Nicole and Jackie's Plane Forum Writing Fodder

I say we use this space as a place to post pictures, quotes, articles and any other inspirational tidbits or gems we find.

I, Nicolio, hereby christen this space with a laugh. Ladies and gentlemen, please put your heads together for, 'How to punch writer's block in the face:'

I like this thread!  I found an article too, but it's not available online.  I had to scan it but can't upload files to this thing.  Strike one Writers Café...  I think I will email it to you though.  It's an article called "Sidestep the Slush Pile" by Kristin Nelson.  It's an article written by a literary agent about what makes them stop reading submissions just one page or sometimes even one paragraph in.  She includes 4 examples as well.  I found it quite helpful and hope that you will as well, so I will email you the article.

I love this line from your article:  "You're not turning each letter into the English Warden when you're done with it; you can always change things. And if it really sucks, you can always delete it before anybody sees, burn the keyboard that typed such heresy, and then get so drunk that you yell at the couch for judging you."

This article is fantastic. It's so freakin' true. I loved the examples, too. I wish there were a hundred more of em' to read though. Totally makes me want to put on the agent hat for a month or two and condition myself into NOT doing these kinds of things. Then again, I'd probably go loony tunes.

ha ha! Yeah, that's my favorite part, too.

My week 2 article (I promise I found it on Sunday before week 2 ended!) is another Writer's Digest special called "Title Trauma ... Or, Traumatic Titles ... or, The Trouble With Titles"   I attempted to take two pictures of the one page article so I could post it on here, and well, no luck with that!  So, again, I'll be sending you an email with the article attachment.  Maybe for week 3 I should strive to find an online article...     This article hit a little close to home with one of my biggest fears - a publisher requesting that I change one of my titles.  I mean, I might go into traumatic shock if The Secret Below had to be retitled.  But the author talks about having a plan b title.  She includes some neat little tricks to help you think of titles and backup titles.  I know having to rename any of my precious works might shatter my heart into a million pieces, but it might happen...  It's also an interesting approach to coming up with titles.      Be sure to check out the "Title Trivia" in the blue box too :)     

I've actually read this before! Happy to see it again. It's definitely one of those articles that is good to revisit again and again especially when you're brain storming titles. Lot's of good tips. There are always good stories about the process with which storytellers go about in finding their titles. The Great Gatsby facinates me. All the other titles were so horrible!  I can't say I disagree with any of the title changes in this article. All of them were slimmed, clarified and overall improved. I loved the change from 'Kelly Quinn's secret cooking club' to 'just add magic.' personally, I think clarity is the most important thing. For me a title should tell me what the book is about. And of course that title should be clever, catchy, and memorable. Easier said than done, right?

My favorite way to search for a title is through song titles.  Been doing that for years, though I hardly ever use them. I actually have a 'titles' folder that I use to house all the weird and random titles I come up with. Whenever I'm stumped on a title I go through that folder and it gets the title mojo going.  Only once in a blue moon do I actually use a title from the folder.  More often than not these titles conjure stories. Neil Gaiman's original title for 'The Ocean at the end of the lane' was 'Lettie Hempstock's Ocean.' He wasn't crazy about it anyway, but when he saw it on paper he knew that he had to find another one. In the end, long after the book was finished and was about to go to press, he ended up using a suggested title from one of his dear friends.

Two fairly recent titles that I'm really happy with are 'Things that go Boom' and 'The day the sky fell.' They made the magic clicky sound and I knew I'd found the perfect title. Know what I mean? Other titles like, 'Tangled; we weave', 'Wishology' etc, not so much...

What's your process like? How did you come up with 'In a different world?'

Two gems for two weeks, since I'm behind:

The first comes from Joe Hill. He uses Hill as a pen name. His real name is Joe King, Stephen King's eldest son! Go figure.



Finally, here are Joss Whedon's top 10 writing tips (Cabin in the woods, Avengers, Buffy the vampire slayer, firefly etc):

