Links for the end of the week:
Yet another reason YA author Laurie Halse Anderson is amazing? The Write Fifteen Minutes A Day Challenge. The rules? Write for fifteen minutes a day, everyday during August. That’s it. No need to submit anything or log anything. Just hit fifteen minutes a day.
I like the idea of this way more than NaNoWriMo, in which you try to write a thousands of words. Fifteen minutes a day is way more manageable. And they don’t even have to be words that are all going to the same thing. Want to write a short story one day? Go for it. Work on your novel the next? Rock on. Want to spend fifteen hours writing? Well, maybe allow yourself a few bathroom breaks, but you can do that, too. It’s just about getting yourself started.
Also, love this response as to why Anderson is leading the challenge:
Because the arts flourish in community. When kindred spirits gather they raise each other up. The differences between someone who has been published and someone who hasn’t are not nearly as dramatic as you might think. I still struggle to make time everyday to write. I still choke at the thought of the blank page. I never write as well or as thoughtfully, or as fast as I want to. But I love writing. I’d be scribbling stories if I had never been published. It is the writing – surrendering to the magic – that is the best part of my day. It balances me, and makes me feel alive. I want to share that with you.
This really captures what it’s like to be a writer. It’s hard, and it doesn’t get easier. But not writing is way worse than writing, and once you commit to a little amount of time, you get to be part of another world.
I’m definitely going to take part in the WFMAD Challenge. Are you?
“Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”–E.L. Doctorow
This pretty much sums up my writing process. I usually have an idea of where I’d like to end up and how I get there, but I don’t always know the exact path the story will take.
I love adaptations of classic tales. Fairy tale adaptations like Shannon Hale’s The Goose Girl, or takes on Shakespear ala Something Rotten by Alan Gratz always gets my attention. But what makes a good adaptation? On her blog today, Mary Kole looks at that exact issue and why an adaptation has to be its own story as well. I love this description of making an old story new:
“She didn’t just tinker with the original, she took the entire thing apart, repainted it, and put it back together her own way. An adaptation in today’s market takes nothing less.”
The adaptation in question is Marissa Meyer’s Cinder, which I haven’t read yet (I know, I know), but even from the description it sounds like a really fun, unique, compelling take on the Cinderella story. Another one I love is Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. Even that’s a little more on the “traditional” site (there are fairy godmothers and princes), but it takes the Cinderella story to the next level by giving Ella a physical and emotional journey.
It’s always good to ask yourself “Why does this story need to be told? And why does it need to be told this way?” But it’s especially important when dealing with adaptations. Shakespeare already told us about Hamlet. Why do we need another Hamlet story? And is your Hamlet story going to be different than Something Rotten or Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead? It adds another layer of pressure onto the author, but it can lead to some rich and engaging new takes on old tales. I find it exciting to be told the same story from another point of view or with another layer added to it. Just make sure you’re still writing your own story.
There’s a great post up today at Kate Messner’s Teachers Write. Author Karen Day talks about getting through that first draft, especially when you’re 50 pages in and things stall. It can be exciting to write the first chapter or so, but things can get harder when you’re that much further in. One suggestion Karen has that I really like:
“Sometimes I’ll be 60 pages into a manuscript and lose my way. Then, writing an entire chapter seems daunting. So I tell myself that I’ll just write a scene. A conversation with the antagonist. A resolution. Something my main character discovers. I might write 10 pages or more of these short “scenes”. Out of this, I usually can get myself going again. Don’t worry if this part of your manuscript doesn’t look like the other parts. Remember, it’s a draft!”
I know I get caught up in the writing of a draft and worry that everything has to be perfect. But it doesn’t at all! As Karen suggests, you can write scenes that will never, ever be part of your final manuscript and that’s okay. It’s still teaching you more about your characters and the themes in your story.
Make sure to check out the rest of Karen’s suggestions for powering through first draft stalling. And if you keep reading, you get to learn about flash fiction from Danette Haworth. What more could you want to jumpstart your Monday morning writing?
