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. 

A Writing Exercise from HARRIET THE SPY by Joanna Roddy

I was reading HARRIET THE SPY the other day and was absolutely smitten with Harriet's writer's game from the beginning of the book. Check it out:

Harriet was trying to explain to Sport how to play Town. "See, first you make up the name of the town. Then you write down the names of all the people who live in it. You can't have too many or it gets too hard. I usually have twenty-five....Then when you know who lives there, you make up what they do. For instance, Mr Charles Hanley runs the filling station on the corner."

She goes on to explain that once you know the names of all the families and how many kids they have and what they do for a living, that's when the fun begins. She starts imagining situations that happen in the town and how the people's lives intersect. While one farmhouse is getting robbed in the dead of night, a baby is being born in the hospital and the police chief is strolling down Main Street and senses that something is amiss. And so on.

I thought to myself, now there's an idea. 

So many children's books happen in the center of a community: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, and HARRY POTTER, to name a few. The setting could be a town, a school, a secret government training facility, or a summer camp, but when there's a cast of characters around your heroes, it's good to know who they are and where they come from right off the bat. Then you can start imagining situations that would arise between these characters in this setting, instead of (as I so often do) waiting for scenes and characters to present themselves as you write or outline. I would imagine that this is where great subplots, interesting characters, and plot complexities can emerge. Kind of like real life. 

Anyone want to play town?

Let us know if you have any great exercises for constructing characters, world-building, or beginning a new story idea. We'd love to hear from you!

The Importance of Beginnings by: Joanna Roddy

Story beginnings have been tricky for me. When I started editing with my agent, that was one of the first and hardest things I had to work on. At one point she said, "Your main character wakes up thinking about chess. So we think he's a chess geek. Is that what you were going for?" My adventurous hero with a burning desire to travel the world with his archeologist grandpa? No. Chess geek was not what I was going for. I was just trying to get him to an important scene as quickly as possible. Back to the blank page for me.  

Something I've learned since then is that the beginning of a story has more weight than the rest of it. Your reader is trying to orient themselves to the world, to the characters, and to your voice. The first few things your character does and says DEFINE that character for your reader. 

The beginning of your story is like a resume, trying to get your reader to hire you for the job of temporary entertainer--and if that reader is an agent or editor you want to work with, then you want those pages to shine. 

As I entered a season of ruthless and wholescale editing, I noticed how the Pixar movies that my kids watch are so tightly written. Everything has a purpose: humor, plot, character, or setting, and usually several at once. In a 100 page screenplay for an audience with a notoriously short attention-span, there is no dross. And within the first few minutes, you clearly understand the main character, the world they live in, and what they want.  

Pixar screenplay writer, Michael Arndt, made a YouTube video about Pixar's approach to story beginnings. This is just packed with great ideas. Have a look if you have a few minutes.

His basic formula for the very beginning of a story:

1. Right away, introduce your character, the world they live in, and show them doing the thing they love most.

2. Show that they have a flaw, which flows out of their grand passion--some way in which they take it too far.

3. Show clouds on the horizon--some hint of the conflict or emotional challenge the character will face for the rest of the story.

He goes on to explain the rest of Act 1, by the end of which your character has a goal and has set off on the journey of the rest of the story. He summarizes: "So your story is coming out of your character's deepest desires and their darkest fears. The thing they love gets taken away from them and the world is revealed to be unfair. To put things right, they have to make the journey that is the rest of the film. And by the end of the journey, hopefully they'll not only get back what they lost but they'll be forced to fix that little flaw they had when we first met them."

Formulas can be prisons or wings, depending on how you work, but as a jumping off place, I found this advice super helpful. 

How do you start a new story? Do you use a formula or have any advice to offer? I'd love to hear!

The MG Novel Hidden in a Christmas Carol by Jim Hill

A disclaimer. The title of this piece is only there to lure you in, to catch your fancy long enough to get to the real point. Gentle reader, consider yourself advised.

