Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Precision

Variety is the spice of life, so it’s been said. And it’s true. But when writers set out to laboriously vary word choices, the real meaning of a scene or story can be lost. Consider this from John Gardiner in The Art of Fiction: “Often the search for variety leads to another problem, the overloading of sentences and the loss of focus.”

That’s why it’s important to know exactly what you want to say, not just what sounds good, and to say it as precisely as possible. For people who recall the story of Goldilocks — a little girl looking for just the right everything — it’s important that the language of a story, especially description, not include too much detail or too little, but just enough. It also needs to be the right detail. Consider these two examples:

• In a couple of weeks she would have another birthday, thirty, emerging from an odd number, twenty-nine, into a roundness, a fullness that seemed an unreachable, unbridgeable distance.
• In two weeks she would be thirty, emerging into the fullness of womanhood, which seemed even now an unbridgeable distance.

To put today's musing into action, the writing tip at the top of the list is a bit more involved, since precision takes work. Take a look, and let me know how it goes.

Journaling: A Lost Art

My journalism teacher used to say, "Keep a journal. It'll get the garbage writing out." That mantra stuck with me because he was right — journaling frees you from the burden of thoughts that might be better left for your eyes only. But journaling is good for other reasons, too. It keeps your mind limber and keeps you in the habit of writing daily, or more often, if trends like Twitter are any example. Journaling also gets you in touch with who you are today, not yesterday or last year or ten years ago.

Maybe no writing is garbage writing — okay, some is — but some thoughts and emotions need a place, just not in your stories. Those are about others, unless yours is an autobiography. Journals give personal musings somewhere safe to go. And maybe they will become fodder for a story — the stuff memoirs are made of.

Journaling, like any discipline, also keeps your writing mind limber through regular use. The more we write, the easier, usually, writing is. Easier to start, easier to keep going and easier to see mistakes, provided we review what we've written.

Another perk of journaling is its ability to stop time, so that we can pause and reflect. Poet and professor John Leax said in his sabbatical journal, "I need to remind myself writing poetry is not a career … It is rather a vocation, a calling and a discipline." There's something about sitting down with whatever you use when you write for yourself — I usually use a pen and a spiral pad — you rediscover your life, who you are. And that's worth writing about.

To put today's musing into action, see the writing tip at the top of the list and let me know how it goes.

Fire Away: Using Anger in Writing

In this day and age, we're afraid to discuss anger, but it's unrealistic to think it never occurs and is never justified. It's when and how to use and convey it that are key. If you're squeamish, think of anger as a passion — a strong emotion that gives depth to your writing, especially your characters. But know that there are two types of anger to deal with — yours and that of your characters. When you're angry, don't wait until you're "over it." Try writing through and with it. When I wrote a piece on Italy for a magazine, I was angry at having to be back in the grind. My anger oozed out in the form of zeal for the country, with all its annoying quirks. People still comment on that story.

As for your characters' anger, consider this from author Brandilyn Collins' Getting Into Character. "When you focus not on the general passion of your character, but on its component parts, its opposite, and its growth, your character will deepen in richness and represent human nature to its fullest." So, the reason to use anger is because it exists and, as Collins says and we all know, "it's with such passions that readers connect." Why do we make this connection? Because a character's response to a situation reflects who she really is. So put your characters in situations rife with conflict, even if it's subdued, and don't be surprised if you can't sharpen the scene until you're one-third through the first draft. That's when you begin to know what and whom you're writing about, regardless of how extensive your plot treatment. When you go back to edit, whether a short story or novel, sharpen the dialog to reflect what's going on within the characters; I like to call them people. You can trim the scene later if you need to, but don't be afraid to let your people get angry; they'll reveal themselves, maybe even to you.

To put today's musing into action, check out the writing tip at the top of the list and let me know how it goes.

