This is the wrap-up day of the Take Five series, and the last day of NaNoWriMo 2010. Congratulations, you've made it this far! Now it's fine to go collapse.
Next up, though: Revisions
This is the last of five segments in the online series is Master Class. If you've been following along, you know there are five parts to the series.
Each segment covers some particular topic in writing. This last segment covers the topic of revisions. Take some time to enjoy having made it this far. And then, on you go...
Almost there! You should be very close to completing your book, or you've already completed it, so we're going to have a few longer videos to browse for the last few days.
The online series is Master Class, and there are five parts to the series. Each segment covers some particular topic in writing.
Almost there! You should be very close to completing your book, or you've already completed it, so we're going to have a few longer videos to browse for the last few days.
The online series is Master Class, and there are five parts to the series. Each segment covers some particular topic in writing.
Almost there! You should be very close to completing your book, or you've already completed it, so we're going to have a few longer videos to browse for the last few days.
The online series is Master Class, and there are five parts to the series. Each segment covers some particular topic in writing.
Almost there! You should be very close to completing your book, or you've already completed it, so we're going to have a few longer videos to browse for the last few days.
The series is Master Class and there are five parts to the series. Each segment covers some particular topic in writing.
Guest author: Anne Rice Visit Anne Rice: Official site
Twitter: @AnneRiceAuthor Find her books: Anne Rice Central (Amazon) Video channel: Anne Rice Skype events: Anne Rice Personal photo galleries: Anne Rice Latest book (2010): Of Love and Evil Currently on tour (Dec. 2010): Info On writing, my advice is the same to all. If you want to be a writer, write. Write and write and write. If you stop, start again. Save everything that you write.
If you feel blocked, write through it until you feel your creative juices flowing again. Write. Writing is what makes a writer, nothing more and nothing less. Go where the pleasure is in your writing. Go where the pain is. Write the book you would like to read. Write the book you've been trying to find but have not found. But write.
And remember, there are no rules for our profession. Ignore rules. Ignore what I say here, if it doesn't help you. Do it your own way.
Ignore critics.Every writer knows fear and discouragement. Just write.
Writers are priceless.
The world is crying for new writing. It is crying for fresh and original voices and new characters and new stories. If you won't write the classics of tomorrow, well, we will not have any. Good luck.
Shown above: Anne Rice discusses writing as a vocation. 'Be stubborn...and be strong.'
You might also enjoy this selection of related videos:
#24 of 30: Open sesame
You have to put in an effort to continue the story, even if you have no idea what’s going to happen, or what the characters are going to do next, and feel totally blah and like maybe you should've had the common sense to do something far easier than writing, like maybe go be a lion tamer somewhere.
But, then, when inspiration does take over your hands, it’s like pure ecstasy.
Interestingly, there’s actually a recognized phenomena that’s very similar to this: Religious or spiritual ecstasy, which is a kind of altered state of consciousness.
That’s what we were discussing just a little earlier on in this series, that there is a place you go to, but it’s not geographical, and the path that gets you there is always changing.
Now, it’s not necessary to use any or all of these means that more spiritually-focused folks use. You can reach the same place just by letting your mind search for it.
You don’t need drink, or drugs, or chants, or anything outside yourself, just the willingness to go along with following some particular thought or impression.
#23 of 30: The patient gardener
Writing requires a lot of time -- researching, writing, thinking, editing, proofing, then doing it all again, scrapping pages that don’t work, trying to figure out some tricky problem, and so on.
If you don’t have that time to write, you won’t be able to let the story fully develop, because it’s like…yes, it’s a bit like if you’ve just planted an herb garden in a window box on your sill.
So, yes, you have all the necessary items that you need -- seeds, dirt, container, water -- but if you don’t have time to actually use them, then you’re never going to be able to chop some fresh oregano over your spaghetti or make some fresh lemongrass tea or what have you.
You have to have the time to go through all the stages: The seeds (the initial idea or ideas), the dirt (characters, dialogues), the container (your framework of the story, the plot), the water (putting in writing time).
Then you have to prune, and wait for little new shoots to spring up (editing, proofing, rewriting).
And, finally, at the end, after all of that care and attention, you finally have something very tasty and delicious and wonderful.
