Read Into It-- Guest Proser Post -- Deborah Moore

 I would love to say that I knew Dr. Seuss’s birthday was on Monday because that’s the sort of knowledge writers are born with. It would even be nice if I said that I looked it up on my own, preferably while I was in the middle of writing a particularly brilliant section of my novel. That I paused while writing and thought, when were my favorite authors born? Quick, to the Google search! 

The truth is that I found a paper scrunched up at the bottom of my fifth grade daughter, River’s backpack. It talked about the activities that the school was going to do to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday.

The purpose of the holiday is to get children excited about reading. At least I assume that is the point.
It’s hard to tell when my daughter’s school celebrates it with crazy hair day. I’m not sure how that ties into the Suessical world. It gave us all a chance to use our hair chalk. Obviously I couldn’t let River be only one to have crazy hair. My five year old, Nelina and I wanted in on the fun. So I guess I shouldn’t complain.         

Me, not crazy hair per say,
 but with a green shirt on which is timely.

Crazy hair aside, it got me thinking about reluctant readers. As a writer it’s imperative to me to learn that one cardinal rule. Make your writing interesting. The worst thing for a writer is to lose the readers interest. That and possibly being struck by lightning because that has got to mess with a writers mojo.

I have been thinking about how important it is to hold someone’s attention in a story. It got me thinking of an experience that I had a few months ago.

***

 My friend Rachel*  and I were at the library several months ago with our younger daughters. While our five year olds wandered the isles we picked out books for them to read. I filled up my library bag with enough picture books to do permanent damage to my spine. It’s roughly the same amount that I always begrudgingly return to the library, telling myself that I will check out less books next time. Somehow it weights more on the way back.

I also grabbed a few paperback novels for my daughter River. I stuffed several of them into the already bursting bag. Aware of how awkward this looked I explained that I always grabbed a few books for River because I never knew which ones she would like.

“I never know which one will be a dud,” I said.

“I know right?” Rachel said and then sighed, “I don’t know what to get. Eric* hates to read. I’ve tried picking out things he is interested in, but nothing works.”

Whenever I hear about a kid who refuses to read it’s like they said their child hates ice cream. There’s a part of my brain that has a hard time computing this fact. If I go a day without reading a novel I feel out of synch.

It’s not something that should surprise me though since River used to hate reading. Well I thought she hated it. Mostly she just didn’t like reading out loud to me. Once we crossed that hurtle and allowed her to read to our dog, who is much less “momish” than me, it seemed to help.

She still didn’t have much joy in reading until we stumbled across a little book called “Zita the Space Girl.” For those of you who don’t know, it is a graphic novel about an intrepid young girl who gets sucked into another world and has to save her best friend and the world.

The pictures are amazing and tell at least a third of the story on their own. We read that book together and she didn’t even mind reading some of it out loud to me. Possibly because it was more about reading dialogue and sound effects.

     

I became enamored in the graphic novel genre too. However, there was that little part of me that worried. It was the “momish” part that was concerned that she might forgo other novels in favor of graphic novels. After all they are easier to read and understand what is going on.

       

It turns out I had worried for no reason. The opposite was true. As she read more graphic novels she also started cruising through other books as well. In fact she can now read and comprehend novels at a dizzying speed. Her teachers told us that she is reading on a ninth grade level. This, from the girl who used to treat reading time as something akin to torture.

***

 With this previous knowledge in my mind, I decided to offer the path that had worked for me. After all, it couldn’t hurt right?

“Have you tried graphic novels?” I asked with the enthusiasm most people reserve for pep rallies.

Nelina dressed as Zita the Space Girl

“No,” Rachel said. Later I found out that she didn’t know what those were. Still she was willing to listen to me as I brought her over to the magical** section of the library where they keep graphic novels for children.

           

I pulled out Zita the Space Girl because I loved it so much. Then I also grabbed a few other ones which River had enjoyed.  These included Knights of the Lunch Table, Mal and Chad and Amulet. All of them were full of strong male and female characters and had lots of action and adventure.

I briefly explained that they had helped my daughter discover the joy of reading. Rachel thanked me. Then we found our children and checked out our books. I had no clue if Eric would like the books or not, but it felt good to offer advice.

          

  That evening I received a text from Rachel.

 “Thanks for the recommendation. Eric loves the books. He finished all of them tonight and chose to read the graphic novels instead of watching tv,” the text read.

         

   I was thrilled beyond words. The excitement filled me to almost bursting. It wasn’t because I had recommended them. Well, it was a little because I had recommended them. After all as a stay at home mom I don’t get a lot of compliments or feedback to know I’m doing well.

