David Farland, Grounding, and WOTF

David Farland, a judge for Writer's of the Future, wrote an amazingly helpful blog entry, on Grounding Your Reader.

Dave FarlandPresumably, he's pondering the
genius of my WOTF contest entry

It starts thusly:

"Today I'm going to discuss a bit about what I call “grounding” the reader. Quite simply, grounding is the fine art of letting the reader know what is going on. You need to focus on some basics: Who is in a scene? Where does it take place? What is the major conflict?"

Now, I am entered in the Writer's of the Future contest, and am included in the entries he's reading that apparently brought about these particular tips.

He mentioned a few stories that go on for pages without giving a setting. That used to be a weakness in my stories, and panicked, I pulled up the manuscript. *whew* Got out of that one.

Then he mentions not naming the protagonist early enough. Two thoughts came to mind. First, Neil Gaiman wrote an entire novel, "The Ocean at the End of the Lane," without once naming the main character. And, two, I'm not Neil Gaiman.

My story is in the first person. Did I, in fact, name the narraror? Check! Very early on. Good for me. I patted myself on the back.

I waded through each of his examples, assured myself that I wasn't among them, and then thought through the advice for the rest of the story. I think I'm okay there.

Then, I thought about the story I'm currently writing. It's fine too, but needs some tweaks, particularly in the arena of showing the conflict earlier.

Take a look at the article, and let me know what you think:

Grounding Your Reader.

Longhand and Terry Pratchett

I've figured this writing thing out again, if only for the moment. It frightens me to think that, perhaps, I will need to relearn what works every few months.

I love my current method, even more than I despise it. Certainly, it's proving more consistent than what came before.

Photo By LeeGillion

Almost a year ago, when I started this blog, I knew what worked. The writing started anywhere from between 10:00 pm to 1:00 am. It stopped after I'd reached 1000 words. Not much of a method really, but it worked, for as long as I could sustain the pace.

A couple of problems arose. First, I would often get 4 hours of sleep. While the ensuing hallucinations made for vivid prose, some of the plots I came up with could only be understood by the reader similarly being deprived of sleep. Well, that, or (I suspect) recreational drugs.

The second issue was, in spite of consistently sitting down to write, I found myself all over the place with the actual methods. This went beyond experimentation, which I still play around with. What I mean is, I employed no real routine. And, I'm finding, routine works well for me. No. Very well.

Even if I don't want it to. Stupid pen and paper. *sigh*

Here is something I've discovered. I can write on the computer, or with pen or paper. Much to my annoyance, the writing is always better if I write it out longhand first. I think differently in longhand. The scenes flow in a way they never seem to on the computer. I'm a computer guy too, so that's hard to admit.

I learned something else. Given the correct amount of time in my schedule, I do well with word counts. Something that Neil wrote seems to have helped me find the right goal.

Yes. Him again. Neil Gaiman, may he write forever, co-wrote Good Omens with Terry Pratchett. I'm ashamed to say I haven't read much of Terry's work to date, but that's something I'm fixing. Specifically, I've read Good Omens multiple times, along with the graphic novel adaptation of Color of Magic, and also Terry's book on writing.

He's good, but I've been busy. I'm 1/4 through the novel Color of Magic now, and plan to read all of Discworld. Terry is a genius too.

I've digressed again. At the end of Good Omens, Neil mentions that when Terry still had a full-time, non-writing job, he wrote 400 words a night. It was the only way he could work and become a novelist. When Terry finished his first novel with only 200 pages written for the night, he started 200 more words on his next novel.

Brilliant.

I average about 400 words in a writing session anyway. 400 is easy. Well, except when it's harder than hammering a nail with a Phillips screwdriver. It's sometimes easy.

It worked for Terry. I'm making it work for me.

Here is my method:

First, I read. Right now, I'm reading Discworld. It might be one page, or several. Enough to enjoy the story, but not enough to keep me from writing.

Partially this is to study the craft. It also jump starts creativity.

After reading, I dive directly into at a writing session. Sometimes it's at lunch. Sometimes it's at night. The time matters less, because with longhand, I can do it pretty much anywhere that's free from distractions.

I come up with 400+ words on pen and paper. I do this consistently each day. Sometimes I'll do more. One of the first nights I tried this, I matched my previous 1000 word goal. But, I make sure the day ends with no less than 400. Two nights ago, I finished with 380, and it was all I could manage. I counted the words, and realized it was short. Even though one more word would have been impossible, I somehow came up with 50 more for the day.

Eventually, usually after 2 or 3 days, I find that I need a reminder of the story's details. That's when I transfer from longhand to the computer. This has the effect of an additional edit, as I can't help but correct as I type the story out.