1. FINISH IT
Actually finishing it is what I’m gonna put in as step one. You may laugh at this, but it’s true. I have so many friends who have written two-thirds of a screenplay, and then re-written it for about three years. Finishing a screenplay is first of all truly difficult, and secondly really liberating. Even if it’s not perfect, even if you know you’re gonna have to go back into it, type to the end. You have to have a little closure.
2. STRUCTURE
Structure means knowing where you’re going; making sure you don’t meander about. Some great films have been made by meandering people, like Terrence Malick and Robert Altman, but it’s not as well done today and I don’t recommend it. I’m a structure nut. I actually make charts. Where are the jokes? The thrills? The romance? Who knows what, and when? You need these things to happen at the right times, and that’s what you build your structure around: the way you want your audience to feel. Charts, graphs, coloured pens, anything that means you don’t go in blind is useful.
3. HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY
This really should be number one. Even if you’re writing a Die Hard rip-off, have something to say about Die Hard rip-offs. The number of movies that are not about what they purport to be about is staggering. It’s rare, especially in genres, to find a movie with an idea and not just, ‘This’ll lead to many fine set-pieces’. The Island evolves into a car-chase movie, and the moments of joy are when they have clone moments and you say, ‘What does it feel like to be those guys?’
4. EVERYBODY HAS A REASON TO LIVE
Everybody has a perspective. Everybody in your scene, including the thug flanking your bad guy, has a reason. They have their own voice, their own identity, their own history. If anyone speaks in such a way that they’re just setting up the next person’s lines, then you don’t get dialogue: you get soundbites. Not everybody has to be funny; not everybody has to be cute; not everybody has to be delightful, and not everybody has to speak, but if you don’t know who everybody is and why they’re there, why they’re feeling what they’re feeling and why they’re doing what they’re doing, then you’re in trouble.
5. CUT WHAT YOU LOVE
Here’s one trick that I learned early on. If something isn’t working, if you have a story that you’ve built and it’s blocked and you can’t figure it out, take your favourite scene, or your very best idea or set-piece, and cut it. It’s brutal, but sometimes inevitable. That thing may find its way back in, but cutting it is usually an enormously freeing exercise.
6. LISTEN
When I’ve been hired as a script doctor, it’s usually because someone else can’t get it through to the next level. It’s true that writers are replaced when executives don’t know what else to do, and that’s terrible, but the fact of the matter is that for most of the screenplays I’ve worked on, I’ve been needed, whether or not I’ve been allowed to do anything good. Often someone’s just got locked, they’ve ossified, they’re so stuck in their heads that they can’t see the people around them. It’s very important to know when to stick to your guns, but it’s also very important to listen to absolutely everybody. The stupidest person in the room might have the best idea.
7. TRACK THE AUDIENCE MOOD
You have one goal: to connect with your audience. Therefore, you must track what your audience is feeling at all times. One of the biggest problems I face when watching other people’s movies is I’ll say, ‘This part confuses me’, or whatever, and they’ll say, ‘What I’m intending to say is this’, and they’ll go on about their intentions. None of this has anything to do with my experience as an audience member. Think in terms of what audiences think. They go to the theatre, and they either notice that their butts are numb, or they don’t. If you’re doing your job right, they don’t. People think of studio test screenings as terrible, and that’s because a lot of studios are pretty stupid about it. They panic and re-shoot, or they go, ‘Gee, Brazil can’t have an unhappy ending,’ and that’s the horror story. But it can make a lot of sense.
8. WRITE LIKE A MOVIE
Write the movie as much as you can. If something is lush and extensive, you can describe it glowingly; if something isn’t that important, just get past it tersely. Let the read feel like the movie; it does a lot of the work for you, for the director, and for the executives who go, ‘What will this be like when we put it on its feet?’
9. DON’T LISTEN
Having given the advice about listening, I have to give the opposite advice, because ultimately the best work comes when somebody’s fucked the system; done the unexpected and let their own personal voice into the machine that is moviemaking. Choose your battles. You wouldn’t get Paul Thomas Anderson, or Wes Anderson, or any of these guys if all moviemaking was completely cookie-cutter. But the process drives you in that direction; it’s a homogenising process, and you have to fight that a bit. There was a point while we were making Firefly when I asked the network not to pick it up: they’d started talking about a different show.
10. DON’T SELL OUT
The first penny I ever earned, I saved. Then I made sure that I never had to take a job just because I needed to. I still needed jobs of course, but I was able to take ones that I loved. When I say that includes Waterworld, people scratch their heads, but it’s a wonderful idea for a movie. Anything can be good. Even Last Action Hero could’ve been good. There’s an idea somewhere in almost any movie: if you can find something that you love, then you can do it. If you can’t, it doesn’t matter how skilful you are: that’s called whoring.

