Karinwritesdangerously

Sometimes in the midst of an intensive push forward on a project, it helps to take a restorative break. The trick is to give yourself a breather without losing momentum. I’ve found that the best way to deal with the need for occasional time off is to give myself a mini-vacation. 

Slowing down on one leg of that road won’t put much of a dent in your overall timetable. Beyond this, we can reap valuable benefits from taking a mini-vacation here and there. You might dip into a book for a bit, take a leisurely walk, or listen to an inspiring tape.

A brief break can offer powerful benefits:

Refresh your mind: Sometimes, when you’ve been working intensively, you get “overcooked.” When this happens you just don’t have the mental energy to keep working at the same pitch. Instead of driving yourself forward until you’re in the red zone, why not take a little time to recharge and refresh your mind?

Refill your well of ideas: A relaxed mind is a creative mind. When you are constantly pushing forward at a high pitch, your creative juices can slow their flow. Giving yourself a short break can help make sure your creative pump is primed.

Lead to new insights: As many of us know, sometimes just doing something light and recreational instead of intensive and demanding gives your subconscious mind time to mull over plot issues or a tricky chapter — and come up with an ingenious solution. Sometimes, “doing nothing” can be doing exactly what you need to be doing to work through a problem. 

So, the next time you’re feeling as if you’re fading or your mind is sluggish instead of snappy, give yourself a mental-health break. Sometimes that’s all you need to shift back into high gear. Just be careful to get back on track quickly. Write on!

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“A good writer is basically a storyteller, not a scholar or a redeemer of mankind.” Isaac Bashevis Singer

Great stories leave the starting gate flying — they have a momentum that carries us forward right away. They plunge us into a new world by offering a tantalizing taste of the adventure and emotional upheaval ahead. But coming up with a first paragraph, first page, and first chapter that deliver what readers crave — a bang not a whimper — takes true craft. Sure, there are some wonderful stories that start quietly and build from there — John Steinbeck’s East of Eden comes to mind — but most assertive authors strive to hook readers quickly and irretrievably.

The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes, a useful guide I came across by Jack Bickham, describes three opening chapter approaches that he believes can stall a story:

Too much description: If description dominates at the expense of character and action, the reader may sense a lack of energy and forward motion.

Too much background: If you begin with too much backstory, you sacrifice momentum and risk having the reader sense that you don’t know how to start.

Too much quiet: “Good fiction starts with — and deals with — someone’s response to threat,” says Bickman. Convey a sense of disturbance early.

Definitely food for thought! And here’s some more opening advice from that master storyteller, Anton Checkhov: “My own experience is that once a story has been written, one has to cross out the beginning and the end. It is there that we authors do most of our lying…one must ruthlessly suppress everything that is not concerned with the subject. If, in the first chapter, you say there is a gun hanging on the wall, you should make quite sure that it is going to be used further on in the story.”

Chekhov should know! Let’s make sure our openings have wings to fly as we all write on!

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Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?

William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d:
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By change or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest;
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

« The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes but in having new eyes. » Marcel Proust

What wonderful words of wisdom from one writer to another! And how beautifully Proust proved his point in his own masterwork, Remembrance of Things Past!

So often in writing, we can find ourselves stuck in a rut—has this happened to you? We write ourselves into a corner, or a character doesn’t seem all that alive, or our plot seems clumsy and jerry-rigged. Our story and characters can seem flat and sluggish.

What to do? What to do?

Proust has the antidote!

We need to approach our work with “new eyes.”

We may have been mired in lackluster observations and language, or given our characters predictable reactions. We need to push beyond all this by approaching our stories and writing with a fresh, curious mind—with “new eyes”

When we do this, we take a “real voyage of discovery,” and how exciting this can be. We unearth things about our characters we didn’t know. We find new ways to shift our plot in a different direction and suddenly, new adventures and ideas appear. We may even find ourselves creating subplots and new motor characters which add zest and a bit of mystery to our tales.

Proust also reminds us that we don’t need to go too far afield for inspiration. We don’t need to travel to exotic locales to spice up our stories. There are wonders closer to home to be seen and described. They’re right outside our doorstep just waiting for us.

So let’s take a tip from that extraordinary observer, Marcel Proust, and find “new eyes” and fresh curiosity as we all write on!

