The Development of a Writer

Writers are made, not born,
Photo modified from Petr Kratchvil

The idea of a "born writer" has spread as a meme. Take, for example, this pin on Pinterest. But the whole concept of being born a writer is flawed. Writing develops over time. These skills don’t grow in a vacuum void of human contact. We start out with a certain amount of potential, but we need other people’s help to get there. Early environment, engaged reading, and writing practice all shape how writers develop.

Early Environment

Learning to write starts with learning a language. The environment in which people are raised influences development. People are not born with any communication skills beyond crying. They can't even write "WAAAH!" Babies learn to talk in their home and daycare environments by listening to parents and caregivers. At an early age, humans have a capacity to learn language that is lost as we grow (which is why my toddler already knows more Spanish than I do). As Ayn Rand writes in her book The Art of Fiction, "Language is a tool which you had to learn; you did not know it at birth. When you first learned that a certain object was a table, the word table did not come to mind automatically; you repeated it many times to get used to it."

Research shows that children in poverty are exposed to fewer words than their peers in high-income households and have significantly lower vocabularies. By the time they reach school, these children have catching-up to do. It’s not fair to classify people from privileged homes as “born writers.” Being exposed to a wide range of words from a young age does shape vocabulary, and might produce better writers, but they are no more born to write than people who grew up in poverty.

Engaged Reading

Photo Harald Groven

Just as children aren’t born writers, they aren’t born readers, either. Children need to be read to, they need to be surrounded by books, they need to be engaged with text in their environment—all before the age of three. Without a proper, stimulating environment, potential can be wasted.

I hope that anyone who considers herself a writer reads widely and varied. Authors don't have to have an MFA in creative writing; although, it doesn't hurt. We learn how to write—how stories are told, how dialogue works, etc.—by reading what others have written. As author John Green put it: "I really think that reading is just as important as writing when you’re trying to be a writer because it’s the only apprenticeship we have. It’s the only way of learning how to write a story." Avid readers make better writers, and those writers are influenced by everyone they have ever read.

Writing Practice

To call someone a “born writer” is a disservice to his grade-school writing teacher. She had to read his fledgling attempts and find ways of improving them. All authors went through a period of substandard writing when they were learning. The idea of being born a writer deflates the aspirations of a young people because they aren't good at it, yet. I don't want today's students thinking they'll never be a writer. Author Maureen Johnson has something to say about that:

The more people write, the better they become. This is why there are creative writing classes, MFA programs, and sections of the bookstore dedicated to writing prompts and exercises. Neither J. D. Salinger nor J.K Rowling came out of the womb knowing how to write. It took practice and mistakes and writing and rewriting to refine the craft.

People are born with the potential to achieve greatness. And some people are born with a higher potential than others, but calling them “born writers” discredits everyone who helped them along the way. Writers are made, not born.

Crafting Memorable Characters

"Plot is Character" 

-Henry James

Recently, I attended the Books in Progress conference in Lexington. I went to a session about writing characters with Nancy Kress, author of Beggars in Spain. I came away with a plethora of good advice. I learned the importance of planning your character before you start writing. The story's plot comes from the decisions the characters make based on what happens to them. Successful main characters are the agents of their own destiny, they are someone we root for, and they grow or change during the course of the novel.

Name
The name can give clues about the character. It can suggest the generation or historical setting. You don't see many teenagers named Mildred nowadays, but that name may be perfect for someone born in the 20s. The Social Security website has a database of name popularity by year.

Nicknames can also reveal details about the character. It can say something about how he views himself or how other characters view him. For example, his mom calls him Billy because she still sees him as her little boy. He introduces himself as William, but his friends all call him Will.

Appearance
When describing a character's appearance, forego details into things such as hair and eye color (unless these are particularly unique). Instead, focus on things that the character can control about her own appearance--hairstyle, clothes, and the like. Zoom in on a small detail or two that reveals the most about the character's personality.

Environment
Again, keep the focus on what the character can control. What do the furnishings, decorations, or refrigerator contents tell us about your main character's personality? Mixing a few details with the action give the reader a sense of the character's environment without slowing the pace.

