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How to Beat the Blank Page

writers-block1-300x200We’ve all been there: staring at that blank monitor screen, dreading the glowing white void. All our dreams seem to be sucked away into that nothingness.

We ask ourselves, “What happened to the great scene that was floating around in my head just yesterday evening?” We make an excuse to get away from the screen, figuring, in a little while, the muse will show up and all will be well. Meanwhile, three hours later, after making cookies and watching a couple of shows on Netflix, were lying in bed reading a book with tears welling in our eyes, “God, another day without writing. I’m a failure! Why do I even try?”

Curse you blank page!

No one but us writers seem to understand why the blank page is such a terrifying adversary. I’m sure it has doomed many a budding career. Fortunately, I have developed a method to whip it.

I’ve discussed writing in bursts before. This is a method where you don’t write in complete thoughts, rather just write down little snippets of narrative as they come to you. This is how I beat the dreaded white page—every single time..

Foremost, what we are looking for, is to get past the first 10-15 minutes of writing. This is how long it takes someone to get into the so called “zone.” You know—where the pump is finally primed and the words are flowing like so much water from the faucet.

  1. Pull up that dreaded blank page. Stare at it. Don’t be afraid of it, because in a second, its ass is going to be kicked.
  2. Yesterday, or the day before, or sometime this morning when you were in the shower, a scene was in your head. You may not remember all of it, but I bet you remember at least one snippet of it. Write that down. It doesn’t matter what it is.  It can be a short description. It can be a line of dialogue.  It may not be a complete sentence.  Heck, it doesn’t even have to be all that good.
  3. Oh look, the page is no longer blank. Score one for you. Think back on that scene. Write something else you remember about it. Again, it doesn’t matter what it is. Also, this is important— the snippets don’t have to be in order of appearance of the scene. Just write it down. Double space-it helps fill up the blank page. Also, don’t edit. Keep the fingers going.
  4. Rinse and repeat. Soon, you will have a string of bits of your scene. It won’t make sense to anyone but yourself, but that’s fine. After about 10-15 minutes of this, you will find that the muse has suddenly returned and you are in the zone.
  5. Feel free to go back and put your little snippets in order of appearance. I would suggest keeping them double spaced. As you put them in order, you will find more snippets come to you. Write them down.  Put them in order of appearance. Feel free to enlarge your original snippets as things come to you or join snippets with other snippets if they go together.
  6. Voila. No more blank page! Also, I bet you anything by the time you are finished, you have a pretty good rough draft for a scene.

WIP Update: After kicking a lot of blank page ass this last week, I’m pretty pleased with my progress. I’ve set a goal of finishing my bursts for the story’s main character by the end of the month, but I’m getting stuck on the plot toward the very end (the story’s climax).  I’m not really sure what happens exactly. I may need to blog about this next week.

Posted by  |  December 12, 2012 | Categories: Writing Diary | Tags: , | 4 Comments

Yes, Virginia, There Really is a Monomyth

monomythA long time ago, in a video game school far, far away . . . one of my teachers gave a lecture about story. He talked about the Hero’s Journey and recommended it’s structure for story creation. His presentation impressed quite a few of my friends and though I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time, I filed the Hero’s Journey to the back of my mind to be studied later.

The Hero’s Journey goes a little something like this:

In the late 1940s, Joseph Campbell, a mythologist and writer, wrote a book called The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This book argued that all ancient myths followed some type of form or pattern. Campbell called it the monomyth or the Hero’s Journey. His work greatly influenced George Lucas when he wrote Star Wars.

Over the years, I have tried to understand Campbell’s work, but I just didn’t get it. He used jargon that I wasn’t familiar with and his descriptions of the patterns seemed vague. Overall, it just seemed too academic and I kept putting it to the side.

Fast forward to my writing ‘career’ in the last year or so. One of the things I have struggled with is plot and story structure, particularly middles and endings. I read a few books on the subject, but nothing seemed to help. I decided to look at the Hero’s Journey again.

