How to Become an Author

Many people love to write. Many dream of becoming authors of some sort. Once you've taken up that dream yourself, and particularly if you've been published, you will find more and more people who confide in you - secretly or openly - their burning desire to write a book.

Most don't do more than dream of it. Most don't think to ask the hard questions or put in the long hours to chase after their dream. But if you've clicked on this post, you're different. You're one of those who is ready to embark on the challenging and rewarding path of a writer.

Recently I was interviewed by a student working on his senior paper. It was part of a larger project designed to help students map out their plans for the future. He wasn't really sure what he wanted to do with his life, maybe join the family trade of auto mechanicing. The one thing he was certain about was that he wanted to write. Preferably novels. He wanted to know the path I had taken and what suggestions I might have for him.

Later I realized this would be great info for the readers of this blog. Here's a recap of the highlights of what we discussed.

Education 

While a formal creative writing education at a university or an MFA (masters in fiction writing) program can be useful, neither are essential to becoming a successful writer. A different degree that offers other ways to support yourself and contribute to society can be just as meaningful, sometimes more. My degrees in Psychology and Health Education provide me with work opportunities as well as background knowledge that is useful in stories. 

Most best-selling writers that I know also have a regular career, as a lawyer, a pharmacist, or a teacher, or a coach. Keeping your toes in two different worlds will enrich your writing and help support you financially. Having said that, learning about writing and all the trappings of a writing career is vital to your success.

Conferences and Workshops

One of the best ways to learn about enhancing your writing skills is through attending conferences and workshops. You will find classes at just about every skill level and opportunities to have your work critiqued. Classes typically focus on craft, marketing, platform, editing, publishing, and even inspiration.

Conferences were one of the first places I received objective positive feedback that confirmed I was making progress toward my goal of becoming an author. There are often contests available with financial rewards and sometimes even the possibility of feedback about your writing, which is even more valuable. For more info, check out this Writing Conference Directory.

Inspiration 

People often ask me what inspired me to become a writer.  While each person's motivation and inspiration for choosing to write will be unique, there is a commonality between all writers I've known. It's the burning desire to write. I've loved writing since I was very young. 

But my life took me other places for many years. It wasn't until I was pregnant with my 5th child that I realized I needed an outlet for myself that was completely separate from my identities associated with family and other work. 

So I began writing again. The more I wrote, the more I wanted to write.

The reason I bring this is up is that it is never too early and never too late to begin the journey of a writer. For most writers, the passion for writing is what gets us started. It's a way to process life, filter our thoughts, manage our emotions, and maybe even escape the tedium (or horrors?) or every day life. The passion for writing may start us along the path, but commitment and consistency is what keeps us moving toward our goals. 

As W. Somerset Maugham has said, "I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp."

There is a saying in writing circles: Butt in the chair. In other words, sit down and start writing, for goodness sakes. Inspiration may strike in between writing sessions. That's what notebooks are for. Otherwise, it's very useful to have a regular writing time and stick to it, even if it's only an hour at 5 in the morning. 

Craft

One of the best ways to hone your craft is to read. Read, read, and read. Not just in your genre, either. You will learn more about writing and plotting as you study novels from a wide array of authors and genres. 

You can also learn specific on craft through studying books about writing. Here's some great ones: The Writers Journey, Hooked, and The Red Sneaker Writers Book Series.

There are also about a million different websites with advice on improving your writing skills. Here's a few of my favorites: Writer's Digest, Absolute Write, and Advanced Fiction Writing.

The very best way to improve your craft is (drumroll please....) to WRITE. The more you write, the more you will improve, in sentence structure, imagery, characterization, plotting and more. Look at it as spending your 10,000 hours to become an expert. And who wouldn't want to spend 10,000 hours writing, right? Well, maybe somebody. But to a writer, that sounds like a dream come true. 

Revision and Rejection

Okay, this is possibly one of the tough bumps along the road to becoming an author. You need to find people who will read and honestly critique your work. Preferably people who don't love you and feel an obligation to tell you how wonderful you are. How to find these people? We'll get to that in a minute.

But once you've found them, you need a really tough skin. You need to be able to take criticism and keep working. My husband told me, after about my millionth short story rejection, that I was a glutton for punishment. The thing is, you need to be persistent to reach any valuable goal. You also need to get your work out there and be prepared to be told it needs improvement. Be prepared to be rejected.

Resources to help you revise: Writer's Edit, 7 Strategies for Revising Your Novel, and The Creative Penn.

Resources for coping with rejection: NY Book Editors, Bulletproof Writer, and this rejection-relief map.

Networking 

One of the best ways to network with other writers is to join a writing group. Check your community  for a group. If you're unable to find anything local, here's a list of writing groups by state or region. 

You can also connect with other writers at conferences and workshops. Both are useful places to form your own group with likeminded writers. It's useful to have a range of interests and genres represented in your writing group as well as a range of skills. 

Your writing group can serve as a source of inspiration and also potential critique partners. You will also find you can refer each other to useful events and websites as well as get the word out about each other's work.

Platform

A writer's platform is their public persona. It includes their online presence on social media, a blog or website, and their contributions to other websites. It can also include classes they teach and speaking engagements. It is basically a springboard for extending the reach of the books and stories they write and engaging with readers.

If you do not have a blog or website, consider starting one now. Considering creating social media pages dedicated to your work as an author. Bring readers along with you on your writers journey.

