Finding acorns

What’s your intention?

‘Without intention, we can prepare and explore, but we cannot tell a story. Once there is story, there is an intention: a will toward a particular-if subtle-end.'

 Susan Bell, The Artful Edit

  

I’ve written about different elements of writing before, but I haven’t really touched on perhaps the most important - intention. Yet in my day job it’s the first question I ask the author of any work I’m editing or writing. Once you have a purpose for the writing, everything falls into place. You have a focus that guides the writing, as Susan Bell states, ‘toward a particular... end’.

When it comes to fiction writing, sometimes the intention gets lost along the way. Perhaps you discover something new in the free writing process that seems more important, or stronger than the intention you originally set for your work.

By all means - get sidetracked, discover new tangents - that’s the fun of writing. Providing that in the editing stage you uncover your intention that will act as guide for your reader.

When it comes to uncovering your intention, Bell recommends asking - ‘What am I trying to do here? Where am I going with this?’

 

Character intention

Intention can also apply to your characters. Just as it’s important for you as a writer to know what you’re trying to achieve, it’s equally important for your characters to have an intention.

Anne Lamott refers to this as the ‘emotional acre’ of a character and suggests you ‘find out as much as possible about the interior life of the people you are working with’ (p45). 

There are many ways you can get to know your characters; from character questionnaires, to character histories, free writing scenes or writing journal entries for them. These are all useful ways to get beneath the surface of your characters and discover what really motivates them.

Once I’ve spent time getting to know my characters, I create a character matrix for my story, listing each character and answering the following questions about them:

• What do they want?
• What do they need? 
• What do they fear?

That way it’s easy to see the connection between characters and opportunities for potential scenes, particularly when there is a conflict of want. 

Other potential scenes arise from two characters wanting the same thing, one character wanting what another has, or a character’s want masking a deeper need. 

I try not to create this matrix too early in the writing process. It’s nice to have gaps to allow the characters the opportunity to reveal themselves.

So next time you’re stuck, ask yourself - ‘What’s my intention?’. Not just what you as a writer is trying to achieve, but also your characters. 

 

Further reading:

Creating characters

Free writing

Character interviews

Macro editing

 

References:

Bell, Susan. The Artful Edit: On the practice of editing yourself. New York: W. W. Norton & Company Ltd, 2007.

Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird: Some instructions on writing and life. Melbourne: Scribe, 2009.

Metaphors in writing

Using setting as a metaphor is just one of the many tools writers can use to create stories. When it's done well it can be successful, but it shouldn't be the only writing convention you use in your story.

The book I'm reading at the moment; The Sea on Our Skin by Madeleine Tobert is a perfect example of how setting can be used as a metaphor for characters.

The story begins with a wedding on a beach in a violent storm. This sets the tone for the book and establishes the characters. As the story progresses it become more obvious that the storm is a metaphor for the internal and external traits of the central characters that it foreshadows in the beginning.

Settings/place, seasons and the environment are often used in this way. That a character exists in a particular setting is no accident. The setting is often carefully crafted or chosen to reflect the internal world of the central character - whether to re-enforce likeness or difference (binary opposition).

Setting as binary opposition

Using setting as a binary opposition to a character provides the essential ingredient for a good story - conflict. Often to achieve this, one or more of the other characters is depicted in harmony with the environment, as is the case with The Sea on Our Skin. 

The central male character Ioane Matete; a traveller, is in conflict with the island environment, while his new wife Amalia has a firm hold on the island traditions and community that she passes down to her sea-loving son; Angel.

Another example of setting used in this way is Vertigo (Amanda Lohrey) about a city-dwelling couple adjusting to a rural setting. 

Unique metaphors

The challenge for writers is to find a unique environment and use it as a metaphor in a new way to add strength to characters. Although Tobert relies on a common event used in stories - a storm - she uses it in multiple ways to foreshadow, establish and impact characters, set the tone for the story and depict the central theme. Beyond that she uses many more elements of setting and other writing conventions to develop her story.

Here are some other important elements of writing to consider:

• Creating characters
• Don't forget the story
• Finding your voice.

BWF 2011 wrap-up

After three days at the 2011 Brisbane Writers Festival I'm feeling immensely inspired. Not just from the sessions I attended but also the conversations I had and the questions I'm now asking about my own writing projects.