This time, things clicked. And it’s because of Christopher Vogler.

Vogler is a writing consultant for the movie industry. He has a solid grasp of the monomyth and he knew its concepts could be used to help writers. However, he found that a lot of people he worked with had the same problem I had—they just didn’t understand Campbell’s work. So, he broke it down for them into everyday lingo. He later wrote a book about it–The Writer’s Journey.

A synopsis of the structure outlined in Vogler’s book is here. It finally helped me understand the concepts of the Hero’s Journey. Soon, I was watching movies and dissecting them based upon Vogler’s structure. There really is a monomyth!

For those of you that would like to have a better understanding of story structure, I highly recommend Vogler’s work. He is NOT pushing for a formula as some people suggest, he is arguing that all good stories have a form that the human consciousness seems to understand and expect. It was a life changing book for me—pure and simple.

WIP Update: I’m neck deep in the Gideon Plan. I have decided to focus on the main character’s story first, using the Hero’s Journey as a guide. I’m writing a lot of ‘bursts’ and expect to be done at the end of the month. At this rate, I should be finished with the novel in oh . . . about five years . . .

Posted by  |  December 4, 2012 | Categories: My Manuscripts, Writing Diary | Tags: , , | 8 Comments

Defrosting Han Solo

Four months ago, I made the difficult decision of putting my much beloved story the Gideon Plan in suspended animation.

I felt like I was doing the story an injustice by trying to do something so large in scope when I was not ready. I decided to start out small, write some short stories and then work on something a little bigger—novella sized maybe.

Over the last four months, I wrote five short stories, which I am pleased with. Then I got stuck. I didn’t want to write short stories anymore. I wanted something larger. I thought about going back to Sphinx, which was scoped for about 40-50,000 words, but I couldn’t get into it. The result: I’ve written very little over the last 45 days and I am frustrating myself.

All this while, my mind has kept wandering back to the Gideon Plan. I kept telling myself the same thing—it’s too big! It’s too over scoped! It has no chance of getting published because you won’t do it right! It’s going to take you years to complete!

But, you know what? It’s the only thing I really want to write about right now.

So, maybe it’s stupid of me, but I’m going back to it . . . and you know what? I’m pretty damned excited about it.

Defrosting time . . .

Posted by  |  November 16, 2012 | Categories: My Manuscripts, The Gideon Plan, Writing Diary | Tags: , , , | 11 Comments

Writing is Like . . . Pie

A few weeks ago, I ranted about the concept of having to write every day because there is many times where there are more important things to do to make you a fiction producing machine. It made me wonder, how do I spend my time in the whole writing process? For a month, I have been keeping track of the time I put into the different areas of writing. I wanted to share it. I give you (drum roll)—a pie. A pie chart to be specific.

This represents a total of 94.75 hours I put into the writing process for the month of October and what I did with that time. Here’s a break down of what each slice means.

Reading– This is reading works of fiction. A writer reads . . . a lot. This is also closely related to Craft Analysis, because I certainly do a lot of it while reading, but I also just read for pleasure lots of times.

Writing– Current WIP, various writing exercises, and random writing. Includes rewrite time. I did not do nearly as much writing as I wanted to this month. I hit writer’s block about three weeks ago and it made for a rough month. Oh well—there’s always November!

Research– Any type of research that is related to my WIPs.

Inspiration Searching– Looking for ideas for a new story. I spent quite a bit of time doing this this month. This is mostly non-fiction reading.

Critique Review– Gathering and synthesizing feedback from WIPs.

Story Thinking– Down time to just think about WIPs and possible stories. For me, a lot of this just dead ended for me. Very frustrating.

Craft Analysis– Analyzing other works of fiction (not just reading it, but looking to see what they did right, wrong, etc.), and researching craft in general (for instance, I spent quite a bit of time researching the Hero’s Journey.)

Publishing Research– Looking into the market to find homes for my WIPs.

