Writing exercises to get your fingers moving

Missing in action lately with job training and all the other things that distract a writer from actually writing. Tomorrow I leave for another week of training so more time away from my desk. But I am psyched and anxious to make the most of today and what moments I can steal away to write over the next few weeks.

I spent the weekend at beautiful Greenbo Lake State Park near Ashland, KY for the 5th annual KYOWA Dogwood Writers' Conference. Wonderful staff, lovely people, and fun writing exercises that inspired even an old dog like me. My workshop, "Breaking into the Inspirational Fiction Market" was well received, but I got a lot more out of the trip than what I gave.

For me, inspiration and motivation are best reasons to attend a conference. Teaching is great, but I need the burst of creativity you get from a room full of people as excited about writing as you are.

Monday morning, and I am ready to use the fuel from that fire to spur me to action. I have two new writing projects in mind as well as motivation to get my current project ready to send my agent in a few weeks.

You don't have to go to a conference to get inspired. Several of the writing exercises proved you can find inspiration anywhere. We played with storyboards which you can create at home out of old magazines. Clip pictures or sayings that remind you of your story and post them around your writing area. I never thought that sort of thing would help me, but I was proven wrong once again. Create two completely new characters and have them meet. You may never use what you come up with, but the exercise might help get you over a hump in your current project.

But the best exercise by far for any writer is to put your rear in the chair and get those fingers moving. This habit may take some time to incorporate into your routine, but the benefits are immeasurable.

He said, She said--Handling Attributions

I am so happy to have fellow author and book doctor Sandi Rog here today at Joy in the Journey. Sandi is going to share her expertise on Attributions (Dialogue Tags)

Let's talk about those pesky dialogue tags, otherwise known as attributions. An attribution is "said." As in "he said, she said." If you read the following excerpt (http://thebookdoctorbd.blogspot.com/), you'll notice that there are no attributions. No, not one. In light of that fact, isn't it interesting that we knew who was talking the entire time, whether it was a soldier, David or his parents? How is that possible? Not one "said" word gave it away? How can that be?

Answer: If Character A's dialogue is in the same paragraph as the action of Character A, we'll know who's talking, so there's no reason to add "he/she said."

Attributions aren't "wrong." Using them doesn't mean your writing is poor. But if a beat of action can be used, that would be much better. Why? Beats of action can pull your reader deeper into your story. How does it do that? Beats give readers something to see, smell, touch, taste or hear; they reveal details about the character and the setting; they help eliminate useless words; and they can make the writing more active.

Notice below, we know who's talking because the action and the dialogue of each character is in the same paragraph:

"Let her go!" Abba pushed away from a soldier with his shoulder and lunged forward. "She has nothing to do with this!"

The third soldier rushed over, grabbed Abba and held him back. "Oh, really? That's not what we heard." He motioned toward the man touching Mamma. "Aulus, shouldn't convicts pay the full penalty for their crimes?"

The fewer attributions a writer uses, the better.

Here are some before and after examples:

BEFORE

"Let her go!" Abba shouted, pushing away from the soldier. "She has nothing to do with this!"

AFTER

"Let her go!" Abba pushed away from the soldier. "She has nothing to do with this!"

Can you feel the difference between these two lines? "Pushed" is more active than "pushing." It gives the writing more life. A part of the scene is played out with ongoing action; the scene moves forward. The exclamation mark shows that the character is shouting, so there's no reason to tell the readers that Abba is shouting by adding, "he shouted." Also, the sentence is shorter, giving it more punch, which adds to the tension of the scene.

But what about scenes that aren't supposed to have this kind of tension? Will eliminating attributions add tension to a scene that doesn't need it? Scenes will usually have tension, just a different kind.

Here's an example where the tension is beneath the surface, rather than an outside force:

"Well, I'm glad I don't have any sin." Alethea swung her legs as she sat on the wall. She thought to scoot in closer to David so her arm might brush against his. Instead, she basked in his scent of leather and pine.

David rested his elbows on his knees and watched her, but Alethea avoided his gaze. "No one is without sin." He leaned toward her. "No one."

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, but quickly refocused her attention on the horizon. "It doesn't make sense." She shrugged. "Why make someone die when he could clap his hands and say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' and be done with it?"

David stared at her for a while, his mouth closed as if tasting her words.

Shifting under his scrutinizing gaze, she leaned forward and watched the birds soar and dance on the air in front of them.

A gentle breeze caressed her cheek as David lifted her chin. He forced her to look at him. His blue eyes fixated on hers.

"Passion," he said.

Alethea took a long shuddering breath.

"What shows greater love?" He continued to hold her chin. "Someone who sacrifices himself to save your life, or just claps his hands?"

There are times you'll want your scene to move slowly and adding an attribution will help slow the pace or create the right rhythm. This leads to my favorite subject: breaking the rules. Notice above how after the dialogue "Passion" one attribution is used, but it works to create the right rhythm.

