The Real Writer

All We Do is Talk Talk

Go to the stack of magazines and/or catalogues you've been hoarding (yes you do, we all do) and pull one at random. Leaf through it and pick and cut out two people. Just from the shoulders up. It can be two men, two women, one man and one woman, a woman and a child, etc. Choose the faces you're drawn to, go with your first instinct.

Lay those two people out on the floor or on your desk, sit in front of them, and start writing a dialogue between them. Don't hesitate and try to come up with something clever, go with the first thing that pops into your head and start writing. Any time you catch yourself trying to get a peek ahead down the road in the conversation, turn your head and look away! Focus on what's right in front of you. Imagine you are at a restaurant or in a department store or on a bus, eavesdropping on this conversation. Listen carefully and write exactly what you hear. This approach lets you off the hook as the 'creator' of the dialogue. You're just overhearing and taking it down. It has nothing to do with you. If it's going well, try to tune out that part of your mind that's saying happily, "Wow, this is going really well! This is the best writing I've done in a while!" And ESPECIALLY tune out any voice saying, "This sucks. This is stupid. Why would anyone find this interesting?"

Again: you're eavesdropping. You're not in charge of what's being said. Who knows what they'll come out with?

If you're having trouble focusing and/or tuning out your mind's commentary on the process and the writing, try one or all of these:

1)  Imagine you're sitting in front of a blank, white (or black) wall. Of if you must have a color, pick a color. The whole time you're writing, stare at this wall, keep your focus on it to prevent your mind from voicing its opinion.

2)  Go wash some dishes. Take a little voice recorder, turn it on, place it on the counter nearby, turn on the water and get scrubbing. The repetitive action will give that gregarious part of the mind something to focus on and let the other, creative part take over. Speak in the voices of these people (maybe announce who's speaking first, so you'll know when you listen later. For example: 'old woman,' or 'teenage girl').

3)  Close your eyes and visualize the setting in which you're hearing the conversation. Really get into it. If you're on the bus, feel it's lurching motion, hear that diesel engine whine, the hiss of the doors, the squeak of the brakes, the way people have to raise their voices to be heard. Picture the people you've chosen. Imagine their gestures and expressions, their tone of voice. Imagine yourself trying to act like you're not listening and be subtle about writing down everything they say.

4)  Just stare at the pictures you've cut out. When one of them is speaking, stare at his or her picture as you write what he/she says. When the other one cuts in, turn your focus on him/her. (This is a variation on #1.)

Once you've done this for about 10 minutes (yes, I said 10 minutes, it only feels like an eternity. Even if you have to stop and start several times, do it the full ten minutes), stop and put away your notebook, or save and close the file on the computer. If you used a voice recorder, turn it off and put it in a safe place. Do not try to turn it into anything. You can look at it in two days. You can wait longer, but not fewer. In two or more days you can open up the page or file, or listen to and transcribe the tape (for the latter, type out every word, no editing or leaving anything out), and then see what you have.

Remember this for all exercises or new writing: whatever you first write - put it away for a few days, do not try to edit it immediately. You might edit yourself right out of the best part of the piece because your first reaction was to toss it. You'll judge it too early, without any distance, and that can be a big mistake. Usually first reactions are based on what we think other people will like or want to read, or what will 'sell.' Who cares? You want to be the writer only you can be, not the writer everyone else is trying to be.

As with all the exercises I give you. This should be fun. If you don't get anything out of it that you can use - it's still a great way to practice writing dialogue.

Take it further: instead of imagining two people, find some real ones. Go to that restaurant or the coffee shop or the hair salon, take a notebook and a pen, and write down what you hear. These days you can hear some pretty surprising things. People talk on cell phones even in the bathroom stall now. Instead of being annoyed, tune in!