‘Tis the season of A Christmas Carol, the ATM of American theater. Production companies large and small trot it out annually, secure in the knowledge that the funds it generates between Thanksgiving and New Years will keep the lights on in April. Dickens crafted a redemption story that predates the felonious Grinch, inspired a thousand variations (I’m looking at you, Magoo), and that has political resonance as timely today as it was in 1843.

I attended Trinity Reps’ current run this past weekend. As always I was caught up in the story, the imaginative staging, and the engaging performances. I was also inspired by the hidden middle grade novel waiting to be told. I mean, it’s just lying there waiting for a clever writer to put pen to paper and breathe life into it.

Which begs the question writers are so often asked: Where do you get your ideas?

If writers were paid a few bucks every time they hear that question they’d have a nice little coffee-shop-annuity.

Before I started writing with intent, the thing I was most afraid of was not having enough ideas. I knew I had one story I wanted to write, but what if I never came up with another one?

Here’s the thing. Once I committed to writing that one story down on paper (okay, screen…) the flood gates opened. Ideas are everywhere, and I had awakened my senses to them. An eighth color was added to the rainbow.

So what happened? I dared to observe the world and ask questions of it. Curiosity kicked down the doors of fear, and gave birth to a thousand mangled metaphors.

Have you thought about that hidden middle grade novel tucked away in a Christmas Carol? I wonder if we’re thinking about the same one.

I took a week long workshop at the Cape Cod Writers Conference with Sara Pennypacker. When asked “the question” she was ready, primed even, with her answer. Ideas are everywhere. She walked us through a trip she took to the grocery store and catalogued a series of ideas triggered by asking a simple question – why?

Why is the wheel on this cart wobbly?
Why is that person only buying candy?
Why did that car come from Ohio to this particular store?

The world is a grocery store stocked with pyramids of cans. Why is the can opener. Fill your cart.

Now that I think about it, there are at least three middle grade stories waiting to hatch out of a Christmas Carol. How’s your list coming?

I just completed Picture Book Idea Month, or PiBoIdMo, and have a brand spanking new list of thirty one ideas ready for some serious writing time in order to turn them into actual stories. One idea a day for the month of November, plus a bonus I couldn’t resist from October 31st.

I was in a bookstore (shocking I know) and overheard this amazing piece of dialogue:

"For once, can't we just live in a castle? We haven't lived in a castle in my WHOLE LIFE. Not one single time.”

Boom. My brain exploded with possibilities. Why would a character say that? To whom are they speaking? What’s the answer?

Ideas are everywhere. But ideas are not books. Yet.

Neil Gaiman has a wonderful essay on this topic. Of course. The bits of genius he doles out have stayed with me. It’s about asking questions, like Sara said, and paying attention to the answers, and following the breadcrumb trail that leads to the next question. And writing it down.

“The Ideas aren't the hard bit. They're a small component of the whole. Creating believable people who do more or less what you tell them to is much harder. And hardest by far is the process of simply sitting down and putting one word after another to construct whatever it is you're trying to build: making it interesting, making it new.”

A Christmas Carol has been around for a long time. Surely I’m not the first writer to see it and ask questions about things hinted or futures made bright. I’m not even going to Google it to see. We’re a community of idea generators, ideas are easy.

Look how far I’ve come. From the fear of never having another idea, to the realization that ideas are easy. Easy like a Sunday morning.

Pay attention. Ask questions. Question the answers. Follow the clues.

Write it down.

Oh. That middle grade novel in a Christmas Carol? I’m not going to tell you. If you get the chance, see the show, read the book, or catch the movie and ask your own questions.

You can thank me in your acknowledgement page.

Writing Prompts for Getting Unstuck by Joanna Roddy

Photo Credit: Drew Coffman

My last post was about returning to the joy of writing--learning to play on the page and let go of the need for right answers. One of the underlying assumptions there is that you can actually show up at the page and free-write as an act of discovery. 

But I'll be the first to admit, sometimes the blank page is intimidating as heck and you just don't know how to begin. This is the time to pull some trusty tools from your belt in the form of writing prompts. Even a single starting phrase can be so helpful! Here's a roundup of some of my favorite prompts for fiction writing.

