Bad writing...

So I'm reading a book series by Aprilynne Pike. ( I love her name, it is so much better than my -just April.) It's a pretty desent spin on the mix of the human and fairy worlds. It is not the best fairy book I've ever read, but it's cute.

The more I work on my own novel and pick my serious writing apart, the more I pick apart others writing when I read. I am not doing it to be critical, but sometimes things jump out at me and scream, "Where was the editor on this one?!"

I'm not sure what you call it (I'm sure there is a literary term for it...anyone know?) but in this series she keeps restating things she already said. It's not like she is using the phrase to help the story, to create more drama, or dialogue. It it just annoying. Levi read the books also and agrees. When the writing distracts from the story, well...it's bad writing.

Example:
She nodded but didn't smile, it wasn't a smiling moment. (obviously!)

So note to self..... 
when writing do not insult your readers by restating the obvious.

The Creative Process

I loved this image from murraythenut.com about the creative process...it is so true-brilliant!

Vocabulary: Words I meant to use

http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerbooktrance/ / CC BY 2.0

So...for some reason I always want to start every blog post out with the word 'so'. I think it aloud and almost type it and then always change it so that I am not using 'so' to begin each and every blog post. More than anything it is simply the word to tell my brain, ok brain we are going to write now. I often talk that way too, saying 'so' first as a way to let people know I'm veering off the straight and narrow within conversation and going my own way. As in, "So! I have this really cool idea if I could only get you to go along with it too we will both have loads of fun."

I am rambling on now and what I really meant to write about was words. I often find myself with a lack of truly awesome words to use in my writing and daily conversations with adult type people.  I used to be SO (oh! I also use SO to make what I'm saying much grander and urgent than it really is) incredibly good at using the just the right words to convey my meaning exactly but in a non-confrontational way. Vocabulary has power. Don't ya know? I often blurt things out, brilliant ideas even, and they just sound crude because they lacked the right words.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/southernpixel/ / CC BY 2.0

This is a dangerously embarrassing confession, but in Middle School I would read the dictionary on the way home on the school bus. Yes, I was a complete dork, but a smart dork. I loved finding new words to just throw into every day conversations. For example once I said casually to my best friend. "Wow! Look how beatific you are today. " To which she replied with a look that said, Your a total dork. And she was right.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/perpetualplum/ / CC BY 2.0

Well, I've been thinking lately. (Scary thought I know!) With Mommy Brain, having had 4 kiddos and talking to little persons all day, my brain cells are pretty much fried. I've gotten really lazy with my vocabulary. Especially since those little persons are all guys and therefore long lengthy speeches full of eloquent words are not necessary. Their preferred methods of communication involves one word commands and various grunt and nod sequences. I'm not saying this is bad, just the facts about the level to which my vocabulary has fallen. 

To perk up my lacking vocabulary skills. I've got a list going. (bear with me I'm type A) I've been writing down any completely cool words I come across and I'm going to try to use them in my everyday life.

For today my 3 newly loved words were:

advantageous

umpteenth

countenance

 Aren't they grand?  I've already used them today in comments on other blogs or in phone conversations. 
Maybe it will also make a difference in my writing and my dangerous addiction to my Thesaurus.

If you've got any truly marvelous words or just ones that are fun to say send them my way.

Characters

My characters are not really made up people. They don't feel like a product of my wild imagination. They are very real to me. They are at once complex, passionate, full of emotion, and a whispering of life. They have trusted me to tell their story and I have no choice but to write it all down. I try to make sense of their tales to me. I try to breathe more life into their shadowy faces because they have something important to tell the world- through me.

(Image by Josh Otis.)

"My hero!" Mentors for writers

One of my New Years resolutions was to start getting serious about my writing. It has always been one of those someday things in my life. Someday I'll get around to writing that book, editing that poem, or writing that article. Well someday it TODAY!

I know that writing is a journey, being an author is a quest, and actually getting published is like the Holy Grail. Taking all this into account, I've got to be extremely realistic and practical (good thing those are some of my better qualities). I'm taking baby steps to those big goals.

One piece of advice I've heard is to get a mentor. This advice is good advice for any profession. Find someone or several someones whom you admire or look-up too. Who inspires you? If you find yourself saying " I want to be so-and-so when I grow up!" Well, they are a mentor for you!

This step of my quest is all about finding those people that inspire me. I'm learning about why they inspire me. How can I have what they have? What do they do that I don't? What can I learn from them?