Skelements of Fiction

Skelements of fiction: the skeleton or bones of a story. Muscle is what you build with them. Blood, sweat and tears - the act of writing. Aren't I clever? Let's get started:

Title: if you've been paying attention, we talked about this in a previous post ("Never Say Untitled Again" posted 4/6/05). Always title. Make a good first impression. Use it to intrigue your reader and hint at what's to come.

Form:  does your story or novel have a form? Is it written as a letter, a newspaper article, a diary entry, a confession, a speech? Or is it just plain someone telling a story? That's perfectly fine! Don't get too fancy when you're just starting out, or your 'technique' will overwhelm your story and your writing. Keep it simple until you're ready to experiment.

Structure:  every story has this. This is how your scenes are arranged, their order. Some scenes can be expository (giving information about background - either that of the characters or the town they live in or an event that happened in the past that still influences the characters today), some can be mostly action, some can be mostly dialogue. The goal of a scene is to either advance the character(s) to what he/she/they want, or put up a roadblock, or deny them their desires. A wonderful teacher of mine said that stories are made up of several different climaxes, not just the grand one at the end where the killer is revealed and/or the lovers die in each other's arms. A character's desire is attained or reached by achieving many little goals or steps along the way, or by being pushed back and encountering delays or denials. These are the mini-climaxes and in between them are the gaps of tension, when the reader asks "now what?" and is compelled to read further. And the character(s) doesn't/don't have to get what they want, by the way....

Tense: will you be telling this in past (she said/he said) or present (he says/she says) tense? Obviously, one creates distance between the narrator and the events, the other feels more immediate. Technically, this aspect is part of form.

Plot:  heavy or barely there? A heavy plot is one with many intricately woven details. A barely there one means a story is more atmospheric, more character-oriented. It doesn't matter so much what happens, as how the characters react, interact, and talk to themselves and each other about their ideas, feelings, surroundings, observations, and events.

Characters:  It is, in the end, what the characters want, what they did to try to get it, and who they stepped on, loved, yelled at, took revenge on, ate lunch with, borrowed money from, etc. that drives the story. They are who we identify with, love, hate, or love to hate. If you do it right, your characters live on inside the reader's heart and mind even after they've closed the book. There are many ways to do this: through their thoughts, through descriptions of them by other characters, their movements, what they feel and how they express it, what they say and to whom. Characters can be based on a real person, based on yourself, or they can come out of nowhere - just popping into your head one day talking a mile a minute and demanding you listen. (And you better!)

Setting:  Where will your story take place? When? I.e. what time period/era - the sixties? the Victorian age? Medieval times? And is it past, present or future (not talking about verb tense here)? What season?  What time of day is it during your scenes? What's the weather like? Are your characters at a coffee shop, the dentist office, the deck of an ocean liner, the kids bathroom with the tiny potties at Disneyland? Setting can act like another character. It can convey mood and emotion, it can be an antagonistic force in the lives of the characters. It can provide clues to the theme of your story or the attitude of the characters. For example: your character fights with her husband during an incredible, violent thunderstorm, and is so mad she, literally, storms out.

Point of View: First, second, or third person? Who is telling the story? Why? Is it one person, or do we get to listen in on the thoughts and conversations of many characters? How much do the characters know? Are they telling the truth? Whatever you choose, you are choosing the perspective through which the reader sees and experiences the story.

Voice: this is the voice you use to tell the story. Your beliefs, your values, your attitude about life, the world, yourself, will creep into the voice of the story and set its tone. You can either let it happen (once you recognize what your voice is, the pattern you see in the tone of your writing) or you can adopt another voice - perhaps one of the characters.

And you thought poetry had a lot of elements! Relax. These are your tools; they are your friends. You don't need to focus heavily on every one, one or two will naturally dominate, depending on the story you are telling and the message you are trying to convey.

