Summer Days

Inspiration

If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author and everyday you have the opportunity to write a new page.

- Mark Houlahan

Well I wrote a new chapter of my book yesterday and edited a few of my first book - went to bed very happy with my productivity. I think the above quote is very true. On Tuesday morning (for no particular reason) I decided I was unhappy and didn't want to be where I was and sure enough I had a horrible day and felt really down - one of the worst days I've had in ages.

But yesterday I made up my mind that I was going to have a good day and regardless of what happened I was going to be happy - low and behold I had a hugely productive day and felt so much better for it.

I also caught a show last night on automatic writing - it sparked my imagination and I think I could build a story around it! It never ceases to amaze me how I seem to turn on the TV or walk into someone at the exact moment when something insipiring/useful happens. Law of attraction in action??? The mind is very deep - wonder what else I could train mine to do?

For those who like to let their imagination run wild

Let Characters Reveal Themselves



Freewriting Leads to a Character-Driven Story


Mar 13, 2008 Jennifer Jensen



Let characters tell you who they are - Gratsiela AtanasovaFreewrite, letting your subconscious thoughts come out in spontaneous dialogue, to discover who your characters are.



For now, forget everything you know about how to structure a story. Forget that a plot needs a beginning, middle and end. Forget that description should be interwoven with narrative. Forget that dialogue should be realistic, not real. Here’s a way to set the creative storyteller in you free.



Freewriting

Freewriting consists of writing without stopping: no editing, no re-reading, nothing. You may set some guidelines, but only within the above definition. Freewriting in longhand makes it easier to resist editing, and most writers will admit that they write differently in longhand versus on the computer.



Freewriting Exercises

Settle yourself in a comfortable chair, paper and pen in hand, and set a time limit. Thirty minutes is common; anywhere between 20 and 40 minutes works. Try one of these exercises:


Write dialogue and only dialogue (no tag lines, description, narrative, etc.) between two voices. Don’t name them or create characters for them, just write from the voices in your head, about whatever they want to talk about.

Write internal dialogue, either starting with an unknown voice in your head or a general character such as an elderly widow or a high school basketball player.

Write free-flowing narrative, plunking a general character or two down in an unfamiliar situation. Force yourself to not worry about word choice, active voice or believability.

Let Your Character Voices Say What They Want

Your voices will evolve into characters, even if you don’t plan for that to happen. Let them! And if you pictured an elderly widow and ten minutes later she has morphed into a middle-aged divorcee, that’s all right, too. This is time to play with your writing and see what comes of it.



As you get a sense of what these characters are like, you may have ideas of what they’ll say or do next. Resist if you can. And if you think they’re going to be worried about being late for a doctor’s appointment, and what comes out of your pen is that they’re worried about having cancer, or finding out their mother has cancer, or finding out they’re pregnant, that’s all right too.



When you write quickly, without planning, subconscious thoughts are allowed to surface, taking you places you hadn’t expected to go. And that’s the whole point.




Complex Scope of Writing a Novel

To write a novel well is a huge task, incorporating character, theme, voice and much more. Here's how to conquer the intimidation and accompanying writer's block. Finding the Story in Freewriting

Even though you put your internal editor on hold while you freewrite, you’ll still notice when something interesting happens. When a character’s true worries come to the front, when someone unexpected shows up in the scene, when a sidekick says something that triggers a reaction, tension has entered the scene and you have the germ of a story.



Use the next freewriting session to play with those characters: write more internal dialogue to get to know them; write scenes from each of their viewpoints; write backstory that will never show in your finished piece. Use the same “don’t stop – don’t edit” technique and let your writing go where it will.



Putting It All Together

Once your characters have revealed themselves to you and you’ve played with backgrounds and interaction, now is the time to remember the essential elements of writing. Choose the conflict, create great dialogue, intersperse description, find the best starting point and resolution. But instead of a put-together plot with adequate characters, you’ll have a character-driven story that could only happen to these people from your subconscious.