Resource: The Basics of Building a Writers Platform

Publishing

Finally, the fulfillment of your writing dream - publication. Actually, this is just another beginning. You'll now be doing marketing and discovering that you want to publish yet more stories or books. But who wants fulfilled dreams, right? Isn't the chasing of the dream the whole point?

But, I get ahead of myself. There are two basic ways to publish a novel, self-publishing and traditional publishing. Did I say two? Well, there's hybrid now, too. Where a traditional publisher handles the print books and you retain control over digital publishing. 

With self-publishing, you direct everything, from the writing of the book to the editing, title and cover creation, and the actual publication in print and digital form, usually through an online resource such as amazon. Since you manage it all, the royalty payments are much higher than with traditional publishing. However, your ability to market and distribute your book may not compare to that of a traditional publisher. 

To gain access to the big traditional publishers, you will need an agent. Smaller, regional or niche publishers can be approached directly. Your costs will be lower if you go with traditional publishers, but you will also have less control over your final product and will receive much lower percentages for your royalty payments. However, this can all be offset by the marketing expertise of the publishers and the increased sales. It's up to you to decide.

Resource: How to Get Your Book Published

What have been some of your biggest hurdles for writing and some of your most rewarding experiences?

Publishing: What no one will talk about… and why

Once an author becomes published, what happens then? Do they get paid regularly, with lots of support from their publisher? Does their editor automatically love their next book?  Do they know exactly how to promote their book? Do they ever wonder if their book will flop and they’ll lose every opportunity they worked so hard for?

We tend to shy away from being public about the hardships that come  with traditional publishing, and realistically there are some good reasons for that. It’s like a car salesmen who during the test drive complains about his boss and how he missed his sales quota last month and might lose his job. Not exactly a winning sales technique.

As an author, once your book is up for sale, you are now a public figure and it can be tough to learn what to say and what’s off limits. What will come across like a negative Nancy? What do readers just not want to hear? Because what you say matters. Everything you put out on social media, every blog post, every speech, can affect how people see you.  That’s your brand. So being brutally honest? Not always an option (but then sometimes, it is.)

So I’m gonna take a moment to tell you what so many others are afraid to say. I’m going to tell you what publishing traditionally is really like.

Publishing is a dream come to life. It’s holding a piece of your heart and soul, your blood and tears, in your hands, covered in an image you had to rely on someone else to create.

Publishing is holding your tongue as people rip that piece of you into shreds with their words. It’s smiling when that one person tells you how much it meant to them.

It’s watching the your sales ranking tick up and down, with no clue if it’s good or bad or means anything at all (but all the while, pretending it’s great). It’s excitement because PEOPLE ARE READING YOUR WORDS, but stress-fully wondering if there are enough of them to please your publisher.

Publishing is ever changing. It’s is creating expectations then wondering if you can continue to live up to them. Wondering if you want to live up to them. Because what readers want, isn’t always what you want. It’s facing your own expectations, and very rarely actually meeting them.

Publishing is wondering which to follow: your heart or head. Your muse or your internal (or external, depending) marketer.

Publishing is trying to please everyone at once. You agent, your editor, your publishing sales team, book stores and libraries, readers—and yourself.

Publishing is one step at a time. It's walking alone in the dark with only a flashlight, clueless as to which turn is the right one.

Publishing is making friends, with readers and industry people, but mostly fellow writers— the only people who can truly understand. It’s reading incredible words that you didn’t write and celebrating their successes like they’re your own.

Publishing is writers block. Stressing so much that sometimes you can’t create. And creating is the entire point, right?

Publishing is finally writing something you adore, that your editor may or may not actually like.

Publishing is starting over. Again and again and again. All the while hiding your confusion from your readers, sometimes even your own family.

Publishing is persevering. It’s holding a new piece of your soul in your hands with the same love and excitement. The same fears. And sometimes... different results. 

Publishing is passion and exhilaration and art and devotion.

Publishing is terrifying, but in the end-- worth it.

 Every experience is unique. Every journey has different twists, different dips and different highs but lags and trip-ups and fears-- they're pretty darn universal. 

Sowing Seeds of Greatness

We all long for a simple recipe for the perfect story. Unfortunately, creativity doesn’t usually work that way. Writing is a messy, exciting, mind-blowing adventure, which is exactly why we love it and why it sometimes kicks our trash. 

Writing

The seeds for a great tale can be found just about anywhere—floating on the wind like dandelion clocks, at the breakfast table sprinkled on a bagel, spinning through a movie like maple tree helicopters, or in a squishy pile in your very own backyard. 

The problem is these seeds often sprout stories far different from what we’d expect. This is one instance where the apple really might fall far from the tree. It might even roll down the hill and morph into a carriage. But that is part of the joy of writing. 

If you’re prepping for a new story, seek inspiration in real life. Take a walk. Watch a movie. Just don’t zone out. Keep your notebook handy and jot down ideas, however commonplace or strange. You never know where they’ll take you once you start writing.

Exercises

Here’s a couple prompts to get those creative juices flowing.

Pick whatever color first comes to mind. Think of an emotion. Then look around the room (or alternatively, out the window), noticing the first item/person/animal you see that has your chosen color on it. 

Spend ten second visualizing that person or object. How is the emotion you considered connected to that person or object? Are they feeling that way? Did they provoke that emotion in someone else? Why? How? Now take what you’ve got and develop it into a 500-word piece answering the question—“What happens next?” 