Depending on how attributions are used, they can also become a form of telling.

I call the following "impossible attributions" because they create impossibilities.

Chime, deliver, breathe, repeat, seethe, spat, articulate, laugh, conclude, add, roar, state, counter, muse, roar, growl, exclaim, fume, explode, and the list goes on.

Why do these create impossibilities?

A person can't "chime, deliver, breathe, repeat, seethe, spat, articulate," a statement. These vices shout amateur to editors and agents (and if not, they should). Avoid them at all costs.

Here's a quote from Newgate Callender, in The New York Times Book Review:

Mr. (Robert) Ludlum has other peculiarities. For example, he hates the "he said" locution and avoids it as much as possible. Characters in The Bourne Ultimatum seldom “say” anything. Instead, they cry, interject, interrupt, muse, state, counter, conclude, mumble, whisper (Mr. Ludlum is great on whispers), intone, roar, exclaim, fume, explode, mutter. There is one especially unforgettable tautology: “’I repeat,’ repeated Alex.”

The book may sell in the billions, but it’s still junk.

The best thing to do with “said” is to cut it all together and replace it with an action. This will create more “showing” and less “telling.” It pulls us into the story and helps us become more acquainted with the characters. Also, as I said, if one character has dialogue and action in the same paragraph, we’ll automatically know who’s talking so there’s no need to "tell" us who's talking. But if you have to use “said,” then use “said” and not some impossible attribution that hack writers love.

Dave King and Rennie Browne's book, "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers," goes into detail on this subject, as well as other important writing subjects. If you'd like to ask Mr. King some writing questions, pop on over to my blog at: http://thebookdoctorbd.blogspot.com/.

Attributions aren't "wrong." Just use them with care.

NaNoWriMo--How it can help your writing

November 1-30 Thirty days and nights of literary abandon

If you’ve been around the writing circuit for very long, you know that next week marks the beginning of the annual NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. If you aren’t in the middle of a project or facing a deadline, I suggest you hop over to the website and sign up. There’s nothing like accountability to get the old juices flowing.

Has anyone tried this before? Someone challenged one of my writing groups to a similar exercise in June. It worked out perfectly for me. I was stalled at 25K words in a novel that was going nowhere. My premise was great. The key characters were hashed out. I knew where the book would end up. Yet nothing was happening. The challenge was exactly what I needed to dive in headfirst. By the end of the month I had added 52K to my original writing. The first draft of the book was complete! And guess what? It didn’t stink.

I solved all the major problems that had left me stymied up to that point. When you free yourself to just write and not worry about how it will come together, your subconscious mind has no choice but to take over.

What about you? Do you have a book idea that’s been pestering you for months but you don’t know where to go with it? Or you are too intimidated to tackle a project like a novel? Or you’ve had a few false starts but can’t get past the first fifty pages?

NANOWRIMO might be exactly what you’re looking for. You might surprise yourself. If nothing else, you will have the satisfaction of knowing you can do it. You can pump out 50K words in a relatively short amount of time and they may actually be something to build on.

Like so many other writers, I wonder why the powers that be chose November to begin writing a novel. November couldn’t be a worse time for most people to tackle something as daunting as a novel, with Thanksgiving and Black Friday and all the things that go into planning a holiday season.

But maybe that’s why they chose November. This way we can prove to ourselves that even amidst the busiest season of the year—with a little planning, discipline, and commitment—we can still write a novel. Or at least get a pretty good handle on it with 50 thousand words of a first draft.

The key is fastening your rear to the chair and staying there. The best thing about writing 50K words in a month is you don’t have time to edit. You don’t have time to second guess yourself or agonize over your hero's preoccupation with fighter jets and creating the perfect quiche. All you have time to do is pound out the scene and move on.

Quite liberating really. So take up the gauntlet. What have you got to lose? At the end of the month you can either be right where you are with your current novel, or you can have a solid first draft with the potential to become something worthy of submitting to a publisher.

Faint not in doing good

Promotion comes neither from the east or the west, not from the south. But God is the judge: he puts down one and sets up another.
Psalm 75: 6-7

Some days while I’m writing and the words flow like a stream after a spring rain, it’s easy to believe I have a special calling on my life. I am set apart for God’s use. He has a big purpose for me. My writing is meant to touch hearts and change lives.

Then I get word from my agent that another publishing house passed on my work. I log onto one of my writing groups and I hear of a multi-published author who just got a contract for three more books with a fantastic advance, and I come crashing to the ground.

What’s the deal? What am I doing wrong? When will God show me favor? I'm not typically a jealous person, but it's hard to rejoice over another's success when we've had nothing but rejection for months, or perhaps years on end.

