Day Twelve: Stop...Look...Listen

Stop...look...listen. As children, we were taught to do this before crossing a street. But it is also a good reminder for writers.

Our lives seem to be busier than ever, and the pace of life is often in overdrive. Especially, as we get older, time seems to fly by at warp speed. Our "To Do" lists get filled with so many things that need doing, that our "wants" get relegated to the bottom of the list--if they make the list at all. There is too much happening, too much information "out there," and too little time. As a result, we tend to narrow our focus to those things that directly affect us and ignore the rest.

Writers, though, need periods of time in which to slow down in order to refill the creative tank. Physically, this might mean getting away for a period of personal refreshing of body, mind, and spirit. Creatively, it might mean opening our mind's intake valve for an infusion of fresh ideas. For water to be fresh, there must be an inflow as well as an outflow. No inflow, and the stream dries up. No outflow, and it stagnates. It's the same with creative ideas. We must keep ourselves open to new ideas and engaged in life, or we may suddenly find ourselves unable to continue writing--otherwise known as "writer's block." If nothing fresh is flowing in, nothing can flow out as stories, articles, or essays. I have a friend who is constantly observing, listening (eavesdropping, if you will) to those around him. I recall one time when we were walking down the street and he pointed out a young couple ahead of us. He began telling me all about them: why they were there, what they were doing, what was going on in their lives. When I asked if he'd known them long, he replied that he didn't know them at all--he'd just spun a story about them from the things he observed as they walked ahead of us: their gestures, how they looked at each other, whether or not they were holding hands, the tone of their voices. This is the creative mind in action. You can learn a lot, and get fresh ideas for your writing, simply by observing people around you. So, S-T-O-P: Stop To Observe People.

As I said, because our lives are so hectic, we tend to narrow our focus. We limit ourselves to what's familiar, to what touches us personally: our interests, our family, our friends, our community. But to keep fresh ideas coming, we need to look beyond the familiar, to see what's going on in the lives of those around us and around the world. In our modern age, what happens in other countries affects what happens in our own. Rising energy costs and the global recession are just two examples. Likewise, we need to understand how our actions affect others both at home and abroad. We also need to be lifelong learners. While working on this year's NaNo novel, so far I've learned about mucking out stalls, milking cows, and gained a rudimentary knowledge about mid-19th century barns and the modifications their construction went through in the early 20th century. I'm also learning about the history of Stowe, Vermont, where my story is set. Will I ever really muck out a stall? Probably not. Nor do I see milking cows and building barns in my immediate future. But learning stimulates the mind, gets those synapses firing, and the creative wheels turning. It keeps our brains from stagnating. So, we need to L-O-O-K: Look Outward, Optimize Knowledge.

And then we need to listen, not just with our ears but with our minds and hearts. Learn to hear what's NOT being said. Learn to "hear" body language: facial expressions, gestures, posture. Listen to people's hearts, not just their words. As you're going about your day-to-day business, listen to what people are talking about. Carry a pen and pad with you and jot down snatches of conversation that are interesting or that stimulate creative thinking. Did you hear something your characters might discuss? Is that woman's body language saying something other than what her words are saying? How could you use that in a story? While sitting in a coffee shop or in a park, waiting in the checkout line at the store, or dining in a restaurant, spend time observing and listening to those around you. Do you just hear an indistinguishable buzz, or do bits of conversation stand out from the background noise? If something does stand out, allow your creative mind to speculate "what if?" So, L-I-S-T-E-N: Listen Intently, Sift Through External Noise.

STOP...LOOK...LISTEN...then WRITE!

Day Eleven: Remembering Writers Who Served

On Veterans Day we take time out from our normal activities to pay homage to those who have performed military service for our country. Some have been career soldiers, some have served one or more tours of duty before returning to civilian life, and others have been "citizen soldiers"--those who take one weekend a month and two weeks a year away from their families and jobs, to train and serve in the National Guard. These men and women are doctors, lawyers, technicians, engineers, teachers, laborers...and authors. Those who are authors have sometimes used their military experiences as material for their writing, both fiction and non-fiction. Today, I would like to recognize some of them and share how they served.

Ambrose Bierce served during the American Civil War as a member of the Union Army's 9th Indiana Infantry Division, later as a topographical engineer, and fought at the battle of Shiloh. "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" was one of several stories he wrote based on what he had witnessed during the war.

Ernest Hemingway served as a Red Cross ambulance driver in Italy during World War I. He used autobiographical elements from wartime experiences in his novel, "A Farewell to Arms."

Edward L. Beach, Jr. served in various positions as a Navy Submarine officer during World War II, and earned many medals and citations. Drawing on his own experiences, he wrote the novel "Run Silent, Run Deep" which was later adapted to the big screen in 1958.

Joseph Heller served in the 12th Air Force during World War II. He later wrote about the insanity of war in "Catch-22."

Norman Mailer was drafted by the U.S. Army and served in the South Pacific with the 112th Cavalry during World War II. He drew on his military experiences when writing "The Naked and the Dead."

Leon Uris joined the U.S. Marine Corps at age seventeen and served as a radioman in the South Pacific during World War II. He wrote "Battle Cry" as a result, but is probably best known for his novel "Exodus."