Style prompts:

1. Try it from another point of view or tense: This is pretty basic stuff, but if you're inclined to write from third person omniscient past or first person present (there are many others, but I won't go into them here), switching to another POV/ tense can give you tremendous insight into scenes and characters that you didn't have the other way. Even if you don't decide to stick with the new style, the occasional foray into a new point of view can be a wonderful exercise, keeping your writerly skills limber. 

2. Experiment with another narrative voice: Stretch yourself. If you tend to be flowery, channel your inner Hemmingway and write a scene like it's a newspaper article. If you prefer to be concise, think about how to make the writing more lyrical. You might even try writing it as a poem. Try out stream-of-consciousness, satire, humor, and literary voices. You can even use an author's voice you love for inspiration. At the end of the day, your voice is your own, but trying out other styles will make you better able to find the unique sound of your characters, and you might find something that works for you that you never expected. 

Character-based prompts:

1. Rewrite a scene from another character's point of view: This does wonderful things for your character development and might reveal potential plot possibilities as you get in touch with that character's motivation.

2. Try on a character's voice: In a similar vein, write a new scene from a character's POV you haven't tried yet. This is especially nice for a character whose voice you haven't found yet, or who's coming off as one-dimensional. Try it with your villain!

3. Base a character on someone you know. If a character's voice is difficult to hear, try to "listen" to someone whose voice you're already familiar with. Build in those quirks and mannerisms that create a personality. Just make sure it's not an exact replica, lest you commit libel.

Illustration by Agata Kawa from Le Carnet Rouge
This image is on my Pinterest board for my novel's main character.

World-building prompts:

1. Go on a research quest: Set a timer for an hour and go on a wikipedia stumble. If thar be dragons in your story (Yar!), for a broad example, start at the page on dragons. Let your whimsey take you to a link from that page and then another from the next page and so on. Gain inspiration from mythology, history, science, and real-world parallels to your story. Take notes. Bookmark pages. Save images that inspire you along the way (Pinterest is great for this). If you exhaust your first stream of research, start another. When the hour is up, stop and write a short scene, setting, or character sketch from what you've discovered. Make sure you limit your time researching (you could do this sort of thing all day!) and follow it with writing. 

2. Pull a magazine or Pinterest image and write about it: Find something that strikes you, that speaks to your project or a specific character. 

3. Create a detective file: If someone were to come upon your fictional world, what is some of the evidence they would find of your story? Are there letters, emails, books, objects, bills, texts or any other physical evidence you could write down or describe? 

4. Write a letter: In a similar vein, write a letter from your hero to another character in your story. See what you find out about how they see themself, the other character, and their situation.

Photo Credit: deblund.com
One of the cards from Fiction Magic

And here are a few prompts inspired by Deb Lund, who recently spoke to my local chapter of SCBWI and is about to come out with a very cool product, a 54 card deck called Fiction Magic: Card Tricks and Tips for Writers filled with prompt phrases and a guidebook. I'll be the first in line to get one when they come out. And, no, I'm not related to Deb--I don't even know her! I just like to toot horns worth tooting. These mostly fall into the category of plot-development prompts:

1. Take something precious away from your hero: If you're relying on an object, relationship, character trait, or skill to save the day, see what happens when you take that away from your character. See what they have to do to get it back. Don't let them off easy!

2. Give more power to your villain while you hide your hero's strengths: The character and the reader need to feel that the stakes are high and the deck is stacked against them. Write a scene where your villain gets more traction. 

3. Make your hero disappoint someone: Whether they don't come through, break a promise, or shift their loyalty, see what happens when your hero makes a bad decision that hurts someone close to them. What are the relational consequences? What are the implications if that relationship stays broken? How will the hero have to alter course to repair the relationship? What will the plot consequences be because of that?

4. Consider an unlikely pairing: Think about how two opposite or unrelated characters might find their motivations to be mutually beneficial in some way. Bring them together and see what happens. Just think of some of the great examples of this in literature--Legolas and Gimli, Sherlock and Watson, Gollum and Frodo, even Hook and Tinkerbell, to name a few. 

