EXPERIMENTING WITH STYLES
It comes up quite often on forums and in discussions where writers like to experiment with styles. You’ve all probably heard the old mantra “write what you feel.”
Let’s look at that loaded statement.
WHAT DOES WRITE WHAT YOU FEEL REALLY MEAN?
I write what I feel, every day, every time I sit down to write. There’s an infamous Hemmingway quote where he agonizes over a single paragraph. I don’t, not even an entire chapter, which is what I usually write when I sit down at a session. I don’t even agonize over an entire short story, sometimes, which I also write in its entirety in one sitting.
I just write it.
Why?
Because I feel it.
Others interpret that Hemmingway saying as meaning they feel different styles of writing. This is as well as whatever it is they want to say.
Not only do these writers have something to say, but they have certain barriers, lack of, or burdens thrust upon them where their writing (or lack of skill) is getting in the way of putting it all down. So, they feel like experimenting with styles to see how it all comes out.
What’s the result?
EXPERIMENT RESULTS
There are wildly varying styles of writing out there, partially because the author is experimenting with “what they feel,” what’s easy for them to write because it suits them, or because they’re too lazy to learn to write correctly.
There, I said it.
What’s the result?
The readers suffer.
Some readers are more tolerant than others. If the story is really good, they can overlook bad or awkward writing, to a point, to enjoy a good story. Some suffer to get to the point. Others may finish this “experiment” and go on to another book from an author that’s learned his chops and breeze through it without the writing getting in the way. It’s like a breath of fresh air.
Okay, you had your experiment. Maybe your book sold well, maybe it didn’t. Your legacy is now out there. Are you going to continue in that vein or are you going to wake up and try not to keep punishing your readers?
THERE ARE LOTS OF CRAPPY BOOKS OUT THERE
I read a LOT. An average of a book a week. I find a startling difference between certain authors. I have favorites because they know how to write.
I like to try new authors.
What are the results?
Once in a while, I discover a great new writer. Most often, they have a series which sells well. Sometimes they’re one-off.
Quite often, I get real duds. Why?
The writing sucks.
The writer experimented and it didn’t work. Either they had no oversight or their publisher took a chance and let the writing slip through. Most of the time, I never hear from these authors again, or if I do, I often see a different style with the next book. OR, their next book sells just as bad.
WHEN TO EXPERIMENT
It’s okay to experiment with a short story, to hone your chops and get a feel for how to write. However, when it comes to a full-length novel, people are investing time and money into your work. You’d better have your stuff together by then. You’d better be done with your experimenting around, your “feeling it,” and be ready to make the reading experience as easy and transparent as possible.
You’d better be ready to make your writing not get in the way of the story!
If you’re of the notion that it’s you’re writing, and if the audience doesn’t like it, well tough, get ready for a garage full of books. It’s hard enough even with great writing to get noticed.
If the whole point is to dazzle readers with your writing skills and chops, nobody cares. They care about what you have to say, not what gymnastics you can do with point of view, grammar, and tenses.
SUMMARY
Get the experimenting out of your system with writing exercises and short stories. Save your great novels for your best writing, for the writing that will hook our reader and keep them absorbed in the story, NOT stumbling over your writing gymnastics.
Happy writing!
WHAT’S THE MUSE, ANYWAY?
I had an interesting conversation the other night at the writer’s group meeting. I got there relatively early. I mean relatively, because I’ve been working overtime and I was later than usual. Yet to my surprise, our guest speaker beat me there and we were alone in the room. We’ve met before and got to talking about writing (go figure!). During the conversation, he mentioned that he doesn’t have a muse. If I got what he said right, he doesn’t believe in the muse. To him, it’s an excuse not to write. It’s a made up “flowery” thing that says if you’re not in the “zone,” you just can’t make your story happen.
I asked him what he does for inspiration. He takes the mercenary approach and writes for money. He writes for whatever is hot, to make money. If someone asks him to write something, he does. No muse, he just does it. To me, this was kind of like technical writing.
INTERESTING OUTLOOK
I had to ask if he even enjoyed writing, and his response, was “of course.” He went on to explain that he just focuses on what makes money.
