now I know that some writers love to edit, and that they just ache for that red pen and heavy hand. I, however, am not that way. I love writing my first draft and the immediacy of it, but not the editing afterwards. When I'm writing my first draft, I'm not thinking about perfect everything--about if I accidentally skipped over something, or if I misspelled a word here or there. I'm thinking about the closeness of my characters, their vulnerabilities...the deepening plot. I'm not worrying about editing. But what kind of editor are you? Here are the top three kinds of editors:

1.) The Do it Later Editor

    This is who I am. I write and I don't think about the editing too much. I don't worry about the second draft until I'm to it. What's the good thing about Do it Later? Well, Do it Later gets things done, and usually pretty quickly. But this editor-type can be bad, too. What if you get through the whole thing and then realize that you switched tenses somewhere in the middle? Yeah, I did that. Then you have to go back through the ENTIRE thing and change every little spot where you said said instead of says. I'm not going to lie, it's a pain in the butt. Is finishing early worth going through slush?

2.) The Picky Editor

     This is the editor who takes four years to complete the first draft...but the first draft is usually more polished than the fifth draft of Do it Later's manuscript. Picky Editor writes a chapter, then edits it. Thoroughly. Like I said, this can be a good thing. When Picky Editor finishes their first draft, they have something that is very neat and polished. They have something presentable...something that Do it Later may not have for a few more drafts. But is it worth the time? It's up to you.

3.) The Cool and Collected Editor

     Cool and Collected Editor is the happy medium of editing-styles. He gets things done in a reasonable amount of time, and turns out a moderately-polished manuscript, too. Some may see this as a lukewarm writing style, but what's better than being the happy medium? You don't have a crappy draft to tear and shred through, yet you don't have a billion years into it, either.


So, who are you?

-Elysia Regina

4 Ways to Know You’re Not a Beginning Writer Anymore

     I’d been writing for several years, soaking up everything I can and I knew I was getting better. I wasn’t as green as I used to be. I wasn’t making those dreaded “amateur” mistakes all the professionals were talking about. But I didn’t know if this meant I wasn’t a beginner anymore (To see what makes a beginner check out 4 Ways to Know You Are a Writer). I wanted a clearly defined line or test I could take that would tell me if the progress I was making was valid. At that time I found nothing, but if you’ve ever wondered that same question, then this is for you:

1.      When you notice beginning writer mistakes and cringe.

     Noticing beginning writer mistakes in yourself and in others is a sign that you have come to understand the writing world. You are “in the know.” One of us. Knowing how to fix those mistakes is a whole other level, but recognizing them is a step in the right direction and knowing to avoid them means you aren’t a novice.

2.      When you read books on writing and you’ve heard much of it before.

     This is big. If you want to write you have to read books on writing. Read as many as you can because each book approaches elements of writing differently and what you might not understand from one book might make more sense in another. I had the hardest time understanding the difference between “show and tell,” but after reading what several books said about it I was able to learn to identify it and avoid the “telling.”

3.      When you have read a book by someone else and you want to kill yourself because you will never write something that wonderful.

     Beginners are passionate about their writing, but they haven’t matured enough to realize they really aren’t better than Hemingway yet or perhaps even the average published writer (Ahh, the horror). A maturing writer has come to understand their strengths and more importantly has come to understand their weaknesses. You may be a great writer about to blossom, but you will not write the best book in every genre and style. There will always be a writer out there who can write something better than you, but that’s good because it pushes you to be better.

4.      When you can introduce yourself as a writer without thinking about it.

     This means you find your identity in your writing. The first few times you start introducing yourself as a writer may feel weird, like you are claiming a position you haven’t earned or are trying to convince everyone else just as hard as you want to convince yourself. But if you say you’re a writer long enough, there will come the day when you believe it and another day when you can say it without thinking about it because you know it is true.

     If you have connected with any of these then congratulations! Crack out the champagne or sparkling grape juice-preferable the white. You are moving up. You’re not a beginner anymore!

-Christina J. Adams

Perfectionism

The writer’s curse: perfectionism.

Remember that book you held so much hope for? The synopsis was enthralling, the introduction was epic, and the words on page one seemed to leap into action before your mind’s eye. It was only after you bought the book, saved it for that rainy day, and finally curled up to read it that you realized the novel was a complete let-down. Between the shabby character development and choppy sentence structure, you got the impression the author had lost interest after chapter three.

No writer who loves their craft wants that book to be theirs. Determined to best Tolkien, Dickens, and Austen by age twenty, we aim to eliminate the possibility of criticism. We long to have our message understood, our characters’ value perceived, and our readers’ lives touched. This is a beautiful goal. This is what makes you more than someone who knows how to write. It makes you a writer.

Sadly, it does not make you an author. The very passion and drive that fuels your creativity can also stifle it. Perfectionism is the death of creativity and, thereby, the death of writing. Many writers never make it past chapter one on an idea they love because they worry about how inadequate their words are. Good news! No one worth their salt expects your first draft of a novel to be good. You should not expect that either.

Many other writers finish the novel but never dare share it beyond their inner circle. This is not failure. Perhaps you write for the joy of the labor itself. You may have no dreams of earning of a living on your passion or no interest in entering the maze of editing, publishing, marketing, and criticism. This is absolutely fine! Writing has a unique and pure pleasure when it is being done for the sake of the author alone. However, if you do hope for publication, then do not allow the perfectionism inside you keep you trapped in the mire of perpetual rewrites. At some point you simply have to accept that your work is polished enough.

The harsh truth is that since you and I are faulty humans our writing will be flawed. You may be able to create a faultless sentence, but to perfect an entire novel? Impossible. This is not just because of your humanity, but because other humans are your readers. Some who read your work will love it; some who read your work will despise it. Get used to the idea. Find the confidence to be proud of your writing despite what others say.

