Category: Daily Life

The Silver Screen

In early January, I started taking a screenwriting class. It’s very different from the writing I’m used to (mainly short fiction and novels). It requires more focus on dialogues and visuals than the normal tools of prose writing. It’s made me think a lot about movies and the differences, but I think it’s still storytelling at the core. It got me thinking about some of my favorite movies, a surprising amount of them are based on books. So, here’s an attempt at listing some of my favorite movies that don’t have book or tv show equivalents (which turned out to be harder than I thought).

  1. Mad Max: Fury Road- Admittedly, I haven’t seen any of the other movies in the Mad Max franchise, but I thought this movie was fun and had really good worldbuilding in a very short amount of time. For a two-hour car chase, it has a lot of material worth dissecting for the minor details that make it interesting.
  2. The Rock- Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage in a reverse heist? What’s not to love? It’s a simple prospect, but the adventure is still a lot of fun and it’s a movie that has a lot of rewatch value.
  3. Alien- This is a classic of science fiction movies. Frankly, I think it’s one that everyone should watch. It’s one of the few cross-genre movies that really works out. It’s a haunted house thriller with a science fiction twist. And the dinner scene is a classic of film making.
  4. The Incredibles- For what it’s worth, this is probably my favorite Pixar movies. I’m a sucker for a good superhero flick, but the idea of a retired superhero coping was great. It was quick-witted without being overly comedic and had a lot of heart without being too sappy.
  5. Young Frankenstein- This one is just pure humor. It’s so abundantly fun and occasionally absurd, but the dialogue is so well done and has one-liners that I used to run through with coworkers when I worked at the library. It’s also, to be honest, the best sick day movie that a person can have in their collection.

What are some of your favorite movies? Were they a book or a movie first?

New Year, New Goals

It’s that time of year again! Gyms are bustling with newcomers (welcome!), people are finding lost treasures in an attempt to get organized, and we’re all writing the wrong year on tests, checks, and calendars. It’s January and that means preparing the year with new goals! I always try to do some writing specific goals for every year. Here are some of mine:

  • 365 for 365: This one is an exercise I started working on recently. The idea is to write at least 365 words every day for 365 days (hence the name). Nanowrimo is wonderful for building writing endurance and getting things down on paper. 365 for 365 has habit and stamina in mind. So far, I’ve been doing pretty well by working on the same project every day. I do my 365 in the morning and can manage to squeeze out a little more over my lunch break, which brings me to…
  • Use Free Time for Writing: Since I work at an office job, I don’t have the luxury of being able to have a set, firm writing schedule. I usually will write for 45 minutes before I leave for the day, but what I do afterward depends a lot on how bad the day was. I started bringing my laptop with me to work, working on my projects over lunch or going to the downtown library branch to write after the day is over. Frankly, some of my best writing is done away from home so I want to start taking time on weekends to go work at the local library branch or coffee shop, etc.
  • Submit More for Publication: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” -Wayne Gretzky.  Admittedly, I’m a yellow-bellied coward when it comes to submitting. This year, I want to submit more to magazines, agents, publishers. It’s hard, but I have to put myself out there a little more. I don’t always believe in luck, but I do believe in opportunity. I need to work harder to make more opportunities for myself to improve my chances.
  • Focus on Craft: Writing is fun. Studying? Not so much. However, I do want to take more time to work on some of my weaker points. I want to particularly focus on self-editing and being more aware of shifting from present to past tense. Lots of other things to work on, either through personal study or classes and workshops. I am taking a screenwriting class later this month and I’m pretty excited to give that a try since my dad has told me that my strongest writing comes from my dialogue (why not try a writing format that’s mostly dialogue?).

I have other personal goals for the year, but these ones are more writing specific than a lot of the others. What are some of your writing goals for the new year? Any hopes, dreams or aspirations that you can focus on?

Strength in Numbers

A few weeks ago a friend asked me if I was interested in joining their writing group. Well, that’s not entirely true. We met up to talk about their writing once and we decided to forge a writing group. She brought one of her friends, I brought a couple of mine, and after two meetings, things are going pretty well. Unlike a lot of writing workshops I’ve been in, we decided this would be a working workshop. Most of us are doing some variation of Nanowrimo or just working on our own projects. The point is we’re doing it together.

Writing is a solitary act. Unlike sports, music or theatre, writing is something that is done solo. In some ways, it’s very freeing, but it’s also very lonely. It’s important to find people who we can talk with about our projects with or even just help us remember a word. I have a number of people who I talk to online about my work, but it’s nice to be able to directly talk with people the minute I have an idea (no matter how stupid it is).

My writing group helps each other, but we also motivate and push each other. We’ve started doing word wars, the prize being bragging rights and permission to use a bad pun nickname. It adds an extra element of fun to our word sprints (not to mention I’ve won twice). Will we use all the words? No. But my philosophy is if I use ten out of a thousand, that’s ten words I didn’t have before.