But if you miss a step, or skip a step because you’re impatient, or just don’t have the time to attend to all of these important things, then you don’t have anything.
You have a great book that never had the opportunity to come to vibrant life, in that way. And that’s a real pity.
But the hardest part of writing is never the actual writing. The hardest part of writing is being able to have the time, the tools, the funds to write.
If no one’s going to come along and give you these things you need, then you need to provide them for yourself.
#21 of 30: The art of practice
Let’s say that your goal is to become a marvelous writer. Or a brilliant violinist. Or a world-class ballerina. Or a medical specialist. Or an astrophysicist.
Now, even though these professions seemingly have very little in common, they actually do have one very important thing in common.
You can have an innate talent in something. And you should be very grateful, every day, that you have that gift, because it is a gift.
It’s not something you earned, but something that was given to you, just the same way you might happen to receive blue eyes, or dark hair, or double-jointed thumbs, or perfect pitch.
But talent, alone, won’t get you anywhere. It’s not sufficient, in and of itself.
If you have the innate talent to one day be a brilliant violinist, then you can eventually become a brilliant violinist. In the meantime, you practice every day.
Shown above: Ninja skills don't happen overnight
You do scales, and drills, and learn music theory, and listen to every violin recording you can get your hands on.
If your fingers start bleeding because you’ve been practicing the same scale for five hours in a row, you continue to play, anyway.
If you’re sick and don’t feel like practicing, you practice, anyway.
If there’s a huge party and you’d rather party than practice, but you have to choose between them, you choose to practice.
If you don’t have money for violin lessons, you figure it out on your own, but you continue to practice.
If you’re so tired from working two or three jobs that your eyes are crossing and all you want to do is sleep, you give yourself a good pinch, and pick up that violin.
If you’re bored out of your mind doing the same drill over and over and can’t stand the sight of your violin and all you want to do it smash it against the nearest tree, you shut up and pick it up and practice anyway.
If your house burns to the ground and the world simultaneously comes to an end, you have a bit of a freak-out, sort things out, then get right back to your drills.
Eventually, in maybe a decade or so of steady commitment, you might really have something. But there’s no shortcut. You have to put in the time.
So, in effect, if you’re wondering what the best way is to learn how to write, the answer is: You write.
There’s no skimping, and no easy way to do it. You have to stick to it like you've never stuck to anything else in your life. That’s what mastering any creative skill demands of you.
If you're not willing to dedicate several years of your life to mastering a particular art, that's fine. Surely that'll be a lot easier on you.
On the other hand, you'll also be missing out on all the beauty you can create, as well. You'll be missing out on the chance to make people laugh, or cry, or to be moved, or to just enjoy themselves.
Mastery of a particularart is a particular kind of power -- not to rule people, but to move them, to improve their lives, to make them happy, to give them something to think about, something to talk about, to create a moment of beauty in an otherwise drab and ordinary day.
It's the closest thing to everyday magic that you'll ever experience. But there's only one way to acquire that particular gift, if you really want it.
If you've already come this far in the Take Five series, it's likely you have a crucial character trait that Thomas Alva Edison, a contemporary of eccentric but ingenious inventorNikolaTesla, defined as 'stick-to-it-iveness.' That's a very good sign, indeed.
* Drafting one short story to the end, typing it up and printing it out.
* Half-drafting a second story rescued from a previous draft.
* Reading several manuscripts.
* Reading grant applications.
* Going for a bike ride.
* Attending a panel at the 2010Graphic festival.
* Eating (in and out, with and without friends).
* Sleeping (in).
Find out how this author spends the rest of her writing week: The Writing Room Source: Author Margo Lanagan's personal blog
Supplementary material: Arte Six
Used with permission. Take five. Help is here.
More: Go to #21 of 30 More: See full list
When it comes right down to it, the process of writing is both very hard and very boring. This is true even for experienced writers.
Apart from the few moments of inspiration where the writing comes very easily and rapidly, the writing process, overall, involves a lot of hardgraft. A writing project of any kind, but particularly a lengthy one, is a slacker-free zone.
Most of the time, getting the story on paper is just a matter of planting your behind in a chair and just writing and writing and writing for hours, until the story starts to shape itself.
Also, a lot of the writing bit of it isn’t actually writing, at all, it’s thinking.