Lots of great links to take you into the weekend:
On her blog, Erika Dreifus looks at linked story collections (several stories with similar characters/locations/themes/etc.). How can they be written and evaluated in comparison to novels or collections of separate short stories? She quotes Junot Diaz:
“I’ve always conceptualized linked collections as these wonderful Lagrange points between the story collection and the novel. In them there’s this weird bit of space—again not as much as in a novel, but more than a standard collection—from which wonderful stuff can be spun, stuff that neither the traditional novel nor the traditional story collection can generate. A fascinating patch of liminality that writers haven’t done quite enough with, in my opinion.”
YA and children’s literature has a limited amount of short stories in general, let alone linked short stories*. I wonder if a collection of linked short stories could work better than just a standard collection. Teen years are filled with so many facets and contradictions–maybe a series of linked stories could reflect that really well.
*Oddly enough, when I was a YA myself, I wrote a series of linked stories, even though I didn’t know that was what it was called at the time.
Love this post by YA author Ally Carter about all the things she wishes she could tell her younger, budding author self. It’s great advice for people at the beginning of their writing careers. One part I liked in particular:
“And the biggest piece of advice I can give you is this: take a sheet of paper and write down five things that would make you really, really happy in your career. Then write down five things that would be “best case scenario” things. And lastly write five “in your wildest dreams” things.
Keep that list. Remember that list. Because in this business the finish line is constantly moving. One day you really just want an agent. Then it’s a book deal. Then it’s a bestseller. Then it’s a movie. Then it’s a castle next to JK Rowling’s.
In short, appreciate things as they’re happening, remember that once upon a time that thing was a dream of yours and that it’s still a dream for someone. So be grateful every day.”
I think this is a great idea. Writing is full of disappointments and rejections, even for super-established authors. It’s easy to get caught up in thinking about the bestsellers and castles that seem just out of your reach. Until we all have castles next to Rowling’s, it’s good to remember all the awesome things happening now–even if it’s just that you finished a new draft or your critique partners said they loved the voice in your latest work.
Make sure to check out Ally’s full post for more great advice.
Writer and my former workshop-mate Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevitch has a suggestion for critique groups–let someone know if their story is boring.
Okay, that might sound harsh. But “boring” is a major reason people outside of your workshop will set aside your story. I’m guilty of not pushing my characters and plot enough, too, and I always appreciate it when my critiquers tell me that things need to move faster or more needs to be at stake. Usually when I revise with that in mind, the story is more engaging and doesn’t put the reader to sleep.
Still, it can be hard to hear that your story isn’t compelling. To protect fellow writers’ feelings, Alexandria offers this idea for workshop notes:
“So how about this: a small circle in the margin of the page, to signal a change in the reader’s attention level at a given point. The circle could be filled in all the way for moments when the reader was rapt, put to half-mast for moments when the story was inching along well enough but the reader was fighting the impulse to check how many pages remained, and left empty for the moment the reader actually did put the story down, not to be picked up again until, say, the night before workshop.”
I really like this idea. A series of circles feels less than a jab than it does a way to track your story’s momentum. Plus, it’s so helpful to see how a reader actually interacts with the story. You may think that readers will be stunned by a particular line of dialogue or scene, but they might not get enough emotional resonance for the scene to have the effect you want.
Make sure to click through for Alexandria’s whole post.
Photo by Ralph Thompson of Faulkner in Rouss Hall [Print# 0218]
July 6 marked 50 years since William Faulkner’s passing.One way to mark the occasion is to check out the University of Virginia’s digital archives of Faulkner’s materials and lectures from his time at the University. During one of his classes, Faulkner was asked about Caddy in The Sound and the Fury:
Frederick Gwynn: Is Candace a common name in Mississippi or—?
William Faulkner: No. No, Caddy seemed a nice name for her, and I had to think of something to justify it.
I kind of love that Faulkner just thought it sounded like the right name. Sometimes that happens–a character just comes to you in a certain way and you’re not quite sure why a particular detail rings true, but it does.
Lots of awesome material in there for all you fellow Faulkner fans.
(quotes and image from Faulkner at Virginia, © 2010 Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia; Author Stephen Railton)(via UVA Today)