Click to enlarge!

So, what do you think? Does this reflect the efforts you put into your own writing? What’s different?

Ciao for now.

P.S. Good luck to my NaNo friends!

Posted by  |  November 1, 2012 | Categories: My Manuscripts, Writing Diary | Tags: , | 22 Comments

It SUCKS being Stuck

My writing has come to a screeching halt. Boy, has it given me the blues.

Its funny, I have quite a few ideas about possible stories, the problem is they are all novel length. I have committed myself to writing short stories at the moment. My strategy is that by writing short stories I can get feedback quickly and better hone my craft. I was on track for about two months. I have written five short stories in that time. And that’s nothing to sneeze at. But now, I’ve run out of ideas. And it SUCKS.

I had brought up my concern for writing short stories shortly after I decided to stop working on the Gideon Plan and start working on smaller works. Short stories do not come to me easily. I was on a roll for a little while, converting Celtic myths into stories set in the Irish slums of 19th century New York. I wrote some good ones. But that has dried up now and I am fumbling about trying to come up with something else. Unfortunately, the ideas I have lead to no where or, as I mentioned, are too long in their narrative.

In the mean time, I continue to read a lot. I have been analyzing other writer’s craft and critiquing other’s stories. I have started the rewriting process for my five short stories and am researching magazines for them to go to. Then there’s my ongoing search of finding a topic that inspires me. So, I’m not completely stagnant. Recently, I’ve picked up doing some writing exercises, which I hate. I like to write with purpose, and the exercises either seem trivial or make me think I could better use my time doing something else. However, I’m hoping that the exercises shake something loose. I just want to write another frikin’ story! That’s not much to ask for is it?

So, how do you guys get out of these slumps where nothing is coming to you or you keep reaching dead ends? Boy it sucks (did I mention that?).

Posted by  |  October 17, 2012 | Categories: Uncategorized | 15 Comments

Metamorphosis of a Story- Part Six

Beta

Funny, I didn’t know stories had a Beta until about two years ago when I was reading other writers talking about their stories going into a Beta. I come from the Video Game industry, where Beta means game is content complete, basically finished, but has a few minor bugs. So, I was like “What? You got bugs in your manuscript?”

So, what is Beta for a story? It’s actually not unlike a video game. The story is finished, but, there may be a few minor things wrong with it—grammar, syntax, missing comma, etc. All content is there. All major things have been taken care of. You are essentially looking over it with a fine tooth comb.

HOWEVER, the problem with me calling it Beta is that. . . well . . . I am calling it Beta. In other words, not a publisher, or rather, someone who would pay me for the completed work. That means, when I send the story out into the cruel world, the publisher may request changes. Some may be major. And what the publisher wants, the publisher gets. Its the golden rule, right? He who has the gold makes the rules? So, the story may go through another Beta depending on publisher feedback, if any.

At this point, I’m looking for Beta Readers: people to look the story over—see if you spot any minor mistakes. I’m not looking for any content changes.

Once I get the feedback, I’ll make the changes and I’ll post again when I send the story along its merry way to a magazine.

If ya want to take a gander at it, you’ll find it here. If you decide to give me feedback, you’ll have my undying gratitude (which lasts until, well, when I die, I guess. Or of course, if I forget, which could be possible).

Posted by  |  October 10, 2012 | Categories: Metamorphosis of a Story, My Manuscripts | Tags: , , , , | 6 Comments

Metamorphosis of a Story- Part Five

Getting the Story Critiqued By Others

Here’s the part of the process that may be the hardest for us who write: taking that story we’ve worked so hard on and put it out there so it (and us) are naked to the world. And then, like sadists, we let people beat the crap out of it.

I pride myself for having pretty good rhino hide, but in truth, criticism still stings and when I get it, my game can be off for a few days. That is why even though Swan Lady has been getting feedback this last week, I have held off looking at any of it until today. I had a draft from another story I needed to finish first and if I had started reading those comments, I would have lost some confidence. Today I opened those critiques up.