Dialogue
What a person says and how she says it gives clues about her character because different people express the same thing in different ways. A light splattering of dialect adds to the character, but don't go overboard with it. The readers can pick up on the dialect without the author misspelling every other word.

Action
The character's actions key the reader into his personality. Creating actions that contradict his words shows depth. Like in the Hunger Games when Peeta says he doesn't want to be a piece in their game but plays along to stay alive.

Thoughts
Action alone doesn't show the character's true motivation. Go deeper into the protagonist's point of view to show what he is thinking. Thoughts that contrast with his dialogue and actions give the reader insight. For example, Hamlet pretends to act crazy (when his soliloquies show otherwise) in order to investigate the murder of his father.

Reactions
The reactions between two characters tell something about each of them and their relationship. What does it say about a character when others look up to her? Or if a trustworthy person dislikes her? How other characters react to the protagonist informs the reader.

Perceptions
Readers learn about the character through his perception of the environment. Let's say the protagonist encounters a shady grove of trees. If he sees gloomy shadows, then perhaps he is a negative person. If he sees a welcomed relief from the sun, then perhaps he has a positive outlook. The shadows haven't changed, but how your character perceives them says something about his personality. Perception can also reflect his current emotional state.

Emotions
Rather than naming the emotions, it is important to make the reader feel them. At the same time, don't pile on the metaphors. Use external signs such as blushing and blinking, or use internal changes, like a tight throat or shortness of breath. The character could also have a brief memory flash or other thoughts to indicate her emotions.

Where Does Inspiration Come From?

Writers can go through fits and lulls when it comes to inspiration, motivation, and the desire to write. Sometimes there are not enough hours in the day to get all the words down. Other times, I find myself opening my laptop to close it again, thinking "I can't do this." Where do ideas come from? In rare moments, ideas will hit me like bubbles popping on the side of my brain. In everyday moments, I find inspiration in the world around me. My daily life sparks creativity.

Nature

Certain places are awash with a quiet stillness, away from the bustle of the city or the suburbs. Deep in a forest, atop a mountian, paddling a lake, all can be places for reflection. I sit still and pay attention to what's real. From reality all sorts of fantasy can stem. This can be large, sweeping scenes like mountains blanketed in summer greens or small details such as a spider weaving her gossamer threads. 

Music

I listen to music while driving in the car or cleaning the house or playing with my daughter. I also listen to music as I write. Songs can pack so much truth and emotion into each note and lyric. Whether the lyrics relate specifically to what I'm writing or not, the universal emotions held in each song help inspire my character's feelings.

Reading

A well written novel transports me to worlds I would never see and introduces me to people I would never meet. This inspires me to refine my craft--to evoke new places and characters in the mind of the reader.  Even books I don't particularly like can improve my writing. When I come across a style or story I'm not fond of, I make a mental note to avoid those unwanted elements. When I wish a book would end differently, I can create my own alternate stories with infinite possibility.

Thinking

Direct mental focus on the writing craft--characters, setting, plot, and the like--is writing in the head. This sort of thinking is essential to writing. I spend time thinking when I'm alone in the shower or in the car. This can be the mind-wandering sort of thinking that is not particularly centered on anything. Then, BAM! inspiration hits. I'll play and replay scenes and conversations between characters, essentially writing and rewriting before ever cracking my laptop.

Setting vs World Building

A story's setting comes in layers--place, time, culture, foreground and background, etc. When I work on setting, sometimes I close my eyes and imagine the place in all its minute details. The sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures. The people, plants and animals. What time of year is it? What's the weather like? Is the sky clear or overcast? How does the air taste? What is in the distance? What is immediately close by.

I may take the time to write all this down, but usually I just imagine it in my head, and then I pick key details to weave through the story. This gives the reader a sense of place and it gives them a chance to imagine the setting in their heads, too.

As a fantasy writer, I hear a lot about "world building" as if it is unique to speculative fiction. World creation is a huge part of writing regardless of genre. Anyone who writes a work of fiction is creating a world (sometimes non-fiction, too). I don't care if its realistic or romance, fantasy or sci-fi, or whatever. Part of writing is to create a world for the characters to exist in. The book could be set in New York City or Buford, Wyoming, but we can't assume the reader has been there. The writer must build the world.

