Anxious Writer

I'm back!

2011-07-16T13:56:00.000+08:00

I've been letting the grass grow on this blog for too long now, so I've finally brought out the hedge trimmers and the riding lawnmower to get the job done.

Just a quick question to all my blog readers--what software do you use for writing?

I usually use Microsoft Word, but with the different versions out there, it can be a mess. As a result, I save my documents in RTF (Rich text format), which seems to be compatible across versions. Also, my writing partner has an easy time accessing my docs because it seems that all platforms provide a method for reading RTF. We just email the docs back and forth, doing our own version control.

Anyone have a better idea? How do you write?

NaNo's over!

2009-12-06T14:23:00.001+08:00

But I didn't win! At least not the goal of 50,000 words that was supposed to be everyone's goal. But as I had mentioned at the start of the month, my goal was to become a better writer, and in that sense, I won.

I was keeping in the contest, albeait at a slower pace than necessary to win, but I thought I could still make it. Then, after about a couple weeks, I read a blog post stressing the importance of theme. I examined my own story and realized that my theme, although strong and clearly defined at the beginning, had drifted out of the limelight as my story progressed. So I stopped and I'm still in the process of redeigning the storyline to keep the story on track.

So what is the theme of my story? I started with Romeo and Juliet, which has the theme that true love can defeat all problems, but it requires sacrificing the lovers. I questioned that conclusion, and asked whether two people from different worlds could overcome family disapproval.

I still haven't got the answer! I'll let you know when I finish my story!

NaNoWriMo Approaches!

2009-10-28T20:59:00.000+08:00

As the month of November approaches, I am reminded of first snowfalls, the happiness of family coming together at Thanksgiving, and, ... AND ...

NANOWRIMO!

That's right! It's National Novel Writing Month, that time of year when amateur writers join with professional writers to attempt to create a new novel ( or at least 50,000 words towards a novel) during the month of November. Even if you don't believe that you've got a novel inside you, this contest (FREE! No entry fee!) leads you, through motivational writings and an encouraging community, towards good writing habits that can help you develop that inner voice.

Perhaps the most important difference between a professional writer and an amateur writer is that a professional writer WRITES ALL THE TIME, while an amateur writer TALKS ABOUT WRITING ALL THE TIME! So stop your jawing and start tapping that keyboard.

For me, I've found that I write much more on the weekend than I do during the week. I can manage about 3000 words on each day of a weekend, and I see on my calendar that there are 9 days this November that fall on Saturday or Sunday, so that means I need to make 23,000 words on the 21 weekdays of that month. If I set a modest target of 1200 words per weekday, I should have plenty to cover those days that I fall a little short.

For those of you who need things spelled out, I'm entering. Why? Because it's FREE! That's right! I'm a cheap guy always looking for something free! HaHaHaHaHa!

Actually, I believe that the daily striving to fulfill an agressive writing goal will increase my writing output. If I succeed, then riches, fame, and glory can be mine! But if I fail to make the 50,000 words by the end of the month, what do I lose? NOTHNG! That's right! Nothing to risk, everything to gain! That's the kind of deal I look for in life!

So if you're like me and you can't pass up a deal that truly helps you succeed in life, then I invite you to join me in this year's contest. Feel free to friend me. Because the most important thing in this writing journey is to share what we write. I've truly been influenced by some spectacular writing in my lifetime, and I want to have that effect on others some day. And that's not going to happen unless I

WRITE!

A Quick Look at Social Networking

2009-09-24T00:10:00.000+08:00

This was inspired by tweets on Twitter.

LinkedIn is a way to keep in touch with people you need for your job.
Facebook is a way to keep in touch with people you'd rather not see in person.
Twitter is a way to tell your friends whatever you want without listening to their drivel when they tell you whatever they want.

Any more?

Your Cyborg Eye Will Talk to You

2009-09-01T22:14:00.000+08:00

I found this one on twitter. Thanks for the post, @RWW.

A group is working on a human machine interface where LEDs are embedded into contact lenses in order to display information to the wearer.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/your_cyborg_eye_will_talk_to_you.php

I thought this was so cool! I expect to use this in a future story.

Why I use an RSS feed to read blogs

2009-08-30T17:04:00.002+08:00

This is not in line with my regular posts, but I decided to post here anyway. I hope you don't mind.

