The Puzzle Pieces of Why You Write by Hilary Wagner

Everyone is different, but for me there was a singular magic moment that inspired me to start writing. All books have a "feel" to them. The ones we like the most tend to speak to us in some way. One of the books that spoke to me was Wicked by Gregory Maguire. He built a beautiful, fantastic world I wanted to live in, with intriguing characters who all shared a brilliant piece in his winding tale.

The book didn't just speak to me when I first read it...it downright screamed. It was that special moment in time wherein you can literally see a talking light bulb over your head demanding that you write.

This leads me to my favorite book as a child, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C. O'brien. It too took me into a world I never wanted to leave that stuck with me until adulthood. I even remember the very place where I read the book. Years later, after reading Wicked when I was all grown up, all the puzzle pieces clicked for me.

I began writing furiously just days later. Early in the morning, throughout the day, late into the night. The ideas and story poured onto the pages. I was obsessed to say the least. It wasn't easy, of course. I did multiple rewrites, survived what felt like endless rejection, but it happened. My inspiration paid off.

That inspiration has become a part of me, deeply ingrained in who I am. I would not be the same person without it. Writing makes me smile every day. It makes me think about the world differently and it makes me value everything and everyone around me, because we're all part of a much bigger story.

What was your succinct inspiration to write? What books gave you that "aha" moment? When did your heart and head lay out their plans for you and tell you to write?

Thanks for reading (and writing),

Hilary Wagner

Fasting Story by Joanna Roddy

Photo by: Marco Ottobelli, Source: Wikimedia Commons

This fall, I was up to my eyebrows in work commitments with very little time to write. I knew the new semester in February would bring half the teaching load and twice the scope for creativity. In the months when my fiction writing lay fallow, I came to terms with the end of a long-hoped-for project and realized that the time I wasn't writing was actually rich creative time in a totally different way. 

Freed from the responsibilities of writing, missing writing and wishing I could have the time to do it again, I was suddenly filled with new ideas for stories. I've never felt like much of an idea factory, but it seemed like every day I had some new exciting thought for a character or setting or plot element. They were all thoroughly disconnected, of course, but I was swimming in a rich primordial soup of creative life. It felt like I was on the edge of something new, and I leaned into that with the total freedom of someone who doesn't have to do anything about it yet. 

Finally, in December, with the new semester coming and past projects shelved, I realized it was time to channel the next story. I didn't know what it would be, or if any of the myriad ideas I'd been entertaining would play into it, but I knew it was time to start dreaming something larger. 

Then I did something weird--something I've never done before. First you have to understand that I'm a total book gobbler. I get audio books through my library, I have several e-books on my phone or printed books on my nightstand (or in my purse--anyone else? Lit. nerds unite!), and at any given time, I am voraciously reading at least one or two of them at every possible opportunity. But in December I decided that if I wanted to receive something new, I needed to get other people's words out of my head. I needed to carve out quiet, empty spaces where my own words and ideas could form. So I decided to fast story. 

Yes, fasting. Like a spiritual practice, or a diet. That meant no books, no audio books, not even podcasts. I also took a break from mindless phone games that I sometimes play while listening to an enthralling novel. Instead, I sat with the silence and I waited. 

I'm not a saint, and I'm not a liar, so I'll be honest: it was uncomfortable. There were times I cheated with a podcast. But I pressed into my story fast anyway with the kind of dogged faith we creative people have to have, believing that there are stories for me to tell and trying to make my mind and heart open to receiving them. I had a piece of paper on my dresser that I looked at every day that said simply, "Let it come."

One night at the end of December, I lay in my bed, very tired and a little sick after all the holiday hoopla, and it happened. A story began to come into my mind in a series of images, scenes, characters, and plot twists. I could see it all unfolding in front of me. I was a bit bent on getting a good night's sleep, so I actually fought the idea of getting out of bed to write it down for a good ten minutes. But the idea was so vivid that all hopes of sleep had fled, and finally I went out to the dark dining room, sat down at the table, and filled a page in my notebook with lines and lines of small print as I shaped the idea into words.

And I'm excited about this new story. I feel it burning in me, waiting for the chance to move from my mind to the page. 