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“A walk in the park may soothe the mind and, in the process, change the
workings of our brains in ways that improve our mental health.”
Gretchen Reynolds

A raft of studies highlight the influence green and growing places have on our psyches. In fact, there’s growing evidence that urban dwellers who are deprived of opportunities to spend time in green, natural spaces are at risk for their mental health. 

But exactly how can a visit to a park — or even just looking at a green plant in our work space — shift our moods? Does experiencing nature change our brains in ways that affect our emotional well-being?

According to pioneering research, the answer is yes. In one study, researchers investigated how a walk might affect the act of brooding — the broken-record replaying of problems — a familiar mental process to us all. The researchers decided to track activity in a specific part of the brain before and after people spent time in nature.

The results were impressive: Volunteers who strolled along quiet, leafy,
tree-lined paths showed less stress; their minds were soothed and they
experienced meaningful improvements in their mental health — their
“broodiness” scores were far lower than volunteers who walked a long a busy highway with high levels of noise.

The nature walkers did not dwell on the negative issues in their lives as much after their walks as they did before strolling around outside. The part of their brains that responded to stress was also quieter.

What is it exactly about a walk in the park that’s soothing and can
almost instantly lift our moods? It could be the greenery, the quiet,
the sun, the smells, the relaxing activities that people tend to enjoy
in this kind of setting. It’s probably all of these.

Whatever the source, it’s clear that one solution to relaxing and calmly focusing our minds to boost creativity and productivity in our pursuit of the writing life is to make sure we get a healthy dose of greenery on a regular basis. Write on! 

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This brings a smile to my face — it reminds me of Alex, my beloved, intrepid son, who knows all about the joys of of flying on two wheels!

Going Down Hill on a Bicycle
A Boy’s Song

Henry Charles Beeching

With lifted feet, hands still,
I am poised, and down the hill
Dart, with heedful mind;
The air goes by in a wind.

Swifter and yet more swift,
Till the heart with a mighty lift
Makes the lungs laugh, the throat cry:
“O bird, see; bird, I can fly.

‘Is this, is this your joy?
O bird, then I, though a boy,
For a golden moment share
Your feathery life in air!’

Say, heart, is there aught like this
In a world that is full of bliss?
‘Tis more than skating, bound
Steel-shod to the level ground.

Speed slackens now, I float
Awhile in my airy boat;
Till, when the wheels scarce crawl,
My feet to the treadles fall.

Alas, that the longest hill
Must end in a vale, but still,
Who climbs with toil, wheresoe’er,
Shall find wings waiting there.

My son Alex’s focus, discipline, sense of adventure, and willingness to go all out on his bike have always been a source of inspiration to me. Let’s find our wings today as we all write on!

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“There’s an old Chinese proverb that says: ‘One demonstration is worth more than a thousand words.’ A good rule, I learned, is never to say anything you can dramatize. Better yet: never dramatize anything yourself that you can get the customer or prospect to do. Let the customer perform. Put him into action. In other words: Let the customer help you make the sale.” Frank Bettger

This gem of wisdom comes from Frank’s classic guide, How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling. When I read this nugget of advice, it jumped out at me: I realized that this principle applies to involving readers in our stories just as it does to customers in a sales pitch. Here’s what I mean: When we create active readers — when we make them “perform” and put them “into action” — they become more committed and engaged. 

Ever since I made this connection, I’ve been thinking about the different ways in which we can transform our readers from passive absorbers of our stories into active, fully engaged “performers.” Here are a few techniques I came up with:

Sketching details: In our earnest desire to help our readers see the worlds that we see in our own heads, we often overload our stories with so much color and description that we rob them of the joy and pleasure of imagining that world in their own unique way. I think this is one reason that books made from movies are so often disappointing — often, the graphic images in a film aren’t as emotionally satisfying as the pictures we create ourselves. So a deft, light touch in sketching details may prove more provocative.

Enliven the action: Action sequences and high drama offer rich opportunities for giving readers an adrenalin rush and hooking them emotionally. Combining “headlongedness” (love this word, I made it up!) — that breathless sense of forward momentum with just the right pacing can really put your reader into the thick of things.

Push the pause button: While action sequences can help hook your reader, if you pile them on too quickly or without giving the reader the time to process them, the result can be distancing rather than involving. So consider giving your reader moments to reflect and integrate what’s happened.