On the days I transfer, I typically allow it to count as my writing for the day. Some writers, when editing, are "put-iners," while others are "take-outers." My first drafts tend to be minimalist, so I'm a put-inner. I don't count these words, but after three days, I estimate that I add about 400 if I'm typing out 3 days worth anyway. If I go beyond that, great. If not, it's okay. That's built into my new system.

It's working. A few months from now, I may share a new and improved system. Eventually, I'd love to be doing this full time, and be amused at the notion of only producing 400 words a day.

Live. Achieve. Repeat.

Write. Finish. Repeat.

It's the most simple writing advice you'll find, and perhaps the most profound. It changed my course as a writer, and it just might change my course in life.

Here's what I mean. A common theme of this blog is momentum. You discover the end of your story by writing continually until it's finished. Work ethic beats inspiration nearly every time. Keep moving forward. I blog about that idea frequently, and to a lesser extent, I practice it in my own writing. Because, "life."

Life gets in the way of everything, including living your life. You name it, the issues are there. Drowning in the massive amounts of hours worked. Fighting a lingering illness, and the illness cheats. Reeling from an unexpected loss. Finally, FINALLY, breaking down and buying that 6th book in the Hitchhiker's Trilogy and discovering you were right- it's nowhere near as good as the stuff written by Douglas Adams.

All that can get in the way. If you're not careful, it can get in the way of far more than just writing.

It occurred to me this weekend that life is as much about momentum as writing.

Write, finish, repeat? Yes. Apply the same principles to life and what do you get?

Live. Achieve. Repeat.

Write/Live
Repeatedly, Neil Gaiman has told aspiring writers, "You must write." Too many get this part wrong. I've even had people argue with me over this point. The truth is, if you never write, you never write.

And if you don't live, well that's even worse, isn't it? Admittedly, "live" has several connotations. Here's what I mean by it.

Live to the max each day. This is not simply about enjoying life. It means making positive steps in your life. What's important to you in your life? Writing, family, friends, Doctor Who, church, health? Make sure you're making a positive step in one of those areas, minimum, each day. Most days you'll be able to make positive steps in multiple areas. And you know what you're doing? Living.

Finish/Achieve
Neil also said, "You must finish what you write." This, more than anything changed the way I looked at my craft. I finished lots of stories, and I got better with each one. Hmm. In retrospect, I've kind of moved away from finishing everything I start to write. Guess what the end result has been? I haven't written nearly as many stories since I stopped focusing on that. That's a good reminder.

In life, focusing on achieving has the same effect. Take health. I've written about fitness a few times here, because it's one of those areas I had to focus on. Doctor's orders. And you know what I couldn't do? I couldn't do it all at once.

So, I focused on daily achievements. Regular workouts. Reducing sugar intake. Blah, blah, blah. Once I finally accepted the need, I had mini achievements each day. So far they've added up to 40 pounds of weight loss, with adding muscle definition.

Repeat
It's so easy to just give up. This can come after a great accomplishment, or a painful setback. Both circumstances can make a person sit back- the former to enjoy and the latter to wallow.

But you know what? If we focus on moving forward in life, becoming better at what we do and who we are, we'll achieve far more.

Writing's worth it. So is living.

Influences

Eric, a friend of mine from high school, left some thoughtful comments on one of my posts here.

We talked about our mutual love for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  I didn't tell him this, but back in high school, I wanted to be the next Douglas Adams.  I've since realized that I'm more likely to become the first Scott Hughey, and I'm fine with that.  Nobody else can be Douglas Adams.  I wouldn't want to anymore anyway, seeing as he's no longer around.  Hope that's not too soon.

Actually, it is.  Obviously, I didn't know him, but boy do I miss a new book coming out from him every several years or so.  Better than prolific, he was good.

But I digress.

Eric said this in the comments, "Someday I'd love to hear what other writers have affected you like that."  I answered, and because the answer took much longer than I expected, I decided to turn it into a blog post.  That way it feels productive.

My influences:

---

First off, I'm not suggesting your wife is wrong, but how does she know I have a 12 year old's mindset?  What have you told her?

And thank your sister for me.  There is no set of books, or at least fiction books, that I've reread more than the five book trilogy.  Also read the spinoff, "Starship Titanic" which wasn't nearly as good.  And Douglas' other fiction books.  Just recently learned there is an authorized sixth book written by an author who I can't bother myself to look up right now.  It's on my reading list.

I still read what's considered more literary fiction, usually when I'm in the mood for a good classic.  Frankly, if it's a good story, I'll read it regardless, but I still tend more towards genre.  You're absolutely correct- there's a ton of bad genre fiction out there.  One of my hopes is that I don't add to the pile of bad.