I don't know whether all this is merely coincidental--perhaps it is--but I think there's something true in the idea that our lives are so full of clamor that we miss quieter voices within us that would guide us in transformative ways if only we stopped to hear them. I know that for me, the act of faith precedes the miracle. If inspiration is to find a way in, leaving the door open to her can't hurt. 

Celebrate the Power of Kids by Donna Galanti

Today I’m asking you to help celebrate the power of kids.

Photo by Chris & Karen Highland via Creative Commons

As grownups we shape and guide kids – as parents, as teachers, as leaders. We are their models. We don’t always do the right thing. We don’t always make the right choices. But we don’t give up trying – and that’s what kids see. You are the reason why a kid didn’t give up. You can make a difference. And as a parent, we carry this awesome gift that is scary and wonderful all at the same time!

When we think of heroes we may think of police officers, firefighters, and doctors. But kids can be heroes too – and it’s up to us to help them see that. They can be heroes sometimes in big, noisy ways and sometimes in small, quiet ways. We all have the power inside to be our own hero!

My (kid-hero) son giving the gift of time to listen to the life stories of his great-uncle

I’ve met and read about so many amazing kids lately that are overcoming obstacles, big and small, and letting the power of their voice shine through. Like Caine. At nine he built his dream and didn’t give up, even when no one would share in it. You’ll be so inspired by what he started. Read the story. And Mason, a seven-year-old who gave up birthday presents to feed an animal shelter. And Erik, an amazing teen author, book blogger (This Kid Reviews Books), and super reader. Get to know him!

Kids matter. We need to let them know they matter. We need to let them know their voice matters. As writers, we can do that through books. You've got the power!

Image by Pixabay

Some of my favorite middle grade reads where kids find their own power within themselves:

Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
Wonder by R.J. Palacio (after reading 3x, my son would go in the book store and ask, “Do you have any more books like Wonder?”)
Holes by Louis Sachar
Surviving Bear Island by Paul Greci
Ungifted by Gordon Korman
Almost Home by Joan Bauer
The Ruins of Gorlan: Book 1 (Ranger's Apprentice) by John A. Flanagan

I wrote my first children’s book, Joshua and the Lightning Road, for my son Joshua. It’s a story about finding super powers, but also about finding your own special power inside that no one can take away.

In the book, Joshua discovers he has magical powers, but he quickly discovers that sometimes the power he’s had all along within himself is even bigger than magic. He tells his friend Charlie, “You don’t need powers to do the right thing. All you need is to believe in yourself.”

I’m reading an amazing manuscript by one of my novel critique partners right now, Joe McGee and former Mayhemmer, about a young disabled boy who lives as a regular kid. His life challenges don't hold him back from doing what he loves. I don’t want to give anything away J but he inspires me to believe we truly can overcome anything. Words matter – and especially to kids. I hope this manuscript is soon on book shelves everywhere!

One of my favorite childhood heroes was (still is) Anne Frank, who, as we know, lived for over three years in an attic with her family trying to survive during the Holocaust. Anne Frank inspired me as a kid with her words. She taught me that I could be my own hero (we also share the same birthday!). It was because of her that I started my first diary that helped me find my own power through writing.

Anne wrote in her diary, “Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.” She was a quiet hero but her quiet words had the power to affect the world.

A few of my journals from childhood

And I want kids to know they can affect the world too, so I'm sharing my Kid Heroes series that features kids doing heroic things – in big and quiet ways. And for each feature I donate $10 to Kids Wish Network, a special program that grants wishes to kids who face remarkable challenges and are in desperate need of hope.

Nominate a special kid today and help them keep flying on their own special journey  J .

What are some of your favorite books that empower kids (and you too!)? Do you know any kid heroes? 

Proof that Bigfoot is REAL! by Hilary Wagner

If you've ever watched the show, Finding Bigfoot--something I watch when I can't fall asleep, you've probably noticed the show tends to go in a loop. They interview folks who claim to have seen Bigfoot, they go searching the wilderness in a dark, mostly creepy forest setting, and then--of course--there's some mysterious howls exchanged across the landscape and knocking on wood, which apparently is something Bigfoot would do to attract, well...another Bigfoot. They never find Bigfoot. They never find irrefutable proof of Bigfoot, but man, do they believe he's out there.