Sprinkle clues: The enormous and continuing popularity of mysteries is proof positive of a compelling tendency we can use to our advantage: Many readers love to solve puzzles. With this in mind, consider creating mysteries within your story and then peppering it with clues. I’ve done this in my children’s novel — it’s loads of fun and has added some extra zing and zip.

End chapters with cliffhangers: This is an old tried-and-true way of keeping your reader actively engaged in your story — but since its works, why not use it? Crafting these little verbal pushes from page to page is challenging, but very satisfying. Why not give it a go?

I’ve come up with five “active reader” techniques here, but I’m sure there are tons more. Any approach you’ve used that’s worked well for you? I’d love to hear about it. Write on!

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Just as July 4th ended one year, the idea to create my own Declaration of Independence as a writer occurred to me. So I’ve declared July 5 as my own personal Independence Day. As a source of inspiration, the July 4, 1776 version is unbeatable. What could be more compelling than these bold, forthright words, which sparked a revolution and truly changed the world:

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.“

Quoting this statement, I was struck by the phrase “unalienable Rights” and in particular, the word “unalienable,” which is variously defined as “incapable of being surrendered or transferred,” “non-negotiable,” and “sacrosanct.” “Sacrosanct” piqued my interest and sent me on another little word chase. I came up with “sacred,” “respected,” “untouchable.” Now that’s food for thought.

What sacred, non-negotiable, untouchable rights do I want to endow myself with as a writer on my personal Independence Day ? Let’s start with these:

I endow myself with the right to believe in my work and its intrinsic value.

I endow myself with the right to honor and nurture my desire to devote the
time needed to pursue my craft and push my writing to the next level.

I endow myself with the right to put my creative writing center stage and to
do whatever it takes to create forward motion each day.

I endow myself with the right to pursue any ideas, tools, training, and experience
that will help me improve my craft.

I endow myself with the right to see myself as part of a long and joyful tradition of
storytellers and myth makers who enrich the world through words.

Well that’s what I came up with. How about you?

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Happy July 4th! In honor of Independence Day, let’s launch the holiday weekend with wisdom from our Founding Fathers:

“The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.”
Samuel Adams

“Citizens by birth or by choice of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name AMERICAN, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same Religion, Manners, Habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together. The independence and Liberty you possess are the work of joint councils and joint efforts — of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.”
George Washington’s Farewell Address

“This will be the best security for maintaining our liberties. A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the religion of ignorance that tyranny begins.”
Benjamin Franklin

“Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present Generation to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it.”
John Adams

“A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.”

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all.”

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”
Thomas Jefferson

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As a fiction writer you will often be working through ‘some observing consciousness.’ Yet when you… ask readers to step back and observe the observer — to look at rather than through the character — you start to tell-not-show and rip us briefly out of the scene.”
Janet Burroway, Writing Fiction

Skilled writers employ an artful combination of showing and telling to convey necessary information while keeping a reader engaged and turning the page. But as we strive to balance these two forms of story sharing, there’s a fine line between letting readers observe a character and letting them actually experience the scene through the character’s eyes. Consider these two examples:

1) She stood at the cracked open window and saw a cat dart under a picnic table. She noticed the way its tail swished, back and forth, back and forth. It reminded her of a pendulum.

2) She stood at the cracked open window. A cat darted under a picnic table. Its tail swished back and forth, back and forth, a pendulum.

In paragraph 1, the words “saw,” “noticed,” and “reminded,” all act as filters — barriers that create emotional distance. In paragraph 2, filter words are removed and we see the action through the character’s eyes, not by watching her watching the action.

Filter words are often used in nonfiction, such as biography, because it’s impossible to verify what a character might have seen or felt. In fiction, filter words can seem deceptively useful. It’s easy to let them creep into our prose, but excising them can make our stories tighter and emotionally more affecting.

Here’s a simple exercise: Take a few paragraphs of your work and circle any filter words you spot, including: “saw,” “heard,” “thought,” “watched,” “seemed,” “felt,” “noticed,” and “remembered.” Then read each sentence with the filters and without them and note the difference. If you do this consisently, you’ll become more and more attuned to when and how you use filters in your work. Write on!

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