Master of Bear-emonies

The Midwest Storymakers Conference is always a highlight of my year. I get to see old friends and meet wonderful new people. And this year was no exception.

If I had one suggestion for beginning writers it would be to write, write a lot, write some more, then keep writing. If I had two suggestions, the second one would be to go to a writers conference to meet other writers like you and learn from them.

Thanks to our conference partners this year, the Johnson County Public Library and their Read Local committee, we held the conference at the education center of the Antioch branch of the library. I never knew that the library did so many different things in the community. Three cheers for libraries!!!

This year, I wasn't in charge of the Audio/Visual equipment. It felt a little strange, at times, being able to attend classes and not worry about making the rounds to check if projectors were behaving, clickers working, or giving 5-minute warnings to the instructors. It was both refreshing and a bit awkward. I've been doing the A/V for several years, so I always had that aren't-you-forgetting-something-important feeling.

They didn't let me completely off the hook. I was the Master of Ceremonies, and it was a blast! I had so much fun finding humorous ways to make announcements or introduce the schedule. If you've seen me at a conference you know how much I like to interact with people, so MC was the perfect job. I got to meet everyone.

To be honest, it was also stressful to get everything together and figure out how to make a bunch of different things fit together. And there are always last-minute changes that got whispered to me right before I went on. That's just the job of MC. But it was so much less stressful than A/V.

This year, we had a power-packed lineup of instructors: 

Cathy Maxwell, Danyelle Ferguson, Don Carey, Gregg Luke, Heather Justesen, Janette Rallison, Jennifer Moore, Julie Ford, Laurie LC Lewis, Lisa Mangum, Lisa Swinton, Rebecca Bellison, Sarah Eden, Tamara Hart Heiner, Traci Hunter Abramson, Samantha Millburn, and Scott Slocum.

I know that's a lot of people in a dense list, but they are all awesome and I didn't want to forget anyone.

Now, another wonderful Midwest conference is done, and I'm already looking forward to next year. I don't know what my job will be, or if I will be given one--won't that be weird, to not have anything to do?

And I'll leave you with a bit of an inside joke. If you don't get it, don't worry. Enjoy.

Nathan Hale's Calendar

If you're not reading Nathan Hale's blog you should be. He's a wonderful artist and all around creative guy. His posts aren't long and they usually involve a picture he's drawn.

He's also been known to publish whole stories on his blog. Lately, he hasn't done that as much because he's just so busy putting out books.

I'd like to have that problem.

Earlier this week, he shared his calendar. He uses it to track his work. It's simple, useful, and really cool to look at. Here's a quick explanation.

A line coming in from the bottom of a day means he started drawing a page. A line going out the top of a day, means he finished the page. Seriously, look at all those lines. For more details, you need to read and comment on his post.

Not only is it easy to see the work he got done, this feels like a sup'd up version of the Don't Break the Chain method. I love it.

In fact, I've been trying to think how I could adapt it for writing. I was thinking about tracking scenes.

I define a scene as a series of chronological events that happen in one location. This is how I write my stories--scene by scene. I don't put them together into chapters until later in the editing process.

So scenes might work. Of course, they vary in length quite a bit, some of my scenes are just 500 words while others are 5000 words. Still, I don't think that matters. What matters is moving the story forward, not how many words are in the story.

I'm also considering making writing and editing scenes look different somehow. I don't want to complicate things, so I was thinking about writing a "D" or "E" when a line comes in the bottom. In the end, it also doesn't matter if I'm writing or editing as long as the book is progressing, so I'm not sure if I'll need to do this.

The goal is to have a cool visual representation of my progress. Cool enough that the pattern I'm creating will provide motivation to continue the pattern.

So, I'm looking for other people's ideas. What do you think would make for a good calendar tracking system? Also, don't forget to check out Nathan's blog.

* Nathan's calendar image posted with permission.

