LEARNING TO MAKE EACH SENTENCE COUNT AND TO GET IT WRITTEN

Writing sentences one word at a time.
Image from Wikimedia

“Don't say it was delightful; make us say delightful when we've read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers Please will you do the job for me.” ~ CS LEWIS

Janet Fitch said that once, she was rejected by the editor of the Santa Monica Review, Jim Krusoe:

“Good enough story, but what’s unique about your sentences?”

Janet’s advice, based on that rejection was to learn to look at every sentence “play with them, make sure there’s music, lots of edges and corners to the sounds.”

To study sentence construction my writing tutor recommended that we borrowed sentences from an author who had a particularly distinctive style. Using their sentences as a structure, all we had to do was to substitute our words for theirs, and see how they achieved their effects.

I have been working on introducing characters.

This is an interview situation.

These are the first words David Foster Wallace used to introduce Harold in his book Infinite Jest:

I believe I appear neutral, maybe even pleasant, though I’ve been coached to err on the side of neutrality and not attempt what would appear to me like a pleasant expression or smile.

I have committed to crossing my legs I hope carefully, ankle on knee, hands together on the lap of my slacks.

From Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace page 1 line 13 – 17

I have been looking to see what I could learn one sentence at a time.

I don’t plan to look nervous or desperate either, everyone knows bland trumps conceited so I cap any question of showing face whether that is needy or a smile.

I open myself wide with the leg I choose to cross, ankle on knee, and with hands all too visible on my slick suit.

I like to test myself – I have a theory that everything is only one step from MG:

I drop my jaw and lock no particular expression onto my face, I keep it vaguely sort of relaxed, because my tutor says to avoid every extreme emotion even the kind I think would be classed as friendly or smiley.

The flash of me I show is when I open up and cross my leg, with my ankle on the top of knee I sit back but my hands are tied in knots on my lap.

I LOVE ALLY CARTER'S ADVICE, I HAVE PINNED UP BY MY COMPUTER:

DON'T GET IT RIGHT, GET IT WRITTEN.

WHICH WRITING QUOTE IS INSPIRING YOU AT THE MOMENT?

SCIENTIFIC ALMOSTFACT: TIME SLIPS ARE CAUSED BY THE MINUTE-MUNCHING MONSTER

MY MINUTE-MUNCHING MONSTER
SHOULD LOOK LIKE THIS. :D
Image from Wickimedia

Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. ~ M Scott Peck.

I feel I undervalued myself today.

It’s true a large chunk of my time was hijacked by other people being somewhere other than where they were meant to be.

And I woke up thinking I was going to find it hard to be disciplined and make sure the word count kept rising because summer was making a brief appearance after weeks of rain and grey.

So, I had to work.

And sort out dull, but worthy, financial issues.

I tallied all that on the side of profitable.

I couldn’t account for the missing hours between the end of the washing up and the start of this blogpost.

Did I ever mention the minute-munching monster that forms from grey mist behind my armchair? He can also be found rising from my computer screen?

The minute-munching monster must be real because I can’t be the thief of time. I know better than to borrow minutes.

What happens when you suck all the spare time from the future?

Your timescape bulges like a saggy balloon behind you, a wasteland tightens all around the now and that puts a serious strain on your potentials.

I don’t want to put a strain on my potential ;)

Tomorrow will be a different kind of day: productive.

Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think. ~ Horace

IS THE MINUTE-MUNCHING MONSTER SPOILING YOUR SUMMER OF WRITING? 

WHAT CONCEPTUAL HOOK?

I like my water in a glass rather
than falling from the sky... on
a daily basis.
Yes, I know you can't have one
without the other ;)
Image from Wikimedia

As the sun is shining I’m planning to write a really short blogpost.

What is a conceptual hook?

·         It's the idea behind the book

·         And the rhetorical question you can’t use as the opening line of a query letter ;)

 What would happen if…

What would happen if all the rain was the result of a small group of alternative humans, whose evolutionary path had been different from homo-sapiens, and now, with the aid of modern technology, they planned to take the world back to a more watery existence so they could forge a differently shaped future for us all?

What would happen if there was a natural spring in your back garden when the water company turned off the supply and offered time slots for the collection of water rations from heavily armed collection points?

DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE CONCEPTUAL HOOK?

THE PASSIVE MC AND WHAT WE LEARNED FROM NOVELS

UK hairdressers.com is one of my
favourite places to find my MCs.

Once the summer holidays arrive my writing time goes from limited to endangered.

I feel bad for not getting to Blog, or Tweet, as often as I'd like but I have written two books in a week... enough said ;)

I hope everyone who stops by is enjoying their writing, feeling the pleasure of gathering words and gluing them onto pages. I know I've been having a lot of fun.

I found I needed to go back to Characterisation 101 yesterday when I realised my MC was running after her friend... again.