Why I use an RSS feed to read blogs

* Fewer ads.

The primary benefit here is faster loading. Some ads get locked up and prevent the page from displaying. I also find flashing ads to be an unnecessary annoyance.

* Default colors are black and white.

A definite plus on some sites where background images make reading a challenge.

* New posts appear automatically.

Originally I would periodically check back on sites to see if something was posted--a big time-waster and resulted in following few blogs and losing track of some.

* Easier to organize posts, both for reading and saving.

Google Reader allows me to organize all the posts by directory and also to add my own tags when saving.

* Invisible following.

Although I haven't needed this myself, I could envision a case where I didn't want the blog owner to know I was following.

* Added indirection for replies.

In the event that I had an emotional response to a post, the added delay of waiting for the site to load gave me more time to cool down. That way, I'm less likely to post a reply I'll regret later.

* Allows me to view the last few postings at my convenience.

When I subscribe to a feed, I get the last few postings directly in the reader. Then I can read at my convenience and decide whether I want to follow the blog regularly. As a result, I unsubscribe from several blogs quickly if I feel they are not appropriate for me.

Writer's Block

2009-08-30T15:23:00.003+08:00

In general, I don't suffer from writer's block, but I do notice that sometimes, my writing flows more than other times. By observing my habits, I've come up with a few helpful rules to increase my productivity.

1. Write everyday.

I didn't realize how important this was until I went without writing for a few days and then tried to go back to it. I found that I took longer to get started, and my writing quality was poorer than usual. If I write everyday, it becomes easier to start the next time. I din't realize how beneficial this would be until I took a five-day trip recently, and I spent almost the whole time writing. My words continued to flow easily for quite a few days after that.

2. Plan my next section.

Although I'm an avid outliner, I have found that if I study the next section before taking a break, I have a better idea what I will write when I return to writing. Even if I don't actively think about the next section, the passive thought process is beneficial.

3. Carry paper and pen at all times.

I've heard this one many times, and I'm a firm believer that if you have more opportunity to write, you write more. It just makes sense.

4. Listen to your dialogue.

This helps my characters sound more realistic. The way I do this is to convert my file to a PDF, and then have the Adobe (C) Reader read it out to me.Although the voice is rather dull, it allows me to close my eyes and listen to the dialogue rather than read it. I can fine-tune a dialogue rather well using this technique. It also allows me to hear common mistakes that I fail to notice when I'm reading, such as repeated phrases or sparse descriptions, which are two of my most frequent problems.

5. Rewrite.

If I am stuck on a scene for a long time, then I examine my story structure. Sometimes I find that I don't like the direction the story has taken and I need to rewrite the previous scene or scenes to change the direction of the story.

6. Skip a scene or scenes.

If I have trouble getting started on a scene, I might skip that scene and continue with another easier scene. Then I can come back and try again.

I also frequently see advice on other sites that I've found unhelpful for me.

1. Ask a friend how to get my story going again.

The story structure is the writer's domain, and I'm not likely to relinquish control in that area. Also, no one else knows what I want to accomplish with my story, so how can they tell me what should happen next?

2. Write something other than your story.

On the occasions that I've been stuck and started writing something else, I've found that this in no way helps me with my current story. When I return, I'm usually just as blocked up as I was before. I believe this is because what I really need to get unstopped is to get more involved with my characters and storyline, not separated from them. Only by working through the block do I get unblocked.

Are these helpful for you, or do you have other ideas on how to get started?

Sorry for taking time off

2009-08-25T07:51:00.000+08:00

I've been blogging less since I've started using Twitter. I'm far from active there, but I've been hunting around for those I'd like to follow, and with the start of the new school year, I've been quite busy.

This break has been particularly good for giving me time to reorganize my book. I've changed the perspective, writing everything from Lisette's point of view. It's created a lot of interesting problems that I'm now working to overcome.

Hopefully, I'll have more of a chance to blog next week.

Travels in Malaysia

2009-08-12T18:47:00.000+08:00

In case you're wondering about my extended absence from the 'Net, I just got back from a short trip to Malaysia. I spent four days at Penang Island, a popular beach resort area. It was my first trip there in over five years, and I found it pretty much unchanged. It still has the characteristic British architecture with the high ceilings, most of which was built more than a century ago.