I've been fortunate to find a good deal of the good.  I've been chewing on your question for a few days, about what other authors have have affected me the same way as Douglas Adams.  The quick, unthoughtful answer is none.  I wouldn't do that to you though.

There's one author that I had the privilege of conversing with through email and online groups sometime back.  Peter David.  He's one of those multi medium writers.  In fact, I first discovered him through comic books.  Yeah.  I said comic books.

One day I discovered he wrote novels too.  For a while, I devoured his Star Trek novels before finding he had plenty of books completely of his own making (ie- not playing in someone else's universe.)  I'd highly recommend "Q-Squared," if you're into Trek at all.  I'd also suggest his "Sir Apropos of Nothing."  It's a fantasy story with a twist.  The Main Character is a side character who supplants himself as the main character.

Peter's writing is almost always funny, thought provoking, and a great ride.  He's not as funny as Douglas Adams, but comparing any writer to that standard is like comparing a fire to the sun.

Lately, more so than his work, I've been influenced by Neil Gaiman.  Neil is great because... he is.  I hope you've heard of him.  He's another writer who has written comics, but he's also written children's books, screenplays, Dr. Who episodes, novels, short stories, poems, and the world's best Christmas card ever.  Seriously.  Look it up.

One great thing about him is he is undefined by genre.  The newest book of his that I've read, "The Ocean At The End of the Lane," could be described as fantasy.  Or science fiction.   Or modern myth.  I've even seen it hailed as literary fiction.  I love stories that are hard to define like that, because you don't know what conventions are being used.

It'd be hard to suggest a starting point.  If you want something hilarious, read "Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch" which he co-authored with Terry Pratchett.  This comes closest in style, by the way, to a Douglas Adams story.  If you want something deep and thick, try "American Gods."

Weird thing about "American Gods."  Picked it up at a library years ago, and forced my way through about 150 pages before giving up.  Hated it.  Loved nearly everything else by Neil, but not this book.  Recently, I decided to give it a second chance, and I've found it to be marvelous.  Guess I changed.

There's others that have been influential, or at least highly entertaining.  Terry Goodkind.  Matt Forbeck.  Margaret Weis.  Hmm, there's Lee Goldberg, but he's strictly a mystery/detective writer.

And if you just want a good read, I've yet to be disappointed by a book published by Angry Robot.  They're not paying me to say that.  Wish they would though.

All I Want for Christmas...

If I were to sit on the mall Santa's lap... well I'd be arrested.  Seriously.  I'm afraid the restraining order is pretty specific.

The next best thing is to hope Santa is a reader of this blog.  My readership is up, so I'm thinking there's an outside chance of it.

Here's my list, from 1 - 10, with 1 being "We can definitely make that happen" and 10 being "And I thought you were crazy when you said Santa might read your blog."

1. Continue to improve my writing daily.
2. Continue to increase my daily and weekly word counts.
3. Get a short story published.  Oh, and I mean in a paying market this time.
4. Finish the novel.
5. Finish a second novel .
6. Sell the novels.
7. Write a story that my wife loves.
8. Win a Hugo. (Or a Nebula.  I'm not particular.)
9. Have John Scalzi ask to write an introduction to my first short story collection.
10. Tell John Scalzi, "Sorry, but no.  Neil Gaiman already agreed to do it."

That should do it for now.  My birthday's coming up in just  few months though.

By Writers, For Writers

Some writing quotes, readily available in a google search near you, and why they help:

1. "I only write when I am inspired. Fortunately I am inspired at 9 o'clock every morning." William Faulkner

Put another way- the muse is a myth.  William (can I call him William?) reminds me that doing the work brings results.

2. "All through my career I've written 1,000 words a day--even if I've got a hangover. You've got to discipline yourself if you're professional. There's no other way." J.G. Ballard

Again, discipline, consistency and work ethic are the keys.

3. "The writer's duty is to keep on writing." William Styron

Write on!

4. “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” E.L. Doctorow

This is true for any story I think, but especially the novel.  And it gives me hope.

5. "You have to finish things- that's what you learn from, you learn by finishing things." Neil Gaiman

This tidbit, along with the other similar quotes by Neil, is what propelled me to actually finishing the manuscripts that didn't seem to be working.  And, much to my surprise, doing so taught me how to finish stories.

6. Planning to write is not writing. Outlining--researching--talking to people about what you’re doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing." E. L. Doctorow

This one hurts.  It's where so many people fail though, or at least that's my perception.  I've spent so much time over the years thinking about it, reading about it, talking about it, even blogging about it and yet... hmm.  I'd better get back to actually doing it now.

Don't Panic!

I started reading Don't Panic by Neil Gaiman recently and it is a huge relief.  More on that later.

First off, how amazing is it to read a book by one of my favorite authors, about one of my favorite authors?  When I discovered this book existed I felt like I'd drunk a pan galactic gargle blaster.