A Class by Brandon Sanderson

Hidden away at in the middle of a blog post by Brandon Sanderson, he said that the lectures from his creative writing class were all online.

Say what?

So, I went to check them out. And sure enough, there they were. Each lecture is broken into multiple videos separated more-or-less by topic. Many of the videos also have the notes for the class. In a word, it's awesome! (Thanks to WriteAboutDragons for doing all the hard work.)

Want to know how Brandon plots his books? Go here.

How about advice on participating in a writers group? Got that.

Creating sympathetic characters. Meeting agents. World building. Fight scenes. And more and more. In fact, there are over 15 hours of lectures all online for your learning pleasure.

And if you're like me and don't want to click the next lecture each time, I've got you covered.

I created one, massive playlist that will start at the beginning and play all the way through to the end. Of course, you can start anywhere in the playlist and it will happily load the next video and the next. So you can  sit back and enjoy for as long as you want.

You can find the playlist here.

Personally, I'm going through the lectures as I prepare for Nano next month. I'm just past the class where he talks about creating characters and I'm going through the exercises. If your a video learner, and like Brandon's style of writing, you might like his classes, too.

Go ahead and give them a try. It's free.

* They say a picture is worth a thousand words--this picture surely is. It's titled Secrets by Sarah Horrigan. I got sucked into all the wonderful images on her photo stream, it's well worth your time. In fact, I may contact her and see if she'll let me do a whole blog post on her work. It's great.

Just Quit

Since the conference, I've spent a lot of time writing. I love creating stories in my mind and crafting words to convey them.

I'm reminded of a piece of advice I heard somewhere. It's advice given from an experienced author to someone just starting out. And it goes like this:

"Quit. And if that doesn't work, roll up your sleeves and pay the price for success."

While that advice seems harsh, there's a lot of truth there. Over the years, I've given up a lot of things. Some things I gave up because I didn't have the money to afford it. Others I gave up because I didn't have the time. Many things I gave up, because I wanted to do something different.

And over the years, I've quit writing. I've put it on the shelf in order to do other things. But every time, I come back to it. I like it. It makes me happy.

So, I've made a pact with myself. I'm going to finish the second draft of my Thor story and finish the first draft of a to-be-started story before the end of the year. And if I have time, I'll finish the second draft of my Dreamer story as well.

That's a lot of stuff to do, but since quitting hasn't worked for me. I might as well roll up my sleeves and pay the price.

So, what's the best writing advice you've heard? Not the advice that sounds the best, I want to know what advice caused you to increase the quality or quantity of your writing the most.

* This picture of a Go game taken by Luis de Bethencourt looked so good, it made me want to learn how to play. You should check out his other photos.

The Best Writing Investment I Ever Made

In 2005 I attended my first writers conference.

It was a small LDStorymakers conference, held in a little, brown theater in Springville, Utah. In fact, it was held in the Little Brown Theater. Less than a hundred people attended, which was good because if there were any more, I don't think we'd all fit.

At that time, I didn't have aspirations of becoming a writer or an author, but that changed.

I learned about the craft of writing, the business of writing, and the joys (and pains) of writing. That was interesting and all, but mostly I met people--kindred spirits. I formed relationships at that conference that changed my life for the better.

Now's the part where I drop a bunch of names. Just remember, back then many of these people were just starting their careers. And even today, there are still a few undiscovered gems. BJ Rowley (who is releasing an awesome ebook later this week), Darvell Hunt, Heather Justesen, Josi S. Kilpack, Julie Wright, James Dashner (he wasn't a NYT Bestseller back then), J. Scott Savage, the award-winning Marta Smith, Anita Stansfield, Rachel Ann Nunes, Candace Salima, Rebecca Shelley, and Tristi Pinkston. (I'm sure I forgot someone. I'm sorry.)

I'm not just name dropping. Each of these people have personally impacted my life. They aren't just names or acquaintances, they're friends and cohorts in storytelling.

