When is Getting Stuck the Best Thing?

I tend to write the way I live (or maybe I live the way I write), a sometimes-awkward hybrid between planning and winging it.

Writers often define themselves as either  plotter (planner) or pantser (that sometimes flaky person who considers herself spontaneous). While I’m no longer a die-hard pantser, I’m also not entirely a plotter. I’m somewhere between. A plantser, if you will.

Ooookay. Now where do I go?

Sometimes I plan well but I rarely plan thoroughly and even the best laid plans…well, you know how that one goes. In life, this not-infrequently leads to sitcom worthy snafus and a flurry of apologies on my end. In writing, it often leads to that monumentally unpleasant stuck place (what some might call “writers block”).

Of course, if you’ve got a plan, you can usually find your way out of that stuck place with all your limbs intact (more or less).

And some of the most beautiful places can only be found if you stray far from the path.

My current work-in-progress is the first novel I thoroughly plotted and I expected to breeze through it as I hadn’t my previous pantsed novels (now sitting in a drawer, hoping against hope to be revived someday). I knew I’d want to throw out the outline from time to time and explore the possibilities but I thought I’d simply come back, rework the outline and get on with my brilliant story.

You know you’re in trouble when you expect to “breeze” through anything.

In reality, the story plan kept me grounded. I was free to explore but I had all the landmarks in sight. But, the closer I pushed to “The End,” the more lost I felt. I felt like the path I had planned would take me home but it also felt shrouded in fog. The further I went, the heavier the fog got until…

I got stuck.

The ending felt right. The events leading up to the end felt mostly right. But still I needed something more.  So I wrestled with that something more until I started to think my plantsing had gotten me in more trouble than my pantsing. And I asked myself why, why, why?

Turns out the why was what I needed. The events leading up to the end of my novel needed a better why. Actually, they needed a why, period.

Once I started asking why those penultimate events had to be, I discovered my story lacked just one more character (contrary to the usual writing advice to pare down characters when possible). I needed someone who could provide the why for those final events and give the main characters a chance to (inadvertently) help set those events in motion.

Plus, said additional character stands a good chance of being a nasty thorn in the side in the next book(s).

In the end, getting stuck saved my story. If I hadn’t gotten stuck, I wouldn’t have asked why and I wouldn’t have a story that feels like a whole.

Could it be that getting stuck is a blessing in disguise, an opportunity to ask questions you never would have asked and go places you never could have imagined? Not just in writing, but in life? Maybe getting stuck is how we recognize the opportunity to change ourselves and our world.

What do you think? Has getting stuck ever turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to you?

What if Money Didn’t Matter?

Recently, a friend shared this video on YouTube. It asks such a simple, beautiful question.

A question we rarely ask ourselves with any seriousness.

What would you do with your life if money were no object?

What would you do for a living if how much money you made and whether your chosen profession was a “real job” or not didn’t matter?

So, what would you do?

 

Novel Wishes and NaNoWriMo Dreams

Baby Stepping Through NaNoWriMo

NaNo’s over. Time to Party!

National Novel Writing Month is over for 2012.

Whether you rocketed past the finish line or were miles away, you wrote words that didn’t exist before November 1.

Even if you never got past the first sentence, you made something happen. Seriously. Pat yourself on the back.

Celebrating even a tiny success can motivate you to succeed further.

I’m a huge believer in baby steps. Some people get jazzed by lofty goals. The mere idea makes me want to puke in my mouth a little.

Sure, I have lots of lofty goals (*cough* NYT Bestselling Author *cough*) but I get along only with lots of constructive denial.

Me staring down a big goal.

Constructive Denial: Willfully ignoring how far you have left to go and just seeing the next tiny step ahead of you.

When writing a novel, that means setting any goal that seems truly doable to you. 10 words or 1000+. 5 minutes or 15. The key is to set a non-threatening goal so that you can tell yourself “I only have to write __.”

You may end up writing more. Once your butt is in the seat, it’s easier to just keep going.

However, if you just do the minimum, you’ve still reached a goal. You’ve kept a promise to yourself. When you keep your promises to yourself, you gain confidence in your ability to do it again and again.

If you fail, don’t beat yourself up. Use those failures to motivate your future success.

Once you’re comfortable with that pace, bump it up another notch. Every time you do, tell yourself, “Just a little further.”

You may find yourself zooming along at finger-breaking speed in no time.

Then again, maybe you won’t. Maybe you (like me) will take a little longer to start busting out word counts in the thousands. Maybe you’ll take a lot longer.