You get those little butterflies before you read these things. You can’t help but wince as you look at all the e-mails with your story in the title, knowing your story is about to be exposed for the imperfection it is. You’re curious, but you also feel a little weak. You remind yourself–I got to do it if I want to get better.

And you open the first one.

Last time I had something critiqued was almost two years ago. I’m a little out of practice of getting beaten up on. I haven’t had a short story critiqued in about ten years. In truth, I wondered if I could bare it this time around.

The first line of my first critique:

“I loved this story. I hope it gets published somewhere soon.”

Wow. That’s real nice.  Great way to start, eh?

For those of you who have followed Metamorphosis of a Story, you know there were a few things I wondered about this tale as it went out for critiques. One was the Irish dialect. None of my readers had an issue with it. That’s a relief. No one commented about showing more back story. Only one person said the mother’s dialogue at the beginning was confusing. So, good.

One thing I wanted was the story to stand on its own whether the reader knew the story was based upon a legend or not. I accomplished this. Only two people recognized the legend and those that didn’t still liked it.

Something that struck me from the comments was that more than half the people said this story was good to go after a few minor changes. Some thought it was ready to go now. I was extremely flattered by these comments.  This means Swan Lady will have a short rewrite period before it gets a Beta read and then shopped.

So, what’s next? I sit on the story for the rest of the week and this weekend. I’ll read through the comments a few more times and let them sink into my sub-conscious and then on Monday I’ll sit down and make changes to the story. I’ll then sit on it again for two more days, review my changes, make final edits, and make the final draft. I also need to start looking around where I want to send this thing (I have no clue). My next post will be for a Beta read if anyone is interested.

Posted by  |  October 3, 2012 | Categories: Metamorphosis of a Story, My Manuscripts | Tags: , , , | 8 Comments

If I Don’t Write Everyday, How Serious Am I?

Beatbox and my friend Nate have recently posted about that old saying, “If you are serious about becoming a writer, you have to write everyday.”

I don’t write everyday. But you know what? I’m damn serious when it comes to writing.

I’ve never published a thing, so maybe it’s plain stupid of me to jump up on my e-soapbox and dare to contradict what is considered writer advice gold. After all, what do I know, really? But, I guess in the end, we have to all make our own path, for good or ill. Let me tell you a little about the one I’ve picked.

Like most of us out there, I write part time. I got work and I have family responsibilities. No, this isn’t going to be a sob story about how I don’t have time to write because of my obligations. In truth, I do have time. However, its little compared to the enormous amount of time it takes to be a good writer. We all know it takes a looooong time. We better use that time wisely.

I used to use that little precious time to write everyday. Too often I found myself writing just to hit my daily word quota. I’d keep clicking the word count: “How many more words do I got left? Gaawwd!”. I found the daily exercise wasn’t making me a better fiction writer. I was becoming a bean counter and though my writer’s journal was nice and full, I wasn’t producing works of fiction. Surely there’s a better way to focus the little time I got, I thought.

I think we are perhaps taking this often quoted advice too literally. I believe what we actually need to be doing is everything we can to become story-writing-machines. This does not necessarily equal writing everyday. It’s about planning and creating a strategy to create a finished product, it’s about proper time management, its about discipline, its about hitting our goals and objectives and—most of all—its about producing finished works of fiction. That’s really the bottom line isn’t it?

Let me give you a hypothetical. Let’s say I have an hour’s worth of time. I decide to sit down and write. Just like I’m supposed to. Yay me. I’ll be a writer in no-time. Ok, what should I write my story about?

Wait.

You mean you don’t have a plan? Maybe it would be better for you to sit down for that hour and make an outline so you don’t waste a full hour spinning your wheels.

Wait.

You don’t have an idea on what you want to write and can’t create an outline? Well, maybe it would better for you to spend time finding inspiration for what you are going to write about.

Wait.