Of the eight sessions I attended, the standouts for me were:

Creating Character and Conflict with Rachel DeWoskin who had some great advice and writing exercises on dialogue, character history and character motivation. DeWoskin is also an advocate of approaching the writing of a book a couple of pages at a time. This gives me confidence in my new writing routine that I'll chat about the progress of in my next post.

Another favourite was The David Unaipon Award Retrospective that raised the interesting questions for me - Who owns historical stories? Am I limited to writing about only the things I've experienced? And how much can we depend on research when creating stories? Whatever the answers I can't wait to start reading 'Purple Threads' by Jeanine Leane, winner of the 2011 David Unaipon Award for Indigenous Writing. 

A contrast to this session was Meet Kate Grenville who spoke about her book 'The Secret River' and sequel 'Sarah Thornhill' that explore what it means to be a 'white' Australian. Most interesting for me was her mention of the sealers and Maori women. While I've spoken of my father's migrant history that we celebrated last year, there are stories my mother has told me about our Maori heritage, in particular our great great grandmother. Attending this session made me want to know more. Grenville also had some interesting tips on how to capture a character's voice.

A slight diversion from the BWF was the Land, Sea and Sky: Contemporary Art of the Torres Strait Islands exhibition at GoMA. It had the most amazing lino prints, basket weaving and a multi-media installation of a glass house with family photographs projected through the roof and onto the floor of the house and a soundscape of waves lapping on the shore. This beautiful quote by Terri Janke from the novel 'Butterfly Song' (2005), featured on a wall at the exhibition, sums it up perfectly: 

"They say if you live on an island for too long, you merge with it. Your bones become the sand, your blood the ocean. Your flesh is the fertile ground. Your heart becomes the stories, dances, songs... They say when you leave, the sound of the waves stays with you... The island calls to you, and your children, and their children. It will beg for you to join it, and know it, forever. No matter where you and your children travel, the island is home."

While the exhibition was unrelated to the BWF it was a wonderful spontaneous find as I'd hoped for when I was planning my BWF visit.

And what would the BWF be without a visit to the festival bookstore (ok - three visits!). Here's my collection of reads for this year:

That cute little rabbit at the back is on the cover of Katherine Battersby's new book 'Squish Rabbit' that my daughter has already read more times than I can count. I'll review these books in upcoming posts, just as soon as I finish the three books I'm already reading! Stay tuned.

After three days of writing immersion I have a handful of writing exercises, ideas to consider, books to read and questions to ponder about the drafts of my two novellas. Exciting times ahead!

 

Creative Juice

Weekly writing exercises

Lately I've been fascinated with buildings. Old buildings with heavy wooden doors and arch windows. It was also something I noticed a lot on my travels - in London, Aswan, Spain, Italy...

With a little bit of imagination and by carefully observing the exterior of a home, you can create a picture of the lives of the people within. 

Below are some photographs from my travels. Select an image as inspiration and write for 20 minutes.

You may like to describe the physical detail or venture beyond the door and write about the lives of the 'characters' within.

          

If you'd like to contribute a writing exercise to 'Creative Juice' drop me a line at susanbonaci@bigpond.com and don't forget to include your name and URL. All contributions will be acknowledged.

Creative Juice

Weekly Writing Exercises

This week's writing exercise is all about the seasons. What is your favourite season? Perhaps you have a love-hate relationship with a particular season.

Consider the way seasons affect countries in different ways. For example, Winter in my home city; Brisbane is a lot different to the Winter I experienced in London where the frost bites your exposed face and paper thin 'little snows' nestle in the curve of your eyelashes.

You may like to write about the turn of seasons - that time in between when the world isn't quite ready to surrender to the extremities.

With these things in mind, write about a season of your choice for 20 minutes.

As an extended exercise, think about seasons in the context of your stories and the relationship your central characters have with each season. 

 

If you'd like to contribute a writing exercise to 'Creative Juice' drop me a line at susanbonaci@bigpond.com and don't forget to include your name and URL. All contributions will be acknowledged.

Creative Juice

Weekly Writing Exercises

For the past two weeks we've looked at global and local places as inspiration for our writing. This week we're exploring character. 

There are two options for this week's creative writing exercise. Those of you feeling creative, may like to work from your imagination and invent a character. Option two is for those with writing muscles that are a little rusty today (and as writers, we all have days like these!). You can work from a photograph or a picture in a magazine of someone you don't know.

To begin, spend some time either conjuring up an image of your character in your mind or noticing the physical attributes of the picture in front of you.

