Karinwritesdangerously

“It took me my whole life to learn what not to play.”
Dizzy Gillespie

“A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”
William Strunk, Elements of Style

They say that brevity is the soul of wit and it’s often lauded as a desired literary aspiration. Not everyone agrees, of course: Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, and Anthony Trollope spring to mind. But while they may have waxed eloquent on the page, most of the time they followed the maxim, “Make every word tell.”

When you’re in self-editing mode, deciding how to say what you want to say more concisely yet colorfully is the name of the game. Here are a few common prose padders you’ll want to avoid:

“Creeping nouns” — William Zinnser uses this phrase to describe extra nouns that glom unto perfectly clear nouns and add nothing new in terms of meaning. Examples: “crisis situation,” “weather conditions,” and “sales event.” In each case, a simple noun like “crisis” or “weather” has been expanded into a phrase that weakens its effect.

Poor verb tenses — Strong writers choose the most direct verb tenses and use the simple present or past whenever they can, because they know that convoluted constructions slow the reader down. Examples: “They wandered around” vs. “they were wandering around” or “He said it was difficult” vs. “He said it has been difficult.”

Unnecessary adjectives — It’s easy to get lazy and use an adjective + noun construction, when a carefully vetted noun is a better choice. Examples: “a slow, casual walk” vs. “saunter” or “bottomless pit” vs. “abyss.” Make your nouns sing for their supper!

Half the fun of writing is in the editing. Making what you’ve written tighter, livelier, clearer, simpler, more colorful: This is what revision is all about. And when you come up with a sprightlier verb or noun and find yourself with a much-improved sentence — now that’s a Fantastic feeling. Write on! 

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“Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.”
Mark Twain

Back when Mark Twain was a riverboat pilot, steamships ruled the Mississippi. When a railroad decided to build a bridge over the river, the steamboat companies brought a law suit against it and hired Judge Wead, a famous transportation lawyer to argue its case. After days of testimony, he gave a powerful , two-hour summation to loud applause. 

When the lawyer for the Rock Island Railroad wrapped up his case, his talk took one minute. In a nutshell, here’s what he said: “I never heard a finer speech, but Judge Wead has obscured the main issue…The only question for you to decide is man has more right to travel up and down the river than he does to cross it.” The lawyer? Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln won the landmark case for the railroad in 60 seconds with a handful of well-chosen words. Later, at Gettysburg, the man who preceded Lincoln spoke for two hours; the “Gettysburg Address” took all of two minutes to deliver, but it stands as one of the most famous speeches ever given. Abraham Lincoln was a master of brevity: Every word in the “Gettysburg Address” is essential: nothing is superfluous. In every line, lyricism and simplicity go hand in hand. 

As we spin our stories, let’s remember that making every word count counts. Balancing lush, world-building prose with clarity and simplicity is a goal worth striving for. As you write, consider this: Genesis tells the story of the creation of the world in 442 words — that’s about two pages of text. Whoever wrote it must have known a thing or two about simplicity and self-editing. Write on!

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“Our fears are always more numerous than our dangers.”
Seneca, ancient philosopher and statesman

Seneca was a wise man and a wise writer. Though he lived in a very different age, the challenges he faced are much the same as those we battle with today. Talking with writers and aspiring writers, I often hear them voicing very similar fears. Here are three big ones that spring to mind:

Fear of not having anything to say of value — Write something, anything, that touches on the human condition in a way that readers can connect with and they’ll be on your side. Show them why and how their own lives have value and they will value what you say.

Fear that their creative wells will run dry: Creativity is like love — the more you give, the more you have to give. When our source of ideas seems to dry up, it usually means that we’re tired or bored and in a rut. When this happens, the best remedy seems to be finding a way to shake things up. 

Fear that their work will never see the light of day — In my experience, some writers contend that they want to be published, yet in their heart of hearts, they are really afraid of taking this step. They feel much more comfortable inhabiting the Land of Possibilities than they feel committed to making it into print. So they spend more energy talking about the difficulty of getting published than they do sitting down and writing something and then revising it until it’s of publishable quality.

In the end, a lot of the fears surrounding writers seem to be paper tigers. As Seneca said so well, they are also more numerous than the dangers we actually face. So let’s stare them down and write on!

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Blackberry Eating

I love to go out in late Septembeer
among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries
to eat blackberries for breakfast,
the stalks very prickly, a penalty
they earn for knowing the black art
of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them
lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries
fall almost unbidden to my tongue,
as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words
like strengths and squinched,
many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps,
which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well
in the silent, startled, icy, black language
of blackberry-eating in late September. 