I know Bigfoot is not real. In all the years people have been chasing Bigfoot, there would be scientific proof, such as remains, DNA, or heck, even pictures that weren’t blurry brown smudges! Truth is, though, I want Bigfoot to be real. I want there to be a creature out there that's stayed miraculously hidden from humans for eons. I want the Yeti to dwell in the snowy mountains of Nepal. I WANT TO BELIEVE! 

That's where we come in. As writers, we get to step in and bring our favorite "what-ifs" to life! We get to give them blood, and skin, and fur, and voices. Winged goblins, evil witches and scaled dragons take flight. Animals talk in a way we understand. Dwarves, gnomes, and fairies live in the shadowy places of forbidden forests, and we, as writers, have the honor of making the unreal very real.

This is how we know all dragons have a small soft spot on their underbelly. This how we know Santa can squeeze down even the smallest of chimneys. This is how we know house elves are bound as servants forever, unless given clothes by their owner. 

And, this is how I know I'm born to write.

I want to believe.  :)

Rules For Success As A Writer by Steve Bramucci

Every year, someone writes a think piece about how MFAs are a waste of time because writing can't be taught, or maybe it's that writing shouldn't be taught because there aren't enough book deals out there and we're all living a pipe dream, or maybe it's that...actually I don't know what these think piece writers say after the first two points. By then my eyes have glazed over and rolled into the back of my head.

Some writers still reside in the camp of people who think talent is "as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly's wings," as Hemingway once said of Fitzgerald.

To which I respond with another Hemingway line, the last words of The Sun Also Rises, "Isn't it pretty to think so?"

It is "pretty" to think that talent is innate. But it's definitely not logical. Everything can be taught, every skill can be improved, and practice can close any "natural talent" gap at a scary-quick rate. How precious we writers must be to think that brain surgery and ballet can be learned, but that our beloved art is inborn. I won't argue about this anymore because people who take time to string together words about who is and who isn't a writer bore me immensely. Lines in the sand that separate creative people from one another are the one thing that I scoff at unapologetically -- and I hate scoffing!

But enough of this rant! If it's success you seek, I have the rules to achieving it. There are others...but you already know them.

1. Be an age. It doesn't really matter what age. I recommend somewhere in the 3-99 range. Anywhere in that 96-year span should be fine. The guy from The Stranger essay thinks you have to make it when you're young but that nonsense is counteracted by loads of examples. Including a little someone named Raymond Chandler who wrote some of the best detective novels in the history of the genre or Toni Morrison, who wrote her first book at 39. 
2. Make marks on a document. Use a Mac or a PC or a pencil or a crayon. George R.R. Martin uses a computer that runs DOS -- so don't sweat it if your laptop is a year old. I remember being at big waterski tournament and telling my coach that I was thinking about buying a new ski. He looked at my old ski, lying in the grass, and said, "World records have been set on that ski. Have you set any of them?" I shook my head and the coach patted my shoulder. "When you do," he said, "you can think about a new ski."
3. Work hard. This doesn't always mean you have to bang the keyboard 24-7. The ever-lovely Robin Benway once said to me at lunch, "We're writers, alive in the world, this is part of our work." If work always looks like sitting at a desk, you'll become the sort of writer who writes about writing or writes essays about who can and can't write -- neither of which are things that I personally like to read. I believe firmly in the following video, with the word "work" being something that we each have to define for ourselves. 
4.   Be grateful. For God's sake be grateful. When good things happen say "thanks," be excited, and allow yourself room to smile. As a wise man once taught us, "gratitude reciprocates." 
5.  Have fun. We've been told writing is thankless, that it'll leave us broke, that it's the hardest job on earth, and yet we have to compete with a million new writers every year who want to take the hardest job from us. We get told we can't make it by people writing think pieces who are also surely afraid that they won't make it. All of this makes writing pretty daunting. So if it's not fun, if there's no joy in it...then the juice might not be worth the squeeze.

Those are my rules, but what do I know? I went to grad school, my first book is being released when I'm 37, and I don't think I was born with any particular talent.

But here I am, still writing.

Steve Bramucci is a full time writer and the managing editor of Uproxx.com's Life section. His first book, Ronald Zupan and the Pirates of Borneo, will be released in January, 2017. 