We'll talk more in depth about point of view and characters in another posting. What I suggest you do now is, if you have a story you want to write, make a list of these elements and write your ideas about each one before you begin writing. You don't have to stick to exactly (or any) of what you've written, but it will help organize your thoughts and may prevent disaster later on. Wouldn't you rather figure out your point of view now than discover 50 pages into your story that you're going to have to change it because it isn't working? Considering these elements now will give your story a strong framework. As I've said before, if you're just starting out, keep it simple. If you've been writing for awhile, go through this list and write down what you find yourself always doing for each one. What can you do differently? Experiment, evolve, take a risk. You might discover your greatest work yet.

Ideas, Ideas, Ideas

You want to write. You're sitting at the computer or with your notebook (a feat unto itself, congratulations), you've got more than five minutes, you've got your tea, or whatever, and your chocolate (if you don't, go get some), you're enthusiastic and ready to go.

Now what?

First - lower your expectations. By that I mean, don't put so much pressure on yourself! Not every word you write is going to be magic and change the world. This is about you and your voice and your passion for the act of writing. Kick the prospective agent, editor, publisher, magazine that wants to interview you, screaming fans outside your book signings, enraptured students at your workshops, movie stars and rock stars that want to marry you, Oprah, and your mother OUT.

Second - Relax. Take some deep breaths. This is supposed to be fun, isn't it? This is about experimentation and a little risk. Take it slow and keep it simple.

Next - Read the poem "Victoria's Secret" by Billy Collins. You can find it in Sailing Alone Around the Room (2001) or Picnic, Lightning (1998), a poem in which he uses the Victoria's Secret catalogue for inspiration (duh, you're saying, but did you think of it?), taking it from what you might expect straight into deep water with subtlety and grace.

Inspiration comes from unlikely places. You might want to keep an Ideas Box - a shoebox filled with scraps of paper on which you've jotted words, images, dialogue, description or lines, found objects, pictures from magazines, photographs - whatever you're drawn to and don't know what to do with yet. Go through the box, go through old writing you began but weren't sure how to finish. Anything there? If so, go with it. You've got a built-in beginning.

Tricks:

Borrow something - grab a line or image from another writer/poet and run with it. Change it around a bit, though, make it your own.

Respond - write your response to a piece written by a writer you love, or better yet, one you can't stand. Develop or refute their idea/theme. Dialogue with their characters.

Go Fish - look through newspapers or magazines for anything that sparks your curiosity. Then go find out more about it. Write about what you find and how it connects with your life, someone else's life, what you thought you knew, your beliefs, your values.

Dreams - in your writing world whatever you dream about makes perfect sense and is believable. Tell us the story. Maybe interpret it.

Journals - pick an old entry and write about it. This might work in tandem with the 'memory' trick below.

Exercises - if you don't have a book of writing exercises, get one. See my suggestions in the Books on Craft and to Inspire section. Also check out the Writing Exercises section. Open the book to a random page, or close your eyes and click on one on this site, read it and: ready, set, GO.

Memory - write from the perspective of someone else in that memory (if your friend or boss or sister was there, write from their perspective), change the details and/or the ending, change the tone: if it's a happy memory, look for the darker side; if dark, lighten it up or make it even darker (the latter is much more interesting!)

Scrabble - when in doubt, Scrabble! Take the bag, dump out the tiles and see if there are any words right there in front of you. Write them down and go from there.

Accidents - if you're writing and it takes an unexpected turn or you spell something wrong or use the wrong word and the meaning changes, DON'T ERASE IT! This is your chance to follow a new and surprising path and see where it leads - it may be your imagination is trying to guide you. Follow it.

When it's over you might not have The Grapes of Wrath or The Road Not Taken (Robert Frost, if you need a hint), but you were writing, weren't you? You were exploring and listening and stretching. THIS IS GOOD. If you didn't get anywhere, save what you wrote in your Idea Box or Folder, you can probably use some of it another time. (I've finished stories and poems years later, I swear, don't throw it away.) If you did get somewhere, keep your head down and keep going.

A tip from Ted Hughes (former Poet Laureate of England and Sylvia Plath's ex): " Catch those elusive or shadowy thoughts, and collect them together, and hold them still so we can get a really good look at them....We want the progress of thoughts...not then concentrating on one point, but raising one point after another and concentrating on each in turn."