You just have to be sort of obsessed with your story, and willing to devote huge amounts of energy to sorting out little arcane details that wouldn’t matter to anyone else.
So, you’re not only putting in all these hours at the keyboard, but all these other hours away from the keyboard.
It’s sort of like when you hear people complaining about school -- first you have to sit through all these classes, then you have to prep for a test, then, on top of everything, there’s homework. And then they think about it and want to run away screaming. But it’s all necessary.
So, the hours you spend writing are important. The hours you spend thinking about things are important. The odd thoughts you take the time to jot down are important, because they might have the answer to some writing problem you’re trying to solve.
But you can’t skip any of it. If you do, you're only cheating yourself.
Life interrupts you, and not everyone thinks it’s worth the time to use all this mental energy in sorting out what happens, why, when, where, and so on.
No one else can help you, because you’re the only one who knows the story, so you’re the only one who can solve it.
So, you can’t even lean on getting a little bit of tea and sympathy, because you’re the one who has to figure it out.
But if you’re going to finish your book, then you just have to commit to it and not stop until the story is complete. Then you can maybe have a rest.
But first…back to the keyboard. Or sitting around thinking. Or scribbling down a note about a solution that's just occurred to you, while you were waiting for a train or bus or plane or lunch break.
The hours you put into actually sitting there working out the story on the screen are going to be long hours, but don't forget about those other hours you'll be spending working on your story.
Don't think that just because you're not at the keyboard, those other hours aren't important. They're all important. From author interview with Sasha Soren.
Interviewer: Book Junkie (@bookjunkie74) Take five. Help is here.
More: Go to #20 of 30 More: See full list
#18 of 30: Painting with fire
Interestingly, you can learn about human beings through characters in books. But normally because the writer was making some observation about the way we live our lives, through some particular character -- and that character is just a reflection of something that writer has observed in life. But life is the source of the fuel.
For example, in RandomMagic, would say that if you wanted to see some of the characters symbolically, then:
Winnie would be an exploration of courage. Also, would say, she’s an exploration of the indomitable nature of the human spirit. She’s braverypersonified.
Callie would be an exploration of the mystery of creative ability, its source and why it’s necessary, she illustrates the power of being able to create.
The Red Queen, in contrast, would be an exploration of the human being’s ability to destroy.
Effie would be an exploration of why music is a source of comfort and happiness to us; music is not strictly something we need to survive, like air or food or shelter, yet there’s some mystery about music in that it feeds our soul.
Do we really need music? No. But can you imagine a world without music?
#17 of 30: A worldly education
Q: Which writers have most influenced you and your writing?
A: Other writers aren’t so much a direct influence, as life, itself.
Even though fiction can be about nearly anything you can think of or imagine, the logic has to be self-contained within one particular book (or series of books).
But in real life -- oh, anything can and often does happen. Logic, sometimes, goes right out the window.
So, it’s much more interesting to use life, not any particular book or series of books, as a source of fuel. So much more can happen.
I don’t think that you necessarily have to write down something just as it happened, otherwise you’d be writing non-fiction, or an article in a newspaper.
But I do think that if you want to understand how life works, you have to observe life, not someone’s rendition of it.
If you want to understand how people work, then observe people, not characters in a book.
That said, you can occasionally learn something about human beings through characters in books. More on that, here. From author interview with Sasha Soren.
Interviewer: The Bookette (@the_bookette) Take five. Help is here.
More: Go to #18 of 30 More: See full list
Fiction is usually sort of restricted, in the sense that, even though the story could be a wild story, it still does have to make a certain kind of sense.
Also, in a work of fiction, there might’ve been thousands of ways a particular story might have unwound, but it unwinds in one particular way.
What I mean is that, while you’re writing a story, you start with a very open story. You might write about anything, anyone, any time, any place, your choices are virtually limitless.
But, as you go along constructing the story, you have to make choices, because if you’re going to write a coherent story, you have to make logical paths for readers to follow.
Your characters do have to sort of stay in character. They might suddenly do something seemingly out of character, but there’s usually a clear path the reader can follow, to understand just why a character suddenly did something that they might not otherwise have done.
Also, as you go along, you start to narrow down possibilities, because when you’re building a plot, events all have to make sense within a particular framework.