I find creating realistic places difficult. If I make my setting an acual place, I'm confined to the reality of that place. For example, the laws of physics have to apply. More importantly, I think, writing a real place means recreating what already exists. Stephanie Meyer wrote twilight with out ever visiting Forks, Washington. When I first read Twilight, I found her descriptions of the High School to be very odd. Seriously, what school in the north has separate buildings for each classroom? Google street view is fine, up to a point, but if you really want the reader to immerse themselves in a place, the author must immerse herself in a place.

Writing fantasy has it's own pitfalls as well. Though the setting is fantastical, it must also be believable. This is a fine line to walk.  Building a fantasy world means creating your own universe with your own laws of physics (or laws of magic or whatever).  The key to this is consistency. Create rules for the world and live by them.  There is one sticky point for me in the Harry Potter series. (Which is hard to find because J.K Rowling does a super job of world building). The thestrals that pull the school carriages appear to those who have seen death.  After Cedric's death, Harry get's on the carriages the end of HP4 without seeing the thestrals.  However, he can see them at the start of HP5. Fantasy authors can re-imagine the world as they wish, but being consistent to the rules of your own world is crucial.

Creating a believable fantasy world involves immersing myself in this one. I pay attention to my surroundings using all my senses.  How do things look, taste, feel, smell, sound.  Also how does the passage of time feel? If my character is standing on top of a cliff looking down, how can I describe a sense of vertigo to give the imaginary cliff real depth?

I wrote most of my novel before traveling to Spain, but the experience of being in a uniquely different place helped me redefine and recreate my setting. I soaked in all my surroundings--the vague impressions, the little details--like I was looking at the world for the first time. I considered how culture shapes a place and the place shapes the culture. And I wove these nuances into my writing.

Then I came back home to the same, familiar surroundings. Somehow the world looked different because I was looking at it differently.  What shapes the places that I've always took for granted? How can see the familiar for the first time? Sometimes mundane occurrences like walking down the street can have new meaning if I am looking at them though the eyes of a writer.

5-step writing process: revising

Step 4: revising. Keep in mind, I do editing and revising at the same time.  However, they are different processes that happen at the same time.  I think many writers combine the editing and revising into one step.  But, for this post, I am going to talk about revising.  To see my thoughts on editing, check out my post on that topic.

After finishing my drafts, I spend a significant amount of time away from it, letting the chapters cool.  Later I can come back and look on it afresh. I alway read over my own writing before showing it to others.  Reading aloud helps me hear the flow and voice of my novel.  Getting other writers to critique my work is invaluable, but, as the author, the revision decisions remain solely my own.

If drafting is about daring to suck, revising is about daring to cut.  I hear writers talk about works as if they are their "baby." Revising is about improving your baby and making it grow and develop properly. I think the baby analogy falls a little short, though. Writing is like gardening. Brainstorming is when you pick the seeds at the garden store.  Drafting is planting those seeds.  The real work in gardening is the editing and revising. This is when you prune excess words. Weed out unnecessary adjectives. Water and cultivate the strong shoots until it flowers into something beautiful.

Consider how the flow and rhythm of the words effect the tone, mood and voice. For a scene with fast-paced action. Shorter sentences give a sense of movement and urgently. Something I've learned in the revising process is not to stop and describe what the sea monster looks like when it is about to crush my protagonists boat.  One word or phrase can create an image in the reader's head without going into all the grisly detail.  Sometimes time feels like it's slowing down for my characters. During these times I might linger on details creating a slow and easy feeling.

One part of revising is looking at the big picture. I can't be afraid to prune entire sections of my work.  The first thing I wrote when I started my novel was, unsurprisingly, the prologue--which I was absolutely in love with.  After three different beta readers told me it didn't add anything to the story.  I cut it out completely and reworked chapter three (a flashback) into the new prologue.  Amazing what linear story telling does.  That fixed several problems. The new opening is far more intriguing and there isn't a flashback scene breaking up the action later in the book.  I wove some of the original prologue into the rest of the story, but I cut out most of it because it wasn't necessary to tell the story.  It was necessary for me to write it as part of the process because it jumpstarted my creativity and because I learned to let it go.