The one thing that I saw that had changed was an announcement that Georgetown--the main town of the island--has received World Heritage status. Several of the buildings were showing signs of fresh paint, and plaques pointing out historical landmarks were more plentiful.

I stayed at one of the many cheap hotels on Chulia Street, which is walking distance from the island ferry. It's a great place to meet fellow travelers who can trade stories of good deals around town and scams to be avoided.

At this time, tourism is exceptionally low, which means the merchants are desperate to attract customers. Shop around and you might be able to bargain a discount for an extended stay.

I'll post some items about my trip this week. Sorry, no photos.

Passing of a giant

2009-08-05T12:29:00.000+08:00

A few weeks ago, I posted on this blog about "Save the Cat!" by Blake Snyder.

Blake Snyder died this morning. For those of you who did not have the honor of knowing who he was, he was the scriptwriter for _Stop, or My Mom will Shoot_ and _Blank Check_.

When I was starting out in writing and needed a lot of help, his website was one of the first sites I found. His advice was always poignant and never judgmental. He continues to influence my writing even now that I've switched novels.

He was one of the true great people, because he never acted like helping others was an imposition.

Please join me in honoring Blake Snyder.

Tony Robbins

2009-07-26T05:50:00.000+08:00

I just caught a video by Tony Robbins, and I was fascinated by some of the advice he gave. It was more helpful than I expected. I highly recommend it to anyone who dreams of accomplishing something but thinks it's too far away or unattainable. Here's a quote of his.

A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken a new action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided.
Tony Robbins

Tears

2009-07-21T19:59:00.000+08:00

I wrote a scene that made me cry today.

I reached so deep into my soul it hurt. I scraped the bottom of my heart. I was at a low point over some bad news I had received, and rather than pitying myself, I wrote about my feelings. As I wrote, I realized this would work well on one of my characters. So I applied my deepest feelings to a character. My feelings exploded on the page, overflowing the margins.

Even now, as I think about the words, I have to stop and take a deep breath before continuing. I'll have to give this writing some time, letting my heart settle a bit, before I can take a fresh look at it and see if the feelings were captured in the words or if it's only in my mind.

Pacing

2009-07-19T08:03:00.000+08:00

An important concern is pacing--how fast or slow the novel moves in time. When I read a book by an established writer, I can see that some scenes are presented in detail, while other scenes are summarized. The choice comes down to making your novel tight--the minimum necessary for the user to get the story, with just enough fluff to make it interesting. Of course, it takes a lot of experience to find that correct mix.

The rule of thumb I use is how important a scene is to the story. If it concerns the central plot, then I include the dialogue. If it concerns a side plot, then I summarize. If it doesn't concern either, then I cut it out completely. The result is a tight novel that moves at a reasonable speed.

Tweaking a story

2009-07-18T11:24:00.000+08:00

I'm busy adjusting the wording in the first chapter of my story. This is a necessary task that every writer has to do at some point. If a writer never tweaks, then either he is perfect from the start (yeah, right), or the writer will not be published.

New writers probably need do it a lot more than more experienced writers because a new writer never knows when his writing is good enough for publication, and paying for editing services is expensive for something that may never bring in any income.

The problem becomes determining when the writing has been tweaked enough. There's no hard and fast rule, but I notice that in my own tweaking, I use a rule of thumb. If the new wording does not add some noticeable benefit, either in understanding or consistency or something like that, then I leave the original phrase. If two phrases mean roughly the same thing, then I'm likely to leave them as is. This forces me to cut off my tweaking at a point, rather than switching a phrase based on my mood at the time.

Plagiarism

2009-07-18T04:15:00.000+08:00

Several writing blogs are talking about plagiarism--one writer taking the words of another and calling them his own. The consensus appears to be that while this is unquestionably wrong, the laws do not adequately compensate the original writer for the loss of income or status.

I still remember many years ago whem I wrote in a story that my protagonist, a young child, secretly dreamed that he was being pursued by Lord Voldemort. When I showed it to a friend for critique, she chastised me for using another writer's character, even though I had only mentioned the name in one sentence in the entire story.

The fact is, I was using the reader's preconceived notions of a popular character to make a point in my own story, and for that reason it was wrong. Ms. Rawling spent a long time creating those characters, and it was unfair of me to rely on her creative talents, no matter how trivial.