“There is no such thing as a passive lead character. Your main character must take control of her own destiny – she must make the decisions and take the actions that drive the story, and these must stem from who she is. This applies no matter which genre you are working in - including genres structured in a more plot-driven format. Even these are ultimately more character-driven than they may appear.” ~ Jennifer Knight

My MC is a girl.

She has a friend who is a boy.

They are the same age.

He knows more about what’s been going on than she does.

However, this is her book.

As their relationship is unbalanced I’ve had to keep this quote from Jennifer Knight pinned above my computer.

I've been checking one page at a time to ensure she is making decisions based on the evidence, to make sure the MC is in control.

As her friend is biased because of his prior knowledge I've given him an eager determination but also made sure he is guilty of seeing only what he thinks should be going on.

The important thing I re-learned this week is that no matter what age you are writing for the MC cannot be passive – a passenger in the vehicle you are creating – she needs to have the same emotions and motivations as most other girls of her age but she must have impulses and qualities that make her unique.

I have just started reading MATCHED  by Ally Condie and I'm loving it. 

THIS IS ONE BAD THING I LEARNED FROM NOVELS:

               Girls run after boys because boys have all the ideas... first.

CAN YOU THINK OF ANY MORE BAD THINGS YOU LEARNED FROM NOVELS?

THREE REVELATIONS a fluid metaphor and Unstonehenge

FAKE STONEHENGE
*image from LONDONIST.COM

It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it. ~ Anais Nin

I spent a few minutes in retrospection and it occurred to me that while I’ve been writing I’ve been wading waist-deep in words and constantly snagged by rules. 

Words are fluid like the sea.

In the expanse of words:

     some float on the surface and are easy to reach – constantly in use

     some are deep

     some are frothy  – they look pretty only at first glance

     words change their intensity depending on the light of meaning, and emotional impact.

Rules are nets that try to shape words into rigid forms:

     some are like seawalls – necessary barriers that stop words flooding everywhere.

     like groynes, some rules intrude in and among the words; they are designed to shape our understanding.

     constantly submerged in words, the rules change – eventually; they are worn down by use.

Who says I can’t stretch a metaphor into a simile :D *hahaha

THREE REVELATIONS:

While I have been spending far-too-long thinking about writing, I realised I have learned three important things:

·         No matter what you are writing, the basic material has been used before.

·         It’s how you put the elements together with creativity and flare that creates “voice.”

And voice is the only thing that is unique.

·         You can be positively inspired by something that has been done before.

WHAT HAVE YOU REALISED ABOUT WRITING?

SHARPER WRITING DRIVES THE PLOT *ouch!

I found Heidi Cohen's 21 Tips to keep your
writing sharp interesting.

A writer can write in an attic, or on top of a bus. Or with a sharp stick in some wet cement. ~Paul Muni

I’ve been thinking a lot about writing sharp. As I see it, to keep driving the plot forward I need to: 

Ø Structure the plot

Ø Shape chapters including some rough edges

Ø Slide over time

Ø Sharpen sentences – I find the Tweet comment box useful for this

Writing in first person from a young POV gives me a lot of time to notice everything and understand only the things that have importance for my MC.

Children have very sharp powers of observation - probably sharper than adults - yet at the same time their emotional reactions are murky and much more primitive. ~ Donna Tartt

  

I hear the little children of the wind

Crying solitary in lonely places. ~ William Sharp

DO YOU PREFER WRITING IN FIRST OR THIRD PERSON?

TEASER TUESDAY - THE FALSE PRINCE + 4 RULES OF WRITING... CRISIS

"Start as close to the end as possible." ~ Kurt Vonnegut

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 

Anyone can play along! 

Just do the following:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

THE FALSE PRINCE ~ Jennifer A Neilson
MG/YA 

Civil war is brewing in the kingdom. To unify the people, Conner, a nobleman of the court devises a plan to find someone to impersonate the king's long-lost son. Once the imposter is installed as a puppet prince Conner plans to rein.

Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage.

This exciting story is full of plot twists and turns. It is all about the relationships Sage forms with the people he spends time with - a political manoeuvring - in this Game of Thrones ;)

"I'd never attempted roast thievery before, and I was already regretting it. It happens to be very difficult to hold a chunk of raw meat while running."

When I started to read this book I realised I had to shuffle one of my ideas to the back of the pack: refer to rule 4

MY 4 RULES OF WRITING:

·         Any time is a good time to write

·         Know your world and the conflict generated before focussing on the effect it has on an individual

·         Describe things that are specific and unique

·         If it is already on the bookshelves it’s the wrong thing to write

HAVE YOU READ ANYTHING RECENTLY THAT MADE YOU REALISE THIS WAS THE WRONG TIME TO BE WORKING ON A PARTICULAR MANUSCRIPT?