Revising is about worrying over every sentence. I ask myself if every adverb and adjective is necessary, or is there an rich verb or noun that can say the same thing in one word. Example sentence: Stella walked slowly through the small city looking for a place to spend the night. Example revision: Stella meandered through the village in search of an inn. I received some advice once to never use the word walk in writing. Adjectives can tell us the manner in which the character walks, but a strong verb can do the same in one word. Meander replaces "walked slowly." Ambled or wandered work as well. each word tells us more about the manner of walking than saying "walked slowly" ever will. "Small city" doesn't tell us much, but using town or village gives a better sense to the reader about where there character is. Something that has helped me is the Roget's international Thesaurus.  I mean an actually book, not that thesaurus app on my phone. Roget's is organized by category. Pursuing the section on movement, for example, gives me choices that may not be an exact synonym for the word used.  Can you think of a different way to revise this sentence? Leave yours in the comments.

Once the first revision is complete, the process starts over again.  Editing and revising are both repeatable steps in the writing process because books are never done. In her poetry handbook, Mary Oliver talks about revision. "In truth, revision is an almost endless task. But it is endlessly fascinating, too, and especially in the early years it is a process in which much is learned" (p. 111)

References:

Oliver , M. (1994). A poetry handbook. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace & Co.

The importance of writers critique groups

A writer is not an island unto herself. I do write for myself, and I think it is important to do so. But writing doesn't come alive until it is read. A writer needs an audience just as the reader needs the author.

Still, I get nervous about the idea of some one else reading my work. It's scary. What if they judge me? I've learned to accept that we are all scared, and that most people are too worried about being judged by others to judge me to harshly.

When I started writing, I did it for myself. (Because the story was inside me and it needed to get out.) But I wrote with the intention of it being read. Hopeful by some one outside my family. That where the critique group comes in. For me, this is a safe environment where I can share my work and get direct feed back.

I am a member of two local writers groups.  For me, meeting in person is an important part of the process because it insights conversations that can lead to new inspiration and ideas. My reviewer can give feedback and I can ask questions about why she felt that way. However, there are also online critique groups that some writers find helpful.  That being said, be careful who you let read your work.  Show your work to other writers who you respect and trust.

The two groups I'm part of utilize different methods.  One group meets weekly. We email our chapters or short stories before hand, read and comment on each others works, and then come together to talk about it.  We don't need to mention every typo circled because the author has a copy of each critique, but we discuss key points of improvement.  The other group meets twice a month and we bring sections to read aloud.  This gives the audience the chance to hear the flow and continuity of the piece and focus on what works for the over arching whole.  No one is going to catch your typos for your this way, but it is a chance to get feed back on how the story works over all.

The purpose of a writers group is to help the individuals with their craft. Before reviewing each others works, we all agree that we are going to critique in a constructive way. We note specifically what works and what doesn't. The comments always refer to the writing not the writer. The author is, of course, takes what she can from the reviews, accepting or rejecting as she sees fit.

5-step writing process: editing

Step 3: editing. In reality, editing and revising go together for me as one step.  I always do both simultaneously. This is because editing and revising writing have some similarities.  They both involve re-reading an already written draft and making changes.  For this post, I am specifically looking at my editing process.

As Janet Burroway explains in her book Imaginative Writing, "Editing addresses such areas as clarity, precision, continuity and flow. One way to see the distinction is that editing can be done by an editor, someone other than the author, whereas revision is usually turned back to the author." When I think of editing, I think about creating effective, readable sentences by improving the spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax of my work.  Editing is about polishing the writing as well as correcting mistakes.

Once I have a draft of my writing, I like to let the work sit a while--a week, a few months--so that I can come back and look on it with fresh eyes. I always look over it again before showing it to anyone else. I find reading aloud helpful. Built-in spelling and grammar checkers are helpful for what they are, but I try not to rely to heavily on them. I uses the spell-check to catch quick typos, but it's no replacement for scouring a manuscript for subject-verb agreements and comma splices.