Kurt Vonnegut was a U.S. infantry soldier in World War II who was captured in Germany and held as a prisoner of war, with several other soldiers, in the underground meat locker of a slaughterhouse in Dresden. Because of their location, they survived when Dresden was bombed. His used his experiences as a POW, and the horrors he witnessed in the aftermath of the bombing, to provide material for his novel "Slaughterhouse Five," as well as several of his other books.

Richard Hooker (the pen name of H. Richard Hornberger) was a physician who served with the 8055th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War. In collaboration with W. C. Heinz, he wrote "M.A.S.H." and based one of the main characters, Hawkeye Pierce, on himself.

Ron Kovic served two tours of duty in Vietnam with the Marine Corps before being shot in combat. He sustained multiple injuries and was partially paralyzed. His book "Born on the Fourth of July" was made into a movie starring Tom Cruise as Kovic, and inspired Bruce Springsteen's song "Shut Out the Light" and Tom Paxton's song which was titled the same as Kovic's novel.

There are others, but these are representative of men who either became writers after their war experiences, or whose writing was influenced by them. They have shared their stories with us, and given their lives for us. The least we can do, on this Veterans Day, for them and all those who serve to protect our freedom, is to let them know we appreciate their sacrifices .

[Source for some of this information was: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_authors_in_war]

Day Eight: School is Now in Session

If you're not willing to learn, don't become a writer. It's a given that if someone is writing a non-fiction book, they will have to do research in order to write intelligently about their subject and be able to convey that information to the reader in a clear, understandable manner. But what about the writers of fiction? If you're making up a story, doesn't all of it come from your own imagination? Can't you just create things the way you want them to be? Why would a writer of fiction need to do research?

When I sat down to work on my NaNo novel today, it didn't take long before I knew I was going to have to stop and gather some additional information. A large section of my story takes place in the second half of the 19th century in rural Vermont. As I began to write a scene set inside a barn, I wondered: What kind of clothing would these people have worn? What tools and implements would they have had available to use in doing their work? How would their lives have been different from ours in terms of opportunities and attitudes? What names were common at the time? So, I began combing the internet for the answers to these questions, sifted through the material, and decided what and how much applied to my particular characters and their situation. Due to the time constraints of NaNo, I couldn't spend a great deal of time on this, so there will be more to delve into when I begin the revisions after the holidays.

Attention to detail helps to ground your story in time and place, and makes it more authentic. A farmer from 1870 would not be listening to music on a boom box while hitching his cows up to electric milking machines. Boom boxes did not exist, and while attempts were made earlier in the century to develop a milking machine, the first successful one didn't appear until 1870. Therefore, it would be highly unlikely for a poor rural farmer in Vermont to have one in the first year of its existence. Nor can I have people wearing fabrics and styles that didn't exist in the 1800s. If my character is a farmer, I need to know what kind of farming was done at that time. For example, Vermont is known as a dairy state; but prior to 1850, Vermont was known nationally for its sheep farming. It wasn't until the middle of the century that sheep farming began to decline, and dairy farming took over. Public libraries and public education didn't come into being until the late 19th/early 20th century, so my characters can't go trotting off to the public library to check out a book, because such an institution didn't exist.

In addition to time, place, culture, and customs, it's surprising what your characters themselves will teach you. Tonight, one of my characters had to teach another the proper way to muck out a stall. Since I'm not an authority on stall mucking, it appeared I would also have to learn this skill. After doing another search, I can now state that I know the proper steps to take in cleaning out a stall, the order in which to take them, and the proper tools to use. I also learned what happens if you overfill a wheel barrow with horse manure and try to move it--unfortunately, so did my character.

Writing requires imagination, observation, discipline, and a willingness to be a lifelong learner. It's not enough to have a good plot and an interesting story. As the saying goes, "the devil is in the details," and an astute reader will quickly know whether or not you've done your homework.

Day Three: Do Horror/Thriller Writers Ever Scare Themselves?

A few days ago we celebrated Halloween which is rooted in Celtic traditions having to do with dead spirits returning to the land of the living, causing mischief, and scaring people. The Celts used sacred bonfires and sacrifices to try to keep these spirits at bay, and disguised themselves by dressing in animal costumes. Another tradition, the jack-o-lantern, came from Ireland and was originally a carved out turnip, not a pumpkin. Over the years, costumes and traditions evolved, but the "scare factor" remained an integral part of the celebration--especially when featured in films and books. Today, many people throw Halloween parties, like the one in my novel, turn off the lights, and sit around telling ghost stories to scare their friends.

Even apart from Halloween, we seem to like to scare ourselves -- as long as we know we're really safe. Whether the old Dracula, Mummy, and Wolfman movies of the early 1900s, or more recent offerings such as "The Blair Witch Project," the "Friday the 13th" series, "Paranormal Activity," and many others, people like to experience the fight or flight response without actually having to do either. And then there are the scary novels by master horror/thriller writers Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Jeffrey Deaver, and Nate Kenyon.