Begin writing down the physical attributes of your character. What do they look like? Do they have a distinct characteristic? How do they stand, or sit? What clothes are they wearing? Now take your writing a step further and start to explore their everyday life. Describe what your character does each day.

If you'd like to contribute a writing exercise to 'Creative Juice' drop me a line at susanbonaci@bigpond.com and don't forget to include your name and URL. All contributions will be acknowledged.

Stories from earthquakes and floods

My Mum recently returned from a trip home to New Zealand and with her she bought back some memories. I haven't seen the few objects or her childhood photos yet, but we sat down and chatted for the afternoon about the memories she found. How eery Christchurch felt in the midst of earthquake aftershocks, how the Avon River isn't the same as it was when she grew up and how black silt now marks the town that is barricaded.

In the midst of this, my Grandparents moved into a nursing home and my mother bought home a broken beaded necklace that belonged to my maternal great Grandmother - the story of which my Grandmother has forgotten. It's a fragile place. But in the fragility of life the best stories are found.  

Another example is the Queensland floods. As people cling to their families, homes and memories, community spirit is born. Every person or family who survives the floods will have their own story to tell and memories to pass on to future generations. The flood experience will shape their character; change them perhaps. Some may leave; others will stay and rebuild. Sadly, some won't survived. 

Source: The Courier Mail - Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Stories will emerge from the earthquakes and floods, like the stories of the 1974 floods that are now being recalled. These stories will become part of Australian and New Zealand literature, informing future generations. At the very least, as a writer, it shows how setting can inform or reflect characters to give your stories depth. 

Feel free to share your stories of earthquakes and floods.

3 tips for editing short stories

One of the things I love about editing short stories is that the editing process is manageable - even in a short sitting. Lately I've discovered that a lot of editing can be achieved in 30 minutes! I simply set my mobile phone alarm and start editing. With limited time, I'm more focused and decisive when it comes to editing.

Here are my top 3 tips for editing short stories:

1. If it doesn't sound right - it isn't

When reading your short story if you have to stop and re-read a sentence, it's a good indication that something isn't right. It could simply be a wrong word choice or it could be something larger, like lack of character motivation. Whatever it is, trust your intuition and fix it because chances are your reader will react the same way.

2. Free write to discover your characters

The best way to get to know your characters is to write about them. You can answer lengthy character questionnaires or write essays about them. But one of the simplest ways to get to know your characters is to free write an alternate response to a situation in your short story. Use other characters in your short story to respond to or interact with. 

Set your alarm and set your mind free! Who knows what little gems you'll discover that can easily be woven into your short story because you're using situations in your story to guide your free writing.

3. Use 'Wordle' to remove your tics

I first heard about this writing tool on The Well Read Rabbit blog and later in an issue of WQ Magazine. So, when it came to discovering my tics I went straight to Wordle.

Not only can you create 'beautiful word clouds' but this handy tool also highlights in big bold print all your overused words. Then, using the 'find' function in word processing you can remove or replace them.

Here's the word cloud for this blog post...

Editing doesn't have to be that boring thing you do at the end of creatively writing a short story. By making 'beautiful word clouds' and free writing to discover your characters, editing can be just as much fun as writing!

What are your short story editing tips?

 

Exploring, discovering and finding new acorns

Lately I've been soaking up inspiration. My most recent find - the Premier of Queensland's National New Media Art Award 2010; a showcase of seven artist and collaborative works short-listed for the biennial award. My favourite - the collaborative work of Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine titled You Were In My Dream. It's an interactive work enabling the viewer to choose the narrative of the central character (a child) who wakes in a dreamlike state and explores a forest. As a writer it appeals because of the multiple narratives but also the unique concept of interactive animation and live video feed providing a multiple experience as primary and secondary viewer.

A complete contrast to this playful work is recent read - Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam by Peter Goldsworthy who is known for taking moral questions to the edge. It's difficult to write about the book without giving away the story. Even now as I draw a contrast between these works I'm already making a moral judgement. Yet when I think about it, perhaps the ending isn't sad. Therein lies Goldsworthy's talent as a writer - the ability to convince the reader that a 'what if' scenario is possible through his layered dialogue and carefully crafted characters. If you've read the story I'd love to know what you think. 

So while I haven't been writing (or editing) much lately, I have been soaking up inspiration. For me, that's a large part of the writing process - exploring, discovering and finding new acorns. 

Creating characters

'Don't pretend you know more about your characters than they do, because you don't. Stay open to them...Listen.'