Never Say 'Untitled' Again

Say it with me: I will always use a title. I will always use a title.

The title on your piece is like the expression on your face when you first meet someone. It's like the latitude and longitude on a map. It's like the banner on your web page. It's like - okay, I think you get my drift. In my opinion, 'untitled' is a copout. Whether you choose one before you write the story or poem, or after, is up to you.

A title can be the first line of the poem, if it's a poem; it can give date, time and setting; it can give information that isn't in the piece itself, acting as a clue or key to the meaning/theme. A title can be practical or intriguing. Perhaps a name or a number (think Dickinson). Maybe a quote, (which is different from an epigraph, a brief quote that sets the mood and which your piece may expand upon or respond to or refute.) Titles can be a dedication or make a reference to another piece of writing (maybe your own?), event or object or person. Most important: a title sets up an expectation in your reader so have fun with it.

Side note: a poem without a title is referred to by its first line. A story without a title is: unfinished. Write one!

Assignment: Go in search of titles. Novels, short stories, poems, memoirs, whatever. Make a list of ones that grab you and refer to it later when you need a push to create one of your own.

About Chris Stewart, M.F.A.

The Real Writer is me, writing instructor Chris Stewart. I cut through the myths and delusions about the writing process, while honoring your unique vision and voice. I mentor, teach, edit, critique, inspire, challenge--sometimes nag if you need it--always support, writers of all abilities. 

The right client for me is someone who wants to have a writing practice and writing life. I help you define what that is--what you need--and help you develop  and maintain it.

You should be passionate about writing, excited to learn some craft, celebrate both strengths and weaknesses (weaknesses point you in the right direction!), and have a sense of adventure and wonder. And I hope you love to read!

You don't have to have written anything in the past or have a degree or have published anything. You can sample various types of writing or have a specific project in mind, perhaps a portfolio for M.F.A. application, a story to submit to magazine, a poem for someone's birthday. Maybe you're just looking for a deeper and more lyrical way to journal.

It's all good!

Writing is as necessary to me as chocolate and breathing (in that order). There is nothing better than wandering through this world with a story going on in the back of your mind or a poem composing itself. I hate to be one of those annoying people, but I honestly can't remember not writing. As a child I wrote little stories, as a teenager terrible poems, then better ones, then tried novel writing and the ten minute play.

But I really learned how much writing meant to me when it saved my life.

Okay, I'm speaking metaphorically here, but isn't that exactly right? Metaphor is where it's at.

In 1997 I was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder after several months of panic attacks. These occurred practically daily - it got to the point where I had to ask friends to grocery shop for me. I couldn't handle being in line with even one person. What if I freaked out? They'd cart me away. I remember trying to go see Titanic with friends at Christmas when it came out and having an attack in the theater. I had to leave. They thought I went to the bathroom, but I never came back. They found me shaking in my car in the parking lot, trying to pull it together to drive home.

I barely ate anything, barely slept. I was constantly tense and fatigued and felt an overwhelming dread and depression all the time. I was going to school full time and working full time and thought I'd have to drop out. Just sitting in class with 35 other people and not being able to leave the room (well, except for the bathroom, but you can't do that every five minutes because you are having anxiety) made classes a nightmare.

Fortunately, a friend recommended a cognitive behavioral therapist and I started getting acupuncture. I spoke to a couple of my professors who encouraged me to stay in school and offered to help however they could, making exceptions about absences, having extra meetings with me. One of them was my poetry professor, with whom I was doing an independent study. We turned that semester into 'Chris writing poetry to cope with anxiety' rather than towards a specific academic end.

But what came out was pretty good poetry! Good enough for my professor to nominate me for and for me to win a national fellowship for $15,000 (Ruth Lilly Fellowship for two students, undergraduate and graduate, annually). When Joseph Parisi from The Poetry Foundation called me to tell me I'd won, I burst into tears. Poor man. He was so nice about it. He had no idea what it really meant to me.