Having a writing clan is important. Having any kind of support network in a very lonely art gives an author a place to work through problems with simple (and sometimes silly) questions. Working in public makes the devastating distractions of the Internet or household chores (which seem so much more important when we sit down to write).

Do you have a writing clan? Where do you go when you’ve hit a creative wall?

And, hey, if you’re doing Nanowrimo? Good luck and have fun!

Move ’em out!

So, I recently moved. As of yesterday, we moved the last of my boxes to the new place and I’m sitting on my bed surrounded by boxes and half-filled shopping bags. Moves are (generally) very stressful, but I was lucky enough to have some very helpful friends in this endeavor. Regardless, the process of moving has made me think a lot about my writing and entering a new setting.

One thing I will acknowledge about myself is that I am not the strongest when it comes to writing settings. My writing gets a little clunky and awkward, I miss major details, and some people have told me a room or place feels ‘half-finished’. It’s something that usually suffers in my first drafts and I could spend an entire day trying to describe a whole room correctly without three paragraphs of exposition. Creating a vivid and clear setting before including characters is nothing short of an art form.

From a glorious castle to a simple cabin in the woods, settings can define the mood of the scene and prepare your reader (or set them off guard). Does the cabin in the woods have fresh autumn leaves and a sweet-smelling tendril of smoke coming out of the chimney? Or is it coated in pale moonlight with only a single light in one window creating a silhouette? Presenting a cabin in the woods is a good start, but adding details like that can take it from a simple setting to a mood setter. A person in a familiar space will feel more comfortable than they would in a place that’s unfamiliar (trust me). Putting your character into a new place, whether by a moving truck or a magical wardrobe, can determine the scene’s impact on the reader.

What are some of your favorite settings you’ve encountered while reading? What book or series takes you directly into the scene and makes it feel like you’re there?

Talk

Dialogue is one of the foundations of writing a novel. If our characters say nothing, we learn only what the narrator wants us to know about them. It’s also a crucial element of the classic ‘Show, Don’t Tell’ advice that is often discussed. When I was in college, one of my professors often talked about a book called “Talk: A Novel in Dialogue”. As the title suggests, the book is written entirely in dialogue. Recently, I’ve been thinking about dialogue as a mode of telling the story, specifically by listening to a lot of podcasts.

Anyone who knows me, knows I love podcasts. It’s basically what my friends and I talk about on a weekly basis. I listen to everything from Levar Burton Reads to 60-Second Science. It’s an easy way to fill time on the bus, doing housework and doing my grocery shopping. One of my most recent obsessions is The Bright Sessions.

Even insignificant characters who only interact with your protagonist with for a moment, dialogue can be a way to make that character lifelike and rich to the reader.

I was introduced to the show by my friend Aly, who was 100% correct when they said I would enjoy it. The basic premise is that its recordings from a therapist’s office, but all of her patients have unusual abilities (time-travel, telepathy, and so on). The show is presented entirely in conversation, normally one-on-one. Sometimes it becomes a much larger group, but the characters are so distinct that it’s very easy to follow.

The podcast has a very definitive story to it and we learn a lot about the characters through their sessions. If you’re struggling with characterization through dialogue, I definitely recommend this podcast (both for the story and the lessons from dialogue).

Trunks

So recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about trunks. Not elephants or swim trunks, but storage trunks. I’ve heard the phrase ‘Trunk Book’ tossed around a lot and have been thinking about the purpose of a trunk.

A Trunk Book, by my understanding, is a book or story that’s written and tossed into a trunk. It could be poorly written or needs more research or was just an idea that needed to be written down so you can focus on the current story. Trunk Books are, more often than not, tucked away and forgotten.

So, why keep them? If the book or story is no good, why write it in the first place?

Honestly? I feel like there are no bad ideas, just undeveloped ideas. Tucking a book away for later because it needs time to cultivate is a totally valid method. For me, the hardest part of writing is just getting the words on a document. Getting that initial pressure off my chest? Feeling like the book just needs to be edited? It makes the second draft process that much easier.

Having the first draft finished, even if it’s something I can lock away and forget about until later, is a huge relief until I’m ready to tackle the project more thoroughly.

Granted, we don’t all have room for a trunk or briefcase, so I just have a folder on my computer for such projects. Just cause a project isn’t working or well-written doesn’t mean it’s hopeless. Sometimes backing away from a story (locking it away) gives a fresh perspective when it’s ready to be tackled again.

Feeding the Muse

When I tell people that I write, one of their first questions is where I get my ideas and how I keep my creative spark active. Anyone who creates art knows how hard it can be to keep the creative juices flowing, whether that’s drawing, writing, creating music or cooking. So how does one keep the creative spark active? In a world that is constantly demanding attention and brainpower to just function in the day-to-day activities, keeping creative is a challenge for anyone with a creative side hustle.

