Subject Verses Substance

"Write what you know."  That's a familiar phrase among writers.  But what exactly does this mean?

I was talking to a friend of mine who brought up a very good point.

"Yeah. I hear that advice all the time. "Write what you know" or whatever. And generally I agree, but when it comes to genre that advice just doesn't follow. Know what I mean?"

To which I replied:

"Yes, I do know what you mean. What you know is the substance, not the subject. You can put substance into any subject (genre)."

Hence the title of the post.

Every genre has characters, whether they're humans, animals, inanimate objects, even ideas can be characters. Let's call this, characterization.  That's substance.  Dialogue, description, symbolism, morals/themes, are all parts of substance, as well as others that I cannot think of at this time.

What is subject?  Genre.  Fantasy, horror/thriller, adventure, steampunk, western, what have you.  Each genre has its own elements that make a story that genre (dragons, fairies, magic, for fantasy, for example).  These elements are must haves to create genre.

Once you find what elements are in each genre, you can then apply the substance.

Think about life.  Let's pretend "life" is the genre (the subject).  In life, we all have struggles (a substance).  If we know the substance, we can apply it to each "life" because we know that every "life" has the same substance (characters, dialogue, etc.).  But it's the genre that dictates not the substance itself, but the kind of substance.

Write what you know.

What do you know?  What do you think "write what you know" means?  Did this post make sense?  What is your opinion on the matter?

NaNoWriMo-Doug

I wrote this little piece here at 1 o'clock this morning.  Mom likes it, I like it, someone else who read it likes it.

Do you like it?