“Part of poetry’s usefulness in the world is that it pays some of our huge unpaid tribute to the things and creatures that share the earth with us.”

Galway Kinnell

Writing takes focus, mental and physical stamina, and will power. Research shows that food has an enormous impact on our focus when working on projects needing concentration and discipline. Foods that supply our brains with steady doses of glucose boost our performance. Any low-glycemic food — lean proteins, vegetables, nuts and fruit — will all give you a healthy dose of energy. Some brain-fueling options:

1) Poultry/Fish: While all lean meats can help your performance, poultry and fish have the most protein and least fat — and offer the most benefits.

2) Free-Range Eggs: Eggs are among the most nutrient-rich foods available – and they are remarkably good for your willpower! The mixture of protein and healthy fat creates a steady stream of glucose for your brain.” Free-range eggs are the best — they offer healthy Omega-3 fatty acids, food for your brain.

3) Tofu: A great choice for vegans who want a steady source of brain-boosting fuel. Make sure you eat it in the purest form; processed foods like tofu nuggets often contain high fructose corn syrup.

4) Split peas/lentils: These legumes have the lowest levels of natural sugar and are least likely to spike you glucose level. will have the most willpower benefits for you. Peas from the pod are best — and so tasty!

5) Almonds & Almond milk: Crave a snack food? Almonds are your best choice. They’ll ease your hunger and fuel your brain with a steady supply of glucose. Almond milk is also a great choice — it has less sugar than cow or soy milk — I love it in my smoothies!

6) Yogurt: Another great snack choice — full of nutrients. For the most brain power, Choose plain yogurt and add fresh fruit. Avoid processed yogurts premixed with fruit — they’ll lead to sugar spikes. 

7) Berries: Strawberries! Blueberries! As Colin says, Berries are some of the best options for long-term willpower because of their lower sugar content relative to other fruits like apples and bananas. They’re high in fiber and antioxidants, so they are by far the best choice as far as fruit.

8) Avocados: Another smart fruit option with relatively low sugar and high levels of healthy fats that help you absorb other nutrients more effectively. You can use them in smoothies and as an alternative to mayo when eating tuna or eggs. 

9) Sweet potatoes: One of the most nutrient-rich foods around and probably the best source of carbohydrates, they may even help regulate your blood sugar levels. I love a baked sweet potato for lunch with a bit of butter and maple syrup — delicious!

10) Carrots: Another smart snack food. Carrots along with sweet potatoes, are rich in beta-carotene, which the body turns to Vitamin A for energy.

What great, easy-to-enjoy choices to help us all fuel our brains, improve our focus, boost our energy and get the most out of our writing day. So let’s power up and all write on!

I have always been a good editor of my own work. I’ve tried to teach my writing friends that there are two arts: number one, getting a thing  done; and then, the second great art is learning how to cut it so you don’t kill it or hurt it in any way. When you start out life as a writer, you hate that job, but now that I’m older it’s turned into a
wonderful game, and I love the challenge just as much as writing the original… It’s an intellectual challenge to get a scalpel and cut the patient without killing.”
Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing

One of the things I love most about Ray Bradbury is the absolute joy he takes in writing — he loves it — and it shows. You’ve got to love a guy who started out hating editing but came to see it as  a “wonderful game.”

In Zen in the Art of Writing, Ray tells a story about writing the screenplay for his novel Something Wicked This Way Comes (wow, what a great title!). When director Jack Clayton was working with him on the movie script, Ray, ever enthusiastic and prolific, produced a 260-page screenplay. That would translate into a six-hour movie.

Here’s how Ray described what happened next: “Jack said, ‘Well, now you’ve got to cut out forty pages. I said, ‘God, I can’t.’ He said, ‘Go ahead, I know you can do it. I’ll be behind you.’ So I cut forty pages out. He said, ‘OK, now you’ve got to cut another forty pages out.’ I got it down to 180 pages, and then Jack said, ‘Thirty more.’ I said, ‘Impossible, impossible!’ Okay, I got it down to 150 pages. And Jack said, ‘Thirty more.’ Well, he kept telling me I could do it, and by God, I went through a final time and got it down to 120 pages. It was better.”

“It was better” — what a punch line! And how often that’s true of skillful editing: It reveals the true story inside a story. How did Jack help Ray get there with his film script. It all came down to what Ray called “compression” — tightening dialogue, and coming up with
“compact images” to show what he wanted to more succinctly. One of the things that Ray said helped him most in this massive cutting project was his knowledge of poetry, because poetry is all about  metaphor and imagery. As Ray put it, “If you can find the right metaphor, the right image, and put it in a scene, it can replace four pages of dialogue.”

