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We Have To Go Smaller

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

If you’ve followed my updates or my newsletter, or just heard me ranting, you know that I’ve been very busy lately. Because I was so busy, I kept trying to power through the draft of my next novel, a School of Many Futures. Sadly, the powered through version felt off, emotionally disconnected. When it’s a sequel to your first novel, and a skewering of the “special school” genre, you want proper emotional connection, if only so the jokes land point-first.

So I began looking over what had happened to the writing, because this bloody well didn’t feel like my last book.

I had a good outline, using a mix of my own techniques and the snowflake method. That had helped me write.

My writing was fast. I can easily put out 2K words or more an hour. The outline helped.

But everything felt off. That’s when I figured out what had happened – I had written to the outline, but not engaged emotionally with the contents. I had missed the fine details, the feelings, the subtle connections. Being tired from so much going on, I had written, but I hadn’t written well.

With that revelation, I asked – how do I get back into the swing of things?

Well, the problem wasn’t with the outline, it was with the scenes. So with that in mind, and with a few ideas from Randy Ingermanson, I decided to rewrite each scene. I set out specific goals:

  1. Each scene would be a “Crucible” as Randy put it – there had to be a reason to be there.
  2. Each scene should be a relateable scene, and give us a character viewpoint.
  3. I would rework the chapters slowly so I really recovered my connection with the story and characters.

In short, I went smaller.

The result? The result is the rewritten work already feels much better – literally like a different story. Characters are more alive, stakes clearer, and even some of my outline has changed as I’ve made discoveries about my creations. Getting smaller made things bigger.

(By the way, I don’t think this negates my earlier advice of “power through when writing.” I had to do this to find my flaws.)

But there was an additional lesson here. Sometimes while redoing scenes I found a sequence didn’t work. Or a paragraph didn’t. Or a sentence didn’t. Sometimes I had to go even smaller in my focus.

We often get caught up in the big picture, not realizing it’s made of many smaller pictures, a network of them. Sometimes we have to ignore a story to work on a scene.

But maybe, there are times we ignore a scene to get a sequence of events right.

Or we ignore a sequence of events to get a paragraph right.

Or we ignore a paragraph to get a sentence right.

There are times we have to think smaller or we just don’t connect with our works. We get lost in the big picture with no idea what it’s made of. We become ungrounded trying to follow an outline. We get lost while knowing where we’re going.

So next time you’re writing and it’s not working, stop thinking bigger. Think smaller. It may just make your work the next big thing

Steven Savage

Vegan Nachos/Burrito Bowl

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

Time for another recipe from Steve to help you eat healthy, fast, efficiently – so you can get back to your creative works! This is a Nacho or Burrito bowl recipe depending on what you want – one mix served in two forms!

Makes 2 servings.

First, the basic mix!

  • 1 14.5 oz cans black or pinto beans, drained and rinsed.
  • 1 14.5 oz can tomatoes, drained (or about 2-3 good-sized diced tomatoes).
  • Optional: About 1/4 cup pickled jalapeno slices.
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 Tbsp crushed garlic (or about 1 tsp garlic powder)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder

Take all of these ingredients, mix them, and microwave them until hot, stirring it.  You can also dry-saute it without oil for a better taste.

Now how to serve them?  You can do the following:

NACHOS: Just drop the mix on a pile of nachos and serve!   Serve with a salad for a complete meal!

BURRITO BOWL: Make two bowls, and in each place 1 cup or so cooked rice,  mixed with 1 to 1/2 cups shredded spinach or cabbage.  Ladle the mix over the rice/spinach mixture and serve.  It’s a complete meal!

This meal is a great, fast, tasty one I’ve grown very fond of.  I originally invented the burrito bowl, and the nachos came as a later experiment – but now they’re popular in my household.

Oh, and keep in mind you can freeze the mixture for later . . .

Steven Savage

You’re More Of A Writer Than You Know

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

So lately I was reading the FATE Core system. Yes, I read gamebooks, not just to play them, but because of a possible side game project. While reading, I put some other reading on hold as a gamebook is, well, a book.

This had me thinking about how much writing we do that we don’t think of as writing. You, a potential or current writer, may not see how much of a writer you already are.

If you write a report at work, people might not think of it as writing – including you. That thing may be 60 pages of prose, infographics, and careful phrasing, a virtual novella of workflows. Yet, some (including you) may not think of it as writing.

If you create a newsletter for your friends and family every month or every quarter, it’s writing. Sure, it’s got a zip file filled with cat pictures, but it’s writing. In fact, if you do a newsletter for your own writing, that’s writing.

If you’re a Business Analyst, a lot of what you do is writing. Feature sets and Scrum Stories, updates, and wireframes all involve writing.

Think of any of the above works – they involve enormous amounts of skills. One has to craft communications, pick words, create enormous amounts of writing. Creators format and organize and edit these seemingly “not-so-writerly” creations. They’re writing.

And of course, if you’re writing a game manual, then you’re a writer.

Which means there’s a very good chance you’re a writer right now.

Which means even if you think of yourself as a writer and do these things, you’re more of a writer than you know.

Which means a lot of things you do are writing. So if you feel you aren’t enough of a writer, or can’t be a writer, chances are that’s B.S. – you’re a writer. You just want to be more of one about specific works.

SO next time you doubt your writing, ask about all the things you do at work or at home. Chances are you’ve got less to doubt, do more than you think, and are learning more than you realize.

Now, use it to be the writer you want to be.

Steven Savage