When I read over my own work I will notice certain mistakes that crop up repeatedly. I have the bad habit of writing past when I mean passed. Technology can help here. I use my word processors search function to find all instances of the troublesome words and insure I use the one I mean.  And when I'm unsure if I should use affect or effect, I look it up.

Once I've re-read my draft, I have someone else look over it. My usual beta reader is my husband.  I am also a member of two local writers groups. I really recommend joining a group that meets in-person, but if you can't find a local group, there are online critique groups, as well.  That being said, be careful who you choose to let read your work--a fellow writer, someone you trust and whose opinion you respect.

Once I've editing and revised the piece, I do it again, and again.  There is no magic number of times because writing is never, never done.


References:
Burroway, J. (2007). Imaginative writing: the elements of craft. Penguin Academics.

In the beginning

I'm going about this out of order.  At the writers workshop I attended a few weeks ago, the presenter, Silas House, started out by talking about beginnings.  If you read my previous post, you'll see I mused first on characterization.  And I am only now talking about beginnings.  It's my blog; I do what I want.  My thoughts aren't always well organized, okay?

I attended the writers workshop in hopes I could improve my own writing, and I heard some really good tips that will help me on my quest to publish a novel. This post is going to be mostly ideas I stole straight from Silas's lecture on the topic of writing good beginnings. When writing a book, a great beginning needs three things: mystery, a love story and trouble. Stories all need to start out with a thesis or central question.  The story is answering that question. This sets up the tension that drives the story.

They mystery is the element of suspense that drives the reader to read more.  Now, I don't mean the book has to start out "It was a dark and stormy night..." or be about solving a crime.  But it is crucial to start with some suspense, some unanswered question that needs resolving, otherwise the story isn't going to be very interesting.

Good beginnings also need a love story. Now, this doesn't have to be a romance novel--a love story is really any emotional relationship between the characters.  There are so many different kinds of love and so many different kinds of relationships. It can be a story about friends, or even a hate story about enemies. In my current work in progress, the story starts out with a relationship between father and daughter as its love story.

To write a good beginning, the characters need to start out in trouble, and the rest of the book can be about getting them out of trouble trouble.  No body wants to read about happy people; that's boring. Start the story with trouble when the characters are unhappy, and end the book as soon as they become happy.

A few more keys to a good beginning: start out with either action or a strong voice, drop the reader in the middle of the action as near to the end as possible. It's important to have a balance of information and avoid an info dump.  Instead weave the back story throughout the work. The beginning of the work is like making a promise to the reader.  It sets the stage as to what to who work will be like.

5-step writing process: drafting

Drafting is the step people usually think of when they hear "writing." As I've talked about in prior posts, the various facets--brainstorming, drafting, editing, revising, publishing--are all important parts of the writing process. Sometimes drafting gets all the credit, but it can't stand on its own. Drafting needs the other steps to be a full and complete writing process. Now, a piece of writing can be abandoned at any stage in the game. And that's okay. Literature is supposed to evoke emotions, but it doesn't have feelings of its own. So I don't feel bad for abandoning a piece and moving on.

This is the part of the process where an author can say "I wrote 3,000 words today!" And it dosen't matter how many of those words actually make it into the final.  It's about getting the words on paper.  It's about writing crappy first drafts.  It's about daring to suck.  Very few authors can pump out a masterpiece in the first draft.  (That's what editing, resing or giving up and starting over are for.)

If a person is afraid that her writing is going to suck, then she may never create. The thing is, we're all scared when we create things and put them out there. It's okay to have something that needs improvement. Just write. I will leave you with this quote by best selling author John Green: “The funny thing about writing is that whether you're doing well or doing it poorly, it looks the exact same. That's actually one of the main ways that writing is different from ballet dancing.”

5-step writing process: Brainstorming

Some people will call step one "prewriting." I dislike this term because PRE-writing implies that it happens prior to and separate from the act of writing. Since it is under the umbrella of "writing process" prewriting is, itself, writing. Moreover, it doesn't have to happen before the other stages, as I will explain.