(Scene Set Up: Doug to talking to reporters about a dead body he found)

~~~

“Well, I was walking.  I like to take walks early in the morning.  And, I like to take this path.  It’s quiet, and there’s not a lot of people."

Doug stopped and slowly looked up.  A smile grew across his face.  “It was so weird,” he started, putting a hand on his hip, “I just, I just knew something was up.  I’m kind of an observant person, and I didn’t feel right this morning.”

Doug put his hand down and straitened up, putting a hand on his stomach.  “You know how you get these, I don’t know, feelings?  Like in the pit of your stomach?”

He held out both of his hands, palms towards them.  “Well, as I was walking, I could tell something was off.  I just knew something was up.”  Doug put his hands down and laughed.  “And, I saw the blood marks on the sidewalk.  So, I followed them.”

The reporters looked back to see them.  “Oh, no, they’re gone now.  Someone came and cleaned them up already.”  The reporters looked back at him and nodded.

Doug widened his eyes and pointed to where the body was.  “When I got back there and I saw the body, I was shocked.  I mean, who would do this?  He’s just a kid!”  Doug hung his head.  “Humanity, going to Hell in a hand basket, as my mother would always say.”  Doug looked up and crossed his chest.  “God rest her soul.”

Doug looked back down.  He cleared his throat and changed his expression to one of surprise.  “I went to the street and I yelled for someone to call the police.  I left my phone at home, you see.  I don’t like to take it with me on walks.  This is a time for me to be alone with God.”  Doug folded his hands.  “Looks like He’s the one who needs the credit for me finding this young lad.”  Doug looked up and closed his eyes.  “Thank you.”

He looked back down at the reporters, some looked sorrowful, others as if they were thinking too hard.  They all wrote on their pads of paper.  Doug smiled.

Don't Diss Courage

In my last post, I talked about my NaNo novel from 2912 (more like 2012), titled Times. I talked about how it was poorly written. I want to talk about that in this post.

There is so much to do with this story. I'm talking editing wise. I need to rewrite most of it, now that I know the real relationship between the characters. I also need to rewrite most of it because there's a lot of looking:

Talitha looked at David. He looked at her, then at Isaac. Talitha looked at Isaac, who wasn't looking at anyone.

In the spirit of NaNoWriMo, we call this word padding. Ugh.

So you can see why it's hard for me to read. And if I can't read it, I can't edit it.

Enter discouragement.

After reading a page or two, I quickly exit out of the program, and walk away from the computer, feeling as though this story isn't as awesome as I think and know it is. It will never be what as it is in my head: a best-seller, soon to be a movie. I just want it to be good enough to be publishable, really.

It's been eight months since I finished it. If I remember correctly, about five pages have notes on them. I can't quite get past this next part. Or maybe I just don't have the courage to.

When you get discouraged, you diss your courage to try.

I won't sit here and tell you to keep going, to keep trying, to keep doing. Because I'm not. What I will say is, every day I feel more and more like I'm getting to the point of getting there. I did write one note on it yesterday. It was a small note, but it was a start.

Now, how did I get here? Time. Patience. Building up my confidence by writing other things. Also, getting annoyed at the fact that I haven't gotten there yet.

It's ok, we'll get there. We will.

Cheating During NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is less than a month away. Can you believe that? Just last month I told myself, "Eh, I have awhile to plan." No, no I do not. In fact, planning should start in August.

Before I begin, what is NaNoWriMo?

NaNoWriMo, also known as NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth, starts November 1st and ends November 30th. You have the whole month to write 50,000 words. That breaks down to approximately 1,667 words per day.

Sound hard? For some, it is. Children, school, work, etc. For others, it's still hard, but they persist. Some are planners, some are pantsers, but we all have one common goal: the end.

Now, technically, you're supposed to write a novel. But, of course, you have those rebels who have other plans. Like me, last year. I tried to write about everything that happened that summer. But since it had just happened, it turned out to be crap. I only wrote about 10,000 words (if that) when I got to the end of my story. I decided to write the remaining words elsewhere. It was a bad year.

This year, I'm cheating again. First, I'll tell you why. Back in 2012, during NaNoWriMo, I started a novel called Times. I finished it at the beginning of this year. I started to edit it, but it's so poorly written, I can't even look at it. But I love it. It could potentially be great...it just isn't (yet).

My characters told me there's a second book. I love the ideas they're giving me. I want to start it, but I will not subject it to the craziness of November. I really don't want two poorly written stories (even though I probably wouldn't let it get that way).

I'm in the process of writing a murder mystery, but I'm stuck. If I can't figure stuff out now, I have no time to be doing research when I have 50k words to write!

Instead, I will be writing short stories. My stories usually run between 2,000 and 3,000 words, so this should be fun. And who knows? I might find a novel in there somewhere.

Mother Ann

Ann, a non-believer in all things supernatural, has decided to spend the night in a hotel that is supposedly haunted.  No one really addresser the rumors, but as Ann enters the hotel, she can see why people would think that it's spooky.  The lady at the front desk, the old woman, and the old gentleman all seem like they're hiding something, and all Ann wants to do is disprove the rumors.  Welcome to The Norman hotel.

I got the idea for this back in March?  April?  My mother was reading about a haunted house and how people with the same name as one of the ghosts had encountered said ghost.  My mom wondered how the ghost would react to me, since I too have the same name as the ghost.  So, with this in mind, I decided to write a short story based on this conversation.

Here is an excerpt:


The older woman looked up at me with a sweet, warm, grandmother smile.  As she walked up beside me, she and the old gentleman stopped.  She folded her hands in front of her.

"Good afternoon," the older woman greeted, "I hope you have found your room to be satisfactory?"

I nodded.  "I did".  I looked around at the walls.  "This is a very lovely building."

She beamed at my compliment.  "Yes, thank you.  It has been in the family for generations."

I looked at her and smiled.  "You're the owner?"

"Yes, I am" she answered.  "Would you like a tour?"

I smiled at the thought that I could possibly ask her about the stories I had heard.  "Yes, I would love one."

The older woman returned the smile as she ushered me down the stairs to the next level.  As we walked, the old gentleman followed close behind, listening to the stories the older woman told, as if he had never heard them before.

She pointed out various ancestors as we continued onward to the next level.  Here she dug deeper into the family, expanding on their role in the family tree.

"And this is Ann," the older woman said, pointing to a picture of a young woman sitting in a chair beside a fireplace.  It was like looking into a mirror.  Her hair was tied up, but her face was familiar.  I was mesmerized by how similar we looked.  

"Oh, my name is Ann," I replied, pleased to have the same name as such a lovely lady.

The older woman turned to me, as if she were surprised.  "Your name is Ann?”

"Yes," I replied, wondering why she had asked in a horrified tone.  Her stare was as chilling as her body language: stiff, defensive, and fearful.  I looked at the old gentleman, who looked half as fearful as the woman; concern filled the other half.

I didn't quite understand what the tension was about.  I looked from the old gentleman to the woman, and back again.

She turned to the man, then back at me.

"Oh, well dear..." she began.  She folded her hands in front of her.  I looked back and forth once before she finished.  She gave a slight smile.  "It's just, I'm always so surprised when we get an Ann here.  It's such a wonderful treat."  She looked to the man, then tittered.  "Well..." she began, then smiled nervously and motioned for us to continue, possibly to direct my attention back to the tour.  I thought nothing of her reaction after that---she herself did not seem to think anything of it, maybe there was a chill in the air---and we began to descend once more.  As we reached the final level, she had one last story to tell.