It meant everything. Seven months after leaving that movie theater in panic, I had my life back. And I did it through writing.

It didn't instantly become perfect after that phone call. I continued in therapy for two years. I started doing yoga. I learned breathing exercises and journaling techniques to deal with anxiety and panic when it came up.

I still experience anxiety sometimes, but now it's a tool I use to propel my creative work rather than a condition that wears me out and weighs me down. Artists often have or have had some experience with anxiety or depression because we are so sensitive to the world around us.

We are seeing, hearing, feeling, absorbing and channeling what we take in into our art. It can be exhilarating and exhausting. I learned to enhance the first one and pretty much eliminate the other.

Now I don't mean that your story about writing and what it means to you has to be so dramatic. It doesn't. But is your writing practice life giving? Does it make you happy? Excited? Recharge you? Does it make your life feel more expansive, sparkly, deep, intense (in a good way)?

If so, excellent. Keep on keeping on. If not, it can!

I've tried a lot of cool stuff that I share with you on this site - an artist residency, big name conferences (yes, Bread Loaf), meetings with editors, collaborations with artists in other mediums (I once wrote poems to be read during an aerial performance with trapezes and hoops), a pilgrimage to sites related to one of my favorite authors (www.embarkingonacourseofstudy.com).

I've hosted poetry and performance marathons (6 hours!) and readings at book festivals. I've taught interesting classes (animations from poems, flash fiction, ten minute plays, ekphrastic and visual poetry) and I'm always looking for more to try. More to experience and share with you, more to challenge you with to try yourself.

And I've done it long past the time when most do. In my thirties and forties. You are never too old to do anything. Never.

So read on for the credentials part below. And sign up for my posts. I took a break from them to write but will be posting more insights, exercises, and tips now. Don't miss out!

Fill out the email subscription form in the top right hand portion of this page and receive a free audio, a visualization to help you break through writing blocks.

And now for the serious stuff:

Christine Stewart is program director for literary arts with the Maryland State Arts Council. She also directs the National Endowment for the Arts' Poetry Out Loud program for Maryland.

A former artist-in-residence with Creative Alliance in Baltimore, she is the founding director of the wildly successful Write Here, Write Now workshops co-sponsored by CityLit Project. She has a M.A. and M.F.A. in creative writing and poetry, is the recipient of a Ruth Lilly Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize nominee, and has been published in Poetry, Ploughshares, Blackbird, The Cortland Review and other literary magazines. Her ten minute plays, Anesthesia (about where we 'go' under anesthesia--the surprising world and choices we find there), and Literary Land (inspired by Shannon Hale's novel 'Austenland,' about what happens when one takes a 'literary' vacation and plays the role of a heroine in a novel) have been performed in showcases for local playwrights.

Besides hosting the annual poetry marathon tradition, 'First Day,' a cavalcade of 50 poets, performers, and musicians at Creative Alliance, she has led workshops for the Odyssey Program at Johns Hopkins, and at Carver Center for Arts and Technology and The Baltimore Museum of Art, where her poetry, and that of her students was recorded and added to the audio tour for the permanent collection. She is the editor for the first Write Here, Write Now Workshops anthology, Freshly Squeezed, published by Apprentice House Press. 

Chris will be teaching a one day seminar on delivering a pitch to agents and editors for the Johns Hopkins Odyssey program on March 31st, 2012.

Her next reading is at the Minas Gallery for Poetry In Baltimore's Essential Sundays series on December 11, 2011 at 4 p.m.

Poems are forthcoming in Baltimore Fishbowl.

Interested in private mentoring or critique services? Email Chris at therealwriter@gmail.com.

 

 

Word Magic

I love anything that promises to reveal hidden beliefs, thoughts, and meanings - especially those trapped in my own mind! I've found a site called Inner World Media that has a fun feature called 'Word Magic.' This feature does double duty: it's a tool for inner spiritual work as well as a writing exercise. Or it's just something distracting to do at work while you're killing time until lunch.