For example: This happens because that happened in the chapter just prior. This character does such-and-such as a response to something that’s just happened. Or might happen. Or might not happen. But all of these things are set down, and happen in just one way.
So, even though fiction can be about nearly anything you can think of or imagine, the logic has to be self-contained within one particular book (or series of books).
But in real life -- oh, anything can and often does happen.
If you'd like some additional help with plot and character, here are two quick links that could be useful:
This Take Five post might be helpful, as it discusses plotting and includes a plotting exercise to try: Walking the plot line
* Establish your core principles or rules * Use real-world models whenever possible * Sketch out the terrain * Break up research into manageable smaller projects * Treat info as series of moveable units vs. fixed template * Don't waste time developing surplus data * Once the framework is solid, feel free to wing it
I'm an impatient writer. I don't enjoy prep work, especially the kind of detailed preparation needed to create a believable imaginary world.
When I first started writing, my solution was to wing it. I'd take an idea and plunge right in, letting the story take me where it would and allowing the world to develop spontaneously.
The problem was that I constantly wrote myself into corners. I'd get to a point where I'd realize that what I wanted to happen couldn't happen, because of some social custom or rule of magic I'd set up earlier.
Over the years, I've worked out an approach that's a compromise between my natural hastiness and the need for consistency in the development of an imaginary reality.
Research and prep work takes perhaps three months, with several additional one- or two-week intervals when extra research is needed.
Before I do anything else, I make sure that I have a firm grasp of my world's core principles. But the details -- the shape and nature of the actual places my plot takes me -- aren't developed until I get to them in the course of writing.
I use real-world models whenever possible. I break the writing down into story chapters. In each section of the book, I work on portraying a different aspect of the culture or cultures related to that world.
I make rough maps of the terrain, buildings and cities that my characters will be encountering. Nothing fancy, just enough to keep myself oriented so that I won't describe something as being on the left side of a courtyard and then, in the next chapter, say it was on the right.
If there's a lot of travel in the book, then the distances traveled, as well as the time frames involved, need to be plausible.
Before beginning work on each section, I pause for three or four days to sketch out settings and customs and other necessary details.
Notes in hand, I organize information into a form that I can use right away. Rather than making outlines or enumerating facts, I create little essays, as if I were writing entries for an encyclopedia. It’s easier for me to discipline myself to this kind of prep work in small periodic doses than in large do-it-all-at-once sessions.
I like the freedom of not being locked in to a specific template from start to finish. It gives me a sense of discovering my world as I journey deeper into it, and allows room for inspiration.
Many of my best details are things I probably couldn't have envisioned at the start of the book, springing not just from my understanding of the basic principles of the reality I've created, but from the context of what I've already written.
This results in a fair bit of world-building on the fly -- which, because it takes place during the actual process of writing, does slow me down, but still works better for me than spending a lot of initial time developing things I may not need.
Some fantasy writers feel that it's important to work out every aspect of their invented worlds and cultures, whether or not they figure into the plot. But for me, this is clutter. You can write a novel set in Massachusetts even if you don't know much about Illinois.
One of the ways I guard against the impulse to overstuff is to develop in depth only those areas of my world required by my story.
For instance, in one book, a particular kingdom is important because it's home to a large community of expatriates driven out by a rebellion -- but none of the book's action actually takes place in that kingdom, so I didn't bother naming cities or deciding on geographical features.
But because I’ve made sure I have a good grasp of the basic ground rules of my setting, I can easily invent more details when I need them.
The time spent in initial, broad-premise preparation gives me the consistency I need to produce a believable and fully-developed world, while the working out of specific details as I go allows me the flexibility I crave.
Best of all is the element of discovery, building a world this way preserves a certain amount of spontaneity within the context of all my careful planning, leaving room for flashes of inspiration.
You've made it this far, that's great! But it's not efficient to be a writing machine ad infinitum. There's a point when pushing yourself ahead only results in diminishing returns.
If you've come this far, you've done well and it's time to take a break to relax and revive. Writing is physically arduous, as much as it is mentally or emotionally arduous, and you'll be able to write more efficiently if you give yourself a quick break and come back to the keyboard restored.
So, for this Take Five read -- no writing allowed! Please just choose from some of the suggestions below, or make up your own, and get serious about chilling out.