Remember, keep it active!

Now, take this piece or another short piece you’ve written and twist it. For instance, you could change an element of the story, rewriting it with a fantasy or sci-fi overlay. 

Or add a new character who is vastly different from the others you’ve included and see how things play out. Change the POV or gender of the main characters. Choose a minor character and rewrite the scene from their perspective. 

There are tons of ways to do this. Whatever you do, you will find your story becomes something else altogether. Sometimes it will spawn several stories. You may stumble upon a compelling theme and really make it shine.

For more prompts, try http://boredmuse.com

Editing

As always, write in genius mode. You know what I mean. Write in a frenzy of brilliance, not worrying too much about perfect wording or stellar spelling. Just let the story spill out in all its ugly glory. 

Once you’re done (and the story has rested for awhile, days even), go back and see what you’ve got. This is when you put on your ruthless editing hat, rip out your blood-red pen and scribble away. 

Better yet, try a strategic approach. Go through your piece with a critical eye, searching for the true story hiding within. Sometimes the skeleton of an intriguing tale is already there, waiting to be fleshed out with similes, metaphors, powerful themes, and enhancing detail. 

Sometimes the skeleton is too jumbled up to put together into anything meaningful. But in that case, there’s almost always some glimmer of inspiration there, some new seed to plant and nurture into something beautiful (or scary, whatever your preference).

The point is, the seed is just the beginning, just a way to get your creative juices flowing. Don’t feel constrained by the start of the story or even its inspiration. In the end, you are the artist. You determine where the story takes us. Unless, of course, you happen upon a really headstrong character, who has a mind of their own and takes you on an adventure you’d never dreamed could come from your own mind.

Either way, you’re writing, you’re loving it, and at the same time, sowing seeds of greatness in your readers. In any genre, this is important, but especially in middle grade fiction. 

Our readers are clamoring for entertainment and encouragement, they’re on the cusp of defining themselves and are hungry for inspiration. They need to witness characters wrestle with problems and rise above themselves. As do we all.

What are some of your recent sources of creativity?

The Playlist Process

I have a slight problem with the manuscript I’m working on.

It isn’t related to plot; I feel like I’ve got the mental outline pretty much put together, leaving enough room for the story to continue evolving as I write. It isn’t really about character, either; even though this story has a lot of characters, I have a decent grasp on who each of them are, who they’ll become by the end, and how they relate to each other. The problem definitely isn’t about voice; that’s coming through well so far, maybe because I’m allowing myself to write with a voice I’ve wanted to use for a long time, but haven’t found the right project for until now. 

My problem is I still haven’t put together a writing playlist.

Now, do I need a writing playlist for this? Thankfully, no. The story is coming along surprisingly well. Would I like to have a playlist providing the soundtrack for this journey? Most certainly yes. Finding the right music has always been an important part of the writing process for me. I wrote my first manuscript while listening to nothing but the same thirty Bruce Hornsby songs on shuffle, usually during the time of day when light from the sunset poured in the front windows and filled my house, just because all of that gave me something close to a tangible expression of the tone I was trying to create. I wrote another manuscript mostly after dark with all the lights off, listening the scariest Iron Maiden songs I could find, as well as a few others that matched up with that creep factor. One year during NaNoWriMo I had a playlist of over two hundred songs that dripped emotional catharsis, to help me get in the head of a character pulled in nine different directions by everything she was struggling to understand. I’ll use these songs and the feelings they inspire to guide my voice, and, if I’m being honest about it, to help visualize what it might be like if, say, my story ever became a movie and needed a soundtrack. After all, isn’t a good part of the writing somehow tied to trying to live out hopes and dreams and speculation?

Truthfully though, I’ve never needed much of a reason to assemble playlists. I’ll put them together for road trips, or school work days when the students aren’t around, or to have playing in the background when I have guests, or even just because it feels like a day to listen to nothing but music released between 1997 and 2004. Applying this hobby (habit?) to my writing seemed natural.

Back before I found my way to the online writing community, I thought it was mildly self-indulgent to be so insistent about finding the perfect music to pair up with whatever I was writing. Then I started connecting with other writers, and discovered many had similar habits. A lot crafted playlists just as I did, but others didn’t stop there: They made Pinterest boards based on what their characters looked like. They compared different aspects of their characters to other well-known characters from books and movies and TV shows. Some even tried matching up settings with appropriately scented candles. They had favorite locations to write, rituals and routines they followed, and reward systems to keep themselves motivated. It seemed that nearly everyone populating this magical online writing domain was, in one way or another, searching for and leaning on the same kind of creative self-support I had been using all along. 

That discovery made my propensity for playlists seem, if anything, less like an idiosyncrasy and more like a legitimate part of the writing process, at least for me. That circles back to the simple truth that everyone approaches their writing differently, and whatever process works for each individual is just as legitimate as anything else. 

Of course, this still leaves me working without a playlist for this new project, or even any first steps in the direction toward finding one. I still have a long way to go though, so I know the right songs will eventually present themselves.

I’m just really looking forward to finding out what they’ll be.

What's Your Reason?

About a year ago, almost to the day, I wrote a post here breaking down the differences between having writing dreams and writing goals. As I looked back at it recently and began wondering how many of my own had been reached in 2016, a realization came to me: Dreams are fine, but they’re almost always beyond your control. Goals can be useful, but they’re constantly evolving.