I've started a list and then I'll fine tune it. It is a list of those people I am finding. They are like a list of Greek gods and goddesses. The goddess of prose, the god of outlining, or the muse of character dialog. Or I suppose, keeping with the theme of this post it should be more like; Captain Grammar or Super Plot Girl.  I'll need to focus the list after a while to those very special super hero's that really stir up my writing moxie. Until then, it is actually quite fun looking for people that light my writing fire and motivate me toward what I REALLY want.

Do I have to personally know, talk to, or meet these mentors? NO! That's the best part! There are so many, many authors passionate about the craft that they give their advice and knowledge freely. (They WANT to be on my super-hero list!) They have created blogs and books about writing. Sometimes, just the fiction books they have written inspire me to add them to my list. "I want to write like that!"

My list of super-human super hero writers going where I want to go. Maybe they'll let me be the sidekick, Wanna-be Writer.

It's Ok To Write Badly

Image from Darton College website

Josef age 11 has been struggling with his writing assignments for homeschool. This has been hard on me as writing has always just poured out of me. Talking to him I discovered he was mostly just afraid.

" I don't know what to write!" he'd exclaim. "I'm not doing it right!"

"Write anything, it doesn't have to be good or bad, just put that pencil on your page and write." I'd demand.

Soon we reached an understanding when he started a writing journal similar to my hundreds laying about the house that I pick up and jot down ideas into. I gave him fun prompt and said, "Just write!"

For his Journal I don't grade it. I do not look at it for punctuation, spelling, or good grammar. It's just a tool to get the ideas down, to get him writing his thoughts on paper.

He has written some amazing stories or beginnings of stories, one he ever broke up into chapters. Humorous and funny tales sprouted from his imagination. The vocabulary usage impressive!

It is surprising how freeing it can be to allow yourself to 'JUST WRITE'. Often my own best ideas come from the process of just writing for the sake of writing. It's like thinking aloud on paper or perhaps just listening to your self without judgment.

My Friend the Thesaurus

Dear Thesaurus.com,

Thank you! You have been a true friend. Even though I can never seem to spell your name right, there you are when I call. Google pulls you up every time. You are like a bright candle in a dark room. Helping me to find the words I have lost. You spice up my life, like no one can. You turn my disappointment to discontent to disillusionment...and those sound better don't you think? You have saved my writing from the monstrosity that is a first draft and made the revision process delectable. Really...You ROCK!!

Love,
Me

Did you write today?

I DID!

So what if it was just an essay on why we started homeschooling for someone else's book. I might get paid (like $2) for my submission. Gosh darn it...I wrote something!

The Trouble With Plots

The trouble with plots is-they change. Writing your own story. Dictating the lives of your characters. Making the characters in a do, say and be whatever you want. It's just way to much power for anyone. Of course, I let all that mad power go to my head and I think about my peeps in so many situations and plot twists that it's truly insane. "Enough!" I say, hit my delete button and return to that boring old plot outline.

I haven't written today...

I had promised myself this past month that I would write everyday. That I would write something-anything!
Well I failed...because it's now 12:28 tomorrow.

So maybe if I write something very poignant it will make up for ruining my month long record. Right?

Tonight I read aloud to the boys the 6th Chapter in Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald. ( I promise this is not some sappy Mommy tale. I try to keep those sort of posts quarantined to our family blog.) It was titled The Radish Cure, about how a little girl refused to bathe. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle suggested the parents let her go unwashed until a sort of crusted soil covered her. Then they were to plant radish seeds on her body, pressing them into the soil. Well as you might guess, the seeds sprouted one day. The horrified little girl ran to show her mother, who simply began harvesting little radish from her daughters skin. Needless to say, the little girl begged to bathe after such a traumatizing event. She scrubbed herself clean in the shower for hours until she was a clean and sweet little girl again. Then she feed the radishes to her father when he came home from work. My point in telling this story is that this is how I feel about my writing sometimes.

I think about writing. I think about it in the shower and while I'm driving. I think about my characters. I think about what things they might say or how they might behave. I jot down names I hear on the TV, from signs, or overheard on the radio that might make good characters. I dwell on plots and time lines. Soon all this jotting and thinking and pondering builds up an odd crust. It begins to feel quite constraining as if the story itself might come jumping out of my belly like in Alien. So then I have to write, write is all down as it over flows out of me. Just to get it out, even if the story doesn't make sense and the plots are all wrong. I just feel SO much better having put it out there in the world, wither on paper or screen. It wasn't pain free, more like giving birth than anything else I've ever experienced. Just as the little girl in the Radish Cure, grossly I might add, feeds the radishes to her father. I then feed you the unsuspecting reader my mental vomit in the form of words.