While I admire his tenacity and drive, my motivations are different. I certainly don’t fault him for it. In fact, I believe that’s pretty much the same philosophy of Lee Child. Lee writes the Jack Reacher series and they’re great. He seems to love what he does, but he writes strictly for commercial purposes, from what I’ve read about him.
EVERYONE HAS THEIR REASONS
We’re all doing this writing thing for a reason. Whether it’s strictly artistic, for money or a bit of both, we’re still doing it.
I’m a bit of both, though I can’t deny my artistic side. Whether anyone agrees with that, is up to my readers.
How about you?
SO, WHAT’S A MUSE, ANYWAY?
Is the muse your inspiration to sit down and write?
Is it just something to blame writer’s block on when you can’t get it done?
I can only speak from my personal experience.
Muse is inspiration, the drive to create, at least to me. It’s that deep well within my soul that my ideas spring from. I don’t derive it from a person, like some infamous movie makers of late. It’s nothing physical. It’s, to put it blunt, my imagination. It’s always with me. It has been since the fifties with the polka-dot sewer back in kindergarten in Lakewood, California. Probably before that, but I just didn’t have a name for it. It’s only since 1995 that I finally had a true outlet (writing) to channel it.
Now, going back to the guest speaker. He’s a mercenary writer. He writes for trends. He writes for what’s hot, based on the market or what his publisher wants him to write. He doesn’t guess what’s going to be hot or write to temporary hot items that’ll die off by publication time. He writes to stuff that stays hot (we went over that too).
As I said above, he scoffed at the idea of a muse and said that was just a phony excuse to blame for writer’s block. If he needs to write something, he just sits down and writes it. Case closed (or words to that effect). He alluded to another famous writer, who’s name I didn’t catch, that touted that philosophy.
DO WE NEED A MUSE?
Do we need a muse? As I’ve defined it, it’s inspiration.
If you want to get all artsy fartsy about it, some of you maybe DO need a muse to create your art.
I call it my muse when maybe all I’m really talking about is my imagination. Plain and simple.
Why?
When I sit down to write, I get the inspiration (muse?) for a story. So, now I figure A and B beforehand. That may take a few minutes to a few days. Once that’s done, I start writing and it all just falls into place. Whether it’s muse, imagination or channeling, it’s out of my hands. It just happens and I no longer worry about it. I don’t get stuck, I don’t fret about the next step. I don’t freak out because I can’t figure the plot twist or whether character A is violating something to do with character B.
I just write. Simple as that. I don’t have a person, object, place or whatever to inspire me. It comes from within.
I’m also not a mercenary writer, so I don’t get orders from a publisher to “write this,” or “write that.” I have been in those type situations, or have put myself in them before. I can do it, but I much prefer not to.
Do you let the thing like muse get in your way? Do you let the IDEA of the muse get in your way?
Do you let writer’s block, imaginary or otherwise (like the story), bog you down?
Is it just excuses, as this writer said it was?
SUMMARY
The muse is a nice flowery, literary term, one I’ve used freely and liberally throughout this series of articles. Maybe what I’ve meant all along is something that has never failed me because it’s never got in the way of me getting the job done. Inspiration and drive.
Happy writing!
WASTED WORDS
I’ve talked plenty about tautologies, redundancies and writing tight.
The other day, we were driving home from the bookstore (hey, isn’t that a coincidence), and we were in the turn lane. This was an obvious turn lane with no other option. I had to wonder why everyone had their turn signal on. Even though I suppose it’s a state law, it made me wonder about the redundancy. We obviously can’t go anywhere else, so why do we have to let everyone know where we have to go anyway? We can’t change our minds and go somewhere else.
Redundant info.
Then I thought of the most common tautologies.
To remind you, a tautology is saying the same thing twice.
Stand up.
Sit down.
MYRIAD OF WAYS
There are a myriad of ways we waste words. Though I like to rag on literary writers, as much as they’re in love with words and like to ramble endlessly about description and feelings and inner thoughts, even they have to get to some kind of point eventually. As long as it takes a literary writer to get from A to B, there’s still some sense of word economy they have to adhere to.
On the other hand, if you’re a genre writer, or even a mix of literary/genre, you still have to get to the point eventually. To me, the quicker the better. I want description and characterization as well. However, I believe it can be done in as few words as possible, so the story moves, not at a glacial pace, but with reasonable speed.