You mean you finished a story a month ago and still haven’t gone back and finished the edits for it? Maybe it would be better for you to go spend that hour making those changes and get that story out the door and actually become what you want to be: published.

See what I mean? Writing every day just because you are supposed to can become counter productive. I think it is far better to stick to a disciplined process that makes you produce works of fiction.

You can’t put the cart in front of the horse. For everything there is a season. A place for everything and everything in its place, etc. etc.

All my opinion in the end, of course.  *Climbs off the soap box . . .*

WIP Update: I’m currently on my fourth short story since ceasing work on the Gideon Plan. I also resuscitated one I worked on about ten years ago. Three are in the queue to be critiqued by others. One is waiting one more pass before being critiqued. The fifth is, after today, in a rough draft stage. I’ve been crunching some numbers and according to my estimates I won’t have time to write any more new stories until the middle of December. I’ll soon be knee deep in corrections and second drafts for my first three stories. I wonder about that estimate (and hope its wrong, actually). We’ll see.

Posted by  |  September 26, 2012 | Categories: My Manuscripts, Writing Diary | Tags: , , | 21 Comments

Character Templates

My friend Whitney Carter is struggling a little with one of her male characters. She had always thought he looked like Kevin Sorbo, but then her character told her he didn’t look like that. Oops.

It made me think a little. I wonder how my writer friends out there come up with their characters.

For me, it’s a mix. For instance, in Bronze Raiders, my main character, Hektor, was based upon Barack Obama. I didn’t think he looked like Barack Obama, just that he acted like him—smiled a lot, positive, idealistic, charismatic. To this day, I have no idea what he looked like. I never described him in my story (no one even seemed to notice, which I found interesting).

For Hektor’s love interest, I chose Kiera Knightly. Always thought she was cute. I’ve also used Charlton Heston, and Gina Carano as templates for characters in my story. Sometimes I use people I know—like an old cowboy friend I used to know. Sometimes I use a historical character—Robert E. Lee or Nathan Bedford Forrest, for example.

Many times, though, I don’t have a person in mind. They just are. Many times I’ll start with an archetype and work off it. Sometimes I mix characters I know or imagine. I learn about them as I write my rough draft and more of their personalities come out in subsequent drafts. It’s always kind of fun (and unexpected).

So, how do you guys do it? What do you base your characters on? Real people? People you know? Celebrities? Archetypes?

Posted by  |  September 20, 2012 | Categories: My Manuscripts, Writing Diary | Tags: , | 14 Comments

Metamorphosis of a Story- Part 4

Its time for this thing to get its ass kicked.

At this point, The Swann Lady is at a first draft stage, which means I’ve done everything I can to it and need people to tell me what they think. I’m posting it here if any of my writer friends wants to critique it, but I’m also sending it to my online critique group, Critters.

Its funny, I haven’t worked on this for two weeks. I thought there would be more to change. I think I edited for about an hour maybe?

So, let me throw a few guesses out there what might be the biggest issues with my readers.

  1. The mother’s dialogue at the beginning is confusing. Well, the protagonist found it confusing too, so I’m not sure if that’s an issue or not. We’ll see.
  2. Aunt Aideen’s dialogue is not Irish enough. I’ve covered this point here last week. For this story, I went with no phonetic spellings, just to see if it works. As this is my first foray into Irish dialogue, I’m open to suggestions.
  3. I need to show the back story in a scene. Well . . . I don’t know. We’ll see.

Now its time to get the rhino hide on. Critiques can sting. I’m usually pretty good about taking it, but it can still suck at times. It’s the only way to get better, though. At the same time, I’m curious as to what people think.

How about you guys? How do you prepare yourself and handle criticism of your stories?

Note: Artwork is called “Children of Lir” by Tyrantx and can be found at tyrantx.­deviantart.­com

 

Posted by  |  September 12, 2012 | Categories: Metamorphosis of a Story, My Manuscripts | Tags: , , , , | 11 Comments

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