The people I met and the things I learned at that small, one day conference nudged the course of my life ever so slightly. Because of that shift back in 2005, I'm a writer today, and I have some of the best, quirkiest, awesomest friends in the world.

I tell you this because on September 15th, LDStorymakers Midwest conference is happening in Kansas City. There will be less than 100 people, so it will be more intimate than the main conference in Utah. It's just one Saturday, so no huge time commitment. It's not as expensive as the multi-day, main conference. And some of my friends are teaching and speaking.

There are still slots open, so tell all your friends and family. Especially pass the word to people who aren't writers. You never know what might happen. I'm excited to read someone else's story in 7 years.

Here's the link to the registration page.

* Isn't this a great picture of two friends? And I really want to see what they're looking at off camera. RAM shared this photo on Flickr. He has more beautiful shots from Lebanon you should check out.

Above Water Again

The last six months have been crazy.

No. More than crazy. What's the next step after crazy? Insane? That's basically the same thing.

Hell? That's a bit much, especially considering the Judeo-Christian view of hell as fire and brimstone.

Let's just say, I was solidly across the crazy line. Then, I went to a 90-minute sales presentation where I learned more about hell, and they gave me a voucher for a complimentary trip to a somewhat-hell-like place, and a $30 gift card to a chain restaurant. I think that sums it up nicely.

I'm usually a positive person. I like to look on the bright side, and as a writer of imaginary stories, I can think up a bright side to about anything.

This time was different. After a while, all the problems and challenges started to wear on me. I never became bitter, but I found myself longing for normal. Instead of looking forward and working through my problems, I wanted to take a couple steps backwards and catch my breath.

Not anymore. Break's over. Get back to work!

I needed the breather, but now it's time to get back on my feet. And funny enough, all of my obstacles are starting to look like platforms I can stand on to climb higher. The obstacles didn't change, just the way I see them.

Annoyingly-positive John is back.

And this is what I learned: Before we can make footprints in the sands of life, we first have to decide to stop leaving butt prints. (Besides, then the sand gets all up in your swimming trunks and the drive home is awful.)

Who's with me?

* Alan Light. What a great name for a photographer. When I saw this sand sculpture on Flickr, I thought, "If I'm going to leave any prints in the sand, I want them to look like this."

Becoming a Writer

Most software projects have testers. These are the people who get paid to break my code and report problems for me to fix. Without them, my work is a lot harder.

Over the years, I've worked with many people who made the transition from tester to programmer. It seems like a good fit: both of us work with software, we speak the same "language", and we're both detail oriented and have technical expertise.

But it isn't an easy transition. There's one hurdle that I see many people struggle with. You see, testers and programmers have a different view of software.

A tester knows what the program is supposed to do, and they know lots of ways to break it. They know what they are looking for, then perform tests to verify there's nothing wrong.

Programming is different. No longer are there right and wrong answers. There are often many right answers--many different ways to make the software work. Answers that all appear correct to the user, but they each come with a different set of limitations. In fact, there are even wrong answers that will still appear to work correctly for now, but will come back to bite you later.

It's no longer a black-and-white world. It's not whether something passes or fails. It's about more than that.

What's interesting is that I see a similar transition when my friends who are readers become writers. As a reader, we get into the story, the characters, the setting, the writing. We can spot when an author makes mistakes like plot holes or confusing story lines or bad grammar. A well-written story feels like it is inevitable. "Of course he'd make that decision," we say to ourselves even though the decision surprised us.

But as a writer, there isn't anything inevitable about a story even though many beginning writers think so. I used to think so, too. You feel like the story is driving you. Once you are done, you bristle when someone gives you negative feedback. You struggle with how to tweak your story without ruining it.

Well, let me tell you. There are no right answers anymore. There are many ways to tell your story once you get to the heart of it. You an cut out whole characters, change locations, have people make different choices, introduce any conflict you want at any time or take it out again. And you can still have your story.

Once I realized this, I wasn't just telling a story, I was crafting a story. I could experiment. If the changes didn't work, I'd put it back the way it was. I started looking at other stories, not just for entertainment, but so I could see how the masters crafted their scenes, flowed their dialog, and built their settings.

It's a different way to look at story, but for a writer it's much more useful.

Here's an experiment for you. In your current story, go back to a previous scene and change something major. Have a character get hurt so they can't have that conversation or can't accomplish their goal right then. Or put a different character into the scene and watch what happens. For me, the story re-flows around the change all the way to the end. I can then decide which path to take.

Have fun. Experiment. And keep writing.

* I went searching for a picture that would show that "there's more than one path you can take." I think Mike Fleming captured it with this one. I like it. If you like it too, you can check out his work on Flickr.

Keeping Track of NaNoWriMo IRL (In Real Life)

I bet you're wondering why I have a picture of pretty fingernails on my blog today.

My friend and fellow writer, Marta Smith has an awesome way she keeps her NaNoWriMo status. She paints her fingernails blue, and I mean Blue. That's to remind her to write. Then she adds silver crackle to one nail for every 5,000 words she finishes. So her fingernails become a visible progress bar. Isn't that awesome!

I just have one problem: I'm a guy, and as much as I would totally paint my fingernails as a joke or for Halloween, I'm not going to go to work all month with painted fingernails.

So, here are a few ideas for my fellow dudes to track our NaNo status IRL. (Dudettes, you can use them too if you want.)

Public Shaming Option
Go ahead and paint your fingernails just like Marta. Choose a bright, bold color. Then for every 5K words you can remove the paint from one nail.

I predict that the guys who use this option will be finished with their 50K before the first work day of the month (or they'll take a couple sick days).

Discomfort Option #1
While this one is not as effective as the first, it hits a little closer to the wallet.

Go get 10 credit-card-sized cards. These can be from your stash of store rewards cards you barely use, or credit cards, old calling cards, empty gift cards, whatever. You just need 10. Cram them into your wallet. You've got to sit on that uncomfortable beast until you hit your word count goals. For every 5K words take one out.

Discomfort Option #2
This one is similar to the other discomfort option. This time get 10 extra keys and put them on your primary key ring. Not the one you keep in your bag or on your nightstand. I'm talking about the keys you carry with you in your pocket everywhere you go. Painful, I know. But for every 5K words you get to take a key off.

Reverse Progress Bar
Go buy 10 of your favorite candy. Go ahead and get the good stuff, king-sized if you want. When you get home, hot glue all of it to some poster board. For every 5K words, take one off and enjoy. Bonus: If hot glue and poster board isn't manly enough for you feel free to epoxy those suckers to a 2x4.

Discomfort Option #3
This one takes a bit more setup. Get an old T-shirt you don't wear anymore. I know you've got dozens of them. Then buy some Velcro (the kind that already has glue on the back) and 10 bean bags (you can usually pick these up for cheap at your local Goodwill). Attach the bean bags to the shirt with the Velcro. Make sure you use the soft side of the Velcro on the T-shirt.

Throw that lumpy mass of cloth and beans into your favorite recliner or your spot on the couch. You have to sit on it while watching TV, but for every 5K words you finish you can take one bean bag off the shirt.

I hope these ideas inspire some of my fellow writers to keep typing...Keep Typing...KEEP TYPING. We're halfway through. Huzzah!

If you have other creative ways to motivate you through Nano let me know in the comments.

* The photo is a real picture of Marta's nails near the beginning of the month. I think it was taken by Ali Cross. If you want to use it you'll have to get a hold of them. Thanks Ali and Marta for sharing this cool idea.

Pomodoro Technique - Surviving NaNoWriMo

This is my first year participating in NaNoWriMo, but as a computer programmer I'm no stranger to huge deadlines that require long-term focus to get done.

When work is mounting and time is dwindling I turn to the Pomodoro Technique to get me through the "hell weeks" with my sanity intact. It's simple. It's easy. It's powerful. And it strikes a good balance between pedal-to-the-medal activity and all-work-and-no-play-makes-John-a-dull-boy.

All you need to make this work is a simple timer. You've probably got one in your kitchen or on your phone. Either of those will work great. If you don't have one, I'll put some recommendations at the end of this post.

Step 1) Set your timer for 25 minutes. Put it somewhere you can see it. Start typing.
Step 2) When the timer dings, stop typing and save your work.
Step 3) Set your timer for 5 minutes and take a break. When the timer dings, go back to Step 1.

That's it. Like I said it's simple, but it works.

If anyone tries to interrupt you, point to the timer and tell them you'll be free in 11 minutes, or whatever your timer says. Then go back to work. There are very few things that can't wait a few minutes.

One of the keys, is to stop when the timer dings. Stop right then. Immediately. If you're in the middle of a sentence that's even better. It will help you get back into writing when you return from your break. Don't be tempted to keep going. You'll wear yourself out.

When I stop immediately, I've found that I get a burst of productivity when there's about five minutes left. When I don't follow the "Stop Immediately" rule I don't get this burst of productivity.

During your breaks, don't work on your manuscript. Sure, you'll end up having thoughts about your story, but try to make your break count. Stand up, walk away from the computer, stretch a little. Chat with a friend. Handle any of the interruptions that popped up. Anything except writing your story.

Then make sure to sit back down when the timer dings.

This technique does wonders for me. I hope you find it useful as well.

More Information

This post just scratches the surface. Go out to www.pomodorotechnique.com to learn even more about this amazing idea.

Timers

If you need a timer there are a lot out there.

On Windows or Mac I've used FocusBooster. They have an online version and a desktop version. I've also heard good things about Tomighty.

On both Android and iPhone there are built-in timer applications. They will work just fine.

If you want to download an app. On Android, I use Pomodroido. It's easy to use. It keeps track of how many sessions you've done and you can "level up" as you do more.

Since I don't have an iPhone, I don't have any recommendations here. All I can do is point you to this review by The Next Web that looks useful.

* Ooooo! Now I'm hungry for a tomato sandwich. The tomato picture was taken by photon_de and can be found on Flickr.

NaNoWriMo Preparation

NaNoWriMo is less than . . . Seven. Days. Away. AAAAAAAAAAGH!

You should have seen the looks on my kids faces when I ran screaming from the room. It was a curious mix of "My Dad's a goofball" and "Not again." I think I also detected some eye-rolling. I guess they know me too well.

If you're like me, there are still some things you need to get ready for NaNoWriMo. My wife wrote several great blog posts on the topic. I recommend you read them.

• Preparing your family
• Setting goals that work for you
• Discovering plot and conflict in your story

I know she has other posts planned, so you'll have to check back to learn more.

I'm usually a plotter when it comes to writing, but this year I'm trying something different. I'm attempting to "pants" a novel. You know, like, write it by the seat of my pants. It's a little scary for me, but I'm also curious to see how well it works. I've never done it, so who knows? Maybe the story will turn out better.

If you're a pantser as well, you'll enjoy Elana Johnson's post on how she gears up for NaNoWriMo. I did.

• How to gear up for NaNoWriMo.

The votes are in. I'm going to write the Middle Grade Fantasy story about Arthur and Thor. Not only did it get the most votes (thanks guys), but I think it will work better with my pantsing experiment. Middle Grade is supposed to be quirky and evoke a strong sense of wonder.

I'll be posting a few more thoughts on NaNoWriMo this week, so stay tuned.

* The NaNoWriMo logo belongs to the Office of Letters and Light. To learn more about NaNoWriMo or to participate visit NaNoWriMo.org.

There's a Fire Burnin' on the Dance Floor

Last Saturday I got a call from a friend. His DJ partner was sick and he asked me if I could help.

Could I help? Of course. I enjoy music and he has a sweet setup. I also like dancing. Not to brag or anything, but I was good back in the day.

We played a youth barn dance. The whole time we had to balance body-thumpin' base vs. blowing the fuses. Yes, I said fuses. The whole barn was on the same circuit, so if we blew something we'd take all the lights out with us. That would have been . . . let's not think about that.

I did have a great time and I learned two things.

First, there's a lot of good music out there that I've never heard before.

Second, kids haven't changed much.

There were the shy kids hanging around the edges who'd often refuse to dance even when asked. There were the cool kids who had too much to lose to try anything new, so they mainly stood around chatting except for the slow songs. There were the kids who just came for the food and socialization. And there were the few who knew every step to every line dance and were dancing almost every song.

As a writer, this made me smile. I didn't grow up with powerful computers connected to the internet in my pocket. I didn't have social networking or text messages. Or thousands of songs literally at my fingertips. But even with all these changes, underneath it all, people are still people. Our hopes and fears, our personality, who we are--that hasn't changed that much.

* Back in the late 80's I got to see a huge outdoor laser light show. I've liked them ever since. But it's hard to capture them on film. Fabio Venni did an awesome job. You can check out the full version on Flickr.

Castle Miranda Pictures

"A picture is worth a thousand words."

That's not true; Some pictures are worth more than others.

It takes a good photographer to capture more than the light--to capture the feeling, the motion, the story of the picture.

When I saw these pictures taken by David Herreman whole stories formed in my head. The Miranda Castle has a lot of history, and David's images captured so much of it. They're awesome!

I immediately emailed him and got permission to post a few for you. I hope you find as much inspiration in them as I did. (Click through the image to see the full-sized version on David's website.)

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The castle is in ruin today, but its stately arches and elegant lines still struggle to show through.

Can't you imagine royalty gliding down this stairway?

Servants in full uniform bustling through the halls

Foreign dignitaries heading to an important meeting?

---

The castle was used as an orphanage during World War II. That's an old black board on the wall.

This reminded me that castles were large, multi-function buildings. During hard times, these structures were remodeled to handle many needs. If you're writing about a castle, it is good to remember this. How often have you read a story where the characters visit the area in the castle where the tutors worked?

I also loved the peeling paint and the mildew working through the walls.

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This is my favorite. It's so creepy.

The floor tiles were either removed by the owners or looters.

Again, you can see the beauty of this hall with it's graceful curves and majestic doorways even after suffering such degradation. Imagine what it must have looked like in its prime?

The inherent beauty just adds to the creepiness. That was a good lesson to me. When I write about creepy places, I need to let the former glory and beauty show through the grime.

---

There are more pictures of this amazing location on his website and Flickr stream.

Go check them out.

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If you liked the castle, David has pictures of other old buildings on his Flickr photostream. Check out his Belgium collection for more incredible castles and abbeys.

If castle's aren't your thing, he also has stunning photos of landscapes, seascapes, and nature.

Where do you find inspiration?

* All images in this post belong to the awesome David Herreman. Used with permission. (Thanks, David, for allowing me to share these.)

Go With the Flow

Some days, everything just works. I sit down to write and the words flow effortlessly onto the page. When I edit, I can see the problems and know how to fix them. Psychologists call this Flow. It feels great. I'm a writing god.

Other days, not so much. I struggle to put two words together, and when I do I wrestle the impulse to delete one of them. The scene in my head is clear; the scene on paper should be taken out back and shot, then doused in gasoline, and . . . *blech*--it's not even worth burning, just throw it away. But I don't throw it away. I soldier on. Because when you find yourself going through hell, it's a bad idea to stop and setup camp.

Everyone I know experiences both these states: some Fight more than Flow; others Flow more than Fight.

I find I produce my best work when . . . I'm writing. Sometimes I go back and read a scene that Flowed, and it's awful. Other times, I dread reading a scene because I fought with that piece for hours or days, and it works with only minor tweaks. Of course, the opposite is true as well.

So whether you feel like doing something or not, roll up your sleeves and get to work. Some days you'll enjoy going with the flow. Other times you'll struggle against it.

Come heaven or hell, as long as you keep putting words together and working scene after scene you're going to make it.

* I totally need four or five of those Works in Progress cones to put around my desk while I'm writing. The picture was taken by koalazymonkey and can be found on Flickr.

Balance

Is balance a myth?

When I hear about finding balance in life, this is what I picture:

Isn't that amazing! That's just what I imagine. All the disparate pieces of life moving in different directions, stacked precariously, then magically . . . balance. Everything just works.

If only I could find that perfect spot.

But what I've found is more like this (just the first 25 seconds):

Still amazing and almost magical, but there is one important difference. His body is always in motion. He is making thousands of small almost imperceptible adjustments.

That is more like my life. Things move. Change. I find myself out of balance and I have to make adjustments. Sometimes I'm leaning all the way to one side and have to throw my leg out in the other direction just to keep everything from crashing down.

I guess what I'm saying is that balance isn't a destination. It's an active state that requires strength and maintenance. But in those fleeting times when you achieve it . . . well, I'll let you know how that feels when I experience it.

Less is More

After my two posts on best and worst writing advice, I got some advice about my blog. I don't know if it is good advice or not, so I'm going to try it out and see what happens.

Blog Advice: Shorter is better. Try to keep your posts to 500 words or less.

This makes sense to me. In fact, when I read through blogs I skim posts that look too dense, or I read the first paragraph and move on. I took a good, long look at my posts and realized I'd probably skim or skip them, too.

Goal: For the next several weeks, I will be brief but not shallow.

What is your favorite post length? When do you start skimming?

* Saffron picture taken by zoyachubby can be found on Flickr.

Worst Writing Advice

The other day, I wrote about the best writing advice. Today, I'm going to the dark side and writing about the worst advice. The funny thing, is that I get this advice all the time, and so do you. I even enjoy getting this advice now, but I have seen it mess up a lot of stories over the years.

What is this bad advice? First, let me tell you a seemingly unrelated story.

The other day my daughter complained about her ear hurting, so I took her to the doctor's. After filling out paperwork--Seriously? More paperwork?--and waiting--I got half a chapter edited--we finally got in. The doctor performed several checks then stated her diagnosis: My daughter had swimmers ear. Ouch! The doctor went on to prescribe drops for her ears and antibiotic pills. We thanked the doctor, followed her directions, and now my daughter feels much better.

So, what does this have to do with writing advice? Let me tell you another story; this one more obviously related.

Back when I started writing I decided to take my story to a workshop. I've always had a bit of a thick skin, so I volunteered my writing as an example. My pages were read, then each of the instructors gave me feedback in front of the whole group--about 45 people. You can guess what happened? My writing had many holes in it, but there was one big glaring problem that each and every instructor talked about: the mother character didn't work for them because she needed to care more about her children. A few of the instructors explained many things I could do to have the mother show and feel concern.

It was great advice, and it was wrong.

Let me break it down. Each of the instructors saw a flaw in the story. (so far so good) They shared their diagnosis with me--the mother character wasn't believable because she should be more concerned about her children. (so far so good) Then they prescribed several ways I could fix the character. (Nooooo!)

And that brings me to the topic of this post: Prescriptive Advice.

When someone else notices problems in your writing that's great, but as soon as they begin to tell you how to fix it, you need to be careful. Often, people will even skip the diagnosis and jump straight to the prescription: "The MC should think of her father here, it will add tension.", "Drop Greg from this scene.", or "The conversation in the car wasn't working for me, maybe it would be better at the fire station." All of these are prescriptions, they don't tell me what is wrong. Your friends, family, or even other professionals don't know how to fix your story.

These days, any time I hear prescriptive advice I have two strategies:

1) I ask the person why they think the story should change. If they don't know that's fine just let it slide and go on to the next strategy.

2) Think about the advice and try to tease out why. Was there not enough tension? Was the scene too confusing? Was there too much external action detracting from the conversation? After you have the why you can then discover your own how. Maybe you decide to take their advice exactly. Maybe not. Just remember, it's your story.

As for my non-empathetic mother, the solution to that scene was to make her even more harsh. I think I also added an addiction to pain-killers. After all, she was supposed to be an awful, selfish person who has to be shocked to see the real world. Once I wrote my own prescription the scene worked much better.

Question: What's the worst advice you've been given?

* Pills photo taken by Erix! can be found on Flickr.

Writing Craft vs. Writing Science

If you've spent any time hanging out with writers you've heard about The Rules. Over on Rachelle Gardner's blog she has a good post on Writing Rules written by guest-blogger Rachel Hauck. Unlike many pieces about The Rules, this post doesn't go over the top in either direction and lays out some basic arguments in a clear way.

I liked the post so much, I started writing a comment. Three paragraphs later, I felt my response would be better served as a full blog post.

If you haven't read the post, you should. It's not very long. Go ahead. I'll wait. (And if you don't make it back here, I'll understand. There's some good stuff over there.)

I like the architecture analogy, and I want to take it a step further. For most of history, designing buildings was a craft. Not until recently has it become a science. What's the difference?

In a craft, the knowledge of practitioners is passed down as tenets, maxims, and guidelines: "The ratio of a column to its supported beam must be x." This knowledge is gained by trial and error. This allowed building designers to build strong structures that looked pleasant. The apprentice's buildings looked very similar to the master's, but you didn't have buildings collapsing all over the place.

With the advent of advanced mathematics, physics, material science, and other disciplines, building design moved from a craft to a science. We now know the underlying LAWS that govern the building. We can model new ideas and test them without building the whole thing. We discovered that some of the previous RULES end up being hogwash, some were unnecessarily strict, some were good rules but based on faulty reasoning, but most were good advice and are still followed today.

I propose that fiction writing is a craft. This is why people can ignore the rules and still make it. This is why some advice conflicts with other advice. And since a broken story isn't as dangerous as a broken building, we have many people trying new things and discovering new rules.

I still hold that the rules are important. Not because they are the end-all-be-all of story. But simply because following them will maximize the chance for telling a successful story. After all, they have been handed to us by some of the best masters in the field.

Question: What rules do you think are most important? What rules are hogwash?

* Cathedral picture by Steve Parker can be found on Flickr.

Best Writing Advice

I listen to The Appendix podcast. They host a fun podcast where they interview many different authors and play some hilarious live games. This week they asked the question: What is the best and worst writing advice you've received?

In this post, I'll answer the first half. The best writing advice I've received isn't limited to just a single piece of advice. I know that may be cheating, but I'm sticking with it.

Over the years, I've heard many different writers explain how they write their first drafts. Some outline incessantly, some just start writing; some start with character, others with scene, others with an idea; there's three-act structure, five-act structure, seven-point structure, and the snowflake method. In fact, there seems to be as many different ways of writing the first draft as there are writers.

And this is my advice: Write, write, write and if you run into a roadblock try something else and keep writing. The only way to write a book is to write it. One word at a time. Line after line. Page after page.

Here are a few great quotes I like that relate to this advice.

"The first draft is for what you want to say, the next draft is for how you want to say it."

"Writing is like lumber. In the first draft you cut down as many trees as you can. Then in the next draft you trim them to useful boards."

Each of these quotes helped kick me into gear to finish a draft, and in the end isn't that what drafting is all about.

Question: What is the best writing advice you've been given?

* The wonderful image created by the trial can be found on Flickr.