Since that time, I have avoided any references to other stories in any form, even if they could be called 'tribute' and considered legal. I challenge all other writers to create your own words and ideas, from start to finish.

Interesting Characters

2009-07-18T04:05:00.000+08:00

As a friend and I were talking about the movie _Minority Report_, we realized that the minor characters in the story were extremely quirky.

For example, there's the eye doctor who was jailed for setting his patients on fire, and the woman scientist who has gone mad, surrounding her house with deadly plants. For the short time they are in the story, we are fascinated with them, and they stay with us for years. Perhaps the best part is that they were completely believable. It's a reminder to me to keep my lesser characters more interesting rather than as just place-setters.

Plot Twists

2009-07-16T22:16:00.000+08:00

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How do you add plot twists to a story? I don't know how most people do it, but I'll describe how I add them.

When I first think of a story, I produce a simple outline. I start at a particular point, and I end up at a particular point. This outline is, of course, too simplistic and uninteresting, so then I look for conflicts I can add. Sometimes I have to add a new character in order for a particular plot twist to work. I don't want to add a character solely for a plot twist, because that feels too contrived. Instead I see how I can get that character added near the beginning of the story, becoming an integral part of the story.

For example, in my book _Romance, Mob Style_, I originally wanted a love story between a powerful man in the mob and a woman who had loved him since before he was so powerful. Then I added that he needed to go out with a lot of women to get the respect of the other guys in the mob, and she was jealous of that. So then she hires a detective to cause him inconveniences whenever he was out with other women. But then the detective had a history with the mob leader, and his annoyances turned into revenge for past inequities. And then I added a power struggle within the mob that would challenge his position. And of course the FBI considered him the weak link in the organization because he was the highest ranking member who wasn't related to the family, etc.

I kept piling problem after problem on my protagonist. Note that at the time that I added these twists, I did not put any thought into how I was going to resolve them. I added the twists first, creating an unwinnable situation for the protagonist. After the protagonist was in so deep that no solution was visible, I found a way to get him out.

That's why my outline took several months to complete. It took time to rescue my protagonist in (1) a believable way, and (2) in a way that completely resolved all his conflicts..I hope when you read my story you feel satisfied with my ending.

Save the Cat!

2009-07-12T15:26:00.000+08:00

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Blake Snyder wrote a wonderful book for screenwriters called _Save the Cat!_

Although the book had many useful tips in it, the phrase "save the cat" refers to a point in your story where the hero performs some act of courage, risking his own life in order to save an innocent victim, such as a cat.

Do you remember in the movie _I, Robot_ when Will Smith's character was in the robot doctor's house looking for clues, and the demolition robot came alive? He was running through the house trying to escape the claws of the robot when he saw the doctor's cat scared in the hallway. What did he do? As he ran past the cat, he bent down and picked it up, both of them barely making it out of the house alive.

Why did he do that? Because the audience loved him for it, that's why. By showing compassion for the cat, we all sympathized with him. He became a hero for the common man and pets everywhere.

So, when you're writing your story, and you don't feel your main character is compassionate enough, have him save some helpless victim. Your audience will love him for it.

A Good Protagonist

2009-07-11T20:52:00.000+08:00

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What makes a good protagonist in a story?
A good protagonist has a lot of faults in the beginning. Usually through the course of a story, the protagonist learns to overcome these faults and turn them into assets. If this is the case, then the character grows and becomes admirable. The audience follows the protagonist, cheering as he overcomes each fault. This is called a character arc—how a character grows during a story.
But what about the case where the character doesn't grow? If a character fails to overcome his faults, then the story becomes a tragedy. The story is still motivating, and people will still urge the character to change, but when the character fails to grow, the audience sympathizes with him. There is either no character arc, or the arc is incomplete.
Now, there is another class of protagonist—the one who doesn't grow, but is already perfect. One obvious example is the Road Runner. Show after show, the road runner escapes from Wile E. Coyote. People still cheer for the road runner, even though there is no growth. They watch the show to see what ridiculous attempt the coyote is going to try this time, and how the road runner will escape. The ending is already known.
Another example is James Bond. There's no doubt from the beginning that Bond will win in the end, and there is no room for growth. Women love him unconditionally, but he uses them as he needs them. He never falls for a woman to the point that he is vulnerable. The appeal of James Bond is in seeing him use the new gadgets against the master criminals and win. The audience wants to see him get the woman, and of course they relate to him.