A Change of Scenery, a Change of Pace

You've heard it a thousand times — "you just need a change." For creative folk, a change of scenery and a change of pace are essential. I just returned from Italy and it did me a world of good even though I dreaded the trip for the upheaval it would bring to my well-ordered life. But upheaval is essential, like a good yanking away of all that safe stuff we cling to daily like a life raft. Before you get envious, this wasn't a pleasure trip, and I despaired of getting any downtime. Still, progress was made for collaboration with two Italian-based publishers, and there were two days of beach time — yes, it was that warm, even though we're now seeing snow in the alps of Connecticut. Speaking of Alps — I saw the real chain encircling Milan like a setting around this crusty jewel of a northern city.

There's no quote or tip for today, except maybe to get yourself away somewhere, even if only in your dreams, maybe with a movie or a picture book of your favorite place, or a place you'd like to visit, and let your mind wander …

Branding for Writers Seminar: The Importance of the Platform — Sat. 10/17

On Saturday, October 17, at 10:30 a.m., I'll present "Branding for Writers: The Importance of the Platform," a seminar for fiction and nonfiction authors at Sycamore Hills Park Community Center in Avon, Conn. Sponsored by the Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association (CAPA), "Branding for Writers" explores the concept and importance of a platform, and how to create one that integrates and maximizes online presence. For questions or advance information, contact Ursula McCafferty at umcc@comcast.net. Or see me at Adele Annesi, Seminars.

The Warm-Up: Planning Your Writing the Day Before

Like exercise (theoretically), writing needs to happen daily. One way to facilitate the process is by planning the next scene and how you'll write it. Hemingway used to stop writing before he finished a scene, some say before he finished a sentence. Another approach is to scan what you're planning to write next, consider how you'll approach it, and make notes on what you'll say and how you'll say it. Then when you return to the work, you have something to start with, like warm-ups before exercise or preheating the oven so that it's ready to bake when you're ready to cook. Preparing what you want to work on and how you'll approach it greatly eases the transition into your writing time and speeds the effort.

"The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that everyday when you are writing a novel you will never be stuck," from, Ernest Hemingway on Writing.

To put today's musing into action, check out the writing tip at the top of the list and let me know how it goes.

Who Are You: Editing for Voice

One of the hardest parts of novel writing, especially in a first draft, is voice. Two or more characters often sound similar, either because their personalities aren't fully developed, or because the writer doesn't know them well enough. It can happen even after a plot treatment and character sketches. If so, there are things you can do to bring out a character's true self. Begin by asking what the character really wants and why. Then ask whom this desire affects, where and when in the story it should appear, and how—in what form—with dialogue, an event, both? Then drill down with your questions until you can't ask anything more without repeating prior answers. Problems with similar voices can mean too many characters, in which case, you can consider combining several into a composite. This makes a tighter and more dramatic plot. Problems with voice usually arise about one-quarter of the way into a finished work. When in doubt, ask a trusted reader to review your writing, but keep control over your work. Peter Selgin, award-winning novelist and author of By Cunning & Craft, says that when someone offers a critique saying that more of something is needed, it usually indicates another problem, often that there should be less. Character is a good example of that.

To put today's musing into action, check out the writing tip at the top of the list and let me know how it goes.

Tell Me a Story, but Tell it Well

As part of a writing-improvement campaign, I've been reading authors from around the globe, including major prize winners. I've been surprised by two things — unimpressive writing and the lack of compelling stories. It probably doesn't help that I'm reading these at six-thirty in the morning, but I've read other work at that hour and been riveted. I was surprised by the importance of these two basic elements of writing — style and story — but maybe I shouldn't be. What would we do without salt and sugar? The culprit in these works was a certain distance in the writing that translated into a distance between the work and me as the reader. In cases where the work was compelling, I didn't just read the words, I felt what they were saying — big difference.

John Gardner, in The Art of Fiction, comments on what makes fiction art. "Fiction seeks out truth. Granted, it seeks a poetic kind of truth, universals not easily translatable into moral codes. But part of our interest as we read is in learning how the world works; how the conflicts we share with the writer and all other human beings can be resolved, if at all, what values we can affirm and, in general, what the moral risks are." What's compelling about Gardiner's observation is that he validates the writer's daily struggle to make good fiction with eloquence and the appropriate zeal.