Surround Yourself With Inspiration

The bulletin board above my desk holds all sorts of treasures: 

• Irene Latham's Plot is a Verb postcard
• a flyer from my first author event
• a photo of a statue erected to honor pioneer women
• two quotes from J. Anderson Coats
• a silly VIP name tag from my 2007-2008 fourth graders (they gave me a "most likely to be a famous author" award)
• a great last name  -- Folkenflick (any NPR listeners recognize this?)
• an anonymous, kind response during a First Pages reading session at SCBWI-MI 2004
• a card Schwartz and Wade sent along with my very own copy of May B.
• a song called Why Do We Hunger For Beauty? that always makes me cry
• a faded purple 3x5 that holds May B.'s original plot line
• a picture of me as a mid-grader
• pins for various books and debut author groups
• a tag from a Caroline Rose jacket...too fun to throw away!
• a heart necklace on a yarn chain
• my portrait, drawn by my younger guy when he was nine

and my latest addition, four words Sheila O'Connor shared with me after attending a writing workshop. They're what all writers need:

• endurance
• patience
• commitment
• passion

In surrounding myself with things that inspire, I find the courage to keep plugging away.

Where do you find your inspiration?

The Fun of World-Building

I'm just starting out on a new writing project and remembering how delightful it is to dream up an otherworld.  Fantasy authors get the added fun of making everything up.  Food?  Animals?  Setting?  Economy?  All of it must be created and pieced together in a somewhat logical puzzle.  This is tricky, because there's always so much more than will ever make it to the book.  I've spent many writing hours on badly done sketches and maps that will never see the light of day, but I don't think of any of them as wasted.  As any book-loving author knows, the deepest way to enter a story is to write one.

I've been living, writing, and revising in the Land of Story for the past five years, and I love that world, I really do.  But this new world?  Can I just tell you how much I love it, too?  I'm at the stage now where there are an overload of ideas, and I'm struggling with how to sort everything into some semblance of order.  For now, this is my process:

Stage 1: I start with the scribbled spiral notebook pages that testify I grew up in the '80s when even if you had a PC you didn't use it except for your computer "homework".  (Yes, indeed, that was my one and only venture into programming).

Stage 2: These notes translate to scattered post-its categorized by "Plot", "Setting", and "Character".  Mostly, these are vague ideas: dormitories are in a tree, or something like that.

Stage 3: The final stage takes a better shape, where things are color-coded (hooray for an excuse to linger in the office-supply aisles!), each character has specific goals, plot points are solidified, and setting is developed.  This is the closest I ever get to an outline, and typically all these pieces make it into the story, even if they're rearranged quite a bit by the end.

Right now, I'm at Stage 2, where things are taking shape but still are a bit of a mess.  The nice thing is, that this hangs on my bedroom wall, so in those groggy waking-up moments when inspiration hits, I can dash out a sticky note before it's too late.

What about you?  How do you organize your world-building?  Do you have any tips on capturing inspiration?  Or possibly you have a fabulous office supply you just can't live without?  Do share!

Writing with a Soundtrack

Often when I visit another author's blog, I see a fancy-schmancy playlist. Usually it includes songs that inspired the story or music the author was listening to while writing. Not only does reading the list of unfamiliar names make me feel incredibly old - never do I see Roxette or Bon Jovi listed - ha!, but it makes me wonder if I'm missing out on potential creative inspiration.

When I write, I pop in my earbuds to block out background noise. If I have wifi, I'll click on over to Pandora and pick an instrumental station - piano is my favorite. Occasionally, I'll do string quarters or something. But I absolutely cannot listen to music with lyrics while I'm writing. Most of STORYBOUND was written to constantly repeating Christmas at the Keys, because I always worked in a coffeeshop that didn't have internet, and it was the only music I had saved on my laptop at the time. But, as fun as Christmas in July is, it doesn't make a very impressive author playlist.

I've tried to hip-it-up a bit. On my last writing day I braved a Tom Petty station on Pandora, but (though Tom Petty is as cool as ever), I just couldn't focus in on my writing.

What about you? Do you write to a soundtrack? I'll take any suggestions! What music inspires you? Do you have any imagined soundtracks to some of your favorite books?