This year I decided to reflect on reasons for writing — not wondering so much about our hopes or ambitions related to it, but why we have them at all. What’s the point of investing so much of ourselves in this? What do we hope to accomplish from it? With all the frustrating moments that pile up along the way, why even bother, really? 

I came up with a fairly predictable list of my own reasons that, when taken as a whole, weren’t very convincing. As I thought about why each was on the list, I found that every reason could be traced back to either insecurity or arrogance. I felt I had to prove I was worthy of my dreams and goals — both to myself and to other people — or I was too quick to believe that not only was I worthy, but I deserved seeing them happen. Here are some examples of what I mean: 

*I want to see something I wrote on a shelf in a bookstore. (Insecurity: Why would being on a bookstore shelf make me, or my writing, any more valid? Why would it take that to make me feel I was good enough?)
*I want to write something that will be meaningful to people. (Arrogance: What makes me think I have anything noteworthy to say in the first place?)
*I want to write something that people in the publishing industry would respect and take seriously. (Insecurity: Why should this mean so much to me, if I’ve lived any kind of a life that, hopefully, has already earned me the respect of other people for different reasons?) 
*I want to be successful enough at writing so I can devote myself to it full time. (Arrogance: I must have a pretty high opinion of my work to think I could possibly be one of the few to ever see Royalty Dollar #1, much less go full time, someday.)
*I want to publish a book so the people in my life will be proud of what I’ve accomplished. (Insecurity: If anyone is going to be proud of me, why does the reason need to be so specifically defined? Why would it take an achievement like publishing for that happen at all?)
*I want to write something great someday. (Arrogance: So now it’s not just stopping at meaningful? And where did I get the idea I was capable of anything great?)

That writer brain can set some nasty traps and dig some twisty rabbit holes for you if you let it.

One of the reasons it was so important to me to reflect on motivation was the preparation I had going for a new manuscript. I’d spent nearly all of 2016 in a back-and-forth revision dance that finally felt like it had paid off with a solid manuscript, so it was time for a new one. I had an idea I felt strongly about, so I immersed myself in the mindset that planning it down to the most minuscule detail was the way to go. Between my character sketching, my setting descriptions and the pre-synopsis I wrote of where I expected the story to go (it was too comprehensive to be called just an outline), I had a planning word count nearly equal in length to the manuscript I’d just finished revising. I’ve always been a planner, but this was a new level.

The work started pretty well, and I saw things coming together in positive ways. However, having this road map to adhere to made the writing feel different. I wasn’t getting caught up in the excitement of what I still believe is a great idea for a story, and I couldn’t figure out why. So eventually, I stopped. Not just working on that story; I pretty much stopped writing. That left me feeling like a hole was opening up inside me, which is not how things are supposed to happen. Writing had always been a retreat, if not an escape. It was something I could rely on to help me process what I had going on in life. Without that, the hole kept getting wider and deeper, because I wasn’t filling it with a very specific purpose. 

So, I made the difficult decision to put aside the project I had invested so much planning into and started a different story, one that had been rattling around in the vault for years. I only had vague ideas about it, but felt like it would be more fun. Days later, without even trying that hard, I was thousands of words into a new manuscript and felt that part of me coming back to life. I was writing like I always had— just telling a story because I wanted to. It was fun again. The hole was filling. My head was clearing. The emptiness wasn’t there. Instead I was carrying around a growing collection of ideas I wanted to try. Nothing structured, all random. I wanted to see what was going to happen next, and began planning out just far enough ahead.

I felt like had my answer. Why write? What’s my reason?

I write because I feel wrong if I don’t. I don’t feel complete without it. Whether I’m writing something that only a few dozen or potentially thousands of people might read someday, or something that I’ll never show another living soul, I simply need to do it. Any hopes or dreams or goals beyond that just have to exist separately.

I imagine this is probably true for a lot of us. Whatever goals you set for yourself in 2017 — reach for the stars, but keep your purpose in mind. Write because you need to. Write to fill the hole. Write because you love it. Respect the hopes and dreams and wishes that happen as a result of that need, but put them in their proper place, and let them resolve themselves along the way.

Pitch Wars and the Olympics

Did you watch the Rio Games? For the past two weeks I was caught up in the Olympic television coverage, from swimming to gymnastics, to track and field. I loved everything about the Olympics-- the coming together of nations for peaceful competition, the patriotism, the opening and closing ceremonies. But the thing I liked best? Watching athletes deliver a message I strongly believe in: Hard work can pay off. In the words of women's freestyle swimming gold medalist Katie Ledecky, who broke her own world record to win the first swimming gold medal in Rio, "What you put in is what you get out."

 

And that, my friends, got me thinking about writing.

This year, I am lucky to again serve as a mentor in the Pitch Wars writing contest. As a mentor, I have the impossible task of selecting one manuscript out of piles of submissions. It's heart-wrenching to think I can only pick one. Writers have written an entire novel and trusted me with their words. My heart breaks when I know I'm not connecting with a manuscript enough to say yes. It kills me to realize I'm going to have to pass, simply because I've fallen "more in love" with another novel.

