As Canadians, do you feel gypped that you didn’t get to vote for Obama? Can’t get enough of voting for things in general? Well, this is your lucky day! Head on over to http://www.dailywritingtips.com/short-story-competition-2-sixth-round-is-open-for-voting/, and vote to your heart’s content! Not that I’m telling you who to vote for, but I personally like that first story. *Cough*
Anyways, vote now. Because Obama wants you to! Yes we can (write)!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
A Lazy Kind of Day
The weekend, and indeed the week, has gotten away from me. Today seemed like a day of catching up on just doing nothing, and so I followed my whims and read to my hearts content. But before I go back to that, I thought I would share a couple of links with you, my loyal Caboosers (I’m trying it on. Not quite Hulkamaniacs, but it’ll do for now)
Speaking of making words up (transitions rule!), have you ever tried to make up a word and pass it off as part of the regular English language? Well, these people have:
http://www.addictionary.org/
Look up words you never knew existed, see definitions for words that you never knew existed or add your own made up words.
Today’s word of the day: Myrthquake, meaning a belly laugh. It’s a perfectly cromulent way to spend the day. (Yeah, I rhyme now)
* * *
Discover information on the new Amazon Kindle:
http://krisabel.ctv.ca/blog/_archives/2009/2/9/4086740.html
Although it won’t be released in Canada, it’s still a pretty nifty looking machine. Will it ever replace the printed and bound book? I hope not. But, devices like the Kindle may take off, and it may be a perfect way to build a library without needing all that shelf space.
* * *
I’m hoping that I can get a proper blog entry in this week, but in the meantime I wish you good writing.
Speaking of making words up (transitions rule!), have you ever tried to make up a word and pass it off as part of the regular English language? Well, these people have:
http://www.addictionary.org/
Look up words you never knew existed, see definitions for words that you never knew existed or add your own made up words.
Today’s word of the day: Myrthquake, meaning a belly laugh. It’s a perfectly cromulent way to spend the day. (Yeah, I rhyme now)
* * *
Discover information on the new Amazon Kindle:
http://krisabel.ctv.ca/blog/_archives/2009/2/9/4086740.html
Although it won’t be released in Canada, it’s still a pretty nifty looking machine. Will it ever replace the printed and bound book? I hope not. But, devices like the Kindle may take off, and it may be a perfect way to build a library without needing all that shelf space.
* * *
I’m hoping that I can get a proper blog entry in this week, but in the meantime I wish you good writing.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
The Words of Chabon
The Writer’s Guilt will be posted in a day or so, but in the meantime, here is a quote from Michael Chabon, an author that I am have great respect for. I discussed earlier about a seemingly lax take on writing. To clarify, I don’t want you to think that you shouldn’t take it seriously, only that you shouldn’t force yourself to write to the determent of your enjoyment of writing. Mr. Chabon offers the following take (this is quoted from a Wikipedia entry, taken from an interview given with The New York Times. The journalist in me tried to find a corroborating source for the quote, but couldn’t. Regardless, here it is):
For what it’s worth, and for all that it seems to contradict my original statement, I do agree with this author’s point of view. Writing novels is a serious business and you can’t just type it out over a single weekend. It takes weeks and months and sometimes years to get your tome just right. And even then, you’ll find something about it you don’t like, something you wish you were smart enough or talented enough to fix. Thing of it is, I think that whether you write every day for an hour, several times a week or only on weekends, you have to be committed to your prose. There will be lots of instances where you are tempted to chuck the whole thing, and that is the true test. Do you love writing enough to continue. Is your story important to you. Are the characters begging you to tell them what happens next.
To be able to push through is essential and Michael Chabon knows this. Do you need to keep a strict schedule like Mr. Chabon to work through the tough times or to prove that you are a “serious writer”? No, and every writer, no matter their success, will give you a different idea of what their schedule, or non-schedule, is like. But there is one thing they all share, novice and professional alike. We all write when the mood strikes us, when the words are flowing so fast from your brain that your fingers work overtime to keep up with them.
