Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category

Word Count Blues

Posted in Other, Writing, tagged on November 10, 2012| Leave a Comment »

photo by phatman on Flickr

When I said that this was a bad month for NaNoWriMo, I meant it. What I didn’t know was that on top of the accounted-for holiday, family illness, and associated travel, November has decided to become the Month From Hell.

Wondering why my word count sucks? In addition to the previously mentioned issues I’ve got family members who are sick with normal stuff (two), another with a broken wrist (way to swan dive off the roof, big guy;), and one in the hospital for surgery after catching virulent New Zealand germs (hi Dad!). (I’m sure that the NZ germs were quite friendly though. And picturesque; lovely place.) And oh yes, I got sick too. So, for anyone out there wondering at my less-than-par word count, well.

The good news is our overall family health is improving and that’s what matters. As far as NaNo is concerned, of course, the important thing is to just keep writing:)

Read Full Post »

It’s That Time Again

Posted in Writing, tagged , on November 1, 2012| 2 Comments »

NaNoWriMo Badge

It’s November 1st, and when I woke up this morning I realized that it is also Day One of National Novel Writing Month. Oh yeah, I thought, it’s time to write a novel. Right.

It’s a crap month for it. Forget Thanksgiving and international travel and all the usual work and life-related distractions, we’ve got a lot going on right now and some of it is challenging. So I’m busy, distracted, tired, and in no way ready to write a book in a month on top of everything else.

I’ve “won” NaNo before so it’s not like I have much to prove. I could skip a year and the world wouldn’t end.

…

And that’s exactly why I’m going to do it. It may not be the best work I’ve ever done or the longest, but I will do it. One of the most important requirements of being a writer is to, well, write. The discipline required to consistently put words down on the page is what trips up a lot of people, what sometimes trips me up, and this is a perfect opportunity to use an external constraint (a month-long deadline) to support internal goals. It’s said that “performance is a function of expectations” and NaNoWriMo is a terrific example of that in action.

So here goes. And hey, what she said:

“You can fix anything but a blank page.”

– Nora Roberts

Read Full Post »

One of the Many Uses of Creativity…

Posted in Writing on October 18, 2012| 1 Comment »

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince, once said,

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

photo by Tasslehoff Burrfoot on Flickr

Read Full Post »

Creativity, Minus the “Obligatory” Crazy

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , on October 12, 2012| 1 Comment »

I stumbled on this TED talk by Elizabeth Gilbert yesterday and loved her characterization of creative genius as something that we encounter, rather than have (or, more devastatingly, do not). Sure, it could be considered a cop-out, but any idea that can help artists move forward while avoiding the pitfalls of despair seems like a good thing. Also? She’s funny.

 

Read Full Post »

Empathize with Fictional Characters? Sure, but Men and Women Do It Differently

Posted in Writing on September 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »

The study referred to in the following quote struck me as interesting, not just because I tend to be curious about gender differences (or not), but also because of the results’ potential implications for storytelling:

…the impulse to sympathize with a fictional character seems to be triggered in different ways for males and females.

At least, that’s the conclusion of a new study by psychologists Thalia Goldstein and Ellen Winner, which tracked reactions to Leonard Bernstein’s musical theater masterpiece [West Side Story]. It found men tend to sympathize with the people on stage only if they are personally moved by their plight.

For women, merely perceiving a character is in pain is sufficient to elicit feelings of compassion.

via Why She Cries at Movies, While He Snores.

So. Writing with the average male audience in mind and trying to generate empathy? Just stabbing your character in the leg may not be enough:)

Read Full Post »

Sale: Heaven’s Lot

Posted in Writing, tagged on September 6, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I’m very pleased to have sold the short story “Heaven’s Lot” to Not One of Us.

Read Full Post »

Fun with Words

Posted in Writing, tagged on August 29, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Now this is fascinating:) If you’ve ever wanted to chart word usage and speculate on how it reflects societal transformation, that is… and you know you do!

Read Full Post »

SF Canada

Posted in Writing, tagged on August 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I’m happy to announce that today I became a member of SF Canada, Canada’s National Association of Speculative Fiction Professionals. Because I like to speculate, and sometimes I do it in print.

Read Full Post »

ShoStoWriMo, or, Possible Evidence That I Am a Crazy Person

Posted in Writing, tagged , on June 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Yes, I am one of those people who saddles up in November to draft a novel, in a month, with NaNoWriMo. It’s a terrific way to circumvent all those annoyingly reasonable excuses for doing other, much more practical things, like laundry and work that actually pays. I’ve done it for two years now and (looks aside modestly) won both times. All that means, of course, is that I’ve managed to pump out a surprising amount of text in a surprisingly short time. As someone who sometimes over-thinks their writing (do I really need that comma?), I liked that. I liked it so much, in fact, that I decided to run my own version of the challenge in May, for short stories.

Short Story Writing Month, a.k.a. ShoStoWriMo
— The goal? To draft a lot of short stories. Thirty stories. In a month.
— The rules: No rules, just writing. Ok, I decided to cut myself some slack and only write on workdays, but whatever works, right?

How did it go? Quite well, actually. Nothing like impossible goals, caffeine-fueled enthusiasm, and a complete lack of editorial criticism to finish a draft.

Final tally, or, was it worth it?
— 16 short stories
— 12 short shorts
— 2 poems
— total word count: 33,523

Would I recommend this exercise? Definitely. Obviously, I’ve still got lots of editing work to do, but I’m not looking at a blank page anymore. Awesome. And while NaNoWriMo is satisfying, there’s something truly terrific about starting and finishing a draft in a single day.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts