Tag: writing

Driven to detraction

I was thinking today about how writing can be an exercise in beating your head against a wall sometimes. You think that you’ve come so far since your fledgling steps into the mysterious world of craft and wordage, and then you read something that completely blows your mind and you wonder why the heck you can’t write like that yet, though you’ve been doing all the things you need to do.

You attend workshops. Maybe you have a writers’ group. You’ve got a good editor who works with you and you send bits of your manuscripts to writers you suspect are better than you to provide feedback and guidance. You read writing guide books, you do exercises in infrastructure and narrative, you maybe see a sort of evolution in your own pages, you get all the feedback you can, you develop a self-editor, and you study structure.

And then you read something so mind-bogglingly lovely that it leaves you both wallowing in appreciation and feeling as if you just got kicked in the teeth.

A few months back I shared a bit of writing on a social media website that I thought was exquisitely rendered and I posted a comment about how I was going back to the drawing board, so that I could get better, and perhaps approach the level of writing that the piece I had shared demonstrated to me. Somebody else commented right after that in response to me (and I’m paraphrasing here) that no matter how hard I tried, I would never write the way the author of the piece I’d shared would, that I would basically never attain it.

That comment stuck first in my craw and then in the back of my mind. Writers are a sensitive lot, after all.

But I came to understand something in the wake of that comment. No, I will never write like the author of the piece I so admired, for the simple reason that I am someone else, with a different style and narrative voice. I can’t say whether I will attain the level of craftsmanship and wordsmithing that I thought this other author approached, because my view in this matter may be subjective, and some out there will most likely think this other author isn’t all that, anyway.

That’s the other thing I took away from that comment. Not everything I write will resonate with everyone (it obviously hasn’t with that commenter), but that’s okay. I’m not necessarily writing for everyone. I’m writing the stories in my head, as I see them, and I’m striving to tell them in the best possible way that I can, through the alchemy of craft and voice. I know craft can improve with practice and attention, and I know that in that journey, somewhere, is my writer’s voice. Where it takes me remains to be seen.

Happy Tuesday.

And for a supercalifragilistic blog on “voice” and finding it, click here.

by Categories: Things that might make you think, WritingTags: , 5 Comments

Back Up: ergonomic inclinations for writers

Hi, kids–

As writers, we sit. A lot. At least, the vast majority of writers that I know do that. Their workspaces are generally chairs and desks or chairs and tables. Point being, the workspaces involve chairs. And keyboards. And holding our wrists in specific ways. And sitting.


source: Productive Writer (resized here)

However, I rarely hear my writerly colleagues talk about proper positioning at a workspace, or a chair that properly supports their backs, or a keyboard pad to help writers keep their forearms and wrists in good form. And that’s a shame, because sitting is one of the worst things that Americans do to their backs. And writers have to do that a lot.

Read on.

Continue reading →

by Categories: Writing, Writing tipsTags: , 4 Comments

Do writers need an iPad?

Dude, like, I don’t know.

Many writers have them, and Chuck Wendig points out in this great blog how he views his — a tool. A penmonkey for the penmonkey, but he notes that it’s not going to replace his desktop as his primary writing tool.

I’m currently in the midst of a major tech upgrade. My desktop is going on 8 years, and that’s practically a geologic eon in PC terms. I’ve already decided to upgrade to a Mac desktop, because I still do the brunt of my writing on my desktop and my trusty MacBook. The latter is also in need of an upgrade. It’s about 7 years old and I’m still using Leopard OS, which makes it far less compatible with things like Firefox (which I prefer to Safari on the Mac, but that’s just me). I’ll be putting more memory on my laptop and upgrading the OS because it’s still a great tool and it still keeps on trucking.

And I recently succumbed to an iPad. I got it for a couple of reasons. My laptop is heavy, and when I travel, I can’t stand checking email on a phone-sized device. I also blog when I travel, and it’s a lot easier to do that on an iPad than on a phone. I do not consider an iPad a primary writing tool, though I see Wendig’s point in its usefulness as a supplement. It is kind of a cool research tool, and it is a fun entertainment device. In terms of stuffing it with apps, I’m just not really into that. I have a few — Pandora, Netflix, Kindle, and iPad books. I’ve installed Dropbox and also a fun little DJ app because that’s one of my OTHER hobbies. I do like being able to check email and blogs while traveling, and because it’s not nearly as heavy as my trusty laptop, it’s easy to travel with, even when I opt to bring the wireless keyboard. Typing on an iPad screen is a freaking joke for me. It’s a hunt-and-peck kind of situation, and I am a full-blown typist, which is why I opted for a wireless keyboard.

I have a feeling that in the near future, your tablets will have the capability to project a keyboard onto a tabletop, and I’m pretty stoked about that innovation. Here’s hoping it’s soon. In the meantime, I’m using the actual keyboard. Oh, wait. My bad. That projected keyboard is already hitting the market. Here. That technology, however, is going to get better.

