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3 Pieces of Writing Advice that I Almost Missed

One of my favorite industry magazines, The Writer, never fails me, though I sometimes fall short of recognizing all that it has to offer. Sure, I dog-ear several articles in each issue, but, more often than not, I breeze through the last few pages, skipping over the Market listings and the Classifieds, barely glancing at the final column, “How I Write.” Sometimes I’m in a hurry to finish the magazine; sometimes I’m being aloof. If it’s at the end, I think, it can’t be that important. Either way, when I blow past that very last page, I risk the chance, as I realized with this month’s issue, of missing out on key advice.

In the March issue of The Writer, “How I Write” features an interview with Jacqueline Winspear, author of the successful series about Detective Maisie Dobbs. I don’t read mystery much, so I almost – almost – closed the cover of the magazine. But, something pulled at me to read her interview, and I’m glad I did. I grabbed on to three key pieces of advice that I desperately needed.

1. On Research

“If you let [research] dictate a story…you might as well be writing nonfiction. . . . If you are completely directed by research, you lost the story’s rhythm. If there’s no rhythm, there’s no dance.”

Every bit of writing, I’m learning, requires research. Even now, I’m working on a short story about a piano tuner. I’ve been bookmarking sites on the internet for the past several days on things like piano terms and anatomy, tidbits of information that are crucial in making the character believeable. But where Winspears words really hit home is in respect to a different project: I have an itch to write a historical fiction. I admit, I’m frightened, of the research involved, that I might not gather enough and get details wrong, that I won’t be able to make the story work. I could walk away from the project, easy (though the idea of it keeps resurfacing and refuses to be ignored). So, it helps to keep in mind that, while research is critical, it doesn’t necessarily drive the story.

2. On Fear

“Don’t make excuses. . . . Don’t be afraid . . . . After all, [what’s] the worst that could happen?”

For me, fear can be infectious and lethal if left unattended for too long (see new project angst above). I have a few mantras that I repeat, under my breath, in moments of heavy self-doubt. One hints at my secret affinity towards a certain four-letter word. The other runs cleaner and is parallel to what Winspear says: what have I got to lose?

3. On the Job that Pays the Bills

“…[D]on’t underestimate the power of your day job; that structure and finite time for writing could be the best motivation you have.”

Boy, isn’t that the truth? The more time I have to kill, the less writing I get accomplished. But give me a crunch time of two hours (or less), and I can whip a whole draft of a story up onto the screen.

How about you? Catch any pearls of wisdom lately?

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Found Artifacts

You know how meal time conversations go. The other day, we sat at the lunch table with my father-in-law. One minute we were talking olives, are you partial to green or black. The next minute, the topic switched to “Kansas City.” Then, “Hey. Who sang that song?” And, suddenly we were on a kick about one-hit wonders from the 1950’s.

In the discussion with my father-in-law about “Kansas City” being a Chuck Berry song or a Wilbert Harrison hit (Harrison, by the way. My father-in-law knows best), I said I had a whole box of 45’s somewhere in the house, would he like to hear a few? His eyes lit up, so I set off on a mad hunt, searching in almost every closet and both attic spaces (twice), and digging through two small trunks that my kids like to call “treasure chests.” Everything in those trunks is old (though the word itself is relative…I’m “old” to my kids). I couldn’t find the records that day, but in my obsessive rummaging, I uncovered some other interesting artifacts of note.

Evidence of rumor.

I’ve mentioned before that I was a Lions Club member, a experience worthy of a story in itself. I wasn’t a Lioness, crocheting doilies with the wives in the back room. Oh no. I sat at the table up front, with the graybeards who eyed me up and wondered, like me, how the heck this skinny girl got a plate?

My first collection of short stories.

Stories: About Love, Life, and Luscious Red Hair, Copyright 1986.

With riveting titles such as “Secrecy — Unknown” and “Brought together by Bon-Bons,” plus prose like “he dreams of the day when her braces are de-banded,” I can’t imagine why this collection never made it to the presses.

The first Valentine from the man who would become my husband.

A seven word flash narrative revealing conflict and plot, from the simple opening of “Hey” to the final line: I Love you!”

The 45’s that brought on this whole search and find experience.

Now, I’ve got a date with my father-in-law.

What have you got hiding in your attic or your secret treasure chest?

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Conversation Starters

PERSONALITY TESTS

Photo credit: Crismatos on Flickr.com

A few weeks ago at work, I sat at a table with colleagues and took a test. You know the kind: answer A or B to question that really needs a C. I thought hard about the questions, which I wasn’t supposed to do but I couldn’t help doing. Really. It couldn’t be helped, not after I read the results. The test results translated into colors, and I discovered that I’m a-smack-dab-in-the-middle “Green” kind of girl. I’m a Thinker.

Slow.
Systematic.
All about the process.

No wonder I love writing so much.

The purpose of the workshop was to figure out where we all sit, color-wise, so that we may understand ourselves better and know best how to work with each other. Of course, that meant each color came with a script of advice. The advice for Green? Chill out.

That’s it.

Either I’m almost perfect, or I can be quite dramatic.

Did you ever take a personality test? Were your secrets revealed?

CAROL SHIELDS

Specifically, Carol Shields’ book, The Stone Diaries. I’m reading it right now, and after the first sentence, the first page, I wanted to turn to someone – anyone – and talk about it. Shields writes with an ebb and flow style and reveals characters in the details, in over-arching views, in the round. I searched for a quote that might illustrate what I mean, but I couldn’t find just one. And, that’s exactly the point: it’s impossible to single out one passage, because everything that came before it, and comes after it, cannot be ignored. This idea comes clear in the scene when Daisy rides on the train with her father, Cuyler Goodwill, to their new home – both of them feeling unsure about their future and about each other:

Dreaming her way backward in time, resurrecting images, the young girl realized, with wonder, that the absent are always present, that you don’t make them go away simply because you get on a train and head off in a particular direction. This observation kept her hopeful about the future with a parent she had never known, a parent who had surrendered her to the care of others when she was barely two months old.

Have you read The Stone Diaries? If not, you must. And when you do, we have to talk about it.

IT’S FREE

In a world where upcharges and surcharges sneak their way into everything, free hits the spot. For struggling writers, free is even more fun.

Every Monday, and in her monthly newsletter, Erika Dreifus posts links to or information about opportunities for writers where charges don’t apply: writing contests, calls for submissions, fellowships. They’re worth checking out, even if the opportunities don’t fit your needs, because you might know someone who would be interested. Good news is worth spreading.

Recently, I was also a winner for a free copy of her book, Quiet Americans, which was just named a 2012 Sophie Brody Medal Honor Title (American Library Association). Here’s the blurb:

A high-ranking Nazi’s wife and a Jewish doctor in prewar Berlin. A Jewish immigrant soldier and the German POWs he is assigned to supervise. A refugee returning to Europe for the first time just as terrorists massacre Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. A son of survivors and the family secrets modern technology may reveal. These are some of the characters and conflicts that emerge in Quiet Americans, in stories that reframe familiar questions about what is right and wrong, remembered and repressed, resolved and unending.

This is another book I can’t wait to break into.

What have you found for free lately?