Targeting my novel

2009-07-10T03:47:00.000+08:00

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One of the challenges I've had to deal with is targeting my book for a particular market sector. Now, I know, the first thought that comes into your head is that I'm more interested in making money than writing the story that's within me. While I'll agree that getting published is an important goal, it is not my only goal, and it is not why I became a writer.

What I'm talking about is that I want to maintain a clean, family style of writing, yet I have chosen a topic that is not generally regarded as clean family entertainment. Romance suggests a more mature audience, and the Mob suggests a high level of violence. But I'm not a writer of lewd sex, and so I need to deal with the romance in a more general way, giving innuendo rather than being explicit. And even though the threat is always present, the violence stays a bit distant from the visuals.

After having written a few scenes, I see that I need to go back and edit them, redirecting the content so that my family goal is not violated.

Wat Phra Kaew

2009-07-08T19:45:00.001+08:00

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Some of you may be wondering what the significance of the picture of the temple on this blog is. Wat Phra Kaew is the most famous temple in Thailand, due to the Emerald Buddha, a small statue carved out of green jade (but it looks like it could be an emerald). Instead of posting the history here, I'll provide a link to the Wikipedia article about it for those who are interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Buddha

What kind of writer are you?

2009-07-08T16:56:00.000+08:00

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Some writers can write an entire book from beginning to end without any notes. I'm not one of those.

In fact, I tend to be on the opposite extreme. I outline. I started _Romance, Mob Style_ three months ago, mid-April 2009. Just this week, early July 2009, I have finished my outline.

Now that doesn't mean that I haven't done much writing. I've done a LOT of writing already. I've been doing writing to explore the character personalities and conflicts, and what characters I need to bring out the central conflict better.

But most of that writing hasn't stayed. It was exploratory writing, designed to get a better picture in my head of where I was going and what would work. For example, I'm now on version seven of my outline. Problems of the first six outlines ranged from 'too simple' to 'weak conflict.'

The big problem for the final outline was figuring out how to resolve the situation that I had created for the protagonist. This has been keeping me awake for many restless nights. And then just a few days ago, it just dawned on me how to do it.

Now that my outline is stable ('finished' is such a relative term in this business), I start stage two--the actual writing. I already have 6000 words, which is enough to set up the basic conflicts and get the reader into the story. But this 6000 is highly edited.

The way I produce my writing is to read through my comments for the scene from my outline to make sure I get everything in it that I want to accomplish, then do some sample writing, and edit it until I get the scene the way I want it. This involves playing around with the point of view character, the setting, the dialogue, etc. So I produce a scene or a few scenes at a time before I go on. When I finish a scene, it is usually pretty close to what I want.

Now it's time for stage 3--outside help. After I feel good about a scene, I send it off to my good friend who patiently reads everything I do, and she sends back her comments. Sometimes we have hour-long sessions of chat--we don't live close to each other any more--where I write a paragraph for her and she tells me what she thinks. We can write back and forth, gradually morphing the paragraph into the form where what I want to say is what she gets when she reads it. She's also quite familiar with my work and can give me advice on character consistency, as well as many other things that I didn't remember.

Now I start stage 4. Once stage 3 is finished, I'm ready to go through the book from beginning to end, checking for everything. But I can't do that immediately after I finish writing, because I'm still seeing the internal picture of the story in mind. I have to let my memory of the story cool off some, so that when I read it again, I'm reading the words on the paper and not watching the movie in my head. Typically, I need to be without it for at least a week, but quite often I go much longer, just because I've got enough other things that I can work on in that time. If I were paying for an editor, this is the point where I would send it off. Instead, I rely on my friend.

After we both have read through it and feel that it's the best it can be, I'll send it off to a publisher. Since I haven't published anything yet, I'm still looking for a regular publisher. But I'll worry about that when I get there.

I've developed this method on my own after years of trying to produce a novel. I don't expect this to work for everybody. That's not why I posted it. But my writing routine has enough steps in it that I believe most people can relate to some parts of it.

How do you produce a book?

Writing Space

2009-07-08T12:33:00.000+08:00

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Where do you write? Are you picky about where you write?