Read more at Suite101: Let Characters Reveal Themselves: Freewriting Leads to a Character-Driven Story http://character-development.suite101.com/article.cfm/let_characters_reveal_themselves#ixzz0uBt1CNdN

I now understand everything - but what if the man's light switch doesn't work??? haha

Master of Creative Writing

Received the subject outline for the first subject I am undertaking as part of the Masters in Creative Writing. Subject is called "Creative Writing" (very fitting) and I can't wait to dive into it.

Also took a group of my year 12 students down for a University Experience Day and got quite excited over the digital imaging/Photoshop subjects that are running there. Would love to learn how to do all that - but think I will just have to focus on writing for now.

SO HAPPY to finally study something that really appeals to me!

writing rush

Had a creative rush yesterday and wrote 2 chapters for the next novel in my 'Shift' series (mind you this rush came in the middle of a workshop completely unrelated to writing). But I had to follow my subconcious urge to write and so before I knew it the bones of two chapters appeared in my notebook. It's a great feeling just to abandon yourself to that creative impulse.

Thinking about writing is hard ... actually doing it is liberating.

I (like most other writers I have read about and spoken to) am plagued by self-doubt and that seemingly unattainable goal of being published. But I have realised that none of that really matters when I am actually creating and the thoughts are spilling out faster than I can get them down. I think the key is to think less and simply start moving your pen.

Just finished reading Wild Ink - a book about writing for young adults and loved it! Would recommend it to anyone interested in the genre.

New way to think

Here is one of my favourite quotes from Eckhart Tolle's 'The Power of Now:'

"Negativity is totally unnatural ...No other life-form on the planet knows negativity, only humans ... Have you ever seen an unhappy flower or a stressed oak-tree? Have you come across a depressed dolphin, a frog that has a problem with self-esteem, a cat that cannot relax, or a bird that carries hatred and resentment? ... Watch any plant or animal and let it teach you acceptance of what is, surrender to the Now. Let it teach you Being. Let it teach you integrity - which means to be one, to be yourself, to be real ... I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them cats."

I think this has spoken to me more than anything else I've ever read. I knew I loved animals for a reason ; )

A poem by Rumi

We are as the flute, and the music in us is from thee;
we are as the mountain and the echo in us is from thee.
 We are as pieces of chess engaged in victory and defeat:
our victory and defeat is from thee, O thou whose qualities are comely!
 Who are we, O Thou soul of our souls,
that we should remain in being beside thee?
 We and our existences are really non-existence;
thou art the absolute Being which manifests the perishable.
 We all are lions, but lions on a banner:
because of the wind they are rushing onward from moment to moment.
 Their onward rush is visible, and the wind is unseen:
may that which is unseen not fail from us!
 Our wind whereby we are moved and our being are of thy gift;
our whole existence is from thy bringing into being.
 
Masnavi Book I, 599-607

I am a flute ready to make lots of music haha. 

What to post?

Trying to brainstorm exactly what to post on here. I want to make this a journal of my journey to publication (hopefully - better make that definitely or the L.O.A won't work). Just so much stuff out there - kinda feel like I'm drowning trying to wade through all the info and advice on writing and getting published atm.

Will just take it one article/author blog at a time. 

turn that frown upside down

Well did not get the go ahead from that agent - so after feeling miserable for a few minutes and wanting to burn my manuscript in an epic bonfire I have decided to bounce back and send it to someone else - so the journey to publication and finding an agent continues....

Disappointment only breeds more negative energy so am jumping back on a more positive frequency. I've noticed that some on the great dissapointments of my life have turned into blessings in disguise (so will keep telling myself that to feel better haha).

Thanks for following me Zoe and Sherry - love ya both ; )

shifting

In process of re-editing Shift AGAIN and hoping that the US literary agent that requested it likes it - nervously waiting for reply email and wish I could dream of the future like Izzy.

hmmm

New to this and don't really know what I am doing. Also feeling more than a little pretentious having my own blog ha ha : /