Advice

Writing As A Living Thing

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

“The story falls apart,” the writer laments. I’ve heard that from many writers, and I’ve said it myself. Sometimes the tales we create turn into a pile of junk with alarming regularity, even if this happens in our heads. That’s because stories only work in motion – just like a living thing.

A story is a lot like a body, constantly in motion, and only in motion is it alive. Scenes connect, actions flowing like blood between theme. An event in one part of the story flies across the tale to create events later, a shocking nerve signal of continuity. Strong world ideas hold it together, the bones and muscles that give the tale solidity.

But if it stops moving, flowing, living, it slows. It stills. It may even die.

The problem is, we often harm our living stories.

We strangle them, trying to force them down certain paths. A story is a living thing, and its going to surprise us – the more we force it, the more it slows, the more danger we kill it.

We try to force them to move faster, as if we’re drugging them for performance. As we force them, they wear, continuity and characters malfunctioning, and if we’re not careful, they sicken and die.

We focus on tiny issues of stories, ignoring larger issues of health. Distracted, we don’t address the important parts of our story, and the story staggers and stumbles.

We become lost in huge abstract issues of our tales, ignoring important smaller ones of our tales. Focusing on giant overarching issues, we miss tiny flaws in our stories, and like our health, tiny issues grow to larger ones. We can be surprised at what we lost.

We go for crank ideas and trendy suggestions, following today’s latest trend or writing advice. Just like crank medicine and diet fads, these arent good for us, but we get caught up in the moment and the hype. It is only later that we have to figure out how we harmed our stories and fix the damage we inflicted.

Take care of your story just like you would a living thing. It’s a good metaphor – and if nothing else, can give us a bit of writer hypochondria to keep us on alert.

Steven Savage

Just Write Something

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

As I work on A School of Many Futures, the sequel to A Bridge To The Quiet Planet, I end up on a mental rollercoaster. I’ve found a way to deal with that.

I’m sure you’ve had ups and downs in your writing – for me, having done nonfiction for so long, writing fiction is trying. Sure I got one novel out after not doing much fiction for awhile, but it took a lot to get back into it. The second novel produces it’s own challenges, from plotting to questions, and though it’s easier than the first book, I have my moments.

Do I do this twist? Should I do something else? Maybe a short story to jumpstart me?

The worst part of writing fiction is you wonder. You can speculate endlessly on what you should do and where you’re going. You’re creative, and you can use your creativity to worry at an amazing rate.

Several of my friends made the same point to me – when in doubt, just write.

If you write, then you get something done.

You have something to use in your story. It may be good enough.

You have something to edit. Sure it’s bad, but at least it can be fixed.

You can try out an idea and see if it works. If it fails, then at least you know (and you can put it in file to save it for later).

If you write, then you don’t worry about being blocked – you keep moving, even if it’s imperfect.

You get your mind moving, so even if what you made is unusable, uneditable, and unsavable, then your brain is in writing mode.

One friend of mine noted that when drafting, they will make it scriptlike and edit it later. You don’t even have to write things in full, just write enough to have something.

This has helped me get over some blockages the last week. I’m writing, even if it’s not perfect or needs editing. I’m thinking and revising my work, improving it over time and seeing it in new lights. Most of all I’m not stagnant, so I’m moving forward no matter what.

Sure there’s challenges – but something is getting done, and each time I’m one step closer to a book.

The only book that fails is the one never written. So next time you’re not sure what to do, write. That’s one thing that can guarantee a book or story or post is done.

Just write something.

Steven Savage

Writing And Life Skills

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Awhile ago, I contributed to a cookbook for authors called Feeding The Muse. That made me think about the challenges authors faced, one of them being how to eat healthy and fast. It was one of the reasons I started posting my recipes here.

This has made me think about something we writers and indeed all creators face – the need for the life skills to allow us to be creative. You can’t write or draw when you can’t manage money or are too busy to clean the house.

This has made me think about all sorts of things that we authors and creatives can and should do.

We need to develop our own life skills: We need to work on developing the life skills that allow us to be creative. My challenge for you – What life skills do you need to improve?

We need to ask for help: We can’t do everything. We may need to hire someone to clean, or our cooking is so bad we need advice. Yes, that’s directed at you. My challenge to you is – What “life area” should you ask for help in?

We need to share our life skills: Everyone has challenges in their creative lives. We also have things we’re probably good at. So go and share your life skills. My challenge to you – What is your best life skill and how can you share it?

We need to share our life skill resources: Books, guides, websites. Let’s share our life skill resources – say a writing club with it’s own web page for such resources? Take this challenge – How can you share your favorite life skill resources right now?

We should make life skills part of creative events: Let’s share our life skills at creative events. Why not make it part of your writing group? Do a panel at conventions? Here’s your challenge – What environments are best for you to share your life skills?

Life skills support our creative work – and thus are part of our creative lives. It’s up to us to learn them, apply them, share them – and admit our gaps.

Steven Savage