~~~

I also recorded a video, which includes a couple more excerpts, and random talking about things that may or may not relate to the book.

And, without further ado, here is the link to Amazon, where you can buy the short story!

Thanks so much for checking out my blog!  Stay tuned for my next post.

Good night, good morning, good everything!

Planning A Box

In 2011, I had a dream.  It was such a detailed dream, that I decided to write a story around it.  Before NaNoWriMo came around, I did lots of planning.  Who are the characters?  Why does this item mean so much?  What actually happens?  Why?  Where does the story take place?  What's the story behind the story?

On and on I went, until I had filled up about five full pages in my notebook.  I even wrote out two full pages of the synopsis.

While none of this is a bad thing, I found out that I didn't know how to plan.  I'm usually a pantser, but this year, I wanted to go full on planner.

It didn't work out very well.  Once I started the story, I realized that I had planned myself into a box.  Since I had a pretty distinct outline, synopsis, time line of events, I couldn't allow myself to write outside of my research.

"This has to happen after that, but I feel like it's too soon."
"I don't really like the way A happened, but B has to happen after it, so I can't change it."

I finished the whole story in about 35k words.  I was done, but I was still short 15k.  What was I supposed to do?  I didn't plan for this.

Now mind you, this was: A, my second NaNoWriMo, and B, the second story I had ever finished.  I was a "new" writer, and I didn't know what I was doing.  I say "new" because I was starting to write stories about things other than Zelda.

I learned two valuable things from this experience:

1. I am not a planner
2. If I do plan, I must learn to leave holes, or give myself permission to add, subtract, multiply, and divide.

Here are some tips for planners who aren't used to planning:

1. Do you know exactly how you want it to go?  Well, get rid of the idea that it's going to go that way.  Plain and simple.  You're dealing with art and creativity, which has about as much of an attention span as a kitten who just ate and woke up from a nap.  Shout out to all my cat people.

2. Have a set destination, but make a map.  There are many ways to get to one place.  Allow your plans to go into different directions than the route you chose.  There might be traffic or road work.  You never know.

3. "I'll cross the bridge when I get there."  That's a good motto for a writer, remember that.

4. Also, here's a tip: go talk to a planner.  I'm just trying to teach you how to not plan yourself into a box, they can teach you how to plan effectively, if that's what you want to learn.

Well, I hope you learned something.  If not, then I hope you enjoyed learning about my struggle.  By the way, I did finish the story with 50k.  I just added 15k of back story on one of the characters.  It's a good story, it just lacks...a point.

Writing is like math.  There is always a set answer (the end of a story).  It doesn't matter if you find it with a different method than someone else, it just matters that you get there.

Letter To The Character- Talitha

Dear Talitha,
                        What do you want?  Every character wants something, so what is it that you want?  It has to be deeper than "get over that guy."  I know it's deeper than that.  Forgiveness?  Is that what you're searching for?  Love?  Someone to listen to you?  You've got that, you've always had that.  But, if that's not it, what is it?  Please tell me soon, I'd like to continue on with the story.
                       From,
                                 Author

Every character has to want something.  We all want something, it's what we live for, whether we know what that is, or not.  In this case, I know what she wants, but that's just what she knows I know she wants.  But I also know she wants something else, I don't know what it is.  When I find out, I'll know what really drives her to be who she is.  That way, I can shape her character better.  It will make her a more well rounded person, and it will show her change in a more pronounced way.

#WritingStruggles

Inspiration: Zelda

In my last post, I talked about how I wrote and finished my first story based on the Zelda games.  In this post, I'll go a little deeper into how the Zelda series has inspired me to write.  I'll start off with Ocarina of Time, since it was my first Zelda game.

(By the way, SPOILERS await beyond this point if you have not played: Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword, or Twilight Princess).

I don't know what drew me to the game.  Could it have been the graphics?  The concept?  The characters?  The action?  The first "scene" I saw was Link fighting Ganondorf in his castle.  The only video games I had played before this one was Paperboy and Sonic.  There wasn't much there, compared to OOT, am I right?

There's a twist right at the beginning of the game: Link isn't like the other Kokiri.  He is told to get a sword and shield, and the Great Deku Tree summons him to battle.  Holy plot twist!  Link can leave, and he won't die?  Madness!  This game is filled with them: Link holds a piece of the triforce, Sheik is Zelda (or is Zelda Sheik?), and she's even a sage.  I mean, come on, really?  What a story!

Fast forward to Skyward Sword, and we get to the bottom of this mess.  OH, reincarnation!  It all makes sense!

