Guest post by Eros-Alegra Clarke, a fiction writer who went to New Zealand for the surfing, and never left. Alegra won the Grand Prize, 76th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition, with her short story, Salamander Prayer. Lately she’s been toiling in the muddy fields of the novel, while simultaneously mothering three small children. Read more on her blog, Eros-Alegra Clarke, a Golden Retriever with Butterfly Wings.

WHEN IT COMES TO MANAGING MY LIFE, I spend a lot of time dreaming about sprouting a second set of arms. Actually, those are my conservative dreams – in my wild, unrestrained dreaming, I add a third set of arms and grow a new head. But barring a lucky encounter with a radioactive asteroid, I don’t think there is much hope of me becoming anything other than your average, frantic, two-armed, one-brained female.

With a three month old baby and two other children aged 5 and 3, I don’t have time to put into place the organizational systems that in my pre-motherhood days served me well. And, ironically, it seems like with each child I have had, the more external, non-motherhood related opportunities have presented themselves to compete for my time.
Between dishes, laundry, small-scale catastrophes, and the need for sleep, I am daily learning to focus on habits of efficiency and adaptability. I don’t have a lot of control over my environment, my daily schedule, energy levels or sanity on any given day, so I need methods of working that are flexible. People often ask me how I manage to write a novel with everything else going on around me. So far these 4 strategies are what seem to be working:

1. Quantity over quality. I look at a daily writing habit as being no different than exercise for the body. Consistency goes a long way. Squeezing in just 20 minutes a day of writing time is far better than waiting for inspiration to strike and hoping that when it does, I will have the time and endurance to sit down for hours and write. Even when it feels like my writing is nothing but uninspired sludge, I have noticed that over the long haul, the daily effort means improvement. If I’m not in training, I’m falling out of shape. At the least, my writing isn’t improving.

2. Words out equal words in. It can be tempting to look at reading as a luxury or something only to be done when there is spare time, but I have come to the conclusion that if I don’t have the time to read, I don’t have the time to write. When I am putting out more words and not replacing them by reading, my writing starts to suffer. Reading actually saves me time. I am absorbing invaluable lessons in how to write a good novel. [click to continue…]

Add to Del.cio.us RSS Feed Add to Technorati Favorites Stumble It! Digg It!
    www.sajithmr.com

{ 1 comment }

CharactersLook at your right sidebar and you’ll that see a new poll, “How Do Your Create Your Characters?” has replaced the old one. Everyone has techniques they turn to for building story people. Which ways do you find most productive?

The old poll–“What Would You Like to See on Write a Better Novel?”–is now closed, and here are the results.

• “Techniques for structuring my story” came in 1st place, with 28%.
• “Ways to make my characters more memorable” followed closely, with 26%.

I can now say I’m officially delighted: those are my two favorite subjects. Character, in particular, I could write about all night long.

My last post was about character consistency: don’t make a smart character go dumb for a scene just to accommodate a particular plot move. Commenting on this, Mark Welker widened the focus to character-building in general, and in particular, the amount of time it takes him before his characters start to be convincing.

That makes sense. It takes a while to get to know a person in life, doesn’t it?

• First you think you know them, but you only know the persona they want you to know.
• Next, you start hearing conflicting things about that person.
• Finally one day, under stress, they reveal what appears to be a completely other self.

Persona and counter-persona have melded, and a thematic pattern comes into focus. You find yourself able to say: “I know Jim. He won’t go for that.” Or: “It doesn’t surprise me to hear that about Jan. I predict she’ll declare for the governor’s race,” and it happens. Only when you reach this point can you can say you really know a person–and it doesn’t happen overnight.

Similarly, with fictional characters, it takes a while before a full, intuitive picture comes into focus. The only difference is that now, you’re making it up.

A side principle: As the “creator” of your story’s world and its people, you’re free to design them any way you want, and outfit them with the capabilities or failings your story needs.

But once having done the creating, you then have to be true to the character pattern you’ve brought into being. You can’t cheat, because one of the pillars holding up the world of your story is Consistency. This is why, if you make a character “stupid” for a scene or two, the effect could be weakening, even fatal to your story.

Add to Del.cio.us RSS Feed Add to Technorati Favorites Stumble It! Digg It!
    www.sajithmr.com

{ 0 comments }

Are Writers Taught? Do They Learn? Or Both?

March 2, 2010

The teaching/learning debate has little to do with teaching and everything to do with learning.

Read the full article →

Hemingway: Don’t Make Your Characters Stupid

February 26, 2010

How many times have you read a scene that’s onlyNo works because a character is temporarily dimwitted enough to make it possible?

Read the full article →

Readers Poll – Story Structure Edging Out Character

February 19, 2010

In a good novel, story structure flows directly from the living needs of well-crafted characters.

Read the full article →

Hey Novelists, When the Going Gets Tough… Just Give Up!

February 17, 2010

Guest post by Mark Welker, a first-time novelist from Perth, Australia. In his blog, Hello There, Mark Here, he writes about the challenges writers face when they take on a novel, or for that matter, any significant writing project.
Writing a novel is the most complex task you can take on. Completing one is even more [...]

Read the full article →

Write a Better Novel claims its Domain – Dot Net, That is

February 17, 2010

I’m back and ready for business at writeabetternovel.net

Read the full article →

The iPad – Will You Write Your Next Novel On It?

February 2, 2010

Don’t forget how long it took for most of us to catch up fully with the game-changing consequences of the iPhone.

Read the full article →

Goodby, Kate

January 31, 2010

Kate Duffy gave me my first break, and here’s the story.

Read the full article →

Are Fiction Writers Liars?

January 28, 2010

So fiction is a sham? A construct? A lie?

Read the full article →