ANNE LAMOTT

 

I've been editing my Nano novel and a short story lately and one of the problems has been with character. Both times I didn't start with a character, but rather a story or situation. It's only during the first edit that I started delving into characters who seemed flimsy or had questionable motives.

So I scoured writing books and workshop notes for advice on developing characters and here's what I came up with...

1. Free writing - explore who my characters are and what they want.
2. Character questionnaire - 20 questions about the character's internal, external and quirky world developed using ideas from Bird by Bird (Anne Lamott) and workshops. Surprisingly it's the quirky questions that reveal the most interesting character traits and anecdotes.
3. Imagery- use travel photos or magazine images to spark character free writing.

A good tip from Noah Lukeman - The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile - that I employed was...

'Take one of your characters whom you fear is stock and turn him around, make him do the exact opposite of what might be expected from a character like him.'

It's easy to loose yourself in pages of character free writing. But can you ever know your character too much? These days I'm a little more restrained. The questions are simply a cue to entice the interesting or unique details that will add layers to the characters.

Most important of all and the most challenging part was knowing what character details to include and where. As Kate Grenville states in The Writing Book: A Workbook for Fiction Writers:

'A writer has to make choices that will subtly direct the reader towards the writer's larger purpose.'

This is when I returned to my macro-editing notes and asked: What furthers the story? What adds layers to the character? And most of all - what is my overall intention?

How do you go about creating characters?

This is where I wrote today...

Overlooking Moreton Bay on an outgoing tide...

Today the tide reminded me of the creative writing process. When the tide is in the bay is still and perfect (on a day like today). Much like the surface of a novel and the character's lives. When the tide goes out what's beneath the surface is exposed. Armies of blue-back soldier crabs, mangrove roots, rocks, cones shells, seaweed and popping mud - the ecosystem that sustains the beauty.

Today I peeled back the layers and got to the undercurrent of my story. To the things that are the hardest to write about, but those things that make the characters real. And it was muddy and unclear both for me and my characters but in these new surrounds I wrote three new scenes - the tricky ones.

Earlier in the week I'd lost my writing mojo in a haze of daily life and responsibilities. Now I feel inspired again. Rejuvenated by a fresh approach to getting words on the page.

Where at home my writing hours fly, in the sunshine and salt air, far removed from my laptop, time ambles.

In the words of Susan Bell (The Artful Edit) - 'a change of venue freshens the spirit.'

Thank you also to my inspiring yoga teacher; Amy (Inna Bliss Yoga) who set me up for a day of blissful focused intent.

Novel research

Methodical, methodical, methodical...This is my mantra as I delve into research for my Nano novel. After two readings I have a list of 11 questions, 5 points of conflict and 25 things to research. Yes - 41 in total. What was I thinking when I decided to set my novel on a dairy farm? Me - a city slicker and coastal dweller.

It took a while to get into the research part of the creative writing process. But today, I was actually excited about my trip to the library. Excited to be learning the botanical names of trees and the constellations in the southern hemisphere at particular times of year. St Johns First Aid Manual was a little less enticing...

I'd forgotten how easy it is to loose yourself in research. How quickly the hours peel away. And how exciting it is when you discover something new to add; a specific piece of information that strengthens the story or develops a character. I found myself writing scenes and dialogue and plot ideas; meandering down that creative road once again.

The less glamorous side of research is not finding what you're looking for and uncovering further questions. For me there's a definite need to delve deeper; beyond the internet and library. To things that are real - people and places.

The important thing I've learnt is to not think I have to know all the answers or that I must write about what I know. As long there is open curiosity and emotional compassion for the things I write about, then I can create a story. 

Don't forget the story

I confess - I thought short story writing would be easy. How hard could it be? The length is shorter, you only need a couple of characters, an interesting idea...And that's where I came unstuck.

Free writing and vignettes are easy. The mistake I made was assuming that these were short stories. When in fact, the best short stories I've read follow a formula. I know it sounds boring and we'd all love to be the first writer to invent a new formula or defy the conventions and produce an award winning story.

But the thing I've discovered recently is that conventions are there to make your story more engaging to a reader. Readers want conflict and turning points. They don't want a story that doesn't go anywhere or a central character who remains unchanged by the story. What would be point of telling it?

It may only be a chunk out of a character's life but it's a pivotal moment. Herein lies challenge for me who has generally written short stories based on an idea, a character or a place, forgetting the key ingredient - the story.