Go to this website: Inner World Media and click on 'word magic' in the sidebar. Click on 'play' and as you watch the colored spheres swirl around, focus on a question you have - maybe about the direction of your life, a relationship, your writing, what you should focus on that day, and then click on the color you're most attracted to. A word will swim out of the blue to you and voila! There's your theme for a journal entry, a poem, a story, a collage, a photograph, take your pick. The odds of getting the same word several times are a million to one, so if it happens, pay attention!

Regarding Copyright & Agents

Your work is copyrighted the moment you write it. If you want to go one step further, you can register with the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress at www.loc.gov/copyright/ which, if you got in the middle of a nasty suit, would help you prove you own your work. A publisher will re-register your book once they buy it. $30 per manuscript.

How not to look like an amateur: don't put 'copyright' with the symbol and your name on your manuscript, and especially don't do it on every page. It's not necessary. Your would-be agent or would-be editor might be offended! Remember, they have more experience with this than you do. Your job: make sure you work with reputable people. Check them out before you send your work or sign anything. If they want a reading fee, or for you to front the cost of copying and delivering your manuscript to editors, that's a red flag.

If you're looking for an agent: the Association of Author's Representatives is a very reliable resource: www.aar-online.org/

Watch your back: www.copyscape.com is a place to go to find out if someone is copying your website/blog and using it at their own site. You can also copy a banner from their site to yours indicating that you're protected.

You're not Yourself

Today you're not yourself. Spend ten minutes creating a character, writing down in your notebook who this person is. Talk about his/her family, friends, habits, likes, dislikes, what he or she does for a living, goals, desires, secrets. Then dress as that person would. Eat what that person would for breakfast. How is he or she going to spend their day? Pick somewhere to go (and why your character is going there) and go, making sure to take your notebook and pen! Perhaps a museum, a movie you normally wouldn't, a park, a roller skating rink, a restaurant, a bookstore, a lecture, errands, anywhere you haven't been before or normally wouldn't go. (Within reason, don't compromise your safety. And keep it on the lighter side: I am in no way encouraging you to dress up like a prostitute and hit the local bar at 2 a.m., or pretend you're a drug addict and find a dark corner in a scary neighborhood. This isn't method acting!)

Your usual fears, insecurities, and worries are gone. None of these apply. You are someone else and whatever happens today has nothing to do with your tomorrow. You are no longer self-conscious, but free to see, feel, hear, taste and touch in ways you never have.  Try to stay relaxed and not rush the experience because it's unknown and maybe a little anxiety provoking. Remember - you're not you, things that might have bothered you if you did this as yourself don't have any effect. It's almost like you're invisible and visible at the same time.

Take notes whenever you feel like it; jot down impressions, images, bits of conversations, what your 'character' is thinking. What you ate for lunch. Don't spend all the time writing, as this prevents you from being present. If the place you go has brochures or postcards or business cards, pick one up to remind you of the place later. Maybe take pictures.  Once you're home, spend at least 15-30 minutes writing about the experience. This exercise is especially helpful if you are writing a short story or novel and are having trouble connecting with one of your characters.

If you try this, I'd love to hear how it unfolded and how it affected your writing.

Free Arts & Media Classifieds

I've just discovered this wonderful resource, not just for writing, but for: acting, dance, modeling, music, film, photography, radio, TV, visual arts, comedy - I could go on.  It's the GIG DIRECTORY, an online community with classifieds and forums and thousands and thousands of users! Best of all it's FREE TO POST anything. Here's their list: "your resume, job, event, workshop, press release, grant, festival, for sale, rent, wanted, product or service." Once you sign up you get a free newsletter. You can also subscribe for even more great services like job referrals, and a head-shot library. Check it out but, pace yourself, there's a lot to absorb.

www.gigdirectory.net