Yes, of course, get back to writing feverishly. But first:
*Take a walk *Take a ride *Make a fresh pot of tea or coffee *Pour a fresh soda, can throw in a lemon slice (fancy!) * *Have a bubble bath or hot shower *Enjoy a nice dinner or lunch *Order in, pick a favorite you've been craving *Listen to a fave podcast or radio station * *Make a grocery run, and pick up some writing snacks *Do the laundry, the dishes, or take out the garbage *Find buddies for a Midnight Write-In tomorrow (Simple, you just agree to start writing at midnight, your time, for 15 minutes, tagging it: #MidnightWriteIn on Twitter.) * *Buy a book to read after you hit 30k *Watch a movie *Update your progress (if appl.) *Give yourself an hour or two to socialize on Twitter, Facebook, etc. * *Catch up on Take Five *Print out a fresh copy of your manuscript and put it aside for a quick edit on your return from 'chillin' like a villain' *Play a tune you really like, dancing optional *Let your family and friends know you're still alive, because there could be questions * *Cook something delicious *Sketch, draw or paint something *Buy fresh flowers or candles for your next writing session * *Pick your own small reward and make it simple but luxurious, like fresh strawberries or a glass of wine, or treating yourself to a small gift *Put in a one-hour workout, but make it something fun *Daydream for an hour *Take an online quiz * *For cat and dog lovers, spend five minutes showering Frisky or Fido with attention *Wiki something just for fun, can do 'serious' research later *Visualize your ending scene and know you'll get there * *Watch this video for a laugh, and feel free to sing along -- you know you wanna!
When you're writing a novel -- or working on any creative work, for that matter -- of course you have elements that are the most visible and straightforward.
You share information to help readers visualize and follow some particular story; they know what characters look like, how they speak, what happens to them. They're often privy to how a character feels, or what a character's background story might be.
But you might also include additional layers of meaning in the work, which aren't as immediately obvious, by including or referencing objects with connected symbolism.
There are lots of meanings connected to particular colors, for example. The interesting thing is that the symbolism of specific colors even varies across different cultures. There are so many shades you can add to the palette, and it's fun to play with them.
But symbolism can also give your work a depth it might not otherwise have. Or specific references can be interesting or hidden surprises for the reader.
There are so many examples of the use of symbolism in literature that it would take too long to identify and explain even a handful of them. We only have five minutes!
So, today, we're just going to examine one small example of symbolism used in RandomMagic, followed with an opportunity for you to play with symbolism as you work on your own book.
Ready? Here we go:
In the Garden of the Muses, the air is teeming with butterflies in vivid colors. It’s a beautiful image, but those little splashes of color also have a more subtle meaning.
The dazzling butterflies, in fact, literally are thoughts. The Ancient Greek word for 'butterfly' is ÏÏ ÏÎź (psÈłchÄ), which translates as 'soul' or 'mind.'
In one sense, the butterflies would be symbolic of the Muses' shifting thoughts. In another sense, they’d be the messengers of inspired thoughts to their favorite writers, artists, poets, or other seekers.
In a third sense, the butterflies represent the Muses' general benevolence, kindness and good nature toward mortal beings, since seeing a butterfly can symbolize that love is on its way to you soon, or that you'll see someone whose face you miss.
In the last sense, because a butterfly starts life as a lowly caterpillar, then a pupa, before finally emerging as something delicate and glorious, with a flutter of resplendent wings, the butterfly represents the creative process, itself.
These are just some things to consider when you're reading that section of the book -- and also, perhaps, the next time you happen to see a butterfly.
The section above was excerpted from the full essay, which you're welcome to read, if time permits: Symbolism example: Random Magic
And now, perhaps you'd like to generate some alternatives for your own book, with this simple, five-minute exercise: Symbolism Exercise
If you'd like some additional help, feel free to refer to this Dictionary of Symbolism to help with the exercise, or to enjoy this brief learning video:
About: EducatorLaura Minnigerode kindly answers the question, 'What is symbolism?' (Length: About 90 secs.)
From author interview with Sasha Soren.
Interviewer: The Book Owl (Not on Twitter) Video provided by eHow. Take five. Help is here.
More: Go to #14 of 30 More: See full list