The KT Bomber at Mach Fur.

In any case, know that, if you keep putting one word after the other, you will get to your lofty goal. Once you’re there, it doesn’t really matter how long it took you.

So what does this have to do with NaNoWriMo?

When I first heard about NaNo a couple of years ago, it scared the stuffing out of me. I had all sorts of reasons why I couldn’t join (I’m in the middle of a novel, in the middle of moving, in the middle of watching a Lost marathon). While some of those reason were certainly good ones, the deeper reason was fear.

50k in 30 days seemed like too much when my cruising speed was around 500, a horrible affront to my baby steps philosophy.

When NaNo rolled around again this year, I put on my big girl panties and joined up (as a rebel because I planned to add to my work-in-progress).

Going in, I had hopes and doubts. Lots of doubts.

I hoped to add 50k words and finish the first draft but I didn’t think I really would. I had a family vacation coming up after Thanksgiving and would not have internet during the last week of November.  And I still couldn’t fathom writing 1667 words every single day, let alone the 2000 I’d need to finish before I went internet free.

But…the writing nearly every day, regardless of my “slow” pace had worked some kinda magic deep in my brain.

When NaNo kicked off, I sat down at the computer and told myself I only had to write 500 at a time. Just 500. Then I could take a break and have a cookie. Once I started, 500 words didn’t seem like such a big deal. Even 1000 didn’t seem so bad (okay, so I used a few “tricks” to keep my word count up…mostly in the beginning).

That’s right. I’m a NaNo superstar.

At the end of the first day, when I’d actually passed 2K, I was stunned. I wasn’t convinced I could do it again.

But I did.

I marched my way to the 50k mark on last night before I left for vacation. I did it. I won NaNoWriMo (rebel status be darned). And not because I’m a turbo writer but only because all those itty bitty baby steps I’d been taking finally added up to something big.

So what if it took me a couple of years to get around to it.

Now, I’d like to say I got to type “The End” on my first draft at the end of NaNo. I didn’t. I’ve still a few miles to go but I now know that I can. I can reach my lofty goals and without freaking out over how far I still have to go.

I just have to keep going.

Wherever you ended up when the curtain fell November 30th and however far you have to go, you will get there if you just keep putting one word after the other.

I think I can…I think I can…

How did NaNo go for you? For those of you who didn’t join NaNo, are you going to give it a try next year?

Image Attribution (In Order of Appearance):
Upside-down yawn by twolittlemoos, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Scary Pepper by zane.hollingsworth, on Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0
Jump! by ehisforadam (Adam Minter), on Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
funny animal by didbygraham, on Flickr CC BY 2.0
Acrobat by Vicki & Chuck Rogers, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Possibly Probably Related articles

• After NaNoWriMo – Editing Part 2 (the-view-outside.com)
• NaNoWriMo Novel is Done! (rachelleharp.com)
• You Survived NaNoWriMo….Now What? (diamondpublicationz.wordpress.com)
• Post NaNoWriMo: Day 3 – WINNER!!! (thegrownupya.wordpress.com)
• What Comes After NaNoWriMo? (fulltimewritermom.com)
• NaNoWriMo 2012: How’d I Do? (jabwriter.com)

Doing the Write Thing for a Good Cause

Fundraising Anthology for a Fellow Writer

Recently, we talked about how much goodness we can do for one another when the chips are down. When something as big as Hurricane Sandy strikes and people respond with generosity and kindness, the whole world hears about it.

But when a storm strikes in the life of just one person or family and others pour out their love, we don’t always get to hear about unless it’s someone close to us. Or unless you factor in the power of social media.

There are some out there who still think social media a glorified version of the bathroom wall in high school. In some cases, it probably is. Yet social media can be so much more. It’s a way for us to encourage and inspire each other, even if we’ve never seen one another face to face and, often, even if we’ve never communicated before.

Social media is community.

A couple of weeks ago, I heard about an anthology being put together as a fundraiser for a fellow writer, Karen DeLabar. I was deeply inspired by the way the community rallied and I’m so excited that we have the chance to help, especially those of us that are just learning about all of this.

Some of you may already know that Karen was struck with a brutal illness in the summer. She has been through so much and she has worked through it with courage and grace.

The anthology will help raised money to offset the medical expenses (which can be every bit as brutal as a serious illness). It is open to submissions until December 15, 2012. You can check out all the submission guidelines at the Orange Karen Tribute Anthology blog.

If you’ve got a story in you, inspired by the color orange, I hope you’ll submit it for the anthology. All genres are welcome.