So often, we think of editing as a chore — a self-inflicted hatchet job. But if we can approach it as our boy Ray came to — as “an intellectual challenge” and a “wonderful game” in which we get to play with metaphor, imagery, and compression, we can transform it from a difficult task to a delightful triumph. Write on!

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Character — it’s one of the cornerstones of spinning a good yarn. In Since character is key, whether you’re writing a novel, short story, film script, some reflections by seasoned writers:

“Writers aren’t people exactly. Or, if they’re any good, they’re a whole lot of people trying so hard to be one person. It’s like actors, who try so pathetically not to look in mirrors. Who lean backward trying — only to see their faces in the reflecting chandeliers.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald

“There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.”
Willa Cather

“I feel as though I know all there is to know about them, even things I don’t write — like how they part their hair.”
Toni Morrison

“What about a chocolate factory that makes fantastic and marvelous things — with a crazy man running it?”
Roald Dahl, from notes that led to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

“Major characters emerge; minor ones may be photographed.”
Graham Greene

“I don’t want to make a photographic copy of somebody I know. I want to make someone who never existed, and who at the same time is a plausible person.”
Iris Murdoch

“If you have a skeleton in your closet, take it out and dance with it.”
Carolyn MacKenzie

“It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.”
William Faulkner

May these words of wisdom inspire and enliven your characters — write on!

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“Writers are people for whom writing is more difficult than it
is for other people.”
Thomas Mann

I was sitting in a café at a book event when one of the authors who was reading shared this quote. What a great statement about writing this is!

How strange this statement is at first glance — and yet how true it feels! Why should writing be more difficult for us as writers than it is for everyone else? Why shouldn’t it be easier for us?

My handy Compact Oxford English Dictionary defines “difficulty” as “needing much effort or skill to accomplish, deal with, or understand.” 

Like any other creative discipline “much effort or skill” is needed to accomplish the work we do — the novels we write, the short stories we craft, the plays we pen. Words matter to us and we care about craft more than most people, so we have to work harder at it.

But there’s a hidden joy here: As my friend and mentor Rob Gilbert says on his fabulous Success Hotline (973.743.4690), there’s nothing more satisfying than tackling something difficult that you really care about. Isn’t that one of the true pleasure in writing? 

Moments of inspiration when words just flow out of us are always a source of joy. But equally fulfilling, in my experience, are moments when you face a thorny plot point or flabby transition or lackluster ending and you fight through the problem until you solve it.

Like Jacob, when he wrestled with an angel until it blessed him, sometimes we need to wrestle with our words until they bless us. And when we find the strength and persistence to do this, what a joy! Now that’s writing dangerously. Write on! 

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“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”
Jack London

As an author, you may not have the opportunity right now to devote your days to writing and courting your muse. Well, you’re not alone. On the road to fame and hopefully, fortune, many writers held day jobs that were strange, even weird, in order to support their writing:

James Joyce, author of Portrait of the Artist as a Young man and Ulysses: Composed melodies, played guitar and piano, and was a theatrical performer.

William Faulkner, Author of The Sound and The Fury: Served as postmaster at the University of Mississippi.

Ken Kesey, Author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: Did a stint as a janitor in a mental hospital and volunteered for a CIA study.

Kurt Vonnegut, Author of Cat’s Cradle: Worked as a car dealer for Saab, the Swedish car manufacturer.

Stephen King, Author of The Stand and Misery: Mopped the floor as a janitor in a high school.

J.D. Salinger, Author of The Catcher in the Rye: Kept them laughing as entertainment director on a Swedish cruise liner.

Harper Lee, Author of To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set a Watchman: Booked plane tickets as a reservation clerk for Eastern Air Lines.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Author of Tender Is the Night and The Great Gatsby: Worked in an ad agency dreaming up slogans for trolley placards. 

Charles Dickens, Author of Great Expectations and Oliver Twist: Labeled jars in a shoe polish factory.

Jack London, Author of White Fang and The Call of the Wild: Labored in a cannery and then struck out on his own as an oyster pirate. 

Oyster pirate — sounds exotic and exciting, doesn’t it? Know any other writers with odd jobs? If so, I’d love to hear about them. Write on!

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Indian Summer

From gold to gray
Our mild sweet day
Of Indian summer fades too soon;
But tenderly
Above the sea
Hangs, white and calm, the hunter’s
moon.

In its pale fire
The village spire
Show’s like the zodiac’s spectral lance;
The painted walls
Whereon it falls,
Transfigured stand in marble trance!

John Greenleaf Whittier