Writing is work, but it is something we do because we love a good book, each compelling chapter, every descriptive paragraph, all the well-constructed sentences and the singular beauty of a word used in just the right place.
There have been plenty of self-destructive rebel-angel novelists over the years,
but writing is about getting your work done and getting your work done every
day. If you want to write novels, they take a long time, and they're big, and
they have a lot of words in them....[T]he best environment, at least for me, is
a very stable, structured kind of life.
For what it’s worth, and for all that it seems to contradict my original statement, I do agree with this author’s point of view. Writing novels is a serious business and you can’t just type it out over a single weekend. It takes weeks and months and sometimes years to get your tome just right. And even then, you’ll find something about it you don’t like, something you wish you were smart enough or talented enough to fix. Thing of it is, I think that whether you write every day for an hour, several times a week or only on weekends, you have to be committed to your prose. There will be lots of instances where you are tempted to chuck the whole thing, and that is the true test. Do you love writing enough to continue. Is your story important to you. Are the characters begging you to tell them what happens next.
To be able to push through is essential and Michael Chabon knows this. Do you need to keep a strict schedule like Mr. Chabon to work through the tough times or to prove that you are a “serious writer”? No, and every writer, no matter their success, will give you a different idea of what their schedule, or non-schedule, is like. But there is one thing they all share, novice and professional alike. We all write when the mood strikes us, when the words are flowing so fast from your brain that your fingers work overtime to keep up with them.
Writing is work, but it is something we do because we love a good book, each compelling chapter, every descriptive paragraph, all the well-constructed sentences and the singular beauty of a word used in just the right place.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Writing without Borders
It’s been a busy few weeks. Errands, combined with some heavy traffic, some snow, some good TV and a few books being finished, resulted in a less than favourable writing ratio. In other words, I haven’t written much during the week.
Now, all writers who write for a living will tell you that writing is a muscle you have to exercise; that true writers will make the time to write and will put themselves on a schedule so that they can reach their goals. This is very good advice. It is also, however, advice that most of us can’t follow. As much as we would like to take one or two hours an evening to write or create, we all have responsibilities to shoulder. Parents have children to look after, homeowners need to shovel, couples need to eat dinner. And if, at the end of all that, and after a long day at work, you just want to collapse and vegetate with a new episode of Lost? Well, I think you’ve earned it.
Does that make me a bad writer? Does it make me any less dedicated to my craft, knowing that I only take a few nights a week, here and there to write, and sometimes only weekends? I should hope not. Writing strikes me as something that should be done when you are having fun, especially if being a writer isn’t a full time job. I keep this blog because I love to write, I have over 25 000 words written in a novel because I love to write. I jot down ideas for short stories because I love to write. When I get frustrated at myself for not writing for a few days, my wife wisely reminds me that there are things we have to do and things we want to do. I want to write. And that is what keeps me coming back to the keyboard week after week.
Next time on the Caboose: I talk about some of the consequences of not writing every day and I try to patent a new writing term—Writer’s Guilt.
Now, all writers who write for a living will tell you that writing is a muscle you have to exercise; that true writers will make the time to write and will put themselves on a schedule so that they can reach their goals. This is very good advice. It is also, however, advice that most of us can’t follow. As much as we would like to take one or two hours an evening to write or create, we all have responsibilities to shoulder. Parents have children to look after, homeowners need to shovel, couples need to eat dinner. And if, at the end of all that, and after a long day at work, you just want to collapse and vegetate with a new episode of Lost? Well, I think you’ve earned it.
Does that make me a bad writer? Does it make me any less dedicated to my craft, knowing that I only take a few nights a week, here and there to write, and sometimes only weekends? I should hope not. Writing strikes me as something that should be done when you are having fun, especially if being a writer isn’t a full time job. I keep this blog because I love to write, I have over 25 000 words written in a novel because I love to write. I jot down ideas for short stories because I love to write. When I get frustrated at myself for not writing for a few days, my wife wisely reminds me that there are things we have to do and things we want to do. I want to write. And that is what keeps me coming back to the keyboard week after week.