There are few books I've read more times than all five books of the Hitchhiker's Trilogy.  Yes, even "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish."  These were the first books that made me want to write.  Douglas Adams made it look so easy, which is ironic in the extreme considering all the stories about his struggles with writer's block and deadlines.

Years ago I felt stunned to discover the books were based off of a television series.  I was more stunned to learn that the tv series was based off of a radio series.  This became my secret shame.

How could I, self professed mega fan, not like the tv series?  I just... didn't.  And if the tv series was that bad, how good could the radio show really be?  (For that matter, how big of a fan was I when I didn't know anything about Adams' involvement with Dr. Who, even brief as it was?)

And in the book, I've learned that Douglas Adams' involvement with the television series was limited.  Oh he was involved, but it wasn't quite his vision was it?

Even better.  I decided to listen to the radio broadcasts.  I'm only up to the Vogan ship scene in the first episode so far, but it is brilliant.  It's like the book only not.

Of course I shouldn't have panicked.  

http://www.neilgaiman.com/works/Books/Don't+Panic/

Finishing

Finished the short story.  Other than how it started I had no idea where it was going.

I'm neither an outliner nor a seat-of-the-panters.  Typically I shape a story, jotting down notes, key points, questions the story should answer and what not.  I may not always know how it's going to end but I have a pretty good idea of how it's getting there.

Not this time.  I promised myself I'd write every day, and so I did.  Beyond an extremely vague idea for a character I had no clue where things were going.  The story takes two sharp turns that make sense now but surprised me at the time.

Writing the story reminded me of spinning in the car because it hit a sheet of ice.  Not that it went quickly.  I just wanted to stop.

So I did what Neil Gaiman said. I finished.  I did what Dean Wesley Smith said.  I wrote the next line.

Is it good?  I hope so.  Maybe.  The important thing is I finished it and submitted it.  I learned I could write a story even when the writing doesn't flow out of me.  And I learned actually writing.

It feels good.

Impostor?

Almost every time I sit down to write, I feel like I'm an impostor.  "Who am I kidding?" I'll think.

It's strange.  I can speak to large crowds.  Or sing.  Or act.  I do all those things with varying regularity and not once in the past several years has it made me the least bit nervous.

"If you're not afraid when you get in front of people and do this, you're not human," I'll hear from time to time.  Uh-oh.  What does that say?  Hopefully it says the people making that claim are mistaken.

The validity of the statement aside, I'm not usually given to self-doubt.  What I lack in humility I make up for in confidence.

Until it's time to write.  Why is that?  It may be that, as I explained to a friend recently, "I may not be a good writer yet, but I'm a great reader."  And my works, particularly the rough drafts, don't feel like great reading.

Then I think of another quote from Neil Gaiman.  Sorry, but I've been devouring his interviews and speeches on youtube recently.  I'm 95% sure this came from his commencement speech, but I can't be bothered at the moment to look it up or link to it.  This time all you're getting is a paraphrase.

Someone wanted to record an audio book but wasn't sure she could do it.  He advised her to pretend she was someone who could do it, and then act like that person would act.

Brilliant.

So when I feel inadequate, I pretend I'm a writer, and then act like one.  It works because I have quite a bit of acting experience.  And at the end of it I have something written.  Usually it's something that needs to be rewritten, but without the first step there's no second step.  Eventually it turns into something that is worthwhile.  That's a good feeling.

So am I an impostor?  If I act like someone who writes, then aren't I writing?  And what is it that defines a writer?

That's right.

I am a writer

"People come to me say and say I want to be a writer, what should I do? I say, write.  And sometimes they look at you as if you know the big secret and you're keeping it from them.  And sometimes people say, well I'm doing that.  What else should I do?  And I say you should finish what you write." Neil Gaiman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hXJx1tltOA

I am a writer.  It's what I have to remind myself of every day.  And what do writers do?  They write, that's what.

Years ago, like thousands of other would-be-authors, I told myself I would become a writer.  Three months later a wonderfully horrible short story came to life.  It had everything.  I showed and didn't tell.  The dialogue was stilted.  The ending was a classic deus ex machina, the rejection letter inevitable.

It was the first of multiple forays into writing.  Each time I've learned something and gotten better.  Until now I failed to learn the most basic part about writing: write.

Thinking about writing intoxicated me.  Reading about writing felt even better.  I devoured magazines and books describing the mechanics of creating fiction.  These activities took about 95% of my "writing" time.  See the problem?

So now I write.  I finish what I write.  I rewrite.  If it's good enough I send it off for publication.  And I start it over again.

So simple, right?  Neil's not the first or the last author to give that advice but somehow this time it clicked.

Thanks Neil.