Whether you submit a story (and whether it ends up in the anthology), I hope you’ll all buy a copy of the finished anthology and maybe a couple for your friends and family. I know I will.

Will you be joining in the anthology or have you already submitted a story? How has social media inspired or encouraged you?

Image Attribution (In Order of Appearance):
Group Hug – I by pushthisbutton, on Flickr CC BY 2.0
Image via karendelabar.com (fair use)

Possibly Probably Related articles

• Anthology Call for Submissions: Orange Karen: A Tribute to a Warrior (quillshiv.com)
• Social Media for Charity – A Way for Small Businesses to Give Back (amsterdamprinting.com)
• A Guide to Using Social Media Well in Government and Advocacy (techpresident.com)

A Tale of Two Closers

How Does Major Crimes Sharon Raydor Stack up to The Closer Brenda Leigh Johnson?

The first season of TNT’s Major Crimes has wrapped and the question for The Closer fans is can we love Sharon the way we loved Brenda Leigh?

I’d venture to say “no” but for all the right reasons.

Buttoned-down Captain Sharon Raydor (Mary McDonnell) couldn’t be more different from spitfire Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) but they are identical in their passion for the mission, to protect the innocent and bring the guilty to justice.

Brenda Leigh Johnson

Leader of Major Crimes (formerly Priority Murder Squad) for seven seasons.

Quirky. Passionate.Highly intuitive.

Major sucrose junkie. Sneaks sugar hits from her stash of candies and Ding Dongs whenever things get too intense.

Can shift from complete scatterbrain to razor edged focus in mere fractions of a moment.

Persistent in the extreme. Once she gets a whiff of a case, she’ll track the guilty until he or she is brought to justice, no matter what it takes. This intensity (along with her willingness to bend the rules) impacts her professional and personal relationships, sometimes harshly. But it’s hard not to admire Brenda’s almost preternatural ability to zero in on the guilty and draw out a confession.

And all of this with ladylike Southern charm and impeccable manners. Whether her “Thank yew. Thank yew so much.” really means “Thank you” or “go do something physically improbably and obscene to yourself” is up to you to figure out.

Sharon Raydor

New head of Major Crimes. Formerly of the Force Investigation Division.

First crossed paths with Brenda in Season 5 (Episode 3, Red Tape) when she investigated Sgt Gabriel’s (Corey Reynolds) shooting of an unarmed suspect.

Calm. Cool. Collected. Others often mistakenly assume she’s made of ice but, with a little patience, discover she is also kind, generous and a passionate defender of the defenseless.

Where Brenda is scattered, Sharon is orderly and methodical. She works a case like a puzzle (albeit one where the stakes are life and death), sizing up each piece and fitting it together until she can see the whole picture.

Shares Brenda’s thirst for justice but works within the system and makes the system work for her. No bending of rules…at least not so far.

She knows the system doesn’t always work but believes deeply in its necessity. Without the justice system, all we have left is vigilante justice.

*

Can we love Sharon the way we loved Brenda?

Probably not.

Where Brenda brought a fierce kinetic energy, Sharon brings a sense of stillness. Yet both characters are strong women, fascinating and complex. They bring out the depth of character in those around them. With Brenda, we watched her team come together and grew to love them. Through Sharon, we’ll see them continue to grow.

 Sure, there’s no thrill quite like watching Brenda outwit a cocky murderer who almost always mistakes her ladylike manner for naiveté. But then we see that Sharon means to walk the killer right into a prison cell.  Although their methodologies differ wildly, both are ferocious champions of justice.

Perhaps we, like Provenza (G.W. Bailey), resist Sharon at first. Maybe she’s just a rule obsessed stick-in-the-mud. And we miss Brenda’s charm. But then we catch a glimpse of Sharon’s heart and we can’t help but begin to fall for her.

I, for one, will miss Brenda but I can’t wait to see how Sharon develops. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll get to see Brenda again because I’d love to see them play off each other.

What do you think? Does Major Crimes hold up to The Closer? Is there a place in your heart for Sharon? Will the Major Crimes team fall apart without Brenda? What’s in store for Major Crimes and will we get to see Brenda again?

***

Be sure to Check out Tiffany A. White’s awesome posts on The Closer and Major Crimes. Tiffany’s always got the goods on great tv. Just watch out…she might just get you hooked on more tv than you can handle.