Next time on the Caboose: I talk about some of the consequences of not writing every day and I try to patent a new writing term—Writer’s Guilt.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Absolutes
“Reality is unforgivingly complex.”
Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird, uses this line to explain why authors occasionally write their own morals into stories. This is a simplification of her argument, but this chapter is not what I would like to discuss. It is the line itself which stopped me in my reading.
Why do we write? It’s an age old question and one that I will no doubt come back to time and again because the answer is as varied as the stories we tell. One reason that we write is to make sense out of our complex reality.
Some of the most timeless tales have clearly defined heroes and villains. You know exactly who to cheer for, who wants to fight for truth, justice and the American (Canadian/Mexican/Brazilian / et cetera / ad nauseam) way. Conversely, you know who wants to do dastardly things because of some childhood trauma, girl rejection or plan for world domination. Am I oversimplifying things with this description? Yes, but that’s just to get my point across. Heroes can have flaws and flirt with the dark side and villains can be sympathetic and cuddly (who hasn’t wanted to give Darth Vader a hug…you haven’t? Just me? Okay, we’ll just gloss over this part).
The point is that we want to know that heroes can still be heroic and villains can still be defeated. No matter how complex the good guy vs. bad guy story is, it all boils down to the fight between good and evil. In reality, however we live in a world of greys, where good and evil are immensely complex terms, depending on your point of view, and good doesn’t necessarily conquer evil.
There are always stories that break from this mould. Some stories are told from the villain’s perspective, some have the villain winning and some have no heroes and villains to speak of. And then there are some set in our complex reality and the story comes from characters’ attempts to navigate our topsy-turvy world.
But some writers, or at least this writer, want to create escapism stories. These stories take us away from the pressures of work, bills and the world’s woes. In these tales, the hero beats the villain, the boy gets the girl and the side of good always triumphs. Are they predictable? Some would say yes, but for me it is the journey that is worth the price of a paperback. The greatest stories I have read are the ones that transport us away from reality and into a world where we can believe in the absolute terms of good and evil.
Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird, uses this line to explain why authors occasionally write their own morals into stories. This is a simplification of her argument, but this chapter is not what I would like to discuss. It is the line itself which stopped me in my reading.
Why do we write? It’s an age old question and one that I will no doubt come back to time and again because the answer is as varied as the stories we tell. One reason that we write is to make sense out of our complex reality.
Some of the most timeless tales have clearly defined heroes and villains. You know exactly who to cheer for, who wants to fight for truth, justice and the American (Canadian/Mexican/Brazilian / et cetera / ad nauseam) way. Conversely, you know who wants to do dastardly things because of some childhood trauma, girl rejection or plan for world domination. Am I oversimplifying things with this description? Yes, but that’s just to get my point across. Heroes can have flaws and flirt with the dark side and villains can be sympathetic and cuddly (who hasn’t wanted to give Darth Vader a hug…you haven’t? Just me? Okay, we’ll just gloss over this part).
The point is that we want to know that heroes can still be heroic and villains can still be defeated. No matter how complex the good guy vs. bad guy story is, it all boils down to the fight between good and evil. In reality, however we live in a world of greys, where good and evil are immensely complex terms, depending on your point of view, and good doesn’t necessarily conquer evil.
There are always stories that break from this mould. Some stories are told from the villain’s perspective, some have the villain winning and some have no heroes and villains to speak of. And then there are some set in our complex reality and the story comes from characters’ attempts to navigate our topsy-turvy world.
But some writers, or at least this writer, want to create escapism stories. These stories take us away from the pressures of work, bills and the world’s woes. In these tales, the hero beats the villain, the boy gets the girl and the side of good always triumphs. Are they predictable? Some would say yes, but for me it is the journey that is worth the price of a paperback. The greatest stories I have read are the ones that transport us away from reality and into a world where we can believe in the absolute terms of good and evil.
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