 

My advice to Pitch Wars hopefuls who aren't selected? Follow Olympian Katie Ledecky's advice: Put in the hard work. Keep writing every day. Find beta readers. Attend conferences. Or maybe it's time to outline a brand new novel, like I did last fall:

Writing isn't for the faint-hearted. I've entered umpteen writing contests, and I haven't "won" anything more than a full manuscript request. But I have won other, perhaps more important things: Helpful critique, a closer connection with the writing community, and a chance to realize that the manuscript I thought was "the one" hadn't even been written yet.

 

Mastery of craft, like mastery of swimming or gymnastics, doesn't come overnight. Katie Ledecky started swimming at age 6. I wrote my first manuscript at age 40. We all have different timetables, but without putting in the work, mastery won't magically appear at any age.

 

So contest or no contest, my advice is to devote time to craft.

Print out your manuscript. Read it aloud. Flag troublesome scenes. Swap chapters with trusted beta readers. Read a ton. Write and re-write, a zillion times. Put in the work every single day and work harder than you ever thought possible.

 

I can't guarantee you'll find an Olympic medal hanging around your neck. But your writing? I bet it will shine.

 



The Office Bathroom that Made Me a Writer

As the release date for my first novel approaches, more people in my every day life are asking me questions about being an author. By far, the most common is some variation on, "Why/How did you start writing a book?"

I've got lots of answers for this, because there are lots of reasons - but I haven't shared the most direct reason yet. It's almost kind of embarrassing. But here at Middle Grade Minded we come clean. So *deep breath* here's the story about the day that I first began to write the book that would eventually become The Peculiar Haunting of Thelma Bee.

I was just getting settled in to being married, settled at a pleasant new job, and settled into a really great place by a river that felt like home. Basically, everything was going shockingly well. My coworkers were exceedingly pleasant, caring people, and my boss did things like install a communal massage chair in the office and play meditation music while we worked. It was wonderful.

But I felt itchy. Happy, but itchy - like I was missing something.

http://yogadivinity.blogspot.com

 You know that feeling where there's a song you can't get out of your head, and it fills you up with longing and nostalgia? It was like that only the longing and nostalgia was for some unknown place I couldn't put my finger on. I needed to make something. Unfortunately, I was totally out of practice in my writing. For years I'd only penned comedy sketches, lesson plans, or corporate copy. And also, I didn't know how to write a book. I mean...how do you just, "write a book?"

http://giphy.com

I thought maybe I should take some classes or something, but schedules and conflicts and commutes and blah blah blah - you get the idea.

Then I had to pee. This is a key element in the story.

My boss, the one with the meditation music, was also big on inspirational quotes. So much so that she furnished the office bathroom with its very own quote-a-day calendar. No knock on the effort, but this daily bit of zen usually provided more eye-roll fodder than inspiration for me.

But this day, the day that I first started writing a book, the calendar that sat next to a very nice vase of flowers and some Bath and Body Works hand cream read:

"A year from now you may wish you had started today." - Karen Lamb

I thought about that. I really thought about that. And it was true. I didn't know how to write a book, but I was going to learn, and I was going to start learning that day. On my lunch break I found some paper and started brainstorming. What were those swimming ideas that seemed so elusive to me? It had to do with a river, and it had to do with ghosts, and it even had to do with a cafe that served best-in-the-world hot chocolate. I just scribbled down everything I could capture.

That was Day 1. The day that I really became a writer was due in large part to a bathroom calendar.

So, I've come clean. That's my big origin story. But the sentiment on that calendar, cheesy though it may be, has stuck with me and did absolutely change the course of my life. What do you want to do?

Just start. Start today. Future you will be glad that you did.

Make Your Own Inspiration

Like most writers, or at least those still primed at the starting gate of their careers, I have another job — I teach at an elementary school. To call teaching a job almost feels like I’m trivializing it; teaching is arguably one of the most important jobs in our society, and I’m proud of the differences I’ve made in the lives of so many throughout my career. I consider it my privilege to have been a part of the education system for as long as I've been.

However, like any other profession, there are pros and cons to it. On the plus side, spending my work days in an elementary school gives me a front row seat to everything about the real world of middle grade and allows me to (hopefully) write my stories with an authentic tone. As for the not-so-plus side? It’s an incredibly difficult job. Any given school day can end with me feeling somewhere between exhilarated and accomplished or exhausted and frustrated, if not absolutely broken. When I show up at school in the morning, I need to be ready for anything to happen, because it’s going to. If I were able to share examples of some of the problems or events that comprise that unpredictable anything, a lot of people would either think or hope I was making it up.

So what happens on those days when I know I’m not going to be functioning at 100%? What if it’s all I can do to drag myself through the day and I end up facing any number of crises that life decides to test me with? I don’t get to toss aside my lesson plans in favor of a spontaneous six-hour kickball tournament because it would be easier. I can’t just give the kids a few sheets of drawing paper, then tell them to get out their colors and “impress me.” The mere idea of taking a long lunch so I can catch my breath is science fiction. I have responsibilities to fulfill and expectations to meet. I have a job to do, and it’s important that I do it well.

How is writing any different?

I guess that depends on what kind of writer you consider yourself. If it’s a hobby for you, as it was for me for so many years, you have some flexibility. You can wait for the perfect idea to tap you on the shoulder or whisper in your ear, and then play around with it at your leisure. If that’s your situation, I wish you all the luck in the world in your endeavors, and hope you enjoy every moment of the work you do.

I don’t think that describes most of us, though. I think most writers are caught up in that cycle where they keep writing because they simply have to. Maybe your drive comes from financial concerns, or general ambition, or just the necessity of protecting your peace of mind. Any of these could mean you might not have the luxury of waiting for perfect inspiration to come knocking on your door and offering to buy you dinner.