The hazard for any writer, no matter how practiced you are, is that those wasted words inevitably creep into the story in a myriad of ways.
You can’t help it. Unless you’re a very slow and rigid writer, when you spit out your verbal diarrhea in a spurt of inspiration as the muse hits, you’re going to throw in wasted words. Your mind doesn’t always translate to the page what your fingers type (or hand writes, or mouth speaks). There’s a certain disconnect between what you’re thinking and what you actually write.
It’s natural, it’s inevitable. It’s why we have editing.
WEEDING OUT WASTED WORDS
This can be tougher than it seems. Tautologies are a good start. However, some of them are so naturally occurring, you may not even be aware of them.
Then there’s the turn signal in the turn lane. While it may be state law in the real world, in the literary world, it may be automatic, but reads poorly. Is it supposed to be there?
A blatant example.
“I think I’m going to get myself a cup of coffee.” Amy stood up, walked to the counter and poured a cup of coffee. She took a sip, sighed, then sat down in the chair at the kitchen table.
Oh…kay.
How about this?
Amy poured a cup of coffee, eased into the chair, leaned her elbow on the kitchen table and took a sip. “This tastes great.”
From 39 words to 24 words, eliminated two tautologies, removed an obvious and unnecessary statement and made it all simpler. Plus, I made it more active.
Here’s another one for you.
Of all the things Scott hated, none was worse than coffee. When he took a sip, his face screwed up, he spit it out, and said, “Aaagh! I wanted tea.”
How about this?
Scott took a sip, gagged and spat it on the ground. “I can’t stand coffee. I’ll take tea instead.”
Cut to the chase. No need for the turn signal when you obviously can’t go anywhere else.
One more.
“Loren, do you want to go to the movies?”
“I can’t stand going out in the traffic, the heat, the dust and wind. The movies are so expensive. The popcorn smell gets to me, and the crowds close in on me. I don’t like the sticky floor in the aisles and around the seats. Oh, and did I ever tell you about the seats? Are you crazy? Why would I want to go to the movies?”
How about this?
“Loren, do you want to go to the movies?”
“No.”
SUMMARY
You have to think of your blathering and rambling and how much color you really need and how much of it is relevant to the story. How much of it moves the plot.
Fluff you don’t need, whereas key elements you do. Color is fine. You do need to add life to your story, but not at the expense of wasted words. There’s a way to do it without bogging down the narrative.
Happy writing!
GRAMMAR LESSON SIX
We’re back with another set of similar sounding words with entirely different meanings.
Our illustrious former Henderson Writer’s Group el-presidente, Linda Webber, used to present grammar lessons each week on the back of our meeting agendas. The gist of them were the improper use of words.
As a reminder, I’ll add the standard intro below before I get into the word list.
BACK IN THE DAY
I once wrote a screenplay with my bud, Doug Lubahn, a famous musician. During our correspondence, I once told him I was waiting with “baited” breath instead of “bated” breath. He’s never let me live that one down.
The proper use of words is something a lot of (especially) new writers don’t always get. So, for your reading pleasure, below is a list of words and how to use them properly.
The list is not near complete, so that’s why this is called Grammar Lesson Six.
Once again, my many thanks to Linda Webber, who has gone through the trouble to compile these words all in one place for me to steal and present to you here at Fred Central.
These are common words that are often used out of context. They can be a quandary for a writer, and warrant a quick trip to a dictionary, or on line.
COMMON SIMILAR SOUNDING WORDS (WITH ENTIRELY DIFFERENT MEANINGS)
Forbear To refrain
Joe could not forbear a smile.
Forebare An ancestor
His forebares were early pioneers to this territory.
Foreward An introduction to a book
The foreward to Cindy’s book was elaborate but unnecessary.
Forward Onward, ahead
It’s time to move forward with our plan.
Freeze To turn to ice
If you leave it outside today, it’s going to freeze.
Frieze A decoration along a wall
I attempted to strip the paint from the frieze without damaging the detail.
Grisly Gruesome, revolting
The horror movie was full of grisly scenes.
Grizzly A type of bear
It’s a good idea to avoid the grizzly bear in the woods.
Hoard A store of items
The homeless man guarded his hoard of cans jealously.
Horde A large crowd of people
The Mongolian horde stormed the castle.