That's a few to get you going. If you try any, I would love to hear how you get on with them. What are some prompts in your tool belt that you have found helpful? 

What Might've Happened

The above is an attempt to make a face from some items plucked from my windowsill. I found all these things in remote corners of this amazing planet, and there’s at least one personal story attached to each of them.

But those stories are interesting mostly to me because I’m the one attached to those objects. Yeah, we could debate that. I do read and love lots of nonfiction.

On a canoe trip I found this

 and this 

on top of a bluff. 

Pasque flowers are the first to come out in the Spring in Interior Alaska and the fish head is probably up on the bluff from an Eagle carrying it. (There used to be an active Bald Eagle’s nest on the bluff close to where I found the fish head.) Now, I could have left well enough alone. I mean, finding Pasque flowers and a fish head are both pretty cool, but instead, I did this.

I heard the prolific YA novelist, Richard Peck speak a few years back and he said something like this:
           
A story is not what happened. It’s what might have happened.

Sometimes, for me at least, simple wisdom, like the quote above, is just what I need to keep digging. To try to see beyond what I’ve already seen. To keep reaching toward what my story is becoming. To remain open to what might have happened.

And to remember that yeah, this is my story, but it needs to be way bigger than me if I want readers to connect with it.

The Creativity Killers that Keep the Idea Box Empty, and How to Fill it Back Up

Have you ever faced a blank computer screen and wondered how to think up a story that's new and interesting? I think most of us have, especially after writing more than one story. The first one is easy-we wouldn't have started writing at all if not for the first idea. It's what comes after that may be a struggle. There are obvious creativity killers, and some of those we don’t have much control over. Working long or hard hours to earn a living wage is probably at the top of the list, and the most common issue with writers. Family responsibilities or health problems are another. But sometimes even when you do have time to write, the ideas just aren’t there. I’m not talking about writer’s block, but more the way to finish a story, or even come up with one to begin with. These days I usually don’t have any trouble with ideas, because I’ve learned the best ways to generate them, but it’s taken me a little longer to figure out the best way to overcome challenges to figuring out the creative details necessary to make a plot idea into a whole story.

I know in talking to other writers, some really struggle with generating basic plot ideas. There has been quite a bit of scientific research done on creativity, especially in business environments and while much of it doesn’t translate to a writer’s creativity, some bits of it are useful. In a business environment, the lack of time to free think is a huge block to creativity. If much of a worker’s day is taken up with paperwork or talking on the phone or meetings, and the rest of the time is taken up with the actual job, there’s no time for the brain to generate new ideas. This relates to writers when we start to evaluate the value of time spent on social media. I love a writer’s forum I belong to, and I enjoy Facebook and Twitter, but I’ve realized the use of them should be more a treat to myself to relax after I’ve accomplished either some writing or some planning about what I’m going to write.

There is pressure for a writer to spend time on social media to build a “brand” or just to remind people they exist, but if you have trouble coming up with an idea or carrying a story through to the end, then saying no to social media to give yourself time to think might be the most benefit to you in the long run.

I’ve heard a writer say she can’t spend the time to think because it’s a waste of writing time. I know the pressure to write when you only have a few brief hours for it can seem too valuable to give up, but if you spend that time struggling to figure out what happens next in a story, eking out a few hundred words, it might help to step away and do something totally different. Take the pressure off your brain and it may reward you.

I don’t get my best ideas sitting in front of my computer. I have one odd way that helps me. I go to a library and roam around the nonfiction section, especially the travel, art and craft, and history sections. If you are a visual person, like I am, looking at pictures in books does wonders for my creativity. 

Walking around an unfamiliar part of my city is something else I've done that's helped, especially when it involves observing the people there. Even concentrating on observing people or places while you are doing your regular errands can help. If you can get away for a day trip, there is a wealth of inspiration out there. A few months ago I knew I needed to be somewhere new and different, but couldn't just take off on an exotic trip, so I found a place to go a few hours away. It was an annual pawpaw festival. If you don't know what a pawpaw is, it's a fruit native to the U.S., and Ohio has a region where they grow well. But that's not important to my point here. The festival turned out to have a lot more going on besides fruit. I watched a demonstration of people from the Society for Creative Anachronism (I don't know why they were at the pawpaw festival, but I'm glad they were.) That gave me a terrific idea for a story, and made the drive and the time it took worth it.  