The funny thing about that title "In a Different World" ... The overall book was inspired by this officer I had a bad crush on for years when I was a young'in in the army. There was tension, but the rules kept us apart (at least for about 3 years...)  We were both at a company Halloween party, believe it or not, and I was talking to him (both of us a little drunk at the time) and I remember him patting my hand with his own and saying "In a different world..."  That one phrase from his yummy southern lips inspired the entire book.  Of course the story took on a life of it's own.  The only scene in there that is really original to that time in my life is the racquetball scene, because that one was written from personal experience.   I think I catch things that people say.  I'm usually the quiet one, just listening in a conversation (or eaves dropping at times) when I hear something that sticks.  Maybe it doesn't make a title, but it does inspire a storyline.

So this week's article is actually an interview one romance author did with a favorite romance author of mine, Elizabeth Hoyt.  She writes historical romances (which although I never intend to do, she is great at them and I own most of her books.)  I chose to share this, because E. Hoyt actually gives some advice that I clung onto.  She talks a lot about an agent and the publishing world, but one piece of advice I particularly liked: "Write what you want to write, because it comes back again." 

I remember you telling me this story! Didn't realize it was related to the title though or that that line inspired the whole book. Feel like I'm in the bonus round of jeopardy or something. How would you say the title relates to the book? Just curious. And do you have a backup title in case IDW doesn't work out?

Daily Rituals: A Guided Tour of Writers’ and Artists’ Creative Habits


This book looks neat. Think I'm gonna have to check it out from the library. I found Vladimir NabokovIn's ritual especially interesting. I write the plot points for screenplays and plays on index cards before I start writing, but an entire f*****g book? I think I'd go nuts. 

As for my writing rituals...if things are in a relative state of normal (ha), I write an hour in the morning before work or play, vat of coffee by my side, usually journal writing and for several hours at night. Night time is the *write* time in writing land for me. I always light a candle before I write at night, too. And usually there is wine, instead of coffee, and also SUGAR. That's another one. I always have my nightly dose of sugar prior night writing. Always. I think that's as eccentric as I get. Definitely still working these rituals out.  I bet most writers don't get into a ritual until they are settled into life. whatever that means.  What are your writing rituals?

I don't have a backup title.  The title applied more to the first draft, when the story centered around the 'rules' keeping them apart more than anything.  That was when Nick's finance (instead of wife) cheated on him and he just wanted a clean start, and when Lesley had a specific agenda for Nick that Allie would be interfering with.  So it might not apply anymore.  I'll probably always refer to it as IDW, but if that title gets replaced during the process, so be it.  I just haven't thought about a different one.

I've done the notecard thing in scenes.  It was actually a creative writing exercise we did in one of my classes.  It's also one of the ways I tried to finish IDW.  Some of the scenes stuck, some didn't.  It's an interesting method, to write the main plot points on a bunch of notecards and then play 52-card pickup.  Maybe 51 of those cards are out of place, but if even just 1 finds a new, better home that improves the story, then well, it's been a good use of time.

An article about synopsis writing I found online: It's about a novel, but there are some good points in there.  From what I've been able to find, tighten the best you can while keeping all the main elements of the story intact, and tell the whole story, not just the first part.  You don't want to do that hanging suspension thing for editors.  They want it all in that neat stuffed paragraph or few pages.

Article for Week 5:  "Go Organic" by Stephen James.  I emailed you a copy because I of course found it in on of my Writer's Digest magazines.  You'll have to share some of the websites you browse.  I don't really know where to start, other than Google, and that wasn't much help.     Anyway, this article was interesting to me because he reaffirmed what I already did - to forget about outlines and just follow the story.  He offers some questions you should be asking while you're writing to keep moving you forward in the right direction.  He claims outlines can be restrictive and keep you from exploring "rabbit trails."  I pretty much write by following those enticing rabbit trails.  It's why I hate outlining because my stories take shape by exploring those rabbit trails, even if I make a short-term outline or just have even a short term plan of where I need to go next.     I've emailed you the article.  Enjoy!

I found an article interviewing (briefly) Alice Hoffman and her writing habits/thoughts/etc.  Thought I'd share it.  I like her motto:  "Write often and write fast." 

Yeah, that's a great motto. I'm going to dovetail that with a quote from Ray Bradbury, one of my all time favorite writers:

"Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things.

I think that's the key to writing fast and often. Seems so simple, right? Just don't think. More often than not I go around feeling and write that down.  I know I'm overthinking a story when I jut sit there with a pen in my hand. I can start to hear the minutes on my watch tick tock away.  That's when I go get some wine or shake myself off like a wet dog.  With the short story a week thing I'm learning that the harder I think the slower I write, the worse my work is.  Feel first, think later, I say...like when it's time to edit

Also! I hate that we can't reply directly to a post and that these posts don't have a thread that we can reference back to.

Strike 2 writers cafe