 That was a fleeting feeling though. The true joy was that I had helped this child see how cool reading could be. It was like I had taken a piece of myself and shared it with Eric. Even though he probably didn’t know that I recommended the books.

  Do you have a favorite Graphic Novel? If not, don’t worry. I’ll wait. I would love to hear your book recommendations.

*Names have been changed to protect the awesome.

**Yes every section of the library is magical, but some areas are just more magical-er      

I Hear Fictional People...Guest Proser Patricia Hall

Anybody that knows me knows I can get a little obsessive when it comes to waiting for a new book to come out.  Right now I’m waiting for Bitterblue, the follow up to Kristin Cashore’s young adult book, Graceling.  I roam the internet, looking for news on release dates, covers, anything to hold me over until I can get my greedy hands on my own copy.

Recently I found myself sifting through blog entries about Kristin’s writing process, and specifically how she develops characters.  Someone asked her if her characters ever pop up in her head while she’s not writing—if they give her advice or if they make their presence known in her everyday life. She said no, they stay where they belong, in her stories.  I read this and nodded.  Yes, that sounds right, I thought.  My characters don’t really pop up in my head while I’m changing diapers or going grocery shopping.  At least I couldn’t think of a time when they had.

Then something funny happened.  I was watching a movie, completely engrossed in what was going on, when one of the characters made some passing comment on their luck finally changing.  I snorted and immediately thought, “Ha! Tabby [a character I was writing at the time] would never wait around for her luck to change!”  Then I thought, “Did that just happen?  Did my character just pop up out of nowhere?”  I figured it could have been a fluke.  I’d been running through character building exercises that morning—it must have been carry-over from that.

It happened again a few days later.  I was driving down the road, minding my own business when a truck shot around me and cut me off.  There, at the forefront of my mind, was another one of my characters, shouting at me to speed up and honk until I got my point across.  I smiled and shook my head.  That wasn’t my reaction.  (I’m a fairly levelheaded driver…most of the time.)  It was my character’s reaction and he was not happy with the way I shrugged it off.

So, twice in one week, I found out that I was wrong.  My characters do insert themselves into my thoughts.  Probably always have, I just never noticed before.  Now I don’t think I’m particularly crazy (unless I’ve been up for twenty-four hours straight with a sick baby, at which point all bets are off.) I’m pretty sure there have to be other writers out there that know what it’s like to think, “My character would never take that kind of crap!”  Still, I think this realization has helped me in a couple of ways.

One, I’ve started writing more consistent characters.  Now whenever I have decisions to make, I consult my characters.  Invited to a dinner I don’t really want to attend?  What would Character X do?  What about Character Y?  What does that say about them as people?  Laptop crashed and I lost the last six days of work because I didn’t bother to back it up?  (Cringe!)  How would Character X react?  Why didn’t he react like this instead?  What do his friends think if he acts that way?  For me, it’s become my strongest character-building tool.

It’s also shown me that I’m doing something right.  Most of the writers I know are their own worst critics.  They talk down to themselves, rip apart their own work, and go through periods where they are sure they’re wasting their time.  I’m definitely one of those types.  The trouble is, writers can’t rely on anyone else to pick them up when they feel that way.  If I believe something is trash, nobody else is going to convince me it’s not.  So it’s nice to know on those days when my plot is coming unraveled and my dialogue is gummy and off and my word count is getting out of hand, I don’t have to worry about whether I developed a realistic character.  I know I have, because they’re usually there, laughing or crying or shouting at me to get over myself and finish the book already!

At which point I usually take a deep breath and do exactly that.  And you know, it’s made my life a lot easier.  As a writer, anyway.  Now if only I could convince my characters to vacuum and do the dishes for me, too.  I'd be set for life.

When the Writing Gets Tough . . .Guest Proser Jessica Foster

Writing can be difficult. It can be beyond difficult. We spend months and months writing over 50,000 words (or in the case of NaNoWriMo, we sacrifice sleep, food, and hygiene to write 50,000 words in one month long burst).

Then we submit our hard work to our beta readers with the instructions, “Be tough.” We basically ask them to rip it to shreds and break our hearts. It makes it better in the end, but man, it still hurts.

We’ve lost sleep over plot holes and missed sunny days to meet our goals. We’ve zoned out on entire conversations as we ponder story lines or dialog.

It’s a tough business, my friends.

How can we make it easier?

I was pondering this and it made me think of an example from my real life.

Buying gas for my car.

I hate it.