Real inspiration has more to do with the culmination of the work you put in to begin with. Sure, sometimes you get that idea that seems gift wrapped and fully-formed upon arrival, but once the real work begins, it’s inevitably going to evolve. One idea spawns another, which opens up other possibilities, which introduce new directions to explore, and before you realize what’s happened you have so many ideas spread across so many notes to work with you have to find a way to organize them all.

If you’re looking for inspiration to nudge forward a work in progress you're struggling with, or something that will help light a fire under that new project you’re thinking about? Make it yourself, first a word at a time, then a sentence, then a page or a chapter. And if what you’ve done isn’t lighting you up? Set it aside and try again. The inspiration is there, just waiting for the right time to come out and flick you behind the ear. Keep pushing, and trying, and trying again, and writing, and rewriting, and restarting, and revising, and revising again, and whatever else you need to do to find your way there. Put it the work and the inspiration will follow.

So get out there and get it done, people! You have a job to do! You have responsibilities to fulfill and expectations to meet. You owe it to your story. You owe it your characters. You owe it to your friends, and family, and critique partners, and all of the people making up your support system.

Above all, you owe it to yourself.

Inspiration, Two Ways

With all the talk of inspiration going on around here, it’s obviously no surprised that I’ve found myself thinking about what primes the ole’ pump the past week or so. What’s inspiration, you ask? Well, you know, It’s…that thing.  The stuff that helps you get stuff done.

On second thought, maybe we should consult Google for a proper definition. The way I described it above a) was entirely too reminiscent of Larry the Cable Guy, and b) is vague enough it could be said of both Red Bull and Elmer’s School Glue and still be equally true. Which puts that phrase in solid running for Most Generic Phrase of 2016.

Anyway…Google says:

in·spi·ra·tionˌinspəˈrāSH(ə)n/ - noun

1. the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.

I should probably add that there was a (2) part to that definition, which you can check out if you’re inclined to follow ye old link here, but it’s really just something about respiration. And, honestly, outside of a corny joke about writing MG being just as important as breathing, respiration is just not that important right now.

Well, other than that we all should keep doing it. That’s pretty important.

So, the process of being stimulated to do or feel something, huh? I have to admit, sometimes I feel like I’ve gotten off lucky in that regard when it comes to making stories. For some writers I know, inspiration for new stories is like planting a garden.  It’s takes good seeds, just the right amount of water and sunlight and warm cozy soil, a bunch of back-breaking work, and possibly some conversation with an Italian grandmother to get things growing properly. That is, they have to have Eureka! moment with a good story conceit, and ample time to poke and prod and nurture and coax it, just to grow a story out of their head.

(Does anyone else suddenly have a mental image of Jack’s beanstalk growing of an author’s ear? Poor author.)

What, then, makes me lucky in that regard? That is, in the story growing one rather than the ear-beanstalk one.  Sure, I am lucky in the ear-beanstalk regard too, but no more than the other 100% of the human population on Earth not capable of growing plants from their auditory organs.

Where was I? Right. Lucky.  I’m luckier than some because I’m pretty strictly a Science Fiction and/or Fantasy writer.  Which means that I can basically write stories about anything I can’t do in my every day life.  And let’s face it, there’s a lot I can’t do. I can’t conjure Fireballs, I can’t make trips to Alpha Centauri at faster than light speeds (or even at any speed, for that matter), and I can’t commune with the spirit of a long dead relative king at my family’s ancestral home in Glaxonsmithclinederry on the Pond or wherever. We’re basically from Cincinnati. We’ve kind of always been from Cincinnati, and, heck, one set of my grandparents never even owned a house. So, um, no ancestral home here.

Oddly enough, there are actually some family ghost stories, but that’s probably a post for a different day.

As for getting inspired by new story ideas, though? The honest trust is that I could probably write down at least one new idea a day, if not more. For instance, I actually got a idea earlier today about IT and voodoo and time traveling that I can’t wait to pick apart a little bit.  And you know where that idea came from? A tweet from a friend. Well, and apparently autocorrect. But that shouldn’t surprise anyone; mark my words, autocorrect will be the inspiration for 97% of the world’s creative output by the year 2037. It’s already generates roughly 43% of Buzzfeed’s content.

The really thing about inspiration, though, is that it’s got more than just one facet when it comes to writing. Sure, Inspiration of Ideas is a delightfully compelling subject, and the sources of it can be wildly diverse among writers. But if you ask me, even more interesting is the question of the Inspiration of Work, because it’s one that each and every one of us who writes anything must answer almost daily if we’re going to get anything done. What things inspire us to sit at a keyboard or a desk, and stare at the screen or notebook until the words finally come wriggling out, like baby turtles hobbling across the sand?

For me, it’s the love of seeing others discover the characters and worlds in my head. It’s the pride of knowing that I set out to make a story real, and did my level best to accomplish it. But I’d be lying if I tried to argue that high ideals got all my books written. There’s also the practical matter of the reward of M&Ms that marks the end of a solid sitting of work for me, too.

And if you ask me, you can never have too much practical inspiration. Something I’ll leave you to consider while you’re thinking about what inspires your work and your ideas.

Pud’n

Careful: Inspiration is sneaking up on you!

