Tag: author advice

Quote of the Day

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“Being a writer does not necessarily mean being published. It’s very nice to be published. It’s what you want. When you have a vision, you want to share it. But being a writer means writing. It means building up a body of work. It means writing every day. You can hardly say that van Gogh was not a painter because he sold one painting during his lifetime, and that to his brother. But do you say that van Gogh wasn’t a painter because he wasn’t “published?” He was a painter because he painted, because he held true to his vision as he saw it. And I think that’s the best example I can give you.”–Madeleine L’Engle

From Madeleine L’Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life; probably the best example of why the writing itself is what matters.

Being an Author

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From Terence Blacker’s list of what it means to be an author:

  • You write a book, and when it’s gone, it’s gone. It turned out not to be the perfect work you once envisaged but, for better or worse, it has reached its destination. If you are lucky enough to be asked to talk about it months later when it is published, you will see it from the outside, almost as if it has been written by a stranger. Your mind is on what you are writing now.
  • You long to be part of what is described as “the literary establishment”, but you never will be. Other authors, swanning about smugly at a festival or a Royal Society of Literature reading, may cause a knot of rage and jealousy to form in your stomach, but they are worrying about being outside the establishment, too.
  • You are lucky. You are doing something which, for all its agonies and uncertainties, allows you to lead a fuller life than you would otherwise have had.

Rest of the list through the link; he hits on lots of the anxieties and joys in the writing process.

(via Neil Gaiman)

Making This Fun: Nora Ephron

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Writer and director Nora Ephron passed away yesterday, which is quite a loss for the film and literary industry. Her When Harry Met Sally is one of the best romantic comedies ever. Much like YA, romantic comedies don’t get a lot of credit, but a well written one can truly touch on what so many of us experience on a daily basis.

One part of her obituary in the New York Times struck me in particular. About working with Ephron, Meryl Streep said:

“Nora just looked at every situation and cocked her head and thought, ‘Hmmmm, how can I make this more fun?'”

I wish more people looked at their job and coworkers and had that same thought. Although writing is often seen as a solitary activity, I think there’s a huge element of community to it. I’m going to try to instill this philosophy into my writing life.

(image: IMDB)

Quote of the Day

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Juvenile or adult, War and Peace or Treasure Island, Pride and Prejudice or Beauty and the Beast, a great work of the imagination is one of the highest forms of communication of truth that mankind has reached. But a great piece of literature does not try to coerce you to believe it or agree with it. A great piece of literature simply is.–Madeleine L’Engle

This is from my current read Madeleine L’Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life, which is basically a bunch of awesome quotes from L’Engle about writing, reading, and art.

Quote of the Day

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“Novels are never about what they are about; that is, there is always deeper, or more general, significance. The author may not be aware of this till she is pretty far along with it. A novel’s whole pattern is rarely apparent at the outset of writing, or even at the end; that is when the writer finds out what a novel is about, and the job becomes one of understanding and deepening or sharpening what is already written. That is finding the theme.”–Diane Johnson

Very much agree with that. I don’t think many writers sit down to write about a particular theme and end up with a compelling story. Themes have to emerge naturally and with layers of complication.

(H/T Advice to Writers)

The Rules of Storytelling According to Pixar

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Yesterday I caught the beginning of Finding Nemo. I’ve seen it at least a dozen times now and I always tear up at the beginning. “No, this time will be different,” I tell myself. “I know what’s coming.” But damnit, every time Marlin holds that little fish egg my lip starts quivering. Sometimes I think Pixar is out to make adults weep as much as possible.

Even if their goal isn’t to steal the tears of every living adult and child, Pixar does know how to tell a good story. So even if you’re not a screenwriter, you should probably check out this list of storytelling rules by Pixar artist Emma Coats. A few that I really liked:

“#9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.

#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.

#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.”