As I was working on my novel last night, a scene in which ghost stories were being shared, I found myself becoming slightly uneasy and it made me wonder: Do horror or thriller writers ever scare themselves? Did Stephen King lie awake nights because he felt like he'd made one of his characters too real -- like his protagonist, writer Thad Beaumont, in The Dark Half? Did he have nightmares about Ronald McDonald after he wrote It? Did he hesitate, if only for a moment, before taking a bite of pie after he wrote Thinner? Was Dean Koontz afraid to fall asleep, while writing The Bad Place, like his main character Frank Pollard? And how well did Nate Kenyon sleep after a decomposed corpse attacked one of his characters in his newest work, Sparrow Rock?

I didn't have the opportunity to ask Mr. King or Mr. Koontz, but I met Mr. Kenyon a few months ago online through Suzanne Beecher's Dear Reader online book clubs; so I sent him an e-mail, and he was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to respond.

Donna: Nate, have you ever given yourself nightmares from something you've written?

Nate*: Sure. I've had nightmares from something I've written--and I've written about my nightmares, too. In fact, my most recent thriller, THE BONE FACTORY, was sparked by a particularly creepy dream about a man totally alone in the deep woods at night, wading through thigh-deep drifts of snow and looking for a dead body. It was so vivid and unsettling, I woke up at about 3 a.m.,

got right up out of bed and wrote that scene. The entire novel sprouted from there.

My upcoming novel, SPARROW ROCK (May 2010) gave me nightmares one night. I wrote a scene where the resurrected body of a long-dead friend returns to the bomb shelter where a group of teens are holed up to pay them a visit. That scene really creeped me out, and that night after I'd finished it, I had a dream about a high school friend of mine who died and then came back to life. Didn't sleep much for the rest of the night!

So, apparently it works both ways: nightmares can generate stories, and stories can generate nightmares--even when you're the author. Now I don't feel so bad about not being able to sleep last night after I finished the ghost story scene. It seems I'm in good company.

*My thanks to Nate Kenyon for answering my blog question. To find out more about him and his novels, visit his website: http://natekenyon.com/

Day One -- And They're Off!

NaNoWriMo 2009 began at 12:01 a.m. November 1. Was anyone else a little confused because of Daylight Saving Time coming to an end? As I stared at the clock at midnight I wondered -- does NaNo start at 12:01 before the time changes, or after? Although the time change didn't officially occur until around 2:30 a.m., I reset my clocks and started at the new time just to make sure I was following the rules, either way; so I either started right on time or an hour later depending on your point of view.

With preparations completed, I was both excited and apprehensive: it's exciting to begin a new novel, but daunting to open a word processor and stare at a blank screen when you know you have to fill it with at least 1167 words to meet the day's goal. So, how did I, as a veteran NaNoer begin? By checking e-mail just in case anything important had arrived since looking at it earlier in the evening -- nothing had. Then a quick peek at Facebook (a friend had posted Halloween pictures of her kids--so cute--and there were a couple of notifications), and finally, Twitter and my blog to see if there were any new Tweets or comments that needed a response. Once the distractions had been cleared away (it's best to begin with an unfettered mind, after all), I was finally ready to tackle that blank page.

The first step was to review my outline...now, which file did I put that in? A file search turned up nothing. Time was ticking, and frustration was building. Where's that outline??? Oh, wait...I wrote it out by hand in my notebook instead of on the computer. Okay, here's the outline! But maybe I'd better check my other story ideas and notes first, just to be sure this is the story I want to write. Hmmm, well, maybe not. This other one sounds pretty good, and the outline is more detailed. So, out with outline number one, in with outline number two. After a few false starts, I finally found my rhythm and the story began to flow.

Now, all of this may sound rather undisciplined, but there is a method in the seeming chaos and procrastination. My approach to writing is akin to a city water system. If there is debris in the pipes (those distractions I mentioned), the water can't move swiftly and efficiently because something will always be popping up to divert it. And, although water may be in the pipes, if you don't have any pressure behind it, nothing is going to happen when you turn on your tap. My muse works best under a certain amount of pressure -- not too much, just enough to get the flow going.

With the distractions dispatched and the pressure at just the right strength to keep the stream of words moving along, by 4:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, I had written 2424 words, and chapter one had been put to bed. And now, I'm going to follow suit.

Preparations for NaNo Continue

To make sure everything is ready when NaNoWriMo begins, Paige made a checklist so we wouldn't forget anything:

1. defrag computer
2. stock up on caffeine, Fritos, and trail mix
3. notify family: say "goodbye" on Oct. 31 and tell them you'll materialize briefly on Thanksgiving, then disappear again until December 1--or 8--depending how much sleep you need to catch up on
4. notify friends: see #3
5. set "IN-BOX" to vacation mode
6. delegate cooking, laundry, errands, and communication with the outside world to spouse for the month
7. review plot outline, revise plot outline, and pray you don't scrap the outline when the bell tolls twelve
8. October 31 -- pass out candy to Halloween trick-or-treaters; then gather your materials together, gather your courage, sequester yourself with your computer, and be ready to go at 12:01 a.m.

So, let's fasten our seatbelts: it's going to be a wild ride!