Repetition helps, doing the thing until it becomes muscle memory. The random word doodles that I do (and sometimes post) for this blog can often lead me to “What if…?” or “Imagine this character in…” trains of thought. The creative part of the brain is a muscle and muscles only ever get stronger through work (and often resistance). Even if one out of every one hundred things you write is tolerable, you increase your odds of creating something you like.

I found that letting the mind wander is as important as having intense focus on a creative endeavor. Sometimes, doing menial chores or just walking around the city, I’ll have ideas for stories, characters, settings, and even plots. I have a special note on my phone for ideas I have while out walking about.

Paintings, music, and physical movement also keep the creative juices flowing. Other art can sometimes be the best inspiration. I have images of old maps and paintings saved on my laptop that I look at when things feel a little stale, trying to reinvigorate the mood of whatever I’m working on.

And, of course, a good cup of tea is a good energizer at the end of the day.

How do you feed your muse? Music? Art? Power nap? Tea? Let me know!

Making the count…

So, almost every day since early January, I’ve been posting Facebook status first thing in the morning. Since getting my new office job, I’ve been waking up first thing in the morning, writing and posting my word count.

Usually, I shoot for around 400 words or so. I do my best to stay positive about it, even on days when I don’t make my goal. I do my best to try and write a coherent story, working on one project. Some days I can only manage an out of place scene or a character sketch. More often, I make a continuation of the same story from the day before. Either way, I feel that having that time first thing in the morning is important for my mental health and my creativity.

But why post it on Facebook? What does a daily number mean in an endless stream of updates, photos, links and humble bragging (myself included)? I don’t use it to track my total word count or judge the quality of my work. So why do it?

One of the most important things when writing is accountability. It’s easy for me to say I’m gonna sleep in for the morning and skip my day, but people notice now. I once had my mother text me when I didn’t post a word count to make sure I was still alive (her words).

As I’ve been doing this, I’ve been seeing the same likes and comments and realized that I have a personal community that is supportive and encouraging. And, in an endeavor that’s primarily done in solitude, it’s a good feeling to have visual confirmation that friends and family are supporting you.

So, whether you have a Facebook or Twitter, I encourage you to celebrate your small victories. Cause working alone is hard, but the beauty of social media is having people to celebrate small victories with you. And those build up pretty quick into bigger victories!

Life through a lens

I have a lot of creative hobbies. I write, obviously, I doodle and I draw maps. I (attempt) to play the ukulele and, in my past, I used to do theatre and improv. Most frequently, however, I like to grab my camera and take some pictures.

All of the pictures I use connected to my blog posts or short stories are my own. I like taking pictures to help remember other senses. Taking pictures of the ocean, I can always recall the smell of sea air, the spray of salt water, calls of seagulls in distance and a dozen other sensory details that could easily fit into a scene. My favorite subject is wildlife, especially wolves (if you hadn’t noticed).

Here are a few photographs I’ve taken over the years. Some might seem familiar, but I hope you enjoy them all the same.

 

The Force of a Habit

So recently, a lot of things have been changing around here. Previously, I had been working at a technology center in a university store. However, this past week, I started my new job in an office cubicle (I’ll spare you the gritty details). This has been, needless to say, a big and scary transition for me coming from a place where I’ve never had a job with my own chair, let alone a desk! It’s still on a temporary basis, but it has the possibility of leading to a full-time position. However, one of the things that haven’t changed is something I’d like to talk about this week. It’s about making writing a habit.

I try to make it a point to write every day. Even if I only write a couple hundred words, I always make it a point to write something before I call it a night. Usually, this means waking up fairly early in order write before work. I wake up at 5:30, go through my morning routine and prepare a lunch. I’ll then spend whatever time I have left on my writing (usually about an hour or so I can dedicate to it). Unsurprisingly, this is usually the best part of my morning.

I have a system. After my lunch is packed, I brew a cup of tea, sit at my kitchen table and write with some music on in the background. It’s a simple set up, but the morning time can be some of my most productive time in the day. When I have to leave, I’m usually considering the next scene on my bus ride to work and consider problems and alternative solutions on my lunch break.

Making your writing time a habit (a ritual even) is important. On a subconscious level, doing the same thing each day sets your brain in the right place when that time rolls around again. On the days that I don’t have to go to work, I’m most prepared to write first thing in the morning. I’ve also started the habit of carrying a small notebook with me for when I think of those problems/solutions on the bus (as well as the occasional one-liner).

One of the most popular lies we tell ourselves is “I don’t have time for XYZ.” And in fairness, we don’t always have time for the XYZ in our lives. But if it really matters to you, sometimes the only thing you can do is become a morning person, grit your teeth and do it until it becomes a habit. Because I’ve found that these start as habits until they become a joy.

And when you get passed the grumbling and moaning of 5:30AM, mornings can be quite pleasant with a cup of tea and time to focus on your art.

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