It means I have to actually get into my car and drive to the gas station. I’m not a big fan of driving (I mean come on the gas station is within walking distance—it’d be so much easier to walk).

Then I have to maneuver my car into the station around the gas pumps and potholes and fifty other cars needing to buy gas. And I have to do this twice because I forget which side my gas tank is on every . . . single . . . time . . .

To top it off, after paying the huge bill, I inevitably will forget to put the gas cap back on and have to buy a new one.

Buying gas is no fun. But it is necessary because running out of gas makes for a really bad day. It is a fact: I must drive, therefore I must buy gas.

A few weeks ago, my experience in gas buying changed and now I look forward to it.

What changed?

(If you say my attitude, no cookies for you. This isn’t one of those posts.)

One word. Bribary. Er I mean rewards.

Heaven..thy name is Slurpee!

See my gas station is this nifty little place called 7-11 and they have the delicious little drinks called Slurpees. So if I go to get gas, I get a Slurpee.

How does that apply to writing?

Well, writing is going to be tough. Why not reward yourself for little accomplishments along the way?

When I finished the edit of my latest work in progress, I allowed myself to read Possession by Elana Johnson  (I’ve been dying to read it).

Your reward doesn’t have to be big. (If every time you finished a chapter you gave yourself a free kitten and a trip to Disney World, things would get out of hand fast). Figure out something you love and use that to motivate yourself. Get a bowl of candy or grapes and every time you write a hundred words, you get one. When you’re finally brave enough to submit your story to your betas, go see that movie you’ve been dying to see or order a pizza. Or take a walk. Or buy a book. The possibilities are endless.

So go out there and get to writing. And when it gets tough—remember, bribery . . . er rewards!

Guest Proser - Stefan Milićević

I want to welcome guest Proser Stefan Milićević from www.stefanmilicevic.co.cc and Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina respectively. Stefan is a friend from hatrack river writer's workshop, a free online workshop for writers.


If you too want to be a guest Proser, send me an email at shimiqua@gmail (dot) com. It's a great way to get to know more writers, and get more readers for your blog. 

On Writing Long Hand

Ever felt the need to rush to the keyboard and pour that awesome story onto the page? I am sure you have, and I’ll even bet that you gorged on coffee and unhealthy snacks to supply the Muse with much needed nutrition (if it actually were so, my muse would be a 400 pound couch potato).

These creative surges of inspiration often make you forge on no matter what may happen - your laptop flips you the metaphorical Blue Screen of Death finger? Reboot that sucker and keep going! Your friend is being attacked by Dalek’s? You just go ahead and tell him that that happens every so often and that if he is scared of walking trashcans possessing the vernacular of a badly violated Commodore 64 you can’t be friends anymore.

 Sorry, bro.

That’s what it’s all about, right? Feeling that amazing high, as if you are a high on sugar with a BB gun. Sure, it feels great to be the cackling puppet master on the other side of the screen, challenging your characters and seeing them prevail in the end (or not. Har, har).

However, it’s a good idea to slow down at times. Let me tell you a story. It won’t take long. I know you are eyeing that X button on your browser. Give me the benefit of the doubt.

Today I was sitting in a café with nothing but my trusty ballpoint pen and a notebook. It was a quiet place - just enough conversation in the background not to feel lonely, not to many chatterboxes that you wish to jump onto the table and throw an immature tantrum and get arrested for civil disobedience.

So, I cracked open my notebook and started scrawling away. I realized a few things:

           1.       I tend to type too damn fast.         

       

 That’s right. When I write in longhand my hand never stopped moving. No blinking cursor to taunt me and make me feel as if I am wasting my time. You get time to organize your thoughts while writing. Multitasking at its finest.

         2.       No internal editor.   

       Finally, a way to get rid of that pest. I considered guns, but knowing that an internal editor is... well... internal... You get my point. We all know that the first draft is somewhat of a blueprint. Fiddling around won’t even occur to you. You’ll need to retype the whole thing anyway. There’s your first editing run, right there.

        3.       No computer related distractions.

       

Nope. Zilch, zero, nada, garnichts,  ništa, nai. No email that calls out to you with the honey coated voice of a scantily dressed mermaid. I was away from home and didn’t even think for a second to check the web using my phone. The last time I felt so proud of myself was when I went to the potty for the first time (alone, mind you).

Now, here a couple of things you have to keep in mind. This worked for me. It might not work for you. Sometimes we do things differently because it suits us that way. Diversity is the spice of life. Also you might need to try it a couple of times...but you know what? No writing is ever wasted. It’s a great experience. 

Come on. You know you want to try it! :)