I’ve heard from other writers that doing something physical, or doing something mindless helps them. It’s worth trying all sorts of things to figure out what works best. So what works best for you to keep the ideas flowing? And what can kill your creativity?

~ Dee Garretson

Keeping sight of your story

You know those pesky Shiny New Ideas? The ones that pop up while you're supposed to be revising your current WIP, tantalizing as heck and glittering with potential? Well, I think one of the main reasons that they're so shiny is because they seem perfect. As though if only you could get your words down, you'd be able to craft a masterpiece from this idea.

This happened to me a while back: I was reading my sister's fantasy adventure comic, and I thought: I want to write an epic fantasy adventure like this. And it gripped me. Not the plot of her comic, but the concept of writing a sweeping fantasy where magic was used as part of modern life. I wanted to make it as epic and fun as the illustration style of the comic panels showed.

So I started writing. I fleshed out character and central conflicts and themes, but as I continued writing, the fun started to seep out. I began getting bogged down in plot wrinkles and relationships. And I think I lost what drew me to write the story in the first place.

In fact, when I thought of my sister's comic again, I was surprised to find how off my story felt. It didn't seem to be heading in that sweeping fantasy direction I wanted, and that was why it no longer felt fun. So I outlined a few scenes that would capture the essence I was trying to achieve. A fight scene; a market scene for worldbuilding; the climax, an ultimate display of girl-power.

And I think I've found my story again. I've found what made me want to write it in the first place.

It's vitally important to hold onto the essence of your story, to keep sight of the ideal. Even if it doesn't quite reach the perfection you imagined, you'll only get there by trying.

Has this happened to you before? How do you keep sight of your story?

Got Brewer's?

Hey fellow writers! Where do you go for inspiration?

I once read an interview with J.K. Rowling where she said that several of her ideas were inspired by Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. And so I was introduced to this handy little book that provides a short definition for common phrases, mythological happenings, and other tidbits having to do with all things whimsical. Maybe I'm letting out a fabulous secret, or maybe every author out there is already combing Brewer's pages. But if you're looking for some great plot ideas (or a way to procrastinate), have a look through Brewer's compilation.

You can find it on Amazon or even browse online FOR FREE!

As you skim through it, you'll recognize a lot of familiar concepts, but I guarantee that your imagination will be sparked by other fascinating odds and ends. I'll pick the "E's" at random and include a few entries with story potential to pique your interest:

Earthmen (The) Gnomes and fairies of the mines: a solemn race, who nevertheless can laugh most heartily and dance most merrily.

Electuary Something to be licked up, a medicine made "thick and slab," which cannot be imbibed like a liquid nor bolted like a pill, but which must be licked up like honey.

Endymion in Greek mythology, is the setting sun with which the moon is in love. Endymion was condemned to endless sleep and everlasting youth.

Evil Eye It was anciently believed that the eyes of some persons darted noxious rays on objects which they glared upon. The first morning glance of such eyes was certain destruction to man or beast, but the destruction was not unfrequently the result of emaciation.

Elshender or Cannie Elshie. The Black Dwarf, alias Sir Edward Mauley, alias the Recluse, alias the Wise Wight of Mucklestane Moor.

I've never read Sir Walter Scott's The Black Dwarf, but, I mean, seriously? The Wise Wight of Mucklestane Moor? That's a title I'd totally grab off the shelf. I think Dr. Brewer - fortunate enough to be christened with the handle Ebenezer Cobham - had an eye for curiosities.

Have I sold you on the pure brilliance that is Brewer's yet? If not, hop on over to the online edition, and let us know if you find anything good!

So, now that I've dished on one of my favorites, do you have any sources of inspiration you'd like to share?