Ok, alright, enough of the spoilers.  Let's get into the point of all of this.

The Zelda series has taught me about twists, and the timing of introducing them.  Right off the bat, or 25 years later...well, maybe not that long.  But it also has to do with the scene.  You can't just throw it in there in any ol' place.  Be strategic, build up to it.  Go along for a while, and when the action calms down, hit the reader again!  But don't throw it in there for no reason, just to keep the story going, because you can't think of anything else to do.  Be strategic.

It taught me about suspense.  Redeads, anyone?  Wallmasters?  Poes?  That shadow on the floor below you as you try to run out from under it, the low goan of the dead echoing off the walls in the underground crypts, those ghosts that show up and hit you with their lantern.  Eff you!  Eff you all!  How about in Twilight Princess, at the end, in the Twilight Realm where you have to get the orbs and that hand follows you.  Your heart races as you race it to the exit, trying not to drop it as you ward off the other enemies that want you to fail.  Or the Guardians in Skyward Sword?  Fuuuu.

It's all about the heart racing, time beating, unexpected surprises.  At first, it's dark and quiet and you can see the goal.  It's in your grasp.  So close, yet so far.  And then?  Nope!  It's fantastic.

It taught me about character development.  This series is all about a boy who wakes up, seemingly normal, wondering what this new day has in store.  My favorite example of character development is Twilight Princess.  I have a hard time decided which Zelda game, between this one and OOT, is my favorite, because of this point.  I feel like Twilight Princess is a story, or, has the best story (in my opinion, of course).

Link is a farmer, he plays with the villagers' children, he herds goats, rides a horse, lives in a treehouse, saves a baby from a river, brings a cat back to its ma- uh, owner.  He's a normal kid.  One day, he is asked to take something to Hyrule Castle.  Ok, sure, no problem, it's not like he's a Kokiri and fears that he may die.  But, as with any great Zelda game, a twist comes, and he has just started his journey.

What I love about this game is the sub-plot(s).  First, you have Link's main journey (helping Midna with whatever she wants), and then you have the subplot (the children).  He has to save that one kid from the stick, then the girl (Ilia) and the fish (names escape me, plus I'm avoiding spoilers, like it's new to anyone, right?).

I know they may not sound like subplots, but they don't really do anything to help Link on his quest (not at first, at least.  But there's that darn twist I was talking about, "linking" everything together).

Back to character development.  Link is a kid who gets turned in an animal.  He has to help someone whom he has never met (Midna), and she seems kind of suspicious (sketchy even).  But then she takes him to the person he was supposed to meet in the beginning.  They tell Link they need his help (who is he to say no to royalty?  Besides, if he helps them, he may get back to being human).

On his journey, he has to do things he never thought he would have to do.  And the more he does them, the easier it is for him to have the courage to do them (doing them doesn't necessarily get easer though).  As Link grows, so does Midna.  She sees that he is trustworthy and brave, and she starts to ease up on him and trust him more.  The more time they spend together, the more they see what the other goes through, and feels.  When Link has to save Ilia, Midna (by this point) understands why.  Though she may still seem snarky and uses Link's personal quests for her own plan, you can tell she feels for him.

The children grow as well.  At the beginning of the game, they pick on Colin, and talk about swords and slingshots and how cool it would be to play with them.  They act like children.  But when one of their own gets kidnapped, they go on their own journey.  They start to see the world.  Sure, there's more evil in it now than there should be, but they're seeing it.  They're also watching Link as he does everything he can to help keep them safe.  By the end of the game, they've grown.

I could talk about Zelda for hours (and it seems like I already have...) but I think it's time I wrap it up.

How is all of this evident in my writing?  It's not.

O_o.

It's not yet.  They've inspired me to notice these elements in everything (movies, other video games, books, t.v. shows, even stories that other people tell).  They've inspired me to love every part of a story, because it all works together.  If a twist is not thrown at someone, how would they change, facing the same mission every day?  If there were no suspense, how could you have someone face their fears, if their fears did not face them?  Characters would not develop, they'd be "static."  Like...Ganandorf?  I could argue him either way.

And that, my friend, is how Zelda has inspired me.

My Writing Journey (Thus Far)

Hello, my name is Sarah.  If you know me, you know that I have told my writing story many times.  If you don't know me, then you don't know my story.  So, here it is again, but a little more in depth.  Let us begin.