So, do writers need an iPad? No. Nobody really NEEDS an iPad. The question is how it will supplement what you currently do, and whether it can make some of what you do easier or less time-consuming. Those are personal assessments, and I certainly didn’t run out and buy an iPad just because OMG new technology must have must have! It’s been a couple years since they’ve been on the market, and I’ve been assessing them during that time. Because I travel a lot, an iPad will help me keep in touch via email and give me the capability to blog without having to take my laptop along. It also takes pretty good pictures, but it’s an awkward device on which to do that. Sort of like holding up a baking tray to snap a photo. It’s a good device to communicate in real-time with people, given its screen/camera capabilities, but I don’t generally do a lot of that.

Will I write novels on it? I doubt it. I may be able to hammer out a short story, but there’s the issue of compatibility with my other machines and Word, which is my primary tool. I’ve tried others, but sadly, Word is still providing decent compatibility between Mac and PC, and that’s useful because so many people are on PC. I know some writers email files to themselves via their iPads and then open them and format them on their laptops/desktops, but isn’t the point of the iPad to make your life easier? Hopefully Apple (or somebody) will develop a better writing app for the iPad that will interface more smoothly with laptops/desktops.

Ultimately, what you use with regard to tech is a function of how you operate. I don’t honestly think writers NEED iPads as primary writing tools. I don’t view mine as that. As a supplement, sure. As an entertainment device, sure. Some professions (like medical and law enforcement, e.g.) find tablets really useful in terms of cutting time and using data. But in terms of what I do, no, an iPad does not cut my time with regard to writing or editing. It does provide some useful tools — as a writer, I use email and social networking quite a bit, so when I travel, the iPad will be handy for that. Otherwise, my laptop and desktop remain my primary writing tools.

Not to suggest that won’t change in the future. But for the moment, that’s how it is. Oh, and for the record, I do not own a smartphone. 😀

Anyway, happy reading, happy writing, happy tablet-ing!

by Categories: Technology, WritingTags: , , 7 Comments

Writing tip: “could” be passive

Hey, kids–

Hope this week has started out well for you. Anyway, how about a quickie writing tip?

The word “could” sure gets a lot of (over)use. And what it tends to do is make your writing passive, especially when used in combination with some variant of the verb “feel.”

Example:

She could feel the pain in her ankle when her booted foot slipped off the rock.
vs.
Her booted foot slipped off the rock and pain lanced through her ankle, bringing tears to her eyes.

Do you see the difference? Better yet, do you feel it? That’s the key to showing and not telling. When you use the helping verb “could” too much, you’re pushing your reader out of your character’s head and telling her what your character felt, rather than allowing her to feel/empathize with her.

Another example:

He slowed down because he could see the road was wet, since it had been raining
vs.
Streetlights glinted off the rain-slicked road and he took his foot off the accelerator.

See that? We all know what a road looks like when it’s been raining. But it’s kind of blah, if you will, to tell us that with a “could” construction and, in the next phrase, using “it” to refer to the condition of raining. SHOW us with your words what that road looks like and what the driver might do. Most of us, if we’re not being chased by zombies, will slow our vehicles accordingly.

Author Lori Lake has a great piece on passive voice and words to watch out for right HERE. You can find part 1 of that article here.

Do a search in your manuscript to see how often you use these forms of the verb “to be”: is, was, are, had been, have been, be, become, could be, would be, could have been
(see Lori’s article at the link above)

Yes, you might be adding words to your count. But you’ll also enliven your writing and bring a reader into the story, rather than leaving her outside, with a barrier of passive word-age between her and the characters. I’ll come back to this later. Don’t worry.

In the meantime, happy writing and happy reading!

by Categories: Writing, Writing tipsTags: , , ,

Cool “writers on writing” archive

Hi, folks–

I took Monday off. Kind of a Manic Monday, don’tcha know.

Anyhoo, I came across this really sweet New York Times archive. It’s called “Writers on Writing” and it’s a big ol’ list of articles done by various writers that addresses some aspect of writing. Super cool.

How about E.L. Doctorow on how novels are following films into a land of “fewer words”?

As more than one critic has noted, today’s novelists tend not to write exposition as fully as novelists of the 19th century… .The 20th-century novel minimizes discourse that dwells on settings, characters’ CVs and the like. The writer finds it preferable to incorporate all necessary information in the action, to carry it along in the current of the narrative, as is done in movies.
source

Or Annie Proulx (whose work I deeply admire), on inspiration?

A whole set of metaphoric shovels is part of my tool collection, and for me the research that underlies the writing is the best part of the scribbling game. Years ago, alder scratched, tired, hungry, and on a late return from a fishing trip, I was driving through Maine when a hubbub on the sidewalk caught my eye: milling customers at a yard sale. I stop for yard sales. Pay dirt. I found the wonderful second edition unabridged Webster’s New International Dictionary with its rich definitions and hundreds of fine small illustrations.
source

Or Alice Walker on meditation, John Updike on character, or Carl Hiaasen on plagiarizing from real life?

This archive is a treasure trove of gems from a variety of writers, from a variety of perspectives. Seriously check it out.

Happy reading, happy writing!

by Categories: Cool stuff to read, Coolness, Inspiration, Things that might make you think, Writing tipsTags: , , , , , , , ,