Fellow Middle Grade Minded Blogger Jamie Krakover recently wrote a wonderful post on inspiration and how asking "What if?" can be an amazing catalyst for our imagination.

That got me to thinking - How do I get inspired? Where are my ideas coming from?

For me, the process seems to take three routes: the esoteric, the stumble-upon-it, and the story I need to tell.

The Esoteric

These are the ideas that are completely random. In my mind's eye they are swirling all around and seem to light on me like a butterfly.

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In her book Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert argues that ideas are a "disembodied, energetic life-form", forever searching for someone to bring them to fruition (in whatever creative field you are engaged in, from knitting to writing to painting to gardening to whatever).

While this may sound crackers to you, there have been many occasions when an idea has simply "appeared", often almost fully-formed, begging for me to write it. Sometimes the result is good, sometimes not-so-good. In all cases, the not-so-good stories were because my heart wasn't quite in it. I still need to learn when to abandon an idea that doesn't quite do it.

Still the book I just finished (and am too superstitious to discuss yet!) arrived one afternoon without fanfare, but with great persistence. It followed me on my walks, it niggled at me in the shower, it directed me to a certain book, which when I opened it, led me to my character. And then it had the good grace to help me write it, including providing me with the elusive voice on page one. Sure, it needed revising and editing and all that good stuff, but I can only describe it as a gift. And truthfully, I felt more like the scribe, getting it all down, something I had never really experienced before.

The Stumble-Upon-It

I love the stumble-upon-it inspirations. These are the ideas that are gracious enough to present themselves in such a way that they are completely intriguing.

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One amazing source of ideas is old newspapers (and I'm talking really old here). Last year I was looking for the obituary of my great-uncle, who died tragically in the early part of the twentieth century, when a story about a presumed murder caught my eye. (The murder was presumed because there was not yet a body). Suddenly I found myself going to the next day's paper on the microfiche, then the next. Each day's content was more fantastical than the last. The old adage that you wouldn't believe something could happen if you read it in a book was true in this case.

It also happened that the reporter could spin a yarn. In fact, it's my experience that old newspaper reporters wrote their stories in the most florid and excitable tone, a tone just begging to be fictionalized. While I have yet to write the book, it continues to percolate in the back of my head.

Another idea I am currently exploring presented itself to me via Twitter. There are a few random historical and news sites I follow on twitter and when one of them popped up with a plaque from an historical site in England awhile back, I knew it was the name of one of my next novels. Since then, I've been researching and putting together an outline. This made me feel very cocky about my use of Twitter and has obliterated the guilt I sometimes associate with it, since it can be my way of avoiding real work...

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The Story I Need to Tell

It's a Mystery, Pig Face! definitely falls into this category.

I'd always wanted to write a fun adventure story in the vein of Enid Blyton, Arthur Ransome, Harriet the Spy and that ilk.

I also always wanted to write about the neighbourhood I grew up in. Like kids everywhere, we were always hoping to stumble upon a mystery. If we couldn't find one, we were more than happy to make one up. This didn't always end well. Thus Tracy and Ralph and Pig Face's adventures were born.

Two years ago I wrote the first draft of another MG novel during NaNoWriMo about a boy coping with a family loss and a discovered grave. I haven't returned to that book yet, and I suspect when I do it will be almost completely overhauled, but I needed to write it at the time because it was a family story that had been worming its way into my imagination for many years.

So that's my take on inspiration and ideas. If I could sum it up in two words it would be: PAY ATTENTION! Inspiration is always sneaking up on you. You don't want to miss it.



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Now I'd love to hear your take on ideas and inspiration - do share!

What if?

Let's talk about inspiration for a second. We all need it. Yet, we all get it from different places. And sometimes we never know where or when it might strike. But until the MG Minders decided to tackle this topic over the next few weeks, I never really thought about where my inspiration came from.

 

And as much as I'd love to say Buzz speaks the truth, unfortunately that's not always the case. Okay, sure there's tons and tons of ideas, in fact I have over 150 email drafts in my inbox where I store my spur of the moment thoughts. However, most of those ideas are just a single thought, they don't have characters, plot, or depth to them. They aren't unique, and they don't carry much weight.

Every once in a while an idea will strike and take hold, or in some cases if I'm very lucky, it'll take over. We all love when the words start pouring out of us, but I'm getting ahead of myself. How do we actually get to the point where the ideas just come. Where does that spark of inspiration come from?

The short unhelpful answer is EVERYWHERE. But it goes much deeper than that. Sometimes, I honestly don't know. Sometimes there's a word or a phrase that some says or I something I read online that will set me off, other times it's an article or something on TV or in a movie. Most frequently though, the inspiration comes from within me. It's engrained in my very nature.

Confused yet? I know, it surprised me a bit too. But when I really sat back to think about it, every manuscript I write has a large piece of me in it. I often don't even realize it's happening. Let me explain.

In addition to writing in my free time, I'm also an aerospace engineer. It's not only something that pays the bills, but it's something I really enjoy. I love science and math. I also love science fiction and fantasy. And those ideals are so closely tied together. In my day job, I'm constantly surrounded by technology and research. The wheels in my brain are always spinning within the real world, and the world just out of reach. I'm always asking myself questions about what is, what could be, and what seems impossible. But the one question I find myself asking most frequently when it comes to my writing is 'What If'.