Although I wrote two short stories this week (one I like) most of my time was spent researching and reading award winning stories to get a feel for the form and to learn what makes a good short story.

Like everything, different stories appeal to different people. The things I love most in a short story are:

1. Suspense
2. Unique characters who confront unusual/awkward situations
3. Stories that linger because they challenge your beliefs.

What do you love most in a short story?

The middle story

Ah the joys of reaching and extending past the halfway mark...The finish line is now in sight. It's a little hazy but the sunlight it just stretching through the trees and I don't feel as lost as I did earlier this week when I entered the middle story.

The middle story is the tricky part. You're in the thick of it. You know your characters, the action is unfolding and you have to make things happen. Characters have to face obstacles, interact with eachother and step outside their comfort zones to make the story interesting. The characters have to move and grow and it's your job to make them do that.

For me, NaNo has drawn on everything I've ever learnt about writing. All the courses I've studied, the books I've read and my life experiences. It's like preparing for a race. You've done all the training, you know what you have to do, but it's not until you're out there, on the track, that it all comes together.  

A few things that have surprised me about NaNo are:

1. The body's ability to adjust to 4am wake ups
2. The level of chapter planning required to get through the middle story (all 1,000 words of it)
3. The realisation that life exists outside of NaNo!

So I continue on my race, 37,504 words behind me, reaching for finish line...I can feel it, almost touch it.

Free writing

When I first started writing creatively I didn't have a name for it - that process of writing without thinking and the world around you disappearing.

Then years later I stumbled across Natalie Goldberg's Thunder and Lightning; Cracking Open The Writer's Craft, my first book on writing. Here Goldberg explained the process I was experiencing and showed how to direct that energy; your 'wild mind'.

'I try to shake loose my mind, so something fresh can fall out' says Goldberg.

In more recent years authors and writers have adopted the term 'free writing'. At workshops I've learnt to feed my 'wild mind' a line, a phrase, an idea or an image and then write instinctively without thinking about spelling, grammar or punctuation. Now it's the only way I write a draft.

This week I've been free writing bits that are missing from my story - settings, events and story threads; testing the water to see if they work. Some do, some don't. 

In the words of Goldberg: 'The seemingly disconnected topics help to energise the piece.'

I love the freedom of un-tamed words. I feel like I'm ten again, taking off on my bike on Saturday morning armed with a squashed vegemite sandwich in my pack, my best friend at my side and a mind full of hope and wonder.

Confession #2

I saw the Nick Earls play The True Story of Butterfish so I didn't have to read the book!

My guilt disappeared into the wings as I sat and enjoyed the craft I studied at uni. A great experience for a writer in terms of dialogue and character nuances.

Though in his notes Nick Earls says 'I knew this story had to be a play as well as a novel. And I decided that the play and the novel should each become their own thing...'

Caught out! Clever marketing for his book but I'm still curious to know how Nick Earls writes dialogue and equally as curious to know 'the internal workings of Curtis Holland (the central character)...'

So I may read Butterfish after all.

Have you ever seen a play that's better than the book?

Image source: www.brisbanepowerhouse.org

 

Launch points

When my inner critic paid me a visit recently the positive outcome was that I read my manuscript, determined what was missing and made a list of launch points. Whenever I'm stuck (which happens to be quite often) I take one from my list and start writing.

Sometimes it takes a few stumbled attempts to find one that works for me but it's generally a treasure trove of instinctive ideas. Things I jot down while my toddler is tugging at my leg or a bit of dialogue that comes while I'm in the middle of cooking dinner.

This week I had a particularly productive writing week that surprisingly resulted from forcing myself to write (something I'll chat more about in coming weeks). It was one of those writing moments where something new opens up. You find a new thread, something for the characters to pin themselves on, and one that holds the story together. Crossing time, years, emotion and memory. A possible ending perhaps. Closure. All from one tiny little launch point. Something I could just as easily not have written down...

Character interviews

I've always been a fan of compiling character histories. You know the ones - writing down everything related to your character, including what they have in their fridge and their greatest fears. All this back story helps to shape their motivation and interaction with other characters in the story. But delving one step deeper, I conducted a character interview.

I was at a point where I wanted to explore the main events in a character's life that were important to the story. I was then able to place this information in relevant and appropriate scenes to help it come alive in the context of the story.

On this occasion it was character work that didn't just end up filed away or placed in a box ready for my ritual burning (this is a story for another time). Instead, it was very guided exploration that got to the heart of the character. Definitely an approach to try with other characters...