Imply To suggest indirectly
Are you implying that I’m guilty?
Infer To draw a conclusion
Without any evidence, his testimony inferred that Roger was guilty.
Pole A long, slender piece of wood
She used the pole to push the boat along in the canal.
Poll Pertaining to voting in an election
We polled the democrats and republicans in the district to see who had the edge.
Pour To flow or cause to flow
She poured the milk into the pan.
Pore A tiny opening: To study something closely
Stephanie pored over the document to see if she could make sense of it.
Practice The use of an idea or method: Work or business of a doctor, dentist, etc.
The doctor’s practice is in that building over there.
Practise To do something repeatedly to gain skill: To do something regularly
(NOTE: This is also the British spelling of the word. American English usually uses the C instead of the S. It covers both definitions.)
We went to band practise but spent most of the time partying.
Prescribe To authorize the use of medicine: To order authoritatively
The doctor prescribed ampicillin in a very small dose.
Proscribe To officially forbid something
The council proscribed dancing on the holiday.
Principal Most important: Head of a school
The principal shut down the school in order to address a gun threat.
Principle A fundamental rule or belief
A fundamental principle of drumming is the paradiddle.
Sceptic A person incline to doubt
There are true believers who go on faith, and sceptics who won’t believe it unless they see it.
Septic Infected with bacteria
The leg wound went septic because it was left untreated.
Elusive Difficult to find, catch or achieve
The fish made elusive targets, especially with the wrong bait.
Illusive Deceptive, illusory
The magician used illusive movements to fool the eye.
SUMMARY
Once again, thanks to Linda Webber for her hard work putting these original words together!
Happy writing!
PARTICIPATING IN FORUMS
Another way to get the word out to people is to participate in forums. There are many web sites and forums on Facebook either directly related to your genre, or to your writing interest. Why not take advantage of them and participate? Not only can you sometimes sneakily plug your book, but maybe even overtly. Plus, you can also learn stuff, maybe get some new ideas along the way.
WHAT ARE FORUMS?
That may seem like an obvious question, but if you’re new to all of this, you may not know the term. So, indulge me.
A forum is a web site or chat space (as in a page on Facebook) where people sign up and discuss aspects of a subject. In the case of what we’re talking about, it’s writing.
Writing what?
It could be writing in general such as a broad topic web site like The Absolute Write Water Cooler https://absolutewrite.com/forums/ Absolute Write is a multi-genre forum that has distinct subject-matter areas to discuss all aspects of writing. I participate mostly in the Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy, and Mystery/Thriller/Suspense genre sites, as well as rarely, the Announcements, Events and Book Promotions.
Within these forums, you can participate in discussions with from total newbs up to professional writers. Sometimes, the info is highly opinionated, sometimes it’s useless. Quite often, you get some great insights and good info. It all depends on the individual posting.
The same could be said for Facebook. I participate in Genre Writers (Fantasy, SciFi, Steampunk et al) and Writing 101 – hints, tips, tricks. These forums are excellent places to ask questions and post your own tips and tricks on writing.
INSPIRATION
I often get inspiration for my articles from these various forums. I currently participate in only three at the moment due to time constraints. In some ways, I wish they’d been around twenty years ago when I first started. It might have made things easier for me. Then again, I think the hard knocks I went through helped me get where I am today. On the other hand, I also believe no one should have to struggle the same as I did.
FILTERING THROUGH THE BULL
There can be a lot of misinformation and frankly, bull spouted on forums. You have to have a balanced approach when you participate in these things. Generally, the moderators are good at filtering out trolls. The members are also good at countering whacky and way-out-of-the-arena advice as well.
On the other hand, spirited back and forths are great ways to see multiple sides, so you can make your own mind up about some issues. That’s one of the points of forums. Learn from the opinions and experiences of others in the same trenches that you’re in. See what works for them and what doesn’t.
Clicking on line can be a lot cheaper than buying a lot of books, though I also strongly recommend reference books, especially the ones that really click with you. Though I’ve had plenty I never even opened, there are a select few I DO keep on the shelf and actually use, like the Chicago Manual Of Style.
SUMMARY
Forums can be a great place to learn, and a great place for inspiration.
The thing is to use them wisely, Grasshopper.
Happy writing!