I am an only child, and with a mother who worked many jobs at one time when I was young, you can imagine how often I was alone.  I had to entertain myself quite a bit, and that I did.  I came up with stories every day, sometimes they were new, and sometimes they carried over.  The first story I remember creating was, I had an imaginary sister named Hailey, who was not very nice.  I also had another sister, but she passed away at one point.  I also had a boyfriend named John.  We were together for a while, if I remember correctly.

I remember writing my first story while at my mom's work.  She worked at a golf course as a waitress for the banquets they held there.  I went into my mom's boss' office and I wrote something alone the lines of: There once was a boy who went into the woods.  He saw a lake and in it was...  My mother loved it so much that she kept it (and we still have it).  I made my mom happy with something that I wrote.  This made me think that I was good at story telling, and writing.

Fast forward to 1999, my birthday.  My mom had a boyfriend at the time, who I watched play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.  I loved it so much that my mother bought it for me.  I played the crap out of that game.  I even read the crap out of the Verses strategy guide.  I took it with me everywhere I went: school, the store, I even read it in bed.  That thing is so ripped, and torn, and tapped.  I love it.  It told the story of the game, but it also read like a story on its own.

In fourth grade, we had to write a story that would be made into a book.  Yes, hard cover, cover art, name on spine, we even got to draw our own pictures.  I wrote it about Link.  I wrote such a long story, that I couldn't even fit all of it into the book, so I had to cut it down to about one-third of what I had.

In fifth grade, we had to write adventure stories.  At that time, I was playing Link's Awakening.  How fitting!  When my teacher read the first line, she was so excited that she read it to the class, and told them, "This is how you write an opening!"  Bang!  Boom!  Flash!  That's what I wrote.  And my teacher was excited?  I saw her reaction, and I really thought I was good at writing.

Some time after that, I wrote a poem which I entered into a contest, and it was chosen to be published in a book.  So somewhere out there, this book is floating around with my little poem way in the back (I have a copy, which I haven't looked at in years).

In eighth grade, my class was going to Washington D.C.  We all had the option to write a paper/an essay on the tomb of the Unknown soldier, for a chance to lay a wreath on it.  I was one of four that was chosen for this rare opportunity (I have the pictures to prove it).

In highschool, I wrote poems, lots of them.  I also wrote for the school's newspaper, and while a Senior, I was the yearbook copy editor (I think I also wrote something in there as well).  In my college English class, I wrote a paper that had everyone speechless.  No really, when I got done reading it, the room was silent for a minute.  Wow was all one person could say.

College, let's talk about that for a minute.  I went to college for audio production.  If it has to do with sound, I probably know a thing or two about it.  But while sitting in class in November of 2010, trying to learn about post production, I was at my computer writing a story for NaNoWriMo.  I only went to college because I couldn't get a job.

Summer of 2012, I went up to Michigan to visit my dad.  I remember staying up till who knows when, and I realized, I love to write, even when I hate it.  And I decided right there, that I was a writer.  I went back to Tennessee and I told my mom, "I want to quit college and be a writer."  She took it very well.  "Start with a blog," she said.

And so I did.  I went to school at the beginning of the quarter, I told them I quit, and I started a blog.  I have been writing on it ever since.

In 2012, I did NaNoWriMo again.  The characters were chatty, the setting was awesome, the plot came together quite nicely.  It was a success.  I won, but I didn't finish the story.  After quitting college, I got a job.  I didn't like it, but it kept me away from something I didn't want to waste time on.  My job got to be so stressful, that I stopped writing.  When I came home, I was so drained that I had no ambition to continue on with my story.  I was tired, went to bed, got up, and went to work.

That cycle continued until June of 2013.  My grandma, my mom's mom, who lived in Virginia, became very ill and wanted Mom and I to move in with her, and take care of her.  In August, we made it official, and in September, Grandma passed away.  In November, Mom and I took a trip to Texas, and while there, my characters from my 2012 NaNo decided to show up and tell me some important news: there's a second book.  I thought they were crazy, I hadn't even finished the first one!  But, they made me write the end of the second book, and when I got home, they made me start on the first one again.

In March of 2014, I got a job at a deli at a gas station.  Hey, it's the closest place to where I live.  I had a little accident that caused me to be out of a job for a little over two months.  Let me tell you, during that time, I couldn't do anything.  I couldn't do anything...but write.  And so I did, which led me to self-publishing my first short story, Mother Ann, and I finished my 2012 NaNo, titled Times.

I am a writer.  I write.  I tell stories.  This is my life, this is what I am meant to do.  Not a minute, an hour, a day goes by without the thought of a story running through my mind.  I see scenes, and characters, and situations everywhere I look, and in everything I hear.

And you are about to join me from here on out.

Welcome to my writing journey.