• Tele-Tuesday: Major Crimes’ New Look
• Why it’s Worth a Watch Wednesday – Closing Cases with Southern Charm
• Tele-Tuesday: Knowing How to Close

In honor of Brenda Leigh, here’s a recipe for homemade Ding Dongs. Too good to hide in the desk.

***

Possibly Probably Related articles

• TV Wednesday: Major Crimes (canada.com)
• Missing The Closer … That’s a Major Crime (smallscreensilversurfer.wordpress.com)
• Major Crimes’ Mary McDonnell on Turning Capt. Raydor into the Hero (seattlepi.com)
• TNT Renews Major Crimes for Season 2 (tvline.com)
• Mary McDonnell Previews Major Crimes Finale, Shares Why Season 2 News Brought Such Relief (tvline.com)
• The Closer’s spinoff flips the script on Major Crimes (canada.com)

How Sympathetic Can a Zombie Be?

Zombies Were People Too

The 3rd Rot & Ruin Book

I recently read Jonathan Maberry‘s Rot and Ruin series, the story of four friends who’ve grown up in a zombie devastated world. As they try to find their place in this world, they have to choose between safety, an illusion crafted from stagnation and denial for many of the survivors, and freedom in a land where everything wants to kill them.

While the novels deliver all the shambling, flesh-hungry zombie terror you’d expect, it also packs a huge emotional punch. Good horror makes you care about the characters but Jonathan Maberry makes you care about the monster too.

Yes, we are talking about zombies here. And, yes, they’re still dangerous (getting more dangerous all the time too) but you can’t escape the fact that each one of those zombies had a life, a family. No matter who they were in life, they were somebody’s child, sibling, parent or love. They were people too.

Of course, those people are now zombies who will eat you alive and turn you into to one of them.

So, there’s that.

Actually, maybe it’s that we can see ourselves in the zombies that really makes zombies scary. They are us and show us what we could be.

What do you think? Can zombies really be sympathetic? Do those sympathetic elements make the zombie scarier or less scary?

Image Attribution (In Order of Appearance):
Image via jonathanmaberry.com (fair use)
Zombie by e_monk, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Possibly Probably Related articles

• Win a Zombie Makeover (worldzombieday.co.uk)
• FEATURE: The Freakiest Zombie Book Covers (readinginwinter.com)
• Top 6 Zombie Movies that Break Zombie Rules (dreadcentral.com)

How Much Should Be Left to the Imagination in Fiction?

Some time ago, I came across this TED video with J.J. Abrams talking about what drives his creativity.

He talks about the Mystery Box, the idea that what we don’t need to know every detail about a story to enjoy it. In fact it’s what’s left to the imagination that really makes the story. The monster we don’t see. The conversation we see but can’t overhear. The closed door.

I admire J.J. Abrams tremendously. He radiates brilliance and passion when he speaks and his works are inspiring. But…I’m not sure how much of the Mystery Box I really agree with. I love a little room for my imagination to fill in the blanks but I don’t want to be left feeling like I just don’t get it. Lost, probably the best example of Abram’s Mystery Box ideas, left me feeling both ways…And I still can’t decide whether I really liked that or not.

What do you think? How much mystery is enough? Can there be too much mystery or is more mystery merrier?

Do Horror Writers Give Themselves Nightmares?

horror: hor-ror (noun)

1.  An intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust.
2. A thing causing such a feeling.

Do you ever have nightmares after watching a horror flick or reading a horror novel? Maybe just a case of the heebie-jeebies? Do you find yourself making double sure all the doors are locked when you’re home alone at night? Do you check the closets and under the bed? For a split second before you turn on the light in a dark room, do you hesitate, afraid to reveal the monster that might be lurking?

Oh sure, some of you are saying “Suck it up, you big baby. Horror never gives me nightmares.”

To you I say, “You haven’t been working out your imagination enough.”

Okay, okay. So not all horror gives me the willies. Most of the time, I brush it off. Good horror, the kind that does scare the tacos out of us, is hard to come by.

Vast quantities of blood and screaming do not a scary movie make. Nor do creative deaths.

Not by themselves anyway.

When a story is good, it gets me. Often, I’m taken by surprise. I’m prepared to brush off yet another bit of horror fiction but it’s planted its seeds in my mind and my fertile imagination will give it room to grow…and grow…and grow.

That’s when I send up a big cheer.

And sleep with all the lights on.

I have to wonder, if a good horror story works on the reader, does it work on the writer? After all, we readers just visit the world. The writer lives there for as long as it takes to create the finished product. They have to live with the monsters in their head and imagine all the dark scenarios that will wind up in that finished product and many more that do not.