How do you beat the curse of perfectionism?

1)    Share your work with others. Once you start to endure criticism and feed off praise, your courage will grow.

2)    Hold your own. Feedback will grant you some good changes along with a plethora of really bad suggestions. Be confident in the decisions you make, while also being wise enough to accept counsel.

3)    Keep writing. If you cannot make chapter three just right, then move on to chapter four anyway. You can always come back. Expect editing.

Happy writing, friends!

-Jessie Mae Hodsdon

Writer's Block

     You've done it: you've thought of an idea that you know will someday be a bestseller. You've sat down and written character outlines, devised a plot and written your first chapter. You sit down the next day, hands on the keyboard, and stare at the screen. All of a sudden it's like your brain is empty. There is nothing to write. You've hit this thing called writer's block.

     You put the book on hold and wait a week, but when you come back to the keyboard, there still isn't anything there. I know that you want to give up, but restrain yourself. Remember what you felt like when the idea first came to you--how you dreamed of lines of fans all coming to you just for a signature--of fancy editors going over your manuscript. Remember the hope you had, and keep going. Here are some tips to break writer's block.

1.) Don't give up.

     Writer's block happens to everyone. Don't start thinking bad about yourself and your writing just because you are having a hard time thinking of the next paragraph. Even the elite of the writing world get writer's block. Check out these 13 writers that talk about it here. See? You aren't alone--in fact, you are just like the most famous of writers in a sense. Just keep your head up.

2.) Get to know your characters.

     If you are stuck on a scene and don't know what your character's next move is, then you might not know him well enough. This might sound weird, but if you are a true writer you will know what I mean. Yes, characters may just be words on a page, but they have to mean more than that to you. They have to think, speak and breathe for themselves. Learn more about them and maybe you will know what they would do next. Make a new document on your computer and give your character some background history: Where did they come from? Who are their relatives? What is their favorite food? Seriously. Do it now.

3.) Just write.

     This sounds simple and that's because it is. If you are having a hard time finding the right words to say, then just write some words, even if you don't think that they are the right ones. Write a whole page of just randomness. Example:

     On Sundays I like to bring my dog to the park, it is a very good park because my dog likes it. My dog likes to run around in the park and chase other dogs. Sometimes he makes new friends.

    I know. It's awful. But that's the point. Just write randomness for the sake of writing--for all you know, maybe writing this randomness will bring you to know that your next character's move is to buy a dog. Maybe that's your next plot point. You won't know unless you write it, so try it.

4.) Start fresh.

     If you are having a hard time with a certain part of your story, move on! No one ever said that you have to write starting from sentence a, directly to z. Why not take a pit stop at l on the way there? Actually, r is looking pretty lonely--give him a visit. Break it up and then tie it together. That's what a second draft is for.

5.) Get someone else's opinion.

     I know that this might sound scary, especially since you probably haven't done much editing after chapter one, but just try it. Have someone you trust read that first chapter, and then ask their whole opinion on it. Ask them to describe your characters. Maybe they will unearth something that you didn't even know was there. Make sure that this person you are trusting with your first chapter is someone that likes to describe things, though, because you are going to want more than just Marla has brown hair. Find a creative person and assign them to chapter one.

     I'll stop here because I like uneven numbers, and because if I don't stop now you'll be procrastinating even longer with that story. Just remember, write. If it's not there, you can't do anything with it.


-Elysia Regina

4 Ways to Know You Are a Writer

     Being a writer can be something you know inside, but it is not until you see it that it is realized. If you know you’re a writer then this might seem a bit basic. But if you aren’t sure then this can help you recognize the desires you already have. Here are four ways to know you are indeed a writer:

1.      You’ve read something written by someone else and thought you could do better.

     And then you actually attempted it. You sat down and put fingers to keys or pen to paper. It doesn’t matter if you succeeded in doing better or gave up in frustration. Just the fact that you tried means you want to write and create something.

2.      When you are inspired your first thought is to write.

     What inspires you? It could be other stories, television or events and people, but if the first thought you have afterward is, “This would make a good story,” then you are already thinking like a writer. Although it may seem natural to you, most people don’t think that way, only writers do.

3.      You can’t not write.

     The best reason to become a writer is because you have to write. If you have a passion that burns inside you, an itch to grab a pen and paper or place your fingers on keys and not doing so hurts, then you are a writer. And you will need that passion to make it through to your dream’s end.

4.      You want to be a writer.

     This may seem a little obvious, but the desire to be a writer is not something everyone has. Sometimes talent has something to do with this, but sometimes it doesn’t. Just because a person can craft sentences that would make the hardest heart weep, does not mean this person wants to write or even cares that this talents flows from them. Our desires make us who we are and if you want to be a writer then go and do it! You may not have talent and you might have to work harder than any other writer you know, but if you want it hard enough you will be able to write and write well.

     Even though these things are specific to writers, the principles are true for pretty much any occupation or hobby or dream. You’ll never know what you can achieve if you don’t try. I once had an artist tell me, “Anyone can paint,” and I remember thinking “Nuh-uh,” but in a sense he was right. Painting is comprised of knowledge: shapes and colors, shading and techniques. These things can be learned. Anyone can paint.

     The same is true for writing. It’s a combination of words that convey information often in predetermined styles and with effort anyone can learn this. As great as talent is, without effort talent will only collect dust and fade away. But with effort even the tiniest speck of talent can blossom into a flower bigger than you or I would think. It is not a matter of being better than every writer who ever lived, but being the best you who ever lived. There is only one person who can do that: You.

-Christina J. Adams