Even when I feel completely lost, that one question has become the source of a majority of my inspiration. It starts with that spark that I mentioned earlier, someone says something, that article, that TV show, etc. but it's that 'What if' question that keeps me moving forward. My thoughts and ideals, the things I dream could be real one day, and the things that are just out of reach that terrify me. Those are the inspirations behind my work.

How far can I push that idea? What would that world look like? And how would a character react and survive in that situation? Those are the ideas and thoughts that help drive my stories.

So the next time your find yourself stuck...

Where do you get your inspirations? What drives your stories?

Inspiration from (mainly) inside of a car

This past weekend, my wife and I took a mini-road trip west. Three hours. One hundred fifty-five miles. All for a comedy show.

Was it worth it?

Yes. For so many reasons.

But it wasn't just because of the ridiculously funny routine we got to see. We'd barely started our trip--I'm talking before my bladder even started getting the too-much-morning-coffee tingle--when certain writerly things started falling into place in my head. I figured I'd share some of my revelations (some new, some just reinforced) with you today.

1) Music and movement. It helps. Pumping the tunes into your head is great, but don't forget to get the blood pumping, either. There's science involved, but I don't want to bore you with the information I'd have to Google to bore you with, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

2) Scenery. It helps. Simply changing your view can create some immediate inspiration. Needless to say, the scenery from east Tennessee to middle Tennessee doesn't change a great deal, but even seeing different buildings, trees, vehicles, or weather can help shake loose an idea that's been stuck in your head for a while.

3) Talking. It helps. Jackie (my wife) or I would see something on our drive and that one little piece of visual stimulation would inevitably transform into some kind of story. She'd start it and I'd build on it and hand it off to her so she could add in more what ifs and maybes. Before long we'd have an entire back story and journey plotted out for something as uninspired as an abandoned baseball cap. Spoiler: it's a love story with rabid groundhogs.

4) Friends. They help. We stayed with an amazing writer, Jeff Zentner (his book, The Serpent King, comes out next spring) and spent quite a bit of time talking books, movies, life, and annoying neighbors. It's amazing how inspiring it is to just hear other people talk. To listen to their stories. Seeing their expressions, watching their gestures, understanding their own three-dimensionality can do wonders for a character you're writing. And if you don't have friends? Use your pet, it works just as well.

5) Kids. They help. Jeff and his wife have the world's most interesting five year old. No joke. It's incredible to watch what makes a child laugh and what doesn't make a child laugh. Yeah, their kid would giggle when someone dropped the word "butt" into a conversation, but he'd also think through a more complex joke. He'd actually try to get the punchline, and when he did, he loved it. Not to say all of my funnies got a good laugh. I got a few squints and shrugs as well. What can I say? The kid's no fool.

6) Comedy. It helps. Even if you're not writing comedy, let yourself be entertained. Allow yourself to be amused and embrace the side-splitting pain when you can't contain a laugh. We spared no guffaws for Nick Kroll and John Mulaney that night. I sprayed the poor guy's hair in front of me with plenty of Ha-Ha spittle, I'm sure, but he didn't notice and I was too busy trying not to pee my pants to care. And when I left the show, body in one giant ache from laughing so hard, I felt good. No, great. Ready dive back into my WIP with a renewed energy.

Our trip was short. We spent about as many hours on the road as we did talking to our friends and being entertained by comedians. Leg cramps were had, bad gas-station coffee was consumed, road rage was witnessed, time was gained and lost through different zones. But would I do it all again? For me? For Jackie? For the characters in my current project and the ones in projects not even started?

Heck yeah. In a heartbeat.

Happy writing!

Fiction Writing: Creation vs Evolution

Fiction Writing: Creation vs Evolution

By Robert Polk

Do you use the word creation to describe your writing? Although creation means “bringing something into existence”, and that’s kind of what writers do, I’m still uncomfortable calling my writings “creations”. I often wonder how many other writers feel they are merely conduits for ideas waiting for proper expression. If you’re like me, your writing ability continues to evolve, as do your stories – and yet there’s still plenty of room in our brains for creative flow and evolution of craft. (There is in mine, anyway.)

Even when I’m working on new projects (whether MG or otherwise) I’m reluctant to claim full credit for “creating” anything completely original.

The word “discovery” fits my idea of writing. Because for me, it’s all about character discovery, or it’s about discovering the plot that works or discovering the circumstances particular to the development of each scene. At any rate, in my writing process, I go searching for the character, or plot or world or circumstance. I seek them out, listening, observing, and trying to really hear or feel them.

Maybe in some sense we did “create” our characters and the circumstances in which our characters find themselves. But even then, I stumble at fully believing that I caused a character’s existence, rather than finding her or him.

The point is, for me, I’m doing what works. And what works for me is listening to people, watching and really hearing the characters and considering if they are right for this book, or chapter, or scene, or whatever.

No, I can’t use the word creation – not when referring to my characters. They are already there, somewhere, waiting for me to discover them and to really hear their messages. But I will help them evolve, as I put them through a series of ‘what if’s. The poor suckers may suffer an embarrassing situation or deal with a tragedy of some kind which may show an interesting side of them.

When my characters display these previously hidden facets of themselves, I can’t help but wonder what else is yet to be learned about (and from) them. I plod on, nudging, tweaking, prodding them to see what they’ll do and say. How can that process not be more discovery than anything else?

Although the argument of Creation vs Evolution can be polarizing, I think there’s a little of both going on – at least in my writing.