To me, these are all about pushing yourself as a writer. In early drafts, I tend to give my characters easy outs or not insert enough tension to really fuel the story. You want to make things hard for your characters because a) life is hard and b) drama is compelling. And if you can think of an easy way out for your characters, the audience has probably already thought of that as well, which isn’t compelling for them.

Make sure to check out the whole list. It’s a fantastic resource for writers of all levels.

(Also, who’s excited for Brave?!)

(via 109)(image: Pixar Wiki)

Links Galore

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A few more links to get you through the day:

Less Evil Cheerleaders, More Flying Motorcycles

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Love this list of stuff to stop doing in YA novels. A few favorites:

“4. No more main characters who want to be writers.”

Because then you quote something your main character has written and it’s supposed to be amazing, and I put on my judgment cap.

“5. No more evil cheerleaders, even if it IS true to life. May still work if they’re zombies or something, though. I HAVE always wanted to do a book called “Pushing Cheerleaders Down the Stairs.””

Evil non-zombie cheerleaders are so 1994, guys. There are lots of evil people in high school. Let’s give them their chance to shine! Or something.

“9. No more dystopias without flying motorcycles. Because flying motorcycles are awesome and I don’t want there to be a future that doesn’t have them. Really, any dystopia set in a world that doesn’t look like a Meat Loaf video is just not okay with me.”

If Sirius Black can have a flying motorcycle, we should all have flying motorcycles. Work on it, scientists!

My own additions:

  • No more wild and wacky best friends. You want to give your characters fun friends, sure, but they should also feel like real people, not caricatures.
  • No more total lack of anything related to school. We don’t need major details on math class, but lots of kids have extracurricular activities they love, midterms they cram for, and rivalries with other schools.
  • No more characters not eating. (Okay, novels about people dealing with eating disorders get a pass.) I hate seeing characters sit down for lunch and pick at their food or leave suddenly. People eat every day! Have a sandwich!

Obviously this is just for fun and there’s always a good reason to break rules when writing. Still, I think we’ve got a solid list going here. Anything you’d add?

Stories That Will Never See the Light of Day: Writing from High School

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In this video, YA author John Green talks about the stories he wrote when he was in high school–which, of course, made me think of my own high school attempts at fiction.

Like John says about his early work, none of mine was good. Most of it was knock-off versions of what I was reading or watching at the time. A few highlights from the past fictional files:

  • a girl who likes art and has run-ins with the popular crowd
  • a coven of high school witches
  • a Robin Hood-esque girl hero in a vague fantasy world (plus half a sequel)
  • a series of linked short stories about a group of friends; everyone took walks and thought about stuff but never did anything

Pretty sure none of this will ever see the light of day. (Actually, not sure if I could track most of this down; it might be in my parents’ basement or it might have gotten tossed when they were tossing a lot of stuff from aforementioned basement.) But I am so, so glad I wrote these horrific stories. After each one, I’d learned more about writing and was excited to move onto the next project. I got to try different genres and styles without the pressure of having to show these stories to anyone in particular.

Also, they primed me for taking writing seriously as an adult. Working on my thesis novel wasn’t so bad because I knew I’d written “novels” before and would eventually get to the end through a lot of hard work and perseverance. I know that sometimes projects don’t work out, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t keep the general idea or characters tucked away for future projects.

My theory: writing is never a waste. Maybe it won’t pay off like you think it will (somehow that girl hero never landed me on the Today Show like I imagined), but it always teaches you something. And at the very least, maybe you can tell your legion of fans about it via Youtube video.

Make Good Art and Other Thoughts From Neil Gaiman

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Neil Gaiman talks about making a life as an artist in his address to the 2012 graduating class of University of the Arts:

I really like the idea of constantly walking toward the mountain of your own success and hopes. Also, must remember that mistakes mean you’re “out there doing something,” especially when the mistakes or disappointments have just happened.

PS–I had problems getting this video to play at first, then went to the main page and skipped ahead a couple seconds, and it played fine after that.

(via readergirlz)