Does it get to them?

Working on my current novel-in-progress, I’m finding myself dreaming about zombies I’m trying to bring to life (*snort*) on the page as well as the less undead monsters. Some nights, I’m slipping into my characters skin (there’s a mental image for you) and running for my life. In short, I am starting to give myself the creeps (I can only hope it translates to my finished product) even though my horror is more dystopian dark fantasy than straight up horror.

What do you think? Do writers like Stephen King, Clive Barker and the American Horror Story scribes give themselves nightmares?

***

If you do find yourself plagued with nightmares after imbibing some horror fiction, this WikiHow can give you some tips on how to sleep soundly.

Image Attribution (In Order of Appearance):
Scream by anguila40, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Scary Skull with No Eyes by Craig Walkowicz, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Possibly Probably Related articles

• Prepare For A Darker Season….American Horror Story: Asylum (adventureamigos.net)
• History of Horror RPGs (Part Six: 2006-2007) from Age of Ravens (ageofravens.blogspot.com)
• Do Horror Writers Scare Themselves (lynleystace.wordpress.com)

What if Your Favorite Feel Good Movies Were Recut as Horror?

Have you ever wondered what your favorite feel-good movies would be like if they were recut as horror movies?

Okay, maybe not.

But I bet you will after this.

An uncle plots to murder his brother and nephew, then take over the kingdom. But, you know, it’s a Disney movie…so it can’t be that scary…

.

What if Sleepless in Seattle really made you sleepless?

.

There’s nothing like a road trip aboard a haunted train to put you in the holiday mood…

.

Okay, this last one’s a gimme. What isn’t creepy about a guy who dresses up as a female housekeeper so he can spy on his wife and kids?

.

And just to show you that the editing knife cuts both ways, here’s The Shining recut as a romantic comedy:

.

Which movie/television show would you love to see recut as another genre? 

 

Possibly Probably Related articles

• The Revenge of the Movie Trailer Remix: Kubrick’s ’2001′ as a Summer Hit and More (theatlantic.com)
• Watch 163 Horror Movies in 2 1/2 Minutes (geektyrant.com)
• Muppet Horror Movie Massacre Art (geektyrant.com)
• Morning Banana Oatmeal: Top 10 Re-Cut Trailers (bananascoop.com)

Satisfying Your Creative Urges

Whether or not we consider ourselves creative types, creativity fuels our lives every day. It’s how we solve problems, from the mundane to the extraordinary. It’s how we connect to one another. It’s how we see the humor in life, especially when life is not so funny.

Our creativity is like a little kid. Like a little kid, our creativity needs care. She (yeah, my creative spirit is a girl…maybe yours is a guy or both or neither…substitute pronouns as needed) needs to be well fed and rested. She needs a little discipline so she doesn’t run out into traffic or stick a fork in the outlet. And, maybe most importantly, our creativity needs room to play.

Just remember that little kids rarely need anything elaborate to play.

 Sometimes all they need is something small.

.

Or something yummy to eat.

.

Maybe a chance to play in the dirt.

.

And get messy.

When give our creativity room to play, we fuel ourselves up. We’re ready for whatever life throws at us. We can solve problems easily and enjoy ourselves while we’re at it. We can leap tall buildings in a single bound. We can laugh in the face of danger…

No…wait…that’s a different post. And we probably shouldn’t laugh in the face of danger. Danger gets offended easily.

At any rate, when we fire up our creativity there’s (almost) nothing we can’t do.

My creativity likes to run amok in the kitchen and garden…but hates to clean up.

How do you indulge your creative inner-kid?

Image Attribution (In Order of Appearance):
Paintbrushes by John-Morgan, on Flickr CC BY 2.0
A Simpler Time by thephotographymuse, on Flickr CC BY 2.0
Strawberry face. (Sorry, i’m joking) by Martino!, on Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0
Gardening Blog Photo1 by USDAgov, on Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0
Fingerpainting 7 by timailius, on Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0
.messy. by JeMaSiDi, on Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Possibly Probably Related articles

• Thoughts on Creativity (thedailypoon.wordpress.com)
• Creativity in Everyday Life (goodlifecoaching.com)
• On Passing Along Creativity To Our Kids (labeldaddy.com)
• Cultivate Creativity in Everyday Life (scientificamerican.com)
• Creativity can be a scary word (thecre8tivenative.com)
• Keeping the Creative Juices Flowing (reviveyourcreativity.com)
• How to Cultivate Creativity and Encourage Innovation (fashionablymarketing.me)