I certainly am! When I'm at home, I can do a great deal of writing, but it's much more mechanical. I can edit existing writing, or I can fill a page with text, but if I want to do some real creative writing, then I have to take a walk and get out of my house. I cannot sit at the computer and expect enlightenment to come to me.

I pick up my notebook and pen, then walk a couple of blocks to the nearest McDonald's. When I sit down to write, I'm ready to create, and I can write for hours. And of course I order something!

Why is that? Is Mcdonald's somehow in tune with the muses? I don't think so. Instead, I think that it's the ritual that I go through each time that gives my mind the necessary preparation to start writing. If I sit at a computer, I can't force the creative juices to flow. I've got to coax them out.

So watch your own writing. Do you have some ritual you go through before you can begin really serious writing? Tell me about it! Please! I can't take all those burgers! :-)

Opening Line of a Novel

2009-07-08T12:11:00.000+08:00

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“No one’s talking about killing you, Mr. Mandese.”

That's the opening line of my new novel, Romance, Mob Style. Does entice you? Does it encourage you to read more? Does it leave a question in your mind as to what's going on? Does it have a sense of immediacy to it?

Those were the effects I was trying to get when I wrote it. In studying how to write opening lines, I went through several books, including many titles at a local bookstore, to see what I liked and what I didn't.

If you want to be a better writer, you need to be willing to examine the craft, to explore within yourself what works and what doesn't for you. Only when you understand why a style works will you be able to give that added punch to your own writing.

How do you come up with an opening line? What is the best opening line you've ever seen, or written?

Screenplays vs Novels

2009-07-08T10:51:00.000+08:00

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When I first started writing with the intention of publishing, I tried to write screenplays. But I quickly found that trying to break into screenplays is much more cutthroat than novels. So I switched to writing novels.

Screenplays are much more formulaic than novels. A screenplay must reach certain points by certain pages, or else it will not be accepted by the powers that be--those people in Hollywood who risk their millions on the success of a movie. The overall length must be quite precise so as to provide a cinema audience with the expected experience. The first step in writing a screenplay is learning exactly how to get the right "feel" to your screenplay.

In contrast, a novel has a lot more leniency. The writer merely has to entertain the reader for as long as he can get away with it. When a reader is deciding on a book, he can pick up a copy, determine the number of pages, read some sample sections, and if a book doesn't meet his taste, he can put it back. But the readers have a lot more variation than a cinema audience.

Hence, a book can be a lot more flexible.

Point of View

2009-07-08T10:01:00.000+08:00

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The subject of point of view is not a simple one, and this post will not be able to handle many cases, so I'll just start with basic comments, and leave expansion to future posts.

In general for each scene, there should be one point of view (POV) character--one character through whose eyes we see the story. The reader relates to this character, feels what the character feels, cares what happens to this character. But the choice of POV character is not a simple one.

Some people say that the most important character in a scene is the character to choose for POV, but I've played around with different characters and found that sometimes the POV character can be changed to produce a different effect.

For example, I have a scene where the FBI roughs up my protagonist when he's walking with his girlfriend. The natural choice is through the eyes of the protagonist, right? But the protagonist knows too much about what's going on, and viewing the scene through his eyes may reveal too much. Instead, I viewed the scene through the eyes of the girfriend. She knows some thing, but in general she's as confused about the events as the reader is. In this way, I refrain from revealing too much information until I'm ready, adding to the suspense.

So think carefully about which character will provide the best effect for choosing the POV. There may be times the best choice is a character who knows absolutlely nothing about what's going on.

What about you? What POV issues are you working on? How do you choose the POV character?

Welcome to my blog!

2009-07-07T23:07:00.000+08:00

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Hi! My name's Bailish. I'm a writer. Well, I'm not yet published, but I expect to be one day. I've learned a lot about writing, and in the past few years I've seen my writing improve tremendously. I don't plan on giving up.

This blog is to give you a chance to see what my next book is all about. The title of the book is _Romance, Mob Style_, and it's about a romance between an influential woman and a man who collects loan payments for the mob.

Keep reading, and I'll tell you all about it. I'll also post some sections of the book. If you like what I've written, then tell me about it. I'd love to hear! But also, if you don't like what I've written. tell me why. I'd love help in making the best story I can!