Several times in the last few weeks I’ve talked to people, many of them writers, who are disheartened about the loss of a job or cut in pay or yet another rejection from a publishing house. It is easy to ask; “Why not me? I know I have a calling on my life. I’ve read published works that are ten times worse than mine. Why is So-and-so blessed and I'm not?”

You will drive yourself crazy trying to wrap your head around these questions. We won’t always understand why things happen the way they do, whether with writing or promotion at work or in relationships. The only thing we can do in times of trial and doubt is to keep doing well. Keep applying yourself at work. Keep growing in your craft. Use the downtime in your writing to read and study the markets.

Faint not in doing good. It will happen as long as we keep working, keep submitting, keep growing, and most importantly, keep the faith that God is bigger than we are and he has a plan for each life he put on earth.

What writers can learn from friendly turkeys and family reunions

Our neighbors have a pet turkey. Turkeys make better pets than you might think. This one is rather amusing to watch. He pecks around the yard, talking and garbling and intent on making friends with everything in sight. Unfortunately my dogs are not nearly as congenial with him as he is with them.

The other day while trying to enjoy a leisurely walk with the dogs, the turkey caught sight of us and ran out to greet us. While he saw potential friends, my dogs saw an early Thanksgiving dinner. As my husband and I tried to deter the turkey and keep my Lab from latching her jaws around his straggly turkey neck, my fingers became entangled in the retractable leash. If you’ve ever used a retractable leash, you know why they come with labels warning against getting your legs or fingers near the rope. The fingers of my left hand are seared top to bottom with rope burns that made writing nearly impossible all weekend.

The pain has subsided for the most part and I have mobility back in my digits. But Saturday and Sunday were a wash as far as accomplishing much with my writing. Losing a weekend writing and figuring out how to someday work a turkey encounter into a novel made me realize once again how inspiration can strike at the most unlikely times.

Sometimes a writer need go no farther than his front yard for ideas. Saturday before the turkey attack, we attended a family reunion. A niece talked with me about whether or not her boyfriend would propose and what she would say if he did. She loves the guy, and is pretty sure he’s the one, but what if she’s wrong. A husband and wife spent the whole time sniping at each other and drawing unwanted attention. I overheard a conversation about a cousin who disappeared about forty years ago. The family finally tracked her down in another state a decade or so back. She has children of her own and a life none of us know anything about. She emphatically stated she did not want contact from anyone in the family. Someone whispered about rumors of “incest” and knowing glances were passed around the table. The conversation quickly shifted to layoffs and unemployment and of family members who had died since the last reunion.

I’ve heard it said the best way to repair the sagging middle of a novel is to throw in a dead body. Since that scenario doesn’t work for every piece of fiction, you may want to pay attention to what the old folks talk about at the next reunion, wedding, or funeral. Or just walk your dogs around the neighborhood and see what kind of exotic pet captures their attention.

He's Baaaack!

I was lamenting just the other day about the mysterious disappearance of Peyton Manning. This young man, the quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts for those of you who have been living under a rock for the last ten years or so, had suddenly disappeared from the airwaves sometime last February.

The last time I saw him was at the Super Bowl where his baby brother Eli was voted MVP of one of the more exciting, nail biting games in the last few decades.

But what had become of Peyton since then?

For the last five years or so he has endorsed everything from Sony media to macaroni and cheese to credit cards to water. About the only thing he hasn't endorsed is feminine hair removal systems, and I probably just missed that spot.

Then all of the sudden, he vanished without a trace.

Had he been sequestered by Tony Dungee to an island off the coast of Malta to focus on his throwing arm? Was he in a Turkish prison for some crime the NFL had kept under wraps? Had he been kidnapped by Tom Brady, Eli Manning, and all the other big name players who were being forced to go on food stamps because Peyton was getting all the endorsement dollars?

But no, dear reader, I am happy to report Peyton is alive and well and once again hawking products, at least for Sony and H.H.Gregg. I saw him on a commercial this morning as articulate and enthusiastic as the last time his adorable face graced my television screen.

I am so relieved as I'm sure are his mother and father.

I'm sure you're wondering why I've dedicated an entire post to Peyton Manning, who I love by the way. (He's the son I never had.)

If only we as writers could figure out how to market ourselves the way Peyton has. If our names were as familiar to the reading public as Peyton's cute little face is to the rest of the free world, we wouldn't have to worry about our books making the bestseller lists.

The question is HOW?

My first suggestion is to make your presence known online. It's cheap, readily available, and most readers have access to it. Secondly, get out there and do book signings and appearances, even when no one shows up but your mother and one of her friends from church. Even if no one comes to signings--and let's face it, they don't--you can usually get some media attention out of the deal.

No, you probably won't attract the throngs of adoring fans the way Peyton does. But do what you can. And if you get a chance today, drop Peyton a line and let him know how happy you are that he's once again gainfully employed.

Happy Marketing.