Let's call this step brainstorming. As I said in my previous post on this subject, I don't always follow the preformed pattern of first brainstorming, than drafting, revising, editing, etc. Naturally some brainstorming will come first, but sometimes it is the glint of an idea and then I write a few lines without full understanding of where the story is leading. Then I go back and do more brainstorming, draft some more, edit that, revise a bit, brainstorm, etc. And the sparse lines I first wrote get cut out or tucked away in a hidden part of the book.

When I think of brainstorming, many different activities come to mind: outlining, graphic organizers, research, making lists, and much more. Let's get this out of the way: I am not an outliner. In school (when they made us write an outline) I would usually make it after I had drafted. Like I said, I don't do things in the prescribed order. However, many authors find making an outline first helpful.

Graphic organizers are useful at any stage in the game. When I started writing my first chapter, I realized I needed to know where my character was going and how long it would take.  I got out my fresh new notebook. The very first page in the notebook is a map. I go back frequently to update and change the map. Creating calendars and time lines of the plot and characters' movements helps even if I know in my head how long it takes. I also put the phases of the moon on my calendar. That way I'm not describing a full moon shining through a window and then a week later the main character looks up a a full moon.

Research is important for fiction and non-fiction writers. Because stories do not come only from inside the writer's mind alone; they mix the author's imagination with the world at large. For example, I pull from various established mythical creatures to create my story. And while I alter them to fit my own magical world, they are still steeped in ancient stories. I also incorporate the classical elements as a motif, so I researched how different cultures viewed the elements and made an amalgam for my own world.

When it comes to brainstorming all ideas are good ideas. Sometimes it helps to sit down and make a list of all my thoughts on a subject and then filter through to find the best fit. The second page in a notebook is full of various name ideas for the land. I finally settled on one, but the name isn't crucial to the story, so I was able to write with a placeholder for a time. New ideas come at any stage in the process which is why I call it brainstorming and not prewriting. I'll do research and fill notebooks at random as thoughts strike.

Though brainstorming is often the first step to writing, it also happens throughout the process weather you are drafting or revising. Keep open to new ideas as they come and keep a notebook!

5-step writing process: Introduction

In school we learned about the 5 step writing process: brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. At university, I took a semester long class on how to teach a "writers workshop" which engaged students in this process. We each kept a binder of our works. Certain pieces needed to reach particular stages with the final project being "published." Our professor checked and signed off on our work. I found this dull and confining.

Now that I am out of school I find my own writing process to be far more free flowing. No one checks-in on me except my husband asking, "how's your novel coming?" And I've realized that there is no hard and fast process in the "real world." (I don't like the term "real world" because it some how suggests university is not real, but I digress.)
In my writing, I do engage in the 5 activities, but I don't like calling them steps because that implies that one comes after another.

I'm the sort of writer who starts and the beginning, writes the end, then works out the middle until the two meet. I don't write the story in order and I don't work on the writing process in order, either. I tend to slip between places like Jerry O'Connell in Sliders.

Certainly, some writers may follow a progression of 5 steps, and there is nothing wrong with teaching people to write this way as long as you also explain that there are other methods.
I will do a blog series focusing on each of the 5-steps and how I work them into my writing.

Active descriptions.

I love authors who are good story tellers. Usually, when I read a novel, I don't focus on the writing itself and instead enjoy the story. However, when I am editing my own work and then take a break to read, I sometimes want to take a red pen to the book. My husband suggested it would be a good exercise to edit another author's work. I told him I couldn't because it was an ebook.

One thing I look for in my own writing is the verb to be. Certainly, there are acceptable times to use a linking verb. But it can also make writing drab. Take for example this sentence: "The wooden fence was covered with vines." This describes the fence, but it's passive and less engaging for the reader. Let's make it active. "Vines covered the wooden fence." Better, but a truly active description goes beyond active voice. How about this: "Vines crawled over the wooden fence." Albeit the vines are not actually crawling, the verb invokes an metaphorical action in the reader's mind.

You might be inclined to say that the picture is still, why does it need to show action? I say kick boring verbs to the curb! The art is to make these word choices subtly so that the reader gets lost in enjoying the story. Write an active description for the picture and leave it in the comments.